Hex on the Beach by Kelley Armstrong

Chapter Eleven

“Watch where you’re going!” Denise said for the third time.

If I didn’t love her, I’d be annoyed. Had I flown us into the cliff face yet? No, so she should quit bitching. Sure, I’d come close to the rock walls to our left, but that was because we were being stealthy as we approached the rendezvous point.

Normally, you needed to hike almost seven miles to reach Alamere Falls. But I could fly, so we were arriving the easy way. Or, at least, it would be easy, if Denise didn’t keep screeching in my ear and distracting me.

I had to give it to the witches; they’d picked a beautiful place for their ritual. The forty-foot falls landed on Wildcat Beach, where the surf was rapidly covering the sand as the tide started to come in. At this hour, no tourists were around since it was already a tough hike to Alamere Falls during the day.

It was only an hour before high tide on the full moon, when the second spell would kick in and the sea goddess would come for us. We were cutting it close, not that we’d had a choice. The witches hadn’t been here earlier. I’d done multiple fly-bys and hadn’t seen a hint of them. I’d started to worry that they’d concealed themselves with glamour—or that I was too drunk to spot them—when I finally saw a line of blue-robed figures hiking up the final stretch of trail leading to the falls. I tried to do a quick head count, and lost track after the mid-twenties. Whatever. I only needed to find and kill Morgana. She had to be here. This was the big shebang. Morgana wouldn’t miss it.

I flew back to where I had left Denise, drank the last of Ashael’s blood from the mostly empty second bag, and flew us back to the falls. Time to crash their party.

The witches were setting up a bonfire made of branches and the terrain’s many loose rocks. No one had removed their hoods yet, so I couldn’t spot Morgana’s lustrous, dark umber hair.

Come on, Morgana. Where are you?

“Look!” one of them suddenly said while pointing up.

Dammit. We’d been spotted.

“Brace!” I told Denise as every hooded head looked up.

I dove us toward the tightest cluster of witches. We’d scatter them before landing near the bonfire—Aw, shit!

I crashed into the bonfire. Fire, wood, and stone burst out in every direction as we tumbled along the top of the cliff. Thankfully, a group of witches stopped our momentum, providing a much softer landing than the ground as we plowed into them.

I leapt up with as much bravado as I could muster after that epic fail of a landing.

“Give me Morgana, or I am going to fuck all of you!”

Denise shot an amazed look my way. That’s when I realized I’d forgotten a very important word.

“Up,” I stressed. “Give me Morgana, or I am going to fuck all of you up.”

“Your first offer was better,” an amused voice noted.

I knew that voice. Morgana.

I turned and flung several of my silver throwing knives toward the source of her voice. Take that, witchzilla!

The knives turned to liquid in midair before splashing to the ground near her feet. Worse, I suddenly felt a burning wetness, and looked down to see silver rivulets running from my now empty weapon sheaths on my arms, thighs, and ankles.

I stared at the shiny splotches in disbelief. Please let me be hallucinating from Ashael’s blood. Please don’t let the bitch have just melted all my weapons!

Morgana smiled. “How do you like my new spell?”

Oh, I’d be very impressed, if I wasn’t the one covered in useless, melted silver. “Creative,” I managed to say.

Morgana’s smile turned smug. “I had a feeling you’d find a way out of the immobility spell, so I had that ready in case you showed up tonight.”

“Cat…” Denise drew my name out in a concerned way.

I glanced over at her. Yep, Denise now had melted shiny streaks where all her silver weapons had been, too. Ashael had said his blood would shield us from any new spells they lobbed our way, but that protection obviously didn’t extend to inanimate objects like our knives.

“It’s fine,” I said, cracking my knuckles. “Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned brawl?”

“Alas, I must decline,” Morgana replied in a light tone. “We have our goddess’ arrival to prepare for.”

A high-pitched scream sounded behind me. I turned, seeing a brown-haired boy struggling between several witches. Freckles or pimples dotted his face, and his frame had that awkward, bones-too-big-for-his-skin look that some teens had. When his eyes met mine, horror, shock, and fear practically spilled from his gaze and his thoughts were a jumble of pleas and shrieks.

Firecrackers of rage went off inside me. “Another kid? What the fuck is wrong with you? If the goddess you worship must have a living sacrifice, chose a murderer or a pedophile like a normal person!”

“That’s what I said,” one of the nearby witches muttered, garnering her an instant censoring look from Morgana.

“We hold to the old ways of offering a pure sacrifice—”

My loud scoff cut her off. “First of all, you’re evil. Second, purity is a spiritual state, not a sexual one, and third, wow are you dating yourself as an old, out-of-touch vampire if you think ‘teenager’ automatically means ‘virgin.’”

“I’m done speaking with you,” Morgana said, and picked up one of the sticks from the now-destroyed bonfire. Then, she poked it at a splotch of melted silver near her feet.

“I couldn’t agree more,” I spat and marched toward her, throwing aside the witches who tried to stand in my way.

Morgana didn’t move. Instead, she threw the stick at me.

I didn’t even duck. What was this, kindergarten?

The stick changed into a large snake that hit me right in the mouth. I flung it off, yelping in a very un-badass way, but I hated snakes, and now I’d just gotten to first base with one.

“Really?” I snapped when dozens of other branches suddenly morphed into serpentine life. Now, I had a field of snakes between me and Morgana. Gross, but did she actually think this would stop me from reaching her—

Ouch!One of the snakes bit me, and wow, it hurt. A lot.

I yanked the snake off, not caring that I ripped my flesh in the process. Its fangs were still oozing venom, only it wasn’t normal-looking venom. It was shiny and metallic.

“Silver,” I breathed out.

A single touch confirmed it. Only silver stung that much. All vampires were allergic to it, even freaky former half-breeds like me. Worse, liquid silver couldn’t be removed with the same ease as yanking out a weapon, and until the silver was removed, I’d be weaker and I wouldn’t heal as fast.

I hurled the snake aside. “Magic snakes? You need therapy!”

Morgana only tossed her hair. “And you need to sit quietly until our goddess comes to claim you, but I’m guessing neither of us is going to do what’s in our best interest, are we?”

Denise grabbed my arm. “You okay?”

The bite in my calf burned like hell, but I’d be all right. I just needed to keep from getting bitten again.

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “Hold the other witches back while I kill her, will you?”

Denise dropped my arm and backed away a few feet.

“With pleasure.”

I rose into the air, a little more wobbly than usual, but at least the snakes couldn’t bite me up here.

“You’re dead,” I said to Morgana, and flew at her.

She shot upward right before I reached her, leaving me to plow into the spot where she’d stood. After I spat out a face full of dirt, I saw her flying in a graceful circle above me.

“I don’t think so,” she said in a pleasant tone.

Bitch could fly. She was also creative, powerful, and beautiful. If I weren’t straight, married, and repulsed by child murderers, I might have developed a crush.

“Fellow coven sisters.” Morgana raised her voice. “Teach this impudent vampire to show me the proper respect!”

The witches grabbed the magic snakes and hurled them at me. I flew up, avoiding most of them, but at least two sets of fangs sank home. That deadly silver venom scalded me from the inside out. I tumbled out of the sky, hitting the rapidly disappearing beach hard enough to scatter sand in every direction.

I staggered to my feet, cursing when I tried to fly and couldn’t. Fucking liquid silver was weakening me by the moment, and only massive cutting could remove it. I’d do it, too, if I had any weapons, but thanks to Morgana, I didn’t.

Screw it. I’d fight without flying and weapons, then.

“I warned you, motherfuckers!” I heard Denise yell.

Poor Denise, stuck up there with dozens of murderous witches and God-knew-how-many magically venomous snakes. I had to get to her. Right now.

I started climbing up the cliff wall. Jagged rocks sliced up my hands, making my grip slippery from blood. I didn’t care. All that mattered was killing Morgana.

The cliff suddenly shuddered while large rocks struck my head and bashed into my body. The heavy barrage made me lose my grip. I stopped my fall by shoving my hand into a crevice hard enough to shatter bones. Pain screamed through me, but now I was anchored to the cliff wall, and I ducked beneath the next onslaught of rocks.

What was this? An earthquake? We were in California; it was possible. Or was this more of the witch’s tricks?

My bet was on the witch. “Is that all you’ve got, Morgana?” I shouted. “If so, I’m still coming for you!”

No answer except screaming. Hmm. That didn’t sound like Denise. Instead, it sounded like several of the witches.

Another blast of rocks pelted me, and the cliff wall next to me crumpled before sliding off onto the beach. Shit, maybe this was an earthquake. I crab-crawled away from the growing hole, avoiding the worst of the landslide. Then, I raced toward the top as fast as I could. Two minutes later, I heaved myself over the still shuddering ledge…and stared.

I’m hallucinating. Wow. Ashael’s blood is good shit.

A grayish-green dragon stomped after a group of witches. Every step from the massive beast made the ground tremble, and its thick, whiplike tail swept aside the snakes that tried to swarm it. When one of the witches got too close to its flank, a huge wing snapped out and flattened her.

Another witch grabbed a snake and hurled it at the dragon. The viper latched onto the dragon’s neck while thin, shiny drops rolled down its thick scales as the snake tried to pump its magically derived venom into the beast.

The dragon’s roar blasted the hair back from the nearby witches. Then, its head snapped out with surprising speed. For a second, all I saw was the bottom halves of the witches’ blue robes because the dragon’s thick head blocked the rest of them. Then, the dragon reared back up, clenching several big, blue, bloody forms between its teeth.

That’s when I realized I wasn’t hallucinating.

Back away from her, or I swear I will turn into a dragon and eat every last fucking one of you!Denise had said two days ago. Morgana and the others had laughed, but no one was laughing now.

Except me.

“Ha ha ha ha! Oh, it’s on now, bitches!”