Light Magic (Rite World: Fallen Angel #2)

Chapter 1

Things weren’t going my way.

Several years ago, I lost my wings and my Celestial Blade. Then about seven months ago, a higher demon stole my magic.

And two weeks ago, when things seemed to finally be aligning, I was hurt again.

This one shouldn’t matter.

Because I knew Levi was an evil demon from the beginning, I knew I shouldn’t trust him, and yet, I lowered my guard. I let him mess with my head. I almost let him mess with my heart. And in the end, he was just using me for his own gains.

It shouldn’t matter but it freaking hurt.

I was alone and lost again, unsure what to do.

But I had to keep living, and for that, I needed money. I thought about stealing something or robbing someone, but that went against everything angels stood for.

Or should have stood for.

I didn’t know what was going on in Elysium these days, if angels were still considered righteous, honorable, pure.

I ended up in Phoenix, where the weather wasn’t bad in March. I found a fight club.

Like the first time in Houston with Mr. Green, I was laughed at and ignored.

“A tiny thing like you,” a bull of a man said from inside the cage. “What are you going to do? Stand there and look cute?”

Oh, that had boiled my blood.

Intent on proving myself, I scaled the cage's fence, and jumped in the ring. “I’m going to whip your ass, and if I do, I’ll get all of your winnings for the night. Deal?”

The guy glanced at the suited man on a viewing deck upstairs. The man nodded, and the guy charged at me.

I was short and lean, but I was damn fast and a trained warrior who had fought against numerous supernaturals.

This man was a slow human.

I easily dodge all of his strikes, jumped out of the way when he lunged at me, and even toyed with him. Once, I slid underneath his legs and kicked him in the lower back, making him lose his balance. Another time, I climbed over his side and around him, wrapped my legs around his thick waist and my arms around his neck. The man fell back, thinking he would pin me. But I let him go and whirled out of the way. When he fell to the floor, the breath whooshed out of his lungs. I straddled him and landed a punch to his cheek, and another to his chin.

When he rose to his feet, he was furious.

But little by little, he tired.

And I won the fight.

As expected, the owner of the fighting club found me as I was leaving and invited me to fight tomorrow night.

“Whatever you made today from Tod, I’ll guarantee double if you win,” he promised.

I was in.

As I left the club, I felt dirty. Beating up humans to make money wasn’t what an angel’s life was supposed to be. If only Adona saw me now …

I shook my head. Adona was what humans called the almighty god with a big G, but humans believed their God saw all, knew all. It wasn’t exactly like that, and I was glad.

Not that I knew what was happening up there. Was Adona still in charge? Did she know about Rhodes and his betrayal? Was he working for her?

Those questions ate at my mind, and sometimes I could barely breathe.

I pulled the hood of my leather jacket up, shoved my hands in the pockets, and crossed the street. Three blocks from the club, I hopped on a bus, sat in the back row, and stared at the night outside the windows.

All the while, I watched everyone who got on and off the bus. I couldn’t help it, knowing the angels were still after me and had issued a reward for any supernatural who captured me.

The bus ride to the edge of town, where I had been renting a room at a shady motel, was about twenty minutes, but it felt like four hours. I had been filled with so much anxiety since I had gotten my wings back.

I could have hidden in a dark alley near the fighting club, sprung my wings, and flown to the motel, but I had done that in another town before stopping in Phoenix, and supernaturals had easily spotted me.

Now, I avoided flying.

The more human I looked, the better.

That was why I had dyed my silver-blond hair dark brown—the color didn’t take well, and it now looked like a dark, faded blond. But at least now my hair didn’t advertise what I was.

After the ordeal with Levi, I had gone back to Houston to pack some of my things and get rid of my apartment. For a split second, I almost stopped by Sylvie's to say goodbye to her, but I knew she would tattle on me to an annoying demon.

Halfway through the ride, two tall men entered the bus. I tensed. One was wearing a loose tank, and his big biceps were covered in tattoos. The other wore a sleeveless hoodie and kept his head low.

They glanced at me, then sat in the middle of the bus.

Oh, shit.

Since I had lost my magic, I couldn’t recognize all supernaturals, and lately it seemed I was either paranoid, or the ability was leaving me altogether, because I couldn’t tell anymore.

I would only be sure the moment they attacked me.

As the bus rolled down the street, I wondered if I should exit at the next stop. Better to have them follow me now than near the motel.

Either way, if I had been found, I would have to move, but I needed my things from the motel, especially the potions that muted my aura from the angels. I had gone through a whole ordeal to get those and I couldn’t lose them now.

Next stop was a busy one, near a school and an open shopping center, so it wasn’t the best one to get off to fight supernaturals. The bus stopped, the men glanced at me, as if watching to see if I would get off. Instead, three teenagers and an elderly couple got on. They sat in the back of the bus, on the opposite side of me. They smiled while playing with their phones and two of them seemed to be sharing the same pair of earbuds. The older couple sat with difficulty a little farther back than the two men, and like me, they watched the outside as the bus started moving again.

The two men looked my way again.

The next stop was also not a good one, right by a hospital and a busy intersection.

Nearing the third stop, I got up and headed to the middle of the bus where the exit door was located. The bus slowed down, and I dared glance at the men—they were staring intently at me.

Shit.

The bus stopped, I hopped off, and started walking fast to the left, away from the hospital and into a more residential neighborhood. I glanced at the bus as it drove past me—and the two men were still inside and looking at me.

What?

I was about to run, but it seemed I didn’t need to.

“Oh, angel,” a voice called from behind me.

A cold shiver rolled down my spine and I tensed.

Slowly, I turned and saw the two girls and the boy who had been seated at the back with me.

Oh, shit, they were supernaturals.

Not wanting to find out what kind, I turned and ran—only to skid to a stop three seconds later.

The elderly couple stood in my path, only four feet from me.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the man asked. Right before my eyes, they changed into younger versions of themselves with long, brown hair and pointed ears.

Wood fae.

It had been a glamour.

I whirled back to the teenagers. Were they fae too? No, two of them bared their fangs at me, and the other shifted into a hyena.

Five against one.

I couldn’t fight five supernaturals by myself.

I pushed the desperation threatening to spill from me back down. Pumping my arms hard, I ran straight forward, into the road, leaving them behind.

I needed to cross the road, get out of sight, and then I could use my wings.

But I knew I couldn’t outrun any of them.

I tried holding on until I crossed the line of buildings and entered a dark alley, but a vampire lunged at me from behind as I hit the sidewalk.

I didn’t think. My wings sprang free and I pushed up.

Vines sprouted from the ground, through the broken cement, like a viper, and wrapped around my legs. I flapped my wings harder, but the vines pulled me down.

Then the hyena jumped over me, the vampires had their hands around me, and the fae walked like they were on the red carpet, a few feet back, enjoying the show.

“I’ve heard of your black wings,” one of the fae said. “I thought it was only rumor.”

“That means you’re evil now?” the other fae asked. “Is that why the angels offered such a big reward for you?”

I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of answering their questions.

Instead, I opened my wings wide, turned them sideways, and spun my body in place. The fae were able to get away from the swipe, but the vampires and the hyena fell to the ground.

Without wasting a second, I flapped my wings and took to the sky.

Not three seconds later, I cried as a sharp pain exploded in my shoulder. I shook in the air, almost hitting the third floor of the building in front of me and had to swallow a cry when I looked down and saw a wooden stake protruding from my skin.

The damn thing hurt!

I tried ignoring the pain, but it was close to my shoulder blade and it was hard to flap and keep steady with that thing across my shoulder.

I tried landing on top of the building, and fell on my knees, breathing hard.

My trembling fingers brushed the stake, trying to pull it out, but couldn't get a grip on the smooth wood. Besides, if I really thought about it, depending on how bad it was, I could bleed out right here, right now.

With a groan, I pushed to my feet. I needed to soar from the roof, into the quiet neighborhood ahead. That should give me a good advantage against these supernaturals and I could get away.

I hoped.

I dragged my feet to the edge of the building and?—

“Where do you think you’re going, angel?” a voice said.

I glanced back and saw the two guys from the bus. So, they were supernaturals! Not that that mattered right now. I needed to get away from here.

I opened my wings, wincing in pain, and jumped.

And one of them jumped on top of me.

I screamed, tried holding the extra weight, but went down several yards away from the building, in a wooded area—was it a backyard? A park? I didn’t know.

I fell hard on the grass, rolling several times, and even though I tucked my wings around myself, I felt my elbows and knees scrapping and burning against the lawn.

Dazed, I tried getting up, to continue moving, but everything hurt.

A growl came from above me and I found the man straddling me. Now that his hood had fallen from over his head, I could see his features and he was definitely a half goblin.

He bared his sharp teeth at me. “Behave, angel, or I’ll have to turn in your dead body to them. The reward is smaller if you’re dead.”

What?

I groaned and pushed my hips up, as hard as I could. The half goblin rose a little, and I used that to pull one of my legs from underneath him. When he fell again, ready to strike, I kicked him in the stomach and he fell back.

“You—”

I kicked again, but this time he dodged my assault, and I crawled to the side and away. But I didn’t go three feet until he was on top of me again. I dug my hands into the grass and fisted some dirt before he grabbed me by my hair and pulled me up to my knees.

“I’ll skin you alive, angel.”

I raised my hands and threw the dirt in his face, and I looked down, so the dirt wouldn’t fall on me.

The half goblin sputtered and dropped me.

I wobbled to my feet.

The other man stood right in front of me. “Stop running, princess. You won’t win.” He grabbed my upper arm and pulled me along with him. Light, I wanted to cry. “Quick, the others are coming.”

Wait. They weren’t all together?

As if the universe wanted to answer my question, the two vampires zoomed to us—one taking the man holding me, the other grappling with the half goblin.

For a moment, I was free.

I ran, fleeing into a thicket. My ankle twisted on a raised tree root and I toppled to the ground.

Tonight was not my night.

If only I could survive …

But as the time ticked by, the pain increased, my mind became blurrier, and the odds seemed to be against me.

I could hear the hyena coming at me. I found a thick branch on the ground, and when it lunged, I swung, hitting it with the branch square in its head. It went down with a yelp and was clearly disoriented.

I pushed through the pain, the dizziness, and kept going, one twisted step in front of the other. Finally, the trees opened up a little. My wings sprang wide and I took flight.

The hyena bit down on my wing and weighed me down. I yelped as I lost my balance and hit my wounded shoulder against a tree, and I almost went down again.

The hyena let go of me and I flew higher, until I was free of the trees. I could hear the shouts and the fight below, but I didn’t care.

I didn’t care if a human saw me now.

All I had to do was fly.

Fly away, fly to the motel, and sleep this exhaustion off.

At some point, I could have sworn I had fainted while flying, but I was probably on automatic pilot, and somehow ended up at the door of my motel room.

I fumbled with the keys, my hands shaking hard, and I dragged myself inside. I kicked the door closed and fell to the floor, not even making it to the bed.

The adrenaline was leaving my body, and the pain was almost unbearable. I lifted my hand to the stake still in my shoulder, and my fingertips became red with my blood.

Shit, this wasn’t good.

I sat up, my back to the bed, and tried to slow my breathing. I couldn’t sleep now. If I did, I wasn’t sure I would wake up.

I looked around, searching for a miracle. Some magical pain medicine or healing powder.

Three gold coins sat piled beside my bag on the dresser.

I blinked, feeling my consciousness slipping away.

Without a choice, I snatched one of the coins and called to her.

“Lacey,” I whispered.

A moment later, a purple portal appeared in front of me and a pretty witch crossed.

“Ariella?” I heard her, but I couldn’t really see more than a shape. “By the moon.” She hissed and reached for me.

And everything went black.