Chapter 34
Chapter
Thirty-Four
Evin
A fter the chaos of the introductions, Elijah excused himself to give us some privacy. Something had definitely gone down between the two of them. It didn’t take an aura reader to see the sexual tension between them as a physical force in the air. Hida wouldn’t like it, but good for Kainda, as far as I’m concerned. She’d been so consumed with avenging her father that she’d stopped living.
As long as she was happy, I was happy for her. From the look on Hida’s face, we’d all hear about her displeasure on the subject. Green magic flared around Hida’s hands, and she spoke in a language only she seemed to know. We’d all heard her use it before, but we’d never heard anyone else use it. A dome formed around us, reminiscent of a bubble, with a kaleidoscope of colors swirling across the surface. My ears popped as the air pressure changed from the spell.
“Now that prying ears can’t hear what’s?—”
“Are you seriously sleeping with the human?” Hida cut me off with her typical barking order as her eyes shot accusatory fiery looks at Kainda.
Kainda didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. We’d all seen the fist marks in Elijah’s shirt when we’d walked in. It was fairly obvious Hida and I had interrupted them making out. And the old crone with the youthful appearance of a supermodel was pissed. Here we go.
“You know this is wrong. None of us can afford to go into this battle against Uttu distracted, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen now.” She plucked her knife off her belt and began her fidgeting routine of flicking it around at light speed. “You’re as bad as your father, can’t keep it in your pants during a mission. Personally, I’d like to not lose any more of this team because you’re distracted by the opposite sex.”
Kainda tossed her hand up and flung a spell at Hida knocking the knife from the other woman’s hand. Before I could intervene, my teammates had tackled each other like a pair of linebackers. They met in the middle so hard, the sound of their bodies connecting shocked me. For fuck’s sake!
Looks like they weren’t pulling their punches. The bubble spell dissolved with an audible pop, and the ambient noise seemed loud to my ears after the relative silence as Hida’s concentration on the magic ended. My magic manifested as flames crawling along my hands and forearms as I prepared to break them up. Lifting my arms in front of myself, I cracked my knuckles and stretched, watching them closely.
These two rarely fought and never anything physical aside from sparring. Now I had to be the grown up— I hated that— and break them up before someone got seriously hurt. But this hadn’t come as a complete surprise, either. Under Theron’s leadership, Hida had led her own missions and team, while Kainda hadn’t taken on a leadership role. But since his death, Kainda had wedged herself in as the leader of the group, and it chafed Hida. Mostly I think because she didn’t believe the younger witch was ready for the responsibility.
“What the hell?” Elijah said from across the room as the sound of his hurried footsteps echoed through the room.
Now is not the time, Evin! That little internal voice of reason shouted at me, but the proverbial devil on my shoulder said fuck it and made me do it. “Hell isn’t real, human.”
Kainda rolled around the floor with Hida, like a pair of puppies tussling. Despite Hida’s superior powers and age, she didn’t appear to have the upper hand. She’d started to hold back, not actually wanting to hurt the younger witch. Kainda on the other hand had no such qualms. Her hand fisted in the ancient woman’s hair and used the grip to attempt to pull her into a headbutt.
“Aren’t you going to do something?” Elijah asked as he stopped next to me. Thankfully, smart enough not to try to separate the two warring women.
Looking at him, I tried to decide if he was as stupid as that question implied. No, not stupid, just ignorant of the consequences because he’s human and literally doesn’t know any better. Holding up my hands in front of his face, I answered him. “I’m going to try to, but these dumb bitches aren’t exactly pussycats in an alley. They have magic same as I do, and magic can be unpredictable as shit when emotions are running high.”
“So I’ve seen with Kainda.” As he spoke, something about his face changed in a way that got the cogs in my brain turning.
Just as I turned back to find an opening to jump in, Hida got her legs between herself and Kainda. She planted her feet against the redheaded witch and shoved, sending Kainda careening across the room. Hida sprang back to her feet and went to rush after the younger woman. I stepped right into her path. And these bitches thought I was a hot head.
The crone drew up short, way too close to my face. Blood trickled from a small cut by her left eyebrow, and more blood had gotten smeared across her forehead. With no wound in sight, it likely belonged Kainda. I put my hands up, letting her feel the heat of the magical flames that engulfed my hands. The light reflected in her eyes as they narrowed on my face.
“Calm the fuck down and walk it off! We can’t afford to be fighting each other. Talking about Theron and her mom like that was a low fucking blow, and you fucking know it.”
Elijah stepped away from us and went to Kainda. Looking over my shoulder, the redhead climbed to her feet, smacking the dust off her pants. Blood had smeared all over the lower half of her face, coming from her nose. Hida must have landed a successful headbutt straight to Kainda’s nose. My own throbbed in sympathy.
“Turk’s death was a hazard of the job. We all know that going into any mission, there’s a chance one or more of us isn’t coming back. He still went. Yes, it’s a tragedy that he died that day, but it was no more Theron’s fault than it was yours.” Kainda yanked the hem of her shirt from the waistband of her pants and wiped the blood off. “I’m sorry you lost your lover, but I’m not my father.”
“From where I’m standing, I’m not seeing any difference.” Hida turned at that point and left the building without another word.
Kainda spit out a mouthful of blood and walked across the room to a small bathroom in the far corner of the warehouse. Elijah looked after her for a moment before turning to me. I just shrugged and let my magic reabsorb into my body. It was going to be a long few days, and the tension had already gotten thicker than Kainda’s head. Grabbing my backpack, I went and set up my own bedroll. When they calmed the fuck down, we could plan this shit out.
“What the hell just happened?”
“Hell does?—”
“Hell doesn’t exist!” Elijah shouted, cutting off my retort. “I heard you the first time!”