All the Elements were present for Kyle, but I knew his power to use them was limited without the aid of herbs or spells. He had maybe five shots total before his energy reserves would dry up.
Different types of Witches utilize energy differently. Whereas my power came from my will and from my Elementals, a Hedge Witch drew power from their herbs, incenses and ritual words. They pulled power and directed it from the plants and the Earth herself, but they rarely actually relinquished it like Elemental Witches did. So Kyle doing this without his accoutrements was like trying to power the lights at Wrigley Field with only half the juice needed. It wasn't going to last long.
The Fetches picked up a little speed now as they approached us, moving from a slight limping crawl to more of a determined stride. I retrieved the other gun with The Lady inscribed on it and held them both out.
Lady Darksome . "You got any suggestions?"
"Not unless Ivan can come up with something."
Ivan's magic worked through circuitry and the Internet. Out where we were, we'd been lucky he could open up Crwys's apartment.
Reinforcements would be nice, but Levi wasn't available and my phone rested in the pocket of my leather jacket. I didn't dare put my weapons down to retrieve it.
"Looks like we're on our own," I took in a deep breath. "One, two, three—"
Grey attacked first. She snarled and barked as she scraped the chewed up concrete with her claws. She took off after the Muffler Fetch.
I focused on Spider and Bottle Cap and fired as Kyle let loose a volley of bolts at Concrete Fetch. Every bullet I fired hit the Fetch it was intended for. My first shot scattered Bottle Cap all over the parking area and I immediately fired on Spider. The shots hit him as well, but they went through the plastic two-liter bottle. A few remained inside the bottle.
Okay. So the bullets weren't going to work on Spider.
Just as I came to that realization, my jaw dropped as the scattered caps bounced and quickly reformed Bottle Cap.
-This isn't going to work.-
Go away! I tried to will that voice back to where it came from. I don't need your help.
-You will.-
Sweet Lady! Okay time for plan B. I tossed my weapons into the still open door of my Jeep and summoned my Elementals. All four appeared in an instant, took one look at the Fetches and I didn't even need to say the word attack! I pulled energy from each of them, sending a long, powerful burst of water at Spider. With mine and my Undine's direction, most of the water went into the two-liter and weighed the thing down long enough for my Gnome to charge forward and start hacking the thing to death with her axe.
Grey cried out and my heart skipped. Turning, I saw her limping backward as Muffler charged at her. It held a pipe in one hand with a gear on the end of it. It looked like a badly worked medieval flail, but I knew if he struck her with it, the sharp edges of those spikes would do some damage. Not to mention—that's my mother it was going after.
-Let me help you.-
No!
Calling up my Salamander, I ran toward the little monster, loaded up a nice ball of fire and struck the thing with it. The impact knocked it backward and it tumbled a few feet away from Grey.
"Get in the Jeep!" I called out to her as I created another ball of fire and threw it again.
And again, it struck the Fetch. Again, it knocked it back, but it wasn't actually causing any damage. I needed something hotter, something stronger, to melt that son of a bitch into something that would knock that—
Pain, sharp and alarming, climbed up my back. I stumbled as I cried out and went down on my knees. The rough concreted scraped my palms as something crawled over my body. I realized too late that Bottle Cap had lunged at me and now the caps were all individually spinning like tiny little round saws, digging into my clothing and my flesh. My Elementals came to my aid, zapping and shooting the caps off with Fire, Water and Air as my Gnome stomped
Different types of Witches utilize energy differently. Whereas my power came from my will and from my Elementals, a Hedge Witch drew power from their herbs, incenses and ritual words. They pulled power and directed it from the plants and the Earth herself, but they rarely actually relinquished it like Elemental Witches did. So Kyle doing this without his accoutrements was like trying to power the lights at Wrigley Field with only half the juice needed. It wasn't going to last long.
The Fetches picked up a little speed now as they approached us, moving from a slight limping crawl to more of a determined stride. I retrieved the other gun with The Lady inscribed on it and held them both out.
Lady Darksome . "You got any suggestions?"
"Not unless Ivan can come up with something."
Ivan's magic worked through circuitry and the Internet. Out where we were, we'd been lucky he could open up Crwys's apartment.
Reinforcements would be nice, but Levi wasn't available and my phone rested in the pocket of my leather jacket. I didn't dare put my weapons down to retrieve it.
"Looks like we're on our own," I took in a deep breath. "One, two, three—"
Grey attacked first. She snarled and barked as she scraped the chewed up concrete with her claws. She took off after the Muffler Fetch.
I focused on Spider and Bottle Cap and fired as Kyle let loose a volley of bolts at Concrete Fetch. Every bullet I fired hit the Fetch it was intended for. My first shot scattered Bottle Cap all over the parking area and I immediately fired on Spider. The shots hit him as well, but they went through the plastic two-liter bottle. A few remained inside the bottle.
Okay. So the bullets weren't going to work on Spider.
Just as I came to that realization, my jaw dropped as the scattered caps bounced and quickly reformed Bottle Cap.
-This isn't going to work.-
Go away! I tried to will that voice back to where it came from. I don't need your help.
-You will.-
Sweet Lady! Okay time for plan B. I tossed my weapons into the still open door of my Jeep and summoned my Elementals. All four appeared in an instant, took one look at the Fetches and I didn't even need to say the word attack! I pulled energy from each of them, sending a long, powerful burst of water at Spider. With mine and my Undine's direction, most of the water went into the two-liter and weighed the thing down long enough for my Gnome to charge forward and start hacking the thing to death with her axe.
Grey cried out and my heart skipped. Turning, I saw her limping backward as Muffler charged at her. It held a pipe in one hand with a gear on the end of it. It looked like a badly worked medieval flail, but I knew if he struck her with it, the sharp edges of those spikes would do some damage. Not to mention—that's my mother it was going after.
-Let me help you.-
No!
Calling up my Salamander, I ran toward the little monster, loaded up a nice ball of fire and struck the thing with it. The impact knocked it backward and it tumbled a few feet away from Grey.
"Get in the Jeep!" I called out to her as I created another ball of fire and threw it again.
And again, it struck the Fetch. Again, it knocked it back, but it wasn't actually causing any damage. I needed something hotter, something stronger, to melt that son of a bitch into something that would knock that—
Pain, sharp and alarming, climbed up my back. I stumbled as I cried out and went down on my knees. The rough concreted scraped my palms as something crawled over my body. I realized too late that Bottle Cap had lunged at me and now the caps were all individually spinning like tiny little round saws, digging into my clothing and my flesh. My Elementals came to my aid, zapping and shooting the caps off with Fire, Water and Air as my Gnome stomped
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