Page 43 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)

“Unhand me this instant. Do you know who I am? I am about to become the most powerful mage the world has ever seen. You can’t do this to me!

” His angular face turns red with the effort he’s expending to get free from Levi’s power.

It’s kind of fascinating to watch, like observing a fly try to free itself from a spider’s web.

He’s quite the sight to behold, with the blood running down his nose and forehead. He looks less like an esteemed pillar of the community and more like someone who lost a bar fight.

I bark out a laugh at his delusions. “My guy, you know what happened to the last dude Lua was working with? Your friend Doyle? I killed him even when he had charms to protect him from Lua.” Giles gapes at me, and I break into a grin at rattling him.

“You will never be the most powerful anything, anywhere. Lua’s just using you, and she’ll kill you as soon as she gets what she wants. ”

“You’re cute thinking there’s going to be anything left of him when I’m done with him,” Bishop growls, his face set in a terrifyingly savage smile. I look around and see the rest of my mates and even Rhys nodding in agreement.

My nose scrunches in confusion. “I thought we were planning to send him back to Infernus ?”

“We were. Then we found out what he did to you. Now, we’re not.” Luca shrugs like it’s as simple as that. I guess to them, it is. I honestly don’t care what happens to Giles as long as I don’t have to see him ever again.

Shrugging, I turn back to a visibly nervous Giles, who is finally realizing the severity of his situation. “Anyway, what can you tell us about Lua’s plans and how, exactly, she’s draining magic?”

His upper lip curls in distaste at having to talk to me. “Why would I tell you anything? You’re going to kill me whether I tell you or not, so there’s nothing in it for me.”

Cain prowls toward Giles, some of his wispy black flames floating around him as he does. His eyes are glowing the red of his hellhound, and he’s bulkier than usual. He looks kind of like the Grim Reaper personified as he plants his hands on the desk and gets in Giles’s face.

“Because we can make your death easy and swift. Or we can make it painful and lingering. Do you know the longest I’ve ever tortured someone?” Cain pauses until the councilman shakes his head. “It was for an entire year. It’s amazing the things the human body can be put through and still survive.”

Cain’s smile is more like a baring of teeth before he pushes off the desk and comes to stand beside me once again. He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into his side.

I don’t know whether he’s comforting me or himself. Either way, I enjoy the feel of him against me.

Giles’s eyes go wide, and he starts struggling against Levi’s magic once more. Unfortunately for him, he’s still a mage. He’s powerful for what he is but no match for my cura mate.

When he realizes that fighting is useless, he slumps in his chair.

He trains his gaze on me, and, unsurprisingly, it’s brimming with hatred.

“Her plans are to take over the planet and subjugate the lesser races. Mages are her chosen people, and we will take our rightful place at the top once she succeeds. There is nothing you can do to stop her.”

Throwing his head back, Giles lets out an unhinged cackle, and I’m surprised he doesn’t start foaming at the mouth.

Once his laughter subsides, I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that before. So, how does Lua drain magic from the lower mages?”

His eyes widen. “How did you find out about that?”

“The mages you drained told me.” He looks at me in confusion. “Oh, that’s right, you’re out of the loop. I’m a spirit mage. I see and talk to dead people. Surprise!” I do jazz hands and give him a big, shit-eating grin.

Revealing I actually have magic to people like Giles is one of my new favorite things.

“That… that’s not possible. You’re just a magicless mistake that is unfit to bear the Gallagher name.”

Two points to my new least favorite councilman for calling me an insult I haven’t heard before. A solid C for creativity.

My mates are unamused by the novel insult if their growling is anything to go by.

I let both types of my magic wind around my arms and reach out to the councilman.

My magic dances around him playfully as he stares at it with disbelief.

“It’s definitely possible. Turns out, I have two different kinds of magic.

I’m starting to wonder if any of the mages of Hawthorne Grove are actually all that powerful, because how did all of you miss that a seven-year-old had magic? ”

That’s the question, isn’t it? Shouldn’t these supposedly super powerful mages have noticed that a literal child had magic she struggled to control? I know I would notice if someone had a massive amount of power, especially if they insisted they had zero magic.

Whether it was a lack of care or just plain incompetence, I’m grateful that no one picked up on my magic before now.

Giles opens and closes his mouth in complete shock as he watches my magic.

Eventually he gets over his shock and glares at me so hard, I’m surprised I’m not incinerated by laser beams from his eyeballs.

“You’re lying! This is a trick. St. James is just making it seem like you have magic.

I am too smart to fall for your desperate attempt to make it seem like you’re anything other than a magicless whore. ”

I just blink at him for a moment.

How is that the conclusion he arrives at? He’s so desperate to believe I’m the magicless reject he always thought I was that he has to do mental gymnastics to justify it.

Shaking my head at him, I shrug. “Whatever you wanna think, my dude. It doesn’t really matter if you believe me. Back to the point, how does Lua drain mages?”

He puffs out his chest as he stares me down. “You can torture me for decades. I will never reveal her secret.”

Cain shrugs. “That’s fine by me. You might want to look away for this part, angel. It can get messy.”

Casually rolling up the sleeves of his forest green button-down, Cain slowly walks over to the councilman.

Giles gulps as my sweet wolf mate approaches him looking anything but.

Like with the guard, Cain reaches into Levi’s magic and grabs something.

A sickening crunch sounds in the office before Giles screams in pain.

Rolling his eyes, Cain says, “It’s just a broken wrist. I dealt with worse when I was ten.” He lets Giles sob for a few moments. “Still think torture is your best option?”

Giles takes a deep breath and tries to look like he wasn’t just sobbing. “You will never get anything out of me, you useless mutt.”

Generally, I’d think it would be inadvisable to insult someone torturing you. But what do I know? I’m just a magicless nobody who’s banged my way here, apparently.

Cain gives him a chilling smile that has Giles gulping. Pulling out a knife from somewhere, Cain moves so fast I don’t even see it. I just hear Giles screaming and see a stripe of blood across his cheek.

After adding matching cuts all over the councilman’s face, Cain shoves the blade into the cloud of Levi’s magic. He hit his target, if the hollering from Giles is any indication. Cain continues cutting up the councilman, all without asking a single question.

After watching the gruesome show for a while, I remember something. “Cain?”

“Yes, angel?”

“Why, exactly, are you torturing Giles? Levi can just look through his mind and find the info we need.”

Cain gives me a half-smile. “Because it’s fun. And he deserves it.”

“I mean, I can’t argue with that, I guess.

” Giles is definitely someone who deserves a little torture.

Not for what he told his sons to do to me but for his role in draining lower mage kids and whatever other atrocities he perpetrated as a councilman.

“But I would like to get out of here sooner rather than later.”

I could go my whole life without ever setting foot in this building again and be perfectly content. In fact, I’d be way happier if I never saw it again.

“Still think he’s sweet, sunshine?” Archer asks me through a smile.

I huff a laugh. “Yep. He’s still the sweetest and gentlest of all of you.”

Even with his penchant for torture, Cain has still always been nothing but sweet to me. He may reserve his quiet and gentle side for me, but that just makes me think he’s even more of a teddy bear on the inside.

Archer looks at me like I have two heads. “What the fuck did he do to convince you of this?”

Just to mess with him, I stand on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “If I told you, he’d have to kill you.”

He stares at me with wide eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re joking or if you’re dead serious and know some secret about him. It’s freaking me out.”

I snort but don’t say anything either way. I’m sure the giant grin on my face gives me away, but I don’t care, because it feels too good to genuinely laugh and smile.

Archer shakes his head at me but can’t keep the grin off his face either.

Sighing, Cain shoves his knife into the councilman once more, his lips tipping up at the pained howls Giles lets out. Turning around, Cain walks back over to me. “You can look through his memories now, Levi.”

Pursing his lips as he regards the councilman, Levi asks, “Are you sure you don’t want Cain to try for a few more minutes or hours, little raven?”

I huff a laugh. “I’m sure. I really just want to get out of here.”

Levi’s expression softens, and he dips his chin in acknowledgement before letting his magic flow out of him.

A weakened and bloody Giles barely struggles as Levi’s power heads right toward him. When it collides with the councilman, he goes still and silent for a long moment before the screaming starts.

As I watch Giles writhe, I feel absolutely no pity for him. There’s probably something wrong with me that I don’t have a problem with Cain or Levi hurting him, but oh well.

“Fuck!” Levi shouts when he comes out of the trance of his magic.

I’m going to take a wild guess that I won’t like whatever he found.