Page 50 of Loving Amari
I barely have time to register the attack, to calculate how to defend myself without hurting him, before Tofi explodes from a crack in the wall I didn’t even know existed. The space looks impossibly small for her massive frame, but she squeezesthrough like liquid, her spider body reforming as she slams into Torin mid-leap.
They hit the ground hard. Torin snarls, snapping at Tofi with those extended canines. She pins him gently, her legs creating a cage around his small body.
“Don’t hurt him!” I drop to my knees beside them, my hands hovering uselessly. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
Torin thrashes beneath Tofi’s hold, his claws scraping against her exoskeleton without leaving a mark. The sounds coming from his throat aren’t childlike. They’re primal. Wrong.
More doors open down the hallway. The clicks amplify in the quiet. One door. Two. Five. Ten. Children pour into the corridor from both directions. Bear shifters, some already partially transformed with claws and muscle mass that shouldn’t exist on frames so small. Lion shifters with gleaming golden eyes. Wolf shifters moving in a pack mentality that’s too coordinated. Little witches and warlocks, magic already sparking around their small hands in colors that range from innocent pink to ominous black.
All of them have those same glowing blue eyes.
All of them are advancing on me.
I look at Bobby, my voice dropping to a command. “Get the enclosure to Angie. Now!”
He doesn’t question me. Just takes off running, his vampire speed carrying him up the remaining stairs toward Angie’s workroom. The enclosure bounces under his arm, and I pray to whatever gods are listening that it doesn’t break.
The children keep coming. A young bear cub, no more than six years old, growls low in her throat. A warlock boy raises his hands, fire magic crackling between his palms. A lion shifter girl drops to all fours, her partial transformation making her look more monster than child.
That’s when the others arrive.
Kade and Leah teleport in, black smoke dissipating around them. Kade’s eyes widen as she takes in the scene, but there’s no fear there. Just calculation. Leah’s hands already glow with magic, ready to defend.
Damon and Selene flash into position from opposite ends of the hallway, creating a defensive line. Selene’s hand hovers near the knife at her thigh, but she doesn’t draw it. Not yet. Not against children.
The battle begins.
Damon catches a small fist aimed at his face, redirects it gently. Sweeps a leg not to harm but to unbalance.
Selene flows like water around the attacks. Her assassin training makes her movements economical, precise. A pressure point here drops a wolf shifter pup into unconsciousness. A joint lock there immobilizes a bear cub without causing pain. She reads their attacks before they make them, positioning herself to intercept without ever having to strike with full force. They drop to the ground around her, dazed but unharmed, confusion replacing the blue glow in their eyes for brief moments before the possession reasserts itself.
Kade teleports in rapid succession, black smoke marking each appearance and disappearance. She grabs a child, vanishes, reappears. Each time she returns, she’s slightly more winded, but the child in her arms always goes limp upon reappearing. The teleportation shocks their systems just enough that the possessing spirits can’t maintain their hold. The blue glow fades from their eyes, and they slump into natural sleep.
Leah works beside her mate, creating a rhythm. She uses her magic to corral the children toward Kade, blue and gold threads that guide without harming.
But the witches and warlocks are different. Their magic doesn’t follow the same rules as their bodies. A young witch sends a blast of ice that shatters against the wall where myhead was a moment before. A warlock boy creates illusions that multiply his form, making it impossible to track which one is real. Their power is wild, untrained, and made exponentially more dangerous by the souls directing it.
A door flies open near the end of the hall. Aaron stumbles out in pajama pants and a tank top, his dark short curls sticking up at odd angles. He rubs his eyes, taking in the chaos with the slow processing of someone just waking up. “What the hell is going on?”
A possessed bear cub charges him, claws extended and aimed for his stomach. Aaron’s hands glow instinctively, blue magic flaring. The spell hits the cub square in the chest, sending her sliding backward across the floor without injury. She hits the wall and slumps, momentarily stunned.
Aaron’s eyes go wide as he fully processes the scene. Possessed children. Fighting. Magic everywhere. Then a grin splits his face, equal parts excited and insane. “Holy shit, my school is possessed!”
Angie appears behind him in a flash of blue and gold, Jacob suddenly runs up beside her. Jacob doesn’t hesitate. He shifts partially, his wolf form giving him the strength to scoop Aaron up like he weighs nothing. He throws the boy over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
“Hey!” Aaron pounds on Jacob’s back. “No fair!”
“Shut up, Aaron. You are not helping.” Angie’s voice cracks like a whip, and Aaron’s mouth snaps shut.
“No fair!” Aaron’s protests fade as Jacob carries him away toward safety.
Angie surveys the chaos, magic crackling faintly around her fingertips. Her expression hardens, shifting from mother to warrior. “Oh shit, it’s starting.”
I dodge a blast of fire from a young witch, the heat singing past my face close enough to feel. “This is overpowering.”
“I’ve got it.” Magic spills from Angie’s fingers, blue and gold threads that have become her signature. They weave through the air like living things, splitting and multiplying until there’s a strand for every possessed child in the hallway. The spell hits them simultaneously. One by one, they crumple to the ground, their small bodies going limp mid-attack. It’s gentler than it looks. I can see their chests rising and falling with breath.
“Sleeping spell.” Angie’s breathing hard, sweat beading on her forehead. “Won’t last long.”