Life's A Witch

Chapter Nineteen

I rolled out of the way right as an older man with messy long hair and a goatee shot a spell my way. The carpet singed less than a foot from my face and my eyes widened as I imagined what would've happened if it had hit me and not the floor. I tried to put the thought out of my mind. Scars so weren't a good look for me.

I took cover under our glass coffee table just as one of the guys ran across the room and leaped into the air. I was terrified that he would hit his mark, but I stayed still for just a few seconds longer. My heart was racing and everything in me screamed to move, but I forced myself to stay put.

Finally, just before my attacker's heavy black boots went crashing through the glass above me, I shot out of the way, missing the fatal blow by milliseconds. Shards of glass sprinkled down like crystal rain, but I didn't stop to shield myself. Instead, I thrust my leg up and kicked the guy as hard as I could in the side of the head as he leaned down to take a second try at me. With nowhere to go since he was stuck in the frame of the coffee table, the guy fell over the side and landed with a thud. When he didn't get back up, I assumed the layer of glass on the floor had slowed him down.

With one guy down and two closing in, I turned back to Asher, who was lying facedown a few feet away. "Asher! Wake up!" I yelled at him. I didn't know what I would do if he didn't answer. I needed him to get up. Even if it was just so he could get out of there intact.

But he wasn't moving. I was about to screech at him again when I felt a shot of pain hit my lower back and make its way up my spine, exploding in mind-crushing pain seconds later. Without thinking, I spun around to look my attacker in the eyes. When another girl around my age looked back at me, I blinked with surprise.

"I heard you think you're something special," she sneered. Her hair was as blond as mine was black, but darkness clouded her features. She was pretty, though. If she'd gone to my school, she probably would've been competition.

"Funny, I haven't heard anything about you," I said, placing my perfectly manicured hands on my hips and popping my hip out like I was posing for a picture.

This seemed to piss her off and she started to advance on me slowly. I knew I should put my hands up to protect my face in case she lashed out, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of thinking she had me worried. I'd sparred enough with my dad to know that I was ready for whatever she threw my way.

I waited to see whether she was going to come at me with a spell or with her fists, bending my legs slightly so I was ready for either. When she was within striking distance, she raised her fist and I knew we were settling this civilian-style.

No magic it is.

Her knuckles made contact with my hands as I blocked each hit she threw my way. The girl was putting so much energy into each blow, I knew it wouldn't be long before she tired herself out. So I stayed on the defensive and allowed her to go crazy. As soon as I saw her chest heaving, I waged my own attack.

I struck fast and hard, but the difference was, I knew where to hit her so she'd end up on the ground. Three strikes and she was out, lying on the floor next to her partner in crime, unconscious but not dead.

"Guess I am that good," I said, looking down at her.

Two more roundhouse kicks and I'd taken out a few more guys as they came into the room to join their fallen friends. One managed to get a blow or two in himself, but my adrenaline was running so high I didn't even feel it. They came at me one after another through the kitchen door and I alternated between hand-to-hand combat and spells, doing whatever I could to keep up with them. Just as I threw a woman back over the couch with a tossing spell, I looked over my right shoulder and saw that still more were appearing.