A blast of cold washed through the room. It was gone in a moment, a terrible casting. Or maybe the spell had reached its expiration date in the casing. Hard to say.
I threw another. A surge of light went up, accompanied by a loud pop. The mages flinched. Someone shouted. Another dropped to his belly.
I jumped to my feet and took in the space, taking in the overall shape and positioning of people without registering any specific details. Mostly empty, but with a few wooden bench seats, the airy room was a perfect square. Within that, a dozen or so men were recovering from my distraction, getting ready to cast. Based on the size of the room versus the overall size of the building, the closed doors on the side walls and in the back led to other rooms rather than closets. The problem was that I didn’t know where the powerful mage was hiding.
In a quick decision, I broke left, grabbing out volatile spells, pinching and throwing. Red streaked past me, followed by pink. Blue splashed at my feet, unleashing some sort of fog. Whatever the effect, it didn’t penetrate my leather pants.
Running, I threw more spells, some lobbed, some hard and toward the ground. Flashes and explosions and one weird monster burst from them, my spells totally unpredictable. Shock and awe. I burst through the side door and quickly slammed it behind me, hoping I wasn’t trapping myself.
A large group of chanting women gathered around a cauldron in the middle of the bare room. Liquid bubbled within it, and steam swirled above it, twisting as it reached for the ceiling. As one, they all turned to look at me, their eyes glazed and completely white.
“What the fu—” I paused for a moment in indecision, not knowing what was more dangerous, the strange women or whatever they were brewing. I needed to know what would be chasing me.
My question was answered almost immediately when the chanting quickened, rising in pitch and volume. The steam pulsed red. In the cauldron, blood rose up through the once-clear liquid. The bubbles started popping, spraying the ladies. Their bodies undulated, their arms jerking. The steam drifted in my direction. A figure started to take form within, spindly and clawed—it was definitely some sort of monster.
“Nope.” I ripped out my gun and shot the pot. The bullet ricocheted. I snatched a spell next and lobbed it, the throw perfect. The orb plunked into the liquid. Swish!
The blast went skyward, enveloping most of the steam. A moment later, it imploded, sucking the spell, liquid, and crazy down into itself. The cauldron shook, wobbling on the floor. Screaming drowned out the iron scraping the stone. One of the women ran at me, her hands curved like claws.
“Seriously, what the hell is up with you broads?” I slapped her arms to the sides and punched her in the face. Her feet flew out from under her. She whipped back and landed on the ground, her head thunking.
Cue insanity.
Screaming or gurgling women lurched after me. I ripped out my gun and fired, trying to make nonlethal shots. I hit one in the shoulder. She whipped back, screeching like a bird of prey, but kept coming.
I shot another. She didn’t feel it either, ignoring the blood now streaming down her leg.
“What are you ladies?” I asked, backing up.
The door behind me opened.
I whipped out an invisible wall spell, pinched, and threw. The spell engaged a little early, stopping two feet from the man coming through the door. He threw a hex, his lips moving and his brow scrunched in effort. Bright green flew out from his open palm. It hit the invisible wall and reflected. He screamed as his spell ate away his exposed skin.
If I’d needed proof they were trying to kill me, that was it. Green light for the no-holds-barred approach.
A hand grabbed my shoulder. An intense shock dug down and frayed through my body. I jerked out of the woman’s grasp, my teeth chattering. I spun and shot. So much for nonlethal. The woman fell. Her eyes changed from white to red, the same color as the potion they’d made.
“You ladies are dabbling in some dark stuff, huh?” I kicked out, my foot connecting with a head. My target staggered, trying to keep her balance. Another woman almost reached me. I shot. She windmilled back, no shock or anything on her face. Just trying to stay upright. That same blood-red color filled her eyes, and her hair changed from brown to a swampy sort of green.
I had no idea what kind of spell would make any of this happen. If there was one, I’d never heard of it before, and that was saying something.
The woman on the ground jerked. Her body bowed backward and she shrieked. I shot another as Exorcist lady struggled to her feet. Like a zombie, she convulsed before lurching after me, her arms out, trying to grab.
Zombies.
I groaned. “What kind of a freak show is this mage running?”
I put my gun away and took out my sword. Another of the women came at me. I slashed, cutting off her head. Killing them was very similar to killing vampires, only easier.
“Dumb move on your part, ladies.” I smashed my foot into one woman’s knee. It bent sideways. She spilled to the ground, clawing at the stone. “You should not work with spells you are unfamiliar with. Look what happens. You get turned into zombies.”
I cut off a head and stomped on a chest. A whizz sounded behind me. The mages were working on the spell I’d thrown.
“Where the hell are Dizzy and Callie?” I chopped off another head, spun, and sliced at a neck. The head lolled to the side, a part still attached.
My stomach swam. That was gross.
I took out the last one as blood started dripping from her mouth. How they could be so stupid as to unknowingly turn themselves into zombies, I had no idea, but it seemed to be par for the course with the type of people the mage had gathered around him.