Storm Witch Read online

  STORM WITCH

  Scarlet Jones, Book One

  D.N. HOXA

  Sign up to D.N. Hoxa's mailing list here.

  Copyright © 2018 by D.N. Hoxa

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Also by D.N. Hoxa

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-one

  Also by D.N. Hoxa

  Also by D.N. Hoxa

  ———————————

  Winter Wayne Series (Complete)

  Bone Witch

  Bone Coven

  Bone Magic

  Bone Spell

  Bone Prison

  Bone Fairy

  Starlight Saga (Complete)

  Assassin

  Villain

  Sinner

  Savior

  Morta Fox Trilogy (Complete)

  Heartbeat

  Reclaimed

  Unchanged

  Demonic Mage

  Nova Unchained

  One

  The way I figured, if those mindless thingies were coming after me whether I liked it or not, why not throw them a welcoming party? I would take pride in being the best hostess they’d ever had. Everything was there, to their hearts’ desire, never mind that I had no idea if they even had hearts. I was aiming to please, and to surprise them so hard, they’d drop dead on the spot. If I were a lucky girl.

  But I was a believer, and that’s why I was in a construction site in the middle of Manhattan, making sure my guests had everything arranged for their pleasure: thirteen hearts, two Desert Eagles, some throwing knives, and last but not least, my two Butterflies—Butter and Fly. I never said I was creative.

  The hearts were one of my favorite weapons, metal shaped into a perfect heart, almost paper thin and able to cut through anything, except bone. My Desert Eagles, a heaven of black aluminum and stainless steel, were the only guns that fit perfectly in my hands. My throwing knives were like removable fingers to me by now, and my Butterflies were my most prized possession. The blades were as long as my forearm, which made concealing and carrying them around all the time a walk in the park. They were identical, their crossguards longer than usual so that I could hold the swords in several different positions, their single-edge blades able to cut through bone without trouble. I loved my babies, and I was pretty sure the guests were going to…

  Oh, shoot. I blew it, didn’t I?

  I’d arranged everything for my pleasure, not theirs. Bad, bad, Scarlet.

  Resisting a smile was impossible. I’d waited for this night for more than two years, and it was finally coming together the way I wanted it to. My magic left my skin in short bursts of energy. I couldn’t see it, but I felt it. I intensified it while I held my breath, because I needed my guests to be there soon.

  Rain poured heavily outside. It was cold up here, on the ninth floor of the building that was being reconstructed. Its walls were missing, and lots of tools were on the ground, too. Tools I’d use as weapons, if it came to it. And my guests…

  I wasn’t sure what they were, but they looked pretty ordinary, if you missed their pupils, which were vertically slit, like a cat’s. Oh, and they were all men, too. No idea why. The first time I saw one was almost two years ago. He chased me like a hawk its prey, until he got me in an alley and began to suck me dry. Vampires were bad, but this guy? He was horror in the flesh. He sucked my powers and left me there for dead. I didn’t wake up for a full day afterward. At the time, I had no idea what had happened, or what he’d done to me, and I thought he’d taken all my magic, never to be restored again. To this day, I still can’t figure out if I was happy in those moments, or sad because of it.

  But my magic returned, the same as always, and within forty-eight hours, I was as good as new. It was another three months before I met Mindless Thingie Number Two and Three. They did exactly what the first one had and I came back to my strength just the same.

  I called them mindless because they never spoke. I’d never heard any of them utter a single world, or even make a sound. They came, they stared, they smiled, and they sucked power. They felt it, too. It’s how they found me four times in a row before I learned to shield myself. To shield my powers. Which were yet another thing I had no idea about, because I’d never met anyone like me, or anyone who knew others with the same kind of magic.

  I had magic, I felt it, could use it, but didn’t. Because using it meant attracting the mindless thingies, and you never knew when they might decide that they wanted to end me for good. I’d spent a lifetime hiding my magic, but hiding it from them was a whole other story. They felt it, even when I wasn’t using it, and so I had to teach myself how to lock it down deep inside me. It took me a year to do it, but now, it was as easy as breathing.

  My eyes were closed as I focused on my ears, and when I heard the footsteps a floor below me, I let out a long breath and turned around. It was time to properly welcome my guests.

  With Butter in one hand, Fly hiding under the sleeve of my shirt, and four throwing knives in the other, I was ready. Guns were fun, but they didn’t seem to hurt them. Not unless we got close and personal, the barrel kissing their skull. It was just a theory, one I had yet to prove, but I was taking my chances.

  The first one that stepped onto the open floor with nothing but dirt, tools and a few pillars around, was really tall. His black hair was sleeked behind his head, the muscles under his black shirt ripped. After him came another three. They were all kind of the same, but different. At first sight, you’d think they were brothers, but if you looked closely, you’d notice the differences. Like, how the second guy’s eyes were really wide set, and the third guy was bald, and the fourth had muscles like he was on steroids.

  A chill climbed up my spine. I was prepared for only two because they only ever came after me in twos. Fear snaked its way to my throat, forming a big enough lump to make it hard for me to breathe. The thunder raging outside shook the building hard, in response to my hammering heart. They all smiled at me, and I smiled back. Scared didn’t even begin to describe how I was feeling, but I was not backing down now. I was tired of running, done with it. It was time to give them a few refreshments, which came in form of my throwing knives.

  Locking down my magic tightly inside me, I threw all four knives at once, and ran forward in the same second. They were ready, as ready as ever, and they charged at me in a heartbeat, not even noticing the knives now buried in their bodies. Swinging my arm, I caught the first one with my sword right across the face. Blood exploded, spraying my face while I spun around and took out the other. They each tried to grab me by the hair, a move I expected, so I dodged away and swung my arms on all sides as fast as they’d let me.

  There were four of them and one of me, and no matter how much of a kick-ass I thought I was, I had to step back while they came after me with their fists and kicks. But that was also a move I anticipated, which was why I left my other weapons in the middle of the room, and now I wa
s barely four feet away from them.

  Good thing the mindless thingies didn’t use weapons. Bad thing, their fists were huge and felt like a big ass hammer on my face—like the one the bald guy hit me with on the jaw. No teeth came out that I could tell, but my vision blurred for long enough to give one of them the chance to kick me straight in the chest, and throw me back flying.

  I landed with my back on the concrete floor. The fist that came for my face sent my senses into overdrive, and I began to swing my arms uncontrollably. The next thing I knew, a fist was really on my face, except now it was detached from the rest of the arm.

  My eyes stung while I tried not to blink, and spun around, both throwing the cut hand off me and getting away from them so I could stand up. Part of me of was beginning to believe that I’d made a mistake. A huge mistake. I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t ready for four of them. But I ignored that part as best as I could and tried to ignore my instincts, too, which propelled me to use my magic. If I did that, I was a goner.

  The other weapons were right next to me now, and while the mindless thingies came after me, trying to grab me, knock me down, or take my feet from under me, I jumped and crouched before reaching for one of my guns. They were as close and as personal to me as they were going to get, so why waste time? The gunshot echoed in the empty space and the bullet went through a shoulder. Not good enough. Stepping back, I aimed it better and pulled the trigger while the guy on steroids jumped forward with his arms outstretched, as if he was going to hug me. The bullets went through his chest but he didn’t stop running, and when his arms wrapped around my body, I cried out and pulled the trigger one last time before I ran out of bullets. My gun must have been at a good angle, because steroid guy fell to the floor with a bullet hole under his chin.

  No time to do a happy dance because I had three more to do that to. I threw away the empty gun and focused on one of my swords, swinging it around like it was a part of my body. I spun and fell to my knees, then came back up and dodged their hits more times than I could count. When I cut the throat of the bald guy and he fell to his knees, his weird eyes wide, I realized how tired I was. My muscles screamed in protest. Training, apparently, was not the same as a real fight, but nevertheless, I was determined to see this through. Besides, I only had two more left.

  The mindless thingies were angrier than I’d ever seen their kind become. I ran to the side and grabbed a fistful of the hearts, cutting my palm bloody in the process. I threw them without aim because I had no time—they were already in front of me. They didn’t move as fast as vampires, but they moved faster than the regular guy, and that made it a bit difficult to predict where their limbs would be, when. Going down on my knees, I ran my sword over their knees, but it must have not gone deep enough because they were still standing. One of them went behind my back while the other kept attacking me with his fists.

  The only way to fight now was crouching down. I’d rehearsed the moves, but like I said, the real thing was much more difficult. By some miracle, I managed to keep them off me, right until I saw the four figures in the distance.

  The mindless thingies never made a single sound, but I hadn’t been focusing on hearing. I was all about surviving, so I couldn’t tell that we had company. My first thought was the ECU. If it really was them, I was in deeper shit.

  But another look told me that they were not soldiers, and that second cost a fist to my face, sending me back. I lost balance and fell on the ground, right onto my other gun.

  Swinging my arms blindly above my head, it took me a while to realize that the mindless thingies weren’t coming after me now that I was down. No, they’d frozen in place, one in front of my feet and the other next to my head, and they were looking at the party crashers like they were…like they were food.

  But…but…they looked so ordinary. Could it be that they were like me?

  No time to ask.

  “Run!” I shouted with all my strength and jumped to my feet again, the gun in my hand. I shot the mindless dude in front of me right on the back of the head, and he fell on the floor face first. But the other behind me grabbed me by the hair and pulled me back with all his strength. A blink later, I found myself on my back, six feet away from him, unable to breathe properly. My vision blurry, I could barely make him out as he slowly stepped to the newcomers. The girl screamed while two guys shot forward, stopped two feet away from him, and raised their arms.

  Wind began to blow, focused and stronger than anything mother nature could come up with—for only a second. My heart stopped beating as I watched the air sizzling around the only mindless thingie standing as he absorbed the energy thrown at him—and took his time while at it.

  I jumped to my feet and pulled the trigger until my finger went numb, aiming for the guy’s head. But no bullet reached him. He was surrounded by the other’s magic while he sucked it in, so I ran back to my weapons and took my other sword from the ground. I was going to cut his head clean off now that his back was turned to me.

  “Run!” I shouted at the other again, but in the time it had taken me to grab the sword, the mindless thingie had rendered all four of them motionless. Dammit, he was fast.

  And I learned that firsthand when I swung both my swords for his neck, and he leaned forward. I missed him by less than an inch, but it was still a miss. The newcomers were on the ground, shaking while he continued to suck their energy and dodge me at the same time. A scream tore from my throat and thunder filled my ears.

  When the mindless thingie turned to me—it was the guy with the wide-set eyes—I kept attacking until I made a mess out of his torso. But he no longer attacked me. He simply looked at me, his strange eyes wide and red as if he was high, before he turned around and ran for the stairs.

  I could run after him. It was the logical thing to do. Run and get to him while I had the chance, but the four strangers were still there, broken on the ground, barely breathing, and three other mindless thingies were behind me. Here’s another thing about my guests: they didn’t die. I’d put bullets into their brains, and their chests, but they always came back. They took their time, but they healed, and no matter how much I wanted to go after the one who’d run away, I couldn’t leave those people there. They’d be out of it for a whole day, and those thingies behind me would heal, then feed on them, too. On their magic.

  Falling down on my butt, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to take in a deep breath. It was no use being mad at myself now. There was no point in trying to come up with other solutions. For now, I had to get these people away and figure out how they’d found me. And how they existed.

  My guests only preyed on me. That’s what I’d thought. They preyed on me and my magic because I was the only one with the kind that suited their tastes. I’d watched a few of them from afar, wherever I could catch them, and I’d never seen them attack other witches—or any kind of paranormal for that matter.

  But these newcomers had been sucked dry just the same. Like they were like me. Like they had the same magic as I did. That made me feel…I don’t know how that made me feel. Confused, definitely, but the rest was going to have to wait until I cleaned the mess up. The first thing I did was walk over to the three mindless thingies. They looked dead and I’d have believed it myself, except I’d seen them come back with my own eyes. I’d been fighting two of them the fourth time they caught me in the city. I’d cut the throat of one and put two hearts in the other’s forehead, together with my sword on the top of his head. I left them there, then hid to see who’d find them.

  Nobody did. Instead, within an hour, they came to, took my weapons off their bodies and threw them to the ground. Their wounds closed and they stood up and walked away like they hadn’t even been in a fight. Like freaking robots. At the time, I’d been extra careful to hide my magic because it still leaked whenever I wasn’t paying attention, so as I inspected their bodies from close up, I did exactly that: I made sure my magic was buried deep within me with no way out.

  With shakin
g hands, I reached out and touched the skin of the one with the slit throat. It felt so normal. Cold, but normal. The blood around his neck had dried, which meant he was already healing. Checking his pockets was an idea, but I didn’t dare spend that much time with my hands on him. Instead, I grabbed one of my swords and brought it down on his neck. On the third try, his head fell away from the rest of his body.

  This was the one thing I’d never tried before. Logic said that, without a head, they wouldn’t be able to come back. I did the same to the other two, until I had three heads and three bodies right in front of my feet. Hope was strong that they were really dead, but hope made you weak, so I wasn’t making any bets.

  Having bought myself at least some more time, I turned back to the four people, unconscious on the ground, and got to work.

  Two

  It took me a long time to wash the dried blood off my skin. I was bruised in many places, but not cut except on my lower lip, thankfully. Healing spells didn’t work with my magic for some reason—not that I intended to use my magic when only eight hours had passed since my last encounter with the mindless thingies.

  I’d had a hell of a night finding four separate places to put the unconscious strangers. Breaking into apartments would have been better, but there was no time, and so I’d settled for hostels. They were normally full of humans, so the strangers would be safe in there, away from prying eyes. And away from the mindless thingies. They never came after me again after they sucked me dry and left me in the street, so I doubted magic leaked off me when I was out. The same thing had to apply to these four strangers.

  I’d stayed in the hostel with the last guy I brought in. The bathroom was small but it served me well, and forty minutes after I turned the shower on, I came out looking as clean as I was going to get. I’d put off thinking about what the hell was going on for long enough, but now, as I sat on the ground, eating pizza and watching the guy sleeping soundly on the bed, I had no choice but to analyze.