Hell Bent Read Online Free Page A

six?”
    That got half a smile out of him. But it did not soften the look in his eyes. The one that said Shame’s happy fun time was over.
    “I called Detective Stotts.” Terric held up his phone like I’d be impressed he had a cop on speed dial.
    “Why Stotts?” Hungry now. Done talking now. Not paying attention.
    “Because the police handle murder cases. We just handle magic users.”
    “Paperwork. All we handle is paperwork.”
    “ You don’t even do that. Why did you follow me? I told you to stay in the car. Do you enjoy getting the crap beat out of you? Don’t you know how dangerous . . .”
    That’s when I completely tuned him out because I’d heard this lecture so many times I could sing along without the bouncing ball.
    Also, the need for life and the consuming of it wasn’t getting any less. The ox was still standing there, wrapped in that Binding spell I’d cast. Hurting. Ripe. Alive.
    Bleeding.
    Since he liked to beat up perfect strangers in dirty alleys, I presumed he was not a nice person. Therefore I would feel less horrible about killing him.
    “...just deal, you idiot.” Terric slammed his hand into the middle of my chest. Hard enough both my shoulders hit the bricks behind me.
    I blinked, swallowed. Focused on him.
    “So, Terric,” I said. “When I’m breaking your fingers do you want me to start or finish with your thumbs?”
    Terric completely tuned me out and was whispering to himself. So rude.
    That’s when I noticed he’d pulled off his Void stone necklace and dropped it somewhere at our feet where it would do exactly zip to dampen the magic coursing through him.
    Life magic.
    “No,” I said. “Not happening. Not here. I told you to keep your hands off—”
    Terric called on Life magic.
    Here’s what happens when he does that—he goes all white-light angelic looking, which the chicks, and I guess some of the dudes, really like. Then the magic inside him devours his humanity. His eyes go silver, no pupils, no white. Any shred of heart, soul, or mind of that man is wiped away. Replaced with a cold, alien thing that looks out from behind his eyes. Life magic. It was not human. It was not Terric.
    And one of these days when he called on it, Life magic was going to take over for good and Terric wasn’t going to come back to being Terric.
    Every time he lost control of Life magic, it changed him. Sure, it had been subtle for the first year or so. How he’d forget to laugh or to carry on a conversation without long pauses. How he’d stare out a window and whisper to himself for hours and not remember doing it.
    Each time he used Life magic, it took him a little longer to come back to being the Terric I knew and sometimes, such as around repentance holidays, liked.
    He’d told me I was just making shit up about him going inhuman.
    He was right to think so. I made shit up all the time. But not that shit.
    Terric, who still looked mostly human, drew a glyph with his free hand, tracing white magic that glowed green at the edges into the air.
    Something brushed my boot.
    Plants sprang to life. Vines and flowers and those tropical leafy things that always look plastic in hotel lobbies wriggled up out of the cracks in the concrete and bricks, growing at time-lapse speeds.
    “No. Just. Don’t,” I said.
    “Shut up and eat your vegetables,” Terric snarled.
    Annoying—that was still the Terric I knew.
    The plants were elbow high, vibrating with life. Terric showed no sign of backing down.
    I hated him for not backing down. I hated him for being right. I needed life. And he could give it to me without it killing him.
    Much.
    I couldn’t endure the hunger a second more. I cussed and threw my hands out to both sides, palms down. I gave in to the hunger and devoured the plants, greedily consuming, killing. Without moving a single inch, I sucked the sweet life out of every stalk and frond he called up out of the world.
    I was pulling on the life around me so hard the concrete under