CHAPTER#140

"Cut off the head, and the body will follow." She slapped the Strength card onto Abella's flesh and stuck the Magician card in her teeth, willing both cards to release their power. "Let's clean house."

Abella blasted forward, wings outstretched and reaching. A powerful surge of magic raced through Yuki's veins, and she commanded the water in the air to freeze, massing it around the legs of the men and women who stood on her lawn. Ice crawled up their legs, holding them in place, and she summoned massive icicles from the ground, spearing several of them on the spot.

"Go, go, go!" she hollered, watching Abella tear through the others, tossing them high into the sky. Screams filled the air as they fell back to the ground, and Yuki felt the magic roaring inside of her. The few who tried to escape were speared by hundreds of icicles that sprouted from the ground like teeth, the front yard chewing them up. Snowflakes swirled around Yuki now, blurring the world around her. The Society had been too bold, had gotten too cocky, and now they were paying for it.

A dark figure moved in the corner of her vision. She turned to see that Death had meandered over to the front of the house, quietly pondering the bushes in front of it.

That's odd. He should have left by now. Turning her attention back to the others, she felt the icy grasp of a hand around her ankle. Stunned, she looked down in time to see Amir give her a yank, pulling her off of her feet and casually tossing her across the yard. She crashed into one of her own icicles, busting through it to tumble on the ground.

"Yuki!" Abella flew toward Amir, cocking her fist back to punch him. Amir took the first punch, half of his head exploding into a black, swirling cloud that lingered behind him when he moved. The gargoyle reversed course and came for him again, but he sidestepped her attack and grabbed her by the wing. With a hard twist, he altered her trajectory and hurled her toward the house with a blast of black fire. She crashed into the roof above the porch, then fell, caving in the steps below. Dark flames sputtered around her motionless body and then went out.

"Now," he commanded, and several dark vines sprouted from the ground and circled the gargoyle, pinning her in place.

Who cast that? Yuki looked around and saw that Elizabeth stood between the lions now, her hand outstretched and weaving through the air with a trail of green light behind it. The vines held Abella in place, despite her renewed strength.

"I don't understand. You should be dead!"

"I've lived a very long life. You don't get to do that without being two steps ahead of your enemy." He snapped his fingers and the witches and warlocks around him crumbled into ash. "I knew you were waiting to spring this trap on me, and—"

Yuki blasted him with ice magic, but a fiery shield appeared before him, summoned by a warlock standing on top of the stone fence. She summoned more icicle spears, but the ground trembled, vibrating them apart. Society members appeared everywhere, all of their spells deliberately tailored to counter her every move. Crying out in rage, she sent waves of pure, magical energy across the yard, willing her attackers to be destroyed, but Amir summoned a black fog from the ground that gobbled up her assault, forcing her to go on the defensive.

Minutes passed. Despite pouring all of her magic into defending her position, she was quickly overwhelmed from every direction, beams of pure energy sizzling the air around her. She summoned walls of ice, walls that were easily shattered by their coordinated efforts. How had they gotten so good?

The Society members all stood a good distance away, and she saw that they had removed their blindfolds. When she would look at them, they would look down. They had circled the yard and, with their vision restored, had been able to renew their attack with pinpoint accuracy. She moved back toward the door, another plan forming in her mind.

A blast of lightning hit the ground behind her, launching her forward, the fur on her tails singed. Growling, she stood up to face Amir, who was holding the bag again. Death paced behind him, looking drastically out of place.

"You told your pet to take my soul. I don't have one anymore." He grinned, and then stuck his hand in the bag. It hissed as if it was full of snakes. "You're through."

"I'm not beaten yet," she hissed, gathering her magic. The temperature dropped, frost forming on the ground beneath her.

"Oh, this is no longer about beating you." He pulled a spherical object out of the bag. "Now it's about breaking you."

Yuki froze in shock as she stared at the severed head of the gorgon. Missing one eye, the snakes on its head hissed angrily as Amir held it aloft and pointed at her. White light came from its remaining eye, light that washed over Yuki and threatened to overwhelm her. In response, her own eye glowed as well, the magic of the gorgon now fighting itself. She closed her real eye, her head pounding as the gorgon's eye sapped her strength away.

"Where did you get that?" she cried in disbelief.

"We've had this in our possession for quite some time. I was a bit surprised to discover that you possessed the missing piece of it, but I will admit that I have wondered how this will work. Who will win, the gorgon or the fox?" He stepped closer, the gorgon's head filling Yuki's vision. "For that matter, what will happen? I have my theories."

Yuki let out a scream, and the gorgon opened its mouth in silent agony. The light grew so bright that she could no longer see, pain filling her head until she thought it would explode.