Balanced Chaos (The Void Series Book 3) Read online

  She waited for just the right moment before turning the power around. The fae’s grip on her wavered and she dropped to ground, collapsing under her own weight.

  The horrifying images continued, but she focused on her gift.

  It quickly became clear she wasn’t going to live by her recent oath to never take from another mystic. She turned her gift on the power coursing through her mind, blinding her eyes. It flowed back to a fae standing near the hole in Jason’s wall. She took just enough from that fae to block his powers. Slowly, her vision returned and she was able to see her own surroundings through the visions of death and destruction.

  Jason was still on his feet, protected by his mage shield. He was flinging spells around, but she could see that his one-man fight was costing him. She needed to do something and do it fast. The problem was there were far more fae in the fight than she had originally suspected. The two men who had been attacking her were still involved, plus the one causing the hail storm. Beyond them, there was the fae with the stone fists, one with super-human speed, another climbing the walls like a spider, one who had tentacles growing out of its stomach, and a few more waiting outside as back up.

  Sam eyed the one with tentacles and rejected him. The idea of having tentacles of her own did not sound appealing. Instead, she drew upon the one with the ability to climb the walls, all but draining it of its powers. He fell from the ceiling, on the verge of death.

  She raced toward the one standing near the hole in the wall, amazed at the way she could suddenly move despite the pain in her ankle and shoulder. She barreled into the fae, knocking him off his feet. He hit his head on the pavement and collapsed unconscious. To make sure he wasn’t dead, she pressed her fingers against his neck. A faint pulse thumped against her fingers. Sam turned and watched as the last of the hail fell to the ground.

  At the same moment, Jason flung a bolt of magic at a seemingly empty corner. As if by accident, the fae with super-human speed rammed right into the bolt. It took Sam a moment to realize Jason had predicted the fae’s movement after studying his rapid pattern.

  She had a lot to learn from the mage.

  Before she could pick a new target, one of the backup fae stepped forward and lifted his arms. The chunks of unmelted hail lifted from the ground as a whirlwind formed within the small apartment.

  Jason screamed as the hail slammed into his unprotected body.

  “Vairogu ap,” he repeated from before.

  His shield returned, but from what Sam could tell, it wasn’t as powerful as before. Bits of hail penetrated the shield as he struggled to strengthen his magic, but his increasing pain worked against him.

  She had to take out the newest fae, and fast.

  Sam released her gift again, not even worrying about how much she took, but she quickly realized her tank was too full to take more than a sip from him.

  “Dammit,” she muttered, as she launched herself at the fae, using the power of the wall-climber to pivot off the wall and slam the whirlwind fae to the ground.

  The fae barely managed to keep his concentration, but the slight lapse in the whirlwind gave Jason a brief respite. Sam rolled to her knees and slammed her fist into the man’s face. Her blow wasn’t impressive, but it did surprise him, and he dropped his spell completely. She punched him two more times before he blacked out.

  “When in doubt…” she trailed off as she turned and scaled the exterior wall of Jason’s apartment.

  Sam peeked through the hole to see how Jason was doing, feeling thoroughly ridiculous as she hung upside down.

  “Why couldn’t they bring a healing fae,” she said aloud.

  She suddenly heard a frightening growl coming from down the road. A snowy-white wolf pelted down the narrow sidewalk and barreled into the fae with stone fists, who had been systematically trying to beat Jason to death.

  Sam didn’t even need to taste the wolf’s power to know it was Breena. Only Breena could be that swift and that clumsy all at the same time. The wolf sunk its teeth into the fae’s neck, quickly spilling the fae’s dark blood all over the kitchen floor.

  Before Sam could do anything, a dark, murky fog spread out across the ground, making it hard to see one lump from the next.

  Idiots, Sam thought. They didn’t realize she didn’t need her eyes to fight, nor did Breena.

  “Breena, next attack,” Sam said, drawing the wolf away from her kill.

  Sam stayed where she was, hanging from the exterior wall as she spread her gift out, feeling for her enemies. There was only a few left—two with some sort of fire power, the tentacles dude, and the fog-maker. But they weren’t alone. She sensed others racing down the narrow sidewalks wedged between the row houses and the plastic crates.

  Humans were coming, and that meant the authorities.

  “Shit,” she mumbled to herself just as she felt the two fire faes calling on their magic.

  Within seconds, she realized they had two very different powers. One could only control fire already made. She spotted him flicking on a zippo and morphing the tiny flame into something much larger. The other fire fae was running around the plastic crate, setting fire traps, including one on the sidewalk where the humans would soon tread.

  From her perch on the wall, she dropped to the ground, groaning as her injured ankle collapsed under her weight, and stumbled back through the hole in the wall. She was running out of the power she had taken from the wall climber and it was no longer safe to stay perched six feet above the ground.

  Sam felt her own panic rise. She wasn’t afraid for herself or her friends. To her astonishment, they were holding their own. But the humans could be seriously hurt, or even killed, if the fire fae decided to let loose. She had to take them out of the fight, and fast.

  Sam released her gift with as much force as she could, directing it at the youth with the zippo. He turned on her, fire in his eyes—all pun intended.

  The youth lit his zippo with a quick strike on his jeans and shaped the flames in an arrow in her direction. Sam waited until the last second before using her borrowed power and redirecting the flame up into the sky. Like an un-trained moron, the fire fae, kept flinging his fire at her, giving her more chances to use up her borrowed power, giving her more space to take from him.

  But it was taking too long. The humans were drawing nearer.

  In the background, Sam heard Jason and Breena battling Fog-Fae and Tentacle-Man. It was up to her, and her alone, to stop the fire twins.

  Sam dragged yet more power from the boy with the zippo, finally flicking a small flame back in his face. The youth dropped the lighter and collapsed on the ground, slapping his chest as he tried to put out the fire.

  Idiot, Sam thought to herself as she turned to look for the other fae.

  She reached out with her fully sated gift, trying to track the second fire fae. He was around on the other side of the building, setting yet another trap. He had no intention that any of them make it out alive, even if his friends went down with them.

  Sam let out a long sigh as she stepped through the hole in the wall so that she could see outside of the crate. The fire fae clearly hadn’t been paying attention to the fact she had yet to kill a single one of his friends. All the same, his deadly traps could easily finish off one of the approaching humans. She turned just as the humans came into view.

  “Stay back!” Sam screamed.

  The tight formation of soldiers didn’t even hesitate at her words.

  “Dammit,” she muttered as she focused her stolen energy at the traps lining the sidewalk. She sparked one, pouring extra energy into it in the hopes of catching their attention.

  The trap erupted in a two foot geyser of fire, slowing the approaching humans. Sam poured more energy into the remaining traps as she simultaneously drained power from the last fae.

  Sweat beaded on her forehead as the pain in her shoulder and ankle climbed to the surface, past the depleted adrenaline. Her body was spent and her gift exhausted.

  A bod
y plowed into her, taking her to the ground just outside the gaping hole in Jason’s apartment. A twitching tentacle draped over her shoulder. Sam grimaced, half in pain, half in disgust at the thought of having Tentacle-Man on top of her.

  Breena growled near her right side as she dragged the twitching fae off Sam’s back just as the humans swarmed around them, their guns aimed at the crowd of agitators. Sam cocked her head, seeing nothing but their glossy boots.

  “Don’t move,” they said needlessly.

  “And just what in the hell is going on here? You there, you’re still on your feet,” the leader said to Jason. “What happened here?”

  “The fae came in and attacked me and Sam… the one with the white hair. The werewolf joined in to defend us. The fae have it out for Sam. They want her dead.”

  “Sam Gollet?” asked the leader. “So you’re the Void I’ve been hearing so much about?”

  Chapter Three

  Sam swallowed the lump in her throat as she struggled to roll onto her back. She froze before casting a quick glance around the new scene. Unlike the Federal Mystics Bureau who just wore a simple black shirt and slacks, these men were strapped in camo uniforms, helmets with goggles, a vest with multiple little pouches, and a gun that made Sam want to pee her pants. In contrast, the man asking the questions only carried a sidearm, though something about him still made Sam take note. Even though she didn’t understand the different insignias on their uniforms, Sam could tell the other soldiers deferred to him.

  She stared up at the officer, doing her best to hide her fear. Once she was sure her voice wouldn’t shake, she responded,

  “Yes. I’m the Void.”

  A sound distracted Sam and the officer from their face off—a mix of a groan and a growl. Turning her head, she found Breena halfway between wolf and human.

  “What’s she doing?” demanded the leader.

  “Never seen a werewolf transition?” asked Sam, derision apparent in her tone.

  Jason glared at her from his place in the gaping hole, and Sam lowered her eyes. She had to get her tongue in line before she got them all shot. A moment later, Breena completed her transformation and lie on the charred sidewalk, as naked as the day she was born. Sam tried to move to cover the young girl’s nakedness, but her shoulder gave out as she worked to climb to her feet.

  Thankfully, the officer seemed to have a sense of dignity. He quickly removed his camo jacket and draped it over Breena’s blood-splattered body.

  “There are… a couple… need… medical…attention,” Breena panted from beneath his jacket.

  The leader, still kneeling over her, motioned for two of his men to check the bodies.

  “I’ve got one bleeding, sir,” one said from inside the apartment.

  The officer rose to his feet and entered the apartment. Within minutes, more soldiers had arrived with stretchers and carried away Tentacle-Man and Fog-Fae, each with severe wolf bites.

  The other fae, unconscious thanks to Sam’s various efforts, were brought around.

  “Get them up and secured,” ordered the officer.

  A few minutes later, all of the combatants were on their feet, their hands cuffed behind their backs. The troops guided them out of the claustrophobic neighborhood toward the administration building positioned next to the only entrance to the reservation. They were split up and taken to various rooms throughout the building.

  It wasn’t the first time Sam had found herself walking—or rather limping—between two humans with her hands zip tied behind her back. She had been on a first name basis with the old administration. It seemed history was about to repeat itself.

  A soldier led Sam to a small room with nothing but a sterile looking table and two chairs. He ordered her to sit and hovered over her. Sam had no doubt his presence was intended to make her feel uncomfortable, but she was too tired to give him much notice.

  Had she not spent many long hours in similar rooms, she might have found the situation intimidating. The only change was the guard’s uniform and the size of his gun. Sam glanced up at him, amending her thoughts. There was something different—something about the way the guard held himself: taller, more lethal. All the same, she was too tired to be intimidated beyond a slight flutter of nerves.

  After the first half hour, she cradled her head in her good arm on the table and drifted off to sleep.

  Sam woke to the thud of the door being slammed shut. She blinked, jerking her head up. Her injured shoulder screamed as she moved, forgetting to be cautious with it, especially as it had no bandages restricting its natural movement. Sam grabbed her arm, cradling it against her chest just as the sling would have done.

  She turned her gaze on the officer from before as he crossed the room with a file and slapped it down on the table. With a tired sigh, he took the seat opposite her. He was a tall man with broad shoulders—the kind of man people turn to stare at when he entered a room. His head was shaved bald and his nose showed the subtle signs of having once been broken.

  “You didn’t get that wound from tonight,” the leader said.

  Sam swallowed the sarcastic response that rose to her lips. “No.”

  The officer stared at her for a second, as though he too was working to censure his words. “Where did you get that?”

  “Remember how Jason, the mage, mentioned the fae want me dead?”

  The officer nodded.

  “I fought a number of fae back in December. The same night as the massacre. That’s when I got this. And the injury to my ankle.”

  The officer nodded again as he flipped through the thick file. “That’s what your file says.”

  Sam refrained from asking why she had to tell him what he already knew.

  “You must be very powerful,” he stated.

  Sam hesitated a moment. Is he asking?

  “Yes, I am,” she said without conceit; it was simply a statement of fact.

  “My predecessor, Hank Tibbs, makes note that you are the most powerful quote ‘half fae.’ Tell me, what is a ‘half fae’?”

  Sam glared at him. She had long suspected her father was not her father at all, but it had never been fully confirmed by her parents. She had hinted about the topic to her mother once, but quickly back-tracked out of guilt. Now, though, the officer confirmed her suspicions.

  The reservation kept official DNA records of every inmate in the reservation. They would know for sure that she was not her father’s daughter, and they would know if she was, indeed, half fae.

  She masked her emotional turmoil with a theatrical eye roll.

  “If you’re going to control the Res, you better know what a half fae is, and a lot more.”

  “Humor me,” he said with a smirk.

  “Half fae is the result of a fae and a non-fae having a child. Full-blooded fae have difficulty reproducing in this modern era, so some fae women resort to getting impregnated by mages, werewolves, or if desperate, even humans.”

  “And your mother did this?”

  Sam shrugged with her good shoulder. “It would seem so.”

  “Tell me, what can you do, exactly.”

  “I can take any power away from another mystical creature and use it for myself.”

  “So you can take power away from a mage and use it to do spells?”

  Sam nodded. “If I’ve learned the spell in question.”

  “And you can take power away from a…” The officer paused to read something from his file. “A Foogas fae and use that.”

  “It’s pronounced Fogás, and yes.”

  “What about a werewolf? What can you do with werewolf power?”

  “I can turn into a werewolf, or I can heal my own wounds. Or if I take from a vampire I can drink blood or run really fast. Any power I take from any mystic I can use just as they do. Get it?”

  The officer stared at her for a long, silent moment. Finally he went back to reading from his file.

  “My predecessor says he had you leading tours, but then you got involved with the v
ampire. How did that happen?”

  “It’s kind of a long story.”

  “Give me the short version.”

  “There was a vampire here in the Res with a lot of power. He blackmailed me into working for him. It was that or get everyone I cared about killed… or worse. There’s a lot that goes on here…”

  The officer held up his hand, forestalling her from continuing. “You’ve said enough,” he replied. “What happened today?”

  As quickly as she could, she described the frantic battle at Jason’s apartment. The officer sat in silence as he listened to her description, occasionally writing something down in a little notebook.

  “Well, your story matches with everything else I’ve heard today. You’re free to go,” the officer said, rising from his seat.

  “Ummm,” Sam said, awkwardly climbing to her feet while trying not to put weight on her injured ankle.

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

  The officer looked down at her file again. “You’re not married. I understand it that unmarried residents live with their parents.”

  Sam stared down at the floor. “They kicked me out when I was working for the vampire. I was living with the mage… whose apartment has been destroyed.”

  “But you’re not married to the mage.”

  “Oh gosh, no! In fact, he’s dating someone else, but he is training me.”

  “Training you?”

  Sam sighed. “A mage is adept at controlling power… something I have a lot of, and something the fae have left me to deal with on me own…”

  “Because to them…” he trailed off.

  “I might as well be a leper.”

  The officer frowned down at her before nodding. “Follow me.”

  She hobbled after the officer, trying her best to keep up with him and not gawk at the transformation within the administration building. Before it had looked like a civil war had broken out in a call center. Now, soldiers moved with the bustle of those who followed some unseen queen bee. Sam had never respected the human executive who had run the reservation, but she had never realized just how much he had been lacking until she saw the sudden transformation.