Free twice cursed mage 05 - claimed by j a cipriano Page A

taking his hand, and as I did, thunder boomed outside and the smell of lollypops filled my nose. Weird.
    “Glad to hear it,” he replied, and as his words echoed in my ears, he vanished, leaving behind nothing but a pair of singed footprints on the carpet.
     

Chapter 10
    I felt the bullet before I heard it. Pain ripped through my right shoulder as I pitched forward in a sort of half-twist and fell sprawled across the cheap carpet. The cane flew from my hand and bounced away as agony shot through me.
    As I tried to figure out what was going on, the old man Mammon had temporarily inhabited started screaming. The crack of another bullet exploded through the room, and the senior’s head exploded into crimson mist that sprayed bloody chunks across the wall behind him. Needless to say, the screaming stopped, and the silence that descended around us brought an unnatural chill with it. Had the old guy been killed just because he was screaming? I couldn’t think of another reason, and something about that made me feel bad because he’d have been fine if I hadn’t landed in this particular room.
    The silence was broken by the sound of boots crunching on gravel. My shoulder shrieked in pain as I tried to twist to see who was there, but Sargent’s booming voice froze me in my tracks.
    “I wouldn’t go moving if I were you, Mac,” Sargent said, and my spidey sense started going berserk in my head. “If you do, I might feel like I have to shoot you again. I don’t normally miss, so the first one is what I like to call a freebie.” The pain in my shoulder receded a touch as rage surged up inside me, blocking it out. I wasn’t sure how this fucker had gotten to me already, but he was seriously pissing me off, and now he’d gone and killed an innocent guy.
    “You should just walk away now,” I growled, and as the words left my mouth, light spilled from my tattoos causing crimson shadows to dance across the room.
    “You need to cut that out right now. While you might be all kinds of bulletproof, I’m betting your friends aren’t,” Sargent said in a voice that chilled me to my core. While I wasn’t sure what state Jack was in, Maya most certainly wasn’t bulletproof. Fuck.
    “Mac, just get him, I’ll be okay—” Maya’s voice was cut off by the crack of a bullet. She cried out in pain as the sound of her body hitting the ground filled my ears.
    “Now, that’s enough of that.” Sargent stepped into view with a Colt in each meaty fist. One was pointed at my face while the other was pointed to my left, presumably at Maya. It was too bad Jack seemed to be down for the count, otherwise we’d have a chance at rushing him. Not much of one, mind you, but a chance.
    “I can’t believe you fucking shot me. Asshole,” Maya snapped, and out of my peripheral vision, I saw her gripping her shoulder. “Why does everyone shoot me in the same fucking shoulder? Do you know how much this is going to cost to heal?”
    “Your dad told me you were right-handed. Send him the bill. He’ll get a kick out of it.” A grin spread across Sargent’s face as he glanced from her to me. “Yeah, that’s right. She’s not dead because her daddy asked me to spare her.” He knelt down in front of her. “I’m pretty good at shooting people and not killing them too. Trust me, my threat is still a good one. Besides, if I get real pissed off, I might forget I care about what her daddy might want. That’d be a shame, for sure.”
    “What do you want?” I asked, through gritted teeth. My shoulder still hurt like crazy, but at least at the moment, he wasn’t shooting me. If I stalled long enough, maybe Jack would get up and beat the fuck out of him.
    “See, I’m glad we could be reasonable.” Sargent stood, and as he did so, he gestured for me to rise. “Here’s how it’s going to work. You and I are going to walk out of here all nice and quiet like. Do that, and I’ll let them live. Deal?”
    “Fuck you,” I said, trying to