Free Shadowbound (The Dark Arts Book 1) by Bec McMaster Page B

Miss Martin panted as she grabbed Lucien's wrist and hauled him past the stairs and toward the back of the house.
    Lucien primed one of the pistols he'd confiscated, feeling incredibly useless. What was he supposed to do? His magic was useless to him in this situation, his legs felt like lead, and an imp would swallow his bullet and spit it straight back at him. "Can you handle this?"
    "Watch me." Miss Martin flashed a grin over her shoulder before she pushed a door open and strode into the kitchens, her lavender skirts swishing around her legs.
    An imp leapt on top of the kitchen table, hissing at them. Its skin gleamed a dull bronze color, and though it wore the coat and trousers of a boy, there was no mistaking those all-black eyes, or the razor-sharp teeth in its face as it leered at the pair of them. A thin tail lashed out behind it, back and forth, like a cat anticipating its prey.
    A Lesser Demon, it could still wield an enormous amount of power from the Shadow Dimensions it came from. Lucien aimed his pistol directly at the creature's forehead and fired.
    The imp hissed as the bullet slammed into its skull, a black hole glaring back at them like a third eye. Then the hole began to mend itself, vanishing into smooth, unblemished skin.
    "What part of 'guard my back' did you not understand?" Miss Martin took a stance in the middle of the room, flinging her arms out to the sides and muttering power words under her breath.
    The room turned cold, and the imp hissed as a mage globe the size of Lucien's fist sizzled to life in front of her. It gleamed like blue lightning. Dangerous, but not bloodthirsty, the way Eberhardt's mage globe had been.
    Lightning lashed off the globe, spearing toward the imp. It sprung, claws clinging to the hanging pot rack above it, then twisted as another spear of lightning arced toward it, and leaped toward the sink. As it went, it threw a variety of utensils at Miss Martin. Lucien grabbed a frying pan, using it to bat away the knives and pots that the creature flung. He was less than useless, but at least he could do this. Miss Martin needed to concentrate.
    "Where did you learn... that?" he gasped, as more lightning sizzled, leaving smoking welts on the scarred timber benches. Most battle globes were simply balls of energy to be flung at one's opponent. Her grasp of telekinesis was impressive.
    "Drake." Her eyes gleamed with power. "My affinity is with telekinesis, as opposed to telepathy."
    Where his own strengths lay. He had learned how to manipulate telekinesis, but telepathy was his first natural calling and his strength.
    The imp cast cunning eyes their way, then grabbed an enormous cast-iron pan. Instead of throwing it at them, it launched the pan like a discus toward the mage globe. Electricity sparked and crackled, staggering them both backward, as the mage globe collapsed in upon itself at the touch of metal.
    "Miss Martin!"
    "I'm fine." She blinked at the magical backlash, then shoved him out of the way, "Watch out!"
    Claws thunked on the wheeled kitchen trolley and it hurtled toward them from the force of the creature's momentum. The imp launched itself into the air, leaping over Miss Martin as the trolley took her legs out from under her.
    "Ianthe—"
    Miss Martin went down. The imp sprang off the wall, aiming for her back.
    Lucien didn't think. Just reacted. An enormous battle globe of flickering red flung toward the creature from his hand. The plaster cracked as the imp exploded into nothingness, and Lucien staggered as power leeched out of him and he realized what he'd done. Every piece of glass blew out of the windows, and pots and pans and knives thunked into the wall or onto the floor. Coppery ectoplasm was smeared across the plaster.
    The world swayed, and he was leaning heavily against the bench. Lucien blinked. His entire head felt stuffed full of molten lava, and his nose was numb. Ears ringing. The world... too bright. Too loud. Miss Martin's gloved ward that had blocked