Bewitching Excerpt:
Martyr
Jovienne found a
box of Jade Oolong tea, filled the kettle, and set on the burner.
Samedi sauntered
to the doorway and leaned on the far side of the casing. He blew a puff of
smoke and watched her. He’d put the cane away again.
“So, Trouble, do
you have any fuckin’ idea what you did back there?”
The nickname
couldn’t compare with Black Diamond Woman, but it didn’t entirely
displease her. “Without dirt under my feet, I had to draw on the electricity
somehow. So I pulled it straight from the wires.”
He shook his
head and laughed softly. “The fuck you did.”
Offended, she
leaned on the counter.
“Are you not
going to ask me what you did do?”
“If you have
something helpful to add, by all means, say it so I can decide if I believe
you.”
He touched his
chest as if wounded. “I’m trying to help you.”
“Really?” She
crossed her arms. “Sitting back and judging seems more your style.”
“Like you’re
doing now?”
“You’re not
denying it.”
“Neither are
you.”
She arched a
brow.
Samedi gave her
a judgmental once over. “My ‘style’ is malleable,” he said, “adjusting to fit
the moment, but fuck you just the same for being a rude bitch.”
Jovienne had
learned a lot from spirited chats with Andrei and Eitan and Araxiel. She sensed
no threat from Samedi, but saw an amused gleam, and perhaps a playful
challenge, in his eyes. It reminded her of the first time she met Araxiel.
“Maybe you
should start over, because from where I stand, you’re the rude bitch.
You’re acting superior, hoping I’ll change my demands. Or forget them. But I
won’t.” She nodded toward the other room where Nathan sat. “What happened at
the morgue just threw a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.”
“I’m relieved as
fuck to hear you understand the gravity of the situation.” Samedi shifted to
lean on the closer side of the doorway. “I see why you think you rerouted
electricity to power your magic, but it only proves you don’t know shit about
electricity.”
“Demon slaying
doesn’t usually involve—” She stopped. In the last week, very little lined up
with what she’d trained for. Giving him her back, she opened the cupboard and
searched for a coffee cup. “Electricity wasn’t in the curriculum.”
“Of course not.
An abhadhon isn’t supposed to have what you have.”
“A nephilim
bloodline. Yeah. I know.” She chose a Shang-Chi mug and dropped the tea bag in.
“You
shouldn’t be an abhadhon.”
“I didn’t ask
for it.” She pushed the mug closer to the kettle then recrossed her arms.
“Again, if you have something helpful to add, say it.”
His gaze flitted
from the kettle to the mug and on to the floor as he considered. She waited.
Finally, his eyes found hers. “You wouldn’t compare a nine-volt battery to a
nuclear power plant because you understand enough to know that would be a
fuckin’ stupid thing to say. Yet you called the power electricity. That tells
me you’re ignorant.”
She turned away.
Samedi grabbed
her arm and jerked her back. “That’s not an insult. It’s truth. The only remedy
for ignorance is learning, so put your ego aside and let me teach you
something.”
Jovienne
pointedly glanced at his hand on her arm. He released her.
“Your mind made
the leap straight to Frankenstein,” he said. “I get why,but forget that shit.
Electricity and lightning can’t bring long-dead people back to fuckin’ life. You
didn’t pull electricity from the transformers down the street. That power is
crude, small, and rudimentary. It wouldn’t want to go through you.”
“Why not?”
“You aren’t
negative.”
“I could
introduce you to someone who’d say you’re wrong.”
“And I may well
agree with them, but I’m talking about polarity, not attitude.”
The water
boiled. She lifted the kettle and poured into the mug.
Samedi leaned on
the doorway casing again. “Every switch has a ground wire—literally a wire that
runs into the fuckin’ ground. Positive electrical charge is attracted to
negative electrical charge, so any excess of positive follows the wire down and
disburses into the ground.”
“Are you saying
I reconnected the disbursed energy and brought it up?”
“No. I’m saying
you couldn’t have used electricity because it doesn’t exist in the place you
drew from.”
“If not
electricity what was it?” She raised and lowered the tea bag by the string,
glad for something to do with her hands. “Ley energy?”
“Fuck no.” The
note of his voice dropped. “This came from a place deeper down.”
She lowered the
bag slowly and let the string go. “How deep?”
“Add some sugar.
It will do him good.”
“How deep?”
“Take him the
tea. Then we continue.”
Jovienne let the
tea steep while she searched for the sugar. Finding nothing but a few pink
packets of Sweet-n-Low, she waggled them at Samedi.
“It’ll do.”
She finished
preparing the tea and took it to Nathan. After passing it to him, she
straightened. Samedi halted close behind her. “What?”
“Knowing without
understanding has made you hard. And dangerous.” He offered his hand. “Are you
ready?”
“To
what?”
“To understand.”
The vortex opened behind him.
She’d demanded
to talk to the Angel of Death. Looked like he was going to let her.
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