The final cylinder in the cluster loomed before her, taller and skinnier than all the rest. It looked more like a flagpole than a mushroom. She didn’t question why; she just jumped. Her hands closed around the pole, her momentum swinging her around. Her boots slammed against the vampires, kicking them onto the mushrooms. Their heads thumped against the rounded tops, and they went down. As they hit the ground, the clone flickered out. Sera swung off the pole and landed beside the real vampire.

“Top marks for the dramatics, Dracula,” she said, staring down at his sleeping body. “But I’ve been fighting supernaturals with a drama queen complex since I could pick up a sword. It takes more than a few cheap magic tricks to best me.”

The crowd exploded with applause. Beer cans and glowing sticks shot up into the air. A few of them hit the magic barrier and sizzled to ashes. The whole arena smelled of blood, adrenaline, and magic. But most of all, it smelled of victory.

If only it could have lasted.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Mages of the Universe

SERA STARED UP at the rows of spectators. Riley was there, right beside Naomi. They met her eyes with duel grins and tossed confetti up into the air. The guy sitting behind them got a mouthful of it, but he dropped his fist-waving as soon as Naomi turned to give him a coy wink. Cutler was in the front row, as always, but Sera had learned to ignore his leers by now. She had a bigger problem, and that problem was stepping into the fighting pit.

The mage walked across the field of sand, grainy particles crunching beneath her stilettos. Yep, she’d worn five-inch heels to a magic fight. Vixen-red stilettos. Sera would have laughed—if not for the supercharged aura clinging to the mage like a pair of leather pants on a hot summer day. Her magic roared and snapped, an avalanche of shooting stars and cosmic debris. A telekinetic. She smelled of lemon grass and insanity.

The magic barrier rippled like a flag in the wind. Whatever the mage was doing to the barrier, it didn’t like it. Ridiculous shoes or not, she was going to be a problem. A big problem. She was a first tier telekinetic, and first tier telekinetics were always completely out of their minds. Like Cutler. Sera stole a look at her crude coworker. An intense look was on his face, like he was cataloging every move that she made. When he noticed she was looking at him, he pulled out his phone and snapped a shot of her, a devilish grin spreading to the corners of his face.

Metal screeched and groaned, and the audience fell silent. The metal mushrooms in one of the clusters erupted from the ground, a veil of sand and broken wires spilling down from them as they rose into the air. The telekinetic’s arms were raised high above her. As she met Sera’s gaze, a smirk curled up her thick lips.

The swarm of metal mushrooms shot forward at Sera like a round of torpedoes. Metal hummed, a song as beautiful as it was deadly. Sera took off running, hoping to avoid the barrage. The mushrooms changed directions and followed her.

“Stupid telekinetics,” Sera muttered as she ran faster.

She grunted as one of the cylinders knocked against her back, but she managed to stay on her feet. Barely. The mushrooms hit almost as hard as a vampire. Sera angled for the telekinetic. She had to end this fast. She couldn’t withstand too many more hits—preferably none actually, but she didn’t think she was going to be that lucky. The mushrooms looked pretty intent on pommeling her into oblivion.

Sera didn’t make it far before a second cluster of metal mushrooms burst out of the ground and joined the hunt. Sera’s muscles were on fire and her lungs screamed for air, but she didn’t stop running. Sweat trickled down her face, smearing her vision.

“Use your magic,” the telekinetic said. Her words bounced off the barrier and echoed across the pit.

Sand exploded under Sera’s feet, blinding her. While she was busy rubbing it out of her eyes, one of the mushrooms collided into her side. The force of the spelled cylinder shot her at the magic barrier. In just a few seconds, she was going to be a bug on that windshield.

She reached down, grabbing for the wood-panel wall that surrounded the pit. Her fingers slipped, failing to get a grip, but it was enough to slow her down. She pushed out her legs, slamming her boots against the barrier, all the while praying that the soles were thick enough to hold up. She kicked off the barrier, rolled in the air, and landed in the sand, the scent of burnt leather singeing her nose.

The telekinetic frowned at her and sent her metal minions in for another pass. Rage building up inside of her, Sera ran toward her. She held back the rage—getting angry would only make her lose control of her magic—channeling the energy into her run. She zigzagged through the mushroom swarm, pushing through the pain whenever one of them hit her. She just had to get to the mage, and then this would be all over. The woman looked like a total pushover.

Sera reached down to the ground, snatching up the long pole she’d used in the previous fight. As she slid through the final flying mushrooms, she swung the pole. It hit the telekinetic in the stomach, and she doubled over. Sera swung a swift followup blow to her opponent’s back. The telekinetic hit the dirt, and all her cylinders fell out of the air.

“See?” Sera said, poking the mage with the toe of her partially-melted boot. “Just like I said. Total pushover.”

The audience cheered, stomping their feet loudly. Sera tossed the pole to the ground and walked out of the pit.

* * *

A shopping bag was waiting in front of Sera’s locker when she got back to it. Kai must have had the guards bring it back here. She silently thanked him, then headed off to the bathroom. Her clothes were trashed—unsurprisingly after those last two matches—and her boots were even worse. The soles had nearly melted off. It was a wonder she’d been able to run with them on. Now that no one was looking, she allowed herself to limp to the bathroom.