Vicious Villains (Ruthless Villains Book 4)

Light shone from the windows set into the pale stone building. I studied the cheerful green door before us while Audrey brushed her palms together and called up a tendril of poison magic that curled around her wrist.

“Ready?” I asked as I glanced down at her.

“Yes. I’ll handle the people. You handle the property.”

I nodded in confirmation.

A mixed group of men and women poured out of the cabaret across the street. Their singing filled the night air as they performed an amateur version of whatever show they had just seen. We left them behind as I pulled open the green door to one of Levi’s less influential gambling dens and strode inside. I went first, to make sure that I blocked the view of Audrey’s magic until it was too late.

The singing from outside was cut off as the door swung shut behind Audrey, and it was replaced by a soft murmur of voices. I swept my gaze over the room.

Men and women sat around the spotless tables, but only about half of the chairs were actually taken. Based on the clothes they wore, none of them were particularly rich or influential. Which was of course why Levi had told us to hit this one.

None of the dealers looked up as we entered, but the man behind the bar gave us a nod in welcome. The wall behind him had been painted in the same green color as the door, but the rest of them were made of pale wood panels that matched the furniture. I assessed them all to estimate how much damage I could do without accidentally killing someone in the process.

“Now,” Audrey whispered from behind my shoulder.

Without turning to look, I immediately took a step to the side and then backed up so that I was behind her instead. I had barely gotten into position when a massive poison cloud exploded across the whole room, leaving only the space where I stood behind her clear.

Shocked gasps rang out as the people on the other side snapped their heads up and whirled towards us. A few of them tried to slap their palms together to call up their own magic, but by the time they had identified the threat, the cloud had already reached them too.

Within seconds, the gasps were replaced by choking sounds as Audrey forced poison down everyone’s throats.

Glass shattered as the bartender dropped the bottle he had been holding and instead tried to grab the counter to keep from collapsing to the floor. I studied the glittering green mist that swirled throughout the room. It was strong enough that a few of the players had toppled from their seats and were now bracing their hands on the ground while they dry heaved, but it wasn’t lethal enough to kill.

“All yours,” Audrey said, and cast me a look over her shoulder.

I grinned at her and then moved a little to the side so that I had a clear view of the room. Cocking my head, I considered which part to hit first. Since it would create the most panic, I went with the very middle.

After touching my palms together, I called up a force blast and hurled it at the pale wooden table at the center of the room.

It slammed into the wood with a crack, toppling it over. Playing cards and markers flew through the air before raining down on the floor. If the people who had been seated around that table had had any breath left to scream, I was pretty sure they would have. But now, all they could do was to throw themselves from their chairs and try to crawl away on the floor. They only made it a short distance before their limbs stopped working, presumably because Audrey had increased the strength of the poison.

I calculated the angle of my next attack and then hurled another force blast. My attack crashed into the table I had aimed for and sent it flying into the wall behind. It shook as the large round table smacked into it. No one had been sitting on that side of the table, so it hadn’t actually harmed anyone. Well, apart from the wood panels on the wall that were still trembling in fear after the violent hit from the table, that is.

Both the dealers and the players were coughing and dry heaving inside Audrey’s poison while they tried to drag themselves to cover using limbs that weren’t really working properly. Everyone was on the floor. Except the bartender.

Touching my palms together, I called up a spinning force arc and shifted it to a vertical position before throwing it straight towards the bar at the back of the room. It shot through the air and crashed into the pale wooden counter, leaving a deep gorge right down the middle.

The bartender at last released his white-knuckled grip on the counter and pushed himself sideways to avoid the attack. He landed on the floor with a thud, and he had just managed to push himself up into a sitting position when I shot another force arc at the exact same spot again.

It slammed into the long cut I had already created.

Wood groaned.

And then the final planks cracked and the bar split in two.

Two deafening bangs echoed through the room as they toppled over and crashed down on the floor. One of them slammed into the ground a mere stride from the bartender’s legs. He looked from the broken counter to the smashed tables to the choking players and dealers. Then he finally shifted his wide eyes to us.

Shock and utter disbelief shone on his face. On all of their faces, in fact.

“You think Levi is gonna come save you?” I called across the noise of choking people. “You think he’s gonna protect you?”

Several people flicked desperate glances towards the door, as if that was exactly what they were hoping would happen.

“He’s not,” I continued. “Levi is weak. Because as you can see…” Touching my hands together, I threw a small force arc that cracked a table in two. “He can’t even protect his own businesses anymore. There’s a new power in town, and I would suggest joining the winning side before it’s too late.”

Fear flashed in the eyes of the bartender, along with most of his dealers and half of the players.

I slid my gaze to Audrey in silent confirmation that I was done.

She gave me an almost imperceptible nod.

A few seconds passed.

Then every single person in the room collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

“How long should we give them?” she asked as the massive green cloud at last dissipated.

I shrugged. “Fifteen minutes? Just so we can get to the next place.”

She nodded in agreement and then touched her hands together before holding them out in front of her. Glittering tendrils slid out of every mouth as she pulled part of her poison out of their system, making sure that they would only be unconscious for about fifteen minutes.

Once those had faded into the air, she turned towards the door and raised her eyebrows. “Well then, shall we?”

Amusement swirled inside me at her businesslike tone, but I just gave her a nod and started towards the door.

Air smelling of perfume, spilled alcohol, and fried street food hit us as we left the unconscious people and the wrecked gambling hall behind and made our way out onto the street. I turned right and set course for our next target while Audrey fell in beside me.

Blue and green light from the colored glass domes above us shifted over her features as the lamps swung on their wires when a warm breeze whirled down the road. I watched the way they painted faint highlights in her long black hair.

“Did you rehearse that speech?” she asked, looking up at me with barely hidden amusement.

I let out a huff. “I wouldn’t call that a speech.”

“It was definitely a speech.”

“It was just a public service announcement.”

“It was a speech.” She shot me a knowing look and then wiggled her eyebrows. “So, did you rehearse it?”

“Well… yeah.” Clearing my throat, I drew down my brows in a scowl. “I needed to make sure I told them what Gale and David wanted us to say.”

Audrey laughed. It was a light and wonderful sound that made my stomach flip and my scowl disappear.

Then she smirked up at me. “Yeah, I could tell.”

I shot her a mock glare. “So?”

“So maybe we improvise a little for the next hit? So that it doesn’t sound quite as… scripted.”

After letting out another huff, I slid my attention to the green door that we had been aiming for. Improvise, huh?

Stopping in front of the door, I raised my boot. Audrey’s eyebrows shot up and she barely had time to touch her palms together before I kicked the door open.

Cries of alarm erupted as it flew open and slammed against the wall. I flashed Audrey a smirk before hurling a force wall through the doorway and then striding across the threshold while speaking over my shoulder.

“How’s that for improvising?”

Her dark chuckle filled the air behind me right before a massive poison cloud spread across the already panicked gambling hall.