7 Deadly Instincts (The Sinfire Chronicles Book 1)

When Gray suggested they go out to practice against the snowmen, Tomi snorted. “That’s brilliant. Let’s all risk our lives training out amongst the demons. Anyone else want die today?”

Pinch was there, in her uniform, frowning and not saying a word.

“Weren’t we supposed to have a week off?” Midj asked. She’d made what she referred to was wakesies cookies and was nibbling on one, looking out the window at the snow and the gray day. “It looks cold out there. Never much liked the cold. Never had to endure much since restaurant-work is hot work.”

Gray glanced at Rynn.

“What are waiting for? The sooner you and Ames can hurl mana, the better we’ll all be.”

Ames was already putting on her coat. “I like it when I explode. I like it when I can hurt things.”

Tomi sighed. “Well, that’s not creepy. Good thing you’re on our side.”

Pinch grunted, “You are all idiots.” She was out the door, walking across the snow, toward the leftovers of the snowmen they’d practiced on the day before.

Soon, his squad was trotting after her.

They rolled more snowmen, ten in all, and Pinch stepped back. “We’ll try this again. Maybe the elf can help me explain it better. You channel the mana through your meridians and into you hands, but you know you’re going to throw it. It’s the will to get enough magic to be able to hurl it. Focus.”

Ames hurried forward. “I understand.”

Her midnight blue swirled from her core, through her meridians, and into her hands but then a second later, she vented her core, and they were all thrown across the snow.

Gray and Pinch ended up together, on the snow-packed street. He was on his back and she was on top of him. Her body was so heavy from her packed muscles, and it was warm. Her familiar smell was in his nose, and he couldn’t help but get lust lust mana from being so close to her.

She hissed into his face. “You idiots are never—” She caught herself. Still angry, she sighed. “Maybe this was mistake, Grayson Fade. Maybe we do need some rest. I need…I need a night out.”

“We can make that happen,” Gray said.

They looked into each other’s eyes for several long seconds.

Rynn crawled over to them. “I don’t think she’s getting it. Can you give her some mana, Gray?”

Ames was on her knees, smiling a little, her core was mostly empty, but she was getting magic—most likely from her cruelty resonance. Then she was scratching at her belly, where her mana marks were.

Gray’s own mark was itching on his back.

Pinch leapt up and moved quickly away from him.

Rynn kissed the side of his mouth before whispering into his ear, “Pinch is pretty and smells good. I don’t blame you.”

He had to laugh. “It’s never going to happen.”

“Dammit, Ames!” Tomi yelled. “Can you not fucking wreck us? That hurt.”

Ames giggled. “I know. Sorry. But no one is dead. No dead babies. My mother used to say that. It’s not a big deal because there’s no dead babies.”

“Lovely,” Tomi said, disgust in her voice.

Midj went and helped the cat girl up. “Now, now, Tomi. Let’s be patient. Everyone is different when it comes to learning.”

Gray got everyone back. “Let me try it. So there’s three steps? Channeling the mana, letting it build up around my hands, and then throwing it.”

Rynn cocked her head. “There’s the will to throw it. I think that’s what the problem is. Pinch is right. You have to build up the mana in hour hands while at the same time you’re going to throw it. It’s a delicate balance of thinking about it and willing it to happen.”

Gray stood there, and he channeled his mana into his hands, and yes, he was thinking about throwing it, but he was also worried about venting his core, and before he knew it, he exploded. Luckily, no one was around him. He cleared the street of snow, though, and knocked down one of the hastily made snowmen.

He was so empty again, and he too was on his knees, and then he fell forward, looking at the old stones of the street. He needed mana—which instinct to use? He’d just had Pinch on top of him—he could think about that and channel the lust. Of course, there had been his encounter with Emerilia the day before. Lust was also there for him.

Anger at the world was there was well. Envy was easy too. He wasn’t hungry, so gluttony wasn’t there, though he could probably think about Gorgozola’s meatcake—that would give him mana. Funny, but his greed resonance wasn’t really there for him. He’d grown up poor, but now, he felt so rich.

Sloth was another instinct that he didn’t immediately go to. He’d worked his way out of the normal life of a slave arena, and while other gladiators wanted to lounge around, he’d always had too much to do, too many things to work on, to improve his life. Even when he sat for long hours talking to Blind John, he was still doing something—namely, getting wisdom.

Then Gray thought about pride. That was the ticket. He was proud of how far he’d come. He thought about his many accomplishments. He was strong, so strong now, both physically and the power in his massive core. Yes, that was it. He thought about how far they’d come together, and his many gifts. He could see mana, which was very rare.

He felt his pride resonance working and mana flooded into his core.

Getting to his feet, he had an idea.

“I’ll be right back.”

He went and retrieved his stick from the living room and marched back out into the cold.

Tomi grunted. “That fucking stick.”

“I love my stick,” Gray said with a smile.

“I’ll bet.” The cat girl’s smirked at the innuendo. “Everyone seems to just love Grayson’s Fade stick.”

“I do!” Ames was full of enthusiasm.

That made half the women there sigh.

Pinch glared at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Gray charged it up until it was glowing red—it was a lethal amount of energy in it. Anything he hit with it would explode on contact.

Since his core was relatively empty, he was able to draw the mana back form the stick and into his core, which made him feel even better about himself. The red light vanished and it was a simple stick once more. “Just practicing. Remember, I had trouble getting the amount of mana in my core into my meridians. I had to get branded. Even then, the amount of mana I generate gave me problems. I think the stick might help me manage the flow better. Let me try.”

Pinch took five big steps backward.

Rynn joined her.

“No faith in me?” he asked.

His bonded winced. “Sorry, Mr. No. Safety first.”

He smiled at her. “I completely understand.”

He recharged the stick while at the same time, sweeping it over his shoulder, thinking about a sling he’d once used in the arena. Most of the time, Master Kreef hated anything that wasn’t a sword, club or ax. He wanted his gladiators beating the crap out of each other up close. However, they’d had some training on bows and slings. Being so weak and fragile, Gray had liked the sling, and he’d gotten pretty good at using it.

Now, he was slinging mana out of his stick.

It worked!

A balls golden light, the air around it rippling, left the tip of his stick and went streaking through the air and clipped a snowman. It didn’t knock the thing over but that didn’t matter. Gray had flung his first bit of mana.

Ames rushed over and hugged him. “You did it! You did it, Gray! Now, maybe I can try? Maybe?”

He was about to hand her the stick when they heard the thunder of hooves coming at them. The temperature was chill, but then it dropped several dozen degrees. Gray’s heart sank. Envy steeds were coming—spiked horses, covered in ice and snow, that could steel mana from their core.

Gray and his friends were too far from the house to get back in time. And the horses were coming in from the wall side of the street, which was unexpected. Right then, though, Gray knew the horses had been strategic. They must’ve kept their presence hidden until the very last minute.

Now a dozen of the horses were coming in, bigger than the horses they’d faced in the Chaotica matches during Soulshred Week.

Pinch rose into the air, her mana wings glowing scarlet. Red mana fire filled her hands, and then she was hurling her shrunken into the incoming stampede. The first horse stumbled and fell. The first few nightmare horses ran it over, ice and hunks of flesh exploding out from the dead demon. Then others came in, their fanged mouths tearing meat away from the corpse. But they weren’t there to eat, they were sucking up the mana from their friend through their flaring nostrils.

Rynn stepped up and hurled her own mana blasts, one after another, which brought down another horse.

Midj slammed her hands down—two mana hands side by side, which created a ten foot barrier that the envy steeds ran into. Two were crushed.

“Get to the house!” Pinch screamed. “I’ll hold them off.”

Tomi shifted into her full monster cat form—seven feet tall and five hundred pounds of ferocious muscle. Tomi scooped up Ames and flung both of them up into the air. They drifted there for a second, looking like they were flying as surely as Pinch was flying. Then they floated down to the ground and made it inside Settie’s wards. At least Tomi did.

Ames ran back into the street. She stood with her fists at her side as the envy steeds went for her—those that weren’t crushed trying to maneuver around Midj’s mana hands.

She wasn’t even trying to throw mana. She just stood there.

Gray knew what she was doing. He also knew that she had stumbled upon the perfect plan to get them out of their fix.

Ames vented her core, shattering the first three envy steeds into a million pieces. Her face was cut to ribbons from the flying ice.

Gray called to Rynn. “Follow me!”

They both ran toward Ames as the next wave of steeds came.

Gray charged past the dark elf. He threw mana blast after mana blast from his stick, whipping it around him. A few of the blasts smacked horses in the face, but didn’t do as much damage as he’d waited. Well, that was okay. He was still learning.

Right when he felt the mana being leachedout of him, he stopped, and then he vented his core, destroying more horse flesh. He managed to stay on his feet, but barely. Empty of magic, he felt so weak.

Lastly, Rynn sped past him into the remaining envy steeds, who were trying to turn back around, to escape them. The demons were outclassed—but then, they hadn’t spent months learning to perfect their skills to play Chaotica.

Rynn exploded. A pulse of golden magic swept out from her turning a tree into a splinters, cracking the foundation of a house, and annihilating the last of the demonic horses. The closest one was turned into a bloody mist. The others became sacks of meat on the street, steam rising off their bodies.

Midj sped over and caught Ames before she fell.

Pinch was there for Gray, and he sagged against her, feeling her muscles, smelling her skin. For being an troublesome bitch, she sure smelled good. His lust resonance absorbed mana into his core, but he wasn’t the only one. Pinch’s red core was also getting mana because of her own lust. She wanted him—that had been clear for a while. But he doubted anything would ever really happen between the two of them, not with their history.

The last magic helped him with Rynn—he gave her mana, so she could hurry back to them.

“I think playtime is over,” Pinch hissed. She added, under her breath, “Fucking idiots.”

Rynn smiled at the fae. “You say the nicest things. I’m assuming you received etiquette training in the Freckle Islands?”

Tomi walked back out of the house. “Hey, the sarcasm is my game, angel. Back off. And Ames, if I heroically save you, it works better if you don’t go running back into danger.”

“Sorry,” Ames giggled, even as blood dripped off her face. “I liked watching them all die. Because of my mana. Destroying demons is fun.”

The cat girl smirked. “Good news, then, since the whole point of our existence is to do just that—destroy demons. Your kill squad is going to love you.”

Ames smiled. “They already do.”

Pinch grunted in disgust. “I need a night off. Away from the idiocy. I’m going into town tonight. I’m going to get drunk, throw some dice, and make some money. No one is invited.”

Rynn hooked an arm around the fae girl. “Too bad. I’m going. It sounds like fun.”

Pinch just grumbled.

Then Rynn left her and touched Ames’s face. “How can I heal you?”

Ames thought for a minute. “It’s touching and using willpower. You take all the pain in all the world and you soothe it away, starting with your own. I heal well because I know the pain. I know the rain. I touch the wounds and the wounds all go away and we’re happy, finally happy.”

Rynn closed her eyes. “Okay. Let me try.”

Gray watched as the wounds closed on Ames’s face. The Quelling girl too had her eyes closed, and for several long second, the two stood there, eyes closed, Rynn’s hand on the dark elf’s skin. The bit of golden mana Gray had given her filled the meridians of her right hand then melted into Ames’s midnight blue magic, closing the wounds.

Ames put her hand over Rynn’s. “Thank you, Rynnanatha, for healing me. You have a gentle touch.”

Rynn had tears in her eyes.

Gray wondered why.

Well, he could ask her on their trip to town that night.

He was going to the dice markets, it seemed, and he was curious.

While in town, he had a few errands to run. There was a sad father and a mysterious necklace he had to deal with first.