Chapter 51.4

“Amara! Gautier’s magic is running out; we need a distraction! Give me an illusory Tessa to charge at Gautier, then you two to take to the skies. I can give you an opening!” Chloé said quickly, her voice wispy and ethereal.Gripping Imani’s knife, Tessa grabbed Amara’s arm and jumped to her feet. She watched as an illusory copy of herself appeared next to Chloé, smirked playfully, then crouched low to the ground before running out from behind the car. Their ghostly friend gave chase, and Gautier immediately screamed in rage as she saw “Tessa” still alive and well.

With the Coven Head distracted, Amara looked at Tessa. “Ready to fly?”

Tessa nodded quickly. “Let’s do it!”

Amara grabbed Tessa’s waist with her tail, then turned around and leapt into the air, much faster than Tessa had been prepared for. She panicked as she reached for Amara’s body, hoping for something to hold onto, but soon Amara’s tail pulled Tessa down onto her back. Her demonic friend’s back, however, was strangely plush compared to what Tessa expected, and she looked down in confusion.

Underneath her, strapped tightly to Amara’s waist, was an elegant racing saddle covered in flame decals. Stirrups then appeared around Tessa’s feet, anchoring her even further as both girls raced into the sky.

“What, no reins?” Tessa asked as she leaned forward, grabbing Amara’s shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sorry, is this first-class service not to your liking?” Amara said, turning to look at Tessa before winking playfully.

“There’s not even an in-flight movie,” Tessa groaned, stifling a laugh. “One star. No tip.”

Without warning, Amara tucked her wings close to her body and spun in a tight circle, narrowly avoiding one of the dozen pieces of debris flying circles around Gautier. Tessa froze in terror as she squeezed tight, and when they leveled out again, she turned her attention back towards the battlefield.

Amara had been forced to take a detour over the nearby treetop, and now doubled back in pursuit of the Coven Head hovering near the top of the waterfall. Bits of debris, stones and tree trunks mainly, circled around Gautier as she threw seemingly endless attacks at the ground.

Chloé raced towards the Coven Head, as was the illusory copy of Tessa, but they both vanished seconds after Tessa spotted them. Gautier quickly panicked, spinning in all directions as she tried to find whatever attack they had lined up. Before she was able to find Tessa and Amara, cloaked in a demonic flight mirage, Chloé reappeared inches from Gautier’s face and loosed a powerfully discordant shriek that rattled the fabric of space itself.

Tessa was far enough away to be spared, and she knew this was the opportunity Chloé had promised. She reached behind her, slapping Amara’s ass as hard as she could, then prepared to jump.

The stirrups around her feet vanished and Amara’s tail grabbed Tessa’s waist once again. Remembering Chloé’s last fight with Gautier, Tessa waited for the perfect moment to jump. She gripped Amara’s tail tightly, took a deep breath, and watched as Chloé’s began fading from the intensity of her attack.

“Now!” Tessa shouted. She pushed off Amara, the tail giving her an extra boost, and entered free fall just above the Coven Head.

Intense wind buffeted Tessa from all sides as she raced towards Gautier, who was entirely focused on defending herself from Chloé. Tessa engaged her magic, her tattoos flaring as they redirected small bits of detritus that tried to slow her descent, and she readied Imani’s knife.

Chloé cut off her shriek, disappearing once more, and Tessa collided with Gautier, plunging her weapon deep into the Coven Head’s shoulder.

Gautier screamed in pain as the magic of the knife reacted to her blood. Its runes flared, sparking in excitement as it attuned its magic to Gautier’s, and the two of them fell out of the sky, colliding with the waterfall. The Coven Head had been several dozen feet in the air, and Tessa briefly panicked about trying to land amidst the rushing water, when she saw Amara flying in for another pass. Tessa kicked off Gautier, pulled her knife free, and extended a hand towards her demonic friend. Amara’s tail wrapped around her wrist, keeping her safe as Amara safely flew them both to the ground.

Beneath them, Gautier tried to engage her magic and stop her fall. A burst of telekinesis partially shielded her, knocking her to the edge of the water, but she still hit the water with a loud splash. Tessa landed seconds later, pulling out her knives in preparation.

With an enraged scream, Gautier forced herself to her feet. “You fucking bitch! I’ll make you pay for this!”

“I’d like to see you try,” Tessa said, clenching Imani’s knife in her hands while entering a fighting stance. Her own tattoos flared, pulling two more switchblades from her jacket and opening them up.

“You think you can take me?” Gautier hissed. She tried to engage her own magic, but it sputtered out in the face of the sealing runes. Instead, she grabbed one of Davenport’s swords that had fallen nearby, pointing it at Tessa. “I don’t need my magic to kill you, Blackwood. You’re a waste of talent, just like your parents!”

Gautier charged out of the water and lunged at Tessa, who immediately parried the sword with one of her floating knives before backing away. She slashed at Gautier’s side, but the Coven Head’s reinforced outfit absorbed the attack.

“You’re just mad you’ll never measure up to them!” Tessa shouted. “You have all this power at your disposal, and what do you do with it? You try to butcher everyone you don’t like. You’d throw an entire campus of promising young lives to the whims of the universe!”

Another spin from Gautier forced Tessa to jump back, both her floating switchblades diving at Gautier to try and buy space.

“You’re in my way! If you’d just shut up and do as you were told, this world would be ours!” Gautier screamed, parrying Tessa’s floating knives and diving at her once again. Tessa wasn’t quite fast enough, and while she prevented the blade from piercing her stomach, its tip dug into her side. She gasped in pain, and in that moment, felt Gautier’s magic started to gather once more.

With no choice but to stay on the offensive, Tessa grit her teeth and fought through the pain surging up her side. Her magic lashed out at Gautier, bringing both knives with it, and she created an opening to lunge forward. With a growing understanding of the Coven Head’s reinforced clothing, Tessa instead directed her attack at the top of Gautier’s shoulder. Her blade sliced clean through the fabric, which was less reinforced due to the lack of vital organs present, but with fresh blood came a reapplication of the knife’s nullifying effects.

The magic gathering in the clearing dispelled, and Tessa pushed her advantage, pushing Gautier further back into the water. A thick shroud of mist encompassed them as the winds shifted, carrying the foam at the bottom of the waterfall over their fight, the sound of the crashing water underscoring their actions.

“Speaking of wastes, Simone,” Tessa said, finally disregarding the older woman’s title. “What are you without your magic?”

“I’m still twice the witch you’ll ever be!” Simone hissed, stabbing at Tessa as she dodged another floating knife. Tessa knocked this attack away with the knife in her hand, then quickly stepped to the side and stabbed Simone again, this time drawing blood from the top of her wrist.

“If that’s so, then why am I winning?” Tessa smirked playfully as she jumped back, avoiding another slash.

“You still have your magic, that’s why!” Simone said, growling in rage as she kept chasing Tessa down.

The two women found themselves in a brief stalemate, the next few seconds passing without injury as Tessa fell on the defensive. All the while, Simone tried to fight past the limiting effects of Tessa’s knife. “Is that what this is about? Magic? There’s more to life to that, more to life than an endless pursuit of power. But if you want to fight on even footing, then fine. Have it your way!”

Tessa’s magic flared again, bringing one of her switchblades into her off hand before closing the other and tucking it away in her jacket. Once her tattoos faded, she lunged at Simone with renewed resolve.

“Ha! Arrogant to a fault, just like your parents!” Simone shouted.essa said, ducking underneath another swipe. “You’ve been in this position for decades; you’ve always had your magic to rely on.”

Simone spun towards Tessa, attempting to bring her sword down from above, and Tessa caught it by crossing her knives. After glaring at Simone, who continued to snarl in anger, Tessa ducked down and swept the Coven Head’s feet, knocking her to the ground. She landed on her back in the shallow water, gasping in pain. With another slash, Tessa began picking away at the reinforced lacing holding Simone’s reinforced clothing together. As soon as Simone found her footing, she attempted to knock Tessa down as well, and Tessa jumped back to reset.

“After all these years, you’ve let your magic go to your head. It consumed you, became the only thing that mattered, and you forgot everything the Coven is supposed to teach!” Tessa shouted, bracing herself for the next attack.

“You dare lecture me about talent? You?! Whose magic is nothing more than the scraps we feed our dogs?!” Simone said, attacking from the left.

Tessa caught the Coven Head’s sword again, but this time she twisted it before cutting into Simone’s wrist again. She screamed out in pain then dropped the sword, which Tessa immediately kicked away as the sealing runes on her knife activated one more. “You’re nothing without your magic! We stand on equal footing, for the first time in our lives, and you can’t lift a finger against me!”

Pushing her advantage, Tessa drove her knee into Simone’s stomach before digging in with her blades, further weakening the stitching around her midriff. The seconds blurred together as Tessa focused on disarming Simone, on removing the only advantage she had, and with each strike she whittled closer to the tattoos protecting the Coven Head’s clothing. After nearly a minute of ducking and weaving, after watching Simone grow more and more frantic in the face of losing her magic, Tessa finally found the sigil she’d been looking for this whole time.

Nestled deep in the spine of Simone’s corset, a complex protection rune pulsed with magic, and Tessa drove her knife deep into its center. The magic sparked as the runes fell apart, and she quickly kicked Simone away to avoid her next attack.

Simone leapt at Tessa in a rage, and Tessa easily dodged while taking the opportunity to swipe her knife up the older woman’s arm. The tattoos present flared in protest of the sealing runes, but with the sigils now disrupted by a thin wound, they had no chance of channeling magic anymore. Tessa’s next attack dug into Simone’s other arm, and soon she managed to land several more strikes on Simone’s hips and chest.

Piece by piece, she started dismantling Simone’s magic, and she grinned as victory drew closer.