We Wreak Havoc Too Sample
Chapter 1
Atina
Blood shot from her mouth onto the dance floor. Her breath came in short gasps, her hands gripping her throat like she didn’t understand why she couldn’t breathe.
My eyes widened. Yete was a regular at my club and someone I liked a great deal. She came in at least five nights a week and usually stayed on the dance floor until closing.
I hurriedly put down my drink and headed her way. Yete’s skin bubbled and hissed, open sores and blisters popping up on her arms, neck, and face. What the…?
She began to shake, her eyes going to the back of her head. She continued to wheeze like her lungs couldn’t get enough air. I watched, horrified, not sure what was happening.
I’d been living on the world Jeguate for a year now, but I’d never seen anything like this. Mostly I’d been working toward my real estate license. That’d taken four months here.
I also had another universe I called home. I’d gotten my real estate license there too. After I’d gotten my license, it’d been easy to find cheap property in need of a little renovation.
I’d bought a club here and one back home at dirt cheap prices. Now that I owned clubs on both worlds, and sold real estate on both worlds, my time was a lot more limited.
Both my clubs had been open three months. I was still getting a handle on how to run them, though I’d interned under my friend Todd at his club and restaurant. Even with his meticulous training, this was all still new to me.
Yete dying right in front of me wasn’t something I’d prepared for. Yete was the same age as me, twenty. She loved coming here, relieving stress on the dance floor. I saw nothing wrong with that. Yete was beautiful inside and out. The thought of her being harmed filled me with rage.
She fell to the floor, body seizing, foam coming from her mouth. I hastened my steps, but before I could reach her, the guy behind her fell to the floor. His skin bubbled and blood poured from his mouth. I turned toward him, but then the woman beside him hit the ground.
My heart thumped like it was ready to burst out my chest. I needed to help the most severe case first, but it was hard to tell who was hurt worse amidst the chaos.
“Atina, are you alright?” my boyfriend Ridge asked. He was beside me in an instant.
Looking at Ridge and myself side by side, we couldn’t be more different. Ridge stood six feet tall, had shaggy black hair, was slim of frame, and had very pale skin. He scored a perfect ten on the emo scale and was usually closed off from people he didn’t know.
I was five-six. My skin was a light brown and my hair at the moment was done in micro braids. I liked micro braids. It cost a couple hundred dollars to get ‘em done, but I usually kept ‘em for a few months. If I got my edges redone, then they held even longer than that.
Ridge and I were from different worlds, but we lived together on Jeguate. We’d bought a house here. We also had homes on… Well, I didn’t like to call it Earth. We weren’t hopping planets, just going to alternate universes. So, the other world we lived on was called Routine. That was the universal name for a world with no powers.
Neither of us were native to Routine, but it was the world I’d grown up on and knew the best. I could tell you little facts about New York, Virginia, Florida… I knew the universe Routine better than any other, but the people there had no powers, so I had to hide who I was whenever I went home. Ridge and I both did.
The music in the club stopped and all eyes turned to the floor. Five bodies lay convulsing. Ridge put a hand on my back, and that helped to calm me. His presence always grounded me, and I was glad he was here tonight.
“What’s going on?” Ridge’s sister Chibo ran up to us, my cousin James right behind her.
Chibo was the same height and weight as her brother. Like him, she also had long black hair and pale skin. Chibo didn’t talk much to others, but over this past year, she and I had formed a nice friendship.
James was six feet tall. He had brown skin like my own and on Routine, he was a registered nurse. He worked in a hospital here on Jeguate too, plus he did consultant work at a few firms. I’d taken on a bit of consultant work myself. It’d helped pay for the renovations of this place.
It was good money. Our base price was two million. Since James’ and my powers worked by absorbing the properties of anything we touched, it was easy to run our hands over a contract and pull apart every single detail that wouldn’t work or was worded in a way that would hurt our clients. No one else here had that power so we were in very high demand.
James and I were originally from the world Xley. It was a high-powered, advanced-technology world that was so noisy and bright it made my head spin whenever I went there. Ridge and Chibo’s homeworld couldn’t be more different.
From the way they’d described it, they were from a world that reminded me of ancient Rome. An ancient Rome where everyone had powers and they had a lot of high-tech equipment.
“What did they take?” James asked. It was easy for James to slip into nurse mode when he saw people hurt. It came naturally to him.
I swallowed hard, shaking my head, trying to calm my beating heart. I had to keep it together. These people were depending on us to get them help.
James would probably accompany them to the hospital. It’d be good if he could tell the doctors what they’d taken. It’d also be good if we knew what they’d consumed before we tried to heal them.
James was very thorough when it came to his patients. He treated each one like he would a member of his family.
Everyone in the club gathered around us, making me feel like I was under a microscope. I tried to keep my composure, but the smell of alcohol and vomit was so strong I breathed it in no matter where I turned.
Hushed whispers and gasps could be heard throughout the crowd, everyone trying to figure out what had happened.
“Can you heal them?” Ridge asked.
“I’ll try.” I dropped to my knees, James right beside me.
I put my hands over Yete. She’d been the first to fall, and she looked the most severely Injured.
Chibo hit Ridge on the shoulder. “We need to check the club, see if anyone else’s hurt.”
“Good idea.” I nodded, and she and Ridge took off in opposite directions.
James and I were Hissyen born. That was our family name. Breath, or voice magic, ran strong in our bloodlines. That’s what I hoped to heal these people with.
Yete’s skin still festered and burned. It looked like someone had poured gasoline on her and set her aflame. My eyes watered, but I blinked it back, though my heart was beating triple the normal rate. I put my hands over her chest and closed my eyes to concentrate. “Re pe di.” I said the spell to heal her.
A blue twinkling mass shot from my mouth and onto her arms and legs. “Re pe di,” I said again, focusing my intent, and pouring power into each word I spoke. Another blue mass came out of me, healing her face and neck.
Beside me, James was doing the same. Healing someone took a lot out of your body. If James and I didn’t recharge after a healing, we’d be down for days.
Slowly, Yete’s skin began turning back to its regular tan color, but the healing wasn’t working as fast as it normally would.
I should have finished with Yete and been on to the next by now. “Re pe di,” I said one more time, then figured I could at least start healing the others before coming back to Yete.
I had a few healing potions and charms in my office. My own concoctions. I’d mixed the potions and empowered the charms myself.
I didn’t feel comfortable using the elixirs, though. Not until I had a better idea what type of drug or poison we were dealing with. The last thing I wanted was to cause an adverse reaction.
Together James and I healed everyone we saw, but it wasn’t working as it should. They weren’t healing as fast as they should be. We’d done what we could, but they needed to get to the hospital.
They had very skilled healers there, doctors and nurses who’d been doing this for years and could probably spot the problem right away.
Chibo came back, carrying a small woman in her arms. She laid her carefully on the ground. She didn’t say anything, but I could see the strain on her face.
I looked down. I didn’t recognize the woman, probably because her skin had started to deteriorate and peel away.
James and I both put hands over the woman and began healing her together. We’d already healed so many and it was starting to take its toll on our bodies.
Sweat dripped from my face, into my eyes, making them burn. I could feel the energy seeping out of me, making my arms feel like they had a ton bricks weighing them down. I’d be drained soon, but I couldn’t stop. Not until I knew everyone was okay.
“I found three more like this,” Chibo said. She took off in the direction she’d come from.
James and I shared a look. Three more? What in all Jeguate was going on here?
Ridge came back to the floor. He carried a man over his shoulder. He lay him on the ground, a confused look on his face. “Saw two more like this. Isten’s getting them now.”
Isten was from the world, Quate. My first portal hop had been to Quate and the first person I’d met had been Isten. Ridge, James, and myself had helped his world fight off the Yango. The Yango were from a world that conquered lesser worlds.
They were no longer a threat, but at the time, they’d been formidable. To show us his appreciation for helping, Isten had gifted us a few items. He’d given us money, for one. We’d been broke at the time. It was from that money we’d bought our first house here on Jeguate.
James, Chibo, Ridge, and I had all put money in to buy the house. We owned it together. They didn’t do small here on Jeguate, so our house had three floors, seven bedrooms, and ten baths. It also had loads of extra rooms, plus a pool and a few jacuzzies.
Isten’s skin tone and facial features put me in mind of someone who might have Mexican heritage. Isten wasn’t from Routine, though. He was from Quate. He didn’t know what Mexico was.
Chibo came back. She’d decided to use her telekinesis this time. Three bodies floated behind her. She took careful steps, being as gentle as she could when laying them down.
Isten’s powers worked by manipulating energy. Ridge had said Isten was getting the last two. He had them wrapped in his energy, floating them in the air. He lay them down in front of James and me.
My arms shook, my insides turning to mush. I was using up way too much energy. I needed to stop. I couldn’t, though. I wouldn’t let these people die. Not if I could help it.
James wiped sweat from his face. Like me, his body was worn down, but he wouldn’t stop either. James was a natural-born healer. If there was a way for him to help, he’d keep going until his body stopped him completely.
James and I kept healing, but I could feel myself shaking. My arms were heavy like lead, my heart was beating erratically. It wouldn’t be long before my body shut down, and then I wouldn’t be able to help anyone. “Who here can teleport?” I yelled through the crowd. Four people stepped forward. I nodded thankfully.
James tried to heal one of the females on the ground in front of him. His brown skin had turned pale, and his arms trembled over top her.
“What’s the best hospital?” I asked James.
He looked at one of the teleporters. A woman with blond hair and pale skin. “Give me your com.” The lady handed over her handcom with no issue. James began to type fiercely. “These are their symptoms. Make sure you give this information to the doctors. Take them to Jegu Regional. That’s where I work. I put in my employee identifier code. Tell the nurse James sent you. I’ll send them a message too. They’ll be waiting for you.”
James fell back on his haunches, a desperate look on his face. He wanted to go with them. I knew he did, but we needed to regain our strength. We wouldn’t be much good to anyone if we didn’t. Even though he was weak, he still pulled out his com and shot a message to the hospital, so they’d be on the lookout.
The blond teleporter sent the information from her handheld com to those of the other teleporters. Quicker than I could blink, they transported all twelve injured away.
I stood, knees shaking. Ridge was beside me in an instant, wrapping strong arms around my waist. “I’ve got you,” he said, voice soft, reassuring. I let out a breath of relief, more than happy to lean on him.
I felt safe in his arms. I always felt safe when Ridge was around. I’d lived on the streets for many years, and a lot of times I hadn’t felt safe.
With Ridge by my side, though, I didn’t worry. No matter what happened, as long as we handled it together, we’d be okay. That was a feeling I held very close to my heart.
Ridge meant everything to me…
Before I could think on it further, my phone rang. I looked at the number and saw it was Lena. Lena managed my club on Routine. My phone slipped from my hand when I tried to answer it. I was covered in sweat, and my insides felt like they were melted together.
I’d overdone it. James and I both had, but we’d seen no way around it. Ridge caught my phone before it hit the floor. I swiped right to answer and put it to my ear.
“Come quickly!” Lena yelled. “People are dying on the floor. Something’s wrong with their skin and they have blood coming from their mouths.”