We got pinched. 

Denae’s hand clasped onto mine, we turned the corner for the stairwell and a cluster of police were already waiting for us. I squeezed her hand hard, producing a sharp gasp out of her. I ground my heels into the floor to force our stop. The goons behind us weren’t far. It only took a moment to detain and separate us. It took two men to restrain me as I thrashed trying to close our distance. 

“Andres!” Denae cried struggling against the a man who was dragging her across the room. She goes in one of these doors and you’ll never be able to find her. I roared with effort tearing the men off of me, but three more officers pilled on. All of their faces were obscured by the odd rune that concealed their identities. The five men got me on my feet and slapped restraints on my wrists.

“You’re getting the Shed, no doubt in my mind. But maybe your friend gets a little lost before she joins you there.” The one to my left taunted in my ear. I curled my tongue in a crude gesture of ignite and spit fire in his face. The men behind me had to wrangle their screaming friend and slap the flames out of his hair with their shawls. 

I told him what I’d do to him if he tried, then I was silenced when the leader punched me in the gut and forced out every ripple of air in my lungs. I hissed air back into me, the one who looked like the leader pointed a gloved hand in my face.

“You need to stop resisting. How do you think we’re going to react when you make those kinds of threats to the Dean?” He said. I wanted to belch fire on him too.

“You’re all thugs! You can’t even show your faces while doing the gestapo’s dirty work!” I spat blood. I didn’t get hit again like I expected, though the men looked disgruntled with my comment. 

“You think we have the luxury of thinking the way that you do?” One of the men that extinguished their friend said in a shrill voice. It was odd hearing his voice behind a mask of rippling smoke. 

I started protesting but the officer I spat flames on rose to his feet. 

“Save it Andres Huff. We all know why you’re doing this. We all have someone like her,” he said. Even the officers appeared surprised to hear this from the man who waxed rapist the last time he opened his mouth. His eyebrows were clearly gone behind the veil. “This isn’t about you to you, it’s about her,” he said, referring to my woman who was being detained across the hall. He tightened my restraints. Heartbeats passed as a weird veil of peace came about everyone. 

“The magic might be your delicacy, but it’s our lives on the line!” The one with the shrill voice said. 

“Having’s not the same as having lost,” I grumbled low enough that they might not have heard me. Across the hall Denae was out of her restraints,and was in the process of hauling an officer up by his weapon straps. Her aura of Enchantment coiling around her, she hurled her prey, now projectile, across the room. I stepped back and one of the unsuspecting officers was blindsided by the blow. She was theatrical, I loved her.