Chapter 91: Stop

I had to stop this. They weren't doing this of their own choice. I'm sure many of them would be incredibly embarrassed when they realized what they were doing. I stood on the chair of the throne and looked out over the crowd. Some couples had joined each other and were in a full orgy.
I concentrated on the purple haze. I had seen the way Mr. Kline's magic worked. He sent out tendrils of magic from his body. Maybe I could project like that, too. I could go around and touch each one of them, sapping Karma's magic out of them, but there were a lot of people here. But first, I needed to start with the room.
I opened up my magic. I couldn't see my own aura, but I could feel it. I imagined it like a vacuum. I pulled the purple haze in towards me and trying to suck it in my body. Slowly it moved. The magic felt strange. Powerful. This was the magic of a Force of Nature. It was way more than a goddess, like Juno. It had a sweet and bitter taste to it. It felt potent, like eating cheesecake. I pushed past the discomfort. I had to get it out of here.
I sucked and pulled at the air. Slowly the purple cleared. The crowd was still going crazy. Slurping and moaning filled the air. If I could have plugged my ears, I would have, but I held my hands out in front of me instead. I needed all the focus I could muster. I started with the person closest to me. I felt my magic wrap around him. I searched for Karma's rich magic and pulled it out of him.
His eyes blinked. I looked down at the man he was holding. His hands snapped back. The other man clung to him. He squirmed. I quickly pulled the magic out of the other man. He froze. He looked up at the first man. They both jumped back. They seemed okay. It had worked.
I left them to fight it out. I let my magic search out to multiple people this time. I sucked the magic from them. I was feeling laden with magic, but I had to keep going. I cleared Cherry. She pulled back from the man she had straddled on the bar counter. Her eyes glared at me. My gaze drifted to Liam. I sucked from that side of the room. I could feel the magic weighing me down. I wavered.
Liam's eyes cleared. He looked at the orc woman he was having sex with. His eyes quickly looked at me. He was hard to read. It didn't matter. Even if this wasn't just Karma's magic, he could still do as he wished.
The noise around me went from moaning to fighting. People were starting to throw punches. I could hear chairs breaking as shouting rose. This wasn't what I wanted.
"Stop!" I shouted above the noise. The music cut off as I screamed above them, "Stop!"
Some eyes turned towards me, but others were too angry to let it go.
"Stop fighting. This isn't your fault. This was mine!"
My voice was lost in the noise. Even the people closest to me couldn't make out what I was saying. I saw the flash of a knife as someone whipped it out of his pocket. I had to do something quickly.
I reached out with my magic again. I tried to connect to just the angry people. When I felt like I had a good connection, I pulled. The energy felt fresh. Alive. This was living energy, not that rich power of Karma.
They slowed. Their faces went slack. The bar drew quiet. All eyes turned to me. Some were clear. The others were lustful with my magic.
I spoke again over the crowd as I stood above them on the throne. "This wasn't your fault. Please. You are brothers. You are patrons. Someone played a nasty trick on you. Forgive each other." The power filling me danced inside my chest. I had too much. It was making my stomach swirl.
"Who did this?" A few people called out.
"Kar-," I stared.
The throne vanished beneath my feet. I lost my grip on my magic. I landed on my ankle sideways. I pitched forward on my hands as I squeaked in pain. Tears sprung to my eyes. I stared at the floor for a long time as I fought the pain and urge to vomit. People slowly started to move around me.
"Are you okay?" Cherry's voice asked in my ear. She knelt beside me with her hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, just fine," I breathed.
"Is she okay?" Cole's voice came from my other side.
"I don't think so," Cherry answered for me. "She doesn't look so good."
I was thinking of some retort of, "I'm right here," but I seriously didn't care at the moment. They could do as much talking for me as they wanted. I just wanted a bowl to vomit in.
"Beloved, can I get you out of here?" Cole asked.
I nodded my head up and down as fast as I could. He lifted me up off the floor by my waist and set me on my feet. White-hot pain shot up from my ankle, and I sucked in a sharp breath. Cole caught me.
"Take her into the office," Cherry said. "I'll get some ice."
Unbidden tears fell from my eyes. Why was she so nice to me? Why was Cole so nice to me?
Cole scooped me and pushed through the mob of angry eyes. I ducked my head into his neck. He smelled like aftershave. I had to keep myself from moving my head in deeper. He opened the office door with one hand and set me in on the desk. Cherry followed him in with a bag of ice.
"What the hell just happened?" Cole asked.
Cherry set my foot on one of the armchairs and placed the ice on my ankle. "Who was that chick?"
"You saw her?" I asked.
"Saw who?" Cole asked. He looked between the two of us.
Cherry nodded. Cole looked at me.
"Karma."
Cherry blinked. "Karma... Like the Karma. Like Karma, Karma?"
I nodded slowly as I pressed my lips together. "I really pissed her off, and now she's making my life a living hell."
"Wait, what's going on?" Cole asked.
I was about to answer, but Cherry jumped in.
"You know how when someone does something bad, and you hope something bad happens to them, and it does?"
He nodded.
"That's Karma. Except, Karma is a real person, well sort of. She's kind of like a god, but not really. Like dead, but alive."
"A Force of Nature," I clarified.
"Yes, that's it. She's a Force of Nature." Cherry turned to me. "And you pissed her off?"
I nodded. "It's a long story, but pretty much, I needed a sword from her and had to trade my guardian angel for it. Now she's messing with me."
"Can you just give it back?" Cole asked.
"She doesn't want it. I've tried. She'd rather just mess with me instead. I'm like a toy to her. Something new and interesting."
"And so she decided to make the whole bar have sex?" Cherry asked.
I nodded. "To blame it on me. People will think it was my power that did it. They won't trust me. And if I tell them it was Karma, they will ask why and then I will have to leave because she might do it again."
"I think you underestimate how much the brothers need the touch," Cole said.
I frowned. "They still won't trust me."
The door burst open. Everyone looked up. Liam stood in the doorway with hard eyes.
"Kira?" Liam asked.
I dropped my eyes. "I'm fine," I said.
"It wasn't her fault," Cherry said.
"It was Karma," Cole added.
He looked between them, then his stare landed on me. I slowly lifted my eyes to meet his. "I'm sorry. It was my fault. I brought this on everyone. I shouldn't even be here. I shouldn't have brought my problems here. I'm sorry." I hung my head.
Silence rang through the office. The tension in the air built. My stomach swirled with the richness of Karma's power. I could feel it mounting, crawling up my esophagus. I held my stomach as I slid off the table. Hands steadied me.
"Beloved?" Cole asked.
"Bathroom, now." I kept my head lowered as I shuffled forward, limping on my swollen ankle.
Cherry guided me. Liam stepped to the side, allowing us passage. She led me to a bathroom where I immediately puked in the toilet in one of the stalls.