"Occidere." Black fire writhing with even darker veins shot from my palms and streaked toward his head. Or more specifically the glowing green worm that had fallen from the ceiling and attached itself to him. It exploded into glowing green guts that flecked his face.

"Yep." He wiped it off with his sleeve. "Thanks for that."

"Are you all right? Did it bite you?"

"I don't know," he said, feeling the top of his head. "Would I be able to tell right ...