shot at me. Unfortunately, it's not enough time to deal with half a dozen attackers or more.
I squeezed the shotgun to give them something to think about, mostly because it was faster than spinning a spell, then I turned around and ran back the way I'd come. Bullets rained against the shield and kicked up dirt around my feet, and it sounded like someone had lit the fuse on every firecracker in Chinatown.
I got back around to the other side of the junk pile and Moon Dog was nowhere to be seen. That was just as well-a wolf is out of place in a gunfight. I crouched behind an old refrigerator, leaning my back into it and trying not to flinch as a hailstorm of bullets tore into the junk pile behind me. I was considering my best course of action when the first ball of liquid fire exploded above my head and splashed down on me like napalm.
The spell caught too much of my cover or I'd have been dead. It engulfed the refrigerator and the rear half of an old pickup camper that jutted out from the junk pile to my left. Burning droplets spattered against the back of my head and neck and sprayed across my left shoulder and arm. My jacket lit up and I was on fire.
As quickly as my mind registered that I was under magical attack, the spell talisman on my left ring finger activated another shield that was the antimagic analog of the one that saved me from the gunfire. It flared up around me just in time to catch the second, more carefully targeted spell that poured fire down on me in cascading sheets.
I moved. I ran back down the path I'd followed to the clearing, bent low and burning as I went. I took the first fork to the left and kept going until I had another junk pile between me and the clearing. Then I dropped the shotgun, stripped off my jacket and spun a spell to put out the fire that was still nibbling hungrily at my exposed skin.
'God is a scientist, not a magician,' I said, and juice coursed through my body. It attacked the fire and killed any other hostile magic that might have been affecting me. As soon as I stopped burning, I used some juice to block the pain and spun my wallflower spell. Then I retrieved the Mossberg, hunkered down and threw up the eye in the sky again.
The two bangers on the roof were still there, their AKs panning back and forth across the clearing. The others had left cover and were fanned out, moving in a ragged skirmish line in my direction. There were a lot more of them than the seven I'd originally spotted. I counted at least a dozen. Most of them had guns, but a few were obviously flowing juice, preparing combat spells.
When they reached the edge of the clearing, the thugs split into two groups, one moving down the path I'd taken, the other a path that would bring them up along my flank. They obviously had a pretty good idea of where I was-there just weren't that many places I could have gone. I was sure they wouldn't be able to see through my wallflower, but with automatic weapons and explosive spells, they wouldn't have to.
I let them come. One group came around the right side of my junk pile, and the other came around the left. When they were all more or less where I needed them to be, I dropped the eye and let the Mossberg slip to the ground. I drew in a breath, reached out and sucked down all the juice I could handle, taking it in until it felt like I was burning again.
'To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,' I said. Sometimes you have to quote the rulebook to produce the most fundamental physical effects.
The spell was essentially the same magic that was in the repulsion talisman I'd used at the Cannibal Club-the one that had turned Fred around and thrown him into the flower shop. This time, though, I spun the repulsion field into a vertical plane, like a wall about ten feet high and thirty feet long. I positioned this wall of repulsive force so that it neatly bisected the junk pile the bangers were flanking.
When the sheet of arcane energy snapped into place, the thousands of pounds of twisted, rusting metal to either side of it had to move. There was the hellish sound of a suspension bridge collapsing in an earthquake as the junk pile parted like the Red Sea, and the paths to either side of it were buried in a crashing avalanche of wreckage and debris.
I picked up the shotgun, pumped a shell into the chamber and dropped the wallflower, then I walked toward the clearing along the new path that had been cleared through the middle of the junk pile. There were screams and moans from buried survivors, but I tried not to hear them.
I wasn't sure if the gangbangers with the AKs had seen enough or if they would open fire, so I spun up another defensive shield. I needn't have bothered, because Moon Dog had seized on these new developments as an opportunity to get involved in the fight.
I couldn't see much through the enormous dust cloud that had enveloped the area, but I heard a snarl and a choked scream when the werewolf appeared on the roof. One of the thugs managed to crawl over the edge, drop to the ground and scramble away while Moonie was tearing the other one's throat out.
When I got to the edge of the clearing, the dust cleared well enough for me to see through the haze to the other side. Another dozen or so thugs had left cover and moved into position on either side of the clearing. I noticed they got well clear of the junk piles, but I didn't think I could handle enough juice to spin the spell again anyway.
The door of the low building opened and Terrence Cole stepped out. He raised his left hand and spread the fingers wide, like a starfish on the move. His other hand was gripping an M-16 with a grenade launcher slung under the barrel.
'Enough,' he said, and his voice was deep and smooth. 'Let's cool this shit out before any more brothers get themselves killed.'
I saw Moon Dog creeping to the edge of the building above him, but I gave my head a little shake and he backed off.
'I thought we already cooled this shit out, Terrence. In case I wasn't specific enough, that means you and your fucking gangbangers don't go shock and awe on me.'
'I know what you came here to do. I'm just here to tell you it's not going to happen. Not here, not today.'
'You're protecting that cocksucker?'
Terrence shrugged. 'It is what it is, Domino. It comes down from Papa Danwe, and I do what I'm supposed to do. This here's a line I can't cross, even if I wanted to.'
'Fuck your line, Terrence. I came to talk and you tried to dust me.'
Terrence shook his head. 'That was righteous, Domino, if a bit excessive. This is my ground. You come up in here heavy. I got a right to do it that way.'
'Yeah, maybe, and now you have a dozen gangbangers you have to dig out. Some of them might even be alive.'
Terrence shrugged. 'You know I didn't see it going that way. It was a nice trick with that repulsion spell. You must have had to flow a lot of juice, though, must have been hard to pull it on my turf. You can't be feeling too good right now.'
Terrence was right-my vampire-hunting expedition was over. I'd flowed too much juice and I was just about done, not to mention I'd almost had an arm cooked. I probably had enough left if it was just the thugs, but there was no way I could handle Terrence at the same time. I didn't really know what he could do, but he had the same job description as me so I could make a close enough guess. I also liked him for the napalm spell that almost cooked me.
The clincher, though, was that Terrence was also right about the political situation. The ambush had been excessive, but warranted, even considering our little agreement. I'd come onto another outfit's territory with the idea of killing somebody under their protection. It didn't really matter that I had a legitimate beef with the vampire.
As it stood, I was probably okay, too. They'd attacked me without warning and I'd defended myself. I probably hadn't gone too far to restore the fucking peace with Terrence-what there was of it. But now that I'd been given the opportunity to walk away, I'd have to take it.
'I'm going to have to stake him, Terrence.'
'I understand that. It just can't happen here.'
I let him think I was mulling it over and then nodded. 'I guess I can see that.'
'We can still hold it together, Domino. Like I told you before, some of this shit's already in motion, ain't nothing I can do about it. But it doesn't have to go any further than that. Doesn't have to be any war.'
'Let's keep it that way. You take care of your business and I'll take care of mine.'
'Always, Domino,' he said, and he smiled a wide smile.
I turned around and walked away. When I reached the edge of the clearing I stopped and turned back halfway.
