as I shouted,
“Me and you!
Even as I attacked I wanted to swear. Because Bergman wasn’t backing off. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the blood spreading through his shirt as he strode forward and drove the right-hand knife deep into her side.
But no one had time to answer my questions. Kyphas was screaming, twisting to fight him. She tried to bring the hammer down on his head, but Bergman blocked her easily as he drove the second knife into her shoulder.
“Ridiculous little speck!” Kyphas screeched. “I’m going to beat you until even your own mother won’t recognize you!”
He stretched out his arms. “Bring it on!” She slammed both fists into his chest, throwing him so far back into the hal that al I could see were the soles of his shoes. But then her wailing distracted me. She was kneeling, staring at her hands, which were red with Bergman’s blood. They’d begun to steam, as if she’d just stuck them in a bowl of acid.
I dove for the stone, but she grabbed it first and shoved it back inside her chest. Then she slammed the pieces of the Rocenz together, though I could tel it tortured her to grasp anything in her burning hands.
She took a wild swing at me and missed.
I stabbed in and up, but she jumped back just in time to sustain a scratch that would probably heal before the fight was over.
Miles came scrambling back, his shirt flapping open in the breeze he made so we could both see the dove he’d carved on his own chest.
“Those knives I left in you have the blood of my dove on them,” he told her. “Just like your hands do. I assume you know what that means.”
I did. The contact with a holy symbol had weakened her.
No wonder I could fight with her on my own level. But that wasn’t al .
Looking as il as if she’d just ingested poison, she rose to her knees and reached out. “No. Please.” He grabbed her wrists and said, “I’m sending you back to hel with the mark of holiness on you. They’l tear you to pieces. Just like that man did to my friend when we were kids.” He began dragging her away from me, toward the hal . He must be heading for the canal. Which meant he’d been keeping tabs on the Party Line, the skunk.
But he looked anything but guilty as he pul ed Kyphas down the rickety stairs. He said, “You knew some horrifying details. Which meant you watched that monster torture and kil my friend. You let it al happen so you could snatch his soul and use it for bait to hook mine years later. Did it ever once occur to you to step in?” He glared at her. “Naw.
’Cause you hel spawn with your pretty faces and your demented quotas couldn’t care less about the innocent.” Bergman dragged Kyphas closer and closer to the canal while I stalked them like Yousef had been trailing me before, desperate to find my way into the action but certain of the kind of welcome I’d get if I picked the wrong approach. So I fol owed at a respectful distance and kept my trap shut, knowing that if I threw Bergman off his game now Kyphas would seize the advantage and break every bone in his body.
Cirilai sent wave after wave of warmth up my arm, tel ing me that Vayl and Cole were on their way. The fact that neither they nor Sterling had said a word meant they thought Bergman had plugged into the Party Line too.
Sucked a little that we’d have to communicate using hand signals and instinct, but you took what you got. I could only hope that Sterling had been around us long enough to tune into our vibe.
Which left the robokitty, stil trotting at Bergman’s feet like she’d been trained to heel. Hard to tel how she could help, especial y if Bergman had already used one of her ass grenades to break down Kyphas’s door. Too bad we couldn’t fit a whole arsenal into that sleek little torso of hers.
Then we could back her up to the plane portal and have her lob them right into hel . I’d be wil ing to bet that just viewing the wreckage would make al of Kyphas’s working parts seize up like an oil-starved engine.
Which brought me back to Raoul, who liked engines, especial y when they were pul ing trains. I nearly cal ed him then. But he’d given Bergman the daggers to start with.
He’d known this moment had been brewing. Could probably see it al happening from his penthouse on-high.
So what if Cole crapped out in the process? An acceptable loss, maybe. Or maybe he just liked hearing me beg for my loved one’s lives.
I did nearly fal to my knees when that thunderous voice of his fil ed my head, blasting away al doubt as to who was the more powerful of us two, and therefore likely to kick my ass into oblivion.
Raoul’s undertone came clear to me as wel .
I took a deep breath, paused to reload Grief, and moved on.
I caught up to Bergman, Astral, and Kyphas at the edge of the alcove. Leaning against the corner of the building for the few seconds it took to wipe the sweat off my face, I tried to get my bearings. The vat glowed with a light so alien I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn the mother ship was buried just under the tannery’s surface. Sterling’s net had begun to sag under the weight of dust particles and smal rocks, which attached themselves to it like iron filings to a magnet. As soon as they touched, a bright blue flame leaped up and they hardened. Already I could see a new lid forming where the old one had been before.
