The Deadliest Bite

I scrambled for safety as Vayl said, “I thought I had forgotten how to do that.”

“Holy crapinator, Vayl, I never realized you knew how!”

“I wil have to tel you sometime.” He nodded over my shoulder to where Zel and Helena were battling. Helena had just crushed a snake’s head under her boot, which I found extra badass considering she’d been brought up to swoon at the sight of an earthworm, but then Zel managed to impress me even more when he punched Roldan in the face (although maybe that was just on principle because the Were was only baring his teeth), shoved his bolt-knife through the gorgon’s cheek, and caught the black mamba that was preparing to strike with his bare hand, snapping its neck and leaving it to dangle from Sthenno’s do like a greasy curl.

Cole and Dave were racing toward the gorgon and the Were at ful speed, their swords held tight and low for piercing. They’d each put on a pair of reflective sunglasses for the fight, which I didn’t quite see the point of until Cole whistled.

“Oh, Gorgonzola! Give us a kiss, ya big, beautiful girl you!” She spun around. Dave and Cole had put their heads together and grinned, like they were posing for a picture one of them was taking at close range. That much charm packed into such a tight space? I couldn’t resist looking. And neither could Sthenno. She stared straight into those mirrored shades behind which, I guessed, two pairs of eyes were tightly shut. Because Cole’s skin remained its typical golden brown and Dave’s kept al its freckles. Hers, on the other hand, began to get that leathery look you see on old gals who’ve sacrificed softness for tanning. Even her snakes looked a little gray around the edges.

“You think this wil kil me?” she bel owed as she dragged forward a foot that had suddenly gone sand-tinted. “After generations of men, al of them more bril iant and virile than you, have tried to freeze me with my own stare?” Second foot forward. She looked like an elephant trying to reach its water bowl after a hard night of partying.

“This only slows me down!” She looked over her shoulder at us, her gaze even more venomous than the snakes waving almost drunkenly around her skul . “And makes me harder to stop.”

“That works for us,” Dave cal ed. He swept his sword up one side of her head. The snakes regenerated much slower than before. That gave Cole time to carve a ravine in her chest that should’ve laid her flat. But she was one of the original three, and stil connected to Roldan to boot.

Which meant she stil had the strength to bat his sword away as if it were no more irritating to her than a kid’s toy. Cole went flying, landing among a planting of hands that caught him and rol ed him into the mud like he was a round of pizza dough.

Muttering so low that I couldn’t catch the words, only that Vayl sounded like he was giving himself the lecture of a lifetime, my sverhamin rushed up behind Sthenno and shoved his hand around the front of her, into the gaping wound Cole had caused. She screamed, turning her head to sink her teeth into his shoulder. Her claws sank into his hips as he reached for her heartstone, but the snakes struggling to respawn couldn’t join in the fray. They yawned their baby mouths and reached out to him like chicks in a nest, begging for regurge, and he laughed as he yanked his hand free, the blood and gore dripping from his fist unable to disguise the treasure he’d found.

“Jasmine! Here!” He tossed me the heartstone, which I caught despite the droplets of ick flying off it and the slick layer of goo that made it slippery as an ice cube. For a second, as I turned toward shore, I did lose my grip. In that nightmare moment I could see it fal ing through the gaps between the ulnas and skul s on the bridge into the river, where we’d never be able to recover it again. I leaped to land, ran about ten yards, and put it safely on the ground. Not even giving myself time for a sigh of relief, I steadied Sthenno’s heartstone between my boots, pul ed the hammer and chisel from my belt, and began my second carving of the day while Astral sat so close it was a wonder I didn’t smack her on the upswing.

Visualizing the symbol that Roldan had traced repeatedly in the air and my own Inner Bimbo had copied, I tapped the pattern into the stone. Sthenno screamed again. My peripheral vision told me she was coming for me, but everyone in my crew blocked the bridge, their blades forming a barrier her claws and slow-growing asps found impossible to breach.

The rock was slippery. So was the mud underneath. This made the chiseling harder and slower than it had been with Brude. And, perversely, now that Roldan could feel his death drawing near, he’d decided to fight forevery last breath. When I heard the growls of a ful y changed werewolf, my heart launched into triple time.

Isn’t that just like a villain? said Granny May. Can’t even hold on to the little bit of honor he’s found for ten damn minutes. She and the rest of my inner girls had al brought their lawn chairs onto her front porch for the final showdown.

Popcorn? You’ve decided to watch me battle for my life as if you were at a movie theater?

Not completely, said Teen Me, holding up her snack. I have yogurt. She took a bite and then, with her mouth ful of strawberry-banana lusciousness, added, Isn’t it interesting how demons react differently to having their heartstones carved by humans? When Kyphas did hers with Cole’s name he got all demony and she was all, “Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.” But now that you’re doing Sthenno’s, she’s acting like it’s the end of the world!

Hopefully it is for her, said Granny May. Now, hurry up, Jazzy. Your people may be good, but the snakes are growing and Roldan is getting stronger. Finish that already!

Luckil ly I work wel under pressure. I chinked in the last flourish of Sthenno’s glyph just as Roldan broke free of her chain and charged our line. He ran straight for Zel . And though Vayl, Cole, Dave, and Raoul al closed on him quicker than NOLA cops on a rowdy Mardi Gras tourist, he stil had the head start and the speed. Zel went down under his snapping jaws and tearing claws.

Helena’s scream tore at my heart as I ran to help, stil holding the pieces of the Rocenz in my hands, the completed heartstone forgotten in the mud just like the slumping form of Sthenno behind us.

When the men pul ed back from their attack on Roldan, his white coat was stained a dark, bloody red. Vayl, alone, tore him off Zel , the sight of whom brought another jagged cry from Helena.

He was also soaked in blood, his throat torn open so badly I thought I could see his spine shining at the back of it. But he’d given as good as he got, which we saw when we rol ed the Were over to find his homemade dagger sticking out of Roldan’s chest.

Helena leaned over Zel , weeping so desperately that her entire body shook. She clutched at his clothes and