Cold Blooded

I tried to wiggle the sword, but it was firmly locked into place. We have to shake it loose, disrupt the current somehow. I pulled ribbons of power together in my mind and sent them shooting into the saber as fast as I could. It’s too slow. We have to blast it to make it skip. I yanked my power back with effort and focused it into a bigger mass in my mind until I could see only a golden haze covering my eyes. Now! I yelled. My wolf bared her teeth as power exploded down through my arms and into the Kilij. Right as it hit, I pulled backward with everything I had, bracing my feet on the slippery circle. A screeching sound followed as the saber separated a few inches from the floor.

The ground beneath us rumbled and shook.

My arms vibrated like two tuning forks as I tried desperately to keep my grip on the sword. The force of the energy was threatening to disarm me. We have to hold tight! One more yank.

I flexed back with incredible force and the Kilij finally sprang free.

A sound bordering on a murderous scream followed as a shock wave hit the Reliquary. The skylights exploded and all the artifacts blasted outward. I lost my footing and flew through the air, the saber still clutched in my burned palms.

I landed flat on my back.

The impact had knocked the wind clean out of me, so I took a few shallow breaths and rubbed my aching head.

I sat up. An eerie silence followed. Nothing moved for a few beats. There were no whispers of energy urging me on, no currents of air moving. The ghosts hadn’t stuck around to say goodbye and that was fine with me. “Naomi,” I called, tossing the saber to the side. “Are you okay?”

There was a rumble in the corner and one of the tarps moved. “Oui. I am alive.”

“We have to get—”

Jessica! Rourke roared into my mind with a ferocity I hadn’t heard before. The sound was massive, his voice aching with emotion. Where the fuck are you?

The barrier was indeed down and the lines of communication were now open.

I’m here, Rourke. I’m in the Reliquary behind the house. I just broke the Queen’s ward. I motioned to Naomi and pointed upward. After all that noise, the guards and whoever Eudoxia had protecting her would be on us. It was almost dusk and we needed to move.

Naomi nodded. She shot up and I followed, springing off the wall, my hands grabbing the edge of the open skylight. I swung my body and hoisted myself out onto the roof in one motion.

Tell me you’re okay, Rourke continued. That explosion was huge. It rocked the entire area.

I’m fine. Just leaving now. Where are you?

I’m standing in a cell, and I’ve got a withered vampire by the throat, he growled. He claims he helped you escape. I’m two seconds shy of tearing his heart out.

He did help me. Don’t hurt him. Let them both go. I picked my way along the roof, stepping over the broken skylights.

Fine, they go free. Stay where you are and I’ll find you.

“Jessica!” Tyler yelled. “Over here.”

I turned and glanced down. My brother and Danny stood by a crypt. Tyler waved his arms. It was clear they’d been trying to tear into it but hadn’t had much luck. I rested my hand above my eyes and scanned the yard. There were hundreds of tombs and structures spread out behind the mansion. It was a real New Orleans graveyard.

And I’d just been in the underground network connecting them.

Rourke, I’m heading down into the cemetery. Tyler and Danny are here. I’m going to meet them. I motioned to Naomi. “Let’s join the boys down there,” I said to her. “Rourke is on his way —”

“Fool,” the Queen’s voice shrilled. My head snapped toward the mansion. Her voice ended on a shriek. “You’ve ruined everything!”

20

My gaze landed on Naomi. Before we could figure out what to do, there was another scream. It came from the house, and it was decisively the Queen’s, followed a moment later by Valdov’s murderous cackle.

Naomi ran down the slope and took off into the air. “We must get the cross back,” she called. “If he kills the Queen, the vampires will be thrown into chaos.”

Without thinking, I took off after her.

It was nice not to have to make the decision this time. And Naomi was right—if Valdov took control, it would be very bad indeed. The Queen had honor and played by the rules of supernatural negotiation—they were her rules, and worked in her favor most of the time, but she played them well. If Valdov ruled, there was a chance the vamps would side with the demons, and my Pack, along with many other supernaturals, would be in serious trouble.

The Reliquary sat fifty feet from the mansion, but there was a long portico that jutted from the back of the house. The portico roof looked big enough to hold me. It was a reasonable distance away—“reasonable” being the operative word. My wolf urged me along, agreeing wholeheartedly with getting rid of Valdov. We have to make this jump in one leap. There’s no other way. I took off running and leapt, soaring into the air. I connected with the roof, my claws digging in, splintering boards and dislodging shingles as my hands slid. I finally stopped my momentum by latching on to the gutters. I hung there precariously for a few beats.

Jess, what the hell are you doing? my brother yelled in my mind. I had to block out the rest of his protests, which were entering my brain rapid-fire, to focus on not falling. Both his and Danny’s footfalls raced toward me.

I swung a leg up and hoisted myself onto the small roof. Naomi had already entered through an open window. The mansion was made of big stone slabs, so there were enough footholds and crannies for me to shimmy up easily. I leapt onto the wall, moving at supernatural speed, my claws keeping me steady. I had to answer my brother’s protests. Tyler, I have to stop Valdov. He’s with the Queen. I can’t let him kill her.

Fine, but we’re coming in right behind you.

That’s what I’m hoping.

As I neared the Queen’s chambers, her voice rang out. “You will not defeat me!” followed by a strangled scream.

We go straight in, I told my wolf. No waiting. There was an open window around the corner of the turret, but we were going to take the closest route.

I hit the casing above a closed window, latching on to the stone siding above me. In the next breath I let go, plunging down, grabbing on to the upper windowsill, my legs bursting feetfirst through the leaded glass.

One second before I crashed through the panes, I heard four words.

“Now you must die.”

The glass exploded spectacularly and I landed in a low crouch, fists up, my wolf on high alert.

“You’re too late, mongrel.” Valdov’s precise voice hit my eardrum the instant before I sprang.

My brain took in the scene around me as I lunged, the Queen in her bed, blood everywhere, Naomi crumpled on the floor. My hands came around his neck as I snarled, “We’ll see about that, asshole.” My vocal cords were taut, my words strained. I knocked him to the floor in one motion, my knees pinning him across the chest.

Valdov chuckled beneath me, barely trying to fight back. “She’s already dead! You’re too late. I can feel the beautiful power transferring to me already.” He took a big, satisfied breath and grinned in a way that made him look like the Joker. “Ahh, it’s taken much too long to gain what was rightfully mine. Once