She shook her head. “As disturbing as that is, what is more disturbing is a potential alliance between a member of the Ten and a demon lord. And I’m not happy about you getting involved with Ashvial.”
“I’m not involved with him!”
“You know him, he knows you. You’re investigating him, and that is a very dangerous position to be in.”
I pulled the charm out and showed it to her. “Kirsten fixed me up with protection.”
“I hope you don’t rely on that thing. Danica, please use some common sense. If things get too uncomfortable, run. Osiris is concerned about increased demonic activity. A lot of them are coming through the Rift, and they’re becoming more active. And if Akiyama is doing business with them, who knows what other Families might be doing. Politically, things are very unstable right now. Our forces have engaged in several pitched battles with various insurgents in different parts of the world—demonic and magikal.”
“Battles over what?” I asked. “Attacking your facilities? Your supply chain?”
“Both, and some attempted assassinations of key people.”
Chapter 33
It was late when I left Findlay House. The drive home took me along semi-rural roads to the freeway and then down into Baltimore City proper. The neighborhood where Kirsten and I lived, with its bungalows and neat little yards, could not have been more different from the grand estate where my grandmother lived.
As soon as I turned off a main road onto a side street a couple of blocks away my house, a fireball came from my right. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and managed to turn the bike enough that it missed me. I felt the heat, though. Ambushed again, and this time by mages instead of vampires.
I applied more throttle, put my foot down, and slid the rear end of the bike around to face my attacker. Another fireball flew toward me. I dove off the bike, hitting the pavement and rolling, then came up to my knees with the Raider in my hand. A lightning bolt hit the motorcycle even as I fired off three rounds in the direction the fireball had come from.
Another lightning bolt shot from the corner of the street toward where the lightning bolt that hit the bike originated. Things got more confusing from there, as a mage battle erupted between my ambushers and Findlay’s guardians. I scrambled out of the street and tried to hide behind a car. My magik wasn’t very helpful in that type of fight.
I did have a magikal weapon in my pocket, but it wouldn’t have helped. The small lightning box my father had given me long before had a range of only about twenty or thirty feet. It would protect me, though. I activated one of its functions, and it covered me with an electromagikal field. It wasn’t as good as an aeromancer’s shield, but it would deflect or diminish a lot of potential harm.
A gout of flame erupted from down the street and engulfed the car I was hiding behind. I looked up and saw a man standing on the sidewalk about fifty yards away, the flame coming from his outstretched hand. Taking careful aim, I pulled the trigger. He went down, and the flame stopped. The car was still on fire, however, and I didn’t want to wait around for the hydrogen cell to explode.
I crawled past the sidewalk and across the lawn toward a large tree. Behind me, the crack of lightning and the whoosh of fireballs continued. I had almost reached the tree when a man stepped out from behind it, carrying a sword bathed in green fire. He took two steps forward and stopped right in front of me, with the sword raised over his head.
I pulled the trigger and blew a hole in his crotch. He fell out of my way, and I finished crawling behind the tree. I ejected the empty magazine from the Raider and inserted a full one. Flipping my helmet visor into electronic scan mode, I used it to look around the tree. The battle was still going on, but the odds seemed more even. Two mages on my side and two attackers.
Suddenly, two men took off running down the street. It looked like they were about to get away, but the one in the lead ran into an invisible barrier. He bounced and landed on the ground. The other man managed to stop short, but when he tried to dodge to his left, it became apparent they’d been enclosed by the barrier. My guardian team’s aeromancer had stepped into the play.
A dark figure came toward me and called out a Findlay passcode. I gave him the countersign and stood up. The sound of sirens in the distance grew louder.
“How many?” I asked.
“I counted seven. Five down, and the two Steph captured.”
“Get the dead and the wounded out of here if you can,” I said. “I’ll handle the cops.”
He shook his head. “There’s only two of us. Marty can take the wounded guy out of the picture.”
“Do it, and take Steph’s prisoners with you.”
“I’ll stay.”
“Jon, I don’t need you to stick around, just call Osiris and tell him what happened. Now git!” At that moment, the hydrogen cell in the burning car exploded, knocking us both off our feet.
When the first cop car showed up, I was standing in the middle of the street with my hands in plain sight, holding my badge. One cop held his gun on me while the other one checked my credentials.
“She’s clean,” he announced. “What happened here? Attempted robbery? Carjacking?” He eyed the burning car.
“An ambush. There are several people dead. Call DC Whittaker, will you?”
Whittaker and Kelly Quinn, the medical examiner, showed up about twenty minutes later.
“You’re supposed to be off duty,” Whittaker said as he strolled up to me.
“That’s what I thought. No rest for the blessed.”
He snorted and wandered off to examine the scene. After a while, he spoke with Quinn, then came back
