“Yes, but I like it when you’re idiotic.” I sidled closer to him and slid my arm around his waist. This moment of levity felt important, and not just because a battle was imminent. We’d had very little alone time since this all started and I found I missed him. More importantly, I missed the long conversations we had when mouthy teenagers and tanned vampires weren’t constantly beating down our door.
“Of course you do.”
We made the rest of the trip in silence, both couples basically on top of one another, but when Zoe separated from Aric, I recognized fun time was over. Alert, I turned to study the surrounding area. It didn’t appear familiar to me but it didn’t exactly feel open either.
“This is the back of the hill,” Gunner intoned, his voice low.
Zoe’s head snapped in his direction. “What hill?”
“The one the house is on.” He pointed, although it was too dark to make out what he was gesturing toward. “The house Scout burned down was up there.”
Zoe’s forehead wrinkled. “How far?”
“Um, I don’t know. I’d wager it’s about two hundred yards that way.”
“So not that close but not too far either.” Zoe pursed her lips and scanned the area. There was no movement, not even an errant shadow. It felt somehow false, which was clearly the exact realization she’d come to as well. “They’re setting a trap for us. That’s why we could suddenly find a trail to follow.”
“They are,” Aric agreed, hunkering down. “Look over here. There’s a trip wire.”
“Did anyone alert on it?” Gunner asked.
“The dome would’ve protected us from that,” Aric replied. “Over the years, my wife has made some interesting enhancements on the final project.”
“That’s because I’m all kinds of smart,” Zoe teased.
“My little genius,” Aric agreed, turning so he could study the other side of the clearing. “They want to draw us in here. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re hiding very close.”
“They are.” I’d already found them. Well, at least some of them. “The vampires are over there. I can sense them.”
Zoe’s gaze moved in the direction I indicated, and she nodded. “The vampires are definitely over there.”
“And the shifters are over here.” Aric was staring into a clump of trees about twenty feet away. His nostrils flared as he lifted his chin. “It’s the females who were at the speakeasy ... and more. There are a lot more than we were expecting.”
“All females?” Zoe asked, all business. She was clearly ready to rumble.
Aric tilted his head to the side and then frowned. “No. There are also males in there.”
“So basically you’re saying we have a group of vampires and shifters working together, and the factions are bigger than we expected,” Zoe murmured. “Okay. I’ve got this.” She moved in the direction of the hill and gestured for us to flank her. “Don’t move when I first drop the dome. I’m going to fry some of them just because I can and then we’ll move on to negotiations.”
“What makes you think they’re going to negotiate?” Gunner queried.
“Because they don’t want to die. Now hold tight.”
I wasn’t used to standing at the sidelines for a fight but I was too entranced by Zoe’s attitude to do anything but watch her. Her movements were fast, a blur really, and she’d dropped the dome and unleashed a torrent of magic in the direction of the vampires before I could even register what she was doing.
A cry rang out from that direction, but Zoe didn’t watch to see what sort of damage she’d wrought. She was already focused on the incoming shifters, who called out in alarm when we appeared and put their heads down as they charged forward.
Since I knew Zoe had the shifters under control, I focused on the vampires. I blasted two quickly as they barreled through the foliage cover, causing them to burst into flames and fall to the wayside. Another two took their places and aimed themselves at me but Aric and Gunner had already shifted and were moving to engage. Behind me, the smell of burnt fur caused my stomach to give a small heave — especially because I knew that fur was associated with the sort of animal who looked human most of the time — but I didn’t allow myself to dwell on that. I repeatedly blasted the incoming vampires. I’d taken out six of them before a commanding voice reverberated through the clearing.
“Stop!”
Zoe never looked away from the attacking shifters. “You stop.” She unloaded a huge barrage of fire, catching three at the same time and causing them to yelp before they exploded into flames. “I’m having too much fun to stop.”
“I said to stop!” The voice was female and there was a high-pitched edge to it. Even though I knew it was dangerous, I looked because I had to see if I was right. It turned out I was.
Emma, her skin white and her eyes lit with rage, emerged from the trees we’d walked through upon entering the clearing. I had no idea if she’d been there the entire time, but it was likely, which meant we’d strolled directly past her and not seen her.
Zoe lowered her hands and glared at the furious woman. “Who are you?”
Emma’s hands balled into fists at her sides. “I’m the harbinger of your doom.”
Zoe burst into laughter. “Oh, you’re so cute. Do you know how many times I’ve heard that? No, I’m being serious. I’ve actually heard someone use the word harbinger before when threatening to kill me. Who was that again?” She glanced at Aric.
“It might’ve been one of the sphinxes,” he replied. Obviously, he was used to playing his wife’s witty banter game. “It also might’ve been one of the idiots running the Academy.”
“I think it was one of the Academy idiots.” Zoe’s smile was a little too “Cheshire Cat” for my liking. “Do you want to know what happened to that individual?”
Emma’s expression was
