“Help me push the bed,” he said. I bent next to him and shoved the bed, scratching the hardwood. The floor beneath the bed didn’t look any different, but he waved his hand over a section of it and an iron pull appeared. Hiders. Sneaky bastards. He grabbed the ring and opened a small space, three feet by three feet, maybe a bit bigger.
“I have a weapon here, like yours. He’s a mouthy thing, but I think he will help you. He loves Anita like a sister,” Carlos said.
Dinah shivered. “A sentient gun? Like me?”
I grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him back. While he was theoretically on my side, I couldn’t risk letting him pull a gun. If he attacked me, I’d have to shoot him, and we still needed him.
Keeping him on my right, I reached into the darkness, and my fingers brushed against the metal butt of what felt like a larger gun. Something semi-automatic by the feel of it.
A voice breathed out of the small space. “Oh, baby, just like that. Carlos, you didn’t tell me that you were giving me to a pretty girl!”
I raised an eyebrow at Carlos. “It’s no small thing to have a sentient gun. I thought I had the only two.”
He shrugged. “He was a ladies’ man in life. That didn’t change after. And it was his wish to be . . . placed in a gun to protect someone he loved.”
I was going to have a longer chat with Dinah about the spell used on her. Find out just how many people knew about it.
“Hey, Carlos, you fucker, you going to let me go do some damage?” the gun yelled as I dragged him out of the hiding spot.
He was no handgun, but an AK-47, with what looked like a seriously long-range scope. Matte black—he had that much in common with Dinah. I rolled him over once. “What’s your name?”
He shivered in my hands. “Well, that depends. You want the name I was born with?”
“I need a name so I can yell at you,” I said.
He chuckled. “A woman with fire? Bring it on, baby. You can call me Diego.”
Carlos cleared his throat. “We should go. We have less than thirty minutes before they arrive.”
I looked at him as the rumble of an engine cut through the walls of the house, soft, barely there but I heard it. My dog lifted her head and I turned toward the front of the house.
“Correction, we are out of time.”
13
I gave Carlos one last look as the engines of what sounded like three distinct army trucks rolled up the driveway to his house. “You did call them.”
He grimaced. “It was the deal. I’m sorry, I—”
“Don’t be sorry, get your fucking keys and get ready to move. I don’t want you in the line of fire.”
He was like a goose that laid golden eggs; a Hider in this world where we were about to be on the run could be the difference between our survival and death.
I held the new gun, Diego, up and settled his stock against my shoulder. “What can you do, boyo?” That was the bit of Killian I carried with me coming out. Boyo.
Diego gave a happy chuffing sound. “The usual. Exploding rounds, rapid fire, distance shots, whatever you need. But I want a certain number of kills, you hear?” he said. “Oh, and I can shift to a more manageable size too, if I get to be too big for your tiny girly hands.”
“He’s from the Bronx,” Dinah said. “I can hear it in his voice. And she does not have tiny hands. Idiot.”
“I am not from the Bronx,” Diego said. “If I’m from the Bronx, you’re from jolly old England, sass mouth.”
They quarreled back and forth as I checked the hidden storage box and pulled out a strap that would keep the new gun slung over my shoulder and back, plus a box of what I hoped was extra special ammo. A leather belt that had a holster went around my waist.
“Welcome to the crew. You’ll have your share of blood.”
“Fucking right,” he growled. “I like that you aren’t running. Stand your ground, mess the bastards up.”
Dinah sighed and then laughed. “He’s going to have to learn that he’s second string. I get first blood.”
“Not tonight.”
I tucked her into the holster and she squawked. “What the fuck?”
I swept Diego around and went to the window. The trucks in the driveaway had parked and men were spilling out of them, crouched low as they scuttled toward the house. “Peter, in here!”
The Magelore appeared at my side as if by magic. “We really going to fight?”
“They don’t know we’re awake. They didn’t even send a full crew.” I motioned at the thirty or so men in tactical wear who were creeping forward and circling the house. “I want the goodies in that truck. Weapons, gear, information. I want it all. And then we’re going to ram it up their asses.”
The big gun shivered in my hands. “Oh yeah, talk dirty to me, baby.” He said baby like bay-bay with just the slightest hint of an accent.
Peter glanced at me. “New gun?”
“Yup.” I stepped forward and quietly slid the bedroom window open, dropped to my knees, and lifted the gun. “You got a silencer?”
“I do,” Dinah grumbled.
“Nope,” Diego said.
That was that. “Peter, you want to eat?”
“Seriously?”
I didn’t even look at him. “If you want a meal, this is your chance. Fill up on them. I’ve got you covered.”
He was gone before I took another breath. I didn’t wait to see him stalking his prey but got things going on my end of the fight.
I squeezed the trigger on the new gun and the guy in front of the approaching group went flying backward from the
