We stepped away from the door and headed to the other side of the floor, near the staircase.
“I still think discretion is the better part of valor in this instance,” Ink said, drawing two guns about the size of Grim Whisper. “But if we must fight, we fight to the last breath.”
I gave him a short nod and looked down at my hellhound.
<Someone bad is coming.>
<I know. I can smell him.>
<When he gets here, you take the cat-lady and her cat some place safe. Far from here.>
<They will want to fight.>
<They’re scared, and the cat-lady might get hurt. I can’t worry about her and simultaneously stop the bad guy.>
<You might get hurt, bondmate, and I can’t take you some place safe. You still smell.>
<I’ll be fine. Take them away, and then come back and help me face whatever is coming.>
<Will I get extra meat after? Can you have the shadow-man bring me two bowls?>
<If we manage to survive this, I’ll make sure you get two bowls of the best meat.>
“How about we fight until their last breath?” Grey asked. “I’m attached to breathing.”
“Fair enough,” Ink answered. “We fight until their last…”
An explosion rocked the front of The Dive. I turned as the door was ripped off its hinges. It hung, suspended in mid-air for a split second, before being launched inward. The runes were bright on its surface, as the large wooden slab of pain and destruction was cast forth.
Heading directly for me.
THIRTEEN
Before I could press the main bead on my mala bracelet, and materialize my shield, Peaches blinked out.
He intercepted the door, but it was a matter of physics. The heavy door outweighed him by several hundred pounds. He crashed into it head-first. His maneuver managed to deflect it, knocking it off its trajectory, but the impact with the door bounced him across the room.
It tossed him into the area behind the bar, slamming him against the wall, before he fell behind the bar with a crash. The door caromed off my hellhound and punched into the wall, shattering into small, lethal pieces of runic shrapnel.
Grey waved a hand, creating a shield in front of us and stopping the pieces from converting us into pin-cushions. I made to run to the bar, but Grey grabbed me by the shoulder with a vise-like grip, pulling me back.
“I need to go get him,” I said, straining against his hand. “He’s hurt.”
“He’s a hellhound,” Grey said, his voice grim as he held me in place. “The wood of the door just knocked him for a loop. He’ll be good, but right now he’s safer behind the bar.”
“What the hell kind of wood was that?”
I had never seen anything knock the wind out of Peaches like that. The pieces of the door, scattered all over the floor of The Dive, vibrated with a low hum of power.
“Same as the bar,” Grey answered, holstering his gun, drawing a black sword, and heading to the now empty doorway. “That thing would have done serious damage if it had hit you. You must have someone very pissed off looking for you.”
<Are you okay, boy?>
<I am hurt, but I will get better. The wood hurt. I will need extra meat to get better faster.>
<Nice try. Once you feel better, remember the plan.>
<Take the cat and the cat-lady away.>
<Right—now stay back there until you’re better.>
“That list is going to be hard to narrow down,” I said. “Can we block the doorway somehow?”
“On it,” Grey answered. “Stay back.”
Grey gestured again with a grunt of pain. Black tendrils shot out from the sword, filling the doorway and closing the gap, creating a door of dark, living energy.
“What the hell is that?” I said, pointing at the doorway. “That looks dangerous and deadly.”
“Dark magic,” Jessikah hissed. “Is that a dark gateway?”
“You don’t want to know,” Grey said. “More importantly, someone just blew through my door like it was tissue paper. I have serious runes, Strong. Powerful, heart-stopping runes.”
“Not powerful enough,” I said, looking at the new undulating doorway of darkness. “What could blast your door like that?”
“Can’t think of much, short of a negomancer…or a god,” Grey said.
I glanced over at Jessikah, who had visibly paled as she looked from the door to Grey with an expression of fear and respect. On-the-job training sucked when you were a mage.
“Negomancer…like Beck?”
“Beck couldn’t even scratch my door,” Grey scoffed. “Whoever is out there makes Beck look like a novice.”
“So, it’s not Beck?”
“Not even close,” Grey said. “You piss off any gods lately?”
“That a serious question?” I asked, staring at Grey. “Are we talking about today, or in general?”
“Do I sound like I’m joking?” Grey answered. “Today, as in the last twenty-four hours.”
“Perhaps now would be a good time for that sanctuary area?” Ink asked. “The integrity of this level seems to have been compromised.”
“Anything that can get through that door that fast will make short work of the runes upstairs,” Grey snapped. “This is the safest place in the building.”
Ink glanced at the doorway.
“It doesn’t feel very safe at the moment.”
Grey shot him a glare and then looked at me.
“Strong, is this a god?” Grey asked, calmly. “Is Kali coming to pay you a house call? Did you do something to piss her off?”
“It’s not like we hang out,” I snapped. “Why is it me, all of a sudden?”
“Destruction follows you like odor on a skunk,” Grey answered. “Black Orchid don’t usually possess this kind of firepower. So I’m leaning to those who would want you eliminated.”
“What about you?” I asked. “You said it yourself, you have plenty of enemies.”
“My enemies are more the intimate type,” Grey said. “They would prefer to carve out my heart, not blow up my door.”
“Wow,” I said, “I think I’ll keep my enemies.”
“I’m fairly certain this wasn’t Black Orchid,” Grey answered, pensively. “At least not the three who were here last night.”
“I don’t think it was a god,” I said. “The deities I know, and
