Candice looked at me, hatred in her black eyes. Blood ran from her mouth, and she licked it. Her gaze went to the duffel bag of spells. She tensed to run for it—and Ivy jumped.
'Go!' Ivy shouted, grappling with the smaller vampire.
I went. Heart pounding, I ran around the ruin of the chandelier, scooping up my charms in passing. From behind me came a scream of terror and pain. I skidded to a stop. Ivy had Candice pinned to the wall. My face went cold. I'd seen it before. God help me. I'd lived it.
Candice bucked and fought, a new frenzy in her motions as she tried to get free. Ivy held her still, as unmoving as a steel girder. Piscary's strength made her unstoppable, and Candice's fear was feeding her blood lust. A rattle of gunfire came from the unseen garage. I tore my gaze from them, frightened. Ivy had vamped out. Absolutely and totally. She had lost herself.
Mouth dry, I ran through the empty kitchen to the garage door. Candice screamed again, the terrifying sound ending in a gurgle. I hadn't wanted this. I hadn't wanted this at all.
I spun at a scuffling noise behind me, but it was David. His face was white, and he never slowed down as he paced to me. There was a weapon in his grip.
'Is she…' I asked, hearing my voice shake.
His hand went on my shoulder and he pushed me into motion. Lines marked his face, and he looked old. 'Just go,' he said raggedly. 'She's got your back.'
The sound of men's voices in the garage rose, then fell. There was a spat of gunfire. Crouched by the door, I shuf fled through my duffel bag. I put a slew of amulets around my neck and tucked my cuffs into my waistband. My splat gun was heavy in my hand, fourteen little babies in a row ready for sleep in the reservoir, enough propellant to shoot them all.
David peeked around the door, then ducked back. 'Five men with Saladan behind a black car on the far end of the garage. I think they're trying to get it started. Your boyfriend is around the corner. We can reach him with a quick run.' He looked at me as I fumbled at my charms. 'Good God! What are all those for?'
My boyfriend? I thought, crawling to the doorway with my charms dragging under me. Well, I had slept with him. 'One is for pain,' I whispered. 'One is for slowing down bleeding. One is for detecting black charms before I walk into them, and one—'
My words cut off as the car started. Shit.
'Sorry I asked,' David muttered, close behind me.
Heart pounding, I risked an upright, hunched walk, taking a deep breath of the dark, garage-cold air as I ducked behind a bullet-dinged silver Jag. Kisten's head swung up. He was on the floor with a hand pressed to his lower chest. Pain glazed his eyes, and his face was pale under his blond-dyed hair. Blood seeped from under his hand, and I went cold from more than the unheated garage. Four men were down beside him. One moved, and he kicked him in the head until he didn't move anymore.
'Better and better,' I whispered, making my way to Kisten. The garage door whined into motion, and the shouts from the car were loud over the revving engine. But Kisten was the only thing I cared about right now.
'Are you okay?' I dropped two charms over his head. I felt sick. He wasn't supposed to have gotten hurt. Ivy wasn't supposed to have been tripped into draining someone. Nothing was supposed to have gone this way.
'Get him, Rachel,' he said, managing a pained-looking grimace. 'I'll live.'
The car's tires squealed as it backed up. Panicking, I looked from Kisten to the car, torn.
'Get him!' Kisten insisted, his blue eyes crinkled in pain.
David eased Kisten to the garage floor. One hand pressing Kisten's hand against the wound, he sent the other searching his jacket. Pulling out his phone, David flipped it open and punched 911.
Kisten nodded, his eyes closing as I stood. The car had backed up into the turnaround spot and was jerking into motion. It stalled. Mad as all hell, I stomped out after it.
'Lee!' I shouted. The car's engine sputtered and caught, its wheels spinning on the wet cobbles. My jaw gritted. Tapping a line, I clenched my fist. Line energy coursed through me, filling my veins with the staggering feeling of strength. My eyes narrowed. 'Rhombus,' I said, fingers splayed as I gestured.
My knees buckled and I screamed when the pain from the line energy required to make such a large circle raged through me, burning when I couldn't channel it all at once. There was an ugly noise of folding metal and squealing tires. The sound raked through me, fixing in my memory to haunt my nightmares. The car had hit my circle, but the car broke, not me.
I caught my balance and continued forward as men piled out of the smashed vehicle. Never slowing, I took aim with my splat gun, squeezing the trigger with a methodical slowness. Two went down before the first of the bullets went cutting through the air beside my head.
'You shooting at me?' I screamed. 'You shooting at me!' I dropped the gunman with a charm, leaving Lee and two men. One put his hands in the air. Lee saw him, then with no hesitation, shot him. The pop of the gun jerked through me as if I had been hit.
The witch's face went ashen, and he collapsed to the cobbled drive, leaning against the car and trying to hold his blood into him.
Anger shocked through me and I halted. Seething, I aimed at Lee and squeezed.
Drawing himself up, he whispered Latin and gestured. I lurched to the side, but he had been going for the ball and it deflected to the right. Still crouched, I shot again. Lee's eyes went patronizing as he deflected it too. The movements of his hands took on a more sinister mien, and my eyes widened. Shit, I had to end this now.
I lunged at him, yelping when the last vampire slammed into me. We went down in a tangle, me fighting furiously to keep him from getting a hold on me. With a last grunt and savage kick, I broke free, rolling to my feet. Panting, I backed away. My sparring with Ivy came back in a mixed slurry of hope and despair. I had never managed to best her. Not really.
Silent, the vampire attacked. I dove to the side, skinning my elbow as Mrs. Aver's suit tore through. He was on me, and I rolled, head covered with my arms, kicking him off when I caught my breath. The tingle of my circle zinged through me. I had run into it and it had fallen. Immediately I lost connection with the line, making me feel empty.
I jumped to my feet, swerving to avoid the vamp's leg swing. Damn it, he wasn't even trying! My splat gun was behind him, and when he came at me, I collapsed out of his reach, rolling to get it. Fingers grasping, my breath exploded out as the cool metal settled in my grip.
'Got you, you bastard!' I shouted, spinning to plug him right in the face.
His eyes widened, then rolled up. Stifling a shriek, I rolled out of the way as his momentum tipped him forward. There was a sodden thump as he hit the cobbled drive. Blood seeped out from under his cheek. He'd broken something.
'Sorry you work for such a dick,' I breathed as I got up, then did a double take. My face went slack and I let my gun slip to dangle from a finger. I was surrounded by eight men, all of them a good ten feet back. Lee stood behind them, looking obnoxiously satisfied as he adjusted the button on his coat. I grimaced and tried to catch my breath. Oh yeah. I had broken the circle. Shit on crap, how many times did I have to tag this guy?
Panting and hunched in pain, I saw David and Kisten unmoving under three guns in the garage. There were eight surrounding me. Add in the five I'd just downed. Kisten had gotten at least four. Mustn't forget the original guys upstairs. I didn't even know how many Ivy had taken out. The man was ready for a freaking war.
Slowly I straightened. I could handle that.
'Ms. Morgan?' Lee's voice sounded odd among the dripping snowmelt coming off the garage's overhang. The sun was behind the house, and I shivered now that I wasn't moving. 'Anything left in your little gun?'
I looked at it. If I had counted right—and I thought I had—there were eight charms in there. Eight charms that were useless as Lee could deflect them all. And even if he didn't, I stood little chance in taking that many men without getting nailed. If I played by the rules…
'I'm dropping the gun,' I said, then carefully, slowly, opened the reservoir and dumped the blue splat balls out before I tossed it to him. Seven tiny spheres bounced, rolling in the cracks of the red cobbled drive to come to a stop. Seven in the open; one in my hand. God, this had to work. Just don't bind my hands. I had to keep my hands.
Shaking, I put my hands in the air and backed away, a tiny splat ball dropping down my sleeve to make a cold spot at my elbow. Lee gestured, and the surrounding men converged. One grabbed my shoulder, and I struggled not to hit him. Placid, meek. No need to tie me up.
