Geoffrey’s eyes sparkled with mirth. “Dear Arabella’s doing. Quite a coup on her part. A shady underworld deal gone wrong. He needed her to…” Geoffrey cut off, chuckled and then continued. “Well, it’s not your concern what he was doing, was it? In any case, he had no idea who he’d be meeting until it was too late. And he’s been ours since.” He nudged Findlay’s unconscious form with one toe. “Of course, the alligators were unexpected. Trying to keep his cover, according to him. But don’t worry, he’ll be punished.”
My jaw clamped shut so tight that my teeth hurt. So my instincts had always been right. Findlay had been no good. It was petty, but if I ever saw Cat again, I’d be saying “I told you so.”
“You know what, Geoffrey? Somehow, someday, I’m going to shove that rocket launcher right up your rear.”
He smirked and let it slide from his shoulder. I didn’t think that even Valerius could piece me back together if I was blown into little bits. And I was too valuable to their plans to kill permanently. That came with advantages.
“I’m going to give you three seconds to run back to your master, Geoffrey. Then I’m going to kill your guards and it’ll be you and me. You don’t want that.”
Geoffrey’s smile got impossibly wider. “Come at me, Iron Heart. I relish the challenge.”
He might have, but most of his men looked ready to bolt. Lamonia must have promised them something big to get them to come after us so soon after we’d turned their buddies into mincemeat.
Dominic, as always, had perfect timing. The moment that the vampires charged, the gun barked and the lead bloodsucker’s head exploded in a spray of red. The next was fast enough to avoid a bullet, but not my foot. I kicked him hard in the chest, sending him back into his fellows hard. Their momentum carried three of them into the water. It wouldn’t kill them. Probably wouldn’t keep them down for long, but it created an opening, which was all that I needed.
I ran as fast as my injured back would allow, charging down the pier toward Geoffrey.
He had enough time to put a round in my shoulder and side step me before I landed face first in the boat.
My face impacted Findlay’s knee, knocking me silly. I had to blink stars from my vision, even as I pushed myself into a sitting position. The headache blooming between my eyes was blinding. Between the impact and continued bark of the CZ 75, I was feeling a sick.
I searched the bottom of the boat with aching fingers. They’d been cut up in the explosion, apparently, and the shock was wearing off. I needed to finish this before the pain completely debilitated me. My groping hands found what I was looking for at the stern, near the large fan. I’d just gotten a grip on it when Geoffrey’s hand came down and yanked me up by the roots of my hair. I bit back a scream.
“This is where it ends, Iron Heart. At least, for now.”
“You think so?” I ground out, reaching into Findlay’s bag. A handful of smooth river stones met my palm. I had no idea where they led and didn’t really care. Anywhere was better than here. “Because I think you’re wrong.”
I muttered a word and the hot, uncontrolled power exploded out of me. I’d only meant to activate the stone I was touching. Instead, the magic spread to every single stone in the pouch. Not about to question my luck, I threw the bag as far as I could. With my improved range, I managed to land it right in the door of the cabin.
Upon contact with the earth, portals sprang up, expanding before the front door. I spotted at least six different locations. London, two in New York City, Belize, and a point further up into the Everglades. The last one appeared to open up into a courtyard that I recognized. It led into Hamburg, Germany, a few blocks away from the Trust’s office there.
“Stop them!” Geoffrey roared.
Too late.
Dominic seized Elle, tucked her beneath one arm, and ran for the first of the portals like he was a running back about to score the winning touchdown. He shot a vampire that tried to lunge at them in the face. At that range it nearly took the head off and the vampire dissolved into so much goop on the ground. Then he and Elle were through, disappearing into one of the New York City portals. It snapped closed the moment they were through.
Geoffrey positively howled his frustration. Then he turned to me, murder blazing in his eyes.
“You’re dead.”
“Right you are, genius,” I croaked. Then I lunged, slamming my full body weight into him. My strength carried us out of the boat and onto the dock. I had to crawl for a few steps, the pain was so blinding. It didn’t seem like there was a part of me that didn’t hurt. I zombie-shuffled as fast as I could toward the remaining New York portal. There was a haze around my vision. I couldn’t tell where it led. I just knew I had to get to it before the vampires dogpiled me and killed me. Again.
Geoffrey caught up to me just before I reached the portal. His hand braced my waist and drew me back. The other tangled in my hair, drawing my head back at an impossible angle.
He was going to rip my throat out. And there was nothing I could do to stop him. The pain pressed me down into oblivion. I was pretty sure that I was going to die soon, regardless.
Then a strong, masculine hand reached through the portal from the other side and fisted in the material of my shirt. It tugged me forward and both Geoffrey and I went tumbling through the portal.
The vampire rolled off me, springing up into a defensive posture, fangs bared.
He didn’t even make it one step forward before a familiar figure emptied a clip into his head. The vampire practically exploded, splashing me with blood and gore.
Anton Gray stared down at me, a fierce scowl morphing into an expression of horror when he spotted the shape I was in. I felt a brief sense of satisfaction as I noticed the glowing runes on his gun; it seemed fitting that he’d ended Geoffrey with one of my enchanted weapons. Then I collapsed to the pavement, seeing stars.
“Kellan!” Anton shouted, shoving the gun into his holster hurriedly. “Kellan, call an ambulance!”
My eyes slid shut of their own accord. I tried to tell him not to bother. I could feel a clawed hand of death wrap around my throat, dragging me down into the darkness. This time I didn’t fight it. I embraced oblivion like a brother.
After the day I’d had? I needed a goddamned nap.
chapter
23
“HOLY SHIT,” A FAMILIAR, LILTING voice exclaimed. “What did you lot do to ‘er? She looks like she’s been in a wood chipper.”
Anton’s voice was tight with stress. I must have looked worse than I felt, because the usually stoic gunsmith was still close to shouting.
“We didn’t do anything, you great Irish twat,” Anton snapped. “She came through the portal like that. I was going to have Kellan call 911. But she’s healing too damned fast. Not a vampire, though, that any of my people can sense. What’s going on here?”
Gentle fingers probed the side of my neck, searching for a pulse that wasn’t there. Declan sighed. “I’m not sure if I’m honest with you. But I’m sure it has something to do with Dominic Finch. He tumbled into Landon’s office with Eleanor Dawson of all people, just ten minutes ago.
“The bioterrorist?”
“He says she isn’t, but you know the Trust isn’t a paragon of honesty or virtue. Landon’s got them both contained for now. Help me get her up. And for God’s sake, somebody clean up the vampire on the floor. I’ve stepped in him twice now.”
I heard the exchange dimly as strength began to seep back into my limbs. So I supposed that I hadn’t died after all. I think I would have preferred that. Death didn’t hurt so much. And the moment that I died, the demon they’d shoved into me would begin to heal my mangled corpse. I almost told Anton to shoot me and put me out of my misery. But the latter half of their conversation was concerning.
“Dominic...” I groaned, trying to sit up. There was some sort of weight on my chest. Firm hands pushed me back down.
“Don’t worry. He’s contai
ned. We’ll sort this out once we’ve fixed you up, Nat.”
“We have to protect her,” I insisted, trying to sit up again. I made it about an inch off the ground before he shoved me back. “Eleanor. The vampires lied to us.”
“Bullshit,” Declan hissed. “She was the one that released the wolf virus.”
“Declan, she had no choice.”
I managed to drag my eyelids open. One wall and much of the floor in Anton’s display room was covered in gore. Geoffrey had left a huge mess behind him, as usual. I got a grip on Declan’s shirt and pulled him close. I didn’t know how long I was going to be able to stay conscious and it was absolutely vital that he listen to me. Without the renewal spell, I was going to die again, no matter what. And that left Dominic alone with no allies to help for the foreseeable future.
“I’m calling in my favor,” I hissed. “The one you owe me after the Dublin Incident. Get her out of New York. Hell, get her out of the continent, if you can. If the vampires get a hold of her, there’s no hope for a cure. After the vamps take out the wolves, they’ll finish off the other demis. Everyone will die. Do you understand me?”
I hadn’t realized I’d been shaking him until his teeth clacked together audibly. I released him at once, guilt joining all the other aches in my body.
Declan’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I won’t do this for you, Nat.”
“You’re fae, Declan. At least partly. You can’t renege on an oath. Keep your promise to me. Get her someplace safe. Now.”
Declan swore in two languages I knew and several that I didn’t. His hands slid under me and then I was being lifted from the ground. He tossed me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and carted me toward the doorway. I didn’t see the portal form in front of us, but it must have, because not long after we were stepping into the familiar offices of Johnson and Conoley.
But instead of a neatly ordered office space, we’d stepped into something akin to a war zone. The drywall had chunks gouged out where a large caliber weapon had been fired into it. The glass partitions were shattered and glass glittered on every surface.
Declan set me on my feet and I barely managed to stay upright. His arm wrapped around my waist, holding me steady.
Dominic was huddled against one wall, body hunched over Elle’s. She looked mussed but unharmed. He was clutching uselessly at my gun and his wand lay snapped a few yards away. No bullets and no easy access to magic. But it didn’t look like it would have done him much good anyway. Not against the thing he was facing.
Crouched in the middle of the office was a dragon the size of a Humvee. It was stunted and small in dragon terms. Most of them would be easily the size of the building. When Halcyon grew up, he’d probably be too big to live in my apartment. But it took dragons millennia to grow to their full size. It looked like this one was only about a couple of centuries old. It was still magnificent. Its scales were aquamarine and refracted the light all around the office like some sort of mystical disco ball.
It whipped its head around to look at us, dagger-like teeth bared in a snarl. Its face was serpentine and alien, but the eyes were familiar. Between the teeth and his glowing amber eyes, I’d always suspected that Landon had something more than human in his heritage. I’d been pretty sure whatever was lurking in the branches of his family tree was what had gotten him booted out of the Trust’s good graces.
“Good God,” I hissed, swaying again, this time in shock. Was anyone what they appeared to be? “You’re a dragon.”
So Halcyon’s mother hadn’t been the last after all. How had Landon been able to go so long undetected with a vampire house scouring the world for the last examples of his kind?
“Well spotted,” Declan said, rolling his eyes. “Valdez is calling in a favor, Johnson. I can’t let you eat them.”
A growl rumbled in the dragon’s chest, clear dissent. Declan stared it down until it finally backed away from Dominic. Elle gave a frightened, hiccuping sob and slumped to the ground in relief when the dragon was a good distance away.
Landon’s scales smoothed into soft, pink skin. His body straightened and the half-man creature stood on two legs. The snout sucked back into his face, spaghetti trailing into the mouth of a child. Only his eyes remained unchanged. In just under a minute, he was a man again. A very big, very naked man.
Only when his human mind had reinstated itself did he seem to realize the shape that I was in. His eyes flashed dangerously in anger.
“Did he do this to you?” he jabbed a finger at Dominic. “Because I’ll kill him for it. No one touches my people.”
There was an undercurrent of possessiveness in the statement when he spoke of what was his. I really didn’t know how I’d missed it. Dragons were collectors. Not just of money, but of people. Halcyon probably felt something similar for me and Phyllis, though on a more muted scale.
“It wasn’t him,” I said wearily, leaning into Declan’s arms. “It was Geoffrey Danvers. He’s one of Lamonia’s. This whole thing was a setup. But I don’t have time to get into it right now, Landon. We need to get Elle somewhere safe and Dominic and I need to go to the summit meeting in Germany.”
Dominic frowned. “We do?”
I heaved a sigh. I was barely clinging to my unlife by the fingernails. Why was I the most astute in the bunch? It didn’t bode well for the mission to come.
“Yes, we do. This is the perfect time for them to strike. Findlay is in their pocket. Ewan is dead. I’m sort of dead. You are incapacitated with Elle. The last I heard, Cayman had returned to Africa to be with his ailing mother. So that means that there’s only one of the Five still in play.”
“Sienna Vogel,” he breathed. “And she’s heading to the summit, to meet with Algerone Lamonia.”
“Whatever he wants, it can’t be good. The legislation would make Lamonia the first vampire house to be included into the Trust, under the pretense of stopping house Grieves from killing demihumans. But if anything happened to Sienna–”
“Findlay would take over, and the vampires would control the Trust completely. They’re planning to install him in her place.”
Declan had gone ramrod stiff beside me. A glance at Landon showed that he was also appropriately horrified. If the vampires took over, disposing of house Grieves would only be the beginning.
“We need to get to Germany as fast as humanly possible. The vampires have a head start. If they get there first...”
Well, I shuddered to think what would happen then.
Landon nodded curtly. “I want a full explanation about this huge cock up at a later time, Valdez. You owe me.”
I wasn’t sure if I nodded, or if my head just lolled on my neck. Either way, he seemed to understand my intent.
“Get them as close as you can, Declan. I’ll make arrangements for the girl.”
Dominic seemed unwilling to step away from Elle. His muscles were still rigid, his hand still clutching the empty gun.
“How do I know I can trust you?”
Landon’s smile was rather sharper than usual after his recent shift. “I’m a dragon, Finch. I don’t let things slip between my fingers. And once I take a fair maiden someplace, no one gets her back.”
It didn’t seem to comfort Dominic much but he slowly eased down, stowing the gun in one of his holsters.
“Now go,” Landon said curtly. “You have a witch to save.”
chapter
24
THERE WAS NO DIRECT CONNECTION between Landon’s office and the Summit.
It had been a stipulation put in place by the US and United Nations when mages and other supernatural creatures had been accepted within their borders. Nuclear bases, political establishments, and other locations of prominence were enchanted to prevent transports. Even the most potent of teleportation specialists couldn’t have gotten us in. If he’d tried, we would have ended up lodged in solid rock. I might have been able to survive it, given the fact that I now had a demon to revive me, but
Dominic wouldn’t.
Declan got us as close as was humanly possible, depositing us several blocks away from the Trust’s building.
I drew several stares when we stepped out onto the sidewalk. There hadn’t been time to shower off any of the gore from Geoffrey’s attack, so Declan had retrieved one of the terrycloth bathrobes from the showers and insisted I put it on. It covered the worst of the damage to my back and the blood-spattered clothing I wore. He’d mopped up my face as best he could. But I was certain I still looked like a lunatic, staggering down the sidewalk in a pink bathrobe that bulged from the weaponry Landon had given us, my hair covered in the green scum of the Everglades, and a man who looked no saner running beside me.
“They can’t get away with this,” I panted. Each breath felt like a knife flaying the inside of my lungs. By all rights, I should just allow myself to die so I could heal. But doing that would put Sienna in jeopardy. Though I didn’t like the stuffy German witch, I wasn’t about to let another comrade of mine die.
“They tricked almost everyone into thinking that the wolves were dangerous, Nat,” Dominic shot back. “And they tried to engineer a super virus that would kill every demi-human in existence. I think that we’ve underestimated their ambition.”
Our footsteps slapped the pavement in a hard, urgent rhythm. We drew more stares from the people we passed and more than our fair share of whispers.
“I just don’t see what the end goal is. They kill the demi-humans and then what? There are still a lot of humans left. They’ve got bombs, guns, and Napalm. They can still kill the vampires, even without the rest of us to protect them.”
“I can’t say, Nat. Can you run any faster, or should I carry you?”
I wanted to tell him that I was fine. It chaffed at my pride to be carried twice in one day. But my pride could very well get Sienna killed. I wasn’t going to take that chance.
“Do it.”
He paused for only a second, getting a grip on my waist. I was once again thrown over a broad male shoulder like a sack of flour. Dominic broke into a dead sprint.
Infernal Assassin- Vampire Killer Page 19
