by E G Bateman
If this thing knocks me out, I’m no good to the girl.
She glanced to where George and Gretchen swam down. Each took one of Agatha’s hands. It was now or never.
Dolores swam in quickly, aided by her wings, and ignored the creature’s thrashing and attempts to bite her. She grasped the bridle and commanded her intent with her mind as she stared into the beast’s eyes.
Let her go.
The kelpie had no choice but to submit. The sticky surface on its back dissolved and Agatha floated free. George and Gretchen swam with her to the surface. The fae kept hold of the bridle until they were out, then she released and rocketed to the surface. It snapped at her feet as it followed.
She hovered above the water for a moment and flapped the water out of her wings. Caution pushed through and she moved higher a second before the kelpie’s head thrust from the water with a snap of its pointed teeth. It splashed into the lake and sank into the depths.
Quickly, she flew to where George blew into Agatha’s lungs. There was no response.
Dolores made a fae door. “Let’s get her to Scott.”
The shifter sat back, exhausted. Another lifted the girl’s limp, unresponsive body and a couple of the others helped her father. They walked through the door and onto the platform.
Scott sat on the branch, glassy-eyed, and smiled at them while rivulets of blood ran into his t-shirt. Aleena sat on his lap and feasted on his neck. In two seconds, all the shifters except the one holding Agatha had shifted and circled her with warning growls.
The fae stopped, looked at them, then turned her face to Scott. She fixed her gaze on them and made one long lick up the length of his neck.
Dolores was furious. “Release him.”
Aleena smiled and rubbed blood from his lips, then her own. “You know that’s not how it works, Dolores. He’s mine now.”
The wolves snarled and moved closer.
After a glance at Agatha’s lifeless form, the young fae rolled her eyes and stood. “Fine. But only temporarily.”
Scott shook his head in surprise at the wolves surrounding him. “What’s going on?”
The man holding Agatha stepped forward. “She needs your aid.”
He helped him lay her down and put a hand over her eyes.
“No.” Gretchen’s hand flew to her mouth. The wolves still around Aleena whined.
Dolores calmed them. “It’s okay. He’s only reading her.”
The sorcerer nodded. He placed his hand over the bottom of her ribs and muttered.
“I don’t understand. It’s not working. What’s happened to my magic?”
Aleena shrugged and smirked. “Oopsie.”
Dolores gave her a withering look. She thrust a handful of stones into his hand and he held them in his fist and drew the magic in.
He began again and nothing happened for a few moments, then water gushed from Agatha’s mouth. She gulped air, convulsed, and threw up more liquid. Her eyes fluttered open and her father pulled her into his arms and wept.
A shifter woman sighed. “Why would she go near a creature like that in the first place? Much less climb upon it’s back?”
Aleena snorted. “She thought it was a unicorn. It even produced a horn to encourage her to climb up.”
George stared at her. “You were there before the kelpie ensnared her. You could have stopped this.”
The shifters moved toward the fae.
Scott wobbled, still drawing the last of the magic from the stones into him. He began to feel it again in the air and drew on that too. After a few moments, he sat bolt upright. “Something’s wrong with Lexi.”
“Okay, you go. I’ll get the others home.” Dolores called her fae door again as he picked his bag up.”
“I don’t think so.” The young fae crooked her finger at him. He dropped the bag immediately and walked to her.
She looked at the shifters. “His blood is in my heart and mine is in his. If you kill me, you kill him.”
Dolores looked meaningfully at Gretchen and drew the young sorcerer’s attention. “Scott, you need to return to Lexi.”
While his focus was diverted, Gretchen stepped beside Aleena and swung her fist so hard into her face, the fae was unconscious before she landed.
“Damn, that felt good.” The shifter shook her hand out.
Scott shook his head and gaped at the unconscious fae girl. “What’s going on here? What does she keep doing to me?”
His boss picked his bag up and pushed it into his hands. “She’s Dearg-Due, a form of dark fae. She mesmerized you. It’ll leave you feeling a little uncomfortable for a while. She won’t be a problem soon as she’ll be in a cell in The Hollows within the hour.”
“What kind of uncomfortable?” He looked nervous.
“You’ll…uh, pine for her.” She stepped to Aleena, stooped, and poked her in the forehead. The unconscious fae shrank to the size of a wasp. Dolores produced a little bottle from her pocket, pulled the stopper out, and dropped the diminutive creature into it before she secured it and slipped it into her pocket.
“I need to get to Lexi.” Scott moved to the door.
Half of the shifters lined up behind him. George patted him on the back. “Whatever’s going on, you won’t face it alone.”
While the remaining shifters waited with Dolores, Gretchen, and Agatha for the rest of the kids to return, Scott and the others stepped through the doorway.
Chapter Fifty-One
Lexi looked at the fae door and sighed with relief when Scott walked through with the shifters. Immediately, she began to draw magic from him. They were in the scented courtyard at the back of the tiny bar where they had met Joseph. She was on her knees and held her hand over a bloody, ragged tear in a man’s neck. He gasped when he realized she was covered in blood.
“It’s not mine. Well, most of it isn’t. Can you help this guy?” She moved aside to allow him to close the wound. It had closed halfway, then stopped responding. The wound lay half-open and blood dribbled out slowly.
The sorcerer shook his head. “I’m losing him.” He put his hands over the man’s heart and head. “What happened?” He muttered his spells.
“It was Lorenzo’s clan. They began to attack about an hour ago. I was with Joseph when he got the call.” She indicated the damaged bodies lying around her. “Most of this happened before we got here. Someone managed to keep them out at first, but no one here was as strong as Joseph. They’ve attacked every few minutes and it feels like they’re playing with us. They seem to know exactly how long it takes Joseph to raise his protection magic. He’s exhausted and my magic disappeared in the first five minutes.”
Scott looked around. “Where’s Dick?”
“He went to get help.” She looked soberly at him. “He’s been gone a long time.”
Joseph came out of the bar with towels and hurried toward the man on the ground next to Lexi. He took in the condition of the body and passed one of the towels to Scott as he gazed around the courtyard. Dried blood encrusted his head and his eyes were slightly unfocused. “They’ll be back at any moment. We should—”
Vampires surged over the roof at the rear and dropped into the courtyard. Their faces filled with shock in mid-air when they noticed the pack of wolves that had apparently appeared from nowhere.
“Keep them off me,” Scott yelled.
Lexi lurched into action as a man barreled into her with his teeth bared. His movements were a blur, but it was nowhere near her first fight with a vampire. She had neither the time nor the space to draw her katana, but she used his momentum against him, spun him easily, and yanked a button from her vest. It came away with a length of silver wire at the back of it which she flicked deftly around the vampire’s neck. He tried to right his balance but she shoved him away with her foot and hauled hard on the wire to sever his head. As he fell, she drew her katana and finished the next one with a deft sweep.
Pain flared in her arm as glass shattered against it. She looked up and scowled
when she realized it had been thrown by the female vampire who had been close to meeting the sun earlier that day in the failed plan to eliminate Lorenzo and Delphine. The others were almost all gone. She and the man beside her were the last and it was a desperate move by a vampire surrounded by wolves. They descended on her. Lexi glowered at the cut on her arm and the blood that trickled visibly.
No good deed ever goes unpunished.
The vampire woman and her friend were savaged moments later by the wolves.
She felt a wave of sadness and turned to Scott, who placed the blood-soaked towel over the face of the guy he’d tried to save.
Lexi glanced at the glass doors to the bar. “We need to get inside. Let’s move the bodies in.”
Joseph shook his head. He looked sad and weary. “Leave them. Their work is not done.” They entered the building and the man closed the glass doors and began to pour sand on the floor.
Scott extended his arms to the doors with his palms out and muttered a few words. A bluish light flowed across the apertures, then vanished. “We’re protected.”
He put a hand over her cut arm. While he healed her, he looked at the worried faces in the bar. His gaze fell on two people slumped over a table in the corner. “Are they—”
She shook her head. “No, they’re tourists. Joseph thought it would be better if they slept through this.”
A moment later, he tapped her arm to indicate he’d finished healing her. “Why hasn’t he controlled the vamps like he did before?”
Lexi looked at the healed wound and nodded her thanks. “They’re starting too far away, and they’re in and out before he can get a mental grip on them.”
The sorcerer studied Joseph’s remaining people. “Couldn’t the serviteurs help?”
“They’re busy keeping the vamps away from the front of the building and look at them—they’re almost wiped-out.”
He glanced at those who stood over sand patterns on the floor and tables along the front wall. They did look exhausted.
George left his group of shifters and joined them. “We should be out there.” He pointed to the courtyard.
“We need a better plan than wasting your lives to slow them. They’ll know the last three they sent didn’t come back, and it’ll be sun-up in a couple of hours. I think the attacks will get bigger.”
The words were barely out of Lexi’s mouth when a half-dozen vampires landed in the courtyard. They raced toward the doors but met Scott’s shield and fell back. The glass doors vibrated for a couple of seconds, then stilled. The invaders looked at each other before they leapt away and over the low roof at the side of the courtyard.
Scott went to look through the windows on the front of the building. He returned a few minutes later. “Why are they doing this?”
She shrugged. “I’d guess Lorenzo’s pissed that Joseph tried to light him up this afternoon.”
He raised an eyebrow. “And he’ll be very pissed if he followed the trail through the bayou to the end. Anyway, I mean why are they attacking this way? There’s enough of them to have stormed in here the moment the sun went down. Is this a distraction? If so, from what?”
Lexi retrieved several shurikens and clipped them to the front of her vest. “You saw what Lorenzo and Delphine did to Thomas. Maybe the plan is to make an example out of Joseph. Or perhaps they’re amusing themselves while they wait to see if any shifters return from the bayou.”
The sorcerer drew his brows together in thought. “I’m surprised Lorenzo’s not back already. I’m sure we led him on a merry trail, but he should have discovered the truth by now.”
She looked at a map on the wall. “Could you track the ring with this?”
He seemed to consider it for a moment but finally shook his head. “I could use one that’s a little more detailed. The whole of Louisiana’s on that.”
After a moment’s thought, she seemed to have an idea. “But couldn’t you see if you can feel the ring close by?”
Scott rolled his eyes. “Yes, of course. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.” She stared at him. He usually closed his eyes for something like this but this time, he merely stared directly ahead. “He’s here.”
“What, in town? Can you tell how close?”
“I’d say about twenty feet.” He pointed to the courtyard. Lexi turned to see the vampire on the other side of the glass.
Lorenzo stared at her. “You’re behind all this? I think you missed a memo. You need to speak to your boss.” He stepped forward and swung at the glass. His hand met the shield first but the glass vibrated so much, she thought it would shatter.
Lexi smirked. “I think I’m up to date, thanks. How’s your new roomie?”
His voice changed and became softer and higher. “You’re looking well since I stabbed you in the gut.” His face became furious, then calm.
She flicked her gaze to Joseph. He stood barely out of sight and waved his staff over a symbol on the floor. Quickly, she dragged her focus away and settled it on the vampire again. “It’s obvious who wears the trousers in your relationship.”
Lorenzo took a few steps back and blurred as he raced into the barrier. The sound was like a huge echoing crash and one of the panes in the glass door cracked. He smiled. “I’ll tear you apart.” That wasn’t his voice—did that mean he and his creepy passenger shared control or was there inner conflict between them?
A little puzzled, she wondered why Joseph’s work didn’t seem to have any effect on the invader. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the dead man with the gash in his neck rise to a seated position.
Lorenzo touched the shield softly, clearly testing it. He looked at Scott. “This is your work? You’re good but it won’t save you.” He smiled menacingly at the young man and his fangs descended slowly.
While he spoke to her friend, she flicked a glance at the dead man. His eyes were milky white like the zombies she had seen in Palm Springs, but they’d had…personality. This one looked somehow empty and hungry. It jerked its head toward Lorenzo, who now walked backward to take another run at the shield.
The vampire hadn’t noticed the dead man’s action. He stopped inches from the undead’s face, which jerked again in the direction of his hand.
It was covered in blood and she wondered whose but decided if Lorenzo had killed Dick, he’d have mentioned it by now.
The vampire sneered. “Even a magical shield can only take so many—”
Even through the closed door, the crunch of teeth on his hand was audible, followed by his pained howl.
He ripped his hand away and held it up. It was missing a finger but sadly, not the one the ring was on. He turned to the undead man and decapitated him with a blurring swing of his arm. A roar of pain followed and he cradled his hand. “Joseph, you’re next.”
Scott winced. “Did he hit that guy with the same hand?”
“He did,” Lexi confirmed, knowing Lorenzo would be able to hear them without difficulty.
“He didn’t think that through, did he?” Her friend smirked.
The vampire was clearly in agony and stared at his hand. In the place where he had been bitten, the skin began to turn black. Horror crept over his face as he looked at it, then at them, and suddenly vanished. Tiles slid to the ground from the low roof, the only evidence of his hasty retreat.
She spun to face Joseph. “What did you do?”
The man leaned heavily against the wall behind him. “I raised what was once my good friend to a zombie state. His bite was death.”
His knees began to give way. She bolted toward him and caught him around the waist. Scott took his other side and his staff. They led him to a chair and lowered him gently. As his head drooped, the two friends shared a worried glance. Scott wrapped the man’s arm around his staff and settled it against him.
Joseph looked at him and patted his hand.
Lexi pulled a chair up and sat beside him. “I’m sorry Lorenzo killed your friend…again.”
The man nodded. “I
would have drawn the spirit from him anyway to allow him true rest.”
A dozen vampires landed in the courtyard and began to fling themselves repeatedly at the shield. It obviously hurt them, but their clan leader had told them to do it so they persisted. The cracked pane of glass shattered and others began to vibrate.
“The shield won’t hold for much long—” Scott cut off as a glowing ball hovered over the courtyard. The vampires looked at it but didn’t stop their assault.
The light from the ball grew in intensity, then blazed like the sun. The attackers covered their heads and curled on the ground, their screams of agony shrill and disquieting. The sorcerer looked away when they burst into flames.
The ball turned black and fell.
“What the hell was that? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Is it safe to go out there now?” one of the shifters asked.
Joseph touched his head gingerly. “Let’s give it a few minutes.”
Scott looked at the man’s wound. “Would you be offended if I treated that cut on your head?”
“I would be grateful.” He smiled at him.
He took a bottle of water and cloth from his bag and set to work on the injury.
“Do you think it’s over, then?” Lexi asked.
Joseph shook his head. “It’s almost over for Lorenzo. His body will decay but you’ll have to get to him quickly. His bite is contagious now. He could start an epidemic.” He looked at her, his expression grim. “And you saw how strong Delphine is. She’ll look for a new host.”
She wiped her forehead. “Damn. There’s no way to know where she’ll go next.”
The man winced as Scott dabbed at the cut. “She has a lust for blood. I think she’ll choose another vampire.”
The sorcerer sighed. “But how can we know which one before she kills again.”
Lexi poked his arm. “He was right there. Why didn’t you simply obliterate him?”
“I’d have had to bring down the shield to do it. I don’t think I could have matched his speed.”
The magical barrier hummed and she spun reflexively. Dick knocked a rat-tat-tat-tat on the shield. She sagged with relief, then gave him her angry face. “Where the hell have you been?”
