“Yeah. But I figured it was a better alternative than leaving you upstairs so the house could fall on you,” Joey said.
Bryn was perusing the bottles, and finally he selected one and brought it to the table. He dusted it off with the hem of his shirt and untwisted a little wire cage around the cork. Then he fished around in the duffle bag that Alastair had dropped on the floor, eventually producing a long sword. Joey sighed dramatically -- he’d seen this many times before. In one graceful motion Bryn sliced at the bottle, knocking out the cork.
“Like you couldn’t have just used magic and made the cork disappear,” Joey told him.
“Sure, but where’s the fun in that?” Bryn asked with a smile. He produced a glass from a low cabinet behind him and asked, “Anyone else? I hate to drink alone.”
“No you don’t,” Joey said.
“You’re right, I don’t.” Bryn grinned and wrapped both hands around the bottle, which frosted over at his touch. He poured himself a now chilled sparkling glass of champagne before settling onto one of the rustic wooden chairs. Then he took a sip and murmured, “God that’s good.” He glanced at Alastair and said, “I’d been saving this for a special occasion.”
“So why are you drinking it now?”
Bryn shrugged and said casually, “It may be my last chance to enjoy it, since we might be buried alive down here.”
“That is super comforting,” Lu mumbled, draping an arm across her closed eyes. She felt a hand on her leg and let her arm drop onto the table as she looked up at Alastair.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said, his dark indigo eyes holding her gaze. She sat up and studied him closely. There was firm resolve in his expression, a confidence that she hadn’t seen before.
She gently touched his cheek and told him, “Thanks. And by the way, I’m not going to let anything happen to you, either.” They smiled shyly at each other, a moment passing between them. Across the room, Joey rolled his eyes. Then Lu asked Alastair, “How do you feel?”
He rested his hands lightly on her legs. “I was about to ask you that question, since you’re the one that got knocked unconscious.”
“I’m fine, all that did was give me a headache. That mind probe thing you and Bryn were doing was far more dangerous. You looked completely exhausted when it was over.”
“I was. But, well, feeding seems to be remarkably restorative.” Alastair looked embarrassed, breaking eye contact as he bowed his head.
“Did you two make any progress?” Lu brushed Alastair’s dark hair back from his eyes.
“Not really,” Bryn piped up. He leaned back and put his feet on the tabletop, crossing his legs at the ankle. “I almost had it. It felt kind of like trying to pry up the edge of a manhole cover that’s way too heavy to lift. But the spell was too much for me, it just snapped back into place.”
“What can you tell us about the spell?” Joey asked.
Bryn said, “Part of it placed an idea in Alastair’s mind. It simply said come to me. The where and to whom of it was impossible to decipher, as if it had been intentionally obliterated, maybe after it did its job. But that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Underneath that initial spell was a great, convoluted web, something really intricate and powerful. I couldn’t begin to unravel it so I tried to remove it as a whole, but that didn’t work either.”
“You made great progress,” Alastair told him. “I just know next time you go in you’ll be able to remove the spell.”
But Bryn was shaking his head. “There’s not going to be a next time. I know my limits, and I can’t extract it.”
“Sure you can,” Alastair said. “I felt what you were doing. When you started to pry it up, as you said, I could see images beyond it, fractions of memories. You almost had it!”
Bryn sat up, dropping his boots to the ground. “I can’t remove it, Alastair. And I think we got damn lucky that I didn’t do any permanent damage while I was mucking about in your mind. I wish I could be of more help, I really do. But I’m not strong enough, not even while borrowing energy from you, and it’s far too risky to keep trying. I think you just have to accept that your memories are gone for now, at least until you get your hands on the warlock that did this.”
“How can we figure out who that was?” Alastair asked.
“If we want to know who cast that spell,” Bryn said, leaning back again, “all we have to do is look outside. The person bombarding this house is surely the same one that bespelled you, given how nearly impossible both those acts are.”
Joey’s posture went rigid. “Then we need to go out and take that son of a bitch prisoner, right now, before he goes anywhere. We can force him to reverse the spell if he won’t cooperate willingly.”
“You don’t stand a chance against him, pet. None of us do at the moment, given how depleted we all are,” Bryn said. “You’ll have another opportunity to face him, I’m sure. But this person is obviously incredibly powerful, and we shouldn’t go near him until all of us are stronger.”
“I guess you’re right,” Joey said begrudgingly, grinding his teeth.
“Thank you for trying, Bryn,” Alastair said. “And I’m profoundly sorry for bringing all of this chaos to your home.”
“Ach,” Bryn waved a dismissive hand. “What’s life without a little chaos?” He refilled his glass.
A shockwave rattled the wine bottles then as the house above them took another hit. They were all quiet for a long moment, staring up at the ceiling.
Finally Joey broke the silence. “You know, I’m the only one who’s actually stuck here until sundown. Allie, you can last at least six or seven minutes in full sunlight, long enough to run several miles and find shelter. You could carry Lu with you. And Bryn, I don’t even know why you’re here in the cellar when you could just poof yourself to, I don’t know, Fiji or someplace. You should all get out before the house comes down on top of us.”
“No way are we leaving you.” Alastair’s voice was firm. “Once it’s dark we’ll all get out of here, but not until then.”
“They’ll expect us to run as soon as it’s dark, they’ll be waiting for it. But they may not be expecting it in broad daylight. It might give you the best chance of escape,” Joey said.
Alastair shook his head, and Joey added, “If not for yourself, then for Lu. It wouldn’t really do us much harm to have the house come down on top of us. Well, except for the sunlight spilling in. But the falling debris could kill her.”
“I think we should stick together,” said Lu. She slid off the table then, feeling a bit claustrophobic despite the fact that the wine cellar was enormous. She crossed the room and pushed open the heavy door. “This doesn’t really need to be closed, does it?”
“Probably not,” Bryn agreed.
“Do you think the house is going to collapse?” Alastair asked the warlock.
Bryn shrugged. “I wouldn’t think so, but then I wouldn’t have predicted an assault like this either.”
Joey said, “I think all of you need to get moving, and soon. I’ll catch up to you.”
Lu sat down in the open doorway and said, “Sundown’s in, what, a couple hours? We’ll wait it out.”
Joey’s green eyes met hers. “Please don’t argue, Lu. Just let Alastair take you to safety. I’ll be fine.”
Bryn stood then, stretching his back and rolling his shoulders. “Look, no need to do anything rash. I’ve reinforced all the wards on the house, it’s not going to collapse.”
Lu turned to the warlock. “When did you do that?”
“Just now.” He poured the last of the champagne into his glass with a flourish.
“And you couldn’t have done that earlier?” Lu asked.
“I’ve been working on it ever since the very first shake, love,” Bryn told her. “And I just finished. So the big bad wolf can huff and puff all he wants now, but the house isn’t coming down.”
Chapter Fourteen
Bryn was so confident in his reinfor
cements that he went upstairs. They could hear him moving around the wrecked kitchen, cooking something and cleaning up the mess the shaking had caused while cheerfully whistling a selection of 1980s pop songs.
The rest of them waited in the wine cellar, just in case Bryn was wrong and the house was about to crack open like an egg. Alastair rested tranquilly against Lu, who still sat in the open doorway, while Joey paced, radiating nervous energy.
Finally when darkness fell the trio emerged from downstairs, Lu picking her way carefully around shards of broken glass. A pleasant breeze wafted in through the shattered windows, carrying with it the crisp, briny scent of the bay. Lu and Alastair went to the kitchen to find Bryn while Joey ran upstairs.
The warlock had a grilled steak impaled on a fork and was nibbling at it as he moved around the kitchen. He said to Lu, “Want me to make you a steak pop? You must be hungry.”
“No thanks,” she said, perching on a barstool.
Joey appeared beside Lu then and handed her the big sneakers he’d lent her. Bryn raised an eyebrow at that. “Is she meant to wear those, or row around the bay in them?”
“They’re Joey’s,” she explained, “And all I have at the moment.”
Bryn clicked his tongue. “Ach yeah, I suppose you didn’t really have time to pack when the big woolies showed up at your house. Listen love, go down this hallway to the last room on the right. There’re all sorts of things in there left behind by all sorts of people, and you’re welcome to anything you like, clothes, shoes, whatever strikes your fancy.”
Now wasn’t the time to argue about needing charity, so Lu just thanked him and headed in the direction Bryn had indicated.
The room at the end of the hall was indeed stuffed full of all sorts of miscellaneous items. Not just clothing, but also hundreds of books, at least a dozen lamps, stray pieces of furniture that had probably been rejected from other rooms in the house, and various odds and ends. It looked like a thrift store had gone out of business and deposited all its wares into this small space.
And it was all a jumble, but Lu imagined it had probably looked this way even before the shaking began. It was all packed in too tightly to have shifted much as the house was being bombarded.
She picked her way into the room and sorted through a pile of clothing, wondering where it all could have possibly come from. There were gowns, jeans of every size, dozens of t-shirts, a molting fur coat, suit jackets, hats from at least three different eras and four different continents, single gloves without their mates -- it was entertaining and overwhelming at the same time.
Eventually Lu put together an outfit: a clean pair of black jeans, some new socks still in the package, a pair of black boots, a black t-shirt and a black cotton sweater –- black was a major theme among the items in the room. She changed quickly and most of it was a good fit, though the sweater was a bit tight. She then folded her old t-shirt and yoga pants and added them to the room’s collection.
A glimpse of herself in a large mirror wedged against one wall made her pause, frowning at the tangled cloud of her hair barely still contained in an elastic band. She pulled out the band and slid it onto her wrist, then located a brush she’d spotted earlier, running it through her long brown hair. She made a half-hearted attempt at fluffing her hair up a bit with her fingers, but it just hung stick-straight as ever, so she gave up on it.
When she returned to the kitchen, the guys quit talking in mid-sentence and stared at Lu in open admiration. To her this just confirmed what a mess she’d looked like before, and she blushed slightly. She came to stand beside Alastair and leaned against the counter, asking, “So did you come up with a brilliant plan of escape?”
Joey said, “Yeah, not really. We’re pretty much just gonna run like hell after Bryn knocks the bad guys on their rears.”
“That’s it?” Lu asked.
“Unless you have a better idea?”
“Nope.”
“Ok then,” said Joey, clapping his hands together. “Running like hell. Let’s go with it.”
“Are the bad guys still out there?” Lu asked. “Maybe they gave up and left.”
“Oh, they’re still there,” Bryn said. “I can feel them. And it doesn’t appear they’re leaving any time soon, so you’re going to have to fight your way out.”
“Not a problem,” Joey said as he picked up a sword he’d set on the counter.
“Should I have a weapon too?” Alastair asked.
“You usually don’t use one,” Joey told him. “You kind of are a weapon. Just trust your instincts. And when in doubt, go for the kill.”
“That’s totally alarming advice,” Alastair told him.
“So where’s my weapon?” Lu asked.
“You won’t need one,” Joey said as he came around to Lu, stopping in front of her with his hands on his hips as he said, “You’re going to hate this part, but I’m kinda going to be carrying you.”
“Like hell you are,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I am, actually,” Joey insisted.
“I run 10K races for fun,” she told him. “I can sure as hell run away from some bad guys.”
“Look,” Joey said, “I’m sure you’re a total track star, ok? But we’re talking about running at vampire speed, so if I’m not carrying you then you’re slowing us up.”
“And why would you be the one to carry me anyway?” Lu asked. “I mean, not that I want anyone to carry me, but why you?”
“Because your boyfriend is still recovering from Bryn’s mind probe, not to mention still getting his fighting groove back,” Joey told her. “So it’s either getting carried by me, or getting killed and eaten by evil vamps or weres or whatever. Which is worse, being carried or being eaten?”
“I’m thinking.” Lu knit her brows, arms still crossed tightly over her chest.
“Funny,” said Joey, and he started to reach for Lu.
She took a step back. “And what about Bryn? We’re not just going to leave him here.”
“My wards are holding perfectly well now,” Bryn told her. “Besides, as soon as Alastair’s out of here, I’m sure they’re going to quit their assault. I’ll be fine.”
“Are they still trying to get in?” Alastair asked.
Bryn nodded, smiling cheerfully. “And they’re getting really angry that they haven’t succeeded.”
“How do you know they’re getting angry?”
“The spell they’re using is getting sloppier and sloppier, their anger is making it hard for them to concentrate.”
“Do you know how many are out there?” Joey asked Bryn.
Bryn paused for a moment, perfectly still. Then he said, “I know for certain there are three warlocks. One is the leader, almost all of the power is coming from him. The other two are just repeating what he’s doing, amplifying it. They’re close together at the front of the house. Beyond that…” he was quiet again for a minute before he said, “Ah hell, I have no idea. Let me go take a look.” And suddenly he simply wasn’t there anymore.
Lu and Alastair gasped while Joey sighed and shook his head. “No way! How did he --” Lu stammered.
Before she could complete the thought, Bryn was back. He looked slightly pale, and took a deep breath as he sank onto a barstool. “Well, much to my surprise, that warlock is little more than a child! I got a good look at him, he can’t be more than fourteen or fifteen. The other two boys flanking him must be his brothers, and are only slightly older.” Bryn shook his head. “My God, the potential in that boy! It staggers the mind.”
“What else was out there, Bryn?” Alastair asked.
“Weres. Several of them in human form, at least eight that I saw. And they’ve added vampires to the mix too now that it’s dark out, maybe half a dozen or so.”
Lu was still staring at Bryn. “If you can do that,” she said, “just pop out like that, why on Earth did you stay in here when the shaking began?”
“First, because no one is going to chase me out of my hom
e. And second, because Alastair is my friend and I wasn’t going to leave him defenseless.”
“Couldn’t you pop him out too?” Lu asked.
“That’d be damn convenient, but no. It would require more energy than I’m capable of even at the best of times. As it is, with all I’ve been through today I was barely able to bring myself back inside. I probably should have thought that one through a tad before launching myself out there with those blokes.” Bryn smiled then and added, “Philippe would be so upset with me if he’d just witnessed that!”
“Who’s Philippe?” Lu asked, but her question went unanswered as the warlock rose to his feet suddenly and squared his shoulders.
“My appearance out there ruffled their feathers a bit,” Bryn told them, squinting into the distance as if he could see past the walls of his kitchen. “They must be talking to the warlock child because he’s totally unfocused right now. This might be your best chance to get away, especially after I hit them with all I have left.” He turned his sparkling brown eyes to Alastair, smiling as he said, “Go now. I’ve got your back, mate.”
Chapter Fifteen
Alastair was sprinting for the door at the south end of the kitchen, and Lu barely realized what was happening before Joey grabbed her around the waist and pulled her off her feet. She gasped and clung to him as he burst through the doorway after Alastair, the long blade in his right hand close beside her.
A shockwave so strong it was actually visible rolled past them then, almost toppling Joey, but somehow he remained on his feet. Lu got the sense that it was just the fringe of something much bigger, something that had been aimed at the front of the house, radiating outward from within. Yells of confusion came from beyond the row of barrier houses as everyone out there was sent tumbling.
Bryn really did have their back.
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