by Jasmine Walt
A breath exploded from my throat as it happened. My arms fell to my sides as my magic fled me, and my skin turned back to its normal color. The light on Isis’s edge faded, and the werebear’s eyes grew opaque and glassy. I hadn’t actually dealt him a deathblow, hell, I hadn’t even cut him. I’d just called upon Isis’s power to play a trick on the gargantuan monster. You know, to make him think he’d gotten sliced in half.
Pandemonium laid there, trying to pull himself back together, even though if he thought about it for a second, he’d probably realize all the damage was an illusion. Still, Isis was the goddess of magic, when she cast a spell, it tended to stay cast, at least for a while. That was good because trying to take on a two-ton monster inside a hospital had not been going well at all. It made me wish I had some gasoline and a box of matches to finish the job while I had the chance. Then again, setting a hospital on fire was probably a bad idea. I barely wanted to use my magic in here, so using a fire spell was out too.
“You should have taken my deal,” I said, whipping my katana outward to fling the blood from the blade before collecting my wakazashi. “Now you’re just a sad panda.”
The werebear didn’t even respond as I spoke but that may have been due to the shock of thinking he’d been cut in half. Instead of chopping off his head like I should have, I spun on my heel and left as quickly as I could. Part of me wondered if I should risk it. No… if my next attack didn’t kill him outright, he’d probably realize he wasn’t as hurt as he thought he was.
It was too risky. I’d just have to hope the creature escaped before he realized what happened. With any luck, I’d be long gone by the time he figured it out. Besides, he had to have burned a lot of calories during the fight. He’d have to eat something soon anyway or risk his body metabolizing itself. If I got out of here quickly enough, he’d definitely stop to raid a McDonalds before coming back, no matter how angry he was about being made the fool.
As I stood before the door to Luc’s room, I smirked. I’d been standing in this very spot only a few minutes ago, but it felt like it’d been a lifetime ago. Hopefully, Luc was still inside. I thought about asking my ghost to see what was on the other side, but I didn’t want to spend a ton of time here, what with a monster I’d tricked into thinking he was dying lying on the floor a few yards away. I was cheeky, but not that cheeky.
I kicked the door as hard as my magic-fueled strength would let me. The thin particleboard shattered under my assault, ripping off the hinges before buckling. It crashed against the far wall, knocking over the vampire who had been standing behind it with a machinegun.
His weapon clattered across the floor as I drove Set through his chest, pinning him to the ground like a butterfly. My first inclination had been to kill him, but since Luc wasn’t in the room I wanted to ask him a few questions first.
Yeah, that’s right, not only was Luc not in the room, there wasn’t anything in here at all. It was just bare walls. I gritted my teeth as I realized I’d been set up by Pandemonium. He’d been the one to tell me where Luc was, and I’d been too stupid to realize it was a trick.
“You’re going to tell me where Jean Luc is right now, Mr. Vampire, or I’m going to start cutting off body parts. Unlike the shifter out there,” I jerked my thumb out the door, “I’m not sure how well you heal, so I’ll make sure I cauterize the wounds when I’m done so you won’t be able to repair the damage. How’s that sound?” I asked, smiling sweetly at him as his face contorted in pain. “I’m going to ask you exactly one time. Where is Luc?”
He didn’t respond. Instead, he tried to tear my wakazashi out of his chest by the blade, cutting his hands open in the process and spilling his blood along its edge. I snapped my fingers and sent a small surge of will toward the weapon. Set lit up with a crimson glow as the sigils flared like tiny stars. The vampire screamed in pain and dropped his smoking hands to his sides.
“Okay,” I shrugged. “I guess you’ll be spending the next, oh, forever with no legs or arms.” I lifted my katana and aimed at his left arm, touching the crook of his elbow with the edge before raising it above my head. “I’ll be honest, I have bad aim so this might take a couple tries. That’s okay, right?”
“No!” He squealed just before I was going to swing. “I’ll tell you, Dioscuri.”
“Excellent.” I grinned at him and knelt by his side. “I knew we’d see things eye to eye.”
“When Pandemonium gave us the signal, I told my men to move Luc out of here. They’re probably still loading him into the helicopter on the roof. If you hurry, you might be able to catch him.” I stared at him for a moment, trying to decide whether or not I believed him. I really didn’t have much of a choice, which really pissed me off.
“Okay,” I growled, sheathing Isis and tearing Set out of his body. I grabbed him by the collar and hauled him to his feet as gore dripped down the front of his white t-shirt. “Show me. That way if you’re lying, I can throw you off the building. I know it won’t kill you, but it’ll sure make me feel better.” I gave him my best crazy smile, and he shrank away from me before I shoved him into the hallway.
The werebear was gone, but there was a ginormous trail of blood leading toward the elevators. Good, so he still thought he was hurt, and was no doubt frantic about why he hadn’t healed the wound yet. I sure hoped that letting him live didn’t come back to bite me in the ass. Then again, maybe he’d crawled off into an elevator and died. It was possible, right?
We moved toward the elevators as fast as I could reasonably make the vampire go while still keeping my grip on him. Thankfully, he didn’t even try to run. As we reached the elevator, he pressed the up button with his thumb, leaving behind a bloody thumbprint.
“Oh no,” I said, shoving him past the metal deathtraps and toward the stairs. “There is exactly zero chance of me getting into an elevator with you. Assuming it didn’t malfunction and kill us, it is way too enclosed of a space for me to risk it. For all I know, you have the shaft filled with explosives or snake demons. Who knows?”
“And they say I’m paranoid,” the vampire muttered.
“Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you,” I replied, pushing open the door to the stairwell with his face, smudging the little glass window in the center of the wood in the process. “Go on, tell me I’m being cliché. I dare you.”
He shut his damned trap. Which was good since it took longer than I’d have liked to make it up the stairs, but even though my chest was heaving from dragging the vampire up six floors, I still was calling it a win because I hadn’t died in an elevator. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the giant metal demon boxes, but I didn’t exactly like the idea of someone potentially breaking a few cables and sending me plummeting to my death. Besides, for all I knew, there was a really pissed off werebear inside one of them just waiting for his next meal.
I threw the vampire at the door marked helipad. Instead of breaking through it, he bounced off and collapsed to the ground yowling. “Next time, try turning the knob first, jerk,” the vampire said, reaching up and twisting the silver handle. The door swung open to reveal a helicopter, its rotors already spinning. I caught a glimpse of Ariel standing in the compartment with Luc just before the door closed, leaving me staring at the red cross painted on the white metal.
“No!” I screamed as the helicopter started to leave the ground. I charged forward as fast as I could and leapt. My free hand grabbed onto the skids as we surged high up into the air. As I dangled several hundred feet above the ground, I tried desperately to keep the panic swelling inside me from taking over.
I took a deep breath, finding my center and calming myself before sheathing my wakazashi. I wrapped both of my arms around the skid and with my muscles screaming, pulled myself into a less precarious position. I wasn’t sure if the vampires inside the vehicle had noticed me leap onto their helicopter, but I had a feeling that even if they hadn’t, the vampire I’d left alive on the rooftop would let them know. For all I k
new, he’d already radioed them about my position. That thought made my blood run cold as the wind rushed by me.
Still, it was nothing compared to the panic I felt as crimson light exploded from within the helicopter. The smell of blood, like a bucket of rusty nails filled my nose. The surrounding sky darkened as the sun turned sanguine, casting the entire earth in blood.
19
So what did I do? I took a deep breath, grabbed the door, and jerked it open with all the strength I could muster. Its internal mechanisms held for a second before ripping free and sliding backward into the skin of the helicopter. Ariel was nowhere to be found, which was good.
Unfortunately, four vampires surrounded a metal gurney with Luc’s unconscious body strapped to it. Tubes were stuck in his body, feeding some kind of viscous green sludge into him as his wards glowed with faint red light.
While the vampires didn’t look like they had expected me to burst into their helicopter in midflight, they were already starting to come at me with preternatural speed. Before they could throw me from the vehicle, I launched myself inside, screaming incoherently.
My fist lashed out, catching the closest vampire under the chin and snapping his head backward. I spun on the balls of my feet and drove my knee into another’s side, knocking him into his female companion as she tried to grab me from behind. They went down in a heap as I dropped to my knees, avoiding another female vampire’s kick as it whooshed by so close to my head, the wind coming off of it ruffled my hair.
I grabbed onto her leg and jerked her off balance as I came up, slamming her onto her back and making the floor beneath us shudder. The vampire I’d slugged originally came at me fangs wide and glinting as blood streamed from his torn lips. His fist caught me on the shoulder, and my left arm fell numbly to my side. His fingers curled around my trench coat, pulling me toward him. I stumbled as another one grabbed onto my ankle with its vice-like grip.
My body toppled forward into the vampire, throwing him off balance and making him trip over the female I’d body slammed earlier. His hand released me, shooting out to try to catch himself on the door before he fell. He missed the helicopter’s thin wall completely and plummeted through the door. Well, that was one less vampire to worry about.
I crashed to the ground on top of the vampire he’d tripped over as the first female got to her feet and came at me, long nails splayed like talons. I reared back and mule kicked her as hard as I could. My boot connected with her knee. The crack of the shattered joint filled the air. Her scream pierced my ears, loud even over the roar of the helicopter blades. I scrambled forward on my hands and knees, pausing only momentarily to drive my elbow into the vampire beneath me, shattering her nose in a spray of blood. Her eyes went glassy, and her hands fell limply to her sides.
The only male left in the cabin was back up and racing toward me, but there wasn’t anywhere to go. I threw myself to my feet, grabbing onto the metal gurney holding Luc’s body and called upon my magic, summoning everything I had. In an aircraft. Full of sensitive equipment. High above the ground.
An explosion ripped through the air and smoke filled the cabin as magic surged around us. The rotors stalled with a shriek of tortured steel, and the lights on panels all around me caught fire or winked out entirely. The door to the pilot’s chamber swung open, and Ariel stood there, annoyance playing across her delicate features. At first, it looked like she’d been about to scream at her companions, but as soon as she saw me, her face twisted into rage. Behind her, I could see lightning bolts leaping across the pilot’s console as smoke poured from it. His hands scrambled over it, fighting for control against the crippled machine.
“You!” she howled, pointing one red-nailed finger at me and baring her fangs.
“Me,” I replied and threw all my magic outward at her. The spell leapt across the space between us as a bolt of purple energy slammed into her and threw her backward into the cockpit. Her body slammed against the windshield, shattering it beneath her. She drove one hand into the metal skin of the helicopter, her fingers piercing it as she fought to keep from being flung into the distance. I had half a mind to throw another blast at her, but my heaving chest told me I didn’t have much left in me. Damn.
“Are you insane?” she screamed as another explosion ripped through the air above me. Our vehicle plummeted like a stone as bits of metal flew off in every direction. Had we lost the rotor? Oh, that was definitely bad.
“Only according to my ex-boyfriend,” I replied just before the floor slid out from under me, and I was saved from being flung into the abyss by grabbing onto one of the straps lashing Luc to the gurney. The leather snapped tight in my grip, cutting into the callused flesh of my palm.
“Time to go,” I said and reached over with my other hand, unsnapping three of the four straps holding him in place. I grabbed onto him with both arms, unsnapped the strap I’d been using for balance, and kicked off the metal death trap with all the force my tired leg muscles could muster.
We flew backward out the door, leaving the relative safety of the cabin as the helicopter started spinning like a broken top, spiraling toward the ground below in a stream of fire and smoke. I fought the urge to look down and instead concentrated on focusing my will. I’d never done this before, but I’d heard of Dioscuri using magic like a parachute. Maybe it would work?
Before I could gather my magic, the pilot leapt out of the helicopter, a pack on his back. He pulled a strap free, and his parachute exploded behind him, jerking him upward as it caught the wind. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to turn and threw my hand out toward him. “Come!” I screamed.
Power poured out of me as sweat covered my body in an instant. Spots danced across my eyes as my spell ripped across the distance between us and grabbed onto the vampire. My body jerked to a stop, and I nearly lost my grip on Luc as his dead weight threatened to dislocate my arm and rip him from my grasp. My shoulder shrieked in pain, still aching from where the vampire had struck me earlier.
We fell like that, our bodies slowing as my spell tried to pull the parachuting pilot to me, buoying us both. He stared at me wide-eyed as he fell, like he couldn’t believe what was happening. That made two of us. We jerked in the air, and I felt us fall for a split second before my spell snapped taught again. Spots danced across my vision as I struggled to fight off the exhaustion threatening to overwhelm me. I tossed a look below me, and instead of being totally scared out of my mind, I was relieved to see a high rise building not too far away. If I could make it there…
I threw myself into action, swinging myself into an arc as I released my spell and sent Luc and I careening toward the rooftop. The helicopter slammed into the street below me as I fell and the force of it reverberated through my stomach even from here. A feeling of dread filled me as I realized we weren’t going to hit the roof. I pulled in every last ounce of power I had left as we came careening toward the glass walls of the building.
Just as we were about to hit it, I released everything, not shattering the glass so much as disintegrating it entirely. My vision distilled down into a tiny pinprick of light as I tried vainly to absorb our impact with Luc’s magic trench coat. My breath exploded from my lips in a violent whoosh as we slammed into the well-decorated office hard enough to shatter not only the table in the middle of the room, but the bookshelf on the far wall as well. Orange basketballs fell from the glass cases atop the bookshelf, bouncing all over the room as I lay there staring at the ceiling, not believing I wasn’t dead. Still, I hurt so much, I had to be alive. Death wouldn’t hurt this much.
I wasn’t sure how long it took for me to be able to look around, but I heard the woman screaming before I’d so much as turned my head. She was wearing a cream-colored suit and looked to be in her mid-forties with ginger-colored hair. She backpedaled out of the room, one hand to her mouth. Her high heel caught on a rolling basketball, and she stumbled, falling on her butt.
Luc groaned beneath me, wards no longer glowing sickly red. His body was slick
with sweat, but he seemed relatively unscathed for having been flung from a moving helicopter. His eyes fluttered open as I tried to sit up, but even that tiny effort made stars flash in front of my eyes. I felt myself falling, but didn’t feel the impact of my head hitting the carpet. Not good.
“Lillim?” Luc asked, but his voice sounded weak and far away. I tried to respond, tried to make my mouth make words, but as I tried, I found I could barely even think. It was like someone had filled my brain with cotton. “Lillim?” He shook me, like it would do any good. My vision faded to black.
I lost consciousness.
20
I woke up to find myself being dragged out of the office. Luc’s chest was heaving as my feet slid across the carpet, one of my arms draped over his shoulder as his other encircled my waist, holding me against his feverishly warm body. His skin was slick with sweat that stunk of blood and fear.
He must have noticed I was awake because he shot me a look, lips quirked into a strained smile. “You okay?” His words sliced into my brain like a battle axe, and I cringed away. I felt drained of everything, and to be honest, I wasn’t even sure how I was still awake.
I shook my head, and he let loose a loud breath. The moment it touched my skin I felt a little jolt of power. Was he feeding energy into me? If so, how? I tried to ask him, but words failed me as he turned back toward the woman. She was still sitting there gaping at us. Evidently, I hadn’t been out for long, but that was weird. I’d used almost everything in me to escape the helicopter and rescue Luc. I should be unconscious for a lot longer.