Valko snorted. “I already know you, blood whore. You’re no threat.”
Declan flinched, angrily gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. But he let me continue to take the lead.
“Call your master,” I said. “He knows we’re not to be touched.”
“Killed,” the witch wannabe said. “Not to be killed. We can touch you all we like.” She flashed her inch-long fangs at us.
Jasmine snorted. “Please. That one calls herself Mania. But they’re all so weak, they can’t even walk in the daylight.”
The three vampires glanced at each other, as if the idea that any vampire could stand the sun was a revelation.
Yale kept his brood exceedingly ill informed.
“Even if they’re nowhere near as powerful as Kett, they still think big,” I said, speaking to Declan and not caring if the vampires could hear me. “Opting for massive displays of strength or stealth instead of straightforward attacks. They think they’re invulnerable. Immortal.”
Mania laughed. The sound was creepy, on the edge of insane. “You think differently, witch?”
“I think you were so weak as Adepts, if indeed you had any magic at all …” — I let my gaze settle on Valko — “… that you had to find your tiny taste of power in darkness. And the deeper the better.”
I lifted my right arm, tugging the sleeve of my sweater back and flicking my hand until my white-picket-fence bracelet lay across my exposed wrist. “But we three were born and bred by darkness,” I said. “We learned to walk in the dark. We blossomed among blood and despair.”
Declan began juggling a number of small, magically imbued stones in his left hand. He had his blasting rod gripped firmly in his right, but held low.
Valko snorted. “That’s all you’ve got? Snark, stones, and a metal trinket?”
“Try us,” I said.
He lunged for Declan first. The vampire was fast, but nowhere near as fast as Kett. Declan got the blasting rod up before Valko could touch him.
Magic exploded, launching the vampire halfway across the clearing, his clothing instantly on fire. He hit the ground and rolled, which unfortunately extinguished the flames.
Amaya darted toward me, but then veered off to attack Declan instead — diverting my attention just long enough for the spell Mania flicked at me to liquefy across the exposed skin of my neck.
“Her eyes!” I screamed at Declan. Then I fell to my knees and vomited what little remained of my breakfast.
More magic ignited in the clearing, then Amaya was stumbling back from Declan, shrieking. Her eyes were blackened smudges, blood streaming down her face.
I vomited a second time, then pinned my gaze to Mania, who was obviously waiting for her spell to take me down. “I suggest you do some research before you attack a Fairchild witch.”
“No magic can counter my poisons,” she said snottily.
“No one rivals my mother’s brews.”
Jasmine chortled. “We were fed poison for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“Let’s see you spit this out.” Mania grabbed for me, but I’d been waiting for her follow-up attack. I lunged into her path, straight-arming her in the throat. Pain reverberated up my arm, but despite it, I slammed her with all the power held in my bracelet.
The vampire shrieked as the magic seared her neck. Though she managed to shake me off, I took a hunk of her flesh with me as she stumbled back. It crumbled into ash, disintegrating through my fingers.
As I fell to my knees and vomited a third time, Declan staggered toward me. He’d been clawed across his face.
Valko appeared before us. His chest was a puckered mess of fast-healing scar tissue.
Declan got the blasting rod up between us and the vampire, but even I could see that its magic was dim. It needed time to recharge.
“Hey, asshole,” Jasmine said. Then she tossed a black rectangle through the protection circle toward Valko.
The vampire caught it, staring stupidly down at what I realized was my phone — but hooked up to a miniature flashlight and a compact mirror I carried in my purse.
Magic sparked all around the device, hitting Valko with some sort of stun spell. He convulsed, then fell to the ground, thrashing.
I glanced back at Jasmine.
She shrugged. “Even vampires have to have some sort of central nervous system, right?”
Valko went still. Mania darted forward and dragged him away from us. All three vampires huddled together, maybe a few dozen yards away. Amaya’s eyes were white orbs, already healing themselves from the effects of Declan’s magic.
With Declan’s help, I made it to my feet, placing myself once again before Jasmine.
“Give me some spells, Declan,” Jasmine whispered.
I glanced over my shoulder. She’d laid out various items from my purse in the dirt just inside the protection circle. Lip gloss. The second half of my compact. A pen. Three quarters.
Declan shook his head. “I’d have to take down the ward to work the magic.”
“There are three of them and three of us.” Jasmine glanced over at me, her tone pleading. “I won’t be a liability. Again.”
I looked at Declan. He grimaced, then nodded.
I brushed my fingers against the invisible wall of magic protecting Jasmine. It dissolved at my bidding.
Declan hunched over the items Jasmine had laid out, placing his fingers on each of them in turn and murmuring spells. I could feel magic rising and falling at his bidding. On Fairchild land, we had access to large deposits of energy, but even Declan was going to eventually burn out.
“Sorry about the phone,” Jasmine said. “It isn’t going to make it through that.”
“It was time for an upgrade,” I said, keeping my gaze on the vampires as Valko regained his feet. “I hear the camera is great in the newest model.”
Jasmine laughed. The sound warmed me, even as the vampires regrouped to face off with us for a second round.
“Be careful with these,” Declan said, straightening. “They’ll trigger the moment they come into contact with … well anything, really. After you throw them.”
“I’m not an idiot,” Jasmine said. “I’ve used them before. Which one did you use on her eyes?”
“The lipstick.” Declan rotated his blasting rod in his right hand, the runes etched along its length glowing bright blue.
“Lip gloss, you luddite.”
“Right. Important distinction, especially in this moment. Thank you.”
Jasmine didn’t step forward when Declan and I did, and I wasn’t sure she was capable of standing upright on her own yet. But she cackled quietly to herself while she sorted through the spells Declan had made for her.
He and I faced the trio of vampires. We knew their weaknesses now. They wouldn’t be getting up from a second volley so easily.
They came at us with no warning. One minute, I was standing in the clearing. The next, I was pinned by the neck against a tree with my right arm twisted above my head. Valko had carried me dozens of yards away from Jasmine and Declan.
Red rimmed the vampire’s light-brown eyes as he leaned in to where my shoulder met my neck, inhaling deeply. “Witch,” he said. “You made me a promise in the hotel lobby that I haven’t forgotten.”
I tried twisting against his hold, but he simply tightened his grip in response.
“Is that all you’ve got, Wisteria?” he asked mockingly.
“You don’t have standing to refer to me by my first name, vampire.”
He laughed. “How cool you are. But I know something you don’t. It’s a wolf moon tonight. And not even Yale can hold me back during a full moon.”
“Fortunately for me,” I said. “You won’t be around to see it rise.”
The roots of the tree Valko had me pinned against coiled around his legs. He glanced down, surprised — and loosened his grip just slightly on my right arm.
“Tree roots?” he snorted. “Seriously?”
“Is this better?” I punc
hed him in the gut.
He flew straight backward, taking a dozen trees with him and vanishing from my sight.
I stared in astonishment. I looked down at my bracelet.
Then I saw Kett standing beside me.
“What … who …?” I stumbled through the process of making sense of what had just happened, realizing that Kett must have punched Valko an instant before I would have made contact with him. “Have you just been lurking around in the trees?”
“You engage in far too much conversation, reconstructionist,” Kett said. “I’ve been waiting to see what you do in between the words.”
“What? Really?”
“No.” He touched my arm lightly. “Go back into the clearing. Draw their master out. I’d like to see all four of them together at once.”
He slipped back into the shadows.
I didn’t need any further prompting to hightail it back to the clearing. Once through the trees, I could see Jasmine still seated on the ground, the area around her empty. She glanced back over her shoulder at my approach, her face tight with fear.
“Declan?” I asked.
She shook her head, her movements on the edge of frantic.
My stomach squelched with fear, but I kept my expression carefully neutral.
“They snatched you both, leaving me here and useless.” She was clutching the tube of lip gloss so fiercely that I was afraid she might trigger it inadvertently.
I crouched down, getting her arm over my shoulder and whispering in her ear, “Kett’s close.”
“What?” she hissed. “Just watching? Asshole.”
I laughed, dragging her to her feet. “Let’s go. They lose their advantage if we get to the manor.”
“Declan,” Jasmine protested, though she managed to stay on her feet.
“Kett will help him. If he even needs it.” Then I began to walk toward the manor, dragging Jasmine with me.
Yale wandered out from the wooded area to our left. His hands were in his pockets, and his body language was relaxed.
He paused a dozen feet away, standing between us and the vegetable gardens. He deliberately glanced back at the manor over his shoulder, then turned and grinned. “So close,” he said.
Amaya appeared at his side, then Mania. They both looked seriously worse for wear, their clothing ripped and their skin singed.
I almost laughed. Jasmine couldn’t stop herself.
Valko appeared next. His chest was crushed — actually concave — and he moved as if in pain. He snarled at me, taking a step forward. Yale stopped him with a raised hand.
The ruddy-haired vampire eyed Jasmine and me in turn, then smiled charmingly. “You cannot keep up this pace. Witches cannot best vampires, especially two to four.”
“Three,” Jasmine muttered under her breath.
Declan stepped out of the forest to our right. His rune-carved blasting rod swung loosely at his side as he strode across the clearing toward us.
We waited in silence, facing off against the vampires as he joined us. Jasmine wrapped her arm around his waist, taking some of her weight off me.
“Think about where you’re standing,” I said, breaking the silence. “This is Fairchild land. Witches are never more powerful than when standing on our own land, our own territory. The power beneath our feet is endless. Even if you manage to kill us, you won’t survive the assault. Spill our blood here, and you’ll never walk away.”
That was a heavy bluff. Perhaps Jasper could have commanded that sort of retribution from the land that encompassed the Fairchild estate. But Declan, Jasmine, and I had severed most of what tied us to the coven twelve years ago.
Yale tilted his head thoughtfully, rocking back and forth on his feet. Valko, Amaya, and Mania stood just behind him as evening took hold of the sky above us.
“Unless, of course, I have permission to be here,” he finally said.
“I already know you don’t,” I said. Though that was nothing more than supposition, based on the reconstruction I’d done of him and Jasper, and on Rose not knowing anything about vampires in Fairchild territory. Obviously, they could have been invited by another Fairchild, but that was unlikely. “And even if you did, your guest status doesn’t hold any weight over us.”
“But like your cousin, neither of you are coven members. Are you?” Yale’s tone was taunting.
A chill ran up my spine. The vampire was far too well informed.
“We are more than coven members, vampire,” I said coolly. “We three hold more power than you could ever hope to wield.”
Yale curled his lip.
I smiled serenely.
“I can feel the power you hold, witch,” he said. “It’s discordant and disorganized. Underutilized, perhaps.” He leaned toward me. The red of his magic rolled across his eyes. “But I’m impressed with how you held off my brood, and I’ve decided to gift you with eternal life.”
Declan laughed harshly, but Yale simply raised his voice.
“With you tied to me, the Conclave will leave us alone.” He turned his head, addressing his brood and crowing. “And we shall feast on witch blood for centuries.”
“You’re completely deranged,” Declan said. “First, the Fairchilds would sooner kill us than accept a vampire into their ranks. And second, you can’t turn us against our will.”
“Can’t I?”
“Not when we’d all rather die.”
Yale flicked his eyes to me, smiling smugly. “Would you? All of you?”
Declan followed the vampire’s gaze, frowning at me.
“It’s a moot point,” I said.
“And why is that?” Yale asked.
Kett appeared beside me. The estate’s magic, rolling underneath my bare feet, had alerted me to his approach.
Yale flinched, then snarled to cover his own reaction.
Kett stared down Amaya, whose eyes had completely healed from Declan’s assault. In fact, Yale had stalled us long enough that except for their clothing, none of the vampires bore any signs of our fight.
The former necromancer stumbled through making introductions. “Yale, master of I, Amaya, and of Mania and Valko. Kettil, the executioner and elder of the Conclave.”
“I know who he is,” Yale sneered. “Am I supposed to bow or something?”
“These three Fairchild witches are under my protection,” Kett said.
“You haven’t shared blood with any of them,” Yale said. “Other than chewing on that one …” He smirked in Jasmine’s direction. “How was I to know you’d claimed them?”
Kett’s attention was drawn over my shoulder to Jasmine, who was still sandwiched between Declan and me.
“Hello, lover.” Jasmine laughed weakly, but she stepped back from us to stand on her own.
“Jasmine.” Kett frowned, stepping behind me and shifting the edge of her hoodie away from her neck. “Who has bitten you? I assume he or she didn’t have your permission?”
Jasmine eyed him fiercely. “He did not. I informed them all that I was under contract to the Conclave. And with you specifically.”
“Which one?” Kett asked, coldly furious.
A wash of terror flooded through me at the promise of utter annihilation punctuating the executioner’s simple question.
“I want to watch,” Jasmine whispered.
Declan swore under his breath.
I took a deep breath, grounding myself within the magic of the estate thrumming beneath my bare feet.
“Deal,” Kett said. The anger smoothed from his voice as he slipped his hand underneath Jasmine’s elbow, guiding her forward to stand at my side.
“You will not touch one of mine,” Yale said.
“He touched one of mine,” Kett said. “I’ve seen the reconstruction. Jasmine Fairchild clearly declared her connection to the Conclave and myself.”
“Reconstruction?” Amaya asked.
Yale shook his head in her direction. “How was I to know she wasn’t bluffing?”
“Read her mind. Or
aren’t you powerful enough to do so?” Derision twisted through Kett’s once-more cool tone.
Yale opened his mouth to respond, but Jasmine lifted her hand, pointing directly at Valko.
The dark-haired vampire snarled at her.
And then he was headless.
I hadn’t even seen Kett move.
Valko’s body dropped to the ground between us. Blood sluggishly pumped out from his severed neck, appearing almost black in the failing light.
Amaya shrieked. Mania stumbled back.
Kett tossed Valko’s head on top of his body. “Your brood is so weak,” he said dispassionately. “They aren’t even worth drinking.”
Yale’s eyes blazed red. He swore viciously under his breath in a language I didn’t understand.
Kett answered him in the same almost-lyrical language. Then he laughed.
Jasmine threw her head back and joined him.
The combined sound sent another shiver of terror up my spine, but I suppressed my need to shudder.
“Declan,” Kett said, switching back to English. “Some fire?”
Declan flicked what looked like a penny onto Valko’s headless corpse. His clothing instantly ignited.
The three other vampires stumbled back, Amaya and Mania slipping behind their master. Yale’s face was a storm of anger and frustration.
“You’d believe a witch over one of your own,” Yale said.
“You’re not of my blood,” Kett said smoothly. “We hold no alliance. Conversely, my chosen child numbers among the Fairchild coven. Her word, and the word of her brethren, outweighs the word of a rogue whose only talent appears to be in making weak fledglings he abandons at whim.”
Amaya and Mania glanced at each other behind Yale’s back. Declan darted a look my way.
“You have no standing,” Kett continued, playing off the fear the junior vampires were showing. “You can offer your shiver nothing more than your false word. You have no ability to protect them.”
Yale jutted out his chin. “But you do?”
Kett laughed again, low and husky. “I killed your maker, didn’t I?”
Yale stilled.
For a moment, I could only think about how brilliant Kett was at bluffing. Then he raised his right hand, which was spattered with Valko’s blood. “I didn’t make the connection when I bled Nigel,” Kett said. “But with this one’s blood, and with the three of you standing before me, I see the relationship.”
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