Except for not mentioning she was a P-ten-plus. Or could read minds through touch.
She couldn’t make another wrong choice.
“I have sworn an oath to Queen Wavena that I would not betray you.” Agata brought her hands slowly up and to the side.
Estelle knew how easy it was to break a promise.
The door cracked open, letting a shard of sunlight into the gloomy shed. “What’s going on?”
Tom shut the door behind him and assessed the situation silently before he raised his hand and pointed a gun at Agata.
Estelle dropped to the ground as Agata dodged to the side and behind Raoul, who stood with mouth agape. The shot hit a bag of dirt with a thud and a dusty volcano erupted.
A hand grabbed her from behind. When the mind touch came, it was like a sharp blow. Estelle reeled back, stars appearing in front of her eyes. Before she could recover, hands were on her shoulders, forcing her down. A battering ram was at the door of her mind. Tom? How? It must be Agata.
“Get off of me, you bitch.” Estelle wrestled away from the hands and ducked around the back side of a shelf, dimly hearing shouts that sounded like Agata’s voice. In front of her were a pair of gardening shears and she grabbed them, thankful for a weapon.
Then that painful invasion in her mind came again, causing her head to snap back. Her body reacted automatically, slicing down and cutting Agata as she came around the metal shelving. The shriek reverberated against the concrete of the shed and in her head as blood sprayed against her face.
She passed out.
* * * *
Stephan jumped to his feet as Isindle stormed into the room. Her hair almost crackled around her. “Have you seen the book?” she demanded.
There could be only one book—the one containing the huiniun spell. “Did you bring it?”
She didn’t even bother to grace that with an answer. “It was in my room, locked in a briefcase that was locked in a safe. It’s gone.”
Although he knew it was futile, he insisted on checking through every room again as she went to speak to the others. After his unsuccessful search, he found them gathered in the main room. “No go,” he reported.
“We have another problem now.” Caro looked up from her phone, face white. “Wavena says Agata’s been hurt and Tom and Estelle are with the Ancients. Raoul is there as well.”
“Is Estelle okay?”
Caro scanned the message. “Not sure. It looks like a mess over there.”
They’d agreed that although they were in Florida, they’d stay in the designated safe house as Estelle took care of the attack on the vampire Ancients. Agata had informed them—briskly—they would stay in touch, but Stephan had been in enough battles to know he’d not get as much information as he wanted. At least Tom had been there as backup, insistent on getting back to work.
Silence descended. Caro was the ambassador so it was her call and they all waited for her to make it.
“Shit.” She put her hands on the table. “I was okay—not thrilled but okay—with leaving it in their hands when it was limited to an attack on their Ancients. This changes it.”
Isindle shook her head. “We no longer have my spell book. I think I can do it from memory, but cannot guarantee success.”
Stephan took out his phone and texted Tom. No answer. “Caro, let me see your phone?”
She handed it over and he scrolled through. More messages from Wavena came through, including some shots of the area. He frowned.
“Isindle, did you say the book was in a bag?”
“Black briefcase with brown edging.”
He held out the phone. “Like this?”
Caro leaned in. “Is that Raoul? With our case?”
“Looks like.” He knew it. The rat.
“Is he going to play the hero?” she asked. “Doesn’t he trust us?”
“He’s working for the Dawning,” he said heavily. Shit. He should have acted on his gut instinct.
“We need to get that book,” said Isindle. “There’s more in it than that spell. It’s priceless.”
Caro nodded. “Wavena’s not telling us where they are. Says her people have it under control. Stephan, can you track them?”
“On it.” Estelle had connected to his laptop once and she had one of those “find my keys” apps. If he was lucky…
Caro was now staring with narrowed eyes at the phone. “This can’t be right.”
“What?” Not Estelle. Let Estelle be alive.
When she looked up, her lips had drained of blood. “It’s from Wavena. They found a man wandering in Cancun.”
“An escaped Dawning member?” Why would Wavena bother to tell them that? Unless…Stephan felt the answer even before it came. “Tom?”
“Yes. He’s weak and dehydrated but they have him under medical care. He’ll be fine.”
No. Stephan couldn’t move. Tom was alive, but he’d thought his friend had been rescued. If that was Tom, who had been working with Estelle? Who was with her now?
“That’s not Tom here,” said Caro. “It’s Yangzei.” She covered her face and grimaced. “Shit. Shit.”
No wonder he wanted to stay to recover in Orlando. Even though Estelle knew Tom, it would be child’s play for a powerful masquerada like Yangzei to imitate Tom’s mannerisms—especially those of a Tom who had been imprisoned and assumedly mistreated for months. Had he come back home, the masquerada who had known him for a lifetime would have immediately recognized an imposter. Yangzei had pulled a classic trick and they’d fallen for it like fools. He should have known better than to worry. Knowing they would suspect a devious shift from a masquerada, in that hall Yangzei had come as himself before shifting to Tom, making them believe…god damn it.
He turned back to the laptop. At least one thing had gone his way. The location of Estelle’s car pulsed at the end of a back road. He forced his mind to calm. Now was not the time to give into the calls of the multitude, to allow their distraction as they clamored for attention.
The door flew open and Stephan moved to protect the others around the table. He didn’t relax when he saw it was Felix. “What do you want?” he asked. They might be on vamp territory but this was Caro’s space. No one had the right to come barging in on her.
“I want to help.” His jaw was set and Stephan noticed that his voice too had changed. Felix had lost the supercilious tone that had made him so punchable.
“How?” Caro’s voice was more curious than confrontational.
“Agata’s been helping me with this mind stuff.” He waved his hand at his head. “I’m not able to control it but I can help. I think she’s hurt.”
“What about Estelle?”
Felix shook his head. “I’m learning.”
This admission was such a change from the old Felix that Stephan almost believed him. Almost. “You went to the Dawning. Why should we trust you?”
“There’s no reason you should except that I made a mistake, I’m trying to make amends and I think we’re wasting time.”
Stephan and Caro glanced at each other and she gave a slight nod. Handing Felix the laptop, Stephan said, “You’re a Florida man. You know where this place is?”
Felix zoomed out and nodded. “Thirty-minute drive.”
“That might not be fast enough,” said Isindle.
They all turned to her. “If Yangzei means the Ancients harm, Estelle will not be strong enough to stop him.” She pointed at the map. “Should he succeed, we will have no one left to wield that spell.”
Chapter 37
Estelle woke up, disoriented. She’d been tossed in a corner of a room…where?
A shriek startled her into full consciousness and she leapt to her feet, head throbbing and her vision momentarily doubled. In front of her in the center of the room, moving away from Lucia’s bed, was Tom Minor and beside
him, clutching the briefcase, was Raoul.
“What’s going on?” Her voice was a croak and she held the wall for balance. “Are the Ancients alive? Where’s Agata?” She had to tell Wavena what the lithu had done. Vincenzo? This time she called out to the Ancient in her mind.
No one replied. Instead, Tom shook his head back as though loosening his hair and closed his eyes.
“Tom?” she asked hesitantly. Even as his name left her mouth, she knew.
In seconds, Yangzei stood in Tom’s clothes.
Her gaze flew to the Ancients, who remained on their beds, still. Even without looking at the vitals displayed on the wall, she could tell Lucia was dead. The Ancient’s skin had become impossibly waxy and pale, a marble bust of her own face.
Vincenzo. I’m sorry. I failed you.
Yangzei lifted his head and Estelle took an involuntary step back. Energy crackled around him as though he’d captured a lightning bolt. His very gaze singed her.
“Stop it.”
“Stop what, vampiress?” Yangzei breathed in deep and laid both of his hands on Vincenzo’s chest. Although his body remained still, the Ancient opened his mouth and began to scream, a horrible sound of agony.
“Enough! Raoul, help me!” But he shook his head and stepped back, wrinkling his nose as if she was nothing but a stain on the ground.
Before Estelle could move, Yangzei took his hands off Vincenzo and pointed at her. Unbelievingly, she stared at the floor as her body moved backwards on the tile, her attempts to regain her footing like fighting against a gale. Talking was impossible and even breathing difficult, her chest was so compressed. In seconds, she was up against the wall, closing her eyes against the crushing weight of the pressure. A wild laugh sounded from Yangzei, but it was hard to hear anything through the rushing in her ears. Except—her name?
“…Can you hear me? Estelle?…”
The voice came from an emergency intercom to her left. She tried to open her mouth to answer but nothing came out. With each exhale, Yangzei pressed her chest even more.
“Estelle! We’re cutting through the door. Hold on. We’re coming.”
“It will be too late,” said Yangzei, almost conversationally.
“What…want?” Estelle managed to gasp. Maybe if she could keep him talking.
“Nothing from you.” Yangzei kept one hand extended toward her as his other reached down to touch Vincenzo’s head. “The only thing I want is right here.”
Estelle felt the moment Yangzei drew out Vincenzo’s energy. The vampire’s presence mixed with the power holding Estelle back, almost comforting compared to what she was experiencing. Perhaps she could communicate with him, use her compulsion power to help. But no. Vincenzo was too scattered with grief and pain. Yangzei pulled the power out inexorably and Estelle felt the vampire Ancient weakening.
Through the intercom, Stephan’s voice was replaced by that of a woman. Her words rang like tiny bells and Estelle realized the cadence of what she was doing. A spell. It must be Isindle with the banishment spell, trying desperately to work her magic from a distance. Yangzei paused, then nodded as if bemused. “A very good plan,” he said. “Unfortunately of little good without the correct words.”
The wrong words. Estelle’s eyes lit on the briefcase that Raoul clutched reflexively to his chest.
The spell book was in there. She needed it.
* * * *
Stephan paced frantically as the crew did their best to cut through a security door that had been designed to thwart every means of entry. At least Agata had found the old intercom system. Estelle was in there and they could talk with her.
Or at least Isindle could. The work team had ushered the rest out to give them space to work on the door. Only Isindle remained, desperately chanting what she recalled of the spell through the intercom.
Agata wrapped another layer of bandages around her waist. She seemed impervious to the pain, and although she said the cut was shallow, it bled heavily. She’d shrugged Estelle’s attack off as a misunderstanding, saying only that Estelle had thought she was attacking her.
“That’s generous of you,” said Stephan.
“I will discuss it with her in private later. Now is not the time.”
Stephan made a mental note to be within shouting distance of that talk, just in case.
Agata turned to Felix. “Can you feel them? Sense their thoughts?”
Felix’s eyes closed as white tension lines bracketed his mouth. His shoulders sagged. “It’s too chaotic. I can’t tell what’s happening.”
Stephan resisted the urge to check in on the team. They knew what they were doing and having him pop in every six seconds was not going to expedite the process of getting into the crypt.
A scream sang out and Stephan’s head jerked up. “What’s going on?”
“That was the Ancient Vincenzo,” said Felix. His entire face was strained. “He’s awake and hurting.”
“I feel it too.” Agata’s face was calm but her hands clenched at her sides.
A terrible grinding noise filled the air and Stephan clamped his hands over his ears. It was still echoing when he charged back into the shed where the team wrestled with the door they’d managed to cut through. Caro halted him.
“Isindle needs to get in there.”
Right. The spell. The fey woman was right beside him and he motioned her back. “Let me go in first, make sure it’s safe.”
And check on Estelle.
Another tortured cry rang out and Stephan didn’t wait for a reply. A jag of metal scratched his shoulder as he went through, but he ignored it as he rushed down the stairs and into the main crypt. Estelle sat slumped against the wall, barely breathing. On the table, the vampire Ancient Vincenzo slowly sat upright, his face contorting as he tried to speak. The entire room was filled with an almost electric power. Raoul was in the corner, eyes huge and briefcase in hand.
“Estelle!”
Her eyes fluttered open and she took in the scene with a single glance.
Then she moved so fast Stephan only saw a blur. Estelle hurled herself at Raoul, forcing him to stumble back before he struck at her with the briefcase, causing it to break open and release the heavy spell book. The crack of breaking bone was audible, and Estelle went down.
Raoul, his face contorted with fear, kicked the book into the far corner and raised the briefcase high to strike Estelle again. Stephan was across the room before he could hit a third time. In a single motion, he wrenched the case from Raoul and threw it before tackling the vampire to the ground. Raoul fought soundlessly and was as flexible as an eel. The fangs dropped but Stephan brought his fist up and jabbed him hard on the side of the head. Blood and teeth flew as Raoul let out a thin squeal. He pulled back for another hit as he saw Estelle get up with one arm dangling, her eyes determined.
Then she faltered as pages scattered around the room. Raoul wriggled away from Stephan and scrambled into the corner where Yangzei finished shredding the spell book. Old sheets littered the ground in fragments.
For a moment, the room was hushed.
Then it exploded into action.
* * * *
Her arm hurt but she’d been trained to deal with physical pain. The larger problem was that it was useless and a liability. Being so visibly injured gave her enemies a target to hit.
She slipped on some of the loose papers from Isindle’s spell book as she spun in place, tracking the room in a blast of attention. Lucia, dead on the table. Raoul, that traitor, hiding in the corner with Stephan nearby. The main action was in front of her—Yangzei now leaning over Vincenzo, hands reaching out to cup each side of the vampire’s head.
The moment he made contact, the room sizzled. Vincenzo’s body jerked on the bier and Yangzei’s hair and clothes flew out with a hiss.
Agata groaned and slapped her hands to her ears. “He�
�s stealing Vincenzo’s life-force,” she grated out. “His…he’s using Vincenzo as a power source. Fuel.” Tears streamed down her face as her skin and eyes reddened. “Killing him, like Lucia.”
“Fuel for what?” yelled Estelle. “Why?”
Before Agata could answer, Isindle and Stephan leapt forward, hands stretched out toward Yangzei. They didn’t even make contact. Yangzei made a shrugging motion with his shoulders, even as Vincenzo continued to convulse on the table in front of him, and the two went flying as if they’d been physically hit. A soft aura flickered around Yangzei and then faded.
Agata’s eyes were shut as she gasped for air. “Transference,” she panted out.
“People are already in place to receive him,” called Raoul hollowly from the corner. “I didn’t know this is what he had planned. I didn’t know.”
Raoul continued to babble as Estelle ran to Stephan. He was bleeding from a gash in his forehead but his eyes flew open when she turned him over.
Then she pulled back with a gasp. Stephan’s skin was flickering. She blinked and it stopped. She must have a concussion.
From upstairs came the sound of yelling. “We’re under attack,” Felix bellowed. “Caro needs help.”
Agata looked up, her face puffy. “I’ll deal with this.” She moved unsteadily. “Will die if down here.”
Estelle nodded but her attention was already back on Yangzei. People were in place. The moment he had enough power from Vincenzo, he’d be out of their grasp. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She pushed her mind out, praying that she could wield some control over either Yangzei or Vincenzo. Nothing—she bounced back as if confronted by the same barrier that had halted Isindle and Stephan. Yangzei ignored her completely, as though she was so insignificant she wasn’t worth the bother.
Then Stephan was at her side, breathing hard and with blood smeared over his face. His gaze was steady on Yangzei. “Vincenzo is the weak link. We need to separate them. How bad is your arm?”
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