“And you still ended up dead,” I shot back.
“That’s my very argument. A body can see it’s too dangerous.” I made a face, and he took both my hands in his, adding sincerely, “I know you’re of a mind to help. You’re a brave, courageous woman, but you mustn’t kick. This vampire is several hundred years dead, and you are eighteen. Consider it logically.”
I rather liked his fingers in mine, but I pulled away, not wanting him to make me into putty. Again. “Logically?” I said, starting to get cold. “Yes, let’s look at this logically. Training or not, you don’t have anything but a few trinkets to help you if you can’t tap a line. You don’t have a chance to rescue that girl without me, and you know it.”
He hesitated, and I surged ahead at the worried slant to his eyes. “Tell me you don’t need me,” I said, pointing. “That being able to tap a line isn’t going to make the difference between saving her or not. Tell me that.”
Pierce’s gaze went to our feet, then rose. “I can’t,” he said firmly.
“Then I’m coming with you.”
Again I started for the door. Pierce walked a step behind, slow and ponderous. “Now I have to watch for you, too,” I heard him mutter, but I didn’t care. I was going.
I slowed to slip my hand into his. He started, and I tapped a line. Energy flowed coolly into me to make my hair start to float around the edges of my hat, and I gave his fingers a squeeze. “It’s going to be all right,” I said firmly, and I shivered when he pulled a thin trace of power into himself.
We were almost up to the wide porch with its stylized Christmas tree when I realized his intent was to storm the front. “Uh, shouldn’t we go in the back door or something?” I asked, and he smiled.
“You’ve listened to too many adventure tales. They never expect the front door.”
“Still,” I said as he knocked briskly.
“The front door,” he said, glancing askance at me and tugging his coat straight. “They undoubtedly have made note of our presence, and it looks foolish to be caught skulking behind the trash bins.”
I jumped at the rattle of the doorknob. A surge of adrenaline, and my pulse quickened. I stood wide-eyed beside Pierce as the door opened to show Sarah, standing alone and beautiful in an elegant dress of old lace. Her face was pale, but her look of fear set one of my worries to rest. She hadn’t been bitten and bound yet.
Pierce saw her, and he smiled. “And sometimes, it’s that easy.”
Sarah’s mouth opened. “It’s a trap!” she shrilled, still standing there. “Help me!”
With a thump, my heart tripped into overdrive. I stumbled back when two men in black came from around the doorframe. One yanked Sarah inside. The other reached past the threshold, and before I could find the breath to scream, jerked us over the threshold.
Now I shrieked, finding myself skating across the hardwood floor to slide into the wall in a crumpled heap.
A loud “Ow!” pulled my head up, and I found Pierce askew on the stairway leading to the upper floors. I got to my feet, tense and hunched. Sarah was gone, but I could hear her crying. Her sobs grew fainter, but never disappeared. A door slammed.
Pierce rose and tossed his black hair out of his eyes. His lips were pressed together, and he seemed mad at himself more than anything else. The remaining man, a vampire by the glint of fang and telltale grace, was fronting him. I stumbled to stand against the wall, and he focused on me.
“Don’t touch me,” I said, feeling a faint pull from his charisma and a lot of fear.
Pierce touched his lip, surprise widening his eyes when his hand came away red with blood. “Inform your master I wish to parlay,” he said, his words almost laughably formal. “We have a small gentleman-matter standing between us.”
“Where’s the girl?” I blurted, thinking I could hear her under my feet somewhere.
The vampire between us and the door smiled, chilling me. “I’d be more worried about your own neck, little witch,” he said to me, but looking at Pierce, clearly the greater threat.
“Christopher!” Pierce shouted, and I felt a wash of dizziness. “Come out of your hole, you disgusting spawn. We have a matter of early interment to discuss!”
The vampire moved. I pressed against the wall as he took a too-fast step to Pierce and smacked him.
“Pierce!” I shouted as the small man fell backwards into the stairs again. “Leave him alone!” I shouted at the vampire.
Standing at the foot of the stairs, the vampire smiled. “Do you have a mommy, little girl? Will she cry for you?”
Fear slid down my spine, pushing out the fatigue and the dizziness. I stood, alive for what seemed like the first time. Too bad it was about to end. Right when it was getting good.
“Pay me mind, not her,” said Pierce, picking himself up again.
The vampire took one step to me, and Pierce pulled a charm from his pocket. I had an instant to prepare, and then he pulled the pin.
The front hallway shook in a boom of sound. I cowered as the chandelier swayed, and the windows in the door blew out. Falling into a ball, I crouched in the corner where the wall met the stairway, feeling my ears throb.
Someone touched my shoulder. Panic gave me strength. Wide-eyed, I turned to strike, stopping at the soft pull of ley line running through me.
Pierce.
Exhaling in a wash of relief, I found him close and worried. He crouched beside me and fingered another amulet. “Grit your teeth, and close your eyes,” he said. “Forgive me if it’s too much.”
I nodded. Hunching down, I tried to become one with the floor. My breath caught as a silver-lined ribbon of ever-after iced through me to leave the taste of tinfoil in my veins. The soft presence of Pierce’s body covered mine, sheltering me.
A second boom of sound pulsed over us, and in a visible cloud, the scent of dust and broken wood rose. Coughing, I looked up as Pierce slipped his hand in mind and helped me stand. The vampire was out cold against the wall beside the door. But even more startling was the four-foot-wide hole in the floor between us.
Pierce peered into my eyes, striking me silent with how concerned he was. “Are you well? Did I hurt you?”
I shook my head. “There’s a hole in the floor.”
Pierce pulled me to it. “I’ll catch you.”
I held my breath as he nonchalantly stepped off the edge of the floor and dropped from sight. From across the room came a soft groan, and the vampire moved.
Pulse hammering, I sat on the floor and dangled my feet. “Here I come!” I warned him, then dropped.
I stifled a shriek, but it came out as a yelp when he caught me and we fell in a tangle of arms and legs. We were in a lower living room with soft carpet and lighting, and expensive paintings on the walls. An entertainment center stood in one corner. There were two doors, one beside us, the other across the room.
“You’re heavier than you look,” Pierce puffed, and I scrambled off of him.
“Yeah, well, you’re a lousy catch.” I glanced up at the hole in the floor, then back to the TVs. There were a couple of them, and my lips parted when I recognized a black and white shot of my little car looking funny out there against the expensive estates. Closer to the house was the imprint in the drift where Pierce hit. It made me glad we’d come in the front.
A frightened whimper caught my attention. Together Pierce and I looked to a far corner dusky with a soft light. My hope withered to nothing as I saw Sarah in the grip of a small man dressed in casual sophistication. His silk-clad arm was wrapped around her, covering her mouth. Tears marked her face, and she was terrified.
“Gordian Pierce,” the vampire said in a soft, almost feminine voice. “You should have stayed dead.”
I pressed back into Pierce, then realizing it made me look afraid, I rocked forward. I was still holding his hand. I was telling myself it was so he could do his magic, but the real reason was I was as scared as Sarah.
“You haven’t changed,” Pierce said, a new accent coloring
his words. “Still the same Nancy boy forcing your putrid self on little girls, I see.”
Sarah made a heartbreaking sound, and the vampire, Christopher, I guess, stiffened. His knuckles went white where he pressed his hand over her mouth. “I saw you in the ground,” he said bitterly. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Pierce’s hand clenched on mine in a bitter anger. “Your first mistake was putting me in blasphemed ground,” he said shortly. “It left me in a mind to return. Eliminating your filth of existence is worth postponing heaven for.”
Christopher’s chin rose, and a snarl curved his lips up. I knew he was several hundred years old, but he looked thirty. Witch magic at its finest.
“Good,” he said, shoving the girl to a nearby couch, where she collapsed to sob. “I’ll enjoy hearing your screams again between the beautiful thumps of dirt hitting your casket.”
I felt a chill, imagining it. Pierce’s hand on mine went damp with sweat. Mine probably.
“You foul bastard,” Pierce said, his voice shaking. “I will not leave without the girl.”
Intuition and the shifting of light pulled my attention to the hole in the ceiling. “Look out!” I cried, pulling Pierce and myself back when the two vampires from the front door dropped down. Pierce’s free hand started making gestures behind his back, and my pulse raced to make me lightheaded. Smiling like death, they started to advance.
“No!” their master shouted, and they hesitated. “Let them stand.” He flicked his eyes to the one who had carried Sarah down here earlier. “You, man the outside grounds,” he said, then turned a disparaging look at the other. “You mind the stairs. From outside. I don’t want to be disturbed.”
He turned to Pierce and me, and I thought I heard the small man beside me mutter a curse. “I enjoy trespassers,” the vampire said. “The law is going to see you dead again, Pierce. All you have brought to me is more terror to lap up. What a timely gift. Thank you.”
He nodded curtly at the two vampires, and they slipped away, one through the door and stair behind us, the other jumping straight up through the hole in the floor. Sarah was still crying, and the twin clicks of two doors shutting were ominous. Great. I think it was about to get ugly.
“Believe me,” Pierce whispered, his hand giving mine a quick squeeze.
I flicked a look at him, then back to the vampire. “What?”
Pierce angled to get in front of me. “He’s going to kill me, but I’m already dead. Trust me. As soon as he thinks I’m dead, I’ll move against him. Get the girl out. Please.”
I didn’t want to leave him here. I wouldn’t! “Pierce . . .”
But his fingers slipped from mine.
A jolt of line energy burst in me as I took the entire line myself. Pierce had been siphoning off of me, and I hadn’t even known it. Stumbling back, I barely saw Pierce jump away from me, shouting curses at the vampire.
Lips curled to show his teeth, Christopher went to meet him.
“Pierce, no!” I shouted from where I had fallen to one knee, transfixed when they met. The man didn’t have a chance. My heart pounded in fear as they grappled, the vampire finding his neck and sinking his teeth.
Pierce’s groan struck through me, and I almost panicked. “This can’t be happening,” I whispered. “This can’t be happening!”
I jumped when the girl darted across the room, a white shadow fleeing. She clutched at me, her tear-streaked face pleading up at me. “Get me out,” she whispered, as if afraid he would hear. “Please, get me out!”
I looked at Pierce, slack in the vampire’s grip. The animal hung over him, sickening me.
“Help me!” she sobbed, trying to drag me to the door, but I knew what was behind it.
Jaw clenched, I pried her grip off my arm and shoved her behind me. “Give me a minute,” I muttered. My heart was pounding too fast, and my knees were going weak. Striding to the nearest wall, I lugged a picture from it, staggering at its unexpected weight.
“Get off him!” I shouted, dropping it on the vampire.
Glass cracked and it slid off his back. Snarling, the vampire let Pierce fall, turning with a look on his face to send a ribbon of fear-laced adrenaline through me. Slowly I backed up. Maybe I should’ve taken my chances with the vampire behind door number one.
His mouth red with Pierce’s blood, the vampire started for me, hunched and looking as if he was in pain. “Stupid, foolish witch,” he said, wiping his mouth and then licking the blood from his hand. “Your species will thank me for taking you out before you can breed. The too smart and the too stupid are all culled first. I don’t know which one you are.”
“Stay back,” I said, hand raised as I almost tripped on the rug.
From behind me the girl gasped. My gaze darted to Pierce as he moved. Hope surged, and sensing it, the vampire turned around.
“How many times do I have to kill you?” he snarled when Pierce pulled himself upright, and with a dark grimace, tugged his coat straight. His neck was clean. Not a mark on it.
I didn’t understand. I had seen blood. But had it been real? He was a freaking ghost!
“Once was enough, and I expect it will be your undoing, God willing,” the man said raggedly, and my breath came in with a hiss when a ball of green ever-after swirled into existence between his two hands. He flung it at the vampire. The vampire lunged sideways, and the green, red, and black mass smacked into the wall, harmless.
My short-lived hope vanished, and I looked at Pierce across the living room. I knew it had been everything he had stored in his chi. He had gambled everything on that one throw. There was nothing left. He was helpless unless he could reach me and refill his chi. And there was a vampire between us.
Christopher seemed to know it, and he started to laugh. “I may not be able to kill a ghost,” he said in perverted glee. “But I can still tear your fucking head off.”
I backed to the door with the girl. Nothing left. Pierce had nothing left but those stupid ley line charms of my dad. I felt my expression go slack in thought. The ley line charms . . .
My hand went up to grip the charm around my neck. It would make a circle only I could break. Sarah and I would be safe, but Pierce . . .
Pierce saw my hand, trembling as it gripped the spell. “Use it, Rachel,” he said, falling into a crouch. “Invoke the amulet!”
I tried to swallow, failing. I pulled the charm from around my neck, the chain catching my hair and tugging free. The vampire lunged to catch Pierce. He cried out in pain.
“Hey, prissy face!” I shouted, voice trembling. “You’re a pathetic excuse of a bat, you know that? Can’t get your fangs wet without a glass of milk? Come and get me. He doesn’t have any blood in him.”
The vampire turned and hissed, and my stomach did a flip-flop. Shit.
“Rachel, no!” Pierce cried, but the vampire tossed him into a wall like a rude book. I winced when he hit and slid down to stare at me in fear.
“Trust me,” I mouthed, and he scrambled up. But he was too far away, and he knew it.
Pulse hammering, I fell into a crouch and beckoned the vampire to me. “You’re nothing but a sorry-assed, hide-in-the-ground child molester,” I taunted, and the vampire went almost choleric.
“I’m going to kill you slow,” he said, advancing slowly.
“Great,” I said, estimating the distance between us. “But first, catch this!”
His hands flew up as I pulled the pin and threw the amulet. It thumped into the vampire’s grip, and he sneered at me. I smiled back, and as smooth and pure as water, a wash of gold-tinted ever-after flowed up and around him, trapping him.
“No!” the vampire screamed, throwing the amulet, but it was too late. My eyes widened and I fell back in shocked awe as the vampire seemed to devolve into a raving lunatic, hammering at the barrier between us, almost spitting in frustration. Howling like a mad thing, he threw himself against it, over and over. And it held.
Shaking, I leaned against the back of a couch. “Stupid ass,
” I muttered.
“Miss Rachel!” Pierce cried out, and I blinked when he grabbed me, spinning me to face him. His hands heavy on my shoulders, he looked me up and down, his blue eyes searching me. “Are you well?”
I blinked again at him. The adrenaline was wearing off, and I was feeling woozy. “Sure. Yes. I think so.”
The girl screamed, and a vampire dropped into the room through the hole in the ceiling. From behind the other door, the thumping of feet said the other was coming, too, drawn by Christopher’s furious shouts.
Pierce took me in a brief, surprising hug. “You’re grit, Rachel. Pure grit,” he said, rocking me back. “But you should have used it to save yourself and the girl. All they have to do is throw you into the bubble, and it will fall.”
“Nonsense,” I said, hearing my words slur. “Just pull some more power from me and blast them back to hell.”
His eyes widened, and he held me upright as the door behind us opened to show the second vampire. The girl was at our feet, sobbing. I might have joined her, but I had a feeling I was going to pass out soon, anyway. Damn it, I hated this. I was just kidding myself that I could do this for a living.
I pushed from Pierce, unsteady as I put my hands on my hips and looked from one vampire to the other. I felt like I was drunk. Faint through the broken ceiling came the wail of sirens. “You all better go,” I said boldly, sounding like John Wayne to my ears. “Or my friend here will blast you all to hell. He can do it. Can’t you?”
But Pierce was watching the monitors with the strength of hope in his grip as he held me upright. I wavered as the two vampires exchanged a knowing look. The master vampire trapped in the circle hesitated in his tantrum, going white-faced when his two servants gave him a short, nervous bow.
“Don’t leave me!” the master vampire shouted, hammering on the invisible barrier. “I will hunt you down and take your last blood, then kill you again!”
I smirked, muscles going slack. Pierce caught me with a little grunt. On the monitor were several I.S. cruisers, a news van, and, Lord help me, my mother in her Buick. Robbie got out first, having to be restrained from storming the house on his own. “That’s the I.S.,” I said, my words running into each other in a soft, slow drawl. “I left my mother a note. She’s probably got half the force behind her.” Blinking, I struggled to focus on the two vampires. “Don’t mess with my mom. She’ll kick your . . . ass.”