Chapter Ten #4
I shrugged, a vamp shrug, barely there. “Since the war started, I always carried amulets, weapons. I always wore a silver charm bracelet that Aunt Jane gave me when I was kid. It was set with a few amulets. Last-ditch stuff, mixed with various glamours. Wired onto it was the bit of magic I had stolen from Aunt Jane, a rocklike nugget holding a blacker-than-night something. I had never figured out what kind of magic it was, but I knew I couldn’t hold the hedge long against a noncorporal.
It would either wear me down and possess me or it would leave and find someone else.
“It poked at the hedge. And then ripped at it with its claws. I used more of my blood to strengthen the hedge. And then more. But it poked one of those claws through. Right through my strongest hedge, made with my blood.
“I raised my hands and placed them against the hedge and the bracelet slid through the blood on the back of my hand. And I—”
I stopped, not sure how to explain how my magic had worked.
I made a small swirl with my dead-skinned hand and reached forward, to explain what words couldn’t.
“I hadn’t had access to raw magic in decades.
But it was suddenly there. Power of the queen’s stone, in me and all around me, a black power so raw it was like holding on to a corner of hell.
That power reached through the hedge and grabbed the demon.
Mixed it with the magic in the bracelet’s stone.
And the demon was sucked into it. It also pulled in the workings and the power in everything magical on me and around me.
All that was left was the stench of open sewers and charnel pits. ”
I dropped my hand and cocked my head. “And I had no idea how it had worked. Except that it needed my blood. At that point I was alone in the clan home. I packed my things, activated a few amulets I had filled with preset workings, and loaded my car.
“Before I left, two vampires raced in and attacked. I took both their heads. Made a mess of the entry,” I said dryly.
“I was trying to get the hell outta Dodge, but when I walked out the front, there were blood servants outside watching. And four more of Asshat’s scions.
” I laughed, hearing the bitter ice in my soul.
“Idiot me. I walked out and yelled the official bloodsucker dissolution of a relationship. Called Asshat a few names. It was all very dramatic.”
“I imagine,” he said, his lips barely moving.
“That part was caught on the security cams. I’d forgotten that at least some of Asshat’s security devices were monitored by vamp central, so the queen’s people were on the way, and had been ever since I left the house to kill Tiffany.
“The last four vamps ran away like the sun was rising and they were already on fire. I got in my car and drove down the drive. I had no idea where I’d go.
What I’d do. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
The queen’s people started calling my unicom.
Asshat started blowing it up, leaving apologies and desperate pleas.
When Alex finally drilled his way into my unicom and synced to the speakers in the car, he told me to pull over.
That a helicopter was overhead and would land in the street to exfil me because there were now two cars hot on my tail. ”
“Asshat’s goons?”
I tapped my nose. “I pulled over. The helo landed behind me. Koun killed four of Asshat’s scions while Walter loaded my gear and me into the helo.
They took me home to Mama and Dad. And when Asshat came looking for me, I met him at the front door and challenged him to combat for his blood clan.
He ran away like a scared little puppy.”
“That had to be satisfying.”
“Infinitely. It would have been more satisfying to take his head, but at least Daddy caught his popping away in terror on the security cam. No audio, sadly, so no one knows I challenged him. No witnesses.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For helping me get over whatever that was with Walter.”
“Walter is a good man. He can be a real pain in the butt, but he’s a good man.”
“And he is your good man?”
“Lover? God no. Bodyguard. EJ and I are his assets.”
“Ummm. Have dinner with me.”
Before I thought, I said, “Okay.” Surprised, I pressed my lips together, startled at my reply. “Tomorrow. If I’m still alive.”
“Pardon?” he said, his accent heavy with shock.
I pulled off Villetti’s jacket and tossed it at him.
He caught it after it hit his chest. “I’m heading home to change into fighting gear,” I said, “and then I’m driving to Asshat’s place carrying the queen’s banner.
Once there, I’ll kill a vamp or two. There’s the unlikely chance someone will be a better fighter than I am.
” I figured that was the best parting line I’d ever get, because Villetti’s mouth did that Italian thing of making a soft O, his hand out, demanding a question.
I walked past the hidden safety nook and into the dining room, where I gathered cloak and staff.
When I left the house, EJ and Walter were on my heels.
I slammed the car door and turned on the heated seat, shivering. I would not think about Villetti. I would not.
I tried to figure out how to tell Walter about his brand, if he didn’t already know…
If he didn’t know, and if it contained a curse or a geas, would telling him about it activate it?
I had to tread lightly. I also had to find a way to ask the intensely private man to let me study that magical working on his face. That would not be an easy conversation.
I didn’t speak on the way home. No one did.