Chapter 58
CHAPTER 58
“I should have killed you centuries ago,” Seamus said.
“We all make mistakes,” Roger replied. Keeping Seamus talking provided him an opportunity to weigh his possible strategies but also let Seamus heal. Bastian’s fire dome wouldn’t last forever. If Roger couldn’t kill Seamus, he at least had to injure him enough that he couldn’t prevent the retreat.
The upside of the fire was that Seamus was limited in space; the downsides were that Roger was in that space, and the light from the flames made the shadows nearly nonexistent. The touch of them was too distant, and Roger wasn’t about to sacrifice any power in trying to grow them in spite of the light.
“You have made plenty of them,” Seamus taunted. “So many great loves turned to join you in immortality, and yet not one still stands beside you.”
Seamus was attempting to goad him into an attack, to strike out in rage without calculation. But Seamus’s words didn’t ding Roger’s mental armor. After all, three of those relationships had died because of Seamus’s actions; James had left because of Roger’s cowardice, and Phoenix had barely been a lover. Both James and Phoenix were out in the world, living their lives, Quinn’s and Roger’s first sirelings were dead, and Ezra was madly in love at long last.
Roger didn’t rise to the bait.
But maybe he will .
“Remind me how many homes you’ve had?” Roger asked. “Not individual houses—you abandon those almost as often as you drain your entire collection. But we had to leave Devil’s Cove because you were scared of the English Navy and then Southern France because you couldn’t control your hunger. Paris because you killed a hunter and pissed off his family. London for nearly the same reason. Virginia was a scant time, and then there was New York. I almost thought we’d make it in New York. Then you insisted that we move here.”
“To protect my ungrateful spawn from the chaos that continuously embroils that domain.”
Roger grinned wider. “And I am going to make certain that no place in this city will protect you.”
“I am the master. The coven will obey me,” Seamus growled.
Roger laughed at him.
Seamus lunged, but Roger was ready for him. He pivoted and sliced out with both daggers as he spun farther away from Seamus. Blood sprinkled the ground. Playing defense, Roger countered Seamus’s next attack, parried the one after that, and then kicked him hard enough to send him against the far side of the circle. Seamus’s back erupted in flames when he touched the wall. With a howl, he staggered forward. Roger threw a blade at his heart, but Seamus knocked away.
After a second, the flames extinguished on their own. A regular vampire wouldn’t be able to pull off that feat without smothering the fire, but Seamus only held his head and shouted until the flames stopped. The acrid smell of burnt flesh coupled with torched wood and decay.
“I’ve managed to rob you and destroy your home with the ragtag resources I’ve managed to cobble together in a few weeks,” Roger said loudly. “You might be surprised how motivated people are in ending your life.”
Seamus laughed with a disturbing malice. “I have turned your loyal pet into my diligent son. In fact, he nn—” Suddenly, Seamus put a hand to his temple. “What have you done to him?”
Roger steadied his stance. “I’ve been here.”
“Take responsibility for your people,” Seamus demanded. “What did they do to my son?”
I pray nothing . Roger flung both his daggers at Seamus, one right after the other, aiming for his chest and his knee. Seamus caught the one going for his heart but failed to move out of the way of the one to strike his knee.
The flames flickered. The dome at the top was beginning to come down. Bastian’s spell was running its course.
Roger pulled his last two daggers and launched himself at Seamus. The tip of one blade sliced Seamus’s shoulder, then missed his target. Seamus blurred with speed to avoid the next two strikes.
Then the circle dropped. Roger flung one dagger at Seamus and leapt upward with all his might. He grabbed onto the chandelier.
His team had formed a semicircle near the door, and with the flames no longer obscuring Seamus, they unleashed their ammunition upon him. Arrows, spells, and silver bullets pummeled Seamus.
The sudden change of light might have played tricks on Roger’s sight, but he could have sworn that Seamus was becoming gaunter, that he was more inhuman as he took the damage. Seamus made a motion with his hand, and his blood rose from the floor to form a shield in front of him. He used it to block the bullets more than the wood flying in his direction.
Rage burning in his eyes, Seamus shot one last look up at Roger and then took off deeper into the mansion.
Roger dropped to the ground as a cheer went up and kept his gaze on the corridor Seamus disappeared through. He noticed that Lee, Bastian, and Lacey kept their focus on the battle instead of cheering, too.
“Roger!” Thomas shouted.
Thomas and Janiyah were carrying Zack between them, one of his arms over each of their shoulders. An arrow stuck out of either side of Zack’s skull, and the fletching matched the ones in Thomas’s quiver. He’d put an arrow in Zack.
“Was it an accident?” Roger hurried to take Zack from them, sweeping him up into his arms.
“We had to knock him out,” Janiyah said.
“He was begging us to,” Thomas added. “There was something wrong with his eyes. They were like ink and fire. He was cutting through everyone he came across but managed to hold off from killing Janiyah. She must have triggered his memory.”
“You know him?” Roger asked as he strode toward the broken front doors. His team swept out ahead of him. No sounds of fighting was a good thing at this point. He rushed toward his truck.
Janiyah blurred ahead and opened the back door for him.
“Apparently, they met in Detroit,” Thomas said tensely. “Something she could have mentioned.”
“Your family killed the nest that made me,” Janiyah replied. “I’m glad, but I’m not stupid enough to think you were going to spare me a second time.”
“But Zack did,” Roger murmured.
“He was trying to, yeah,” Janiyah said, softening.
“Then whatever Seamus was doing couldn’t have been permanent.” Roger climbed into the back and held Zack in his arms. Holding him was a comfort, but he couldn’t fully relax. Not until he knew where Takashi was.
Thomas climbed into the driver’s seat, and Janiyah took the front passenger. As Thomas put the truck into gear, Janiyah took her phone out of her pocket.
“Is Takashi safe? Did he make it out?” Roger asked.
“Hold on. There are a lot of check-ins,” Janiyah muttered.
Thomas pulled off to the side of the driveway, knocking into one of Seamus’s obscene statues of a mortal offering themselves up. The reinforced front held, and the statue teetered on its plinth, eventually falling over. When Bastian started to slow his vehicle, Thomas gave him the signal to go ahead, and the other cars took off.
“Vincent has him and a girl,” Janiyah said.
Without waiting, Thomas moved the truck back onto the driveway and took off after the others.
Roger spared one glance behind him. Several parts of the mansion were aflame, the blazes brightening the area more than the coming dawn for the moment.
He’d done it. He had actually faced Seamus and lived. He’d outmaneuvered the bastard and drove him off. Not only that, but he had Zack in his arms, and Takashi was free.
Though they weren’t yet to the safe house, a tidal wave of relief like he’d never known before crashed over him. The taxation of the battle began to creep up on him, but he wouldn’t sleep until he knew if Zack had reclaimed his mind. Until then, he’d hold him close and hope.