I sighed. “He’s already there. See the black cars? It won’t be like last time. I bet they’ve got the door locked.”
“Then I’ll go first,” Christian volunteered.
I gripped his sleeve. “The last guy had guards hidden outside. If that’s the case, we have to take them out first.”
“She’s right.” Niko tapped the sheath on his hip. “Blue, can you take a look around?”
She shivered hard. “Of all days.” Blue morphed into a falcon, and her clothes fell away as she ascended to the black sky.
We remained hidden behind the van and looked around. There were a few people walking about, and once in a while, a car drove by.
I reached down and gathered her clothes, leaving the coat, dagger, and shoes in the snow.
A few minutes later, she swooped between Niko and me and shifted.
Christian had his head turned away, probably listening for any signs of trouble.
Blue grabbed her clothes from my hands and quickly put them on. Her feet were bright red as she slipped on her socks and shoes. “There’s one in the car.” Her teeth chattered as she stood and put on her coat.
Niko reached out and embraced her. I was initially puzzled until I remembered he was a Thermal.
Blue’s cheeks flushed, and she suddenly relaxed before stepping back. “Thanks. I needed that. Anyhow, only one guy in the car. Didn’t see anyone else outside or tracks in the snow to suggest they’re hiding. I scanned the nearby buildings, and it’s easy to see with all the snow.” She checked the axe on her hip and kicked snow off her boots. “They’re on the third floor.”
Christian snapped his attention around. “How many?”
“Seven. Plus two workers in suits. There were four Asians. Wyatt’s picture didn’t show Li Han’s face, so we can only identify him by the mark. The other floors looked empty, but I couldn’t see inside the rooms or stairwells. His men were positioned around the room by the entry points. I saw one person on the first floor but couldn’t tell if they work there or not.”
I scratched my cheek. “We need to be careful about that. I don’t want to kill any innocents.”
“I’ll take care of the man outside,” Christian announced before rounding the van.
When the engine started, we ducked into an alley and watched Christian pull out onto the road. He attempted a U-turn, and the van spun out and slammed into Li Han’s car. Then he slowly backed out before pulling ahead of him and getting out.
“Sorry about that,” I heard him say. “Jaysus. I didn’t know anyone was in there.”
Closing in on the guard, he said something about a patch of ice before sinking his teeth in the man’s neck. A brief struggle ensued until the guard hung in Christian’s embrace like a rag doll.
The rest of us plodded across the snowy road.
Christian opened the back of the van and pulled out a sword. While he finished taking the guard’s head, we kept moving without a plan. We just needed to get inside, and there was no way in hell the person downstairs would open the door now that their special guest had arrived.
With a bloody sword in hand, Christian approached the front door and kicked it in.
“Well, that takes care of that.” I filed in behind him and immediately slipped on the wet floor. “Damn these boots!”
I overheard Blue giving Niko a brief rundown of the layout.
Niko withdrew his katana and quickly went after the Mage, who flashed away when he saw his knife was no match for Niko’s blade.
I scrambled to my feet and flashed to the hall. We had him cornered. He wasn’t dressed like a worker, nor did he have on a badge or nametag. He was also Asian, so all signs pointed to him being one of our targets.
When Niko swiped his sword in a blurred movement, the Mage flashed around a pillar.
Before he could stop, I sped across the room and slammed into him. When I drove the stunner into his chest, he stilled. Footfalls grew distant behind me. I flipped the Mage’s arms up and searched for a tattoo. When I didn’t see one, I locked our palms together. “Lights out.”
I felt the delicious pull of energy as it entered my body, quickly spoiled by the ruinous rapture of dark light. Energy hummed between us like the amplifiers at a rock concert. It pulsed, buzzed, and finally released from his core light. When I drank every last drop of his immortality, I pulled out the dagger. Blood pooled out from the wound, and he clutched his chest, muttering his last words in Chinese. I sliced his jugular before standing. Now that he was mortal, it wouldn’t take long for him to bleed out.
With the room now secure, I dragged his body behind a counter and left him. A cold wind blew through the open door, reminding me that we needed to hurry.
