“Fuck it,” I growled. “Give him the damn book, Lu.”
Lu didn’t want to. It was evident in every line of her body. But Lorde was running out of time, and Dot, who had wisely held very still and gone gray and silent, didn’t deserve to die over a bit of old magic.
Lu slowly bent, picked up the book thatthrummedat her touch, something not lost on the hunter, if the widening of his eyes meant anything. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed it at his feet.
“I’ll find you,” she said in a deadly calm voice. A promise. A threat.
“I’m counting on it.” He bent, his eyes never leaving Lu, his gun never straying from perfect aim at Dot’s heart. He picked up the book with his gloved hand, then stood.
“Who do you work for?” she asked.
“You don’t know him.”
“Afraid to give me a name?”
“No,” he said as he began walking backward. “You have mine.”
“You’ll want to say good-bye to anyone you care about,” she observed.
“I think I’ll wait a bit. See how it goes.” Brave. And stupid.
He said a word, old and foul. A spell filled with rotted magic not meant for this world filled the air.
I gagged at the horror of it, my hand over my mouth, my arm shooting out to protect Lu and Lorde behind me, like we were on the highway and about to be hit by a truck veering out of its lane.
Then he was gone. Disappeared. That one-word spell poisoning the leaves and grass so that they curled and singed.
I didn’t know what it cost him to use that magic. I didn’t know whose favor had allowed him to inflict that onto the world.
Whoever he was tied up with was powerful, dangerous, and foul. Maybe monster. Maybe god. Maybe something worse.
“What just happened?” Dot demanded. “He had a gun. And then he was…he wasn’t there anymore. I’m calling the police. Should I call the police?”
I spun, hands lifting to touch Lu, to search her for injuries. Lu stood still for a moment, really just a half second. And her eyes met mine. Determination, anger, and fear.
Then Lorde whined and crumpled to the ground.
Lu dropped next to her and gathered the big, black, furry creature into her arms. She stood, lifting the hundred-pound dog as if she weighed nothing. “Where’s the nearest vet?”
“He disappeared.” Dot still stared at the empty space where Hatcher had been. “Hedisappeared!” It was finally sinking in, and she was having a hard time matching this new reality with the magic-less one she’d believed in just a few seconds ago.
“Dot,” Lu’s voice cut hard and sharp, bringing the other woman’s full attention back to her. “The nearest vet. Now.”
Dot’s gaze ticked down to Lorde, who was making a soft high whining sound with every exhale.
“Carter,” Dot said, snapping into motion. “Dr. Carter’s just a few streets down. Get in my car. I’ll drive.”
Chapter Thirteen
“She’ll be fine,” Dr. Joyce Carter said as she finished making notes on the clipboard in her hand. “Lorde is a very lucky girl you got her here so quickly.”
Lu sat on the floor, petting Lorde who was sleeping off the anesthesia. She’d had to have immediate surgery to remove the bullet from her shoulder.
The doctor expected a full recovery, though Lorde’s leg was bandaged and splinted. She wouldn’t be able to put weight on it for a little while, but knowing she was going to be okay meant everything to Lu.
Meant everything to me too.
“Have you called in the incident to the sheriff?” Dr. Carter asked.
