All three of us snapped to attention at the sound of glass shattering. Well, their heads snapped—I gingerly turned mine and still almost vomited everywhere.
“Keep an eye on him,” Dani said to Luke, then took off down the hall.
She couldn’t have been gone longer than a second when I felt something tugging at the ropes binding me to the chair. Luke had moved behind me.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping you,” he whispered. “I can’t undo them all the way, but they’re loose enough for you to free yourself.”
“Dani’s not going to be happy.”
“She’s never happy.”
When he straightened, I could wiggle a little more in the chair. The knots around my wrists felt loose. “Why are you helping me?”
Luke rounded the chair to pick up the dagger on the floor at my feet, then stood in front of me, giving me a one-shouldered shrug. “Maybe I have a bit of a crush on you.”
“What’s going to happen to you?”
Dani’s voice called from the back. “Luke!”
He glanced down the hallway unhappily. “I’m getting out of here. I’m done.” He eyed me. “Don’t suppose you’d come with me? No, never mind.” He gave me one last radiant smile. “Take care of Kian.” Without another word, he took off after Dani.
I stared after his departing back, then flinched so hard that I nearly knocked the chair backward as James materialized in front of me.
“You’re here!” I hissed.
In the midst of everything, he gave me that smile that made my legs weak—when they weren’t already made of spaghetti.
He dropped to his knees. “Of course I’m here, love. Let’s get you out of here while they’re distracted with that brick I sent through my window.”
I threatened to slip back into unconsciousness as he worked at the tie around my hands, stopping to press a quick kiss to my cheek as it fell away.
“I didn’t think you’d come.”
James sat back on his heels, working at my ankles while I fought with the cord around my middle. “Why wouldn’t I?—”
James fell back with a grunt. I looked up, coming face to face with Dani and her silver crucifix, now stained with blood.
Chapter 29
“Dani,you don’t have to do this!” My words were a slur. I was pretty sure I had a concussion. I scrambled to undo the tie around my middle, my stomach roiling with every move. She turned to me while James sat up behind her. My heart broke seeing blood drip down his cheek.
But his chain was missing.
We had a chance of making it out of this.
“I’ve come too far to back down now,” she said. I dropped the rope around my midsection, but as soon as I made to stand up, Dani’s foot connected with my abdomen. “Sit down!”
The chair rocked back at the force, but I kept it from toppling over backward. Dani spun, setting her sights on James. He blurred to his feet, dodging a swipe from her crucifix. With his powers at full strength, she couldn’t keep up. She disappeared behind me, and my heart sank as I heard the clattering of glass from the bar.
Dani had hopped up onto the rail. Bottles scattered across the bar top, rolling across the surface and crashing to the floor.Some broke, but a Disaronno bottle landed at my feet. I reached for it as awhooshsounded behind me. Heat washed over the back of my neck, and I twisted, a jolt of pain ripping through my head. Dani had produced a lighter from somewhere, and the booze-soaked bar and floor instantly burst into flames.
I struggled to stand, still stuck to the chair.Fuck. My feet were tied. I heard a strangled cry and whipped my head in the other direction. The churning in my gut was easy to ignore in the face of what I saw.
James cowered in the far corner of the bar. Firelight flickered over his pale face, his eyes wide in terror. With a bone-chilling chuckle, Dani hopped down from the bar. I kicked and bucked, trying to worm myself free of the ropes. They gave—but too slowly, damn it! Dani stalked toward James, but that meant her back was to me. I bent over and loosened the ties. I almost threw up in my lap, but I didn’t care.
The flames spread at an alarming speed, devouring the alcohol-soaked carpet. Dani held a bottle of vodka in her hand, a stream of liquid waterfalling to the ground. Flames followed in her wake like some twisted, inverted shadow. James backed into the corner and eventually sank to his knees, the heat and fire robbing him of his usual confidence.
