“You—” Ammit starts to say, but Phoenix closes her fingers into a fist. The motion shuts Ammit’s mouth so that nothing but angry noises come out.
I snatch the phone out of the Professor’s hands before he can dial. “What are you doing?” He looks furiously at me, but I ignore his outrage.
We don’t have time for civilian complications right now. If Phoenix is feeling anything like the lust I am, Ammit’s still trying to throw everything but the kitchen sink at us with her powers. Phoenix might be barely holding on to her control, and I don’t want this man distracting her focus.
“Walk,” Phoenix orders Ammit firmly. The goddess looks furious but begins to do exactly as Phoenix commands. She marches out of the office and down the hallway toward the stairs.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on here?” the Professor asks while following us as we head down the stairs. Ammit is at the lead with Phoenix right behind her.
“Not now, John Paul,” Phoenix says sharply. I can tell by the strain in her voice that I’m correct about her situation. She is fighting hard against Ammit’s influence.
When we get to the bottom of the stairs by the atrium, John Paul’s eyes widen as he stares at the gruesome scene through the glass.
“Mother of God!” He crosses himself and turns away. He looks like he’s going to throw up as we pass by the display.
The whole building has emptied out completely. Our car isn’t far from here. If we can just get Ammit out of the city limits, then Phoenix will be able to deal with her in the way that she needs to. Or we can call Sabra to help us if Phoenix has changed her mind about the plan. Maybe I can talk her into that option on the drive.
“Go home,” I tell John Paul as we approach the double doors we came through earlier. “We’ve got this situation under control now.”
He hurries ahead of me, but stops and turns around before pushing out through the doors.
“Oh, I don’t think you do,” John Paul says.
I roll my eyes in frustration. But before we take another step forward, one of the double doors opens from the outside, right behind John Paul.
A familiar face appears in the doorway.
“Sabra,” Phoenix says in obvious confusion. “What are you doing here?” She glances over her shoulder at me with an angry, questioning look. “Did you text her to come?”
I shake my head because what the hell is happening? Not only is Sabra standing there, butVladis directly behind her. Police sirens sound in the distance, getting closer.
That was extremely fast. The college kids called the police, who must’ve already notified Vlad of the situation.
But if he’s here already, that means he had to have left the compound right after Phoenix and I did this morning…? I don’t get it.
“I’m here to help you,” Sabra says, stepping into the large echoing rotunda. Vlad follows her inside. Before the door shuts completely behind them, I see his black-suited vampire minions spreading out in a perimeter around the outside of the front of the building.
“What are you talking about?” Phoenix says with clear confusion in her voice. “We already have a plan for dealing with this. Look, I’m sorry I didn’t call you earlier to coordinate?—”
“Wait!” I call. Just as a feeling of deep wrongness tingles down my spine like ice, I reach out to grab Phoenix’s hand. “They aren’t here to help us!”
But before I can pull her back, a magical golden light sizzles up around the floor of the huge circular room we’re still standing in.
“What?” Phoenix asks, still sounding so confused by what’s happening. She tries to take a step toward Sabra, but it’s like she’s run straight into an invisible window. She bounces backward.
“What the fuck, Sab?” Phoenix asks with hurt in her voice.
Oh shit. I don’t know why Sabra has betrayed us, but I suddenly have a horrible sinking feeling that I know why this murder happened specifically in the atrium. It isn’t just because it’s a public display of gore for maximum horrific effect.
It’s because the 5-story rotunda around the atrium display is a giant, perfect circle.
And of all the mages I’ve ever met over the centuries, none of them are better at circle magic than Sabra.
“I’m just doing what has to be done,” Sabra says. She sounds nothing like her normal bubbly self.
She doesn’t sound sorry either, that’s absolutely certain. She just sounds completely blank.
“She’s loyal to me above all else,” Vlad says while taking Sabra’s arm like one might take a lover’s. He walks right up to the outside of the circle we’re now bound within.
