“Does it really matter how?” I asked as my gaze shifted to Angela. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Miriam knows of your involvement. I told the vampires where she lived so I’m sure they’ve notified her. I wonder what witches do to misbehaving apprentices. If it’s anything like what a sorcerer does when he’s upset, you’re in for a very painful death. If I was either of you, I’d be making a beeline for the border. Remain around here, you’re bound to wind up dead.”
“Oh God,” Angela said. “Miriam can track me. It’s only a matter of time before she catches up to us.”
Victor glared at me. He smiled, his mouth turning cruel. “No. We still have the draugr. You said yourself it couldn’t be killed. We finish her, and then we strike at our enemies before they have time to regroup.”
Damn.
They weren’t running. My bluff hadn’t worked. I was going to die. Probably horribly painfully.
“Buddy, we’re here like you asked. Kill her.”
The draugr’s mad eyes finally shifted to me, and he smiled. It was a smile that spoke of evil deeds done in the dark. Things that man had forgotten or tried to forget. It sent tremors coursing through my body.
Whatever part of Jackson Miller that had convinced them to move the scene to this graveyard was gone. Only madness and hunger remained.
My back pressed hard into the cool of the headstone. If I could, I would have tried to climb through it to escape what was coming.
I yanked at the chain, hissing as the silver stung my palms. The chain didn’t budge.
The draugr crept closer. His head doing that bird thing as his eyes fixed on me.
Fuck. Fuck.
I yanked harder, watching him come closer and closer.
I bared my fangs and hissed and snapped as he reached for me with one bony hand.
A blur came out of the dark and barreled into the creature, spinning him away from me. The draugr landed on the ground with a snapping, growling wolf on him.
Dark ichor flew as the wolf sank teeth and nails in its victim.
“Brax,” Victor snarled, his face sprouting fur. His bones shifted and popped as his snout lengthened and ears grew from the top of his head.
I yanked harder at my chain. How did they get this stupid thing wrapped so tightly? At the very least I should have been able to slide it over the headstone.
“Kill the vampire,” Victor ordered. His words were crisp and sharp despite the fangs that suddenly lined his gums.
“I would prefer you didn’t,” Liam said, landing between us.
He appeared to have dropped in from the sky. I looked up. Did he fly? Vampires could fly? Wait—
could I fly?
“I understand why you want her dead,” he said. “She is rather vexing, but I have business with her later which requires her to be alive and kicking.”
Looked like the cavalry was here and working together despite Miriam’s certainty that the species couldn’t put aside differences long enough to get anything done.
Since Brax was distracting the draugr and Liam was keeping the witch occupied, I turned my attention to getting free.
I examined the headstone. The silver chain wrapped in a loop around the stone and was hammered into the ground by a spike. It made slipping free impossible.
I cringed as rock flew by, followed by the body of a wolf.
Maybe if I broke the headstone, I could slip the pieces free and then use the slack in the chains to slide free myself.
I threw my back against the stone, again and again. It. Wasn’t. Working.
Angela raised her hands. They sparked green and purple before the two colors curled up her arms.
