“I am sorry, My Queen,” Koun said, his grip like iron. “No. You are no longer a grunt. You are theQueen.”
A fireball hit the back entrance.
I jerked. Adrenaline shot through me. I made a sound that might have been a puma scream of frustration. Koun’s grip tightened.
Bullet-resistant glass cracked and began to melt. How hot was this fire? It had to be magical in origin. It had to be the Firestarter.
“There may be more than one attacker,” Wrassler said over comms. “The fires are overwhelming the infrared and the low light. All we have are the lasers and the normal-light security cameras.”
Over the speakers, I heard Derek say, “Team Delta, out front. Firing positions. Shoot anything that moves. Alex. Voodoo, Spieth. We need to verify that this isn’t just a diversion.”
“Already on it,” Alex said, working from the freebie house.
The exterior lights were off, and on low-light cameras I saw the vamps, male and female, as they edged out of their protected spaces and out the front airlock. Down the stairs. Wrassler and one vamp remained, and locked down the airlock before they took up position behind reinforced walls to cover the front stairs and entrance.
Out back, three more fireballs were thrown, this time more like three seconds apart. The pitcher was in a different location each time, though closer to the house. Fire devils roared upward, tornadoes of flame. One of the vehicles still parked out back was on fire, as if hit with an incendiary weapon.
“We have enemy combatants on HQ grounds,” Voodoo said. “Repeat. Enemy combatants are on the grounds. I count three. See HQ plotting map for locations. Red dots are encom.”
Alex said, “Teams at the queen’s personal residence and at Yellowrock Clan Home are on high alert. No enemy activity at either location. Checking the other Clan Homes now.”
Eli ordered people into different positions. While I stood here twiddling my thumbs.
The outdoor sprinkler system came on and begandampening the fires. On the plot screen, I placed each of my guys. With the sprinklers, everything stopped. No fireballs, no gunfire. No one moved.
“Our people?” I asked.
“Minor burns,” Voodoo said.
“Where did the attacker go?” I asked.
“Unknown,” Voodoo said. “No longer showing on system. Wait. Garden shed roof.”
“Fire,” I said. I heard shots.
On a tiny screen at the bottom, I watched as a fireball arched from the roof of the garden shed, up high, and out of the screen. On another screen, from an inside security cam, even tinier, a light bloomed, brightening the dark ballroom. Stained glass and fire fell, glittering as the fireball broke through the overhead dome. Inside, the overhead water sprinklers came on, putting out the fire.
The fireball and sprinklers were ruining the wedding decorations.Oh crap.Jodi was gonna kill me.
“Did you get the Firestarter?” I asked.
“Negative,” Derek said, his tone like a curse.
Koun relaxed his grip on my arm, but he didn’t let go. More vamps gathered around us. All of them were armed with weapons, blades, and stakes. Except me. The most recent arrivals headed up the stairs into good firing positions to defend the entrances. But nothing was happening out back. Or anywhere. Except sprinkler water still soaking Jodi’s wedding preparations.
An alarm went off, and I spotted the location of the alarm on the plotting map. It was coming from out front. On the only screen currently dedicated to the front of HQ, I saw that the “tankworthy” gates were standing open. In the center of the circular parking area, visible only by its interior lights, was a suburban, still running. Doors open. Windows seriously tinted. A vamp-mobile.
Wrassler was in the small security nook, firing at someone I couldn’t see on the big, overhead screen. Wrassler. My friend. Who had nearly died once already.
Movement appeared in a corner of the screen. Two other screens showing video from cameras out front appeared in the top right of the screen. There were two dead bodies in the shrubbery on a low-light cam, not showing oninfrared. Cool bodies meant downed vamps. Another vamp was inside, having passed through a small melted circle in the airlock glass. She was firing at Wrassler. He was pinned down in the foyer.
Battle chemicals flooded my body. I felt the shift start. “Not now!” I shouted at Beast.
Beast wrenched our arms from Koun’s and Tex’s. Faster than anyone expected. She ripped a nine-mil out of Koun’s hand. Rushed up the stairs. Koun, Tex, and my vamp protection unit pounded behind us.
My body began the shift. “Nononono!” I shouted.
I fought the shift. Racing the need away. Tamping it down.
