I had probably screwed up the sights and aim of the gun. It was stupid to use a handgun as a club.
I kicked Ka again.
Looked for Shaun. He, Kojo, and Koun were fighting, my two warriors against one, dueling swords flashing too fast to follow. And Shaun was winning.
A rifle cracked. One of my security team fell. Human. Unmoving. We had a sniper. I ducked behind a car, scanning the rooftops. A second shot. A second human fell.
I spotted the sniper behind partial cover. I’d never make that shot.
An enemy human pulled Ka away. And took the blood cup too.
I searched the air for Grandmother and Aya. They were fighting, claws, beaks, beating wings. But Aya was holding back. He was trying not to hurt his Grandmother. Childhood memories, decades of relationship constraining him.
She wasn’t holding back. She was trying to kill him.
Eli was suddenly beside me, breathing fast. He stretched across the side and hood of a parked car. A long rifle in his arms. He sighted. Blew out a partial breath. Held it. Aiming. He fired. The enemy shooter disappeared.
Eli rotated and aimed up into the sky. Waiting. Aya took a claw slash across his chest. A beak peck in his right eye. He dropped, plummeting in the air. Away from Grandmother. Eli fired. Grandmother tumbled, fluttered. Fell. She disappeared behind the house across the street. Aya landed on the hood of an SUV with a deep thump I heard over the battle-deafness.
Eli aimed up the street, the weapon balanced on the car hood. Softly he said, “Koun. Down.”
On the far end of the street, Koun dropped to his knees in front of Shaun. Eli fired. Shaun staggered. His people closed in on him and carried him away. Koun stood, watching their retreat. He was bloody. He had been injured. He was breathing hard. And it was near dawn.
Eli said, “Take care of Aya. I’ll take out the other target.” He meant Grandmother. He sprinted away, weaponed up like an assassin.
Storm was wounded, lying in the street, bleeding but still moving.
The fight was over. We had... lost?Holy crap.
The maid-servant, Quint, appeared at my side. We raced to Aya, his bird body lying on the pavement. One of our humans was aiming a weapon at him.
“He’s mine!” I shouted.
The guard looked up at me and took a step back. Moving his weapon to me. I’d been wrong. This human was not mine.
Two shots sounded. The human fell.
Quint had taken him down. And missed me. Good shot. Maybe as good as Eli. I leaned across to my brother. Aya’s wings fluttered. One was broken. One eye was gone. His jaw hung open. His chest was scored, but I had no idea how deep. Bloody feathers all across his chest. I holstered my weapon and sheathed the bloody blade. No extra DNA needed to be around him.
“Cover me,” I instructed Quint. Without looking her way, I slid my hands beneath Aya. His bird weighed about thirty pounds. He had lost a lot of mass transitioning to this condor. He needed to shift before he died in this form, before he lost the ability to remember he was human. I carried him to the busted sidewalk where he had left mass, and placed him on the center of the gelatinous, rocky, hard, rubberlike goo. I waited. He tried to get to his bird feet. His head was wobbly on his neck. Panicked. Dying. He wasn’t going to change in time. I didn’t have my crown. All I had was the Glob. It didn’t give power for workings, it stole power, sucking it away.
I looked at Quint. “Can you get my crown out of its protective hedge?”
Quint bent toward me and extended a finger. She wipedthe corner of my mouth. Muzzle. I was heavily cat-faced. Her finger came away bloody. I had been injured fighting Ka. “Alex and I can.” Almost vamp-fast, she was gone, through the front door, which was still open.
I cradled the wounded and dying bird in my knobby hands, crooning to it, stroking it, keeping my own blood away from it.
Seconds later Quint and Alex were back, kneeling near me but away from the rubbery, rocky mass.
I accepted my crown from Quint. She wiped her bloody finger off on my clothes, giving me back my unused blood. But I smelled burned flesh. She had injured herself getting my crown. I slappedle breloqueonto my head. Instantly it sized to fit me. Went hot enough to blister my flesh. The Glob heated in my pocket.
I drew on my skinwalker magics. The silver mist of power rose from my half-form. I had healed vampires before. I had healed myself before. I could do this.
Right. I could also kill Aya trying.
I didn’t have time for fear.
I envisioned Aya in his human form. I pushed at the power that was mine. But instead of directing it at the bird, I directed it at Aya’s mass on the ground. Somewhere in that stuff was Aya’s perfect DNA. And maybe most of his skinwalker magics.Crap. Did I leave behind my magic when I lost mass? I didn’t know.
