His was cold and hard as stone, still wearing the calluses of his human life. When he pulled me upright and out of the circle, I put way more weight on him than I expected to need. The earth tilted under my feet and Tex caught me under my arm.
“Easy there, my lady.”
Looking back at the circle, I spotted the cold thing that had dug its claws into my neck for the ride through... wherever. It been drinking my blood. It chirped, flapped its wings, and hopped from the ground to my shoulder. The earth shifted again and when I could, I turned my head to meet the up-close-and-personal gaze of Longfellow, Gee’s flying lizard dragon. Its eyes were slitted like a snake’s, but glowed like fire opals in the dim light, orange and reds and pinks. It leaned in and pecked me on the cheek. Like a kiss. I wrinkled my nose at it, holding its stare.
Snake thing with wings brought us here, from trap set by witch,Beast thought.
That scenario fit with what I had sensed and experienced.Where’s here?I looked around, seeing brick on the dead lawn, a bell and clock tower, and caution tape everywhere. “We’re at the church.” I tried to look back at the ground where I had been and my body tilted sideways. I nearly fell. Tex caught me around the waist, lifted me like a baby, and carried me to a small, concrete bench.
“Who makes chairs out of concrete?” I complained. My last meal tried to come up and I made a horrible gagging noise.
“Janie?”
“Vertigo,” I managed as I fought to not hurl.
Tex touched his mic again. “The queen is safe, though sick to her stomach.”
I heard the ever-so-slight delay between his words near me and his words in the earbuds, which had survived the... transport circle. Yeah. I’d been through a transport circle. Again. This time was way worse than last time, in Natchez.
“She has the lizard. And we have visitors.” Tex ignored his six-shooters and pulled a nine-millimeter handgun while I looked around for our visitors. In the distance, a rainbow coruscated, a prism of color that played havoc with the light spectrum. “Arcenciels,” Tex said into his mic. “And they looked a mite pissed.”
I waved a hand to Tex and pointed. “Look.” The ground inside the witch’s circle rippled. I pulled my mic back into place. “Something’s coming through the circle.”
His voice commanding, Tex said into his mic, “Guards. To me.” A vamp popped in beside him. Two humans raced from cover and across the lawn to us. To them, Tex said, “I got iron rounds. Arcenciel killers if needed. Jermaine,” he said to the vamp, “null sticks and steel blades. Take down attacking Mithrans and any Mithran coming through the circle. Fawn, you and Carmine hold crosses. Use the nonlethal rubber rounds and shoot to wound human unfriendlies who approach through the circle or across the grounds.”
Fawn and Carmine pulled crosses out of their armor and left them hanging on the outside, where they already glowed in the presence of my vamps. Everyone checked their weapons. Carmine snugged a cannon-shaped weapon to her shoulder in a comfortable firing position.
While they worked, I put two and two together and came up with eighty-seven. A preposterous thought. But I couldn’t see another explanation. I looked at Longfellow on my shoulder. “Did you jump on me at the clan home? When the circle opened? And then bring me here?”
Longfellow crooned softly and kissed my cheek again. Tightened its tail around my neck.
Alrighty, then. “But I’m not a vamp. I have to breathe.”
The tail loosened. I stretched my shoulder and sharp pain shot down my back where Longfellow had ridden me through the circle. I decided that the damage from its claws was worth not being in the clutches of Mainet and Gramma and the three wicked witches. The wounds it had clawed would heal.
“Report,” Bruiser demanded.
The ground rippled at the circle. “Circle’s active. Incoming,” I said.
“Get her back to the Council Chambers,” Bruiser ordered.
“It’s too late for me to go anywhere.” I pulled an H&K and tried to steady my aim at the circle. Nearly fell off the bench.
Tex looked to the SUVs and back to me. He said, “My Queen. Reconsider.”
“We run, they may kill the residents.” I waved my weapon at the neighbors’ homes across the street. “Nope. This is my war and these people are my responsibility.”
Koun, back at Yellowrock Clan Home, cursed in a language I didn’t know. Bruiser cursed, something about a goat. It made me laugh. Okay, a little drunkenly.
“You look like what women of my human-time used to callpeaked. Can you shoot?” Tex demanded.
“I feel that way. And we’ll see.”
“Well. Try to miss your team, your queenship.”
“Deal.” My gut wasn’t happy, but I half stood, one hand on the bench, and leaned in, using body weight to shove the concrete bench over. I dropped behind it and propped on it, swallowed the nausea away, changed out ammo, and injected a round into the chamber with aschnickthat bounced off nearby walls like an audio ping-pong ball. My vision steadied.Okay. That wasn’t so bad. I swallowed down the bitterness of bile and stomach acids. “As long as I’m propped steady, I can be backup.”
A man dressed in a three-piece suit and wearing side-whiskers on his face appeared in the circle.
