I considered calling my BFF, Molly, of the Everhart witch clan, for info, but before I could, Fiona began to ball up another magical bomb. I guessed it took time to regroup, so they were trading off. Good to know. If I was right.
“Hold your positions,” Alex said. “I have Brandon and Brian on my cell, advising.”
Crap. Right.The laws regarding paranormal beings and creatures were constantly evolving. I wasn’t sure what I could legally do at this point. As the Dark Queen, I could attack enemy vamps if they were doing harm to humans. Ditto on witches who were attacking humans. But witch-on-witch attacks, with vamps as glorified spectators, wasout of my political wheelhouse, especially on a city street with human witnesses probably standing at nearby windows, cell phone cameras active and uploading to news services and the web.
I switched channels and whispered through my mic, “Alex. At what point can we legally intervene?”
The IT boy-wonder said, “According to the Dark Queen’s attorney, as long as the Wicked Witches and vamps stand in the street and don’t actively injure or kill someone, and are not physically on the premises, you cannot legally attackanyone. Repeat, cannot. The moment any attackers break into the house and/or threaten the security of the prison that houses black-magic witches, the Dark Queen can intervene because the city’s populace could be at risk from paranormal activity that might result if the prisoners got free.
“And while I’m quoting legal crap, as per the Robere twins,ifthe Wicked Witches get through the wards, the null energies inside will make it impossible for the prison warden witches to mount magical defenses and also impossible for the attacking witches to use their own magic, so it isn’t likely the witches themselves will try to get inside. I sent the Roberes the real-time sit vid and they said the non-witches will likely enter the building. The moment a vamp steps on the witch property, it falls under the purview of the Dark Queen’s diplomatic and political responsibilities to protect her city. In addition, should one of the attacking vamps hurt our city’s witches, you are a go under your status as Master of the City to kill the fanghead. That part’s my words, not theirs.”
In frustration, I slapped my own head with my palm. Again. Again.
Koun, at my left side, gave a dry chuckle. Eli never took his eyes from the warriors and witches.
“Until then,” Alex said, “all we have is witches attacking witches, and so far, no danger to the security of the prisoners or the human populace. Hold your position, stand down, and do nothing that might constitute overstepping your legal authority.”
“Team Koppa,” Eli said, “disregard order to standdown. Follow battlefield and rescue protocols. Choose a target. Hold fire. Fire on our command.”
The Roberes were the Dark Queen’s lawyers. They were saying that any rescue might never be completely legal, despite the call for help, therefore we had to wait for paranormal exigent circumstances or a no-witness moment. I wasn’t an unknown rogue-vampire hunter anymore. I was fully recognizable no matter what form I was in, and the humans along the street were taking video on cell phones. If I stepped from the shadows, I’d be seen.
“Flashbangs?” I asked. “Hit them with beanbag cannons?”
“No legal right to attack,” one of the Roberes said into the headset, his voice scratchy. “A no-danger situation at this time. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen, against the moneybags Dark Queen. Worse, if you act unprovoked, and outside your legal rights and responsibilities, it gives the witches standing in the street the right to toss magical energies at you and your people.”
“Holy crap,” I muttered, disgusted. “It doesn’t look like a no-danger situation to me.”
“It could be a setup,” Eli murmured, “trying to get you on camera doing something illegal, something outside your responsibilities and authority.”
Inside me, Beast growled low, and I got the feeling of her pacing, tail twitching.
Koun said into his headset, “Hold positions.”
I swept my gaze along the street, spotting a few of our people, human and vamp, all behind line-of-fire cover. But not necessarily behind cover that would protect them against magical weapons.
At the prison, Endora threw another magicalattackworking bomb.
The middle ward fell in a shower of sickly orange and green droplets that hit the earth and splattered. The defending witches retreated inside the inner ward.
No one had been injured.Crap.It was the first time I’d ever wished someone had been wounded in battle, just so I could attack. Watching this made me ache and seethe and want to bash something.
A harsh, burning scent, like acid, reached me, something new, stinging my nostrils, as if the magic had changed. It smelled as if this working now had physical properties. Maybe it did.
The witch I’d dubbed Fiona began to draw up magics.
At the smell, Beast came alert, flooding my system with her unique fight-or-flight response.Danger, she thought at me. I/we pulled in a breath through my cat-nostrils, filling my chest.
Through our bond, Eli must have felt my reaction. His heart rate sped, his breath deepened, and his entire body simultaneously tightened and relaxed.
“What?” he demanded.
“I don’t know,” I said, pulling in air over the scent glands in the roof of my mouth. Crap, crap, crapola. “This working is different. A spell with a weird... scent? Taste?”
A second weird sensation rushed over me, and this time it came with memory. It was the feeling I got when a ward was opened and closed, almost in the same instant.
The vampires and humans standing near the witch circle moved toward the prison. It wasn’t a rushing attack, not a measured advance, nor was it the elegant motions of the vamp Sangre Duello challenge. But it was steady and determined. The advancing party divided, leaving the front of the house clear. But no one stepped on the property. Not yet.
Koun said, “Prepare to fire.”
