“Contact the Roberes on a separate channel,” I said to Alex. “Open a conference call between them and alert the national council of witches, the governor, and the mayor. We’re going in.”
“Rationale?” Alex asked.
“The attacking witches just used a death magicwyrd, one that destroyed the neighbors’ property.” I said. “Using death magic is an automatic death sentence. It’s flimsy, since we haven’t been giving sanction by the U.S. witch council, but it gives us an opening.”
Alex said, “Copy that.” A moment later he said, “The Roberes say to move in.”
CHAPTER 4
I Felt the Punch of the Shot in My Left Arm
“Eli and I will secure the asset. Protect the prison,” Koun ordered his men.
Me. I was the asset. They moved me back, farther from the action. We were practically on the front porch of the house next door to the prison.
I glanced back to make sure the occupants were safe. Place looked empty. No lights, no movement. Dead foliage. I caught a view of rotting pumpkins on the porch and a big turkey made out of thatch, wearing a red hat with Mardi gras beads and a banana hammock.Only in New Orleans.
In the street, the witches and their protective circle had vanished, leaving behind the churned and ruined pavement, a stink of tar, and glowing embers of magic. It wasn’t anobfuscationworking; they were really gone. They had either done a group timewalk or a vanished through atransportworking and those didn’t exist outside of a witch-time circle.
So far as I knew.
We had seen the bad guys show up, but the witchesdoing a vanishing act was enlightening. Their disappearing told me the attackers might have a mini transport circle.
Or they had opened a demon-calling circle. I sniffed the air. There was no fresh scent of brimstone.
I stepped forward just as the prison’s inner ward fell.
Our people fired. No one fell. They missed. All of them.
Vamp-fast, with little pops of sound, the attacking fangheads and their humans had raced to the house. One vamp burst through the front door. Two others leaped through the windows, glass shattering. Their humans raced in behind.
“Go,” Koun said to his unit.
Lachish was in there. People I knew. Witches.Family... Myu’tlun’tagrandmother. Ka N’vsita, anotheru’tlunt’askinwalker, and also a distant cousin.
I wrenched my arms free. Shoving through the dead trees and elephant ears, I sprinted for the door. My team was left behind.
“This was not our plan,” Koun murmured to Eli. He did that vamppoppingthing and appeared just ahead of me.
“Tell that to Jane,” Eli muttered back, catching up at my left side and slightly behind, his weapon and eyes covering the street, the foliage behind us.
One of Koun’s swords left its scabbard with a softshhhshof sound, his ax already in the other hand. My Enforcer took point. Eli drew a vamp-killer in his left hand, handgun in his dominant hand, following me. He was limping slightly from the wound he was still rehabbing.
I glanced back. Two other forms, ours, were on our six, sticking close. Thema. Kojo.
Three of the enemy’s humans stepped into the street.
Their weapons aimed at my small party.
Eli fired. Two shots in quick succession, just as Koun said, “Fire.”
Two more shots rang out. All almost overlapping.
Three enemy humans dropped where they stood guard. My heart tried to race. Eli’s heart pumped hard, pulling me into his battlefield state. Cold. Emotions frozen. Timechanged, everything going bright and sharp-edged. The awareness we now shared was crystalline and cutting.
Sirens sounded in the distance. Screams echoed from the prison house.
“Koun. Null energies have been known to leave vamps woozy and dizzy until their undeath balances with the null,” I said. “We also have to cross any lingering death magics they threw. There might be some left active, and they might affect our vamps. We don’t know if the enemy vamps have protection against the same, so be prepared. I’m the best one to survive simply entering the house.” I had survived Molly’s death magic. Molly’s secret. And no time to explain all that even if I’d wanted to. “Going to point.”
