Spencer’s magic kept the Great Duke of Hell contained long enough for her to guide the bastard back to the other side.
The sudden silence that fell over the gallery made Spencer’s ears ring. He blinked, vision blurring back to normal. The otherworldly cold seeped away, the rain coming through the shattered cupola not enough to put out the dragon fire flickering over bodies. Spencer staggered forward, the motion jarring his head so badly he thought he was going to puke. The pain was so much worse than what he’d experienced after casting out Andras a few years ago.
“Whoa, hey, don’t pass out on me now,” Wade said as he caught Spencer around the waist.
Spencer breathed raggedly through his mouth, trying to get his vision to stop seesawing all over the place. “Takoma?”
“Haitao is with him.”
Spencer weakly gripped at the back of Wade’s shirt as he lurched forward. “Takoma.”
Wade didn’t fight him, just hauled him forward into the ruined casting circle, glass shards breaking further beneath their feet. Spencer didn’t so much kneel as fall to the floor next to Takoma. Haitao was crouched on Takoma’s other side, something on his face, in his eyes, that took long seconds for Spencer to recognize.
Fear.
Shadows blurred through the air around them, the vampires who fell through the ruined cupola all belonging to Takoma. The group of them gathered close, able to cross over now that the barrier ward was disintegrating, the foundation of that spell dying. Spencer could feel it degrading with every second that passed, which meant the SOA down on the street would enter soon.
Takoma and the Seattle Night Court could not be here when that happened.
Spencer reached out with one shaking hand to wrap his fingers around Takoma’s wrist. Even through Spencer’s bruised magic, he could sense what gave Takoma his existence was coming undone.
“He needs blood,” Haitao said in a tight voice.
Which would be easily obtained from a human servant, except they’d all been held back, kept safe, while their masters fought a ghost from Takoma’s past. None were within reach who could give Takoma what he needed in order to save him.
Spencer tugged on Takoma’s arm, too weak to drag the master vampire to a sitting position. The agony beginning to bloom in his head was so much worse than a migraine. Backlash always was.
“He can have mine,” Spencer rasped out.
It was the worst type to give in a situation like this, but it wassomething. Takoma couldn’t drink from Wade because Wade wasn’t human. Vampires couldn’t drink from each other except during a making; they could only drink from the living.
And as horrible as Spencer felt, he wasn’t dead.
Spencer pulled at Takoma’s arm again, looking across at Haitao. “Sit him up.”
Haitao didn’t argue, merely slipped one hand beneath Takoma’s head and the other over his shoulder, dragging the unconscious master vampire to a sitting position. Spencer let go of Takoma’s wrist and wrapped his arms around Takoma until they were slumped together on the gallery floor as rain poured over them, soaking them both. Spencer pressed Takoma’s face to the side of his throat, tilting his head despite how much it hurt to move.
“Please,” he whispered, but Takoma’s lips stayed cold and unmoving against his throat. Spencer squeezed his eyes shut, fingers plucking weakly at Takoma’s saturated clothes. They were running out of time before the SOA arrived. “Takoma,please.”
His eyes burned, and he couldn’t tell if the moisture on his face was from the rain or tears. He drew in a ragged breath that sounded so loud in his ears but was barely louder than a whimper, heart rate speeding up from the panic he couldn’t keep at bay.
And maybe fear wasn’t so bad if it was what finally woke Takoma up.
He jerked in Spencer’s arms, hands clawing over Spencer’s back. Takoma surged against him, cool mouth opening wide and fangs sinking deep. A hand tangled in Spencer’s hair, wrenching his head farther to the side as Takoma bit down so hard to drink his blood that Spencer knew the bite would scar.
Takoma pulled him close, fangs cutting that much deeper, the warmth of Spencer’s blood flowing out of him and into Takoma’s hungry mouth. Spencer jerked as Takoma fed, teeth clacking together as he grew cold. But he didn’t pull away, wouldn’t have even thought to, until Wade’s voice broke through his fading awareness, dragging him back to himself.
“Okay, that’senough,” Wade snapped, tugging at Spencer. “He’s going gray in the face.”
Except Takoma didn’t want to let go, his arms tightening around Spencer. It took Haitao shoving his fingers into the corner of Takoma’s mouth and prying his fangs out of Spencer’s throat to separate them. Without the pressure of Takoma’s mouth over the bite wound on his throat, Spencer’s blood started coming out faster.
“Oh shit,shit, did he tear the artery?” Wade asked frantically.
The world tipped as Spencer was laid out on the floor, someone’s finger pressing down against his bleeding throat with a strength no human had. He blinked sluggishly up at the blackening sky overhead. Then something light settled on his chest, Fatima’s presence there beside him, right where she belonged. Her fuzzy little head filled his vision, large gold eyes staring down at him—throughhim—as everything began to fade away, pain bleeding out.
It is over, Fatima said.You can rest now.
Spencer let himself slip away because Fatima had never guided him wrong.
