“You’re not with Takoma, are you?” Spencer asked tensely as he took a half step back to brace himself.
The vampire bared his fangs. “I would never stand with him.”
Right. Definitely not one of Takoma’s.
The vampire moved, a shadow in the night, and Spencer barely got his shield up in time to keep the vampire at bay. The poltergeist was a different problem altogether. It twisted into the ghostly shape of a man who wouldn’t look out of place in frontier times. Fancy old-time clothes, no wounds that would indicate how he’d died, and a face that didn’t know if it wanted to be human or not. Spencer didn’t need to slip his sight sideways to see it now.
“I cast you—”
Spencer never got the chance to finish, concentration breaking as the poltergeist got past his shields by sliding through the veil and coming out on the other side of his defenses so quickly he didn’t have time to reset them. An otherworldly force slammed into him, and Spencer crashed into the tree behind him. A ghostly hand wrapped around his throat andsqueezed, power pressing down all around him. Spencer conjured up another mageglobe, even as he struggled to get air in his lungs.
“You cannot cast me out of this place,” the poltergeist said in a voice that was ground-out static, like Spencer was hearing it through a bad comms connection.
Fatima’s yowl was harsh in Spencer’s ears, her voice ringing furiously through his mind.Let him go!
She leaped out of the dark toward the poltergeist, ignoring the vampire completely, her presence bleeding into the veil to open up a pathway beyond it. The poltergeist wrenched itself free with a jerk that dragged Spencer forward off the tree he was pressed against. His skin opened up on his neck from the scratches left behind. Blood trickled down his neck, shockingly warm with how cold he felt.
Fatima missed getting another bite of the poltergeist, and it seemed as if the spirit didn’t want to stay and fight. It fled from Fatima’s next charge before erupting in a metaphysical nova explosion again, disappearing entirely and leaving behind only an afterimage across Spencer’s already fucked night vision.
She went after it, disappearing through the trailing edges of the veil, leaving Spencer to deal with the vampire. His shields still held, but the vampire didn’t seem put off by them, judging by his smile. “Let’s see how far you get before I kill you.”
The dark was always going to be the territory of nightmares, and Spencer knew better than to run through densely packed trees, alone, while being hunted by a vampire. “I’m not moving.”
He dragged his personal shields around himself and called back the other mageglobe. The sphere smacked into his palm, spinning with magic and ready to receive any spell he poured through it. Spencer stared into the dark surrounding him, vision shot, and decidedfuck it. The national park service could complain to the director, but he figured self-defense would hold up in court for the damage he was about to do.
Spencer reached down deep through his soul, sending his awareness into the ground and the ley line running far below the earth that flowed to the west of them, pooling in the nexus beneath Seattle proper. That river of metaphysical power was something only mages could ever tap. Opening up his soul to it was like opening up a dam and letting it all pour through the shore of his body. It ran through his soul and bolstered his magic, filling the shockwave spell with enough power to make his fingertips burn.
Then he cast it outward with a snap of his wrist. The mageglobe exploded, dark green magic erupting in an undulating wave of power that ripped through the surrounding forest. The concussive blast of the spell ripped up nearby trees at their roots, sending them crashing to the ground away from his location, sending up dirt and debris that the wind picked up. The noise echoed through the air like thunder, making his ears pop and ring. It was almost loud enough to drown out the screams from the hunters caught in the blast radius.
He wasn’t sure if the vampire managed to get out of the line of fire or not. All he’d seen was a blurred shadow aiming for the treetops, but the blast could have easily sent the asshole flying through the air.
Spencer blinked colored spots from his vision, letting his magic die away until he stood in the dark of the woods, clenching his teeth so they wouldn’t chatter. The poltergeist’s touch had chased any lingering warmth from his body, and the heat charm he hastily applied to his clothes couldn’t seem to drive out the cold. His back stung from being dragged out of the SUV over gravel and glass, and areas of his shirt had stuck to his skin as the blood dried.
“Fatima,” he said in a low voice.
Calling her usually summoned her, but she didn’t immediately appear, which put Spencer on edge. Spencer really wanted to call up some witchlights for illumination, but standing in the clear-cut space he’d accidentally created gave him no cover. Clouds meant no moonlight to see by, and he didn’t know which direction the road was, but he knew the general direction of where the hunters last were even if he didn’t know where the fuck the vampire had gotten to.
He slipped his sight sideways, scanning for the flare of auras. Several flickered in the distance—alive but not moving. Spencer blinked his vision back to normal and raised his personal shield again before heading that way. Fatima’s absence left him uneasy, but he didn’t try calling for her again. Then someone called out to him, and they were goddamn lucky Spencer didn’t take their head off.
“Spencer,” Takoma said.
Gun to his head, Spencer would swear he didn’t jump at the master vampire’s sudden appearance beside him. He couldn’t make out Takoma’s face in the dark, and there was no use trying to find him with his other sight. Spencer would only see a void. “You need a damnbell. What the fuck are you doing out here?”
“You left Seattle.”
“Are youtrackingme? I told Alyona to have you call me, not stalk me.”
Takoma ignored him because the answer was obvious. Spencer couldn’t decide if he should be pissed or flattered. “We’ll deal with the hunters. You’re bleeding.”
“We—” Spencer slipped his sight sideways and looked at where the hunters should have been now, seeing no sign of their auras. “I needed themalive.”
“They are alive.”
Thefor nowwent unspoken, but Spencer heard that warning clear enough. He cast some witchlights, figuring if vampires were around, then the threat of being shot at was gone as well. The illumination cast strange shadows on Takoma’s face, the master vampire dressed warmer than Spencer. “Bring the hunters back. I’m taking them into custody.”
“No. I’m sure you can explain away the situation.”
“Yeah, by saying you’re my confidential informant. Sure, I’ll do that.”
