It has been three minutes, Fatima informed him.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it. Go lead the rest of them inside.”
Fatima disappeared, and Spencer reached through his magic for the cage wrapped around the home right as he made it to the foyer. The barrier that trapped souls cracked open in one section over the front yard, the breakage an escape route he knew the demon in Alyona would sense. Fatima would know where to bring the others through, but the pair of hunters standing guard at the front door were a problem Spencer needed to deal with.
The hunters were more focused on whoever was approaching the house, judging by the way their attention shifted, assault rifles aiming back outside. It was enough of a distraction that Spencer’s magical bomb exploded between them, catching them by surprise. It was not unlike getting hit by a grenade, and the results were the same in such close quarters.
Body parts went flying, what remained of the hunters falling to the floor right as Makai streaked through the front door in his werewolf form. He didn’t stop, just raced into the other wing, another werecreature half a stride behind him. Then William careened into the foyer, wild-eyed and out of breath, the heavy rings on his fingers carrying activated spells and his soul shining clean and bright. His head jerked to the side, and when he caught sight of Spencer’s visible shield blocking the way upstairs, his entire body sagged.
“Oh, thank fuck,” William breathed.
“Is it just you three?” Spencer asked.
“Inside, yes. The dire left two other werecreatures outside to guard the street.”
“Good.” He snapped the cage together again, sealing it up. “Alyona’s possessed.”
William’s expression went flat and cold, hands clenching into fists. “She’d never have let them through the security otherwise.”
“I didn’t let anyone upstairs, but you want to go check on everyone? I’ll handle Alyona’s unwanted rider.”
William nodded sharply, and Spencer lowered his shield just enough for William to slip through and take the stairs up two at a time. Spencer left him to guard the upstairs before heading toward the fighting he could hear happening in the other wing of the mansion. By the time he made it to Wade’s position, the rest of the hunters had either been burned to a crisp or mauled to death.
The kitchen lights were on, and the entire space was blackened from smoke and scorch marks. Makai and his pack member were pinned to the wall by demonic force, one of Alyona’s hands outstretched toward them, even as her body tried desperately to claw Wade’s hand from her throat. He wasn’t choking her, but her body definitely wasn’t going anywhere. The demon’s power that held the werecreatures at bay crashed against Wade and flowed around him as if he weren’t even there. Fatima was just as unaffected from her spot on the kitchen island.
Wade turned his head and gave Spencer a little wave with his free hand. “Took you long enough. I have a present for you.”
Alyona’s black eyes darted his way, some otherworldly fury twisting her pretty face into something ugly. “You.”
“Me,” Spencer said grimly, calling up a mageglobe, ready to cast the demon out. “Time to go, you fucking bastard.”
Casting the demon out of Alyona’s soul left her screams echoing in his ears when he finished, the sound drifting into sobs as she went limp in Wade’s arms. Wade looked a little harried as he helped her down to the floor, where she curled into a ball and sobbed and sobbed andsobbed.
“Uh, what do I do?” Wade asked.
Spencer rubbed at his temple, reaching out through his magic to undo the cage around the mansion now that the demons were cast out. It cut down on where he was channeling his magic, but he wasn’t dropping his shields blocking the way upstairs until they cleared the property.
“Let’s get her to William.”
He’d take one problem at a time and hope he made the right choice where Takoma’s people were concerned.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
William allowed allthe metal shutters on the first floor to be opened so they could get eyes on the street and the lake. The silence ward embedded in the home’s foundation had been the only one the demon had left alone when it used Alyona’s command triggers to let the enemy inside. That was the only reason they weren’t dealing with the police and having to explain all the dead bodies scattered throughout the first floor.
Funnily enough, none of the human servants who arrived over the course of the morning seemed bothered by the bloody mess.
Spencer was still barefoot, his shoes locked up in Takoma’s room, and he wasn’t willing to ask William to open it. All the vampires sleeping the sleep of the undead upstairs had at least two guards on their doors at the moment. The wards on the bedroom doors remained intact, and Spencer had discreetly added a couple of his own.
Makai had shredded through his clothes when he’d shifted, but William had grabbed a spare set from one of the bedrooms belonging to the human servants for him to wear. The dire was currently on the street, organizing some god pack members for shifts to keep watch on the property. William hadn’t been keen to have themonthe property after the attack, and Makai hadn’t taken that as an insult.
None of the other properties held by the Night Court had been targeted, which only proved to Spencer that Takoma had been who they wanted all along. But that was gut instinct without solid proof, and it wouldn’t hold up in court.
Testimony would though, but Spencer knew the hunters were mostly a lost cause. William was in no mood to be generous and let them live long enough for the SOA to take them into custody. The mage, on the other hand, was Spencer’s to deal with, and he’d need to get her to a hospital at some point soon if he wanted her to survive. Spencer had managed to argue a single half dosage of the healing potion out of William so she didn’t die of shock or her burns before she was admitted to the hospital.
Alyona’s mother had arrived less than an hour after the attack was over, barging through the front door and calling for her daughter in Russian. Their reunion had involved a lot of tears, and Spencer didn’t know where the pair was now. At the moment, Spencer was on the phone in the kitchen with several very angry SOA higher-ups while keeping an eye on Wade as the younger man raided the pantry for snacks that didn’t belong to him. Spencer had been the one to initiate the conference call, but Priya had looped in Maricela and the SAIC of the Seattle field office, Curtis Porter.
“I still don’t know what you were doing bringing the master vampire of the Seattle Night Court on board as your confidential informant,” Curtis said flatly.
