The magic dropped, but Niall attacked first. He made a cutting gesture with his hand, and light as bright as the sun exploded away from him. Wade closed his eyes against it, but it still burned. The vampires in the bar screamed in fury at the mockery of sunlight that filled the bar from floor to ceiling. It faded after a few seconds, and Wade blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision of colored spots.
Niall was gone, as were the fae who’d come with him. They’d taken Casey with them, and Wade hoped carting the alpha around would be enough to slow them down as some of Abhartach’s vampires gave chase, blurring out of the door. Wade had a feeling they wouldn’t catch up with the fae, but if it kept Niall on the run, so much the better.
Abhartach said something in what might have been Irish, and Wade’s brain squeezed out a translation. “Send out an edict to the Night Court. Niall and his fae are considered the enemy and have no pass-through rights. I want him found, and I want to be the one to kill him.”
“Finally,” Wade muttered under his breath.
Saoirse spoke the reversal phrase, and the shield ward contained itself in the artifact again. The crystal hanging around her neck glowed for a couple of seconds before all signs of magic disappeared. Saoirse took a couple of steps toward the door before she drew herself up short, shaking her head.
Freed from the protection the shield had offered, Ella staggered toward the space where Casey had been, falling to her knees. Wade figured Casey couldn’t have been that bad of analpha if people were worried about him, but good or bad, he didn’t deserve to be treated like that.
Wade twisted around, batting Riordan’s hand aside. He stepped around Riordan and jabbed his finger at Abhartach. “You see what I mean about Niall targeting you? You should consider teaming up temporarily with the Boston god pack and the selkie clans.”
“That’s not how you bargain,” Carmen said.
“I’m not bargaining.” He just wanted confirmation for everyone else that Abby Boy wasn’t going to sit back and take it on the chin. The only silver lining to the night so far was that Niall had gone and overplayed his hand and painted a target on his back with his actions. In attempting to corner Ella and the rest of the Boston god pack by pleading ignorance of territory borders, he’d hopefully ensured the attention of two master vampires, one of whom excelled at murder.
Abhartach took in the destroyed furniture, shattered bottles of absinthe, the scent of all that liquor bitter in the air, and made a gesture with one hand. To an undead asshole, the vampires of his Night Court moved. Some left the bar, while others remained to work with the human servants to start putting things to right. Those mundane humans who’d been caught in the crossfire were escorted from the premises, but Wade didn’t have time to worry about them. They couldn’t be his priority.
“I need no bargain to secure my borders,” Abhartach sneered.
“So you’re going after Niall?”
“What do you think?”
“Great. Have fun. Don’t kill anyone my pack is allied with.” Wade craned his head around and searched out Lucien, catching the other master vampire’s eye. “Are you going to help with the murder spree?”
Lucien raised an eyebrow over his scarred left eye. “What do you think?”
“I think I’m going to plead ignorance to all your bloody fun.” Wade turned to Riordan and jerked his head at where Ella still knelt on the ground near the door. “Let’s get her outside.”
“No,” Ella rasped. “I’m going after Niall.”
“That is a bad idea. Let the vampires hunt him right now.”
“Hehurtmy alpha. It’s my fault Casey is being tortured. If I hadn’t?—”
“If you hadn’t worked out a way to get outside help, you’d all be worse off than you are. Quit your sniveling and get the fuck out,” Lucien cut in, clearly still a heartless bastard.
Wade flipped Lucien off. “Quit being an asshole.”
Lucien bared his fangs at Wade, so he returned the sentiment with his own snarl. A warm hand settled on his shoulder, hauling him back until he stood beside Riordan.
“Let’s see to Ella,” Riordan said quietly.
Wade pointed two fingers at Lucien, then pointed at his own eyes, then pointed again at Lucien in the universal language ofI’m watching you, asshole. Then he let Riordan pull him away to where Ella was being helped to her feet by one of her pack members. All three of them were ashen-faced, but he was at least glad to see anger in their eyes rather than despair.
Wade made sure everyone else exited the bar first before pausing in the doorway. He looked back at the two master vampires, seeing both of them staring at him. “I know your kind can sniff out blood for miles, but I don’t know if the rest of your nose works. So you should know Niall smelled a little like ozone.”
Lucien raised his chin, something dark and hungry in his black eyes. “That just means this hunt will be fun.”
Wade didn’t want to know what sort of powers Lucien had accrued from his mother after the end of the world. Only psychopaths would think hunting a maybe-god was fun.
“You’ve overstayed your welcome,” Abhartach said.
Wade waggled his fingers at the master vampire. “Just admit that I was right.”
Hands grabbed him by the waist and hauled him out of the bar. Wade yelped at the manhandling, nearly elbowing Riordan in the face by accident.
