I open my mouth to warn Mathias, but it’s too late. Bennett appears behind him, pressing a knife to his throat.
Mathias lays me gently on the ground, then raises his hands. In a blur, he grabs the knife, then hisses when it burns his hands.
“I’m not stupid,” Bennett tells him. “Warded against your kind. Pick her up.”
Mathias looks at me and shakes his head. He nods at Hawthorne and Gatlin.
Pain lances through me and squeezes my heart. I only have a minute or two.Damn it, I’m so pissed off.We have one play. I reach over and grab Mathias.
“Do…it,” I whisper, barely able to speak.
Dark brows pull together, and he shakes his head. Instead, he presses against Bennett, trying to get him to back up. The knife singes his neck, but he ignores the pain.
Jamison shouts, and I lift my head to see Hawthorne go down. Gatlin picks him up and kind of throws him back toward Jamison. The vampires are beginning to swarm them and us.
“Go,” I tell Jamison, but he shakes his head.
Gatlin looks around at everything, then looks at me. There’s a mountain of emotion in his eyes, but his jaw locks, and he looksat Mathias. The two of them communicate silently for a second, then Mathias reaches into his pocket and pulls out the stylus he uses to create portals. In a flash, a portal opens behind the three of them.
Jamison roars, his magic flaring wildly, but Gatlin shoves the three of them backward, and they disappear into the bright light.
Mathias slips the stylus into his pocket and reaches down to pick me up.
My heart beats once, twice, then blackness descends.
27
PHAEDRA
Darkness greets me when I open my eyes. I breathe in and wrinkle my nose at the damp, musty air that clogs my throat. Strong arms immediately pull me closer, and a head drops down close. No scent. Mathias. He takes in a shuddering breath.
“I know you told me you couldn’t permanently die, but every time I see you lying on the ground lifeless, it almost destroys me,” he mumbles against my neck. He raises his head, but in the dim light, I can barely see his face staring down at me. “The more hours that passed without you waking, the more I began to doubt my own sanity.”
I frown. “Every time?”
He brushes his lips over mine. “On Naxos, when you bit into that apple. You dropped like a stone. Scared the hell out of me.”
That was super weird. I kind of forgot about it when I woke and saw Mathias battling vampires, but now that I think back, it didn’t feel like dying. If anything, it felt like…sleep. He shifts,and I realize I’m sitting on his lap. I scramble to get my hands under me and stand, but Mathias’ arms hold me to him.
“Stay still. They have us in a holding cell while they try to sort this out. It’s tight quarters, but I refused to let you out of my sight.”
I ignore how good those words sound and concentrate on the sheer relief I feel having him here. The thought of being alone, unconscious, and surrounded by vampires scares the hell out of me.
“How long have I been…out?” I lick my lips, desperate for a glass of water. “And where’s my bag?”
“A couple of hours,” he says, wiping a strand of hair from my face. “I asked them for a bucket of water and a cloth to clean off the blood, but they tossed us in here and stalked off.” There’s a note of anger in his voice. “I don’t know where they might have taken your bag.”
I move my neck and feel my skin sticking to itself. Blood from the vampire I beheaded.Yuck. “It’s fine.” The last thing he should be worrying about is a little blood. But I am worried about those cursed trinkets in my backpack.
“When they check on us, I’ll get you some water too,” he says, watching me lick my lips.
“What do you think they’re going to do to us?”
He traces a finger across my forehead and down my cheek. “I’m not sure. I’ve sent word to Frederick. He was Nolan’s right-hand man and the one temporarily running the show around here.”
“Isn’t he one of the other contenders?” I ask, alarmed at the thought of our freedom in a competitor’s hands.
Mathias lifts a shoulder. “While he’s a complete asshole, he’s a stickler for the rules.” He looks up. “Frederick.”
