The thief scurried toward the hedge.
The beast inside me screamed for release, but I held him back. Darkness crept into the edges of my vision. Shifting now would only send me into a healing coma when I desperately needed to stay conscious. I crumpled to my knees, wondering if her daggers had been poisoned or if all grievous wounds bore this much pain.
Her accomplice continued pounding against the ice, creating a crack he widened into a hole. “Ziara!” he shouted.
“Hold on, I’m coming!”
Keeping a wary eye on me, she unstrapped a miniature crossbow from her backpack, aimed at the top of a nearby tree, and fired. The bolt bit into bark several feet above the hedge, and the thin rope attached pulled taut, tracking back to the weapon.
“Wait,” I commanded.
Her head snapped back to face me. A storm brewed in the eyes that beheld mine, and an odd sense of betrayal threatened to finish what her blades had started.
How could she do this?
“You are making a monumental mistake.”
Her crossbow clicked, and she flew toward the bolt with a faint whir and a flash of pale skin on her left biceps. At least she was not completely unscathed. She landed sure-footedly on a narrow bough.
Rather than raising my voice, I sought her mind, finding it remarkably free of shielding.Remove that artifact from my property, and I will have no choice but to hunt you to the ends of the earth. I will be a curse upon your head, the noose around your neck, a sword driven deep into your side.
Resting against the tree, she shook herself, as if trying to evictmy words before turning to face me. “That’s… unfortunate, but I don’t have a choice. So stay the fuck out of my head.”
She cut the rope, leaving the bolt behind, and scurried up to a branch that nearly reached the ward. Then she launched herself over the hedge and out of my estate.
She had attacked me, so my sire’s magic should have prevented her escape. I believed it had when she hit the barrier and froze midair. For a split second, she hung suspended before it released her with an audible crack, and she dropped out of view.
The ward wavered. It groaned as fissures formed and spider-webbed across the ward, splintering the sky.
Then, the magical dome shattered.
The protective barrier my sire had erected decades ago to keep the manor and all within it safe was gone.
Along with the artifact I had been sworn to protect.
TAKE OUT THE EYES
Ziara
The instant my feet hit the ground, Rust and I took off like rockets. Loud cracking noises came from behind us—an incentive to sprint if I’d ever heard one. Something shattered. I glanced over my shoulder and could no longer make out the shimmery outline of the magical dome covering the estate.
“What the fuck was that?” Rust asked.
“Their shield is down.”
“What?” He looked over his shoulder, his speed waning.
“Run faster!” I shouted.
He grunted, but we both kicked it into high gear, racing through the trees to the motorcycles we’d stashed beside a service road about a mile away. We hadn’t gotten far when a hair-raising roar sounded behind us.
“You let him live?” Rust sounded as surprised as I felt.
“Itriedto kill him. Less talking. More running.”
My orders had been clear: kill anything that came between me and getting the artifact home. I’d heard the beating of his heart and knew exactly where to stab, but my hands hadn’t cooperated. Twoblades through the heart would have disabled him, making it easy to lop off his head with his massive sword. Many magical creatures could live through dagger wounds, but nothing survived decapitation.
Well, except cockroaches. But without a head, even they eventually starved to death. And last I checked, cockroaches weren’t tall, hot, and absolutely freaking terrifying.
