Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (53 page)

Sucking in a deep breath, she rose t
o her feet and stepped out into the open
.

The sound of her movement caught the attentio
n of the two wizards nearest
her, Tomas and
Makenzi. They spun around to assess the new threat.

Despite the po
unding of her heart
,
Leesa tried to keep her face calm. If her plan was to have any chance of success, she needed to appear fearless.

She looked up into the tree, willing the branch to snap. For a
long
moment, nothing happened, and then with a loud crack, the limb broke free and crashed to the ground just a few feet from where Tomas stood.

Leesa was glad the branch had not struck the wizard. If it had, it might have precipit
ated an immediate counterattack, which she knew she could not survive.
She forced a smile onto her face.

“If you don’t want
me to bring that entire tree
down on your heads,” she threatened, “
I suggest
you get
back
in your car and leave this place.”

Three of the wizards looked reflexively up into the tree, but Tomas kept his eyes fixed on Leesa. She
could feel him coldly assessing her. Her heart began to beat even faster than it already was.

“
Andre, you and Matthew keep a close
eye on Dominic,” Tomas instructed.

He knelt and examined the broken end of the branch at his feet. Even from where she stood, Leesa could see that most of the
jagged
break was dark with age. Only about an inch of it was fresh, light-colored wood. She knew Tomas would not be fooled.

The black wizard straightened up, a smile on his face.

“This branch was ready to fall,” he said. “I don’t doubt that you
somehow hurried it along
, but I do not think you have the power to bring an entire tr
ee down upon us. Indeed, I believe
you have
probably
use
d all the power at your disposal
, and that you are not much of a threat at all.
” He took a step toward Leesa. “Although I would like to learn more about
who
and what you are, our orders are
clear. We are
to take no chances. You will suffer the same fate as Dominic.”

He turned to Andre. “You and Matthew take care of Dominic. Makenzi and I will attend to the girl.”

Leesa saw Dominic
lift
his hand
s
, ready to do battle, but she knew
it was a battle
he could not
possibly
win. She wished she could think of something else to do,
some last heroic trick,
but she could not. Her gamble had failed.
What meager power she retained was next to useless
against foes such as these
, even in their weakened condition.

When Tomas raised his hand toward her, she knew it was all over.
She wondered what kind of magic he would use to kill her—a bolt of black energy like Josef had shot at Dominic
,
perhaps?
Or maybe
he would employ black bands like Josef had used to try to squeeze the life out of Rave. Maybe Tomas had some of his own tricks up his sleeve.

Whatever he chose, Leesa hoped it would be quick and painless.

47.
ENDGAME

L
eesa watched as a cl
oud of black magic began to form
around Tomas’ hand. The energy was more gray than black, and she realized that was probably the result of his magic being weakened. She was certain
it
was still more than powerful enough to do the job
, though
.

She took a quick glimpse toward Andre and Dominic. Andre was fashioning some kind of dark web between his two hands, while Domin
ic was conjuring up what looked like
pale yellow shield of some sort. He was looking in her direction as he struggled to cast the spell. Suddenly, he flicked his wrists toward Leesa, and the yellow cloud drifted toward her. He was trying to save
her, she realized with a start, leaving himself defenseless.
From the flimsiness
of the yellow magic, she could see
it would
not
be enough
to help her
.

She looked back at Tomas.
T
he
gray ball of magic
enveloped
his hand completely now. He re
ared back and flung it toward
Leesa. She he
ard a hissing sound as it collided with
Dominic’s magic. For a moment, the shield slowed the dark globe, but Tomas had both his hands raised in fro
nt of him, urging the dark ball
forward. Makenzi added a smaller, light
er
colored ball to the attack. The yellow shield was rapidly disintegrating.

“Forget about me,” she yelled to Dominic. “Save yourself if you can!”

She wasn’t even sure if Dominic heard her. Andre’s magical web had surrounded Dominic and was slowly closing in on him.

Suddenly,
Leesa glimpsed movement back in the trees, behind her foes. Before she could even think what it might be,
four shapes flashed out of the trees. Moving with near blinding speed, they fell upon the dark wizards before they eve
n knew they were under attack. Agonized screams
echoed through the woods
.

Leesa was stunned. Somehow, against all hope and reason, vampires had come to their aid.

In a moment, it was over. Leesa could not believe her eyes
when she recognized
Stefan
detaching
himself from Tomas’ lifeless body. The black wizard’s throat had been torn to shreds
. Stefan turned his head and spat,
then
stepped toward Leesa. Three other vampires
—a male and two females—s
tood over the remaining
wizards,
who were all dead, their throats ripped open.
Thick, d
ark blood oozed from the wounds.

“That is
by far
the foulest blood I have ever tasted,” Stefan said. He spat again. Leesa thought she heard the spit sizzle when it hit the ground.
Stefan wiped his lips with the back of his hand.
“We have to stop meeting like this, Leesa.”

“
How… what….w
hat are you doing here
?”
Leesa managed
to ask, still shock
ed by the sudden turn of events.

“You have a friend of yours to thank,” Stefan said, turning and looking behind him.

Leesa followed his eyes and saw Jenna walking slowly toward them, together with a prett
y female Leesa did not know. She wondered if the woman was
a vampire or
another witch
.

Leesa rushed forward and enveloped Jenna in a tight hug.

“Thank you,” Leesa said when she finally let go. “How did you know what was happening? And how
on earth
did you get
these
vampires to help you?”

J
enna looked a bit uncomfortable, Leesa thought. She wondered why.

“
You may not be quite so pleased with me
when I tell you how I knew,” Jenna said
softly
.

“Nonsense.
You saved our lives.”

Dominic and Stefan joined Leesa and Jenna. The other vampires hung back.

“Well met, Stefan,” Dominic said. “Thank you. And
please give my
thank
s to your comrades as well
.”

“You helped us a while back,
wizard,
” Stefan said, “with the
renegade
vampires we could not defeat on our own.” He smiled. “As for Leesa, it seems she cannot stay out of trouble.”

Leesa grinned, thinking how
many times Rave had
said same thing about her.
It wasn’t like she went looking for trouble—at least not too often—but it sure seemed to have a way of finding her.

“Our work is done here,” Stefan said, “so we will take our leave.”

He kissed Leesa light
ly on the forehead
. A delicious chill shot through her.

“Thank you, Stefan,”
she
said.
“Again.”

Stefan nodded
once
, then pivoted on his heels and joined the other vampir
es. In a moment, they were gone. T
he only evidence they had ever been here
were
the torn throats of the four wizards.

Leesa turned back to J
enna. “So, tell me how
you managed to
be traveling with
them
. You never mentioned you were friends with any vampires.”

Jenna flashed a wry smile.
“Nor did you.
But you and Stefan seemed well acquainted.”

Leesa grinned.
“Yeah, we definitely have a history. I’ll tell you abo
ut it some time.
But you first.”

Jenna looked from Leesa to Dominic and then back to Leesa.

“How it started is a bit complicated,” she began. “The female who did
not
take part in the fighting is Kristi. I found her a while back, before she became a vampire. She had been attacked by a vampire
and left paralyzed, trapped
between death and
undeath
.
Unless I acted, she would have been stuck like that forever.
I was able to draw Marcio, one of the other vampires here today, to
where
Kristi
lay
. He c
ompleted her transformation.
Kristi was grateful to me, and since she and Marcio
have fallen
in love, he was grateful, too. When I told them I might
have
need
of
their help, they were happy to oblige.
” She
paused
for a long breath
.
“The rest was more luck than anything else.
I had thought there would only be two wizards, so Kristi and Marcio should have been enough.”