Tegan's Magic (The Ultimate Power Series #3) (17 page)

“She's not yours,” I shout, leaping into action and throwing my sparks at her. Unfortunately, since we both possess the same method of defence, we seem to cancel one another out. Neither of us is able to throw the other off.

Her body begins to spin in a circle, as she rapidly mutters a spell. The sparks spread out around her and Rebecca, like a mini tornado. It forms into a spinning, glittering shield and it's clear that there's no getting past it. The force of it in the small room causes us all to fall to the floor. I blink my eyes after the fall, trying to find my bearings, and I look up just in time to see Emilia spinning out the back door, both her and Rebecca still contained within the sparks.

You've Dug This Grave For Months, I'm Just Giving You A Little Shove

The moment she's gone all the doors and windows slam shut. Finn and Pamphrock jump up and try to get the back door open, but it won't budge. Rita mutters a spell to try and release the locks on the windows, but they aren't budging either. We push and shove, trying to get out of the room and go after Emilia, but we're locked in tight.

“She's locked us in,” Rita exclaims, stating the obvious.

Finn gives her a look. “If brains were dangerous you'd be the only one safe.”

“Piss off.”

“Quit squabbling!” Pamphrock commands. “We need to find a way out of here.”

He pulls his mobile phone from his pocket, hitting a number on speed dial. By the sounds of it whoever he calls doesn't answer. He hits another number and this time someone does answer, so he begins giving orders down the line, explaining what happened and telling the person on the other end to get a squad of slayers to Finn's street immediately.

Finn picks up the toaster and throws it at the window, but instead of smashing the glass it bounces right off it like rubber.

Rita starts trying a whole range of spells, but none of them work. Pamphrock's angry eyes cut into me. “You should never have involved that woman. She is a wolf in sheep's clothing.”

“I know and I'm so fucking sorry, believe me, but you need to calm down. I don't think Emilia wants to harm Rebecca. She's clearly just infatuated with her. Her daughter ran away when she was a teenager and now Emilia wants a second chance at motherhood. She's taken Rebecca because she reminds her so much of her real daughter.”

Pamphrock runs a hand over his face. He looks exhausted. “Fine. If that's the case then she must have taken her to the Petrovsky manor. I'm going to send another squadron of men over there right away.” He begins hitting buttons on his phone and then he's making more calls.

About five minutes later there's a DOH guy standing at the back door with a crowbar. The spell must only work from the inside, because he manages to break through within seconds. We all run out of the house and around to the front garden.

There's another slayer lying by the doorstep, unconscious. Emilia must have taken him down with a spell on her way out while he was standing guard.

Pamphrock jumps into one of the two DOH vans that have just arrived, ordering, “We need to get to the Petrovsky manor as quickly as we can.”

Having heard all of the commotion, Noreen, Alvie and Gabriel emerge from the RV, asking what's going on. Across the street I see Ethan, Lucas and Delilah have come out also. It appears that Finn told Pamphrock about our vampire allies, because he doesn't seem at all surprised to see them.

I walk out onto the road, glancing back and forth, but it's obvious that Emilia is long gone. The street Finn lives on consists of two parallel rows of houses that go on for nearly a mile. It's dark out now, with the street lamps lighting up the area. As I stare into the distance, my eyes latch onto what looks like a bunch of people marching our way about a half a mile down the road. That's when I realise we have a much more urgent matter on our hands than chasing after Emilia.

There's about twenty of them, all walking in a straight line, filling the street from one side to the other. But the most important thing? Their strides are frighteningly recognisable. Vampires. Vampires are on the north side of the city, marching down the road directly towards us.

Unable to speak, I grab Finn and simply point.

“Oh...fuck,” he curses loudly.

“Vampires!” shouts one of Pamphrock's slayers somewhere behind us. “A fuckload of them are headed this way.”

“What the blazes!” Pamphrock exclaims, before going straight into action mode. “Men!” he calls. “Arm yourselves. We are under attack.”

The ten or so slayers present begin grabbing for their weapons, a selection of stakes, knives and guns. Finn rushes inside his house, emerging moments later with his bow and arrow and a bunch of stakes that he throws to Gabriel, Alvie and Noreen. He must have deducted that Rita and I will be able to defend ourselves with our magic. All the same, I pull out the razor he gave me. For some reason I haven't gone without having it on my person since he gifted it to me. Perhaps I was subconsciously expecting this moment.

I glance behind me then and have to do a double take, because there are more vampires approaching from that side. They have us fenced in. Pamphrock orders half his men to line up facing one end of the street and the other half facing the other end. There aren't enough of us though, especially going up against more than twenty vampires. I can hear a slayer speaking through a radio, calling for all active squadrons to get to Finn's house ASAP.

I should have known this was coming, especially after Eliza sent her blood donor here to scope the place out. Now I'm regretting that Rita didn't poison the bastard when she'd had the chance.

Perhaps Ethan's wrong in assuming they're here to drive him from the city. Maybe they're here for
me
. Ethan did say that Eliza holds a strong grudge, so I'm guessing that if she wants me dead then she's going to do her damnedest to kill me. Well, she's going to have a fight on her hands.

I hadn't noticed Ethan, Lucas and Delilah leave us, but when I glance over at their house I see them coming back out with their own weapons. Both Lucas and Ethan have swords, but Delilah's carrying some strange projectile that seems to be loaded up with stakes.

Ira is with her; I hadn't even realised he was around. He doesn't have a weapon, but a second later I know why as his body vanishes, his clothes drop to the ground and an animal emerges. Now, I know I've always referred to Wolf as a dog, but he's so much more than that. He's a huge animal with razor sharp teeth. Perfect for sinking into vampires.

Speaking of razors, I flick mine out effortlessly. Finn gives me a wry smile as he lifts his ultra-modern steel bow and arrow to his shoulder. The vampires are close enough for me to be able to make them out now. At the head of the group in front of us are Whitfield and Eliza. Eliza's actually wearing heels and a dress, which is disconcerting, but vampires don't really feel the cold and perhaps they're good at fighting no matter their attire. All I'm saying is, I'm happy to be wearing my jeans and boots right now.

Whitfield isn't much better in his fancy three-piece suit. He swings a sword similar to Ethan's at his side. It seems that swords are the weapon of choice for the really old vamps, maybe because it's what they started out fighting with. It's what's in Eliza's hand that frightens me most though. A gun. A gun that if aimed at me could kill me as soon as the bullet hits.

The fighting has already started behind us, as I hear Pamphrock shouting orders and the sound of guns firing. Bullets won't kill vampires, but they'll slow them down long enough for you to stick a stake in them. I think Finn might have told me that at some point over recent weeks. That man's knowledge is really beginning to rub off on me.

Whitfield and Eliza's group stop a good distance away from us, with Eliza stepping to the forefront. “Hand over the girl and we can avoid any further fighting,” she calls, her caramel coloured eyes landing on me with cat-like slowness. Damn, I was right about her coming here for me rather than Ethan. Within the golden depths of her eyes I can see the many fantasies she's had about my death. By the looks of it she's salivating at the prospect of being the one to serve it to me on a silver platter.

“What girl?” Finn shouts, getting ready to let loose an arrow at any second.

“That one,” Eliza answers with a hiss, pointing a long, red fingernail in my direction.

“You've got your shit in bucketfuls if you think that's happening,” Finn answers cuttingly, while at the same time Ethan seethes, “Never.” His quiet defence of me takes me by surprise.

I wince at the sound of bullets firing behind me, making my ears ring.

“Have it your way,” says Eliza, raising her weapon so quickly and firing it at the slayer by my side that I hardly have time to register the move. “If you won't hand her over then we'll just have to take her.”

Whitfield laughs with wicked joy, levelling his cold eyes on Ethan.

My attention is on the wounded slayer, as I stare at him in shock. Eliza didn't pull any punches. She shot him right in the heart. Undiluted anger spreads through me like a virus, encapsulating my every pore. Grabbing a stake out of Finn's back pocket, I make to run at Eliza. With one hand holding his weapon Finn reaches out and grabs me back, shaking his head at my move before the vampires notice I was about to run at them in idiotic, suicidal rage.

Surprisingly, Delilah's the first one on our side to make an attack. She aims her stake shooting projectile directly at the vamps before pulling a lever. The thing begins spinning around, shooting out stakes like a vampire killing machine gun. The sharp pieces of wood take down several vampires at once.

That's when all hell breaks loose and both sides charge for one another. Finn advances at a steady pace, effortlessly shooting off arrows like it's second nature to him. Rita spreads out both palms and releases the same light she'd thrown at Emilia earlier, only this time there's no magic sparks to fight it off and it knocks the vampire she'd been aiming at unconscious.

Noreen, Alvie and Gabriel join hands, chanting a spell in unison. I recognise this one from my recent studies with Rita. It's a glamour spell. They're making sure that the fight out here on the road remains unseen by human eyes.

I can't keep track of everyone else, but I'm vaguely aware of Ethan and Whitfield facing off with their swords. They don't even seem worried about being hit with the vast array of projectiles that are currently flying all over the place.

Amid the carnage, all I can focus on is a head of honey blond hair and a mahogany silk dress. Nails as red as blood and high heels to match. She's coming for me and something deep inside of me – something feral – can't wait for the fight ahead. This ends here and now. One of us isn't walking away and I'm going to try my hardest to ensure that person is Eliza.

Despite the weapons firing and the shouting going on around me, I can hear her loud and clear. She reaches up and runs a hand over the side of her face that I'd burned with my sparks.

“See how I'm all healed up?” she asks, a cruel smile on her mouth. “Your little trick didn't keep me hurt for long.” She speaks to me casually, like we're not standing several feet apart in the middle of a virtual battle field.

I lift my hand, letting my sparks run free. “Maybe I'll leave a longer lasting mark this time,” I reply, doing my best to match her casual tone. She wants me to fear her, but I'm coming to learn that although I still fear vampires and what they could do to me, I myself am also something to be feared. I'm not a defenceless human. I'm the granddaughter of a sorcerer who is discovering new abilities each and every day. I can take Eliza. Good God I really hope I can take her.

“I'm going to pull out your heart and feed it to you,” she threatens.

“Has anyone ever told you you have issues?”

She swipes her claw-like hand at me and I back away. Okay, I've got a stake in my pocket and a razor in my hand, but which to choose? Remembering that I now possess Finn's knife fighting skills, I decide the blade is the safer option. Quick as a flash I flick it open again. I do so with a subtlety that doesn't belong to me, it's all Finn. I'm so fast that Eliza doesn't even see me do it. She thinks I'm relying solely on my magic here.

Taking a chance, I lunge at her with the razor, slicing into her femininely muscled arm. She actually does a double take, as black blood drips down her bicep from the wound.

“Oh you stupid brave little monkey,” she seethes. “You're going to pay for that. You will pay for every strike.”

Did she just call me a fucking monkey? Well now, that's just not on. Pushing out all of the magic I can muster, I throw a lightning bolt of sparks and they burn right through her dress to singe her skin. She wails out in pain before diving at me and I jump away in surprise, falling to the ground with a painful thump. Before I know it she's on top of me and my nostrils are filled with the scent of her lavender perfume. It's so pungent it practically stings my sinuses.

One hand grips my throat, her nails digging into me and breaking the skin. I sense that I'm bleeding before I feel the pain, mostly because of the glazed look that comes over her eyes. It's almost like my blood has her hypnotised. I take advantage of her momentary distraction to slice a gash down the exposed, burnt skin at her ribcage.

Her eyes widen at the attack and then they aren't caramel anymore, all I can see is red, red, red. Her fangs jut out and she hisses at me like a python. I need to get the stake out of my pocket, but her entire body is pinning me down and it feels like she's made from pure steel. I struggle beneath her, trying to get at my pocket, but it's no use. One second her red eyes are eating me up and the next her fangs are slicing into my throat and all I can do is lie there as she ravages me – and not in a sexy way.

If I might explain. I used to think that vampires consumed blood in mouthfuls. But now that it's happening to me I know that they can practically suck out litres within seconds. And right now each second feels like an eternity. I never knew blood loss could be so
painful
. Each and every part of me aches.