“Stabils!” I yelled as I physically threw the curse to immobilize at his attacker, then yelped, ducking when it ricocheted off the low wall as Pike threw the man off him, crashing into me and sending us both tumbling over the railing.

I hit the water with a shocking smack. Copper-infused water flooded my nose, and I came up gasping. Mad as hell, I stared up at the ugly sounds as I got to my feet and sloshed to the shore. Damn it, I’d never get the blue out of my clothes.

“Hey!” I shouted when I reached the bridge, but the vampires weren’t paying me any attention. They’d finally gotten Pike down, his neck bared and ripe for slitting.

“Hold him. Hold him!” the one with the broken katana panted, the blood dripping from his remaining eye. The blade was only four inches long, but if you knew what you were doing, size didn’t matter.

Pike’s lips pulled back from his teeth, his bloodshot eyes focused on the vampire with the sword. “You should have brought more,” he said, voice rasping.

“Let him go!” I exclaimed, ignored as they pulled Pike up and the vampire jammed that broken blade at him again.

“Detrudo!” I shouted, my knockdown curse hitting nothing when Pike moved, slipping his bloodied hand free from his attacker and deflecting the knife into the other guy’s arm.

Howling, his attacker yanked his hand away, and with that, Pike was up and free.

In one move, he twisted and broke the vampire’s hand as he shoved the knife deeper into him. Spinning, he knocked the second man out, catching the falling knife and slitting the throat of the third with one smooth, practiced motion. Grinning, he lurched to catch the last man, knocking his head into the cement until he collapsed with a sigh.

And just like that, it was over.

Shocked, I stared at the carnage, Jenks’s dust warm on my shoulder. “Ah, are you okay?” I said. But Pike wasn’t listening, grunting in pain as he levered the bodies over the railing and into the water, where they floated to the middle of the pond, ducks pecking at them.

Limping and trailing blood, Pike lurched to the last vampire. He was beginning to regain consciousness, and I inched closer as Pike hauled him up, propping him against the thick railing. Pike’s eyes were black, and there was blood everywhere.

“When you wake from death, tell whatever brother of mine who sent you that he came in a little light.”

The man nodded. Satisfied, Pike took that broken blade and, with one smooth, unhurried motion, opened up his neck and tipped him over into the water.

“Pike!” I cried, horrified. I mean, fighting for your life is one thing, but they were down.

Pike turned to me, blinking as if having forgotten I was even there. “I . . . don’t need . . . your help,” he said, and then he collapsed.

CHAPTER

15

“Dust him, Jenks!” I shouted as pike slumped against the railing, his eyes closed and his hand going to his lower chest. Blood dribbled from his upper shoulder, but it was the lower stab wound that worried me.

Jenks darted down, the sound of his wings shifting as a peculiar dust sifted from him to clot the flowing blood. “You want to keep him alive?” he said as he looked quizzically up at me.

I glanced across the grass toward the sound of sirens. “I do when I’m the last person who saw him alive,” I muttered. “He’s my ticket to Constance.” I hesitated, torn. “You got this?” I asked, and when he nodded, I ran to David, dodging the blood slicks so I wouldn’t leave prints.

David was sitting up, his hat in his hand as he held his head, nursing a small scrape from where someone had hit him. “David,” I called, relieved when his focus was sharp and rueful.

My attention flicked to the three I.S. cruisers across the park, hitting the curb hard and bouncing over the grass toward us. Holy crap on toast, they were driving on the grass! “Elerodic!” I shouted, my palms aching as I funneled a crapload of line energy through them, focusing it with a charm I’d gotten from Trent. They would blame me for this. I knew it.

The spell hit the three cars with a dramatic pop, wrenching the hoods up in a screech of metal and plastic and stopping them dead. One hood broke free, pinwheeling over the ground until it stuck in the soft earth to quiver upright. Behind them, the passing cars in the street shorted out with a gentler bang, and the traffic light blew with a shower of sparks.

“Damn, Rache,” Jenks said as he hovered at my shoulder. “I think you got ’em.”

Flustered, I knelt to hold David’s face and force him to look me in the eye. He was focusing properly, but he probably had a concussion. “We have to move. Can you walk?”

“Sure,” he said ruefully as he took my hands from his head. But he wasn’t standing, and we had to go. “Jesus, what did I miss? You’re blue. And wet. Did you fall in?”

I turned to Pike. He was sort of standing, but he didn’t look much better than the dead guys floating in the water. “We have to go. I can get us into the ever-after. Can you walk?”

He nodded, and I looked across the grass. Shaken I.S. agents were getting out of the cars. They were coming closer with a hesitant slowness. The ley line was between us, and as I watched, a third car arrived, late as it wove through the stalled traffic. Three agents got out, and I frowned when one pulled a wand.

Crap on toast. They brought a witch.

“Go.” David hauled himself up, wavering until he found his balance. “I’m staying. Someone has to keep the resistance informed. They might think you’re dead if I don’t tell them otherwise. No telling what they’d do.”

He was grinning, and I stared at him blankly. Resistance?

Jenks’s wings rasped in impatience. “Go, Rache!” the pixy said, bobbing up and down. “Get to the ever-after. I’ll get David out of here. Keys!” he directed.

I dug them out of my pocket and dropped them in David’s hand. Grinning, the Were put his hat on his head and wobbled to my car, worrying me when he reached for a tree.

Resistance? Does he mean the refugees in my church? I thought as I looked at the bridge in a near panic. I couldn’t leave Pike here. Not broken the way he was. Constance would lie and say I’d done it, and with the I.S. actively after me, I had, like, zero chance for my plan to work.

“Damn it all back to the Turn,” I swore as I glanced at the approaching I.S. officers, then ran to the bridge. One of the witches threw a spell, and I yelped, ducking when it hit the concrete and slid, sparks flying up as it rasped across the rough stones. Tendrils wound out from the mass of purple magic, shattering the column it had latched onto. That doesn’t look like a white spell. . . .

“Let’s go!” I tugged at Pike, jerking back when he flung out a hand, almost hitting me. “It’s me!” I darted in again, pulling him to his feet. “You want to get caught? Move! If someone is trying to kill you, the last place you want to be is the hospital.”