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On the other hand, didn't I have to do it? I couldn't just let him walk away.
My hands shaking violently, my stomach a mess, I gripped the edge of the concrete and began to hoist myself up. What was the point of being here, of promising to face my fears and help my vampires, if I wasn't willing to put my money where my mouth was . . . or my feet in the air?
But before I could move, a blur of white blew through the darkness toward Michael. Long, pale, and furry.
I had to blink to be sure I wasn't hallucinating: a massive tiger, ten feet long from nose to tail, white with dark stripes, pounding the pavement in the middle of Chicago.
"What the hell?" I murmured, staring down as the scene unfolded.
Michael ran, but his speed was no match for the tiger's. Front feet, back feet, front feet, back feet, and then it pounced.
It knocked Michael to the ground with a single blow, but Michael was a vampire, and he wasn't going down without a fight. He kicked the tiger backward, and it rolled before standing again.
The tiger unbalanced, Michael rose to his feet. Before he could grab his sword, the tiger attacked again, rearing up and hitting Michael Donovan across the nose. I was too high up to scent blood, but there seemed little doubt the tiger would have drawn it.
Michael didn't delay. He pulled the sword from its scabbard and struck out at the tiger, slicing the animal across the back of its shoulders. The tiger roared but didn't cease its attack.
They parried back and forth - the tiger slapping out with a paw, Michael slicing back when he could, but his opponent was enormous, and Michael was tiring. He raised his sword again, and the tiger knocked it out of his hand. Panicked, without a weapon, Michael stumbled, and the tiger took its turn. It pounced - all four feet in the air - and made for him.
Michael took the tiger's full weight, falling backward onto a pile of lumber - sharp planks and sticks that had probably been pulled from the building. There must have been aspen in the mix of wood; Michael screamed, and then he was gone, only a cone of ash in his place.
The tiger stepped back, panting. Ears flat against its head, its teeth bared, it roared into the night, the sound deep and loud enough to shake the foundations of the building and rattle my bones.
Goose bumps lifted on my arms.
And then, in only a moment, the tiger shape-shifted. I'd seen it happen before, but that didn't make the visual any less amazing. A flash lit the night as magic swirled around him, changing the massive predator . . . into Jeff Christopher.
He shook out his arms and legs, then popped his head back and forth as if stretching his neck. He looked up and met my gaze, and in the eyes of this young man - often silly, sometimes costumed, always flirty - I saw a world of understanding and experience and maturity.
Not that I'd had any doubts, but Jeff Christopher was a marvel.
"Three minutes until detonation."
Not that there was time to be impressed.
"Merit? Are you there?" A voice sounded over the constant beeping of the alarm. "Get the hell out of here."
I pressed a finger to the earpiece, trying to improve the reception. "Ethan? Is that you?"
"It's me. I'm on sixteen. Get your ass out of the building."
I'd be damned if I was leaving without my crew. I ran back across the roof and found Jonah walking toward the door, Darius in his arms. Darius looked limp and pale, but he was still breathing.
"Little help?" Jonah asked.
"Working on it." I ran to the door and propped it open just as Jonah hustled through.
Awkwardly, he trotted down the stairs, arms bulging under Darius's weight. Vampires were strong, but he'd given Darius blood, and weakened himself in the process.
"Two minutes and thirty seconds until detonation," said the warning voice.
"This is going to be close," I muttered, gripping the interior railing as we moved as quickly as possible down the stairs to the sixteenth floor. When we reached it, I burst through the door and came face-to-face with the pointy end of Ethan's sword.
"It's me," I said, tipping it out of the way. "Where is she?"
Lakshmi lay prone in one corner, unconscious, her arms chained to a length of plumbing that rose through the floor.
He looked at me. "I'll get her. You get the hell out of here."
Jonah appeared in the stairwell behind me, face pale, Darius in his arms. His eyes widened in surprise as he caught sight of Lakshmi in the corner.
"Michael chained her because they were trying to get away," I said. "That's how Darius made it to the roof."
"And you hired that ass**le?" Jonah asked Ethan, placing Darius on the floor and jogging toward Lakshmi.
"I didn't know he was an ass**le at the time," Ethan murmured. Together they pulled at opposite ends of her chain, sweating with the sudden exertion of trying to break it apart.
"Katana," I said. "I'll aim for a link in the chain; you both pull her away."
"Your katana isn't strong enough," Jonah said.
"It's been tempered by my blood," I said. "It's strong enough."
I had no idea whether my bluff was right, but what choice did I have? We had to try something.
"Two minutes until detonation," said the announcer.
I didn't give them time to argue, but raised my katana in the air. Realizing I was serious, they each grabbed one of Lakshmi's arms and braced themselves.
"One, two, three!" I yelled, and, silently apologizing to the blade, I brought the katana down with all the force I could muster.
Sparks and metal flew, and I heard a pop that I bet was Lakshmi's left shoulder, but the chain broke, and she tumbled into Ethan.
"One minute and forty-five seconds until detonation."
"I really hate that lady," Jonah said, helping Ethan lift Lakshmi into the air. "Let's get out of here," he said, and cast a glance from Ethan to the edge of the sixteenth floor, which disappeared into darkness.
"Let's do it," Ethan said.
We ran to the edge and looked down. We were sixteen stories up, and it was a long way to the ground.
"One minute and thirty seconds until detonation."
"We'll jump it," Jonah said.
I shook my head, panic suddenly setting in. "It's too far. I've never jumped that far before."
"It's not too far," Ethan said. "Jonah taught you to jump, and I saw you do it in Nebraska. You can do this, too, Merit. Trust me."
He looked over at me, and our eyes met. Promises and hopes and dreams swirled there, adrift in an ocean of fear. But we had to keep trying.
"One minute and fifteen seconds until detonation."
