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She stopped pacing and looked at me. “That’s why you have to stay and fight. If people like you leave, the Order will never change. The change has to come from within to be effective.”
I sighed. “It’s not my fight, Andrea. Nor am I in a position to change anything. You said it yourself, I’m not a knight. I’m not part of the fraternity. I’m a barely tolerated outsider and I can be fired at any time. My voice doesn’t matter and it won’t be heard no matter how loud I scream.”
“So you’re just going to quit?”
“Probably. I can’t compromise on this and I can’t fight the entire Order. It’s a losing battle. Some losing battles are worth fighting anyway, but this isn’t one of them. Beating my head against this wall is a waste of time and effort. I can’t alter the Order, but I can make sure it no longer benefits from my services.”
Grendel dashed into the room, hurled himself past me and into the corner. A ragged snarl ripped from his mouth. He bit the air, barked once, and froze on rigid feet.
Something was scaring him half to death. I grabbed Slayer. Both of Andrea’s hands had SIG-Sauers in them.
A loud boom rang through the building, resonating through my head. Someone had just tested the strength of the Order’s ward.
“What the hell?” Andrea sprinted into the hallway.
I cleared the distance to the window in a single breath.
The ward blanketed the building like an outer invisible shell. The Order’s protective spell was strong enough to hold off an entire squad of MSDU mages, but whatever hit it had left a dent.
A solid wall of fire surged up over my window. Pale blue flashed as the invisible barrier of the protective spell strained under the press of the flames.
The fire died. A female voice rolled through the building. “Where are you, miserable rodent? I’ve come to burn down your tree!”
My aunt had arrived.
BOOM! THE WARD TOOK ANOTHER HIT.
The building blocked my view. I needed a better angle.
I sprinted into the hallway, turned left, and ran to Maxine’s desk. Grendel followed me, snarling. Maxine’s office was shallow, but long, and her window was the farthest I could get from the entrance short of breaking into Ted’s lair.
I swung the window open and leaned out.
Below me and to the left a man in a tattered cloak punched the ward, trying to batter his way through the spell to the front door.
Boom!
Boom!
His bare arms glowed with dark red.
Torch. Power of fire. My aunt decided not to show up in person. I’d hoped I’d hurt her enough for her to lay low for a day. No such luck.
Andrea popped into Maxine’s office with a huge crossbow in her hands. The crossbow sprouted metal gunlooking parts in odd places as if half a dozen assorted rifles had thrown up on it. Mauro followed her.
“The guy below is Torch,” I told her for Mauro’s benefit. “He’s an undead mage with power over fire. Erra’s riding his mind the way navigators ride the vampires.”
“We can’t take it outside.” Mauro leaned to the side, getting a better look, and nodded at the new office buildings across the street. “If we fight him down there, he’ll burn everything. Those buildings across the street are all wood. They’ll go up like straw.”
“Better to keep him contained.” Andrea took my spot by the window, sighted Torch, and dropped her aim. “No good. Keep him engaged.”
She moved into the hallway, jumped up, and pulled down the access door leading to the attic.
Boom!
Keep him engaged. No sweat.
I slid the window up, letting the icy air in, and sat on the windowsill. “Break it already, you’re giving me a headache.”
Torch looked up. About my age, solid black hair, American Indian features. Looked like a Cherokee to me, but I wasn’t sure. “There you are!” he said in Erra’s voice.
“What’s the matter? Too scared to come out and fight me yourself?”
“Pace yourself, coward. I’m coming.”
Boom! The building shuddered. The ward wouldn’t hold him for long.
Mauro ducked into my office. “Andy says bring him closer to you, so she can get a shot. Here.” He tossed me a jar. “Fire protection.”
I dug in my pocket and pulled out a five-dollar bill. “Hey, Erra?”
Torch glanced in my direction.
I dangled five bucks at him and let it flutter down in the six-inch space between the ward and the building. “For you!”
Torch strode over and stared at the fiver. “What’s this?”
“Some change for you. Buy your flunkies some decent clothes.” I dipped my fingers into the jar and smeared thick fragrant paste on my face.
Torch frowned, mirroring the expression on my aunt’s face. “Change?”
Oh, for crying out loud. “It’s money. We don’t use coins as currency now, we use paper money.”
He stared at me.
“I’m insulting you! I’m saying you’re poor, like a beggar, because your undead are in rags. I’m offering to clothe your servants for you, because you can’t provide for them. Come on, how thick do you have to be?”
He jerked his hand up. A jet of flame erupted from his fingers, sliding against the ward. I jerked back from the window on instinct. The fire died. I leaned forward. “Do you understand now?”
More fire.
“What’s the matter? Was that not enough money?”
Flames hit the window. Hairline veins of blue appeared in the ward. Not good. Why the hell wasn’t Andrea shooting him?
I waited until the fire vanished and popped my head back out. Torch stood with both arms raised, and his cloak hung open in the middle, presenting me with entirely too much of his full frontal view.
“Oh no, is it naked time?”
He opened his mouth to answer. A sharp twang sliced the air. A crossbow bolt sprouted from his open mouth, its point protruding from the back of his neck shining like a green star. The air hissed. The second bolt punched through his chest. The third took him in the stomach, just under the breastbone.
Green light pulsed once, like an emerald catching the sunlight.
The bolts exploded.
A torrent of green erupted into the sky. I ducked away from the window. “What the hell did she shoot him with?”
“Galahad Five warheads. Something the Welsh came up with to use against the giants. Packs a good punch.”
Mauro blinked against the light. “She demanded we get some after that whole Cerberus episode.”
