It sounds like he’s sneering, and his words hit me like aclub. I have the sensation of my head splitting open, and I crumple out of Rafa’s hand and into my own sick.
Still, I don’t let go of the watch. It’s tucked up against my chest. I’m in a fetal position. Maybe if I could get it back into my pocket, Collin could help me somehow.
But he’d probably just encourage me to feed on Rafa right now, to devour him. Which I totally would do—because despite what I pretend, I don’t have a monster inside me. That’s just a little lie I tell myself.
Iama monster.
I should just give in. I’m less than worthless.
“Release him from the pact, or Iswear…” Rafa. Dangerously angry.
“Spare me your idle threats. If you decide to attack me, it would break our binding truce, and unlike last time, you don’t have the element of surprise. I sense no cold iron in your gun. I imagine that’s because you didn’t want to waste fae-killing rounds on vampires. Pity you have so many enemies.”
Footsteps shift around me, one set lighter than the other. A toe in hard metal kicks the small of my back. The elf’s voice sings out:
“Al-vin. Your human is thinking about doing somethingveryfoolish. Looks like you’re going to get him killed, too. Youknowyou’re going to give me that watch eventually. It’s really just a question of how many people you let get hurt first. You’ve lost, so stop being a fool and justgiveme what’smine.”
He makes a lot of sense. All I have to do is hand him the artifact and this will be over. Rafa will be safe. I’ll be safe.
But the adorable Irish boy with the sweet, gentle smile won’t be. He’ll be tortured. Probably worse than what’s happening to me. And he’s not just a boy. He’s a powerful spirit. The elf will make him do evil things, unspeakable things, and that could hurt a lot more people. Maybe even end the world.
What the Obligation has been telling me is true—I am worthless—but that just makes the right choice even more clear.
“No,” I spit out. “I’ll die first.”
The druid made it clear in her torture garden that if I die, the elf will get nothing. As its current owner, I have to deliberatelygivethe watch away for someone else to be able to use it.
The elf exhales a heavy sigh. “Very well. I can see you need a few more minutes to think about it. I’ll wait.” His voice shifts away. “So, what should we do in the meantime, Hunter? Perhaps we can find a deck of?—”
“Quiet!” Rafa hisses out. But he doesn’t sound angry. There’s something else.
“Oh, dear. You really do have feelings for this?—”
“For fuck’s sake,stop talking.I don’t think we’re alone.”
Heavy footsteps walk away from me, toward the bay window.
“Really?” The elf’s sneering voice. He’s still right at my side. “If you think that painfully transparent subterfuge is actually going to work?—”
KA-KRAM!
The crashing sound of shattered glass is followed by the ring of metal clanging forcefully against the side wall. Something heavy and solid then hits the ground with athump a few feet away from me. There’s a struggle—quick, hollow thuds of knees and elbows on hardwood. Rolling bodies. Then two ear-splitting bangs explode in the room near ground level.
It’s Rafa’s shotgun. It’s followed by a ferocious hiss from the window. Then another. I recognize the sound.
It’s vampires. The vampires found us.
Pure confusion follows. Very loud confusion. There’s a loud slam near the mounted gas heater followed by a tinny scrape against its wall. (Something being dragged or shoved?) The elf grunts in pain and anger, and heavy wood smacks on the floor with a dull clap. Dull thuds spill out around it. (The bookcase getting knocked over?) Wild shots closer to me shake my skull.
I know I need to help somehow, but every part of me burns from the inside with acid. I force my eyes to crack open and scan the room as best I can. The decorative security bars from the window have been hurled into a corner. They’re now twisted and sparkling with broken glass. Vampires spill in through the gaping hole in the front of the house. Two, four, six… Rafa, kneeling next to me, blasts out four more rounds, before desperately reloading with the last extended magazine from his belt. The elf rises to his feet near the heater. His sword is out, its ice glimmering in the light of the now-shadeless lamp sprawled on the floor. But he doesn’t have enough room to use it effectively. Two vampires flank him as his feet get tangled in a sprawl of books, bookcase, and overturned coffee table. The creatures slash through his armor with their claws like it’s paper, tearing his arms.
That shouldn’t happen. His breastplate still has a holein it from when Rafa shot him. Its magic has been compromised. The elf cries out and swears, before twisting his torso unnaturally into a savage circular spin over the heavy oak table underneath him, Cirque de Soleil–style, to slash through the vampire’s stomachs. He takes them down, but his sword gets caught up in the body of the second one, and he struggles to remove it.
Something smashes to the ground in the kitchen through the arch. Rafa yells out, “This house is a deathtrap! We don’t have room to fight, and they’ll have us surrounded any time now.” Three more vampires enter from the front window and come straight for him. He rises and stabs at them with one of his wooden stakes, saving the little ammo he has left. They all get dangerously close before they fall. “You have any spells that can deal with these guys?”
“Well, I used to,” the elf growls. “Butsomeonefilled my body with iron pellets, which meant that disabling the wards of this house and creating the glamour used up all of my power.”
“Christ, you talk too much. Next time, try a simple ‘no.’ We’ve got to get out of here!”
