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Cole growled, his dark mouth a slash across his pale face. “How did you find me here?”
Jumping up, Christina sneered. “It wasn’t through witchcraft. Where else would you go to perform your whacked-out ritual?”
“Whacked-out ritual?” Cole spit into the fire. “You would say that—you who have everything and chose to throw it all away.”
At least the man’s forward progress toward the fire with Kendall had halted.
Eric waved his gun. “Why those victims?”
“You’re here.” Cole eyed the weapon. “You must know about legacy. Those others were second-generation legacy, and that’s what saved you in the end, Christina.”
“You attacked me here?” She’d dropped her gun in the fall through the window and glanced at it on the floor.
“My friend, Denise, helped me lure you outside.”
“You mean Uma?”
“You didn’t expect her to tell you her real name, did you?”
Eric took a step toward the fire. “And the car? Was that you, too?”
“That was just a warning, a way to frighten you away from the case. What good would your blood have done me spilling out in the street?”
“W-when did you figure out my daughter was third generation legacy?”
“When I broke into that stupid old woman’s store and stole her research on the coven families. Vivi wasn’t even related to Octavio Sandoval.”
Eric shuffled closer until the heat from the flame warmed his face. “What do you hope to accomplish from killing a child and drinking her blood?”
Christina let out a whimper.
“You have no idea, do you, Agent Brody? You have no clue about the power Los Brujos de Invierno have. It might surprise you to learn about this city’s rich and powerful having that blood running through their veins.” He lifted Kendall with one arm, the knife poised above her. “This blood.”
“If you touch her with that knife, I’ll shoot you where you stand.”
“You can’t.” The knife gleamed in the firelight. “I already have the blood. It’s coursing through me. You can’t harm me. Now drop the weapon or I slit her throat right now.” He pressed the silver blade to Kendall’s neck.
Christina shouted, “Eric!”
Did she want him to drop it or not? Didn’t matter.
Cole was insane, and he thought he was invincible—a dangerous combination. There would be no reasoning with him. No talking.
Eric’s muscles coiled. He held out his gun and dropped it. As soon as Cole moved the knife to his side, Eric jumped across the fire. He tackled Cole, who raised his knife once again.
Eric ripped Kendall from the madman’s grasp just as the blade came down, grazing Eric’s arm.
Christina swooped in and yanked Kendall away from the two bodies grappling on the floor, their hands warring for the knife.
“Christina, my weapon!”
With a final burst of energy, Cole threw him off and then rolled into the fire. It caught his hair first, fueled by the oil he used to slick it back.
He wailed and then began chanting gibberish.
Next the flames leaped up to the cloth hanging from the table. Whatever Cole had in those containers exploded. And his chanting continued.
“Get her out! Get Kendall out!” Eric stumbled to his feet, his gaze darting around the room for something to use on the fire.
Another small explosion rocked the room, and Christina called from the double doors, “Get out, Eric. The whole room’s going up in flames.”
He choked and ran for the fresh air. Before following Christina outside, he glanced over his shoulder at Darius Cole writhing in the fire, his mouth still moving.
He slammed the door.
They ran across the quad and Eric pulled out his cell phone to call 911.
They clambered through the hole in the fence and ran back toward the street. Christina had Kendall clasped to her chest.
When they stopped at the corner, Eric held out his arms for Kendall. “Is she okay? Did that maniac hurt her?”
“I—I think she’s just drugged, and she’s coming out of it.” She transferred Kendal from her arms to his. “You did it, Eric. You saved our daughter—your daughter.”
He looked down into Kendall’s sweet, innocent face and knew he’d never leave her, never let any harm come to her. He was a father, and he’d saved himself, too.
Epilogue
Kendall pointed to the yellow daffodils his brother’s girlfriend, Elise, had arranged in a vase on the table. “What’s that?”
Christina tugged one of Kendall’s curls. “They’re flowers, silly.”
