Hasn’t flownwas an Everhart coven saying, meaning it hadn’t been tested in real-world conditions.
Shiloh grinned, looking like a human teenager on Halloween. “I’m thebait. With this and your demon straw”—she said about the staff—“I can’t lose. See you at the chapel.”
With one hand, Shiloh scooped up her gear, tossed it over her shoulder, and walked toward the glass doors at the balcony. She opened the door from the apartment, doing something I didn’t see, walked into the snow, and closed the door.
The hallway door opened behind me and EJ entered. “Thanks for alerting me when you leaned on your kitchen table. First time I’ve been butt-dialed in quite that way, but it was enlightening. I see Cousin Wacko is in full vamp-killing mode.” He tapped his unicom.
As he called for information, I said, “Ojos, balcony cameras on Shiloh.” The wall screen flickered and showed my balcony. Shiloh, weaponed up, was standing on the railing. Again. She leaped off into the snow-covered alley and vanished. Poof.
“Son of a witch!” I said. “She took my null staff.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Angie
I sprinted outside and looked out over the balcony, cold air blasting into the room. “It was right there. In the corner.”
“How did she hide a null staff? It’s impervious to magic,” EJ said. “You can’t glamour it. She didn’t have a cloak or a coat.”
“I turned my back to her once. And I looked down when I strapped on my harnesses.” Shoving the slider shut on the icy wind, I added, “She’s a vamp. And even for vamps she’s fast.”
Our father answered EJ’s call.
“Dad,” EJ said. “What was in the elixir Shiloh drank?”
“Shiloh drank—?” Dad’s face, pictured on the wall screen, fell, his red beard doing little to hide his shock. “Son. We only had ingredients enough for one dose. It was for Walter. She doesn’t have the brand, so it’s unlikely to work well, if at all.”
“She took my staff. She can’t use it either,” I growled as I sealed the doors.
“Could she have acquired some of your blood?” Dad asked me. “Anything with your DNA on it? Tissue you blew your nose on? Unwashed tea mug?”
“It’s possible. Why?”
Dad said, “Shiloh worked with other witches and covens in the war. She will know how to fool your trigger system.”
DNA. Sex with Villetti, I thought.Something from the bathroom. My sheets. Son of a witch on crack.
I said, “Tell Mom to say a prayer. We’re heading into battle, and now we have to boogie to get there in time to keep her from screwing up our insertion.”
“No!” he said sharply. “I forbid it, Angelina.”
Ojosvolunteered, “Walter has departed the premises.”
EJ slapped his unicom. “Grizz. Where’s Walter?”
“It was amazing, dude. You know how people used to think vampires turned into bats? Well, watch on your screen.”
On the wall screen, next to Dad’s video face, a rectangle opened. On it was a snowy, fuzzy image of Walter, standing on his balcony railing.
What is it with these balancing acts?
Walter leaped from his balcony, slammed into the outer wall of the apartment building next door. Slid-scuttled down the wall at knuckle-skinning speed. Caught one of EJ’s pitons with his left hand. Pivoted his body upside down. Dropped again. Caught the piton with the top of his boot. Hung there, head down. And dropped. He stretched out as if he were made of elastic, caught the grappling hook EJ had left in the wall. Flipped upright. Landed gracefully on the snowdrift-covered sidewalk. He placed the grappling hook beside the neglected harnesses and smiled into the camera as if saying,You’re welcome, adjusted his weapons, and took off, vamp-fast.
On-screen, the thumbnail of Grizz was laughing as she replayed the vid.
Walter moved in that inhuman way vamps did when they weren’t hiding what they really were. It was reptilian. Insectile. And the vertical scuttling-drophadbeen bat-like.
I said, “All our enemies have to do is trap them and wait until the elixir wears off.” Which meant our vamps would come back possessed.
