A second stifled scream came from him. Then Walter grunted out, “Perhaps. Perhaps not. This is untested. Ever.”
Shiloh froze into undead stillness, and the sheen in her eyes faded. “What…?”
Walter laughed, the sound so filled with pain I tensed. “You shouldn’t have tried to surprise me in my quarters when you first came, little vampire witch. I took the new elixir from you the day you showed up to feed me—” He started coughing, a reflex I had never heard vamps make.
When he could speak again, Walter said, “I replaced your elixir with one of the originals. You have partial ability to control a demon if you are possessed. Thanks to my brand and the new elixir, assuming it works at all, I am less protected. I am bait. Your move.”
Shiloh said, “Fine. You go first.”
He coughed out a laugh. “Why aren’t you angry?”
“I’m plenty pissed, but I’ll beat your ass later.”
Walter coughed and coughed.
Our vehicle fishtailed down the street.
Red taillights appeared ahead. We had caught up with the yellow dot of the police cruiser. I tapped it off.
EJ said, “Walter. Human police ETA fifteen seconds from your twenty.”
Walter walked toward Shiloh, his camera jittering and jumping, still coughing, something off about his gait. He turned to his right, around a corner into a narrow alley. Shiloh followed.
Between coughs, Walter said, “We have to stop the police vehicle.”
On his cam, the law enforcement unit passed in front of the alley and slowed.
“Gimme a sec,” Shiloh said.
“Don’t hurt them,” he said, as she popped away.
Walter followed at speed. Athumpcame over comms. On the cam, Shiloh wrenched open the cops’ driver’s door. The sound of tearing metal screeched into comms. The vehicle went silent as it was turned off. The door squealed shut. Shiloh reappeared. “Sleepy-timeworking activated,” she said. “We have half an hour-ish. The car’s warm enough to keep them from freezing. The Sacred Heart of Mary Mission Church is just around the corner.” Shiloh twirled my staff. Her gold fangs glinted in the streetlights.
“The children are two blocks away,” Walter managed.
“Cleanup after a battle is always nice,” Shiloh said. “Konstantin is mine. As agreed, Willim is yours.”
The words hit me.As agreed. And Dad’s order to stay behind. They had intended to go up against possessed vampire witches alone. They all had a plan that didn’t include us. So didthe queen. I opened a private channel and said, “Grizz. Are your orders to help us or try and stop us?”
“We’re yours. That was the agreement between us and our queen.”
“Good.” The queen had a two-part plan. Two elixired-up vamps against the enemy. Us as backup if it all went to hell. I clicked to general comms.
Walter’s cam tilted toward the ground. His coughing worsened. Transmission ended. Comms cut off.
EJ said, “Something’s—Angie?”
“I don’tknowanything. Don’tseeanything.” Didn’t feel anything except that something was wrong.
Just ahead, caught in the headlights, a police car blocked the street at an angle in front of us, Rocas and her partner, the rookie, whose name I couldn’t remember. Boots eased to a very slow stop to keep from sliding. “Check it out?” she asked.
“We’ll have a devil of a time getting around it,” Raccoon said. “I’ll recce it and move it, or we can go on foot.”
“We need the car to carry out wounded,” Peewee said.
I froze at the thought. I had brought plenty of healing and specialized trauma amulets, and the team had their own, from my family, but…our people wounded. God forbid, dead.
It was likely.
