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by the wrath of the Huntress, I command it begun.
By fuel born from anger, by the pain it can bring,
I call through my body, a shower of lightning.
A huge crash filled the room as a brilliant blue bolt shattered the window, splintering the desk behind Dredge into shards. A chunk of wood flew up, lodging in his arm. Close, but not close enough. Another fork of the blue fire wove through the metal frame on the bed. The bedclothes burst into flames.
Dredge narrowed his gaze. "You just earned yourself a special place in hell, girl," he said, and the next second, he was standing beside Camille.
"No!" Delilah slashed with her outstretched dagger. The silver clipped his arm and he jerked, giving Camille time enough to make tracks to the other side of the room. Smoke was starting to fill the air as the quilt burned brightly and she muttered something under her breath. A deluge of rain filled the room, soaking all of us and putting out the flames.
I took advantage of the chaos to leap forward, stake at the ready. Dredge whirled around and we collided midair, dropping to the floor in a desperate wrestling match. He was on top of me, clawing for my throat, but I managed to push hard enough against his shoulders to keep him from grabbing hold of me.
"Why? Why did you turn on me? You ungrateful bitch, you traitorous dog! You dare to defy me? You dare to sever the cord?" He leaned back and let loose with his fist, slamming the punch deep into my stomach. If I'd been alive, the blow would have killed me. As it was, it knocked me off guard.
"Leave her alone!" I heard Delilah scream. The next moment, Dredge groaned and launched himself off of me, Delilah's dagger lodged in his right shoulder. Still not enough to kill him, but the silver had to sting like hell.
I took advantage of the distraction to flip to my feet. Dredge started to turn when Camille let loose with another spell. Unfortunately as the bolt of energy headed toward him, Dredge grabbed Delilah and pushed her in the path of the oncoming spell.
Camille immediately broke off the attack and the energy went rogue, darting to the side, clipping Delilah in the shoulder as it ricocheted toward the open window and went streaking out into the night air.
Delilah shrieked in pain, then turned on Dredge, her eyes wild. "You fucking bloodsucker!"
At first I thought she was going to turn into a tabby cat, which would leave us seriously down on firepower, but then I began to smell the scent of bonfires. Uh oh. Apparently somebody didn't want his Death Maiden killed. She let out a low growl that rose to fill the room, and Dredge, for the first time, began to look nervous. The distraction was just what I needed, and I launched myself again, stake held high.
Dredge managed to dodge my attack, but he didn't see Camille sneaking up behind him. She had something in her hands—not a stake, but something small—and as she leapt on his back, her arms closing around his throat, she wrapped her thighs tightly to the sides of his waist. Before he could shake her off, she slammed one hand against his mouth and held it there, even as Dredge clawed at her legs.
There was a muffled noise and she let go and fell to the floor, rolling away, her calves bleeding profusely from where he'd raked long gashes in them.
I sniffed. Oh shit, I knew what she'd done! She'd swiped one of Roz's garlic bombs and she'd just stuffed it into Dredge's mouth! The next second, Delilah shifted into her black panther form in a brilliant spray of light as the room echoed with her roar.
"What the—?" Dredge looked confused for a moment, staring at me, his eyes bloodred, before he suddenly started to choke. Clawing at his throat, he groaned, and I could see the pain etching its way across his face.
"Hurts, huh? But you like pain!" I strode over, ignoring the garlic, ignoring the disorientation the scent was causing me. I had one focus, one task: to eliminate the enemy. That was the only thing I had to do.
"Then maybe you'll like this!" I aimed for his stomach, kicking as hard as I could. The blow slammed him against the wall. Arms outstretched, he thundered against the stucco finish, cracking it with a long furrow. The room quaked again as he slid to the floor. He struggled to get up but Delilah landed at his feet, biting through one of the legs of his leather pants. She dug deep, I could see the bone as she ripped away a huge chunk of flesh.
"Delilah, get back. He's mine," I said. She gave me a questioning look, then padded away. Dredge was struggling to his feet as I raced in. I brought the stake down with all my force, driving it into Dredge's heart. "Die, just fucking die!"
He pulled away, staring at the wooden spike that was skewered partway through his chest. Why didn't he go poof? Was something wrong? And then I saw the shadow beside him. The form of a man, bathed in fire, holding a wolf leashed by a humongous chain. Both man and wolf stared at me, almost taunting me. But then, with a laugh, Loki turned to Dredge.
"Time to pay the piper," he said, his voice echoing through the room, a cacophony of drums and raging wind.
"No, no, not yet—not yet—" Dredge fumbled for the stake, trying to pull it out.
"No you don't!" I lunged forward, heedless of the scene that was playing out before my eyes. Grabbing the end of the stake, I fought with Dredge, fighting against his strength with all my might.
"This isn't the end," he whispered, staring up at me with those gorgeous, haunting eyes. "I'm not done with you yet."
"Haven't you ever heard of divorce, motherfucker?" I gave one last shove and fell against the stake, ramming it with my hands. The tip slowly slid the rest of the way through, piercing his heart, coming to rest against the floor beneath him. Loki let out a short bark of laughter, and Dredge gave one last scream before his body, born a thousand years before, burst into ashes that floated to the carpet. I tumbled to the side and came up in a crouch before the demigod.>"It looks like an Ecstasy party here," Camille said in a low voice.
"As long as it's not Z-fen," I said, looking around. She was right. The decor was directly out of some psychedelic love-shack dream, right down to the glowing lava lamps and black light posters in the corner. I blinked, thinking that Exo Reed had some pretty kinky turn-ons.
"Do you think Exo's around?" Delilah asked.
"I don't know," I said. "But try to remember, he and his family live on the premises."
"Not exactly the best environment in which to raise kids." Chase glanced around. "If he weren't a Supe, I might think about calling in child welfare to check things out."
