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Camil e dodged to the side as I leapt past Van, flipping over his head to land in front of Jaycee. Before she could react, I slammed her in the nose with the palm of my hand, and the sound of breaking cartilage was music to my ears. Blood raced down my hands, and as I jerked back, I grabbed a handful of her hair, ripping it out of her head as I used it as a handle to swing her to the side, smashing her against the wal .
"Bitch." Her voice was muffled from the blood, but she didn't look like she was in any sort of pain. Not a good thing.
Shit, what the hel was she? No human could take such a hard punch and not react in some way. I decided I wasn't waiting around to find out and sliced through the air, my wrist blade singing as I aimed for her throat.
The next thing I knew, I was moving through mud, my hand inching forward in increments so slow that I might as wel be standing stil .
Jaycee's eyes burned bright. She laughed softly, and the blood stopped flowing. It was then that I noticed there were no bruises on her face. None at al .
"You like to play rough?" Jaycee opened her mouth, and the next thing I knew, a coiled vapor launched itself at me from out of her throat. It wrapped itself around my neck.
I tried to wave it off but realized the gas was solidifying--manifesting into flesh, with a grip so tight I was having trouble breathing. A constrictor. Crap!
Digging in with my nails, I tried to dislodge it. Camil e let out a scream, and Van's harsh laughter answered in return. I twisted, trying to see what was happening, but the snake tightened again, and spots appeared before my eyes. As I dropped to my knees, the room began to swim in shades of black and gray. Before I could pass out, a movement caught my attention. White wings came flying overhead, and the floor shook again.
And then I was on my side, gasping as the sweet flow of air whistled into my lungs. Voices fil ed the room. Somebody grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to my feet.
Blinking, I recognized Vanzir--but the next moment, he pushed me to the side and leapt back in a blur of motion. As I tried to make heads or tails out of what was going on, it began to dawn on me that Smoky, Vanzir, Tril ian, and Morio were fighting Jaycee and Van, but no sooner had I grasped this fact when the pair vanished. We were alone in the basement.
"Camille! What happened to Camille?" I stumbled forward, looking for my sister, panicked they might have captured her.
"I'm right here, Kitten." She limped around from behind the platform in the middle of the room. Covered with lacerations, she was bleeding from a hundred little cuts on her body.
"What the fuck--?"
"Van pushed me into the glass on the floor and held me down, rol ing me on the splinters." She winced. Jagged shards of glass, some barely the size of a thumbtack's point, others as big as a playing card, were embedded in her skin.
"Holy crap, you look horrible."
Smoky took one look at her and let out a huff. He turned to Tril ian and Morio. "See that she gets treatment. Now. "
"Where are you going?" I asked, suddenly aware of how much was teetering on the edge.
"Where I go is none of your concern." He gave me a frozen look, then vanished into the Ionyc Sea. Oh shit, he was primed to kil .
"You realize what this means, don't you? Stacia's put out a bounty on our heads. Every bad guy worth his salt is going to try to col ect." I dropped to sit on one of the steps.
"Yes, I realize that." Camil e leaned cautiously against one of the tables, biting her lip. "Our lives are about to get so fucking complicated we'l long for the days we were just fighting Degath Squads. But before we focus on this little goody, we'd damned wel better get a line on where the coyote shifters are and get that spirit seal before Stacia figures it out."
"That we can help with." Morio began picking shards out of Camil e's flesh. She winced but said nothing as blood tickled down her arms and the backs of her legs. I shuddered to think how long it was going to take to get al the glass out of her. "Marion cal ed the house after you left the cafe. Apparently, she talked to a friend of hers and . . . long story short: We have an address."
"Thank gods. That's the first real break we've gotten in awhile. So, where the fuck did Jaycee and Van disappear to? And what are they?" My mind was spinning with everything that had gone on.
"You stil don't recognize them when you see them, do you?" Vanzir shook his head.
"Stop trying to be enigmatic. You don't wear it wel ," I said, glaring at him. "We don't have time for riddles."
"They're Tregarts. Human looking--but demonic. Add in that they're sorcerers, and you're both lucky to come out alive."
"I thought they smel ed close to Demonkin but . . . why didn't I sense them?" Camil e stifled a cry as she reached down to yank a particularly nasty looking piece of glass out of her leg. "Cripes, this goddamn stuff hurts. Now I know how it feels to be inside a Cuisinart."
"Most likely, the pair were masked. Sorcerers with the power they have can easily cloak their demonic nature, so don't blame yourself. Though it doesn't look like you went easy on the spel tossing either, toots. You do skylights pretty damned good." Vanzir glanced up at the gaping hole in the wal where the lightning bolt had ripped through, then gave her the once-over. "We'd better get you to the doctor."
"Uh, yeah, I think that might be an opportune suggestion." She began to hobble toward the door, sucking in a deep breath, then stopped. "Every step I take drives some of the shards deeper. The stairs are going to be murder."
"I can take you." Roz leapt to her side and wrapped his arm gently around her waist. "I'l carry you through the Ionyc Sea to the FH-CSI. The rest of you--
go plan what you need to do next. I'l see you in a bit."
