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Exhausted from casting the energy bolt, on top of everything else Morio and I had done earlier, I fumbled for my cell phone. We needed reinforcements and fast, or Chase and I were going to be mincemeat.
But before I could extract it from the zippered pouch that also held my keys, the goblins were on us. I yanked out my dagger and engaged the leader. As I swiped, desperately trying to focus, Chase let off a volley of bullets and two of the goblins went down, though they weren’t dead.
Panicking, I lunged for the goblin’s head and my blade connected with the flesh, plunging through to bounce off the bone. I didn’t have the strength to drive the blade through his skull. As he lurched back, taking my blade with him, I scrambled to summon up as much energy as I could. I might be able to manage one more energy bolt. But as I dodged, trying to evade my attacker, a blur roared past me, and the goblin went flying. I squinted, trying to see what the hell had just happened.
And there, standing between me and the goblin horde, was Smoky. And he was pissed.
Chapter 2
I didn’t interrupt, just pulled back and let my dragon do his thing. I turned as Shade and Vanzir swept past me, joining the fight. Delilah was right behind them, holding an extra dagger. She tossed it to me. I caught the hilt, grinning at her. Six months ago, I would have dropped it, but I’d been learning a lot of tricks during my workouts.
“Thanks! Mine’s stuck in a goblin’s skull.”
“Help Chase while I take your place.” She pushed past me and I willingly gave way. My sister was six one, athletic as all hell, and with her short golden shag and sentient silver dagger, she was a deadly opponent. She winked as she passed by. “I actually think I’ve missed this.”
Chase was reloading and took aim at another goblin coming at us. He fired, but the bullet—though it met its mark—ricocheted off the metal epaulettes on the goblin’s shoulder. The crack of the gun ripped through the air as the smell of burned powder singed my nose.
“Fuck, I’m out of ammo.” He growled, putting the safety on. He slid his gun back into the holster. I glanced around, looking for something that he could use as a weapon. Then I saw it—one of the dead goblins had a sword and it was near enough for me to grab. No doubt the blade was poisoned, but if Chase was cautious, he should be able to use it with no problem.
I darted into the fray—which was now a mishmash of movement in the twilight—and picked up the sword, careful to touch only the hilt. “You have gloves, Chase?”
He nodded, pulling out a pair of latex gloves. “I always carry a pair just in case we run into evidence.”
“Here, don’t touch the blade—ten to one, it’s poisoned and goblin poisons can absorb through your skin. But it will give you something to keep the bogies at bay.” As I handed him the sword, hilt first, he hefted it and nodded at me. I quickly turned my back to his, so we weren’t caught unawares from either side.
The battle was fully under way. Delilah had engaged two of the goblins, spinning and ducking as she darted in and out of the fray, Lysanthra—her dagger—shimmering in the dim light. Like a cat on her feet—no surprise since she was a werecat—Delilah was sturdy and steady in her movements. I envied her that, but our bodies weren’t the same shape, and I would never have her abilities. But then again, she didn’t wield magic. We each had our own talents.
She kicked one of the goblins in the stomach as she thrust her dagger under the chin of the other and with one smooth movement ratcheted the tip up through his jaw. As he fell, she neatly withdrew her blade, keeping it in hand. The other goblin landed a nasty blow on her knee, and she wavered for a moment before launching a renewed assault on him. Within minutes, he was on his back, against one of the graves, and she landed a clean, quick jab, impaling him through the heart.
As another came at her, I glanced over at Smoky, who was racing—a blur of motion, his nails grown into talons. He never got dirty, never got muddied or bloodied on his clothes, even if he took a hit that cut his skin. My mother-in-law had told me it was a dragon thing, and if I could have bottled the ability, we could have made a fortune and put the laundry detergent companies out of business.
Smoky barreled through the line of goblins as they spilled to the sides, diving for cover when they saw the fury in his eyes and the blood flying in his wake. Vanzir was also embroiled in a fight and doing a damned good job. He had taken on one of the bone-walkers and was smashing it to bits. The skeletal limbs would continue to twitch until the animation spell wore off, but they couldn’t do any harm.
As for Shade, he had engaged a pair of bone-walkers. As a purple flame began to emanate from his body, a roar made me turn. Out of the bushes, came Morio. He leaped, rolling onto the ground as he caught hold of a bloatworgle, who was making a run directly for Chase and me. Fuck—a bloatworgle, too? They were nasty-assed demons.
Morio, in his full youkai form, was a formidable sight and always took my breath away when I saw him. He landed a nasty swipe across the bloatworgle’s back, slowing the demon down.
The bloatworgle was gangly, with a distended belly, and his skin was tough as leather hide. He opened his mouth and a belching gust of fire came shooting out to engulf Morio, who yelped and jumped back. But Smoky had noticed, and he thrust himself between Morio and the bloatworgle, slashing at the demon’s face. He landed a direct hit, ripping through the eyes and lips, leaving the creature shredded and bleeding.
Morio did the stop-drop-and-roll move and put out the stray sparks that were threatening to ignite against his fur. By the time he’d leaped to his feet again, Smoky had the bloatworgle down on the ground and was pummeling him. One last punch and the demon bit the dust.
Shade managed to do something to the bone-walkers—I wasn’t sure what because my attention had been on Smoky and Morio, but they turned to dust, crumbling to the ground. As I turned to Chase to ask how he was doing, a shriek shattered the air and a spirit—fully visible—went speeding past, looking like it was being dragged by its hair.
What the—
Before any of us could do anything, the spirit vanished from sight, and then a rumbling sound filled the air and the soil of the graveyard moaned—as tombstones toppled over and shattered into pieces.
Chase went down as the headstone he was leaning on crumbled beneath him. I tried to help him, but the ground roiled beneath my feet, and I fell to my knees, the rumbling so loud that I couldn’t hear myself think. Shade and Morio were on the ground, too, clasping their hands to their ears.
Moaning softly, I winced as the sound grew louder. It sounded like a freight train, or a vast army on the run, thundering through the cemetery. As I bent over, pressing my hands to my ears to muffle the noise, a sucking sound joined the mix and I looked up in time to see spirits rising from a number of the nearby graves. Some looked surprised, as if they had been slumbering and were now just wakened. Others looked angry and were resisting, and still others, confused.
“What’s going on?” I screamed over the noise, trying to be heard.
Smoky and Delilah looked perplexed. Chase looked about ready to pass out. He was either dead tired or in massive pain.
“What’s happening? Why are you shouting?” Delilah started to ask, and then she, too, bent over, head to knees. “Oh, hell! My ears!”
The spirits hovered in the air above their graves and then—with a collective wail—were sucked away by some invisible vacuum, into a shimmering vortex that formed in the middle of the air. With one last piercing shriek that almost sent me into a coma, they disappeared, and with them vanished the glowing light. The graveyard fell unnaturally silent, and we were alone in the darkness.
