Page 3 of Fallen Court

He only snorted, grinning again. “There is no danger of that.”

But I didn’t meet his smile. “Bain knows what he did.” Cate’s face flashed through my mind, and I fought the painful but now familiar urge to nip directly to the gates of the Infernal Court and just start killing my way in. “Blood spilled is blood owed.”

Durant chewed his lower lip for a moment before nodding. Vampires lived by a similar code. “That works both ways.”

“I’m a dead man anyhow.” This time, I smiled.

He studied the list more closely, shaking his head again. “It might take me a few days.” He tapped the paper. “Grenades?”

“I don’t have a few days,” I growled, my control slipping its leash as my heart began to pound. I should have already gone after her. Gods knew what Bain had done in the last few days. “This is a matter of life and death.”

“Isn’t that always the case for you?”

Before I could answer, a red light flashed overhead, and I found myself twisting toward the door. Warning prickled the memento mori on my neck.

“It looks like we have company.” Durant nodded to one of the security monitors above his desk. Six fae, looking like a crew of reject rock stars, approached the bar. The one in the lead signaled Veronica, the vampire from earlier, shouting something. She leaped over the bar, catching a bullet squarely in the chest and crumpling into a heap on the floor. The screen blurred as creatures fled before giving way to static, the feed cutting off.

I swiveled toward Durant, reaching for my gun, suspicion flooding through my veins. After all these years, I should have known better than to trust him and been smarter than to take that drink. My fingers twitched, ready to nip away, but Durant slid open a drawer filled with guns and ammo.

“You should go if you can still nip. I’m guessing they’re here for you,” he said, threading a silencer onto the end of his pistol. “I can handle them.”

My thumb stroked the pad of my forefinger, already feeling my magic dim from the drugged whiskey. I had minutes before I lost access to it entirely—if I was lucky. If I nipped out, I might have seconds before they traced me to another location, and I couldn’t risk leading them back to Romy, my sister’s reluctantly helpful witch girlfriend. It was better to stay and fight it out. But better felt pretty fucking relative at the moment.

Only members of the Wild Hunt would have the balls to attack someone like Durant on his own turf, but he was outnumbered, and the Hunt wouldn’t take kindly to him helping me. They might spare the vampire or decide to make him an object lesson. And if they did, I would have to explain what happened to Durant’s sister. I reached for a second gun instead of taking his advice. “If you get killed, Baptiste will make my life hell. I’d stand a better chance with them.”

He laughed as something—or more likely, someone—slammed into the other side of the door.

“How much shit did you put in my drink?”

His eyes scanned the security monitor, his voice low and grim. “Enough to make this messy.”

Muffled footsteps sounded outside his office, followed by the echo of shattering glass a moment before the door burst open, breaching Durant’s inner sanctum. I moved instinctively, placing my back to his as the fae poured inside. Behind them, patrons scattered and fled into the night.

“Lachlan Gage, you are marked for death for the assassination of a penumbra,” the one in the lead announced, leveling his weapon directly at me.

I returned the favor. As I skimmed the group, my eyes paused on one of the men in the back. His long black hair was pulled into a bun at the nape of his neck, a single braided plait framing his face. Goemon looked back without a hint of recognition. He had let me walk out of the bayou despite the memento mori branding me, but I knew better than to expect another mercy.

The leader’s eyes flickered to my companion, growing wary as he realized what Durant was. A vampire changed the math. “We’re only here to collect him. We don’t want trouble.”

“How unfortunate,” Durant said with a battle-hardened resolve as he slid off the safety on his gun and aimed at the others. “You found it.”

I stared back at the leader. “So we suggest you walk out of here while you still can.”

“You can’t run from the Hunt, Prince.” He spat the word at me like venom.

“Who’s running? I’m right here.” Running only meant they would follow, which meant collateral damage. I needed to put them down.

He stepped away from the pack, nodding toward the ground. “Then let’s do this the easy way. Get on your knees. We’ll make it quick.”

I cocked my head, fumbling for the threads of magic growing fainter by the second. My grip tightened, but my power slipped through my fingers. Soon I would be little better than a mortal, but the Hunt didn’t know that. “I’ve never really liked the easy way.”

I needed to make this count.

He lunged, and I snapped my fingers, reappearing behind him and taking a quick, clean shot. His body collapsed in a pool of blood, and I dove toward the desk as the others opened fire.

Durant dropped beside me as wood splintered, shards spraying the air as we pressed our backs to it.

“Neat trick. Want to see what I can do?” Durant called over the staccato pops.