Page 4 of Fallen Court

“I’ll cover you.” I summoned my magic. Darkness choked the air, cutting off all light and sound. My eyes adjusted effortlessly, the shadows my natural habitat. Durant’s own shifted to pitch black—a perfect predator. Nipping was a useful advantage, but they expected that. A vampire and a fae working together was harder to anticipate.

The huntsmen were not creatures of my court. Darkness did not run in their veins. Durant used the distraction to his advantage, vaulting over the desk in a blur of fangs. I leaped up and began shooting as he ripped out one’s throat and another’s heart. He moved in the shadows with effortless grace, a creature of the night as deadly as the immortal soldiers. A bullet whistled past, grazing my neck. I sent another in the opposite direction, and a body hit the floor.

“On your left!” I shouted as a huntsman bolted toward Durant.

The vampire twisted, the movement as feline and lethal as a panther, and pounced, gutting the fae with brutal efficiency. But it cost him. The final hunter sent a bullet through his shoulder. Durant roared as its iron slug shattered bone, blood spraying in his face. I had the hunter by the neck before he got off another shot, my shadows surging from my body, coiling like serpents around him before plucking the gun from his fingers.

The move cost me what little magic I had left after Durant’s drugged drink. My magic guttered and then sputtered out entirely. It would be a few hours before I could easily access it again.

I stared into Goemon’s face. “Strange seeing you out of the bayou.”

“Can’t say I like it.” The words were strained from my hand wrapped around his throat, but he didn’t struggle. “Too many people. It made it harder to track you.”

I’d resisted the urge to use magic since the night I arrived at Fiona’s. Her warded apartment had kept them from finding me, but they’d arrived within minutes of me nipping past the vampire at the door. “You got here awfully fast.”

“We were told you were in New York,” he admitted. “We were beginning to think it was bad info, but then you nipped. You’ve been wise to use your magic sparingly.”

Was he…helping me? Giving me information about how the Hunt worked? I’d sentenced plenty of people to their fate at the hands of his crew, but I knew little about how they operated or how their magic worked. I only knew that they were relentless.

I loosened my grip ever so slightly.

“But it’s only a matter of time before we find you again.” Not a threat. A warning.

“I’ll try to keep a low profile.”

“It won’t matter, but you already know that,” he said. “If you have unfinished business…”

My throat tightened, and I nodded once just to show him I understood. Maybe he remembered Cate. Maybe he just didn’t want to be the one to kill me. But eventually, he would have no choice but to carry out his mission.

“Make it quick,” he gritted out.

“Thanks.” I snapped his neck, letting his body fall to my feet. I didn’t look down at him.

“I forgot how much your stupid bullets hurt.” Durant cursed as he rose to his feet, slowed down by his mangled shoulder. He clamped a hand over the gushing wound, scowling as he looked around his office. “I’m going to get an earful about this mess when Veronica wakes up.”

Blood was…everywhere.

“I’d stay and help, but somehow—”

“I would just wind up with a bigger mess.” Durant kicked one of the bodies with the toe of his leather boot.

“They’re not dead, and they’re going to be pissed when they resurrect,” I warned him. Even those with iron bullets riddling their bodies would eventually come back to life to fulfill their divine mission. Their perfect immortality was both their blessing and their curse. It also made them unstoppable.

“I’ll dump them in the Hudson. That’ll slow them down.” He regarded me for a moment, his face unreadable. “At the risk of sounding sentimental, I think you’d better get out of New York before they wake up.”

“Worried about me? That’s so sweet.” I passed him back his gun.

“Keep it.” He walked toward a keypad on the wall. His fingers ghosted over it, and a crack appeared, sliding open to reveal a full weapons cache. “I think I’d better send some of this with you now.”

“I owe you one.”

“Consider this my official thanks for dumping my sister,” he said as he piled weapons into two black duffel bags. “A friend of mine works security at Bain’s club. I’ll give him a call.”

“Thank you,” I said as he passed me the bags. I shrugged them over my shoulders, relaxing a little at the comforting weight, then gestured to his wound. “Is that going to be okay?”

Vampires healed quickly, but it was a bloody mess.

“I’ll live, but you better get that checked out.” He tipped his head, eyeing the gash on my neck. “If you want, I can dig up a Band-Aid.”