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He shifted shape and collapsed onto his back, eyes closed and mouth dragging in air. Death had come far too close, and for the first time ever, it had truly scared him.
Maybe because for the first time in his life it actually mattered whether he lived or died—because this time, he had something to lose beyond his life.
“About time you got here,” he muttered, when he could.
“I’ve told you before not to tease them,” Camille said, her voice sharp. “It’s your own damn fault it got so close in the first place.”
He opened his eyes. She was standing close by his side, a gun clenched firmly in two hands and aimed toward the tree.
“Did you kill it?”
She gave him a scathing look. “Of course I killed it. I can shoot a damn sight better than you, boy. Now get off your butt. There should be another one of those suckers around here somewhere.”
He rose slowly. Every muscle protested, making him feel a hundred years old. “Did you bring me a weapon?”
She pulled a gun from the waistband of her leather pants and handed it to him. “You’ve got two shots, I’ve got one. That’s it, so make them count.”
“I will.” He checked the gun, then swiped away the blood running down his neck. Camille’s shot had nicked his ear, but it could have been far worse had she not risked the shot and the manarei had gotten hold of him. “You’d better get inside that house and grab Trina. I’ll keep watch—”
He stopped. Magic touched him, the same sharp, foul sensation as before.
Inside the house, someone began screaming.
KIRBY WAS HALFWAY DOWN THE DRIVEWAY WHEN her vision blurred. Suddenly she was inside the house rather than outside. In the rear of the house, in a room warmed by the summer sun, a manarei was creeping toward its unknowing victim. Fear clutched her heart and squeezed tight, and for several seconds she couldn’t even breathe.
Then she was running up the steps, fingers alive with energy that she launched at the front door. It crashed open, but the sound got lost in the high-pitched screaming coming from the rear of the house—screaming that abruptly died. The glass surrounding the door shattered, sending deadly-looking slivers slicing through the air. She raised her hands to protect her face and ran through the entrance.
“Trina!” she screamed. The only reply was a whimper of fear—a sound she felt like echoing.
She pounded down the hall, her footsteps resounding on the wooden floors. She saw Trina on the kitchen floor, scrambling backward, one arm bloodied and dangling uselessly.
She saw the manarei, claws gleaming a bloody red in the morning light streaming in through the kitchen windows.
“Hey, reptile!” she shouted, sliding to a stop just inside the doorway. Its head snaked around, eyes narrowing when it saw her. She didn’t give it time to think or react but raised her hands, drew in the energy of everything around her and unleashed it. “Fight this, you bastard!”
This time, the lightning didn’t come from her fingers. It erupted from the floorboards and spun up the creature’s body, binding it as it burned. The creature howled, fighting the energy that held him captive. Pain shivered through her, adding fuel to her already agitated stomach. But the energy itself couldn’t kill a manarei—she’d learned that the hard way last time—and she didn’t have the strength to contain it for very long. The madmen in her head were beginning their pounding with renewed vigor.
She ran to Trina’s side. Her face was pale, skin clammy, gray eyes more than a little vague as they met Kirby’s.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice shrill, almost childlike.
“A friend from the past,” Kirby said. A friend you may not want to remember. “Can you get up?”
Trina nodded, but her movements were weak, and she seemed unable to find any purchase on the fl
oor tiles. Swearing softly, Kirby tucked her arms under the woman’s shoulders and hauled her upright. Trina whimpered and went limp. Grunting under the sudden impact of her weight, Kirby gritted her teeth and struggled to keep them both upright.
The manarei’s snarl made her look up. The net was flickering, its power fading. She reached desperately for more energy, and for several seconds the net flared brightly. Then the pain in her head kicked in full strength, and the net continued to fade. There was nothing more she could do to hold it. The manarei wrenched an arm free, its claws slashing the air, a chilling indicator of what it intended once it escaped.
Fear surged, threatening to stifle her. She had a minute, maybe less, to get out of here. The energy was fading fast, trickling away from her control as quickly as the time. She began dragging Trina from the room.
She’d almost reached the hall when the manarei partially broke free. Red-hot knives of agony tore through her brain, and she gasped, dropping to her knees, unable to hold herself up, let alone Trina. Tears filled her eyes, but it was the pain in her head that blurred her vision. She couldn’t see. Didn’t need to. The air seemed to scream with the manarei’s fury.
She called desperately to the fire, but the knives dug deeper, burning white-hot through her entire body. She gasped, doubling over, pain pounding through her head and body. She couldn’t move, couldn’t even defend herself, much less Trina … Trina. Who was one of the five and had a power all her own.
“Trina,” she croaked. “You have to wake up. You have to help me.”
The other woman groaned. She was close to unconsciousness, but if she gave in completely, they’d both die.
