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Florian, ever eager, smiled even wider. “Aww. Thanks, man.”
I would have liked to tell you that the rest of the trip to Monica Rodriguez’s house was uneventful. I would have liked to say that Quill drove us at an easy, casual clip, that we turned over the bits of hair we’d stolen, and went on our merry, separate ways.
But the sound of screeching filled the night, like a banshee awakened. Shortly after, not far from the old folks’ home, something smashed into the roof of Quilliam’s car. Something huge, and heavy, and strong.
Leonora had sent something to chase us. The terrible screeching repeated, and this time, four spines penetrated the roof of Quill’s car, tearing through metal and fabric like knives through butter.
Quilliam screamed. “My car!”
“Keep driving,” I screamed back. “For the love of God, keep driving.”
“It’s coming in,” Florian said. “Pull over so we can get out and fight it.”
“Make up your fucking minds,” Quilliam shouted.
Cold air rushed in from above us as the creature on top of the car tore a huge hunk of the roof away. In the distance, metal clanged as the discarded roof smashed into the street. But far closer by, so close I thought I heard it just next to my ear, came a hoarse, croaking voice. I looked up, shuddering, to gaze into the face of the beast Leonora had conjured – not at all expecting to see the transformed face of the bruja herself.
“Mijos,” she said, through a wide mouth crammed with far, far too many fangs. “Why are you running from Tia Leonora?”
30
For a scant few seconds my mind lingered on the possibility of calling out to Raziel, of seeing if he would even respond. He’d show up and use some of his angel magic to blast the thing that used to be Maria Leonora Rodriguez right off the face of the planet, and then we’d be home free.
No, I thought, grinding my teeth, even as the bruja leered with its red eyes and gave me a huge, hungry grin. I made my bed, and I was going to lie in it. We just needed to deal with this problem, then I would be set. Half of the money was going to buy me my freedom. The other half could go to rent and to Florian. I just wanted to live my life, damn it.
But first we had to get the monster out of our hair. Quite literally, in Quill’s case, since Leonora had gotten her talons entangled in the snarls of his shoulder-length shag. He was screaming his head off, hardly driving in a straight line for fear of, well, quite literally losing his head. I reached out to the Vestments, wondering what the hell I could even find to fight with in such close quarters. My mind settled on a little burst of inspiration courtesy of Raziel.
I cursed under my breath, still in denial of how much he’d taught me and continued to teach me despite my insistence on severing ties. A sheen of divine light appeared around my hand, solidifying into a golden gauntlet.
I punched Leonora in the face.
Blood, saliva, and broken fangs sprayed over the dashboard, showering both me and Quill in a rain of debris and gunk. But that did the trick. Leonora disappeared as the car careened onwards, her screeching carrying into the distance as we left her in our dust.
We carried on in silence, Quill breathing in stutters through his nostrils. I wasn’t sure how much farther he drove before he slammed his foot on the brakes.
“What are you doing?” I said. “Just head all the way to Monica’s place. We get to the Rodriguez house, hand over the peineta, collect our pay, then let the two witches deal with each other.”
“This isn’t the last we’ll be hearing from Leonora. We need protection.”
Quill stood up, his head and part of his torso comically poking through the makeshift sunroof, and placed one hand on what was left of the top of the car. His mouth moved quickly, his words too soft for me to understand, but I was willing to bet that he was creating a force field. He spoke one last word.
“Arma.”
A red gleam washed across the car’s surface, then immediately faded as the shield settled over it like a protective film. Not a bad idea, and I’d totally forgotten that duh, of course Quill knew magic – we met in the Black Market, after all. A scribe, just like he explained.
“Was that Latin?” I asked.
“Barely. Actually, it’s a modified – wait, how does that even matter?”
“Well, excuse me, sorry for asking. Is that going to be enough to protect us?”
Quill shrugged. “It better be.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I don’t know how strong Leonora really is, and whether she’s going to be able to rip through my defenses with her claws.”
“What? I thought you were some kind of genius, independently wealthy, man-about-town magus guy. The fuck happened to all that?”
