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She just shooed him off and turned towards Cain. Thane headed for Roarke, pulling out his phone to send a text to his brother. All it asked was if he was awake, so nothing that could get him in trouble. Just to make sure he heard it, Thane sent another saying that he liked Valerie. That should definitely get noticed. Sadly, his brother didn't respond immediately like he'd hoped.
Roarke, on the other hand, was still holding the bubble. Softly repeating the Word under his breath, the man stood with his back against the wall and his eyes closed. The book was clasped in his hand but dangling loosely before him. Snagging that before it could fall to the ground, Thane quickly checked the page, found what had to be the Word Roarke was using, and then said it himself.
"You can stop," he told Roarke once he felt his own bubble take over. "I got this."
Roarke just opened his eyes, sighed, and then slid down the wall to sit on his ass. "Do not like your magic, inquisitor," he grumbled.
Thane jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Well, there are a few still alive. Go drink. Eat. Fuck if I care anymore. Just... More will come, man. This is a lull, not the end of it, and you need to be in peak shape."
So Roarke thrust his hand up. Thane grabbed it and pulled, helping the guy to his feet. Slow, looking like he was exhausted, the black dog staggered towards the carnage and Thane just watched. Dahlia was feeding. Cain was feeding. Nikki and Joshua were in there too, and it looked like Isabella was helping.
Thane breathed out a heavy sigh, glad that his friends were ok, but all too aware of how bad this was going to get. They'd just lost their home, and no one realized it yet. Even worse, he had no idea whether or not news of this had spread yet. Reaching for his phone again, he needed to make sure Laird knew before this blew up in all of their faces.
Thane:wakey wakey, I need my big brother.
Thane:Yo, I have girl problems.
Thane:Stop acting like a lazy priest. I know you don't have shit to do tomorrow, so text me.
Thane:Please? I'm about to do something stupid.
Thane:Fine. Just text me when you wake up.
Clearly, Laird had his phone on Do Not Disturb or something. The problem was that if these priests had called it in when they spotted Grace, then the Church they were from would know. They would likely put out an alert, because Iowa was unprotected territory. There wasn't a Church to cover the state, so all the rest would be expected to chip in a few hunters and help. That meant the Dallas branch would hear about it, and Thane didn't even want to think about how easy it would be to tie him to Des Moines.
So he decided to send a message to Brice, just to make sure someone knew what was going on. If Laird had another of his trials in the morning, of course he'd turn his phone off.
He didn't even get the chance to put the phone back into his pocket before someone slapped it out of his hand. The case clattered down to the ground, something cracked, and Thane groaned, knowing it was his screen. Annoyed, he looked up to find Vivian glaring at him.
"I'm not going to let you call more in," she snapped.
"Fuck you," he shot back. "Were you the one who jumped Roarke? Are you the idiot who couldn't stop killing? Because that's why they're here, you dumb bitch."
The woman screamed, her body blurring as she rushed him. Together, they crashed into the brick wall, but Thane punched at her gut with the hand still holding the clavum. Something about the metal allowed him to impact her dissipated form, and the ghost jerked back. Sadly, she wasn't done yet.
"You did this!" she yelled in a voice that made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.
Thane grabbed her form, spinning them around so she was against the wall instead of him. "Stop!" he demanded. "If you come at me again, I will put a fucking stake in you."
"Because that's what all inquisitors do," she shot back. "You kill us, and you don't know anything else."
"You kill people too," he shot back, struggling to keep his grip on her as she faded even more.
Then she was gone. Invisible. Thane braced, but he couldn't prepare for where she'd come next. That was the problem with ghosts: their power was to vanish without a trace. Too bad for her, he'd faced down a few of them in his life.
Vivian slammed into him from the back, making his face bounce off the brick. Thane turned, swinging with his clavum, and saw the mist form as she jerked away too fast. So, turning, he kept his back to the wall and waited. She thought this was a good trick, did she? Well, he was fucking sick and tired of this game.
He was also a damned good hunter.
So when she hit him again, he swung. The clavum pierced the air where her particles hovered, making the ghost instantly turn solid. Vivian gasped, surprise taking over her face even as she looked down to see the silver stake sticking out of her ribs.
"You..." she gasped, "...killed me."
"You killed you," he told her, barely getting the words out before the wave of a true death rocked the parking lot for the second time tonight.
"No!" Laci screamed, pushing toward him.
"Stop!" Cain demanded, appearing between them.
