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He jerked. Covered it quickly, but I’d seen the movement. He might not have known the pin had been lost, but he knew what it meant that it had been found.
“You didn’t know they were sloppy, did you? That they didn’tjust kill the vampire, throw magic over Riley, escape over the wall. They left a little something behind.”
“You will return it.”
I shrugged. “Don’t have it,” I said, and was glad I’d thought to leave it in the car, just in case they tried to take it back. “It’s locked safely away.”
“You dare threaten us.”
“No threats. Just questions. And the only way questions could be a threat is if you’re hiding something.”
Ruadan’s jaw worked, as if chewing back angry words. Magic lifted again, this time cold and dark and angry. The mood had changed, and I knew there’d be no more conversation.
I caught movement to my right. The semicircle of fairies was stretching, attempting to surround us. I stood a step backward, and pulled Lulu back with me, just a little closer to the door.
Someone screamed words that were more song than battle cry. They were all fighters, and they all wanted their turn.
My heart began to pound like a war drum, too eager for battle. I wrapped my right hand around the corded handle, ready to draw.
“You’ve gotten more vampirey in my absence,” Lulu murmured behind me.
“Yeah,” I said with a sunny smile. “I’m a regular Dracula. I’m going to distract them, and you’re going to run back to the car.”
“Fuck that,” Lulu said, stepping beside me, rotating her wrist to spin her own blade. “I’m not letting you have all the fun.”
“All right,” I said. “But be careful.”
“No promises.”
I looked back at the fairy in front of me. He was thin like the others, tall and willowy, with dark skin and eyes. The blade of his sword gleamed in the moonlight.
He stepped forward, and I met him. I unsheathed my katana and used it to push his away, then spun it back to slashhorizontally across his chest, but didn’t break skin. He jumped back, as spry as he was strong, then came in again with another overhead blow.
I stopped it, but felt the impact echo through my arms.
He lunged. I went low, kicked in a sweep that dropped him to the ground and sent a ripple of disappointment through the crowd of fairies who watched.
He managed to hold on to the sword, flipped onto his feet again. He swung the sword, stepping into it to increase the power. I rotated at the last second, and his blade still whooshed closely enough that I could feel the breeze on my face.
I stayed in the spin, kicked his leg, sent him forward. The fairy pulled his sword up sharply, sent the blade singing against my shin.
Fire erupted as the scent of blood filled the air.
“First blood!” someone shouted.
The injury hurt and I didn’t like the precedent, but I was glad that they’d shed my blood first. If we survived long enough to deal with the fallout, it would help prove we hadn’t intended the violence.
I pushed down the pain and tried to ignore the monster’s sudden interest in the battle. And then another fairy joined the fun.
A dagger sliced through the air. This time I kicked up, hitting his wrist and sending the weapon skittering through the air. My second kick made contact with his jaw, snapped back his head.
But he shook off the impact, then dove on me, sending us both to the ground. We grappled, blades clattering away, both of us trying to find the right grip, the superior move. In the scramble, his elbow connected with my face, and my knee caught his kidney. But neither of us found the move that would stop the other, and we both ended up on our feet again.
On my left, Lulu was fighting another fairy in close combat, blades glinting as they spun. Her father had trained her well; shefought like a champ. But she wasn’t immortal, and it was easy to see she was getting tired. Her arms were shaking from the effort of lifting the blade. I needed to get her out of here.
“Get back to the car,” I yelled, hoping she’d hear me over the noise of the fight.
“Fuck you, too,” she said, and blew hair from her face as she brought her sword down on a fairy’s forearm. He turned, but not fast enough. The blade sliced across his arm, raising a beaded line of blood that made the air smell of green things.
