“Yeah. You should have tried that line before you set a bunch of bloodthirsty humans on my ass.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” But there was a smile in his eyes.
“I’ve been dodging arrows all afternoon and a woman I liked is dead because of you, Jude. Stop the bullshit.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Kit, all you had to do was come to me and all of this could have been avoided.”
“You can’t expect me to believe you set all of this up just to get to me?”
He laughed. “Of course not. This…” He shrugged and glanced around. “It’s a game. A pastime. Those fools weren’t supposed to take the Alpha’s boy, but they did. I would have handled it myself, made sure he was returned, had I known. Then you barreled in and…” He shrugged once more. “Why didn’t you just leave, Kit? You had what you needed. Nothing more to worry about.”
“The Assembly will take you out for this.”
“No.” He smiled. “The games will end and nothing can be traced back to me.” His fangs flashed as he murmured, “And for that matter, for all you know, I’m fucking with your head—you bitch so often about how I like to do it. Maybe this is just another headfuck, Kit. You don’t know, do you?”
“Yes, I do.”
He took a step, liquid and gliding. Rising my sword, I said, “Stop.”
His laugh was warm and sweet, wrapping around me and if I hadn’t already experienced his poison, I might have been tempted.
“You know that thing won’t stop me,” he murmured. His eyes started to glow. “Although it’s possible you could just tease the hunger if you cut me. Then again, it might anger me. It’s a risk either way.”
I stared at him.
Cracking my left wrist, I listened to the song in my head. Louder, louder—
Call me—
I banished the sword and hoped.
Only a heartbeat later, the bow was in my right hand, an arrow in my left. I took aim and watched it fly.
Jude was still laughing.
He saw it coming, though, and moved—I’d been counting on that and shot off center. “Stupid, Kit,” he whispered, flinging the arrow down. “And bad aim—”
The next one was in his chest.
“I don’t miss, Jude.”
I said it on the fly, speeding down the path and praying hard.
The arrows weren’t silver tipped.
But they were wooden. It had gone through his heart. He was old enough that it wouldn’t kill him, but I had a few minutes. He’d have to be careful pulling it out or he’d damage himself and that would take him longer to heal. It had bought me a few minutes, far more than a fiberglass weapon could
It wasn’t much. But a few minutes was still a few minutes and the car was close.
The second I saw the car, I sent the bow to her place in the trunk and pulled my keys out. There was no time to fight with my pack so I just shrugged it off as I ran and let it fall.
I dove behind the wheel just as I heard a furious wail and felt the blanket of cold as it struck the air.
He’d gotten it out.
I punched the car into reverse and sped out.
There were cop cars everywhere, but I was just going to have to hope and pray I could get away from them and get to the witches’ house. My cell phone sat in the cup holder and I fumbled for it.
I saw something in the rearview mirror. A pale form. Cutting through the sky.
Older vampires were a bitch. They could fly.
Scrambling for the phone, I saw I’d had calls. A lot of them. I hit the recent ones I’d made, calling Es. An unfamiliar witch answered, but at the sound of my voice, she immediately came on the phone.
“Kit, thank goodness. We have problems—”
“Listen to me, damn it. It’s Jude and there are cops everywhere. If you have any contacts, please tell them not to pull me over—we’ll both be dead if they try.”
She barked out an order. “I’ll send word, but I can’t promise. Kit, Damon is on his way.”
“He won’t make it in time.” I glanced at the mirror, saw the form swooping closer. I’d survived pain before. I could do it again. “I can get through this as long as Jude doesn’t kill me. Maybe I shouldn’t have shot—”
My car went airborne.
I swore and opened the door. It went flying in one direction even as I