I had seen before, but he didn’t move. I was tentatively certain he knew he couldn’t move before Sinclair fired one into the back of his skull. Whether that would be fatal, I didn’t know.
“Ok. You’ve got him,” I said, trying to sound defeated. “You can go now.”
“No, Kaliya, I think this is the last time I’m going to deal with you. I’m quite tired of this.” He nodded at his fae, who pulled a handgun from a holster at his waist. As he pulled it up, I took a deep breath.
Right as he pulled the trigger, aimed at my forehead, I shifted out of the bindings and moved to dry bite him. I had nothing to inject, but going into a strike was the easiest way for me to get those lightning fast reflexes.
I shifted back into my human form and kicked the fae away from me. It felt like everyone else was going in slow motion as I darted into the room. Sinclair moved back from Raphael, looking down at me. I tackled the vampire, and we rolled painfully across the wood floor.
“GO!” I screamed.
The sound of crunching glass as I struggled with Sinclair was all I heard as he tried to get his hands around my neck.
“GO GET HIM!” Sinclair roared at his fae before looking back down at me. “I can sell your body for a pretty fucking price, nagini,” he growled. “That can make up for the shit you’ve caused me this time.”
I hissed, my fangs down. I reached up and ran my nails across his face, making him scream. Outside, there was gunfire and creaking metal. I was certain Raphael was lifting something.
Sinclair didn’t let go, and I was beginning to have a hard time breathing. I didn’t shift because I would be vulnerable. Sinclair knew that trick and would have an answer for it. Probably keep his hands around me and beat me against a wall. The fae would have realized the bite was dry by now because he wasn’t dying. Sinclair would probably know it too.
I reached up to claw at Sinclair’s face again and realized I had learned this nice piece of self-defense when I was eight. With both hands, I slammed Sinclair on both sides of his head, right over his ears. He screamed and pulled away now, trying to cover his head. Something crashed outside. I didn’t bother trying to kill Sinclair—we couldn’t win this fight.As more guns went off, the thought resounded that I needed to find Raphael. One hit me in the shoulder, making me stagger. Looking over my shoulder as I ran down my hall, I saw Sinclair there, holding up the fae’s handgun.
I shifted this time, knowing my snake form was harder to hit, and made it to the garage before he could catch up. Shifting back, I grabbed the Aston Martin’s keys from their hook and jumped in, trying to ignore the damage. The key was still able to turn it on, even though the sound was garbled from the speakers, and none of the electronics on the dash worked.
I went into reverse and pulled out as Sinclair staggered into the garage, the gun up. I ducked below the dash with my foot on the gas as he fired.
“RAPHAEL!” I screamed, twisting the wheel as I forced the car into drive. My BMW, I noticed, was not where I had left it, now twenty feet away, crushing the fae’s leg.
Raphael was near the SUV, the black veins going down his neck for the first time since I met him. With ease, I watched him shove the SUV off the road. Sinclair wasn’t firing anymore, but I wasn’t sure if it was because he was shocked or had run out of bullets.
I didn’t come to a complete stop, forcing Raphael to practically jump into the car. The moment he was seated, I slammed on the gas, the momentum slamming the door shut.
“Hold on,” I ordered, not bothering with headlights. I knew my road well enough, and adrenaline pumped through my veins. Unlike some people, I was so used to the feeling that it didn’t make me shaky. It gave me clarity, a sharpness that many couldn’t achieve. I was probably able to drive this road blindfolded. There was a time when I used to do timed runs of it, making sure I knew it in case I needed to make an escape.
Of course, if I needed to make an escape, and I didn’t have Raphael,