options. I caught a glimpse of Elyssa slipping away, hugging the wall, and heading upstairs. This was it. All or nothing.
I sneaked as close as I dared, about twenty feet behind my grandfather. Cocked back my arm. Aimed. Whispered a prayer, and threw. The rock blurred toward his head.
The man tensed, his back going straight. The projectile bounced off the air, leaving a gentle ripple. He turned, an amused look on his face.
"My, my, what a surprise." He regarded me for a moment. "You certainly have a way of turning up most unexpectedly, boy."
My body stiffened in anticipation of retaliation, but I still had the presence of mind to do what I could to stop this. "Ivy, don't do it! Don't murder all those people!"
Though her back was to me, I could heard her chanting something, almost under her breath as she guided the staff through an intricate series of patterns. The nimbus of energy brightened around her, swirling. One of the complex runes in the air flashed red and magical energy soaked into it, drawing off the waist-high vortex of energy around her until it was gone. The rune stayed bright, humming and vibrating the air like the deepest note on a string bass.
She paused, taking a deep breath, and wiping sweat from her forehead. Turned and faced me. A smiled lit her face. "Justin, you came to watch!"
I felt an incredulous look yank my eyebrows up. "Don't kill those people Ivy. This is wrong. It's not a game."
She snorted and waved off my statement like a pesky fly. "People? They're vampires, Justin. Bloodsucking demonic parasites. And if they start a vampling plague, that'd be a bummer."
"They're not all evil."
"Listen to him, kid!" Maximus said, flailing against the invisible forces holding in in the air. "Vampires are people, too!"
Ivy wrinkled her nose. "You want to protect him, Justin?" She grimaced, as if she'd just bitten into a lemon. "It's so sad." Her blue eyes softened. "You're evil, too, and you can't even admit it. Maybe that's why you want to protect them."
"Excellent line of reasoning, my little dumpling," Conroy said, smiling with what seemed genuine affection. "Now, why don't you get back to the task at hand?" He checked his pocket watch again. "Your grandmother is making some of her famous angel food cake for dessert tonight, and I am famished."
My sister's eye went wide with delight. "Oh, I love angel food cake, Bigdaddy!" She turned back to the hovering symbols, eyes focused on another rune, and began chanting again.
"You stupid son of a—" Maximus's mouth slammed shut. His eyes bulged, but he seemed incapable of saying another word.
"I will not have your foul mouth running off in front of my granddaughter any longer," Conroy said.
While Conroy seemed distracted with Maximus, I mustered every last ounce of speed I had, and blurred toward Ivy. I hadn't gone five feet when something yanked me off the ground, and jerked me back, suspending me in the air like Maximus.
"Haven't you caused enough trouble in the past few months, boy?" Conroy said.
"Me?" I said, pinching my forehead. "Now, that's the pot calling the kettle black." I wriggled, and only succeeded in spinning myself upside down. It was like floating in space—a sensation I might have appreciated at another time.
"I suppose our little plan to deliver you into Maximus's hands wasn't the best we've ever come up with," Conroy said, regarding me as one might an interesting zoo specimen.
My heart almost broke. "Ivy helped?" I asked, a bitter taste in my mouth.
"But of course she did, boy."
I looked to Ivy, but she was too busy powering the next rune.
Conroy shrugged. "If it's any consolation, she didn't want us to outright kill you." A frown tugged on his lips. "Truth be told, even if you are one of those filthy spawn, you are my"—he shuddered—"grandson."
I didn't know what to feel. Rage, grief, and fear swarmed through me, leaving my insides a conflicted mess. The dark poison inside my leg ached and burned, tingling all the way down my toes and up to my waist. No matter what happened here today, I suspected I didn't have much time left.
"You do realize Ivy has the same parents, right?" I said, mustering some venom. "She's as much spawn as I am."
He chuckled. "In that, you are quite mistaken, boy. She takes after her mother." His gaze turned to Ivy. "I do believe our conversation is at an end." He flicked his hand toward me and something clamped