health - "
"Through him, all of the New Djinn could also be bound," Ashan said. "Conduits to the Mother must not make such vows. We became slaves the last time such was made. I will not allow it to happen again, not for such small gain as your personal happiness."
And another thing came crystal clear to me. Ashan wasn't screwing around this time.
I read it in his expression: He was going to kill me. Problem solved.
And I think he would have, except that right at that moment, somebody else tried to kill me.
I thought it was Ashan who'd attacked for an instant, as I felt the force slam into me and pin me back to the wall, sink past my skin, and close around my heart like an iron hand. But I could see that in fact it wasn't him, because he'd been forced back from me by the attack, and he was off balance and confused.
I remembered David at the diner, blown back by the aetheric attack that had taken out Lee Antonelli.
They were coming for me. No warning, no quarter. I was under attack by the Sentinels.
Dark shadows flew out of the walls and coalesced into Djinn - Ashan's bodyguards, who'd been keeping their distance until they were summoned. A threat to their boss brought them running, but once they were on the ground, the next step wasn't exactly clear, since Ashan wasn't the target. I was.
And one more coalesced out of the air, a blur of motion, burning copper-bright. David. He was coming, and coming very fast, heading straight for me, blind to everything else around him.
The Djinn bodyguards stopped him, but only for a few seconds. He was too strong for them, even collectively, but the instant he broke free, Ashan lunged like a white tiger. The two of them fell, rolling, a blur of motion that somehow still conveyed the fury and power of the conflict.
As David tried to fight his way to me, I drew all my power inside, fighting the invisible fist that was trying to contract and squeeze my heart into red jam. I felt my distant, powerful daughter's flow in to augment mine; she couldn't act directly, but she could help.
It was enough - barely - to keep me alive.
For now.
I opened my eyes. The fight between the two most powerful Djinn was already over.
David was on his knees, held fast with Ashan's arm around his throat and his hands twisted behind his back, and the look on his face nearly made me cry out. It was shattered. Horrified. Betrayed.
"Oh, God, no. Jo, hold on," he said, his voice rough and trembling. "Ashan, let go, damn you. Let me help her!"
The Djinn stood silently, watching. Waiting to see what would happen. Probably waiting to see how fast I was going to drop dead. This was nothing but a gift to Ashan - I'd die, and his hands would be clean. There was no reason for David to come after him.
I held against the assault, somehow pushing back the squeezing hand around my heart, and I didn't dare speak to David. I couldn't. No breath and no strength left over, and I knew it wouldn't do any good, no matter what I said. He couldn't act, not with Ashan in the way. If he could have, he'd have already done it.
"Ashan, you can't stand by and see her murdered!" David screamed. "Let me go!"
Ashan said, in a soft but deadly cool voice, "It's the business of humans. She told you that. I'm only enforcing what you know are the rules."
My vision was eroding, black spots appearing at the edges. Maybe that was why I didn't immediately recognize that one of the Djinn standing next to Ashan was Venna, dressed not in her Alice pinafore outfit, but in plain black. I focused on her. Her blue eyes were blazing hot, the color of a gas flame.
She said nothing. She didn't try to help either one of us, not even David, whom I knew she loved. She loved Ashan more.
No help was coming.
The Sentinels can't keep this up, not at this level of power, I told myself, trembling. Only maybe they could. The assault continued on the aetheric, furious and unrelenting, and it required every bit of concentration I possessed to keep myself from folding. Power was counteracting power, and the resulting forces were out of control; I couldn't do anything to reduce the damage, or I'd be instantly dead.
Around us, sparks began to