was almost too high for him hear, and it shifted and changed as he listened, as though she was shrieking words in an impossibly high tone. Is she talking to the others?
A second later, two figures jumped down from the top of the Nerrow house, while five others came from another building across the street to Will’s right. An intense wall of flame sprang up in front of the baron, but the two that had dropped down were already within it. Darla engaged one, but the second was directly behind Will’s father.
Will was already running, and he could hear Tiny’s heavy boots pounding the street beside him, but they wouldn’t get there in time. They were still thirty yards away, with an iron fence to somehow cross before they could reach the besieged Lord Nerrow. Will’s eyes locked on the scene, and he did the only thing he could.
The vampire reached for Mark Nerrow’s head, but a force-shield blocked its hand. It reached again, its arms blurring with speed, but every attack was stopped cold. Seconds ticked by, and then Lord Nerrow turned, having finished incinerating those who had made the foolhardy frontal assault. Furious, he lifted one hand and the monster desperately trying to reach him was wreathed in flames.
Meanwhile, Will fought to stay on his feet. He had stopped just short of the iron fence, and only Tiny’s large hand kept him from falling. Force spells required more turyn when used at a distance, and while the point-defense spell normally took very little, at that range the cost of using several dozen shields in rapid succession had taken its toll on him. Tiny dragged him to the gate pillar and put his body between Will and the street.
“Are you all right?” asked the big man worriedly.
“I used too much magic. Give me a minute and I’ll be fine.” Will was already drawing turyn in as rapidly as he could to replace his depleted stores. As he did, he saw a small form walk toward them. It was the child vampire.
Her eyes were on his, even though her view was largely blocked by the bulk of Tiny’s body. Will edged to one side so he could see her better. She was somewhere just under five feet in height, with dark brown hair and eyes that seemed to swallow the light. Tiny edged farther to the right, blocking his view again, so Will sidled to the left instead.
“You can’t have him,” said the big man protectively.
“Damn it, Tiny, let me see!” cursed Will.
The vampire stopped at a distance of thirty feet, and as Will edged back in to view, she addressed him, “I’ve got my eyes on you, human. Your days are numbered, as are theirs.” She jerked her head to indicate the Nerrow household.
Her features reminded him of his cousin Sammy, or at least as she had been a few years previously, when she was younger. Who could do that to a child? “Nice to meet you,” he quipped, letting his mouth run without giving his brain time to think. It had more important things to do anyway. “My name is Will. What’s yours?”
A quizzical look crossed the vampire’s face, and then she laughed. “Alexa. The next time we meet will be your—” Her words cut off in a shriek of pain and shock as the force-lance Will had been quietly constructing took her in the hip, shattering her pelvis and nearly amputating her left leg.
“Don’t let it get away,” Will instructed firmly as he began readying another spell. “It will be useful if we can capture it mostly intact.” His words were underscored by the fact that the vampire was already up and scrabbling to get away, using her good leg and two arms to move like some grotesque crab. Tiny leapt forward, sword in hand and shield ready to defend if the creature changed from flight to attack.
And even with two good legs he was too slow. The vampire was definitely hampered by the loss of her leg, but she galloped away on her three good limbs at a pace that rivaled a healthy dog. Her damaged leg left a black smear as it bumped and banged on the ground behind her, still connected by