Her mother, sister, and toddler niece were in danger. And . . . If Molly and her family had been at home, they would likely be dead in the pyro’s fire. It would have been Molly, her husband, and the children against these creatures. I wouldn’t have had time to get to her. And she would have used her death magics.
The gonging increased, harder, faster, pounding louder, even over the protection of Evan’s spell music and the circle’s casting. It hurt my ears. Lightning shot upward from the ground at the outer ward, to meet in the center with a thunder of sound.
Beast. We’re going to have timewalk, I thought.
Jane will die.
I’m gonna timewalk in half-form.
Jane will die.
A single pure GONG sounded and the ward shivered. My hand tightened on the Glob and I drew a vamp-killer, slightly curved steel blade, the back flat and fuller, all silver-plated to poison any vamp I cut.
Light and power and the stench of ozone and burning rubber billowed out from the ward like noxious steam. Molly was crying, shaking, fighting calling on her death magics. But if there was any time to use them, now seemed like it. I opened my mouth to tell her to use her magics.
A shower of sparks fell from overhead. A burst of golden light shot through the ward.
And the ward fell.
Six shots rang out. Not one of the enemy vampires dropped. Not possible for Shiloh, Kojo, and Thema all to miss at this distance. But they did.
The vampires attacked, sprinting toward the inn. Unbloodied. Vamped out. Mouths open in silent battle cries.
I rushed forward, muscle memory taking over. My half-form swept the vamp-killer back and forward in one smooth motion. I took the head of the first vampire. Felt no resistance. The bloodsucker rushed forward, head still attached. I stopped. Whirled. The vamp was fine. How had . . . “It’s an illusion,” I shouted. But how many were illusion and how many were real? I dashed to another, slashed my vamp-killer across him. He kept going.
“A figment working,” Molly called, her voice pained. “I can’t tell how many.”
Shiloh, Kojo, and Thema were still firing, but no vampires fell.
I raced to another. And another. None fell. I tore at the Flayer himself. He stood still, tall and beautiful. Smiling. I barreled into him. Leading with my blade. The silver-plated steel sliced through him. There was no resistance. Nothing. I fell beyond him, nearly tumbling. And that was when I realized he wasn’t there either. Even he was an illusion. A human-looking one with no exoskeleton. Created by someone who hadn’t seen the Flayer recently.
“Holy crap,” I snarled, my paw-feet sliding on the snow. Even if I bubbled time—
From behind the house I heard a scream that was part bell, part raw terror. Soul. She was in the creek. Outside the ward that was no more. I pulled on Beast-speed but that wasn’t enough. I reached for the Gray Between and the power that let me slide through time.
I hit something. Or it hit me. Vamp-fast. Like slamming into the proverbial brick wall. Head first. Didn’t see it coming. Didn’t see it disappear. Head spinning, stars like snowflakes on a black background. I tried to catch myself but . . . I was already lying on the ground. In a snowdrift. I sat up too fast. Reeling. Nauseated. I put a hand to my side and my palm came away black in the darkness. Bleeding. The something—whatever it was—had cut me. My blood splashed across the whiteness of snow, two splotches. My vision was wonky, cross-eyed, and I couldn’t make it align. My ears came back on and I heard a muffled distant screaming. I made it to my knees and stumbled uphill to the front of the house.
The Everhart witches were gone, the circle a charred, muddy ring. The hedge of thorns was gone, a bigger charred, muddy circle around the inn.
Ed and Eli were gone. The scent of their blood rode on the air, carried over the cat-stink of my own blood. There was no one around me. Except a body in the snow. The smell told me it wasn’t one of ours. Vamp. Dead. I wouldn’t risk touching a booby-trapped corpse and left it there.
I found the front of the dark inn in the night. Not where I thought it would be. I’d somehow been moved. Or thrown, fifty feet, at least. I smelled something burning on the air. I staggered toward the house. The