circle. Nothing I would disrupt. I walked toward the three. Molly’s eyes snapped to mine. Her face was strained and desperate, and I could almost feel the death magics pushing against her control. Her mouth formed one silent word: Help.
I circled to the side, so Evan could see me too. His eyes were tight, the skin at the corners wrinkled, face pale against his red beard. He worked to maintain a steady breath and soothing notes, watching me. I knelt by Angie and . . . stopped. Flying. Crap. It was okay to fly without knowing the rules if it was just me who got hurt. But—
“Hurry,” Molly said, her voice hoarse.
Eli disappeared from the room, the baby and EJ each over a shoulder, taking them to safety. I gripped the Glob so it didn’t touch anything but my hand. And placed my fist on Angie’s chest.
Nothing happened.
All in or nothing. I thought, Okay, you feathered flying angel. She calls you her angel. Save her! I touched the Glob to Angie’s chest.
And the magic storm that was my godchild stopped. Just stopped.
The stone and iron and wood splinter and Blood Diamond and whatever parts of my own body had gone into making the Glob heated. The Blood Diamond had been used to steal children’s magics, but in the past, the children had to die first. This time the Glob sucked up the excess magics, Angie’s and Molly’s and Evan’s too, ripping them out of the air.
Angie sighed and fell asleep. Molly fell onto the bed. Big Evan dropped like a rock, falling toward me and his daughter. I grabbed Angie up and somersaulted across the room. Banged my head and elbow on the wall and an end table. Big Evan landed and the floor shook.
I came up to my feet.
I was holding child and Glob, the magical talisman out to the side. A vamp stood in the doorway. In daylight. Storm light. Whatever. It wasn’t natural, except for the dark of the storm and the age of the vamp. Thema carried a sword and a ten-mil.
“Son a wish ona swish,” Molly said, the consonants mostly missing, the vowels drunken.
“‘M unna uke,” Big Evan said.
“You puke, you clean,” Eli said, reappearing. He stepped around the vamp standing in the doorway and added, to her this time, “She needs a bottle. There’s breast milk in the freezer and a card with microwave instructions.”
“I am not a nurse for human children,” Thema said. “I am not a blood-servant to stoop to such duties.” Eli plopped Cassy into her arms. Thema’s eyes went wide. The baby, hungry, stopped wailing, rolled her head, and nuzzled at Thema’s chest. “Ahhh. Ahhh . . . ,” Thema said, holding the baby away from her like she might a wriggling skunk.
Big Evan gagged and vomited all over the rug.
I stood, holding a sleeping witch child. “Where’s EJ?”
“In the workout room with Alex.”
“Gimme,” Molly said, pushing up to a sit, one arm out at me. I placed Angie on her lap. “What the hell was all that?” she asked as she drew a trickle of power from the earth and the surrounding woods and magically inspected her infant and eldest daughter. Milk stained the front of her clothing, her body reacting to the need and terror of her children.
“I still have a connection to Ed. He’s using it to let me know he’s close to breaking. When he let down his shields, some of his pain must have filtered through his link with Angie.” I had no idea how much the child had absorbed or would remember, but even a microsecond of Ed’s torture couldn’t be good for her. I turned my head to Eli. “Pack up. It’s early, but we’re heading to that parley.”
“I’m coming,” Molly said. “Lemme shower off the milk and fear sweat and then nurse Cassy. No need to make the fangheads salivate.”
“I’m comin’ too,” Big Evan said, pushing his bulk to his knees and then to his feet, grunting. Before Eli could say anything: “I know, I know. After I clean my mess off your fancy rug and shower off the stink. We’ll be ready in fifteen.”
“Who will take care of our children?” Molly demanded.
“Shiloh?” I asked. “If she’s healed enough?” Shiloh was their niece and a witch-vamp too.
“I do not know how to work a microwave,” Thema said from the door, a hint of panic in her tone. “I do not know what to do with this child. I will fight all of