Starlight Web (Moonshadow Bay #1) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,95

was a shifter. And a powerful one at that. Shifters and vampires didn’t get along too well, so Slater must be paying Ashante a fortune.

“How are you going to do this?” I asked. “Just start knocking it down?”

Daniel shook his head. “No, we’re imploding it. The dynamite’s been set, so don’t go near the building. Here.” He handed us a bag containing earplugs. “You’ll need these. Also, wear these masks and goggles. The dust will be horrendous.”

We gratefully tucked the earplugs into place and put on our masks and goggles, then pulled back to the other side of what had been the parking lot.

I wondered what the hell the land elemental would do once we exploded its shell. Anxious, I glanced at my phone. Nearly ten. Apparently they’d been here setting up all morning because they were ready to go on at the top of the hour.

We huddled near the tree line.

“I really hope the workers who placed the dynamite know the difference between an implosion and an explosion,” I muttered as a few snowflakes began to flutter down.

I glanced up at the sky. It was starting to come down again, and everything seemed so picture-perfect when I looked at the Mystic Wood behind me. I felt a pull to wander into the thicket, but kept myself from doing so. That could easily be the land elemental enticing me. After all, the creature had two acres to prey on.

When I thought about it like that, I no longer regretted talking to Val. At least we had a chance to reduce the number of victims.

“Places,” Daniel called out, and his work crew scattered around as though they had choreographed the action.

“Here goes nothing,” Tad said, watching with doubtful eyes. “I’m not sure this is the best idea, but it’s out of our hands now.”

“There’s nothing else we can do,” Hank muttered. “From what January said, Rowan refused to take any other action on it. If she can’t take care of something, then you know it’s a problem. Let’s give this a chance. We may not like dealing with a vampire, but he’s the only one who stepped up.”

“True,” I said. “And it’s not like I didn’t talk to the mayor about it.”

We continued to chat until Daniel held up his hand for silence.

“Check in safe. Wilson?”

“Here.”

“Dram?”

“Yo!”

He continued down a list of names until everyone in the work crew was accounted for. Then he called out, “Let’s go. Five…four…three…two…one…detonate!”

There was a pause, then a slow, low roar began to build as the building trembled. I could see explosions running up the sides, all around the visible surface. The building began to crumble in on itself as a cloud of dust rose up, billowing out toward us as the remains of the institution crumbled.

The ground shook and my jaw ached from the force of the explosion, but the wind was blowing the other direction and carried the smoke away from us.

I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when I felt something nearby—something looming large and predatory, like a winged beast rising behind me.

“What the hell?” I turned around. It was then that the spirit—and it was a spirit—body-slammed into me, knocking me on my butt. I felt it prying at the corners of my mind, trying to find a way in.

“Esmara!” As I called my guardian, I instinctively slammed my shields down, preventing whatever it was from entering my psyche. I could feel it struggling before it withdrew.

Hank suddenly leapt forward, his hands clutching my throat.

Oh crap! The spirit hadn’t been able to get through to me, so it had jumped him.

“Hank—” I tried to say, but he had such a tight grip I could barely breathe. I struggled with him. I was a larger woman, but he was strong, and the spirit possessing him was even stronger.

I could hear Caitlin and Tad shouting. I was seeing stars now, flashes of light, as my lungs burned, trying to catch a breath. Hank’s fingers pressed hard against my throat and my head was beginning to swim with the pain. I couldn’t think, but several years of self-defense courses finally took over and the next moment, I brought my knee up hard against Hank’s groin, putting as much oomph into the thrust as I could.

That worked. While his soul might be possessed, his body still registered pain and he let go, doubling over. I stumbled back. Everything was still a blur, but someone grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from