curtain of flames, and he staggered and fell. Vines whipped out of the underbrush and fastened around his ankles, snaking around his calves, pulling him flat. Before he could focus on fighting them, Shirl was on him again, leaping like a tiger, fireball at the ready.
I hit her with wind and tossed her a dozen feet down the road. "Do something!" I yelled at Kevin. He looked torn, and more than a little scared; I remembered that he'd already been in a dogfight with Shirl and her crew, and come out near death. Dammit. I couldn't blame the kid.
"No, Kevin! Stay out of it!" Lewis yelled, countermanding me, and the vines holding his ankles shriveled and he rolled up to his feet...
... just in time for Shirl to throw another fireball.
This time, he caught it. One-handed, a neat, graceful capture, and he juggled the hell-ball from one hand to the other as he watched Shirl approach. The other Warden was up and moving, too. Both stalking him.
"Dammit, Lewis-" I said.
"Nag me later."
One of the two Wardens must own the Djinn, and I was pretty sure it wasn't Shirl. That meant the other guy-the one who had the clever, off-kilter face and Canadian accent that I remembered from back on the beach-was the proud owner.
One of Shirl's running buddies.
One I needed to take down.
I shook free of Kevin and moved right. Shirl watched me with bright-glimmering eyes. I was more powerful than she was, and that meant the Demon would want to jump to me... but then again, Lewis was the most powerful guy in the world.
No way it would pass him up for me.
Unless, of course, it didn't mind doing a little hopscotching. I watched her carefully as I spiraled in closer to the other Warden.
"So," I said to him, "I don't think we've been properly introduced. Joanne Baldwin. Weather. You are... ?"
Pissed off, apparently. Because we were on an asphalt road, he couldn't do Marion Bearheart's favorite trick of softening the sand beneath my feet, but he had plenty of other stuff to work with. The area wasn't exactly denuded of life.
Sure enough, he found something. Something that sailed out of the dark and landed on the road with a raw growl, and padded into the glow of the headlights.
It was a cougar. Its long, lean body gleamed in the rain, and it had the most gorgeous green eyes I'd ever seen, large and liquid and pure animal power. It paced toward me with unnatural focus, and I could see its back legs tensing for a jump. Oh, yeah, that would keep me busy.
"Um... nice... kitty..." I took a step back, trying to figure out what I had in my arsenal, short of lightning bolts, that was likely to stop a predatory feline.
Nope. I had nothing.
There was a flare of fire, and Lewis was abruptly too busy to help-I felt the heat blaze over my skin, harsh enough to singe my hair. That left me, the cougar, and the Earth Warden.
"No fair, using endangered species," I said, and swallowed hard as the cat began to growl. It was watching me with fixed, hungry, empty eyes. "Seriously. Not good, man."
The cat jumped. I yelped and ducked and called for wind, which was a mistake because the intense fire being summoned up between Lewis and Shirl created updrafts and unpredictable wind shears and, instead of tossing the cat safely off to the side, it landed right on me and knocked me flat on the pavement.
Heavy as a man, warmer than one, smelling of wet fur and fury and blood, claws already digging into the soft flesh of my stomach and oh God...
I sucked the air out of its lungs. Just like that, faster than thought-I admit, I wasn't worried about doing it nicely. The cat choked, opened its mouth, and gagged for air, but it couldn't find any. I rolled. It scrabbled for balance, digging bloody furrows in my flesh. I called another gust of wind. This time, it cooperated, and knocked the big cat off of me onto its side. It rolled up immediately, gagging, head down, shaking in confusion.
"Sorry," I whispered, and swiped bloody hands across my face to drag my wet hair back. I didn't dare take too close a look at my body. The bottom part of my torso felt suspiciously warm and