The Curse (Belador #3)(89)

One troll tossed aside two VIPER agents he had by the throats and howled, turning until he spotted Quinn.

Then Quinn grabbed his own head.

The minute the troll dove for Quinn, Evalle blasted the nasty creature to pieces.

Screw intel.

Shaking his head, Quinn staggered but gave her a thumbs-up that he was good for the moment.

Three trolls still engaged agents in the middle of chairs and other furniture that were piled haphazardly. Evalle pushed into the center of the carnage.

A clawed hand reached out from a battle and grabbed her, digging into her sore shoulder when he shoved Evalle to her knees. She clenched against the new pain and fought to turn the weapon on him.

Storm snarled, tackling the Svart and yanking his attention away from Evalle. She jumped up and took aim, but couldn’t kill the Svart while he was entangled with Storm.

“Eeevallle!”

That was Kellman’s voice.

Quinn rushed away from the fighting and called to Evalle, One of them grabbed Lanna. Don’t kill her when you shoot.

Evalle flipped the lever on the weapon to the lower strength and spun in the direction of Kellman’s voice. The teenager stood with a finger pointed at the Svart holding a young woman. Lanna. Kellman and Kardos chanted something that had the Svart slapping his face with his free hand. The Svart must not want to eat Lanna or he’d have done so, but the girl was turning blue from lack of air.

Evalle took the shot, hoping the level of stun wouldn’t harm Lanna.

The troll jerked and lit up as if he’d been electrocuted by enough power to run Times Square. But he did drop the girl.

Lanna fell to the floor in a limp pile.

Kellman reached Lanna first, then Quinn and Kardos knelt beside her. Quinn called to Evalle, She’s alive.

With them secure for the moment, Evalle turned to find Storm. He had bloody slashes across his chest and arms from claws where he still fought the Svart. The troll and Storm crashed through a pile of chairs, falling to the floor.

She yelled at Storm, “Get ready.”

He didn’t have time to ask for what when she lifted a hand and slammed a kinetic hit at the Svart. That caused the troll to jerk his head around to her and lift up in preparation to attack.

Flipping the lever back to deep-fry, she yelled at Storm, “Move. Now!”

The troll leaped at her, but hallelujah, Storm rolled to his left.

She blasted the troll in midair, spewing green ooze all over the place. Smelled like raw sewage in summer heat.

Storm jumped to his feet and headed toward the other two Svarts still battling.

Evalle said, “Hold up.”

Storm turned back. “Why?”

“Don’t jump in unless they can’t break away so I can get a kill shot.”

Tzader fought a Svart alongside Reece “Casper” Jordan, another VIPER agent who was not Belador. She told Tzader telepathically, I need you to slam the troll with your kinetics to break away, then you and Casper hit the floor when I say go.

Tzader said, I told Casper. We’ll go on the count of three.

When Evalle yelled, “One, two, three,” Tzader hit the Svart with a kinetic shot that barely knocked the troll back a step. Tzader and Casper dove for the floor, completely vulnerable. Evalle blasted the Svart, then finished off the last one the same way.

Tzader moved toward her. He walked with a limp, but he’d heal quickly. Evalle asked, “What about the humans?”

“All safe. There was just one Svart watching them, and Trey got him with the other weapon.”

Casper swaggered up to her, wiping troll goo off his face. That cowboy only knew one way to walk. “Some fine shootin’ there, Evalle. That cleaned house.”

Not completely. Evalle had only stunned the one who’d grabbed Lanna. She was about to mention that when Adrianna came strolling up, not a drop of stinking troll goo anywhere on her tight-fitting, black jumpsuit. How did she manage to always look so put together, even at a smackdown?

Adrianna told Tzader, “Trey’s with the humans. I put them to sleep with a spell, but it won’t last long. There’s more here than I can clean up. I can give them a memory that they dreamed this like I did the gangers today, but that’s not going to work this time because they’ve got injuries that need treating. They’ll end up at the hospital, all with the same ‘dream.’” She held up her fingers and made quote marks in the air when she said the word dream. “They need their memories wiped, and transport to medical care, and I can’t do that.”

Was it petty of her to be thrilled about hearing something Adrianna couldn’t do? Probably. Too bad. Evalle smiled.

Tzader said, “Got to call in Sen.”

So much for enjoying the moment.

Sen would have to do more than just clean up the mess and wipe minds. He’d have to put this building back in shape, right down to repairing any structural damage, so the humans would never know what happened here.

Tzader sent Casper to assess agent injuries while he contacted Sen.

Evalle walked over to the teenagers just as a flush of power whipped through the air. She ignored Sen’s arrival and searched for the boys. She let out a sigh of relief when she spotted them sitting next to the girl with interesting hair. Blond at the roots, but the curls ended in black tips. Lanna had a stunned look on her attractive face. “So you’re Lanna.”