Witch's Wrath (Blood And Magick #3)(21)

“Are you alright?” he asked, stretching his hand out toward me.

I took his hand and pulled myself away from the wall as, slowly, my strength returned. “I’m fine,” I said, “But I can’t use my magick.”

“I know. Neither can I. We have to gather the witches and get—”

“Remy!”

Remy spun around, and his sword cane sliced through the air, cutting through four out of five fingers belonging to a creature of the night, severing them cleanly. The vampire screamed, and Remy thrust the sword into his neck too. It gargled, and blood spilled out of its mouth and throat before it toppled to the floor. But the victory was short-lived. Other vampires were coming, now. What witches had been able to flee had already fled, leaving Remy and me on our own… and surrounded.

“Madison,” Remy said, “Whatever happens, I want you to run. Get out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, as three vampires closed in.

Remy put his sword up and slashed at the first vampire that got close, cutting him across the arm. But then the second vampire came and grabbed his wrist, rendering his sword arm useless. I swiped at him with the silver tray, but the third vampire plucked the silver tray out of the air and, screaming in pain, hurled it across the room where it smashed against a wall.

They all ignored me and went straight for Remy, biting him wherever they could. The one who had grabbed Remy’s wrist bit deep into the dark, exposed flesh. Remy grunted, but didn’t scream. He punched the other vampire as it came toward him, but a human fist was no match for the kind of strength these undead monsters possessed. They got him in the neck, in the arm, in the shoulder, but they weren’t drinking from him—they were just tearing at his flesh, causing hot blood to spurt in all directions.

I yelled for them to stop, I even tried to pull one off, but she was too strong. They wouldn’t stop. When Remy was too weak to stand, they pushed him into me and we both went down against a wall.

The vampires approached again, this time with murder in their eyes. They wanted to finish this—to finish us both off. I had Remy in my arms and knew he was bleeding badly from his many wounds, but there was nothing I could do to help him. Nothing I could do to help myself. Just as I was about to resign myself to death, a roaring brightness erupted from the ground and surrounded us both. I shielded my eyes from the light, but when I dared to look, I saw it wasn’t light but fire—green fire.

They didn’t dare approach it. The fire burned bright and hot, roared like a wild animal, and lashed out at the attackers, pushing them back. From within the flames I watched a new contender enter the room—a woman who, seen through the flames, seemed to almost float and shimmer like a mirage. But she was real, and when she brought her eyes to bear on me, I almost wanted to turn away.

“This isn’t over,” she said, with a voice like death itself—cold and cruel.

“You have no right!” I yelled, “You’ve just attacked and hurt innocent people, and you’ve got no right!”

“Innocent?” she scoffed. “The man in your arms is a murderer, or have you forgotten?”

I almost tried to stand, but I knew doing so risked hurting Remy further. He was unconscious, he wasn’t breathing as much as he should have been, and his skin was turning an ashen gray. But the shifting, green flames were keeping her and the vampires at bay, at least for now, and for that I was grateful.

“Take your vermin and leave,” Jean Luc said, “This man has repented. And you? You turned him into a murderer.”

I hadn’t seen him come into the room. But when I looked on him now, he was covered in blood, his shirt and jacket had been ripped, and his long hair was caked through with blood and sticking to his face. Beside him was Jared; his eyes burned with green light as he concentrated to keep the flames alive.

The woman turned her head to look at Jean Luc, and she sneered at him, disgust evident on her face. “You’re a disappointment, Jean Luc. You always were.”

When she made as if to leave, the other vampires followed, all of them seeming to almost disappear as they ran at superhuman speeds out of the house through the side door. An instant later, the green flames Jared had conjured snuffed themselves out, leaving faint white smoke and the fleeting scent of freshly blown out candles in the air.

Remy, I thought, snapping my relief like a brittle twig. Jared came up in front of me, as did Jean Luc.

“Is he breathing?” Jared asked.

“He has a weak pulse,” Jean Luc said, presumably able to hear Remy’s heart beating even though he was standing.

“Remy,” I said, tapping his face. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking repeatedly, like a baby seeing the world for the first time.

He smiled, and when he did, blood spilled from the side of his mouth. “Hey sugar,” he said, but his voice was weak, and it rattled.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said, finding one of his hands, “It’s going to be okay.”

“It will be, kid. This place will be a whole lot better without me in it.”

Jared pulled his phone from his pocket to dial 911, but Remy stuck his hand out. “You have to let me call an ambulance, Remy,” Jared said.

“You crazy, boy?” Remy asked. “That’ll get us all into a world of trouble.”

“We need to get you some help,” I said, “You need a doctor.”