One Grave at a Time (Night Huntress #6)(44)

That was why it took me a second to notice the small object right behind him, but my instincts took over before my mind roused from its state of sensual bliss. I kicked Bones’s legs out from under him the instant before Helsing let out loud hiss, throwing myself forward to shield Bones from the arcing path of the knife.

Fire sliced a path from my cheek down the back of my neck. Bones spun in midair, knocking away the blade that continued to rip down my body. Through the veil of red hair that swung into my face, I saw a dark, diaphanous form start to take shape in the room.

“Kramer!” I shouted.





Twenty



Bones lunged for the sage and lighters on our nightstand, but the ghost crashed it over before he could get to it. The lighter went flying across the room, the sage getting buried under the remains of the table. That knife surged toward me again, but before it landed, Bones had me in a bear hug, rolling us out of the way. Pain cresting through my subconscious told me he hadn’t rolled fast enough, but I couldn’t see where he’d been stabbed. I pushed at his chest, but he didn’t let me go, grimly keeping his body between me and the silver knife that kept slashing at us no matter how fast we moved.

Our door crashed open. Denise’s brown hair flew around her as she charged in holding a wad of sage and a lighter. Before she could connect the two, however, the bed launched across the room and slammed into her. She held on to the sage, but lighter was jolted from her hand at the impact of the frame crushing against her fingers. It skidded across the room not far from where Helsing huddled, his hair standing on end and yowling sounds coming from him.

Another crash of footsteps coming down the hall was met with the bed and all the other furniture in the room slamming over the doorway, effective blocking it. Over the booming at the blockaded door, I heard an even more chilling sound—the metallic clang of our weapons’ bag being ripped open. Before I could even shout out a warning, a slew of silver came torpedoing at us.

Bones must’ve heard it, too, because he whipped us to the left so violently that we crashed through the dividing wall into the bathroom. An ugly chuckle reached us over the slew of curses Spade emitted at the ghost.

“Don’t come in here, there’s a shitload of silver!” Denise yelled.

“She’s right, stay back,” Bones called out when a tremendous crash sounded like Spade used his body as a battering ram against the door and all its furniture impediments. If he was thinking clearly, he’d realize he could barrel through the dry wall in the next room a lot easier, but I didn’t want him in here, so I wasn’t about to point that out.

“Start burning sage outside the room,” Bones continued urgently. “Sod won’t be able to stand it soon enough.”

Then he grabbed the edge of the ornate countertop, ripping it off with enough savagery to send hunks careening around the room. “Keep this in front of you, Kitten,” he ordered, handing me the makeshift marble shield. Then he tore off a smaller hunk for himself, blood from the sharp edges painting his hands red.

“You will die, woman,” Kramer hissed. I thought he was talking to me, but I didn’t see his cloudy, disgusting form in either the crashed-in wall or the normal entrance to the bathroom. Then a thwacking sound coincided with Denise’s yelp.

“Denise!” Spade roared.

“Stay back, you know he can’t kill me!” she shouted, her voice more shrill from pain.

Bones and I burst back into the bedroom, holding up our hunks of countertops to ward off the volley of knives that immediately flew our way. Multiple explosions of pain blasted through me as the silver pierced my legs and arms, but I kept my heart protected, and everything else would heal.

Denise was on the opposite end of the room, crimson soaking her hair from a head wound and several smaller cuts darkening her clothes with blood. I hesitated, fighting my urge to run in front of her. If I did, I’d only be sending more knives her way, because Kramer was after me and Bones. Denise had just dared to interfere with his plans for us.

“Denise, try to get out,” I whispered.

“I’m the safest person in this room,” she countered.

Kramer spun to face us, giving Bones and me just a second to raise our marble barriers before more knives came hurtling at us.

“Stop it!” Denise yelled.

The ghost ignored her. “You try to defeat me?” Kramer hissed in our direction. “I will destroy you.”

Bones replied something in German. I didn’t know enough of the language to translate, but whatever he said made the ghost howl with outrage. More knives went flying, but only aimed at him this time.

“Hurry up with that sage,” I called out desperately. Spade had been kind enough to supply us with a lot of weapons for our trip home, but now that meant Kramer had more ammunition against us. Plus, he would reuse the knives, flinging them as fast as they could drop or bounce off our shields.

The ghost’s powers seemed even greater than before. Was it because of the closer proximity to Halloween, or because he was still really, really pissed over our attempt to trap him in the cave? We ducked under another barrage of silver, trying to make it to some sage lying on the far side of the demolished room. We couldn’t afford to let our attention wander from the knives that seemed to come at us from all sides. Or the ghost who could pop up anywhere around us in a blink, bashing our bodies with what felt like painful bursts of energy. Even with how fast we moved, we didn’t know which direction the next attack would come from. All Kramer needed was one lucky strike with a silver blade, and Bones or I would be shriveled.