Jonas (Darkness #7)(38)

“C’mon, man,” Jonas growled from behind. I lifted my head to see Jonas ramming his shoulder under Paulie to keep him moving. “You’re too big to carry.”

Emmy slowed from in front of us and ran to Paulie’s other side.

“Get out!” Jonas yelled at her.

Fierce determination written plainly on her face, she ignored Jonas and put Paulie’s big arm around her shoulder. Together they rushed him up behind us as the whole place rumbled again. Dust filled the halls. More floor dropped out ahead. Ceiling started to rain down.

“Go right into that room. There’s a hole that leads outside!” We could barely hear Emmy’s voice through all the screaming.

Stefan did as she said, bursting away from the crowd and through an open door. A beautiful, glowing hole greeted us where a wall used to be. Not wasting any time, Stefan plunged us through it and out through the crowds. There he turned left and kept running, pushing through. At the end he turned right again and slowed to an easy jog to the road.

“There. Nothing to it.” He staggered to a stop once he reached the cement, gritted his teeth against pain he was still feeling, and put me down amid a sparse crowd of onlookers done with the fighting and just wanting to be out of the way. Most of them used to be the enemy. And we let them be. They weren’t going anywhere.

Stefan set me down as I noticed someone I knew. My hackles rose and my jaw clenched.

That bitch.

Darla.

“Oh hell no!” She was dressed in a cute little sporty sweat suit and white shoes. She’d obviously run right out of the building by the safest route, and then stepped over here to wait patiently for a winner to be decided. Now that one was, she was probably thinking of sidling up to some Council members and slinking into their fold.

Well, screw that!

“Oh, Stefan.” Darla sauntered closer with smoldering eyes directed at Stefan. “I see you’re still toting your human luggage…”

My hands curled into fists. I stalked right up to her as the gazes around me started sticking to a face splattered with blood, dusted with dirt, and probably red with anger. I might not’ve looked hot, but I bet I looked pissed.

Darla smirked at me as I got right in her face. I cocked my fist and let it fly! I clocked her right in the nose. I heard a crack as her head whipped back. She staggered backward as her hands flew up to her face.

“Don’t you dare think you are welcome anywhere on Team Good-Guy!” I seethed. I concocted a mostly translucent box—I didn’t have anything left—to keep her put and tied off the spell. Then, just to make sure no other magic users would come along and undo it, I put a bunch of flourishes and whatnot around the spell like Nathanial loved so much. He was a dick, but he knew his magic.

“Stay.” I pointed at her like I might a dog.

Blood gushed down her lips and dripped off her chin. “You bwoke my node!”

“Why is it people always shout the obvious when they get hurt?” I turned to a grinning Stefan.

“Feel better?” he asked with a chuckle.

Jonas and Emmy jogged up with Paulie a moment later. Charles and a bunch of lagging shifters came seconds after that.

“Nice work, human.” Jonas grinned at Darla as he put his arm around Emmy’s shoulders. She leaned in heavily to his touch and closed her eyes.

“What’d you do? Punch her?” Charles asked, barely looking in Darla’s direction.

“Yeah. She’s a bitch.” I slipped my hand into Stefan’s and took Emmy’s example by leaning heavily. I was tired, but I wasn’t done yet. I needed a small rest before I let reality seep back in. Anger was a great distraction, but I had to face the outcome of the battle.

“Yes. She sure is. Can I just point out that you know how to punch because of me?” Charles preened.

“Can I just point out that the human did what you were too sissy to do?” Jonas countered. “How much blood did that wench get off you, again?”

“Says that guy that had to be saved by his girlfriend.”

“She saved your ass, too, nitwit.”

Charles rubbed his eyes. “Jonas, bro, I’m tired. Go find a prison and lock yourself in. It was nice and quiet when you weren’t around.”

“The spell is fading,” Jameson said with his hands on his hips. “That was a nasty one. Did you get it, Mage?”

I nodded with my eyes closed. “It was a nasty one. I know what he did, but I can’t duplicate it yet. He was so far above me… I didn’t know people could even do the stuff he put together. I have work to do.”

“You’ll get it.” Jameson blew out a breath. “I’m glad he’s gone, though.”

“We all are.” Jonas rubbed Emmy’s back. I took that as a sign that the stalling had, once again, come to an end. I took a deep breath and started walking, my hand clutching Stefan’s. I could hear the others fall in behind me. Even the shifters, who were gathering together as the battle wound to a close, followed our crew.

Bodies littered the ground leading up to the building. Those that were left alive were busy either securing the prisoners, running after prisoners, being prisoners, or just lying in a heap for medical aid. The building continued to groan and shift, parts falling down and wood or stone rolling from the structure. What was left was in no way salvageable. Someone would have to tear it all down and rebuild for the place to be habitable again. Which, I supposed, was a good thing. The Europeans would have to go elsewhere, though they probably had a few hideouts we didn’t know about.