armor of magic 02 - rising light (12 page)

I lifted my sword over Lucius. “You’re sure you don’t want to tell me?”

“Not unless you want to make a deal.”

“I’m done making deals with demonic assholes.” I brought down my sword and severed Lucius’ head from his body.

His bones collapsed to the floor in a cloud of dust. No big explosions. No screaming or howling. Just a very uneventful end. It was kind of a letdown.

“Rocco!” I shouted across the parlor. “Throw me your matches.”

“Did you just kill our only hope of getting out of this bat cave?” he yelled.

“Just give me the matches!”

He tossed over the box, and I struck one of the wooden matchsticks. I placed the flaming matchstick on top of the pile of dust, igniting what remained of Lucius Diamond. I was pretty sure he couldn’t have come back from that, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

I picked up the three pairs of silver handcuffs from the floor and slipped them into my pocket, then joined Rocco and Charlotte by the entrance.

“That silver barricade won’t hold them off forever. We need to get to Lilith. She knows how to get out of here,” I told them.

Rocco folded his arms across his sturdy chest and tilted his head back. “You checked the hallway lately?”

“I don’t need to. I can smell them.” The whole place smelled like a bouquet of overly sweet roses and jasmine.

Charlotte smiled at me. “I’m so glad you came for me, Fiona. This place is weird.”

“They didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do, did they?”

She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t like that. I was actually taking online classes to pass the time.”

I laughed. All that time I had pictured Charlotte wearing skimpy clothes and “escorting” rich bankers and businessmen. The thought of her sitting in a fancy suite taking online classes was almost comical.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“I just thought maybe your sister had turned you. That she was pimping you around.”

Charlotte punched my arm playfully. “Come on, Fiona. You know me better than that.”

“I don’t know what I know anymore. Freaking Cagliostro had me fooled. Made me think he was you. I’m just so glad you’re okay, Char.” I hugged her.

“All right, ladies. Enough of this.” Rocco separated us. “We got a pack of bloodsuckers we need to take down. And we don’t got much silver. So if you got any ideas, please share.”

“Between two Protectors and a healer, we can come up with
something
,” I assured him.

Rocco and I could use the Logos, however the main problem was the vampires were incredibly fast. So by the time we spoke the string of ancient words, they would’ve ripped off our heads. We needed something more immediate. Silver was our best hope at weakening them, then we could move in full force with the Armor and the Logos. We didn’t have any more full canisters of the silver aerosol spray, but I had the silver handcuffs. How could we use them to our advantage?

Once again, I had a vision of the little blue faerie who had helped me in San Francisco. Laila. She had used her magic dust to get me out of a few scrapes. Maybe there was a way to turn the handcuffs into silver dust? A combination of that, some wooden stakes, fire and our magical Armor could do some damage. We needed to gather up some supplies.

“Help me find some sort of bowl,” I told Charlotte, then handed the cuffs to Rocco. “Hold onto these, use them like nunchucks if any of the bloodsuckers get past the chain.”

Rocco took the cuffs and chain-linked them together and did a few practice swing maneuvers. Clocking a vampire across the head with that would hurt.

Charlotte and I scoured the parlor, looking in drawers and cabinets, searching for anything that we could use as makeshift vampire deflectors. We found crates of champagne—not helpful. And scotch—potentially helpful for fueling fire. In one of the cabinets, I found boxes of cigars and some high-end butane lighters and fluid.
Jackpot
! Charlotte found a bowl. We still needed wooden stakes. I caught a gleam coming off the wooden bar and knew what I needed to do.

“Stand back.” I wielded my sword and came down with a vengeance, cracking the counter right down the middle.

A loud crack splintered through the room, getting Rocco’s attention. I began breaking the bar and stools into pieces.

“Hurry up, Farrow! We ain’t got much time,” he yelled.

One of the vampires shot over the silver stanchion and entered the parlor. Rocco clobbered it with the chain of handcuffs, sizzling the vampire’s cheek. He then swung his sword, slicing the head clean off. Charlotte and I gathered all the supplies, dropping armfuls of wood next to Rocco’s feet, along with a couple of lighters and the fluid.

“Charlotte, stake any of the bastards right in the heart. And Rocco, they hate fire, right?”

“Fire works, but only as a deterrent. We need silver.”

“I’m going to shave down those handcuffs and make some silver dust. Just keep them back. If you can’t stake them, catch them on fire. Got it?”

Rocco handed me the cuffs. “How you gonna shave that silver?”

“My sword.”

Rocco gave me a firm nod of approval, but Charlotte’s eyes were wide with terror.

“You’ll be fine, Char. Just keep those wooden stakes ready. And Rocco’s good. He’s been doing this a long time. You just need to hold them off for a few minutes until I get enough silver dust. Then we can go back out there and get to your sister.”

Charlotte actually laughed. “It’s too ironic that we keep needing
her
help for the trouble
she
keeps getting
us
into. If she weren’t my sister, I swear I’d freaking kill her.”

“Oh, trust me. I was so close.”

Another vampire slipped into the parlor, and Rocco drove a piece of broken bar stool into its chest. It fell back and hit the floor hard, then proceeded to wither into a pile of gray dust.

“Get to it, Farrow!” he shouted, piercing another vampire in the heart and tossing some wood to Charlotte. “Gonna need you to step up, sweetheart.”

She took the wooden stakes and stood behind Rocco as the second line of defense while I got to work with the cuffs. I situated the bowl Charlotte had found on the floor and stood over it, then began sliding one of the pairs of handcuffs along the edge of my sword. The faster I moved, the quicker the shavings fell.

Behind me, Rocco and Charlotte continued stabbing vampires, spraying flames and catching the bloodsuckers on fire.

Silver dust began to accumulate in the bowl, but not fast enough.

“Fiona!” Charlotte yelped.

As I looked up, one of the vampires seized me by the throat. I dropped the cuff and focused on my sword, but the vampire’s strong fingers were crushing my windpipe. The parlor grew dark around the edges of my vision. Charlotte was coming for me, but Rocco commanded her to stay with him to continue slaying the vampires.

I kicked and struggled against the vampire, but the bastard was powerful. I didn’t have enough strength to swing my sword. The vampire squeezed my throat harder and everything started to go black. I made one last attempt, kicking my magical boot and making direct contact with his groin. He swayed a bit, slightly knocked off balance, and loosened his grip a touch. I was able to breathe and the relief gave me enough strength to lift my sword. I clobbered him upside his head. It wasn’t much of an impact, but he dropped me.

I rolled away, holding up my shield just as he lunged at me. When he hit the force field, his body ricocheted and he smashed against the wall. Jumping up, I pinned the vampire against the wall with my shield, then sprayed him with lighter fluid, pulled out the lighter and ignited his skin. He screeched as the flames coursed over his body. I swung at his neck, hoping to hack off his head, but I hit his shoulder instead. He came at me, flames rising. He grabbed my wrist, scorching my skin. My sword deactivated.

“Some help!” I yelled, as the pain tore through me.

“Farrow!” Rocco lobbed a fiery wooden stake toward the vampire. The flaming piece of wood plunged into the vampire’s heart and the creature combusted, melting into the Persian carpet. I grabbed the bowl of silver dust; it would have to be enough because we were out of time.

“Help!” Charlotte screamed.

One of the vampires had Rocco by the throat. I lunged over, kicking the vampire in the back of his legs, knocking him to the floor. He kept his grip on Rocco and the two of them rolled around, punching and strangling each other in a supernatural wrestling match. Rocco hoisted the vampire and flung him into the wall, making a hole. The vampire leapt back over to Rocco and punched him so hard, the detective shot across the room. He smashed into the fireplace; pieces of brick crumbled around him. Dizzy and shaking his head, Rocco stumbled as he stood up. The vampire darted across the room and pummeled Rocco, knocking him down. I grabbed a piece of the wood and Charlotte caught it on fire. With all of my speed, I dashed across the parlor and drove the burning wood into the vampire’s back and right through its heart. He burst into flames.

But Rocco was out cold.

twenty-one

Charlotte guarded the entrance to the parlor while I shook Rocco, trying to wake him up. The helmet had saved his life because he was still breathing.

“Rocco, come on. Wake up.” I kept shaking him, but he was out.

We were running out of time. Charlotte used the can of lighter fluid and created a spray of fire, igniting another vampire who had gotten in. It was beginning to smell like burnt hair and sulfur in that room.

“Is he okay?” She kept her attention locked on the entrance.

“Can you try to heal him while I ward off the bloodsuckers?”

“Bring him over this way and I’ll try,” she said.

I hoisted Rocco’s heavy body and carried him over to the entrance, propping him up against the wall. I then grabbed a few of the wooden stakes and stood guard, while Charlotte got to work on Rocco, holding both of her hands around his temples. Light radiated from her palms like a pink Aurora Borealis.

Another vampire bolted into the parlor. I knocked him down with my sword just before he reached Charlotte. He sprang to his feet and charged at me. I didn’t have time to pull up my shield, so he rammed right into me, knocking me to the carpet.

“You’re a fool to think you can win this battle, Protector!” he sneered, swinging a punch.

I rolled out of the way so his fist careened through the floorboards. I was so over fighting the vampires. I mean, utterly over it. Springing to my feet, I then brought my sword down onto the top of his head. He didn’t flinch. He was more powerful than the grunts we had churned through. This must’ve been the superior line of attackers. I held up my shield, but he forced his fist through the wall of protection, his fingers brushing against my neck. Before he had a chance to choke me, a wooden stake came forward through his ribcage and he crumpled to the floor. Rocco stood there smirking with a satisfied nod.

“We gotta go,” he said.

Each of us grabbed a fistful of silver dust and edged toward the entrance. Rocco ripped down the chain and tossed it to Charlotte to aid in her protection. Then Rocco and I held up our shields and ran into the hallway with Charlotte at our heels.

The hallway was packed with vampires, lined up and waiting their turn to enter the parlor. Rocco and I took positions back-to-back with Charlotte sandwiched between us. Our shields slowed down any immediate attacks. And once any of the vampires got close enough, one of us would blow a small burst of silver dust into his face. Skin sizzled and burned as they collapsed to the ground, writhing and howling. We couldn’t use our swords because we had to keep the shields up. But Charlotte was able to lob a few wooden stakes and whip that silver chain at any vampire who came within our perimeter.

Once the pack realized we had more silver, most of them backed away. The more prideful ones took their chances and paid severely. The silver dust was much more potent than the aerosol spray. Something to keep in mind for future reference: bring a shit ton of silver dust to a vampire fight.

By the time we reached Lilith’s room, the majority of the pack had scattered off. They weren’t risking their immortal lives for anyone. Narcissists. Cagliostro would most likely have a tough time trying to tame these creatures and persuade them to fight for his cause. They didn’t seem very loyal. Not to Lucius Diamond and not to anyone other than themselves. Made sense. Their very nature was to drain life for their own selfish purposes.

I picked off the last few stragglers, while Rocco secured the entrance with the silver chain. It was good enough for the time being. We weren’t planning on staying much longer.

twenty-two

Charlotte stood over her sister, shining her healing light onto Lilith’s mangled body. The succubus had been passed out in the same spot. Still minus a wrist and a foot.

Charlotte frowned. “Did you have to cut off body parts? I’m not sure I can heal all this.”

“I went easy on her. And she can regenerate. The only reason she’s still alive is because she’s your sister. And I know you love her, but come on, Char. You know Lilith is an evil—”

“Bitch!” Lilith shot back to life and clawed at me.

Charlotte held her down. “Easy, Lil. You’re in bad shape. Lost a lot of blood.”

“No thanks to your lame friend,” she sneered.

“I gave you a chance to tell me where Charlotte was, but you decided to do things the hard way, Lilith.” I backed away. Not because I was afraid of her, but I was kind of grossed out by all the blood.

Lilith started crying a little bit, and that damn rush of guilt came back like a punch to my gut. “Who do you think you are? Coming in here, trying to take my sister away from me. This is the safest place for both of us. Cagliostro is out there hunting us down for what I did in San Francisco. Demon mages don’t appreciate when you stab them in the back.”

I sat on the bed. “This place isn’t safe anymore. Cagliostro set up Diamond and is trying to take over the AOV.”

Lilith bolted up. “Cagliostro killed Lucius?”

“Not exactly. That was Farrow,” Rocco said.