Free Fall (11 page)

Telos said, “That so?”

“Yeah.” Short and assured.

“Who is this?”

“Carson Phillips.”

“The warlord’s witch?” Not just a representative of the warlord. More like his damned other half.

There was a brief silence. “Yes.” He didn’t give a shit if she was pissed off. “What can I do for you?”

“I need some help here,” he said into the phone. He shifted his weight between his feet. A warlord who didn’t protect his own wouldn’t last long. The question was how diligently he’d protect someone who wasn’t sworn to him.

“Free kin?”

“For now.” He felt a world of understanding in the silence that followed, and that went a long way toward making him think he did have the right person on the phone.

“Can I get a name?”

He went back to the window as he gave Carson his name. The woman whistled softly. “Honor to hear from you.” Then she was all business. “Situation?”

He looked out the window, and this time there were people out there who weren’t vanilla humans. He did a quick count. “There’s a mage outside here with six magehelds that I can see.” There were probably more at the back, but other than the reactions of his proofing, he had no way of knowing for sure. From the way his wards were going off, there was at least one on the roof. “He’s already tried to take me once. He had blood up to his elbows when I saw him earlier today, and two magehelds fresh out of the box.”

“Not good.”

“No kidding.” The rituals the magekind performed to take a demon’s power involved removing his still-beating heart. Blood was unavoidable. “He’d recently cracked open a talisman. I let him know how I felt about that. He tried to kill me, and now he’s here, and I will rip off his fucking head if I have to.”

“His name?”

“Michael.” He turned around and kept his eyes on Lys. She was near the couch, pale but calm enough. “I’ve got his street-witch here with me.”

“Lys Fensic, right?”

“Right.”

After a pause, Carson said, “Can you trust her?”

He held Lys’s gaze. “Can I trust her?” he said for her benefit. “Yeah. I can trust her.” He and Lys made eye contact, and he felt the nullity from her that he’d previously mistaken for vanilla. Now he knew it was the result of her iron-control over her magic. “We consummated when I was changed. She needs to stay alive.”

She let out a breath. “Understood.”

“Michael isn’t fucking around with this. He wants her head. If he takes me, who do you think he’ll have kill her?”

“No half-measures. Full authorization from us.” She sounded like she gave kill authorizations every day. Maybe she did. Nikodemus had more than one assassin sworn to him. “I’m in the car now. Confirm you’re at your home?”

“Confirmed.”

“I have people on the way now.”

He liked that she didn’t need to ask where he lived. That spoke volumes about Nikodemus and how he monitored his territory. “When?”

“Twenty, thirty minutes? Depends how close my assassin is to your place. I should be hearing from him any minute.”

More of his wards went off. “That might not be soon enough. I only counted the ones out front. There’s going to be more than six.”

“Whoever comes will be able to sever you if you get taken.”

He’d heard rumors about that. He didn’t believe a word. The only way to free a mageheld was to kill the mage who enslaved the poor fuck. “You better be right about that.”

“I’ll sever you myself if that’s necessary. That’s a promise.”

More medallions turned black. A thud shook the top floor of the house.

“I heard that. Hold on.” He listened to dead air for a couple of seconds. “ETA, twenty minutes. Nikodemus will want to talk with you when this is over.” Her voice lightened. “Never any obligation.”

“Good to know.”

“If what we hear about you is true, you should be able to hold off six magehelds until our people are there.”

“I told you, there’s more than six. Any of them get inside, I’m taking them down. That includes the mage.”

Lys walked to the window, but she was careful and stayed out of sight of anyone out there looking in. The windows shook harder, and on the other end of the phone call Carson waited for the noise to stop.

“If you’re under attack, do the needful.” Carson disconnected, and he was left holding his phone, staring at Lys while his house shook. She had to stay alive. At any cost.

He walked to her and cupped the side of her head. “What happens if you stop blocking out all those other minds?”

She leaned her shoulder against the wall. “Like I said, I see people’s futures. Or change them. Maybe. I’ve never been exactly sure how it works. All I know is that whatever I see in my head, it happens, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Except keep them out in the first place.”

“Do you think you can get to any of his magehelds and tell me what happens?” Telos glanced out the window. “It’s important, or I wouldn’t ask.”

She moved to the window, then looked over her shoulder at him. “It won’t work if they’re blocking me the way you do.”

“I’m counting on Michael’s enslavement bond making them vulnerable to someone like you.”

“No accidents. Shield yourself.”

He nodded.

Lys pushed aside the blinds. The moment she lowered her blocks her magic hit him like a wave. Michael and his magehelds weren’t going to miss what she was doing. Cycling out of control like that, it was setting him off, too. Eyes closed, she rocked on her feet. She slapped a palm on the wall beside her and moaned. Her knees buckled, but when he moved to steady her, her eyes snapped open. She held out a hand to stop him. “Do not. Do not touch me.”

A few more wards popped, most likely the result of the magehelds reacting to her. She put her blocks back in place. Still looking out the window, she said, “You were right. I could get to them.”

“And?”

“You kill two of them.”

“Only two?”

She turned, pressing her back to the wall. She was paler than when he’d met her outside her office building all those hours ago. Her arms were clasped tight beneath her breasts in an attempt to hide her shiver. He could see it, though, and feel, too, the psychic cost of opening herself like that. “The others”—she gestured at the window—“something’s going to happen to them, too.” She gave an apologetic shrug. “They won’t die.” Her mouth thinned. “I don’t understand what I see. I don’t always. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many at once. It’s hard to keep it all straight. Sorry.”

He touched her cheek. Her skin was cool. The need to protect her lived in his bones, his blood, and his magic. If she survived this, in a couple of months, less probably, they’d know if she was pregnant. “Thanks, Fensic.”

She nodded.

Telos took a quick look out the window. Of the magehelds he could see, two weren’t going to be any trouble for him. The other four were big, also not a problem. In the case of the demonkind, size and perfection of the human form tended to be an indication of magical power. If he had to go up against all six at once, his margin for error was going to be small but not unsurmountable. Unless there were more, and he was certain there were.

“Which ones?” he asked. She looked at him with a soul that had lived with more pain than anyone should have to endure. “Which ones do I kill?”

“It never works. Trying to change things. Something always happens.” Her eyes were desolate, her pupils huge.

“Which ones, Lys?”

She pointed. “The one by the car there. And him. Across the street. Those two.”

One of the smaller ones. One of the big ones. His still-forming plan had included going after the biggest ones first, so he wasn’t exactly comforted to know he’d only take down one of the more dangerous ones. Did that mean he was going to screw up and get taken? “How? Do you know how it happens?”

“Not an accident. And here. In this room. A lot of blood. They’re what you said. Slaves. They hate Michael. It consumes them.”

“When?” It would be nice to know how much time they had before his house was breached.

She thought about that. “I’m not sure. Soon. That’s a guess.”

He leaned the side of his shoulder against the wall and tried to figure the most likely scenario. He might have to let himself get taken to give Nikodemus’s people time to get here. After that, Lys’s survival depended on how soon he got a kill order and whether Carson could do what she promised. The windows at the back of the house started shaking. He reached for her. After a hesitation, she moved into his arms. He kissed the top of her head. “I don’t want to go into this blind if I don’t have to.”

“No.” She grabbed his hand and kissed each of his fingers. “Don’t leave me.”

He set her back a step and set both hands on her shoulders. He waited until she was looking at him. “If I know whether I die or end up taken, I’ll know how to keep you away from Michael.” He moved a hand to her belly. “You have to be safe. You have to be where Nikodemus and Carson can keep you safe.”

She closed her eyes, and her power burned down his spine again. He opened himself to her. It was as intense—more intense—than their blood bond had been upstairs. Her eyes were open, but she stared at nothing, unseeing. He cupped her elbow, keeping her upright. Slowly, her eyes opened. The desolation about killed him.

“There has to be a way to stop this.” She spread her fingers over his chest. The windows rattled again and somewhere in the house, glass broke. “I don’t want you to die.”

“Listen to me.” He brought his mouth close to hers, and she lifted her head, and well, he kissed her instead of telling her they’d done the right thing. Hungry, demanding, a full on kiss with his tongue in her mouth, his hands touching her curves, and she kissed him back as if she’d die if they ever stopped. He drew back, breathing hard. “I’d rather be dead than mageheld, you understand me? I won’t be anyone’s slave. It’s better if I die.”

Her eyes glittered with tears. “No.”

“Not your choice, Fensic.”

She had herself under control. Completely shut down. Vanilla as anything. He still had his link with her, though not to her magic. “I’m never wrong about what happens. I’m going to lose you, and it isn’t fair. It isn’t fair.”

He put one hand on the wall above her shoulder, then took her hand, turning her wrist up so he was looking at the blue veins on the tender underside of her arm, thinking things he shouldn’t be. “I’m going to change the proofing to kill once his magehelds are in. That should slow them down some. When Michael gets here, he’ll have to take me first because he knows if I take down his magehelds, he’s fucked. There’ll be a fight. We know that because I’m going to kill two of his magehelds. While that’s happening, you get the hell out.”

“And leave you?”

“Michael wants you dead. He brought along enough magehelds to be sure that happens.” He let go of her arm and put a hand on her hip. Not a grope; he just set his hand to the curve of her body. When she didn’t avoid the contact, he pulled her closer. He put his other hand on her opposite hip. His heart thudded against his ribs while she slid a palm up the side of his arm.

She touched his lips, and their connection burned him. In a good way. “What if I can twist what happens?”

His back door shattered.

Michael was here.

More wood and glass broke somewhere toward the back of the house. Lys was sick to her stomach with fear, but she ignored it. Another explosion rattled the windows and shook the structure. One of the pictures on the wall fell to the floor. She’d kill Michael with her bare hands if she had to. Behind her, Telos muttered something.

She released her blocks. Destroyed them, actually.

The familiar metallic taste coated her tongue, and she fought to keep her vision from cutting out without resisting her connection to whatever and whoever was out there. Hot air rolled through the room, raising the hair on her arms. Along the walls and near the ceiling, medallions deformed until more than a few of the faces carved in them looked like they were screaming. The effect was horrific. She clapped her hands over her ears, as if that would stop the shrieking in her head, but she kept herself open and completely and utterly vulnerable.

Her awareness of the world folded around her, twisting into a different set of stimuli. She struggled to stay open and aware because everything depended on her doing something with her magic instead of just allowing it to happen.

A new awareness shivered through her. Telos was behind her and he flared in her consciousness, white hot. Not a human being. There were more like him, not human. Different from Telos because of the poison of Michael’s enslavement of them. And there was Michael, too.

Ten. There were ten of Michael’s demons in the house. Four had come in through the front. One from the roof, five more from the back of the house. Outside, fainter threads, were four more. Fourteen magehelds under Michael’s control.

Khunbish strode away from her in a whisper of fabric moving and the sharp pull of his magic. She recognized now the way demons registered to her and the difference between Khunbish and the demons controlled by Michael. If she concentrated, she could separate each of them; Khunbish, the magehelds, and Michael.

The noise receded. Windows and doors stopped shaking. What if she followed one of those vibrating patterns back to the source? She concentrated on one of them, traced it back until that one thread burned hot. She imagined cutting through it. In the back of the house, something screamed then cut off abruptly. Her sense of the magehelds changed. One less thread than before. One of the magehelds had vanished from her head.

She whispered, “Nine.”

Telos stood near the door, hands clenched at his sides. His pupils glowed orange. “I don’t know how long that will hold.” His mouth moved after the words registered in her head.

All sorts of images popped in and out of her head. Reality slipped away, but she didn’t need to be sane. She just needed to keep track of Michael and his magehelds.

“Khunbish, do you have a gun?”

He faced her and again, the words registered in her head out of synch with her hearing and sight. “Wouldn’t stop a mageheld long enough to matter. You have to sever their spines for that. Or rip out their hearts. Or blast their magic clean out of them.” She blinked hard, but Telos wasn’t in his human form. Bigger body, sharp teeth and talons. The body that had made love to her was a formidable weapon.