We had. The steel that suddenly ran through me was as solid and real as the one that rested on my legs. “We have and we will. We are not giving up.” I couldn’t. I’d spent my life refusing to give up. I wasn’t going to start now. “The Auphe closed your gate. Do you think you could do that to one of theirs?”
He sat up and thought about it. He had a crease across his face from the couch cushion, and what I suspected was a slight hangover from the drugs. “Yeah, I think I could. I felt how they took it. How they tore it apart. I’m pretty sure I could do it. But what good would that do? The last thing we want is to keep them hanging around. If they want to take off, I think letting them leave the party is our best bet.”
“I don’t know if we can use it in our favor or not, but it never hurts to have information.” It was a piece of an impossible puzzle, but there were times amazing things could be done with one piece. “We’re going after Oshossi tonight,” I said, moving on. “Are you up to it?”
He looked at his watch to check how many hours he’d slept and scowled. “You mean after you drugged me?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean,” I said without remorse.
“Bastard,” he said affectionately, before yawning. He then shook his head, getting rid of the last of the drowsiness. “Yeah, I’m up for it. Hell, compared to this morning it’ll be like a vacation.” He tapped the black blade of his knife against the mala bracelet around his wrist. Putting down the knife, he pulled the beads off and handed them to me. “Thanks, Nik, but I think being Auphe now might be the best thing when the time comes. If Midol deosn’t work, I’ll give them a little taste of their own medicine.” He gave a darkly feral flash of teeth. “Next time they call me family, they’ll have reason to.”
I fingered the beads, then slipped them back on. It was his decision, whether I agreed with it or not. And I wholly did not. His grin faded and twisted. “Sorry I didn’t get us out of this like I said I would. I thought being like them would be enough.” It wasn’t, because he wasn’t. But he couldn’t see that.
“It’s not over yet,” I said.
Neither of us would let it be.
As Cal had not been in the mood for the revenant outside the Ninth Circle days ago, I was not in the mood for Oshossi. I was also not in the mood for Cherish having brought Xolo along. At best he’d be a distraction for her; at worst he’d be killed. It was not my problem or my responsibility, but it was an annoyance.
“You will not be at top form if you’re watching out for him,” I told her. And watch out for him she would. He seemed to have the defensive capabilities of a sloth.
“Do not worry,” she assured. “He hides well, and I’m not leaving him alone. If the Auphe discover the house, he’d have no chance at all.”
Cal was studying the brownstone, along with the rest of us, from across the street. It was midnight, with snow still piled in heaps off the sidewalk. “Nik’s right. He has the kick-ass moves of soggy breakfast cereal. You could’ve put him in a kennel. He could’ve had some nummy-nums and a nice scratch behind the ear.”
“You’re not going to get over the fact he beat you in cards, are you?” Robin drawled.
“Shut up. It was a fluke, okay?” Cal was only going through the motions. He’d seen Oshossi nearly kill me, without even making much of an attempt. He was, let us say, pissed. Or homicidal. Both words worked.
“Of course. Bowser couldn’t possibly be smarter than you,” Goodfellow said smoothly. “Perhaps you can get matching flea collars.”
If Xolo understood any of the conversation, he didn’t give an indication of it, his eyes staring dreamily as they always did. He didn’t have to understand it. I did and was tiring of it. “Enough,” I said. “Let’s go. Promise, Cherish, you take the third floor. We’ll take the first. If he’s not on either one, we’ll trap him between us.”
On the other side of the street, Robin picked the lock of the door and Promise and Cherish swiftly climbed—almost floating—their way up the stone facade, Xolo clinging to Cherish’s back. We were inside in ten seconds, and I heard the breaking of glass above us. “The second floor is mine,” I said, spotting the stairs. “You two search down here.” Cal hesitated—obviously Oshossi’s scent was everywhere in the house; unable to pin it down, he followed the command.
The runner on the stairs was as richly expensive as the first floor of the house. Oshossi apparently liked to live well. I was curious to see if he would die as well.
I had my chance to find out almost immediately. He was waiting just past the top of the stairs, his machetes in hand. “Stubborn human. I spared your life last time, ineffectual prey that you are.” The pointed teeth bared. “I make no exception this time.” Long black claws sprouted from his fingertips, curving as the machetes did.
I simply appreciated the lack of snakes. Unholy waterfalls of serpents, I could do without.
I caught the first blow of his machete on my katana; the second as well. He swung each blade with equal skill and he was quick, quicker than Seamus had been, but not as quick as he thought he was. He couldn’t use his enormous strength. The metal of his weapons would shatter as easily as mine. I continued to fend off his whirlwind of blows one-handed while I drew a throwing knife. He lunged to one side, and I missed his throat, but I didn’t miss his shoulder. He narrowed his yellow eyes. “Not so ineffectual after all.” The predator teeth flashed in satisfaction. “I will enjoy this.”
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have. Killing was a fact of life, not something to take pleasure in. But this time, having lost so many times in the past days, I was going to enjoy this as well. I shouldn’t, but I was.
I already had another knife in my hand and threw it as well. He knocked it aside with one of the machetes and lunged at me with the other, swinging it in a quicksilver blur. I came under it, then dived to one side before it could change trajectory and bury itself in my back. It tore through my coat as I rolled and sliced my katana to hamstring him, but he was already across the room. I didn’t give him any breathing space, and was on him again in an instant. He was fast, a challenge, but he was no Auphe. And he might not realize it yet, but he wasn’t me either. Not blade to blade. Hand to hand would be a different story, but for now . . . he was mine. It wasn’t overconfidence. It was fact.
I couldn’t knock either machete from his grip; he was too strong for that. But I could go around them, under them, over them. I sliced his thigh and a path across his ribs as he did across mine, then I got behind him and slammed a foot in the small of his back. He hissed in disbelief, but he didn’t give up, whirling to face me before I could bury a blade in his back. I doubted he could remember the last time he had been defeated. What was good for the ego could be disastrous in battle. Humility could go a long way toward keeping one alive.
Cal had said bullets had barely staggered him. It was time to see what a blade through his heart would do. He dropped the machetes and reached for me with hands that had flipped over a car. At the same time, I’d pulled my tanto knife and was jabbing it directly toward his heart. Or rather, where I was making an educated guess his heart might be.
And that’s when they came down the stairs: Promise, Cherish, and her shadow, Xolo. Oshossi’s gold eyes widened, his hands dropped away, and he ran, throwing himself through the second-story window before my knife could hit home. There was the crash of glass, the thud of running feet, and as I moved to the window, I saw him disappear, weaving through the traffic.
A fighter so fierce, so unyielding, that he couldn’t recognize he was seconds away from death, yet the sight of two vampires sent him running. With an ego so large, I imagined he would’ve thought he could take them as well. Yet he had fled.
“He’s gone,” Cherish said bitterly. “Maldíígalo al infierno.”
Xolo’s eyes were brighter than I’d ever seen them as he eased down the stairs behind her, but they dulled just as quickly when he saw Oshossi was gone.