Pierce saw her, and he smiled. "And sometimes, it's that easy."
Sarah's mouth opened. "It's a trap!" she shrilled, still standing there. "Help me!"
With a thump, my heart tripped into overdrive. I stumbled back when two men in black came from around the doorframe. One yanked Sarah inside. The other reached past the threshold, and before I could find the breath to scream, jerked us over the threshold.
Now I shrieked, finding myself skating across the hardwood floor to slide into the wall in a crumpled heap.
A loud "Ow!" pulled my head up, and I found Pierce askew on the stairway leading to the upper floors. I got to my feet, tense and hunched. Sarah was gone, but I could hear her crying. Her sobs grew fainter, but never disappeared. A door slammed.
Pierce rose and tossed his black hair out of his eyes. His lips were pressed together, and he seemed mad at himself more than anything else. The remaining man, a vampire by the glint of fang and telltale grace, was fronting him. I stumbled to stand against the wall, and he focused on me.
"Don't touch me," I said, feeling a faint pull from his charisma and a lot of fear.
Pierce touched his lip, surprise widening his eyes when his hand came away red with blood. "Inform your master I wish to parlay," he said, his words almost laughably formal. "We have a small gentleman-matter standing between us."
"Where's the girl?" I blurted, thinking I could hear her under my feet somewhere.
The vampire between us and the door smiled, chilling me. "I'd be more worried about your own neck, little witch," he said to me, but looking at Pierce, clearly the greater threat.
"Christopher!" Pierce shouted, and I felt a wash of dizziness. "Come out of your hole, you disgusting spawn. We have a matter of early interment to discuss!"
The vampire moved. I pressed against the wall as he took a too-fast step to Pierce and smacked him.
"Pierce!" I shouted as the small man fell backwards into the stairs again. "Leave him alone!" I shouted at the vampire.
Standing at the foot of the stairs, the vampire smiled. "Do you have a mommy, little girl? Will she cry for you?"
Fear slid down my spine, pushing out the fatigue and the dizziness. I stood, alive for what seemed like the first time.
Too bad it was about to end. Right when it was getting good.
"Pay me mind, not her," said Pierce, picking himself up again.
The vampire took one step to me, and Pierce pulled a charm from his pocket. I had an instant to prepare, and then he pulled the pin.
The front hallway shook in a boom of sound. I cowered as the chandelier swayed, and the windows in the door blew out. Falling into a ball, I crouched in the corner where the wall met the stairway, feeling my ears throb.
Someone touched my shoulder. Panic gave me strength. Wide-eyed, I turned to strike, stopping at the soft pull of ley line running through me.
Pierce.
Exhaling in a wash of relief, I found him close and worried. He crouched beside me and fingered another amulet. "Grit your teeth, and close your eyes," he said. "Forgive me if it's too much."
I nodded. Hunching down, I tried to become one with the floor. My breath caught as a silver-lined ribbon of ever-after iced through me to leave the taste of tinfoil in my veins. The soft presence of Pierce's body covered mine, sheltering me.
A second boom of sound pulsed over us, and in a visible cloud, the scent of dust and broken wood rose. Coughing, I looked up as Pierce slipped his hand in mind and helped me stand. The vampire was out cold against the wall beside the door. But even more startling was the four-foot-wide hole in the floor between us.
Pierce peered into my eyes, striking me silent with how concerned he was. "Are you well? Did I hurt you?"
I shook my head. "There's a hole in the floor."
Pierce pulled me to it. "I'll catch you."
I held my breath as he nonchalantly stepped off the edge of the floor and dropped from sight. From across the room came a soft groan, and the vampire moved.
Pulse hammering, I sat on the floor and dangled my feet. "Here I come!" I warned him, then dropped.
I stifled a shriek, but it came out as a yelp when he caught me and we fell in a tangle of arms and legs. We were in a lower living room with soft carpet and lighting, and expensive paintings on the walls. An entertainment center stood in one corner. There were two doors, one beside us, the other across the room.
"You're heavier than you look," Pierce puffed, and I scrambled off of him.
"Yeah, well you're a lousy catch." I glanced up at the hole in the floor, then back to the TVs. There were a couple of them, and my lips parted when I recognized a black and white shot of my little car looking funny out there against the expensive estates. Closer to the house was the imprint in the drift where Pierce hit. It made me glad we'd come in the front.
A frightened whimper caught my attention. Together Pierce and I looked to a far corner dusky with a soft light. My hope withered to nothing as I saw Sarah in the grip of a small man dressed in casual sophistication. His silk-clad arm was wrapped around her, covering her mouth. Tears marked her face, and she was terrified.
"Gordian Pierce," the vampire said in a soft, almost feminine voice. "You should have stayed dead."
I pressed back into Pierce, then realizing it made me look afraid, I rocked forward. I was still holding his hand. I was telling myself it was so he could do his magic, but the real reason was I was as scared as Sarah.
"You haven't changed," Pierce said, a new accent coloring his words. "Still the same Nancy boy forcing your putrid self on little girls, I see."
Sarah made a heartbreaking sound, and the vampire, Christopher, I guess, stiffened. His knuckles went white where he pressed his hand over her mouth. "I saw you in the ground," he said bitterly. "You shouldn't be here."
Pierce's hand clenched on mine in a bitter anger. "Your first mistake was putting me in blasphemed ground," he said shortly. "It left me in a mind to return. Eliminating your filth of existence is worth postponing heaven for."
Christopher's chin rose, and a snarl curved his lips up. I knew he was several hundred years old, but he looked thirty. Witch magic at its finest.
"Good," he said, shoving the girl to a nearby couch where she collapsed to sob. "I'll enjoy hearing your screams again between the beautiful thumps of dirt hitting your casket."
I felt a chill, imagining it. Pierce's hand on mine went damp with sweat. Mine probably.
"You foul bastard," Pierce said, his voice shaking. "I will not leave without the girl."
Intuition and the shifting of light pulled my attention to the hole in the ceiling. "Look out!" I cried, pulling Pierce and myself back when the two vampires from the front door dropped down. Pierce's free hand started making gestures behind his back, and my pulse raced to make me lightheaded. Smiling like death, they started to advance.
"No!" their master shouted, and they hesitated. "Let them stand." He flicked his eyes to one who had carried Sarah down here earlier. "You, man the outside grounds," he said, then turned a disparaging look at the other. "You mind the stairs. From outside. I don't want to be disturbed."
He turned to Pierce and me, and I thought I heard the small man beside me mutter a curse. "I enjoy trespassers," the vampire said. "The law is going to see you dead again, Pierce. All you have brought to me is more terror to lap up. What a timely gift. Thank you."
He nodded curtly at the two vampires, and they slipped away, one through the door and stair behind us, the other jumping straight up the hole in the floor. Sarah was still crying, and the twin clicks of two doors shutting were ominous. Great. I think it was about to get ugly.