His heart had threatened to stop. He had to act, to do something, anything, to save Alistair. And there was only one thing he had to use as leverage.
Sam held up the pieces of the hex in an unsteady hand. “I found Eldon’s hex. He’d hidden it in multiple pieces. If you let everyone go, I’ll give it to you. If you don’t, I’m going to burn it, and you’ll never find out how it works.”
Ursino’s eyes narrowed. Beside him, Alistair stared at Sam as though he couldn’t look away, his lips parted in surprise. At least he didn’t seem too mad at Sam for coming back.
Now all Sam had to do was get them out alive.
“You listen to me,” Ursino snarled. “Give me that hex and I’ll let you walk out of here. Don’t, and I’ll put a bullet in you and him.”
Sam held his hand over the fire, feeling the heat on his skin. “Shoot me and I’ll drop these into the flames.”
“You aren’t the one in charge here, chump.”
Sam swallowed, his throat clicking with dryness. Locking gazes with Ursino, he dropped one of the slips of paper into the fire. “Oops.”
Ursino’s eyes widened. “Whoa, whoa, let’s not be hasty!”
“Let everyone go,” Sam ordered as firmly as he could. “Now.”
Ursino’s mouth twisted into what was probably meant to be an affable smile. “You give me the hex, and then—”
“Oops,” Sam said, and burned a second piece.
“Fine, fine!” Ursino let go of Alistair and stepped away, hands up. “Collect your friends.”
Doris and Alistair immediately went into the office. Reinhold emerged on his feet, but Doris and Alistair both had to support Wanda, who was still unsteady. Ursino watched them all disappear down the stairs from the balcony, the expression on his face promising vengeance.
But that was a problem for another day.
Alistair and the rest emerged into the vestibule where Sam could see them. “All right,” Ursino called down. “I kept up my part of the bargain. Put the hex on the table there and walk away.”
Sam nodded. He took one step toward the roulette table, when a voice cut through the room.
“I can’t let you do that,” said Adamo Vescovi, as he stepped out of the shadows with a massive white tiger at his side.
Alistair froze as the white tiger’s piercing blue eyes locked on Sam.
Sam, who had come back for him despite the risk. Sam, who had refused to abandon Alistair, even when he deserved it. Who had come up with a plan on the spot and saved them all.
Sam stepped back to the waste basket. “Don’t come any closer,” he said, voice trembling. “I’ll burn it.”
Vescovi casually set an odd object on the table next to him. It looked like a tin or lantern, thoroughly wrapped in tarred rope and marked with fire hexes. Alistair had never seen one in person, but it matched descriptions he’d heard of the firebombs the Germans dropped on England toward the beginning of the war.
Fur and feathers, what was going on?
Vescovi held a tommy gun in one hand, and used it to gesture to the hex Sam once again held over the flames. “Go ahead. I would have destroyed it myself, if your cousin hadn’t been so clever.”
Sam’s mouth gaped, and dread pooled in Alistair’s stomach. “Are you saying you killed Eldon?” Alistair asked. “Why would you do that? He never hurt you!”
“I couldn’t let him recreate the hex or give it to Ignatz.” Vescovi’s gaze went to Ursino on the balcony above. “You betrayed me. I had two years with nothing to do but plot my revenge. Once I got out, I found a new familiar—one who actually knows what loyalty is. Then I came here and introduced myself to your new witch. Lena.”
“She didn’t say anything about you to me,” Ursino said.
“Of course she didn’t. She knew you’d sacrifice her just as readily as you did me. The prohees have been sniffing around, and she didn’t want to rot in jail while you went on with your life.” Vescovi’s eyes burned with hate. “She told me about the hex.”
Ursino growled in anger, as though he was the only one allowed to betray people.
Vescovi smiled at Ursino’s reaction. “I killed Eldon and searched his house, but he’d outsmarted me. But that was fine. The Gattis turned out to be useful tools when it came to fanning the flames of your little war with Sullivan, and the next time Lena wanted to meet, Tim here killed her, knowing you’d assume it was one of them.”
The white tiger, presumably Tim, let out a snort of acknowledgment. Alistair’s hands tightened into fists. Vescovi had played them all, sitting back and laughing while they danced to his tune. “Fuck you.”
“Don’t be so touchy,” Vescovi said mildly. “You did the work, and now I have what I’ve wanted all along.” His lips turned up into a malevolent smile. “My dear Ignatz, all alone with no tough guys to help him out.”
Ursino’s eyes darted around. Vescovi laughed. “The Gattis aren’t going to save you, fool.” He turned to Wanda, who had shaken off the last of the sleeping hex. “Go on, get out. Your business here is done.”
Wanda’s eyes narrowed in anger, but she sized up the truly enormous tiger familiar that still stared at Sam. Then she nodded. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Sam started to take a step toward them, but Tim growled and he froze. “Sorry,” Vescovi said, “but you’re going to be staying here with me. Insurance against the Gattis getting any foolish ideas into their heads.”
A growl of his own tried to rumble out of Alistair’s throat, but before he could protest, Sam said, “It won’t work. They kicked me out.” He glanced in Alistair’s direction. “They don’t care what you do to me.”
Sam was just bluffing, surely. Alistair had been cruel, but Sam wouldn’t come back if he actually thought he didn’t care.
Except Sam absolutely would, because that was the kind of person he was.
Vescovi gave Sam a pitying look and said, “Too bad for you. Either way, I’m keeping you with me for now.”
Alistair’s vision tunneled in on Vescovi, and he took a step forward. “Well you can’t fucking have him.”
As Sam stood frozen, staring into the icy blue eyes of the tiger familiar, several things happened at once.
Ursino leapt from the balcony with a roar, shifting to bear form on the way down. The table he landed on splintered under the impact, roulette wheel spinning away, and he roared again.
Alistair flung himself on Vescovi, wrestling him for the tommy gun. He forced it up just as it went off, blasting bullets into the ceiling.
And Doris, in tiger shape, barreled across the room straight toward the familiar who was menacing Sam.
“Get out of there, Sam!” Philip shouted, before shifting and leaping onto Vescovi’s back.
Sam ran toward the exit where Reinhold waited, gesturing him to hurry. The tommy gun went off again, and a bullet whizzed past Sam’s ear. He flung himself under a table, dropping the hex. The pieces of paper scattered everywhere.
Horrible snarls filled the air as Doris and the white tiger fought. Wanda joined her, and soon all of their hides were streaked with blood. Philip pulled Vescovi down, and Alistair stomped on his arm until he let go of the gun. “Let’s get out of here!” Alistair shouted and he and Philip scrambled toward where Sam hid.