I gasped, shocked when a wave of force burst up and out from him, pushing the chairs, couches, and even Jenks back four feet. Constance hit the floor, tumbling into the wall where she lay, stunned. The three security personnel were knocked aside, and Joni began to laugh, raspy and pained as she held an arm to her middle.
Pike swore softly. We had already been on the floor, but the blast had shaken him, and his grip on me had eased. I found Zack’s eyes and grinned as hope returned. He could do magic. He was a mouse, but he’d lost the band of charmed silver when he had shrunk down, and he could work the lines through his familiar!
“Rache. Change and let’s go!” Jenks said as he dropped down before me.
“I swallowed it,” I said as Pike renewed his hold on me. Everyone else was still shaking the blast off, but it wouldn’t be long until they got it together. “It’s gone.”
“You what?” Jenks exclaimed, and I shrugged, letting Pike drag me up since I wanted to be upright anyway.
But then Jenks spun to Zack, his dust shifting to an alarmed red. “Look out!” he shouted, then darted to the ceiling.
“Squeak!” Zack said again, and I staggered, falling into Pike when a second blast hit us. They were expecting it, though, and everyone braced themselves, sliding back two feet but keeping upright.
“You need to let go!” I shouted, elbowing Pike and stomping on his instep. His grip loosened, and I shoved him pinwheeling back. “Zack!” I called as I broke from Pike, and the kid scampered to me. “Let’s move!”
“Circle. Now!” Jenks shouted, and I dropped to a kneel as a green-tinted bubble snapped into existence around us. Zack leapt into my hands, and I jumped when Pike angrily side-kicked the circle, stymied.
Eyes narrowed, Pike dropped back to glare at us. Behind him, Constance was in a state, screaming at her people and throwing chairs—big heavy ones that crashed into the walls to leave dents. Her security surrounded us, weapons drawn but not knowing what to do. Joni was laughing, her knees to her chest as she sat on the couch and rocked. The wig was on the floor, and her eyes were bright despite her pallor. Damn, vampires are resilient.
“Thanks,” I said to Zack, but my lips parted as I realized he was trying to chew through my charmed silver. “Are you okay?”
He looked up at me, squeaked, and went back to chewing. I wasn’t sure how we were going to get out of here if I couldn’t shrink down: one hallway, one elevator, one I.S. personnel at a time until we were aboveground and on my streets.
Jenks’s wings were a tight hum until he lit on my shoulder. “Thanks for telling Trent about the Brimstone,” I said. Past the circle, Pike was organizing them, and I ducked, wincing when they all fired on us, bullets ricocheting from Zack’s circle to make them scatter and Constance scream at them all the louder. “How is it going up there?”
“Beautiful chaos.” Jenks took a strip of tape from his utility bag to fix a torn wing edge. “Someone talked, and people I’ve never seen before are wandering the streets looking like you, Cookie Man, and Pike. It’s like a three-theme Halloween out there.”
“Really?” I said, flushing. “Any ideas?” I added, sighing in relief when Zack finally worked through my charmed silver and it gave way with a snap. I didn’t bother to reach for a line. We were too deep to reach one without a familiar. We had to move.
“Kill her! Both of them!” Constance shrieked, oblivious to Joni as she staggered to a stand, helped by a thin, white-haired woman. Kip? I wondered when Pike gave them a nod.
My pulse jumped when a chair bounced off Zack’s circle and crashed into a table. Wincing, I looked over my shoulder at the door we’d come in. It was the only sure way out of here, and Pike stood resolute before it. The worry he had shown for Joni and Kip was gone, his arms crossed and a mean look on his face.
“Pike!” Joni called as Constance raged, and I watched, shocked, when Pike’s anger turned to fear at her voice. Joni and Kip stood at a distant door. Both women were weak from blood loss and a never-ending fear. But all Joni did was look at me and nod, unexplained tears streaming down her face.
What did I just miss? I thought as Pike’s determined stand before the door faltered.
“Squeak, squeak, sque-e-e-eak!” Zack said, and I glanced down.
“I can’t reach a line until we’re closer to the surface,” I said, and Zack sat in my palm, stymied.
“Well, we can’t stay here,” Jenks said.
“Maybe I can teach you something,” I said, and then I started, attention falling to Zack again. His tiny little hand was placed on my palm, and through him . . . I felt a ley line. “Zack, you’re a genius,” I whispered, then ran through my mental Rolodex of charms. There was one thing the vampire was more afraid of than anything else. “Okay, close your eyes when I do the spell. And if we get separated, run for the door. We’ll meet in the hall. Ready? On the count of three, drop your circle and give me every last erg you can handle.”
Zack nodded, and I moved him to my shoulder. “Hang on. One.” I took a breath, looking past our circle at the vampires trying to appease Constance as she freaked. Joni and Kip were gone. “Two.” I looked behind me at the door. Pike saw me, and his arms fell from his chest and a line of worry etched his brow. “Three!” I shouted, and Zack dropped his circle.
I rose up as a cry went out to catch me. “Lenio cinis!” I shouted, funneling the line coursing into me into a burst of light as bright as the sun. It exploded from me with a pop of sound, the heavy weight of a supernova slamming into us like a wave.
“No!” Constance shrieked, deathly afraid as she turned and ran right into a wall. Falling into a huddle, she cowered and wept, thinking I’d opened the earth and let the sun in.
I sprang for the door, Jenks a tight hum at my ear. My charm died, and it was as if all the light in the room went with it as our spell-shocked eyes tried to adapt.
“Adaperire!” I shouted again, hand waving in front of me as I struggled to see, and I heard Pike cry out as the locked door swung open, knocking him aside.
And then we were in the hall, running for the elevators, Constance’s screams going faint behind us.
CHAPTER
23
“Tink’s little pink thong, that was great!” Jenks shrilled as I stumbled forward, hand held out to find the wall. My pulse pounded, and I couldn’t see well. Zack’s little nails dug into my ear, and I tried to stop lurching like a drunk. The elevator was down and to the left. Unless I’d already gone past it.
“Jenks, I can’t see. Which way do I go?”
“You didn’t shut your eyes? Straight,” he said, and I squinted through the tears to see him hovering before me. “Pike’s coming. He doesn’t know when to stay down.”