“No . . .” I whispered, then screamed in agony when she crushed my wrist as if it was a breadstick. It was on fire, and I dropped my gun to pry at her fingers squeezing as if to pinch my hand off.
“Rache!” Jenks shrilled, and there was a thump as Constance caught my falling gun.
My breath came in with a little pant as she let up. My throat was raw, and I thought I was going to be sick.
“Shouldn’t play with weapons,” Constance said, and then, still holding my pulped wrist, she shoved my splat gun right through the window mesh and dropped it. Tight-lipped, Pike pressed against the door, the welts from Jenks’s dust lumpy on his face. Jenks froze in indecision. Leave me to tell Trent to bring the gondola down, or stay to keep Pike back. Dusting an unreal orange, he stayed.
My wrist felt as if it had exploded. “You’re . . . making a mistake,” I panted, hunched in pain as she held my wrist, arm stretched between us. “You should find an accord with me.”
“That’s what I’m doing.” Constance’s eyes were utterly black, and then I gasped, feet sliding as she yanked me into her.
“Get off!” I demanded, trying to get my knee between us, and then I screamed as she squeezed again.
Jaw clenched, I went limp, arm extended, almost kneeling before her. My eyes met hers, and I quailed. Pike was swearing between Jenks’s aggressive wing snaps, but Constance’s pupils were my world, and I could hardly breathe. There was no pleasure; it was all pain. Only the really old ones could do that. Crap on toast, again? I thought, remembering Piscary. He had pinned me, too, and I blinked the tears of failure away. If they couldn’t lure you with guile, they beat you by force.
“You’re making a mistake,” I said again, black dots spotting my gaze until she eased up on my wrist and consciousness flooded back. She’d want me awake for this. I could smell hot pixy dust, but Pike had quit trying to reach us, standing in the corner with Jenks facing him. That amulet was so close, but I couldn’t . . . reach it.
“I bind you, and you bring the city together under me,” she whispered as she came close. She nuzzled my hair from my neck, and I shuddered. “They follow you. God knows why. And then I will kill you so slowly you will beg for it. Cincinnati is mine. The old undead owe me this. They made me what I am, and they owe me! All of it!” she exclaimed, and I pulled my pulped wrist close when she let go to gesture at the city. Her eyes fell to me. “I’ll start with you.”
She let go. . . . “You will not. Have. Me!” I shouted, teeth clenched as I shoved her away and surged upright.
The insane woman screamed in anger as she fell back. I caught my balance, dizzy and sick. Gasping, I backpedaled, dropping to the floor and rolling to keep her off me. She followed, slamming my head into the hard metal. Darkness threatened, and I kicked out, sending her sliding into the locked door.
She came at me again, lashing out wildly. I shifted out of her way when I could, took my hits when I couldn’t. Like a ravenous dog, she tore at me. I slowly lost ground, only my practice with Ivy and Constance’s utter lack of martial arts experience keeping me out of her reach.
Until her fingers clamped on my shoulder and wouldn’t let go.
She yanked me to her, mouth wide.
Panic gave me strength, and I slammed my knee into her groin, shoving out and back. Fire clawed at my shoulder as her grip was torn free, and then she was standing beside Pike, her pristine white dress covered in dirt and my blood, panting in a black-eyed fury.
I was hardly aware that Jenks was with me, dusting the bloody gouges she’d left behind. His sword was sheened with red and his wings were heavy with fatigue, but he was okay. I held my wrist against my middle and retreated as far as I could, but that amulet’s reach was longer, and I could do nothing.
“Good going, Rache,” Jenks said, concern evident in his voice. “I knew you could throw the blood bag off. Keep her busy. I’ll get that charm off her so you can bring that moss wipe down.”
Keep her busy? Is he nuts? I thought, panic swamping me. If Landon could bring Jenks down, Constance could. “Jenks, wait,” I whispered, voice raspy and throat sore. There was more than one way to get that amulet off her, and I turned sideways, hiding my fumbling search for the mouse potion in my pocket. I’d wanted to immobilize her first, but one way or the other, this magic was going down her throat.
Jenks’s dust paled as he saw the tiny ampoule. There was only one way to get close enough. I had to let her grab me. Slowly he nodded, and I stifled a shudder. Here we go. . . .
Ampoule palmed, I wiped her spit off my neck, stiffening as the remaining tendrils of desire and passion winged through me to leave me shuddering with unresolved ecstasy. Thoughts of Ivy, longings for Kisten were twined into it all. There had been love there. Here there was nothing, and she was not going to break my skin.
“If you think you can take the city from me, do it,” I said raggedly. “But keep your teeth off me.” Come a little closer, you whacked-out dead bag of skin. I dare you. . . .
“You.” Constance began an eerie weaving, side to side like a caged animal. “You will not break easy.” An ugly smile blossomed. “The night holds promise, Pike.”
But Pike didn’t move, his expression twisted in distaste at what he thought was going to happen. “Blah, blah, blah,” I taunted, then coughed to clear my throat, shocked at how broken my voice sounded. It was truly a contest of endurance now. Cincinnati lay in the balance. “You can’t best me by bespelling me. And you will, by God, not best me by strength. I win, and I’m going to bring you down, you sorry sack of O-negative. Get your whacked ass out of my city.”
Jenks’s wings hit a higher pitch. I stood in apparent confidence, but inside, doubt trickled through me: thoughts of the sun and wind I might never see and feel again, of Trent, soft with sleep beside me, of Jenks, the big ideas that sustained him slowly dying as he faltered, alone in the church. For the first time, I wondered if I was going to survive this.
And Constance saw my doubt, tasted my fatigue on the air thick with pixy dust and vampire pheromones. “Hold her,” Constance said with a curt gesture to Pike. “Hold her so I don’t have to.”
But Pike didn’t move, his eyes narrowed as he looked from Jenks hovering at my shoulder to me. “No . . .” he said, his unexpected rebellion making his subtle anger look noble. “She’s your prey. Not mine. And she’s right. If you can’t best her yourself, you don’t deserve her blood. I’m not holding anyone down for you again.”
For a moment, it was as if she hadn’t heard, her eyes slowly widening. “You dare—you dare say no!” she screamed, the gondola swaying. “Hold her, or you will both die, and I will gorge on your blood for a thousand years!”
Pike casually shrugged, and Constance stood, trembling in a silent rage.