“You have to get out of here,” the woman snapped in a harsh undertone. “This is all because of you and your crazy crusade.”
Guilt flashed through Sorsha’s expression. “I didn’t mean—I tried to make sure we were careful.”
“Obviously not careful enough.”
“I’m so sorry, Huyen.” Sorsha set her jaw. “I know it doesn’t make up for the attack, but—you can tell her we’re going to bring down the assholes who did this tomorrow night.”
The woman sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you kidding me? Do you want to screw us over even more? The people who attacked her asked her to pass on a message: to tell you and your friends to stay out of their business. They nearly killed her, you know. I didn’t even want you coming here—Lila shouldn’t have called you.”
Sorsha swallowed audibly, her shoulders drooping. “I’ll go. I just wanted to see—when I heard—” She shook her head. Then her gaze jerked back up with a flicker of concern. She raised her voice so it would carry to the cluster by the door. “Did anyone call Vivi?”
The woman who’d spoken to her earlier nodded. “I tried. Went straight to voicemail. Either her battery’s dead or she was on the subway or something.”
“Okay. Okay.” Sorsha looked as if she wanted to make a run for the injured woman’s room after all—I collected myself in the shadows in case I needed to clear the way for her—but then she spun around and hurried to the other room where she’d entered.
As soon as she’d shut the door, she pulled out her phone. I emerged into the physical realm next to her.
She answered my question before I had to ask it. “They went for Ellen—why wouldn’t they go for my best friend too? If they’ve identified the Fund members, they’re not going to buy Vivi’s phony story about her grandma’s car getting stolen anymore. Shit, shit, shit.” She grimaced at the phone, which I supposed hadn’t connected with Vivi, and shoved it back into her pocket. “I’ve got to go to her place. They jumped Ellen right outside her apartment. Vivi would usually be working late today—if I can get there first—”
“Where are we going?” I asked as she clambered into the window.
Sorsha glanced back at me. “I don’t expect you to come. Omen was pretty clear that he didn’t approve of getting even this involved. You can let the others know I’ll meet you all at the bus lot on Lincoln Road.”
If she made it back to the lot at all. Did she really think she could tackle a band of attackers on her own—or that I’d let her attempt it?
“No,” I said firmly, striding over to join her. “We have each other’s backs—isn’t that how you put it? We’ll do this together. Omen can wait.”
“Are you—oh, fuck it, there isn’t time. Thank you.” She shot me a smile and leapt back to the office building.
I flung myself after her, stretching myself to cross the entire space as little more than a blur of thicker darkness in the hazy evening dimness. On the other side, Sorsha dashed straight for the door she must have jimmied open.
“Thank heavenly heathens Vivi just had to live right in the middle of downtown,” she said, racing toward the stairs. “Her apartment is only six blocks from here.” A wild laugh hitched from her chest. “We might even make it back before Omen’s thirty-minute deadline is up.”
We sprinted through the alleyways and along a busy street lined with restaurants and shops, Sorsha’s sneakers smacking the sidewalk and me soaring through the shadows where I could move faster and without obstruction. She only slowed on the fifth block, with another jab at her phone’s screen. I hurtled ahead of her but stopped where I could still hear her voice as it pealed out with relief.
“Vivi! Please tell me you’re not home yet. Oh, geez, if you squint you’ll probably see me down the street.” She started walking again at a brisk clip. “Don’t come any closer. We’ve got to—”
I’d already peered ahead to where a familiar figure with a puff of black curls and a sleek white outfit stood outside a shop at the other end of the next block. Or rather, she was standing outside it when my gaze first located her. An instant later, two figures in plated vests charged from around the side of the nearest building.
Sorsha’s voice cut off at her friend’s shriek. She propelled herself forward as fast as her mortal feet would carry her.
I reached the attackers even more swiftly. Leaping from the shadows at the last second, I plowed my fist straight into the nearest miscreant’s throat.
The man fell with a sputter of blood, but the other attacker hauled Sorsha’s friend through the doorway next to him. Sorsha and I charged after them—and two more Company combatants rushed in after us, the first raising a gun and the other flicking one of those whips of light that made my entire being twitch with discomfort.
A thick, meaty scent filled my nose. We’d barreled into a butcher shop. I managed to kick the gun from the one man’s hand with a snap of the bones in his wrist. Then I raced after the man who’d grabbed Vivi, who was now hauling her through another doorway at the back.
Sorsha and I burst into a room of hanging carcasses, vibrant red and pink etched with paler lines of fat. The smell rolled over us in a thick wave, but Sorsha didn’t hesitate even as she coughed. She launched herself straight at her friend’s captor.
My first instinct was to hurl myself after her and take the fellow down for her, but I forced myself to stop and quite literally have her back instead. I ripped a thigh off one of the cow carcasses and slammed it into the man who’d come in behind us before he could slash either of us with that unnerving whip.
The strategy worked out well enough, as Sorsha clearly had her side of the battle under control. She dodged to the side at the last second and heaved an entire carcass into Vivi’s attacker, pummeling him in the head with the raw meat.
The man grunted and teetered; Vivi tore free with a yelp. When the man lunged after her, his hand jerking upward with a pistol in its grasp, Sorsha tackled him.
Sparks shot up. The waft of heat she’d conjured browned the carcasses above them, turning the raw meat stink into barbeque.
Our attacker with the whip hadn’t been dissuaded yet. He flung the arc of light toward me, and I dove under it, ramming into his legs. As he toppled, I threw myself around both the weapon and the venomous plates of his armor. I rammed the beef thigh into his mouth hard enough to puncture the back of his throat.
“Eat that, villain,” I said, and swiveled around to discover that Sorsha had managed to bury her foe under three of the heavy carcasses. The cords they’d been hanging from dangled with blackened ends where they’d been burnt through.
She caught my eye, and I found myself smiling at her, a rare sense of elation filling my chest. I hadn’t enjoyed combat in eons. But this… this had been good. What a battle was meant to be: comrades conquering evil side by side. Protecting each other wasn’t all it came down to. I had to give my companions room to be the warriors they were capable of becoming too.
Perhaps I could make sure this war was won the right way after all.
Vivi was braced against the far wall, breathing hard, her sleek white outfit now streaked with blood. “Sorsha?” she said tentatively, her eyes wide.