Page 70 of Bright Soul

Oh no you fucking don’t,I thought, struggling back to my feet. The mending rune had made sure I wouldn’t die from the sucking chest wound he’d given me, but that didn’t mean I was ready to run him down.

“A little boost?” I asked Geo while Cress disappeared in a swirl of Braza’s shadows to give chase.

Geo reluctantly turned his attention away from the vapor of white shadow still enveloping Phaeron. “Yes,” he said, running at me with his wings flaring out. He lifted me by the hips, and I clung to him with my arms. We gained ground on the retreating vampire.

“You want to double back for Big P?” I suggested.

“He can handle himself,” Geo rumbled.

I wasn’t so sure. But then again, he was an indescribably old being from another world, while I was squarely twenty with adeep grudge for the vampire trying to escape his rightful death, so I didn’t argue.

Garroway snaked his way around some of the unnatural creatures and enslaved supernaturals. They had found another way to the top floor but had frozen in place, white-glazed eyes staring out at nothing. “Eerie,” I muttered to myself.

Of course, when I could’ve wished for the monsters to attack someone and drag him off, they didn’t bother.

“The Hunger must be dead,” Geo commented.

But it wasn’t a mission accomplished. Not yet.

Static crackled in my ear, and I nearly ripped off the tiny mic taped to my ear. Bianca and Wren had spoken on and off during the less dangerous parts of our trip, just to go silent with the big battle. “…Ben? Ben, you there?” Wren asked.

“Oh, thank fuck. The stream is back,” Bianca said a moment later. “You okay?”

“Mostly okay,” I answered. The mending rune had closed the worst of the wound, leaving a raw edge of pain below my collar.

“Want to tell the audience what happened, then?” Wren prompted.

“Just…give us a few minutes,” I said, flustered. If they’d missedallof that battle, then I didn’t have the breath to explain what’d happened.

Light was starting to pour in from the dirty windows overhead, courtesy of a few gaps in the storm clouds. They appeared to be receding as rapidly as they came on…almost like they were magically created.

Below us, Garroway struggled with a trap of black and purple shadows. His ankle was caught in a thorny loop of them, and he bared his fangs in a frustrated snarl while glancing up at the sky. If the freak storm was fading, that meant he was stranded here with us and whole bunch of monsters until nightfall.

Sounded like my kind of party.

Geo dropped lower to the ground and released his hold on me, giving me a running start. He flapped his wings hard before coming down on Garroway with his full obsidian weight. The vampire gave up trying to escape the shadow trap and rolled his ankle at a brutal angle to avoid getting crushed.

The snare disappeared, and Garroway straightened, favoring his broken foot. He came face to face with Cress, her head and hair bare of Braza’s power, though it leapt off her hand and around her glowing sword. He recoiled and pivoted, but he was boxed in by Geo and me.

“Oh no. Nowhere to run,” I mocked, flipping a dagger between my fingers.

“All right, I admit it,” the vampire drawled, slowing raising both hands. “You’ve got me. How much will it take for us to part ways peacefully? A million each?” He flashed his most charming spider smile toward Cress. “Two, perhaps? I can have the funds wired to your bank account tonight.”

Cress tilted her head, pretending to consider. “I think for many, Garroway,” she said, tapping her chin with an elongated shadow claw, “your death is priceless.”

Face morphing into a snarl, he turned and pointedly met my gaze. The force of his vampiric compulsion reached for purchase within my mind, but I was beyond used to his tricks after a lifetime of them.

“Fucking shank him already,” Bianca muttered in my earpiece.

“With pleasure,” I said, already in motion, signaling Geo. I snapped my fingers, casting a power-level-two spell. A new trick just for him—a series of exploding stars right in his face. Geo clamped onto Garroway’s upper arms to force him to take the brunt of the stinging burns that broke out all over the vampire’s exposed skin.

“The magic I was supposed to have,” I said. I pictured the spiked rune that made the spell possible, about to snap my fingers to set it off again.

“You insolent—” Inky darkness slid over his mouth, cutting off anything else he might say. His eyes bulged in their sockets, and he thrashed, struggling in futility to break Geo’s hold. Shadows had twined around and through his legs, rendering him completely immobile.

Geo nodded, and Cress gestured. He was all mine.

I sheathed my dagger. My fingers shook with the sheer force of my anticipation. “Doesn’t feel good, does it?” I asked, daring to step into his space and stare him down properly. “To be silenced and held down. At the complete mercy of another person.”

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