Page 91 of Bishop's Flight
Zasha would burn anything and everything in their path. They would melt the walls of the canyon before they would surrender.
Carwyn stood. “Brigid, get in the water!”
“Wait!” the human driver yelled. “I’m gonna try something.”
He headed straight toward the shore, the boat not slowing as Carwyn had expected.
“Bernard?” The last thing Carwyn wanted was a shattered boat this close to dawn.
“I know what he’s doing,” Bernard shouted. “Trust him and hold on.”
At the last minute before it looked like they would crash, the driver wrenched the wheel of the powerboat, flipping the boat into a curve so tight it angled the vessel nearly on its side and sent a voluminous rooster tail of water crashing onto the narrow beach, soaking the fire vampires and dousing both their flames.
“Jump!” Bernard leaped into the water and Carwyn followed after.
Brigid was soaked again,and Zasha looked like a wet cat looking for escape. They could see Bernard and Carwyn heading for the shore.
“Looking for your exit?” Brigid spat water from her mouth. “There’s nowhere to go, Zasha.”
“What are you talking about?” Their voice was nonchalant, but their black eyes swept the night like a panicked animal. “I always find a way out.”
“Your allies are gone,” Brigid said. “And mine are near.” She felt the ground tremble when Carwyn’s foot touched the shore. “We’re on land now, and that driver can keep turning in circles, dousing our fire. Tell me what the Ankers promised you.”
“No.” Zasha turned to the two approaching vampires and looked up. “Someone is coming.”
Brigid scanned the darkness but saw nothing. Her eyes searched for Carwyn in the water, and she saw the massive outline of her mate lumbering toward the beach. “Tell me what you want with me. Tell me why you’re doing this.”
“His blood still calls…,” Zasha mumbled, their eyes searching the sky.
“Whose blood? Your mate’s?” Brigid reached down, picked up a rock, and threw it at Zasha’s back. “Tell me what you want!”
Zasha turned to her and spread their arms. “For they shall visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and their children’s children.”
It was a verse Brigid had heard before. “Who shall visit iniquity? God? You’re telling me you believe in God now?” Brigid shook her head. “That’s not who you are, Zasha.”
They smiled. “I don’t believe in God, but I do believe in vengeance, Brigid Connor. And the blood of Temur remembers what she has done.”
Brigid yelled, “Who the fuck is Temur?”
Zasha was silent and utterly still, their shoulders relaxed as they watched the sky. A small smile touched their lips, and they raised their arms like a child looking for succor.
Carwyn and Bernard were closing in, their speed picking up as they reached the shallows.
“Sokholov, raise your hands!” Bernard was pointing a gun at Zasha.
Brigid saw it when it was too late.
Carwyn reached down and touched the ground, ready to capture Zasha with the red sandstone on the beach, but as the ground opened up beneath their feet, a wind vampire dressed entirely in black swooped down, lifting Zasha with massive arms, snatching them away from the yawning earth as shots rang out.
Within seconds, both the vampires had disappeared from sight.
Twenty-Eight
Lucas was wrapped in a silver emergency blanket as they sped back to shore, and Brigid was wearing Carwyn’s shirt, its length enough to cover her nearly to her knees.
They sat in the bow of the powerboat, Carwyn sat behind her, his arms wrapped around her body.
She was in his arms, and he was satisfied. He could breathe again; his heart was calm. His heart lived in her now; the great beast that had been silent for a millennium belonged to the tiny fey creature who fought monsters and protected the innocent.
