Page 18 of The Tracker's Dawn: Sunderverse
She lifted both arms. Magic streamed from her fingers and, thrusting both hands backward, shot it toward her hostages.
“No!” I screamed as time seemed to slow to a crawl.
The Prince drew his sword. Jake and Eric leaped forward, and I just stood there frozen with shock.
As the magic hit Rosalina, Gonira, and Em, they flew backward, crashing against the agency’s window and smashing through it, glass and magic rained down like spent fireworks.
Jolted by a second shock, I started to skirt around Mekare to go after Rosalina, to save her somehow, when something hit the back of my legs, and I fell flat to the blacktop. A bolt of magic flew from Mekare’s fingers and whizzed above me, just where my head had been a split second ago.
“Shift, Toni!”Jake ordered inside my head as he got between the witch and me. He had saved me, knocked me out of the way, and if I didn’t keep my focus and did what he said, we would both end up dead.
It was Damien’s job to keep the hostages safe. Not mine. That was the plan. I needed to trust him to do his job.
Getting on all fours, I let Red loose. She burst to the surface, ready to clamp her jaws around Mekare’s throat and not let go until the damn witch drew her last breath. I was barely done shifting when a blast of magic hurled toward us. Swiftly, Jake and I leaped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Just as we landed, the sound of beastly roars filled the night. A glance toward the top of the building revealed Mekare’s hybrids falling from the sky, their naked bodies grotesque.
I assessed the situation in a split second. Prince Kalyll was lightly stepping backward, his sword crackling with what must’ve been a magical attack from the witch. It seemed he had a way to defend himself against spells, so his self-assurance hadn’t been in vain.
I spotted Eric next. He was taunting Mekare, snarling, and feigning attacks as he inched closer. He didn’t seem worried at all about the Midnight Witch’s magic—his trust relying completely on Damien, who even as a cat had been able to make her magical attacks ineffective. He had warned us not to get too complacent though since his attention would be divided among a number of things—the most important of them: concealing the presence of a few last-minute allies.
As if I’d conjured them with my thoughts, two hosts of vamps rushed in, coming from each end of the street. They attacked with more than just their natural given powers but also with weapons, which ranged all the way from knives to automatic rifles.
Getting the vamps help had been Damien’s idea, and he had done it behind our backs. It hadn’t been smart of him to go to Bernadetta when we still owed her the cure. To say the least, she had been irate and ready to use the mage as a disposable blood bag. But when he promised she would have the cure tonight as well as her retaliation against the traitorous witch, she had agreed. I doubted the Donna would’ve been so eager to comply if her life wasn’t on the line. Lucky us. Hopefully, this wouldn’t come back to bite us in the butt.
Instantly, the Donna’s vamps engaged the hybrids, their advantage greatly increased by their numbers. There were three times as many vampires as there were hybrids, and though the beasts were hard to kill and fought without any regard to their lives, they were not invincible.
With the hybrids otherwise engaged, we were free to turn our attention back to the witch.
She still stood in front of the agency, against the backdrop of the broken window. Kalyll, Eric, Jake, and I formed a semi-circle around her—somewhere, hopefully not far away, there was also Damien, making sure Rosalina and the others were delivered from Mekare’s control.
She looked unimpressed by the threat that surrounded her, and why shouldn’t she? She had escaped us before. After giving everyone her undivided attention for a few beats, she concentrated entirely on me.
“I was willing to make a fair exchange. Truly, I was.” Her expression was sincere, which meant I had been right to make the exchange our first plan of action.
If only Kalyll had arrived on time...
“But instead, you decided to play with your friends’ lives.”
I lowered my head and shook it, denying it.
“The last time you bested me, fair and square,” she continued. “But today, there was nothing honorable about what you tried to do, so now you owe me, and I think I know how you will repay me.”
A buzzing panic filled my head as I tried to figure out what she had in mind.
“Goodbye, dear,” she said as she started levitating upward the way she’d come. She cast a dismissive glance toward her hybrids—some of which had already fallen while others still fought, maiming whoever dared stand in their paths. It was obvious she didn’t think much of them. They were expendable, like bullets, or, in their case, huge missiles bent on indiscriminate destruction.
As she floated away, I leaped, snarling and biting the air, but she reached the rooftop in no time.
Someone shoot her! Guns or magic would do.
I held my breath waiting for something to happen. The few seconds that ticked by seemed to stretch for an eternity, then at last, she lifted one hand and snapped her fingers.
As the sound echoed in my ears, the agency exploded.
Debris flew out, whirling through the air. Huge flames followed. Instincts taking over, I ducked, though, in my heart, I wanted to run into the fire to meet my end alongside Rosalina.
The debris settled, though the flames continued to burn, its heat lapping mercilessly. I lifted my head. A patch of fur was singed off my shoulder, and bits of glass from the exploding door stuck to the side of my face. I winced in pain as I struggled to my feet and turned to face the pyre that our mate tracking agency had to become.
