Gunmetal Magic: A Novel in the World of Kate Daniels

effort.
    The draugr howled.
    Curran snarled, a vicious, short sound born of strain.
    With a sickening screech, the draugr’s head fell and rolled off his body. The colossal torso toppled. I jumped and landed on the road, my sword in my hand. Curran dropped down next to me.
    We ran. We sprinted to the pillars.
    Behind us an eerie, unnatural noise announced the draugr reassembling himself.
    The green vampire that had fallen on the road picked itself up and chased after us.
    We were almost to the pillars.
    A shadow fell over us.
    Curran spun. His head melted, reshaping into a lion’s head. The Beast Lord roared.
    The sound was like thunder. Deep, primeval, arresting, it froze the marrow in my bones. My instincts screamed and tried to drop me to the ground in a small quivering ball.
    The draugr screeched to a halt.
    We dashed forward.
    The pillars flashed by our sides. I ran to a stop and turned around, my ribs hurting.
    The undead giant strode toward us.
    The pillars flashed with deep amber.
    The draugr smashed into an invisible wall. Streaks oforange lightning clutched at his flesh. A deafening wail slapped my ears.
    “I will kill you! I will gnaw the flesh off your bones! I will pick my teeth with your femurs!”
    I vomited onto the ground.
    Next to me Curran patted my back, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
    The vampire next to me collapsed. The gashes on its body knitted together. A new pale skin slid over the cuts and began to smoke.
    “You owe me vampire blood,” I told him.
    “Yes, yes.” Ghastek sounded sour. “Do hand me that canvas before he burns to death.”
    I jerked the canvas off the cart and held it up. “I just want to hear you say it.”
    The vamp squirmed.
    I shook the canvas a bit.
    “Fine. The draugar do exist.”
    “And I was right.”
    “You were right. The canvas, Kate.”
    I draped it over the vampire and looked at Curran. “Did you hear that?”
    “I heard that.” Together we picked up the vampire and heaved the bloodsucker into the cart. “I still don’t believe it, but I heard it.”
    Two vampires dashed past the raging draugr, one purple, one orange. The remains of Ghastek’s super-squad.
    “Over here,” I waved. “Run to safety!”
    “Could the two of you gloat a little more?” Ghastek said.
    “Oh I could,” I said. “I definitely could.”
    The vampire pulled the canvas back and peeked out, staring in the direction of the glade. “Double or nothing.”
    “What?”
    “Double or nothing, Kate. I can take him.”
    Ghastek was a gambler.
Knock me over with a feather.
I sat on the cart. The draugr would rip them to pieces in ten minutes, tops.
    “Knock yourself out,” Curran told him. “We’ll wait right here.”
    “Don’t take too long,” I told him. “We have a child to save.”

CHAPTER 10

    I knew that something was wrong by the look on the face of the werewolf who opened the door to the Pack’s safe house. The Pack owned several properties in the city, and after we were done clapping and cheering at the sight of Ghastek’s complete and utter failure, Curran and I had made a beeline for the nearest one to wash the undead nastiness off. The magic had fallen and with technology once again reasserting its grip on the world, Curran was eager to trade the cart for a Pack Jeep.
    When the male werewolf opened the door, his eyes had that particular look to them that meant some catastrophe had happened.
    “What is it?” Curran growled.
    The werewolf licked his lips.
    “Out with it,” Curran said.
    “Andrea Nash has been seen in the city, interviewing business owners.”
    “She is frequently in the city,” I said. “And interviewing is her job. She’s investigating some murders for the Pack.” Which I would look into as soon as we got Roderick out of that damned necklace.
    The werewolf took a small step back. “She’s doing it in her beastkin shape.”
    “Come again?”
    “She’s walking around in her beastkin shape. And some clothes.”
    All unaffiliated shapeshifters within the Pack’s borders were required to present themselves to the Pack within three days. Until now, the Pack had been able to deny all knowledge that Andrea was a shapeshifter, mostly because Curran made a very public point of ignoring it and nobody cared to bring it up.
    Well, he couldn’t ignore it any longer. Andrea had pretty much made sure of that.
    It made no sense. Andrea almost never used her beastkin shape. In fact, she pretended to be human most of the time. Going