Kate Daniels 02 - Magic Burns

gold of the sunset, the dense mass of green looked impenetrable.
    The first reeve sailed over the green, her translucent skin bathed in red, her hair flaring like enormous black wings, ready to smother.
    No smothering today. The tech was up.
    Her twin followed. Another, and another. Five. Six, more…How many could the Shepherd drive at once?
    They were still in the air when I charged. The first reeve came at me, legs pumping, arms flung wide, gliding as if she didn’t have to touch the ground.
    â€œMine!”
    The vampire smashed into her, knocking her out of the way, and leaped on her back. The sickle claws hooked the reeve’s pale neck. The vamp pulled and tore off her head with a single muscle-ripping jerk.
    â€œThey’re poisonous!” I yelled for Derek’s benefit and aimed for the second reeve. She whipped her hair at me, but I had room to maneuver. I dodged the black mass, and struck diagonally down, guessing there was flesh under the hair. Slayer connected and sliced into meat. It was a textbook slash—I had pulled the entire length of the blade through the wound. Her head drooped, connected to the stump of the neck by a thin strip of skin and meat. She crashed to the ground.
    To the left Derek dug into the back of the third reeve with an enormous clawed hand and ripped the shard of her spine free with a brutal heave.
    The vampire dashed across the field and beheaded another reeve.
    I kept running. The next reeve met me head-on. I slashed again, an almost identical diagonal stroke but coming from the left. She dodged, but I reversed the blade and struck sideways instead. Slayer cleaved the flesh and broke free. Grayish blood sprayed in a fine mist. She toppled over and then another reeve fell on me. Claws scraped the heavy leather protecting my chest, ripping through it. A wall of hair clogged my view. I thrust myself closer to the reeve, right into her teeth. The stench of fish guts washed over my face.
    She had expected me to pull away, and her surprise cost her a precious half second. Cocooned in her hair, I hugged her like a lover, and thrust my saber straight up into the soft flesh under her chin. She rocked back. To the left Derek raised his bloody muzzle from the ruined back of the fifth reeve.
    â€œDon’t bite!” Dumbass. Perfect wolf for you—isn’t happy until he’s got poisonous shit smeared all over his teeth.
    The vamp had backed the last reeve flush against the trees. “I can’t help but point out that they don’t deliquesce.”
    The reeve hissed. Claws broke through her knuckles.
    â€œThey melt like the wicked witch of the west when the magic’s up.”
    The vampire glided closer to the reeve. “So you say.”
    Why wasn’t he killing it?
    A shiver ran along the bloodsucker’s flanks. It hugged the ground. The reeve hissed again and froze, petrified. Convulsions rippled down her long legs.
    No. He couldn’t possibly.
    â€œYou’re out of your mind.”
    â€œWe’re only a mile from the Casino. Well within my range.” Ghastek’s voice sounded distant like it came from the bottom of a barrel. The reeve and vampire shivered in tandem.
    â€œYou can’t navigate them both!”
    â€œWe shall see.”
    No, we won’t. I headed for the reeve, saber ready.
    The reeve swayed on her feet and slashed at the vampire. Scarlet lines swelled across the vamp’s chest and sealed.
    â€œI’m so glad you decided to play,” Ghastek’s voice said from the vampire’s mouth.
    â€œHey, would you look at that shit?”
    I turned on my heel. The patrons who’d fled at the first hint of trouble had come back and were enjoying the spectacle.
    â€œClear out!” I barked.
    They paid me no mind. Asshole innocent bystanders.
    The reeve’s mouth gaped open and Shepherd’s voice issued forth, dry and sibilant, full of echoes of dead leaves crushed underfoot. “Surrender, human.”
    â€œBolgor the Shepherd, I presume?” The vamp reared.
    A spasm gripped the reeve. She crashed to her knees, her shoulders trembling. The Shepherd rasped. “You cannot stop us. The gate of the Otherworld yawns wide. The Great Crow leads the host. Look into the darkness, human, and you will see your death riding to greet you!”
    â€œThat’s a lovely speech. Almost Shakespearean.” Ghastek’s vamp rocked forward and the reeve mirrored its motion.
    Magic