Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

it up to Christophe, who nodded. “Yes, I noticed. In fact, how are they—”
    “Accomplices,” Sean said. “It’s how we used to do it. Bloke at each end when there was going to be trouble. We’d call out a warning.”
    “A warning is one thing,” Christophe said. “An empty alley for the better part of half an hour is another.
    I’d guess sorcerers. If they’re enthralled, we’re either in big trouble, or they’re dead. Interesting that they thought we knew where the Siren is. Must mean the vampires don’t have it. Or at least this group of vamps.”
    “Let’s do this,” Fiona said. She took a deep breath as if she would feel her own flesh sear. She wished it could be. She deserved it, not Sean. Her games as the Scarlet Ninja were what had put him in jeopardy.
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    “Just do it, Princess. Quick and get it over with,” Christophe said, not unsympathetically. “The anticipation is almost worse.”
    She held her breath and upended the vial over Sean’s wound, which sizzled and hissed like butter on a hot griddle. Sean sucked in a sharp breath and then said a few words she hadn’t known he even remembered from the old days.
    “More,” Christophe said.
    “But—”
    “More.”
    She opened her last vial and poured it directly on top of the bubbling mess on Sean’s neck, feeling the hot tears escaping her eyes. By the time she’d finished the vial, it poured clear and all signs of steam or infection had disappeared.
    “That should do it,” Christophe said, nodding once. “When it doesn’t react any more, it’s cleaned out.
    Now we get out of here.”
    “Home. Sean needs to rest. And you’re bleeding, too.” Relieved of the worry over Sean, she was swamped by fear for Christophe. She tore open his shirt like a wild woman to look at the wound in his chest.
    He caught her hands in his own and kissed her knuckles. “I’m fine, mi amara. A scratch. Atlanteans heal faster than humans, too. Now we need to get out of here. Sean?”
    Sean nodded and headed for the vehicle blocking their way, while Christophe headed for the one parked in the middle of the street.
    “Search for anything interesting,” Christophe called, and Fiona ran around her car to the SUV on the other side, leaping over the piles of still-dissolving slime that was all that was left of their attackers. A great many people were warning them away from the search for Vanquish. The important questions were why and who had it.
    She made quick work searching the SUV, and found nothing, which was what she’d expected. The percentage of vampires who bothered to register with authorities and get any kind of official papers was still frighteningly small. Why lease a car when you could enthrall a human into giving it to you?
    She made sure not to leave her fingerprints anywhere, slammed the door shut, and returned to Sean and Christophe. “Nothing.”
    “In either of these two, either,” Christophe reported.
    Sean shook his head, strain showing clearly on his face. “Not this one, either.”
    “Now. We leave now,” Christophe said.
    “I’m driving,” Fiona announced. “Sean, you rest in the back.”
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    Sean tried to protest, but Christophe opened the door to the backseat and pointed, and Sean half climbed, half fell into the car, the reaction from the battle finally hitting him. Christophe closed the door and turned to Fiona.
    “I still need to go to those pubs and find out what in the hells is going on,” Christophe said.
    “Not without me.”
    “It’s not like I will allow you to drive home unaccompanied, either. Not after that attack.” He tilted her chin up with his finger and kissed her.
    “I’m not a fan of the word ‘allow,’ but I’ll admit the more the merrier,” she said.
    “Please, then. Please get in your vehicle now and drive home as quickly as you can, in a straight line.”
    She opened the door and paused. “Wait. Where are you going to be?”
    He pointed up, then leapt into the air and, right in front of her eyes, transformed into a sparkling cloud of mist that soared into the air over the car and hovered there.
    Please drive now, she heard in her head, and she didn’t have any energy left to debate the possibility or impossibility of telepathic conversation. She just slanted her body into the car, turned the key in the ignition, and drove.

Chapter 21
Campbell