Max vaulted to his feet, slicing the head from the burning Imperial. He whipped around and took two more heads from the unprepared vampires who stood gawking along the walls, and spun toward Victoria.
Victoria hesitated, looking at her husband, but then Max was storming toward her. He leaped, landing next to her in the middle of the room. Sunlight bathed them both standing in the circle of safety. The fire he'd tipped over caught at the upholstery on Lilith's chair, and began to tear through the carpet. Smoke clouded the fringes of the room, rising to the open air above.
Most of the vampires had advanced, collecting around them, blocking them into the round yellow area that spanned perhaps eight feet. Lilith stood a short distance away, screaming orders and rubbing her hands over her body as if to brush away the burns from the sunlight. One of her Guardians was wiping a fine layer of burned skin from her face and bosom, leaving, raw pink underskin in its wake.
Max looked down. He noticed the warm yellow had dulled at their feet. A cloud was moving over the sky and soon would block the sun. Their sanctuary would disappear.
"I don't suppose you thought this through any further," he said, brandishing the sword at a younger undead who dared take a step toward them.
"I was rather hoping that, since I got us this far, you'd have an idea. "
The smoke was getting thicker, and some of the furnishings were starting to kindle. It would be a very short time until the entire room erupted in flames; the dry, rotting curtains that hung at the black windows were already suffused with angry orange and red tongues.
Something quick and dark snaked from the circle of vampires, whipping in, and Max turned in time to see Victoria struggling in Phillip's arms. The light and dark divided them: She was in the sunbeams, he in the safety of shadows, trying to pull her into the shade. Part of his arm was in the sun, and his face twisted from the pain of sunshine blasting down on him, but he did not release her. Victoria's feet were planted far apart, her arms pulled behind her, and as Max watched, Phillip looped an arm around her waist and swept her out of the light.
She reared up, struggling to break free. Her face was wet with tears, and she seemed to be saying something over and over… and finally she bowed her head and slammed it back into Phillip's nose. He released her, and, seizing the opportunity, Max hefted his sword and brought it back in a strong swing.
But before he could finish it and cleave the Marquess of Rockley's head from his body, Victoria staggered back into the yellow light and grabbed his sword arm, sending the powerful blow slicing through the sun and shadow, down Phillip's body and to the floor. "No, Max!" she cried. "No!"
"You can't save him, Victoria," he shouted back, furious and suddenly frightened. She couldn't save him. Didn't she understand that?
"No!" Victoria cried.
"You cannot leave me, Victoria," Phillip said, inching closer, his voice a hollow echo of what it had been. "You belong here with me. " Compelling. So compelling, so sweet and alluring. And unavoidable.
Max grabbed her arm when she would have moved toward him. The pull… He understood that. What he didn't understand was the strength of Phillip's call to Victoria, as such a young undead. She was a Venator.
"Phillip," she sobbed, but she had a stake in her hand.
"Come to me, Victoria," her husband said. "Your friend can go… but you must come to me. I need you. She promised me I would have you. "
Then Max heard her, moving toward them in their circle of warm light. Lilith. She had recovered. He felt the pull, the demand already. She was calling him… and it was with fury this time. He would die. The games were over.
They had no way out.
Then, as the light tipped even paler, he caught a movement from above. They looked up and saw a rope hurtling down from the broken dome above. More glass tumbled below as the rope brushed against the fragile edge, and as the shadows kicked at the remains.
"Kritanu!" Victoria breathed.
Max saw the dark face of her trainer, and then Briyani's as the two bent over the hole in the ceiling. The timing could have been no better… they truly were doing holy work.
One of the vampires leaped, trying to grab the rope as it swung near the edge of the light. He caught it but lost his balance and fell at their feet in the pool of sun. Screaming in agony, he tried to roll away, still holding the rope. Max brought his sword down and the screaming stopped. The rope hung free again.
"Go!" Victoria shouted, shoving a handful of rope toward Max.
"I'll not leave you—"
"I have the book," she said fiercely. "And you've been bitten. Go now!"
The vampires were closing in, their fangs gleaming as the sun began to fade under a swath of clouds. Lilith stood at the very edge of the line of light and dark, but she did not step farther. The smoke filtered up through the hole, hanging at the very upper edge of the room, and the flames were close enough that Max could feel their searing heat. Even if the sun weren't fading, the curling edges of fire would drive them from their safe area before long.
When Lilith would have reached for him, Victoria lifted her satchel and held it in front of her. "One move, Lilith, and I will throw the book into the fire. "
Just then another rope dropped. Max caught it and wrapped it around Victoria's waist, tying it tightly. "Pull!" he shouted above, and immediately he found himself rising through the air. He swung back and forth like a pendulum, and, looking down, he could see his shadow cut through the circle of sun in a rhythmic pattern, the moving blemish in the yellow sphere growing smaller as he rose higher.
Victoria held on to her satchel, so she could not climb as well, but Max had tied the knot tightly and she was lifted slightly off the ground. As she rose, Phillip leaped into the light and grabbed at her foot, pulling her back.
"No!" he shouted.