The sword’s blade was covered with his ash but only for a second as she proved she didn’t need blood to soak in an enemy’s power. The ash shimmered and then sank into her silver.
Gladys hummed again as though trying to wake me from that moment of connection between us. She knew I still had a job to do.
The only thing left of Alexander was that gold ring. I pocketed it and picked up that dark sword he’d tried to kill my son with. Unlike Gladys, this one didn’t hum for me. This sword felt wrong in my hands and I tossed it inside the apartment. I didn’t want to touch it but I wasn’t going to leave it behind for Myrddin to use against us again.
“Mom, I can see it.” Lee was on his belly, his head turned my way. “The book. I can see the book.”
He was still breathing. I could salvage this. Maybe Alexander had been lying and it was just taking a while for the blood to work. Maybe vampire blood worked differently on latent vampires. I didn’t know. I did know I had to get him behind those wards and then I would figure something out. I tossed Gladys into the apartment and gripped Lee’s ankles. “Where is it?”
“It fell. It’s near Grandma Chris. It’s touching her foot,” he managed. “Mom, you have to run. Take the book and run. You have to leave me.”
I couldn’t leave him. He was my baby. “We’ll be fine. When we don’t show up on time, your dads will come for us. We can go out on the balcony and he’ll fly up and get us.”
It wasn’t a terrible plan. Unless Sarah had warded the balcony. Danny would look for us. Dev would move all the planes to find us. We had to hold on. I gritted my teeth and started to pull him in.
“No, Mom. You have to go.”
“The king’s blood in your system is going to work.” I had to believe Alexander was lying.
It was hard to get Lee over the carpet, but once he hit the marble of the foyer, he slid easily.
Because of all the blood he’d lost. I slid my baby over the floor in his own blood.
But he was inside the wards. He was safe.
“I’m going to get the book. I’ll be right back.”
“No, run. Put the cloak on and run, Momma. Please.” His words were slurred.
I wouldn’t listen to them anyway. I wasn’t leaving him here. He wasn’t healing. There was so much blood.
If he turned, he wouldn’t know to stay behind the wards. He would need blood. I tried to remember everything I knew about how a vampire turned. It took different times for the turn to begin. Danny had taken hours to wake. Chad had taken mere moments. Chad had been reasonable for a few minutes before the blood lust took over. Maybe I could talk to Lee. Maybe I could reason with him.
I’d turned Daniel. My blood had stabilized Danny.
I knew I should run, but he was my child.
As carefully as I could I stepped around the blood and started toward the book. I would use the bag of holding to find it. Lee had given me a place to start. I would slip the bag over that spot and close it and then I would have the book.
It would give me leverage in case it all went to hell. Went to hell? It had already gone there, but I might be able to salvage it.
I’d made it almost to the outside when I realized all really was lost.
Five witches stood in the hallway, staring my way. I recognized a few of them. Once these women had been friendly, had waved at me as we passed each other in the halls or met up at some school function. Now they belonged to Myrddin.
They all wore black robes, and there was some kind of symbol on their foreheads. Their eyes were vast night, a vacant black that told me they were being controlled.
And then the one in the center, the tallest of them, began to smile. She held her hands over her heart as though clutching something to her breast.
I would bet the book was no longer on the ground. He’d found a way.
“Hello, Your Highness. I wondered if you would make an appearance.”
“Myrddin?”
“Not in the flesh, of course. My body is back at the park. I’m listening to your husband drone on and on about how we should be careful around demons. He’s talking a lot. That told me he was probably covering for you. So the turncoat witch took my book and hid it here. Tell me—where did she go?”
He was still looking for Sarah. “I don’t know.”
“Of course you don’t, dear. Is the boy dead? I should have known that butcher couldn’t properly handle a job. I’m surprised at Christine. I guess she actually did love the old boy. She seemed so eager to learn. A pity, but we move on.” Those eyes stared behind me. “Sharpe used the Dark Dagger on the boy?”