Blood Promise (46 page)

Crawl awa
y, I ordered.
Get away from him and the window. Head for the door if possible.

Lissa started moving on her hands and feet, but she was too slow. Reed caught hold of her hair. I kind of felt like we were playing a game of telephone. With the delay in me giving direction and her figuring out how to respond, I might as well have been passing the message through five people before it got to her. I wished I could control her body like a puppeteer, but I was no spirit user.

Oh, it did hurt. Trying to turn her body meant his hold on her hair tugged that much more painfully. She managed it reasonably well, though, and flailed out at Reed. Her hits weren’t that coordinated, but they surprised him enough that he let go of her hair and tried to fend her off. That’s when I noticed he wasn’t overly coordinated either. He was stronger than her, true, but he obviously had no combat training short of basic hits and throwing his weight around. He hadn’t come here for a true fight; he’d come to just push her out the window and be done with it.

She scrambled across the floor, but unfortunately her escape path didn’t give her access to the door. Instead, she backed further into the room until her back hit a rolling desk chair.

Grab it. Hit him with it
.

Easier said than done. He was right there, still trying to grab her and jerk her to her feet. She caught hold of the chair and tried to roll it into him. I’d wanted her to pick it up and hit him with it, but that wasn’t quite so easy for her. She did, however, manage to get to her feet and get the chair between them. I directed her to keep hitting him with it in an effort to get him to retreat. It worked a little, but she didn’t quite have the force to truly damage him.

Meanwhile, I half expected Avery to join in the fight. It wouldn’t have taken much effort to assist Reed in subduing Lissa. Instead, out of the corner of Lissa’s eye, I saw Avery sitting perfectly still, her eyes unfocused and slightly glazed over. Okay. That was weird, but I had no complaints about her being out of the conflict.

As it was, Lissa and Reed were in a stalemate, one I had to get her out of.
You’re on the defensive,
I said.
You need to take the attack to him.

I finally got a direct answer back.
What? I can’t do anything like that! I have no clue how!

Without words, I tried to send the feelings into her, teaching her the right way to tense muscles and strike out. Steeling herself, she pushed the chair away so that there was nothing between her and Reed. It caught him by surprise, giving her a brief opening. Her leg struck out. It missed the golden spot, but it did hit his knee. That was almost as good. He stumbled back as his leg collapsed underneath him and just managed to grab the chair for support. It tried to roll, which didn’t help him any.

Lissa didn’t need any urging to sprint for the door at that point—except it was blocked. Simon had just entered. For a moment, both Lissa and I felt relief. A guardian! Guardians were safe. Guardians protected us. The thing was,
this
guardian worked for Avery, and it soon became clear his services went beyond merely keeping Strigoi away from her. He strode in, and with no hesitation grabbed Lissa and dragged her harshly back to the window.

My direction faltered at that moment. I’d been an okay coach at showing her how to fend off a surly teenage boy. But a guardian? And that surly teenage boy had recovered himself and joined Simon to finish the job.

It was my last desperate bid. That was Lissa’s strength. Unfortunately, while her earlier drinking had metabolized enough to improve her coordination, it was still affecting her control of spirit. She could touch the power—but not very much of it. Her control was clumsy too. Nonetheless, her resolve was strong. She drew as much of the spirit as she could, channeling it into compulsion. Nothing happened. Then, I felt that weird tickling in my head. At first I thought Avery was back on the scene, only rather than someone reaching into me, it was like they reached
through
me.

The power in Lissa surged, and I realized what had happened. Oksana was still there, somewhere in the background, and she was lending her strength again, channeling it through me and into Lissa. Simon froze, and it was almost amusing. He twitched slightly, rocking back and forth as he tried to advance on her and finish the lethal task. It was like he was suspended in Jell-O.

Lissa was hesitant to move, for fear of breaking her control. There was also the issue that Reed was not being compelled, but for the moment, he seemed too confused about what was happening to Simon to react.

“You can’t just kill me!” Lissa blurted out. “Don’t you think people are going to ask questions when they find my body shoved out a window?

“They won’t notice,” said Simon stiffly. Even the words required effort. “Not when you’re resurrected. And if you can’t be, then it was just a tragic accident that befell a troubled girl.”

Slowly, slowly, he began breaking out of her compulsion. Her power, while still there, was weakening a little—there was a leak somewhere, and it was dripping out. I suspected it might be Avery’s influence or simply Lissa’s mental fatigue. Maybe both. A supreme look of satisfaction crossed Simon’s features as he lunged forward, and then—

He froze again.

A blazing gold aura lit up in Lissa’s periphery. She glanced over just enough to see Adrian in the doorway. The look on his face was comical, but shocked or not, he’d picked up enough to target Simon. It was Adrian’s compulsion holding the guardian in place now. Lissa squirmed away, yet again trying to keep out of that damned window’s opening.

“Hold him!” Lissa cried.

Adrian grimaced. “I . . . can’t. What the hell? It’s like there’s someone else there. . . .”

“Avery,” said Lissa, sparing a brief glance at the other girl. Avery’s face had gone pale even for a Moroi. Her breathing was heavy, and her sweating had increased. She was fighting Adrian’s compulsion. A few seconds later, Simon broke free yet again. He advanced on Lissa and Adrian, though his movements seemed sluggish.

Son of a bitch,
I thought.

Now what?
demanded Lissa.

Reed had been frozen during the struggle with Simon, watching with fascination. And like those of the guardian, Reed’s actions seemed a little sluggish. Still, he was moving toward Lissa again. Simon had apparently decided Adrian was the immediate threat and was heading that way. Time to see if dividing and conquering would work.

What about Adrian?
Lissa asked.

But she advanced on him anyway, moving with a determination that warmed me with pride. His face curled into a snarl. He was frantic and overconfident, though—not thinking clearly and still moving in an ungainly way. Once more, I attempted to teach Lissa without words. I couldn’t make her do anything, but I tried to make her feel what it was like to punch someone. How to draw back her arm, curl her fingers in the proper way, build up the strength. After what I’d seen her do earlier, the best I could hope for was a decent approximation of a punch, enough to keep him off her and create further delay.

And that’s when something truly beautiful happened.

Lissa socked him in the nose. And I mean,
socked.
We both heard the impact, heard the nose break. Blood came out. He flew backward, both he and Lissa staring wide-eyed. Never, never would I have thought Lissa capable of something like that. Not sweet, delicate, beautiful Lissa.

I wanted to whoop and dance with joy. But this wasn’t over yet.

I did!
she cried, horrified at what she’d done. Her fist was also in agonizing pain. I hadn’t really mentioned that part during my coaching.

No, you’ve got to incapacitate him,
I told her.
I think he and Avery are bonded, and I think she’s taking her strength from him.
It made sense now, why he’d frozen when Avery drew power to use compulsion, why he’d known to show up when he had. She’d used their bond to summon him.

And so Lissa went after Reed again. She got in two more punches, one of which knocked his head against the wall. His lips parted and his features went slack. He dropped to the floor, eyes staring vacantly. I wasn’t sure if he was entirely unconscious, but he was out of this for the moment. Off to the side, I heard a small cry from Avery.

Lissa turned to Adrian and Simon. Adrian had ceased any attempts at compulsion, because Simon was engaged in a full-on attack. Adrian’s face showed he’d taken a few hits of his own, and I figured that, like Lissa, he’d never engaged in this kind of physical combat. Without any need for direction from me, Lissa strode over and turned on her compulsion. Simon jerked in surprise, not stopping his attack, but caught off guard. Lissa was still weak, but the walls around him had dropped a little, just as I’d suspected they would.

“Help me!” cried Lissa.

With the momentary lapse on Simon’s part, Adrian tried to wield his spirit too. Lissa felt and saw the change in his aura as the magic flowed through him. She felt him join her in their psychic attack on Simon, and a moment later, I sensed Oksana joining the fray. I wanted to play general and shout orders, but this wasn’t my battle anymore.

Simon’s eyes went wide, and he fell to his knees. Lissa could sense the other two spirit users—and was a bit surprised by Oksana’s presence—and had the vague impression that they were all doing slightly different things to Simon. Lissa was trying to compel him to stop his attack, to simply sit still. Her brief brush with Adrian’s magic told her he was trying to make the guardian sleep, and Oksana was attempting to get Simon to run out of the room.

The conflicting messages and all that power were too much. The last of Simon’s defenses fell as all those mixed messages blasted into him, creating a tidal wave of spirit. He collapsed to the floor. With all of their magic combined, the spirit users had knocked him unconscious. Lissa and Adrian turned to Avery, bracing themselves, but there was no need.

As soon as all that spirit had blasted into Simon, Avery had begun screaming. And screaming and screaming. She gripped the sides of her head, the sound of her voice horrible and grating. Lissa and Adrian exchanged glances, unsure how to handle this new development.

“For God’s sake,” gasped Adrian, exhausted. “How do we shut her up?”

Lissa didn’t know. She considered approaching Avery and trying to help her, in spite of all that had happened. But a few seconds later, Avery grew quiet. She didn’t pass out like her companions had. She just sat there, staring. Her expression no longer resembled the dazed look she’d had while wielding spirit. It was just . . . blank. Like there was nothing in her at all.

“Wh-what happened?” asked Lissa.

I had the answer.
The spirit flooded from Simon into her. It fried her.

Lissa was startled.
How could it go from Simon to her?

Lissa had been too distracted while fighting for her life, but I’d been able to notice everyone’s auras through her eyes. Avery—no longer masking hers—had possessed a gold one, just like Adrian and Lissa. Simon and Reed had had nearly identical ones, with ordinary colors—ringed in black. They were shadow-kissed, both having been brought back from the dead by Avery.

Lissa asked no more questions and simply collapsed into Adrian’s arms. There was nothing romantic about it, just a desperate need on both their parts to be close to a friend.

“Why did you come?” she asked him.

“Are you kidding? How could I not? You guys were like a bonfire with all the spirit you were wielding. I felt it all the way across campus.” He glanced around. “Man, I have a lot of questions.”

“You and me both,” she muttered.

I have to go,
I told Lissa. I felt a little wistful at having to leave them.

Always.
I suspected I was smiling back in my own body.
Oh, and Lissa? Tell Adrian I’m proud of him.

The Academy room faded. I was once more sitting on a bed halfway around the world. Abe was looking at me with concern. Mark also was concerned, but he had eyes only for Oksana, who lay down beside me. She looked a little like Avery, pale and sweating. Mark clasped her hand frantically, fear all over him. “Are you okay?”

She smiled. “Just tired. I’ll be all right.”

I wanted to hug her. “Thank you,” I breathed. “Thank you so much.”

“I’m glad to have helped,” she said. “But I hope I don’t have to do it again. It was . . . strange. I’m not sure what role I played there.”

“Me either.” It had been weird. Sometimes it was like Oksana had actually been there, fighting right along with Lissa and the rest. Other times, I’d felt as though Oksana had merged with me. I shuddered. Too many minds linked together.

“Next time, you have to be by her side,” Oksana said. “In the real world.”

I looked down at my hands, confused and unsure what to think. The silver ring gleamed up at me. I took it off and handed it to her.

“This ring saved me. Can it heal you even though you made it?”

She held it in her hand for a moment and then gave it back. “No, but like I said, I’ll recover. I heal quickly on my own.”