Silverthorn (25 page)

“If Brandon stays here with Celestina.”

“Mom!” Celestina said, embarrassed as heat crept into her cheeks. “I’m not a child!”

“Yes, you are. You’re
my
child.”

“But—”

“She’s right,” I told my niece. “You’re too valuable. We can’t risk anything happening to you.” I might not have agreed with much that left Alexis’s mouth, but I agreed wholeheartedly not to let Celestina join us on a dangerous mission. Noticing how my niece had demurred upon hearing me regard her as “valuable,” I was glad to have referred to her sense of importance rather than mentioning her inexperience as a teenager. “Can you do that locator spell to find Darius?”

“Normally,” Alexis said, “we’d need a strand of his hair or a fingernail.”

“Phew!” Brandon said. “I thought you’d say we’d need his skin or bones or something.”

“We could definitely use those, too!”

“Why do I even open my mouth?” he asked rhetorically.

“Mom?” Celestina asked. “We don’t need anything from his body, right? Zephora made him, so he’s a direct—”

“Result of our line,” my sister said. Alexis looked at me. “If we couldn’t find Kendall, we’d just let her rot in whatever hellhole she’d found herself in.” She smirked, knowing that she’d elicited a glare from my best friend. “But yeah, we’d need something personal to link us to her location. Luckily, we don’t need to do that with Darius. but I’ve never done a locator spell without something tangible.” She turned to her daughter. “Is there anything in
The Book of Souls
about doing this type of locator spell? Go check on that…by yourself.”

Granted, Celestina would get better and quicker results without the pressure of others looking on or even just talking, which could disrupt her, but I didn’t like the way Alexis banished her to solitude like that. “Take Lulu with you. She likes your company.” I pretended to look around for my dog. “Little Lu?”

Celestina rolled her eyes with humor in her smile. “She’s right by your feet!”

Lulu pawed my shins and whined at my feet.

I looked down to see her wagging her tail and licking her lips. “Lulu! There you are!” I lifted her into my arms. “You scared me, Lu!” I kissed her neck and laughed as she licked my chin.

“That’s about all the action she gets!” Alexis said.

“Jealous?” I asked.

“I need a map,” Celestina said. “Right, Mom?”

“Yes. Only it’ll need to be local.” She turned toward me. “Do you have a phone book? She could use the city map to pinpoint Darius’s location.”

I neglected my sister in favor of hugging my dog tightly before looking into her eyes. “Now, Celestina’s going to do magic stuff, and it’s your job to keep her safe.” I put Lulu down, headed into the kitchen, opened the kitchen cupboard, and removed a phone book. “It’s a lot of responsibility,” I told her. “Are you up for that?”

Lulu’s ears perked up and she smiled.

“Are you ready for your mission?”

She stomped her paws into the ground.

“Okay, off you go.” I cocked my head for my niece to follow Lulu into the other room.

“She’s so smart!” Celestina said. She accepted the phone book and trailed after Lulu. “Hey, wait for me.” A moment later, the door shut behind them.

“That was really something,” Nolan said, grinning at me. “The way you two communicate. All that, and you just got her?”

“We girls have to stick together.” I turned to Kendall. “Right?”

“You know it.”

“I need a drink!” Alexis said and headed off into the kitchen.

A minute later, my niece stuck her head out of the door. “Can you print out a map of the River West? He’s pretty close.” Then she shut the door again.

I hurried into the room to find Celestina standing with her arms behind her back, hiding something. I had no problem with her keeping this enchantment to herself, so I logged onto my computer, printed out a copy as requested and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” She stared at me with Lulu at her side, doing likewise, wanting to keep her knowledge to private.

I liked that my dog had taken a liking to my niece. But I also found it a little troubling that Celestina didn’t trust me. Reluctantly, I left the room and went back to my bandmates.

For the next few minutes, rather than discussing our impending assault on Darius, I got together with Kendall, Brandon, and Nolan, and we discussed the set list for tonight’s show at the Vic Theatre. All the while, Alexis listened in, although she pretended to listen to the Weather Channel. Because…in what world would Alexis listen to the weather? It meant she had an interest in us. Whether it was to help us or hinder us, I couldn’t say. I only hoped that she had good intentions.

Celestina opened the door. She stepped out with Lulu at her feet, walking alongside her.

“What’s up?” asked Alexis.

She told us the address that Darius currently inhabited.

“But that’s our apartment,” Brandon said, springing toward the door. He glanced at Kendall. “What’s he doing in our house?”

“You invited him,” Kendall responded. She also hurried toward the exit.

“Yeah, because he compelled me. When you think about it, a master vampire shouldn’t need to compel people to do their bidding. I mean, did Dracula do that?”

“Yeah,” Kendall said. “I’m pretty sure he did.”

“Oh.” Brandon cocked his head to the side in defeat. “Pretend I never spoke.”

Alexis said, “Just now? Or since we met? Because I’d prefer the latter.”

“Guys!” said Celestina. “I just told you where Darius is at.”

“Exactly,” said Kendall, a sneer on her face. “Let’s get him!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“Pull up closer,” Kendall said to Brandon. “I want Darius to know we’re coming. I want to look him in the eye when I stab him in the heart.”

“You look really pale,” said Alexis from the backseat. “If you need to feed, look somewhere else.” She gestured to Nolan. “And you look kind of weak, almost sickly.”

I glanced at both of them. True enough, they looked far from ready to confront Darius, if he indeed had taken up residence in my friends’ apartment. As a vampire, Kendall looked worse off than Nolan did, since she needed blood to continue to exist, whereas as a half-demon, Nolan shouldn’t need as much juice to keep him upright and as powerful as he needed to be during our impending battle. I clutched the Soul Sword in my right hand, unwilling to let it go as a supernatural force raced up my forearms, through my arms, into my shoulder and settled in my chest.

“Do you think Zephora is with Darius?” asked Kendall.

“No,” Alexis said, “she’s hanging out at the local bar playing darts.” She turned and winced at him. “Of course, she’s there. Where else would she be?”

Grams also loved playing darts. That thought left me silent. But this time, rather than thinking about whom I’d lost, my gaze flicked to the rearview mirror to check on Alexis. She’d just lost her mother, only to have another woman inhabit her body. And while the same thing happened to Grams, it only occurred for a short time. I still had difficulty wrapping my head around regarding Delphine as anyone’s mother. I also had a hard time calling her a mother…when I found out that she abused Celestina. The thought made my anger rise.

“Are we still set with the plan?” I asked as Brandon pulled to the curb half a block away from his apartment and killed the engine.

The plan consisted of Nolan and I taking the front entrance, while Alexis and Kendall entered through the backdoor. Since the bedrooms were near the back of the apartment, I suggested that Kendall accompany my sister in case Zephora lay in one of the two bedrooms: even if Zephora hadn’t fully regained her strength, we needed the most powerful members of the group to face her. Not only that, but since Alexis hadn’t seen Delphine since she’d discovered that Zephora had inhabited her body, I didn’t entirely trust that she
believed
it. And considering that Alexis refused to help unless she saw Delphine, I had to accept her request…if I wanted her help. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have attempted this mission: she was the only one with plenty of experience using her paranormal powers. As much as I hated relying on her, given that I had no idea if she’d side with Zephora, I had no other choice if we wanted a good chance of accomplishing our goals: killing Darius (and Zephora, if possible).

Alexis got out of the car with Kendall doing likewise. They hurried down the sidewalk, heading for the apartment. After running alongside it, they disappeared around back.

I opened the passenger side, still feeling a little tipsy. I stood straight, trying to shake off the after-affects of the liquor that ran through my system. Taking the booze just to shock my sister was stupid and immature.

Nolan stood beside me and grasped my arm. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Me? I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

His jaw set and he looked alert. “I’m fine,” he repeated. “How’s your knee?”

With that one look, I knew that he wouldn’t fail to live up to his assertion. “A little better.”

Thankfully, holding the Soul Sword diluted some of my disorientation and somehow dulled the pain in my leg. “Okay, let’s go.” We swept up the front door and reached it a moment later.

He leaned against the concrete wall of the complex and to the side of the door to prevent any onlookers inside from spotting us outside. He grabbed the handle of the spring door. “Ready?”

I stepped forward, pressed a hand against his side and pushed him aside. Then I grasped the doorknob, turned it, and pushed it open. I’d expected Darius to lock it, but if either Kendall or Brandon had returned home, they would have needed a key to unlock it, so I could see why he hadn’t dealt with precursory issues.

A strange scent wafted through the house. I couldn’t identify it or place its origins.

Nolan and I made our way into the hallway, and just as I stepped into the living room, I heard a shoe sweep across the hallway floor. I spun around, expecting an attack.

Darius, carrying Zephora in his arms, stood behind the front door. He stepped in front of it and kicked the spring door open.

I slashed the Soul Sword across his body, and managed to gash his left deltoid. Blood rushed to the surface. Despite muttering a dull grunt, he barged through the door, scuttled down the porch steps, and along the sidewalk. Even propping up Zephora, he moved too quickly for me to catch him. If only I’d seen him a few seconds earlier!

“Serena!” Nolan shouted.

I twirled around and raised my blade.

A man with a Caesar haircut rushed across the carpet toward me. He wore a pair of jean cutoffs and a Chicago Blackhawks hat.

I slipped his right fist and slammed a quick right into his abdomen, which spun him toward me, so I rammed another punch into face, knocking him back against the closet door. Before I could follow, Nolan leapt forward, clutched onto his shoulder, and yanked him backwards, then threw a right punch, slinging him sideways.

I cranked back the sword and swung. A moment later, the vamp’s head tumbled to the ground. I avoided it, and a moment later, the head and body poofed into particles.

I looked through the window in time to see Darius place Zephora into the passenger seat of his car. He bolted around the car, jumped in the driver’s seat, and sped away from the curb.

Blood soaked his left arm sleeve. Carrying Zephora had probably put even more pressure on the injury, pushing torrents of blood to the surface. How deeply had I cut? Half-an-inch? An inch? Even more? Despite the depth, I couldn’t have asked for better luck. If he continued to bleed out, he’d need to feed in order for his restorative powers to allow his body to recuperate, which in turn would weaken his vampiric abilities.

Another vampire barred pointy teeth at Nolan while gripping a baseball bat, prepared to swing for the fences, or in this instance, bash Nolan in hopes that he’d slam into the far wall. He swung the bat toward Nolan’s head.

He ducked and whipped a fist into the vampire’s face, which made him drop the bat, whereupon Nolan snatched it. He wound back and crammed the bat against the vampire’s head, slinging him in the opposite direction, eliciting a crack as his neck bone severed from its rightful place.

The vamp crumbled to the ground, motionless.

I stabbed him in the heart with the Soul Sword.

Nolan hadn’t done much damage or expended that much energy, but beads of perspiration clung to his forehead, indicating that he needed an infusion of paranormal power.

Given his weakened state, I took the lead, only to find that a vampire appeared on either side of the outskirts of the kitchen. Both grinned, revealing jagged teeth. Four other vamps, ranging in age from their early to late twenties, fell in behind them.

“Let the fun begin,” I said in a dour voice.

The two vamps closest to me rushed forward.

Nolan swerved around me and attacked. He approached the vamp on our right, pummeled the vamp in the chest, pushing him backwards and sending the two vampires behind him into a tailspin. Then, before the vampire to our left could fire off a punch, Nolan pumped a fist into his chest, cracking bone and forcing his chest inward, while his back end protruding behind him, butting those behind him to move backwards.

Nolan hadn’t enough strength to batter them into oblivion, but he had disoriented all of the vamps and knocked them off balance.

I couldn’t have hoped for a better entry point. I ran forward, plunged the sword into the closest vampire’s stomach, and then retracted it as he bent over before shoving him towards Nolan. I could have easily plunged my sword into the vamp’s heart, killing him, but I intended to debilitate him to allow Nolan to clutch onto him in order to drain as much power from the vamp as possible, giving him a surge of strength so he could rejoin the fight.

Without time to determine if Nolan had understood my motives, I tended to the vamps attempting to regain their bearings ahead of me. I slashed the blade across the next vampire’s neck and lopped off his head. I kicked him behind me, so I could approach the others.

The next vampire had watched me dispatch the last two vamps and with a thunderous growl, he raised both hands over his head, balled them into fists, and attacked me.

I plunged my sword into his heart.

The blow forced the vamp to lower his hands until they clutched the blade. He stared at it in surprise as though he’d never considered that by lifting his hands over his head, he’d left his torso vulnerable to attack.

As the trio of vampires behind him hastened toward me, I kicked the vamp whose heart I’d plunged my blade into, so that he pushed backwards, bashing those vamps behind him to back up before exploding in a cloud of dust.

With the momentary respite, I glanced back and noticed that Nolan understood my intentions and taken advantage of them, as he’d grasped the vamp’s hand while planting his other forearm into his throat, preventing him from moving, all the while draining the man of his strength. Granted, he might not have gained much of a power infusion, given that I’d punctured his abdomen with my sword. Still, how could he complain about an extra jolt of energy?

From the section of the house beyond the kitchen, I heard plenty of noise: a table knocked over, glass shattering, grunting and shrieking, all of which meant that Alexis and Kendall battled a number of opponents. I only wished I knew whether they had gained the upper hand or not: the vamps ahead of me blocked the line of sight behind them. I had to trust they made some progress, so I could deal with the adversaries before me.

The four vampires in the kitchen regained their poise, and as one, they sped toward me, putting all of their strength into their efforts.

Until now, I’d taken on one vampire at a time and come out undefeated. But seeing four vampires attack, I felt nervous energy throttle through my bones. Although I tightened my muscles for the upcoming assault, I had no illusions that I could send each of them to the grave without suffering serious injuries, if not death. A moment later, however, I felt a presence beside me pulsing with power. Unwilling to lose sight of the vamps, my peripheral vision caught sight of Nolan beside me with a giant grin, intent on doing as much damage as possible to those who confronted us.

Just as expected, Nolan charged the vampires, lowering his head and driving his shoulders into the sternums of two vamps, lifting them off the ground and shoving them into the vampires behind them, knocking all of them onto the kitchen floor.

Shocked, I stared at the action unfolding before me. I presumed that Nolan had extracted so much strength from the vamp behind me that he’d all but left him powerless. Unwilling to neglect the vamp behind me, lest I potentially suffer the consequences of an attack from behind, I swung back and snuck a peek.

Every visible segment of the vamp’s flesh appeared dried up and cracked from an absence of moisture. Had I seen correctly? And if so, how had Nolan sped up the aging process, let alone sucked all trace of life from the vamp? Presuming my eyes had deceived me, I closed them and opened them once more.

The vampire’s body erupted in a cloud of dust, leaving behind only his clothes.

I spun around again and, still seeing the vampires (and Nolan among them) on the kitchen floor, I spotted one of them rise up, prepared to attack Nolan, so I darted toward him, skidded into the kitchen, and slid my legs out from under his, once more sending him to the ground. I’d caught him by surprise, and I couldn’t afford to relinquish it. I got to my feet and swung the Soul Sword across his neck, severing his head. Both body parts shredded to dust within moments. I scanned the kitchen, prepared for another attack.

Nolan tripped another vamp before bashing an elbow into his nose. He grasped the bloodsucker’s neck and tugged in a counter-clockwise direction, eventually issuing a loud crack, indicating that he’d snapped his neck. To ensure that he actually died, instead of merely being unconscious until his recuperative powers repaired his neck, I stabbed his heart with the Soul Sword. An instant later, his body turned into granules that littered the floor. Four down, two to go.

I veered around again, only the vampire duo nearby caught me by surprise, bashing into my upper body and sprawling me out. They fell on top of me and knocked the wind from my lungs. Gasping for breath, unable to move, I watched as both vampires, who had much more physical strength than me, had already regained their balance and prepared to lash out at me with dual punches to the face.

That’s when Nolan dived into both vamps, once more throwing all three to the ground.

Off in the back room I saw a glob of ice crash against the bedroom door, tiny specks of ice spreading into the kitchen. Soon enough, a man encased in ice slid into the kitchen and nudged against the kitchen table. A second later, a vampire’s head clambered into the kitchen.

How many vampires had attacked Alexis and Kendall?