Dekes responded to her silent challenge by holding out his palm. Once again, a ball of silvery magic glowed in his hand - pure Ice power this time. Vanessa's face tightened, and she couldn't stop the tremor that shook her body. She could feel the power Dekes was wielding just like I could, and she finally realized exactly how strong my blood had made him.
Dekes smiled at her, relishing her shock and increasing fear. "Good-bye, Vanessa."
He drew back his hand to hurl the ball of Ice at her - and that's when I drove my knife through his right foot.
Since I was still lying on the floor, I didn't have the best angle in the world, and I was still too weak and light-headed to put as much force behind the blow as I would have liked, much less reach up and sever his femoral artery as I really wanted to do. But the vampire's howl of pain and surprise still made me smile.
I ripped the knife out of his foot and drove it into the side of his calf, twisting it in as hard and deep as I could.
"How do you like that, you sick son of a bitch?" I snarled.
Dekes staggered away from me, my knife still stuck in his leg, and the ball of Ice magic in his hand flew over his head and back into the fireplace. The magic - my magic - slammed into the stone there, freezing it in places, shattering it in others, and causing jagged cracks to zip out from the center of the blast. The force of the blow also rattled the mantel above the fireplace and the five items that had been arranged there in a perfect row - my knives. The ones that Dekes had made me put down before he'd savaged my neck last night. The ones I'd vowed not to leave the mansion without.
But instead of freezing or shattering like the stone around them, the knives lit up with the silvery glow of my Ice magic, burning so cold and bright that I could see the spider runes stamped into every one of the hilts. The symbols glowed like tiny stars for a second. Then, just as quickly, the magic winked out, and the runes and the knives were a dull silver once more.
My eyes narrowed, and a knowing smile curved across my face. I couldn't beat Dekes, not when he was using my own magic against me, and I was still so weak from the loss of it in the first place. But I didn't need magic to kill the vampire. He bled, just like the rest of us did. I just needed something to keep his power from immobilizing me while I went in for the kill shot.
I got to my feet, blinking away the last of the spots and sucking down another deep breath for good measure. But instead of palming another knife and charging after Dekes, I picked up the staff that had fallen to the floor and slowly started twirling it around and around. Vanessa started to step in front of me and hurl her ball of Fire at Dekes, but I held out one hand, stopping her.
"Save your magic," I muttered out of the side of my mouth. "He has all three of our powers, plus your sister's Air magic, which makes him stronger than us right now. We've got to get him to drain off some of that excess magic first before you throw another ball of elemental Fire at him. Wait for my signal and stay out of the way. Because if this doesn't work, or if he manages to take me down, then you are going to want to run, and run fast."
Maybe it was all that stolen elemental magic pumping through his veins, but Dekes recovered quickly. He tugged the knife out of his leg and held it up, studying the crimson drops sliding off the end. I wondered how long it had been since he'd seen his own blood and not what he'd taken from his victims. My hands tightened around the staff. I hope he enjoyed the sight, because the bastard was about to see a whole lot more of it.
Dekes's upper lip curled with disgust underneath his mustache, and he threw away the knife and glared at me. "That's going to cost you, Gin. Severely."
"Bring it on, you psycho," I snarled, still twirling the staff.
Surprise flashed in his eyes. Apparently, he'd been so used to being obeyed for so long that it never crossed his mind that someone would stand up to him - that I would stand up to him, especially after the way he'd mauled me almost to death.
"Surrender to me now, and your punishment won't be quite as severe. Keep fighting, and I will make you wish that you had never been born," Dekes warned.
"Ah, if only you'd known how many people have said something like that to me over the years," I said, mocking him with his own words, then let him see just how cold, hard, and unyielding my eyes really were. "Like I told you the other night, I don't just lie down and die, and I always come back to finish what I started."
"Suit yourself, then," Dekes said, shrugging. "After all, I don't really need that pretty face of yours intact. Just your heart pumping out all that delicious blood."
The vampire smiled and reached for his magic - my magic - again. Once more, a ball of Ice power filled the palm of his hand before he threw it at us. Behind me, Vanessa gasped in surprise, but I was already shoving us both out of the way. We slammed into one of the bookcases against the wall, knocking several of Dekes's precious first editions off the shelves. Vanessa started to scramble up, but I put my hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down.
"Stay down," I whispered to her. "This is my fight now. You've done your part."
She bit her lip and nodded, her black eyes full of fear.
Still holding the staff, I got back up on my feet and turned to face the vampire again. "Is that all you've got, Randy? How disappointing. And look at that, you've ruined some of your most prized books."
I pointed to the front wall of the library. Instead of skewering me, the elemental Ice had punched into the case, the shards turning all the books on five shelves into very expensive pincushions. Dekes's eyes followed my finger, and his mouth fell open a little when he realized what he'd done.
"All those books in your collection - ruined. What a pity. I know how much you valued them."
I cluck-cluck-clucked my tongue, and the vampire's face contorted with rage. He reared back and threw another blast of Ice magic at me, but once again I ducked out of the way at the last minute.
"Is that all you've got?" I asked.
Another ball of elemental Ice came my way in reply.
Again and again I taunted Dekes, and again and again he threw his magic - my magic - at me. I retaliated by tossing a few of my knives at him, along with all the books I could pull off the shelves. Of course, Dekes used his stolen Air magic to fling my makeshift weapons away before they so much as ruffled his hair, or incinerated them outright with his Fire power, but that was just fine with me. I didn't really expect to hit him, and I didn't really need to anyway.
From her spot on the floor, Vanessa looked at me like I was crazy, antagonizing the vampire so. She didn't realize that Dekes was doing exactly what I wanted him to, exactly what I needed him to do.