Everyone froze, their eyes wide on me.
I physically jerked as my right arm, which was still aimed at the falling dead man, burned as a golden ring at my wrist first appeared then sizzled against my flesh. A soft shriek past my pinched lips as it lifted completely from my skin and grew to a large circle around my, now, normal wrist before disappearing.
Clarice’s first ultimatum complete.
Elder Talus was now dead, her dear friend’s murder vindicated.
To everyone else, I had just committed murder against one of my own, an Elder Shifter.
My gaze met Ezra’s, silently telling him I loved him, right before I was slammed in the middle by a pack of Shifters — they had to be, by their strength — and we went down hard even as I heard Ezra’s Vampire roar, shaking the very air around us. I fought, using every ounce of strength I had and every damn skill I had acquired, even using my tiny amount of Vampire speed…but these were enforcers, their skill set greater than mine, not to mention it was ten to one. Eventually, I took a blow to my chest and felt multiple ribs crack, and another to my left arm, feeling the bone break, and the last to my left thigh, the bone splintering completely through my flesh.
I was down.
It took them all of a minute to subdue me.
I screamed as I was yanked by my arms to my feet, all the while hearing Ezra’s Vampire roar in my ears, the sound just as earth-shattering as it had been the first time I had heard it. Shaking my head past the pain, I was dragged when someone kicked my one good leg and broke my ankle. My body shook in agony but not quite to the point of passing out, which would have been preferable when someone grabbed a handful of my hair, jerking my head up and placing my own gun to my temple.
My chest stinging with every breath I took, pretty sure one of my broken ribs had punctured a lung, I spit out a mouthful of blood, my blurry gaze quickly darting to my friends and husband. Jack and Pearl and Ezra were trapped inside three separate golden spheres of Mage magic, suspended in the air. There were four enforcers directly under Pearl, holding the spell together as she blasted her jailing sphere repeatedly. The same amount of enforcers had their hands pressed to Jack’s and Ezra’s trapping spheres, their power shoving into the hovering golden spheres as Jack and Ezra pressed their own powered palms against their spelled cages, fighting to get free. My gaze met Ezra’s glowing green eyes, and he growled, shaking his head furiously as he pounded on the sphere.
The man held my hair tighter and shouted to be heard over Ezra, “I have another char—”
Elder Harcourt stopped him by lifting a quick hand, eyes glowing. “Silence.” Suddenly, there was absolute quiet, even though I could still see Ezra’s mouth opening and closing in fury. Elder Harcourt flicked his hand. “Still.” Everyone froze in the room. As in, everyone literally froze in whatever action they had been doing. Including myself. The only movement my body allowed me was to breathe and blink.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Elder Harcourt push off the wall and walk toward me. I tried to breathe shallowly, but it still hurt like hell in the dead silence, Elder Harcourt’s shuffling the only noise in the room. He stopped in front of me, bending so that his wrinkled face was directly in front of mine, stating, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted that bastard dead. He has committed so many heinous deeds it would overwhelm anyone here, but no one could ever catch him in the act. Now, thanks to your deal with Clarice, he’s no longer a blight on our society.”
He lifted and turned to walk toward Ezra. Stared up at him, his head cocked. “So this is the Vampire.” He rubbed his chin, talking to himself. “Impressive. Utterly ferocious. I don’t believe it would be in my best interest to release him.” He nodded and then moved so Ezra could see him in his frozen state. “I’m not going to free you from the sphere, but I’m going to move you so you can give Queen Ruckler peace while I heal her. If you try any funny business, I’ll make her pain one hundred times worse, so don’t test me.” He lifted a finger. “And please, stop the roaring, it was killing my ears.” Elder Harcourt flicked a hand.
Ezra was suddenly free to move and speak, blurring to his knees and staring down at Elder Harcourt with narrowed glowing eyes. His face was again harsher than normal, more deadly and beautiful at the same time, as he bared his fangs at the Elder, and a growl that gave me chills, frightening in its softness, echoed throughout the room from Ezra’s chest.
“Yes, I know you would love to kill me,” Elder Harcourt waved his hand again, Ezra’s sphere lifting higher into the air directly above the Elder, “and that is precisely why I’m not letting you out.” He began shuffling back to me through the frozen chaos, Ezra’s sphere moving with him. “But do try to behave so I can heal Queen Ruckler. She deserves a medal for killing that sadistic son of a bitch, not all of the broken bones she currently has.”
Elder Harcourt, I was seeing, was a little off his rocker. Not in a bad way, but still, a little…off…to not be frightened of the Vampire — and holy hell it was the Vampire — staring down at him with a million different excruciating deaths in his eyes. Elder Harcourt further proved his point by lowering Ezra’s sphere next to him, and Ezra stood to stare at him, his hands lifting to the sphere, but Elder Harcourt waggled a finger at him, murmuring, “Now, none of that. I’ll freeze you again, Vampire. Do you want to help her or not?” Ezra growled at him, but slowly, he lowered his hands, and Elder Harcourt nodded. “Now, be good while I lift her from them…she’s really not going to like it.”
He was right. He had to unfreeze me to do it, and agony poured over me while the old Mage lifted me from them. My mouth opened on silent screams, a flood of tears poured down my cheeks, and my body racked in shivers when every broken bone jarred with the movement. Ezra’s Vampire altered between whimpering and growling as he watched, slowly lowering to his knees and following our movement as Elder Harcourt laid me on my back next to the sphere. The Elder whispered, “Here, help here.” His hand glowed, picking up my arm that wasn’t broken and was closest to Ezra and pushing my hand through the sphere. I jerked as powerful Mage magic zapped me from the contact, but my chest heaved as soon as I felt Ezra’s warm hands grab mine inside the sphere in a tight hold and a heavy dose of tranquillity suffused my body, my eyes meeting his.
“There. Now both of you behave while I do this,” Elder Harcourt murmured, freezing me again as he began healing each of my ailments. There was still no sound coming from my body, but I felt the popping. It didn’t hurt because Ezra held my hand and was beginning to soothingly pet the back of my hand with his other, his furious gaze never leaving mine. Even though it was the enraged Vampire staring at me, I still saw the unconditional love shining from his gaze. His Vampire loved me like my wolf loved him. Minutes later, Elder Harcourt stated, “There we go. You’re all fixed up.”