Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

Bowen

THERE’S NO TIME TO THINK. I MOVE ON INSTINCT, THROWING up a shield with my power. Even so, it’s barely in time. The bullet stops close enough for me to see the size of it in perfect detail. If I hadn’t shielded, she would have blown off my fucking head. “I take it this is Lizzie.”

“Yep.” Evelyn sounds strained, and she’s not quite huddled against my back, but it’s a near thing. “This is bad. We should run.”

With my shield in place, I take a moment to study this new enemy. She’s lean in the way good predators are, every bit of her geared toward taking down prey in the most efficient way possible. Even if Evelyn hadn’t told me she was a vampire, I likely would have guessed. The few vampires I’ve had cause to meet all have a strange, otherworldly feeling to them. It’s too complicated to call it beauty; it’s more an energy that draws people—prey—in. Even in the middle of shooting at us, Lizzie has that draw.

She came into Threshold, which means by the law, she should either join the C?n Annwn or die. Considering she just tried to kill me, I’m not overly inclined to give her a choice. Except … she might be murderous, but she meant something to Evelyn. I can’t kill her ex.

How quickly the laws fall apart for me now that I’ve started questioning them.

I hold up a hand. “Go back to where you came from and we’ll pretend this never happened.”

Lizzie’s face has no expression. No fury. No contempt. No fear. “Cute.” She studies me. “Telekinetic. What a pain.” Her dark gaze flicks to Evelyn. “He won’t be able to save you. Where are my jewels?”

“Funny story—”

“I don’t want your story, Evelyn.” She pulls the trigger again. Again, I stop the bullet well before it can cause damage. I can’t tell if she’s honestly trying to murder us or if she’s just reminding us that she can. She shifts the rifle to point at Evelyn, raising her brows when I mirror the movement to get between her and the woman at my back.

Evelyn, for her part, is damn near babbling. “I didn’t think. You know I don’t think when I get mad, Lizzie. You were going to let your mother murder me. I just grabbed them and ran.”

“Evelyn.”

She grabs the back of my cloak. I can feel her shaking even through the thick fabric. Evelyn clears her throat. “Your jewels are on the Crimson Hag. Which is a problem because the ship sailed off with them when the crew left us here.”

Lizzie slowly lowers her gun. She looks up at the tree branches overhead. “That’s very irritating.”

“I’m sorry.” Evelyn sounds so small, I want to level this entire forest out of sheer rage.

“Yeah, me too.” Lizzie’s eyes go crimson.

It’s the only warning I get before it feels like every vein in my body rebels. Pain unlike any I’ve ever known scores through me, sending me to my knees. “Oh fuck.” I’ve felt something similar when I fought a water elemental a while back. She tried to force the water in my body out. I was able to deflect that. This is a thousand times stronger. I reach for my power, but it slides through my fingers, my control nonexistent when I can barely draw breath into my shrieking lungs.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Evelyn grabs my shoulders, but her touch is nothing compared to the agony inside me. “Lizzie, stop it!”

Lizzie doesn’t stop. If anything, her eyes glow brighter. She reaches out and closes her fist and my whole body jerks forward several feet. I have to do something. She’s focusing on me only because she’s decided I’m the bigger threat. If she incapacitates me, she’ll kill Evelyn.

That thought has my instincts taking over. I don’t think. There’s no time or energy for finesse. I send out a massive half circle of power. It hits Lizzie and the trees in a wave I can actually see, causing chaos in its wake as she goes flying.

Her control doesn’t snap, but the pain eases the tiniest bit. I fall to my hands and knees. “Run.”

“Absolutely not. She’s going to kill you.” Evelyn drops down next to me, her fingers digging into the soft dirt beneath us. “This is all my fault. I’m so fucking sorry.”

I open my mouth to reply but the pain flares harsher and I can only grunt. Evelyn isn’t running and she’s not going to listen to me and fuck, I don’t know how to fix this.

Lizzie strides out of the dust of my destruction looking none the worse for wear. Her clothing is a little dirty, but I obviously didn’t do any lasting damage with a blast that would have killed a lesser being. Holy fuck, this woman is scary.

“I’m sorry, Lizzie!” Evelyn plants her hands on the ground and a surge of purple magic roars out from the circle we’re contained in. Lizzie’s eyes go wide as it hits her and then she’s gone, tossed away as if by a giant hand. The trees that I damaged crack and crumble in the wake of Evelyn’s spell.

Including the portal.

My pain disappears so quickly, it makes me dizzy. I have to focus on drawing in one breath after another. Evelyn slumps against me. “Won’t knock her down for long. We have to get out of here. This time, listen to me when I say run.”

I turn my head slowly. She’s too pale, and her eyes are too wide. Does she realize what she just did? The sacrifice she just made? “The portal.”

“I know. I see.” She shakes her head and sways. “Worry about it later. We have to go. She heals faster than anyone I’ve ever met. We have … five minutes. Maybe.”

Not long at all.

I still feel shaky in the wake of the vampire’s attack, but at least my magic comes when I call. I scoop Evelyn up, staggering only a little. “Hold on to me.”

“What are you— Oh shit.”

I lift us off the ground and, after a beat of concentration, hurl us into the sky. Flying takes a lot of power and a significant amount of concentration. If the vampire attacks now, we’ll both fall and we might not survive it. It’s still a risk I have to take to get Evelyn away from danger. “What’s her range?”

“I don’t know. Longer than it should be.” She presses her face to my neck and clings to me. “Did I mention I’m scared of heights?”

I tighten my hold on her, even though it’s unnecessary. My magic is wrapped around us; we won’t fall unless I let us go. Unless I’m forced to let go. “You’re safe.”

“I think you’ll find that that’s the one thing I’m not.” She hiccups a laugh. “Fuck, I destroyed the portal I need to get home. That was a big-brained move if I ever made one. Bunny would be so proud. And Lizzie can’t even change her mind and go home—as if that would happen—because there’s no open route. She really is going to kill me.”

“I won’t let that happen.” I’m not sure how I’m going to stop it when she defeated me so handily. I could claim I didn’t see her coming, but the truth is that I don’t know how to combat that kind of power in someone who isn’t overly affected by physical attacks. “I thought you said she was a vampire. I don’t know any vampire that can do that.”

“A bloodline vampire. Lizzie’s family is one of the seven families of born vampires, not turned. She has a whole treasure trove of fun magic powers as a result, but her bread and butter is, well, blood. She can control it in other people, use it to form physical things, and shit like that.”

Ah. That explains it. She wasn’t manipulating the water in my body, but the blood itself. A crucial difference, apparently. I know how to fight a person with water elemental magic, but this vampire is another beast entirely. I want to say that I’ll have something figured out the next time I face her—because at this point, I’d be a fool not to believe Evelyn’s claim that she’ll keep coming after making her way to Threshold—but I don’t even know where to begin.

There’s also the problem that I might hesitate to kill Lizzie, but she’s obviously intent on murder.

I bring us down as carefully as possible near the docks. Even with all my concentration, we fall the last two feet to the ground. I stagger. “Sorry. Carrying people is more challenging than objects.” I look around. After that fight, it feels odd that nothing is amiss here. There’s the sounds of people starting their day in the distance and the soft sound of water lapping at the shore, the docks creaking with each small wave. There’s only one ship present. The Audacity.

I wasn’t happy about sailing under Hedd, but there’s no choice now. We need to get on that ship and we need to leave Sarvi. Immediately. “We have to get off this island.”

“Agreed.” She doesn’t let go of my neck, though.

That’s fine. I’m not feeling the need to set her down right now, either. I hug her closer and press a kiss to her temple. “It will be okay. We’ll figure this out.”

“I’m in the middle of a mess of my own making. You should drop me on my ass and take off for the horizon. She has no vendetta against you.”

“No.”

Evelyn gives a choked laugh. “You just encountered a trespasser of Threshold and took off instead of offering them a spot in the C?n Annwn or killing them. Your Council would probably consider her a monster, too, so that’s two laws broken.”

She’s not wrong. The thought makes me sick to my stomach. “Will she hurt anyone in the village?” If that’s even a possibility, then I don’t have a choice. I have to put Evelyn on the Audacity and stay behind to fight her vampire ex. Even after the last conflict, it brings me no joy to think of killing that woman. If I even can.

“No. It’s not impossible, but I really don’t see it happening.” Evelyn sighs. “She’s too smart to go on a killing spree the second she arrives, and she’s too much a predator to get enjoyment out of killing people she views as beneath her. She likes a challenge. Plus, she’s intent on murdering me, which will take priority.”

Hard to say if that’s a comfort or the worst possible scenario.

“Is that Bowen of the Crimson Hag I see?” The question booms over the water and I have to fight the urge to turn around and walk away. If it wasn’t for the lethal vampire bearing down on us and my need to get Evelyn to safety, I’d simply wait for another ship.

That’s not an option, so I have to put on a good face. Hedd, captain of the Audacity, is a blustering asshole, but he’s dangerous enough to scent out weakness and exploit it. Better to give him nothing to work with.

I set Evelyn down and tuck her carefully behind me before I turn to face Hedd. He leans on the railing, a massive man with a riot of red hair, a beard that would be impressive if he spent any time taming it, and skin that seems to be perpetually sunburned. He’s a berserker, and damn near unkillable. Which is not something I’ve worried about overmuch in the past, but with my new wariness of all things C?n Annwn, I can’t help assessing him the way I would an enemy.

“We need a ride, Hedd. I heard you’re headed toward Lyari.” That’s not, strictly speaking, what Dia said, but hope springs eternal.

He eyes Evelyn at my back, but then his attention shifts as Dia moves out of the trees. I can’t see his eyes clearly at this distance, but he seems shocked. “What the fuck are you doing on land?”

I bristle at his tone, but Dia shrugs it off. “Keep your nose on your face and out of my business, Hedd. Will you give us a ride or not?”

“It wouldn’t be right to deny my fellow C?n Annwn the sea.” He sweeps an arm over his ship. “You’re more than welcome aboard. We’re heading to Lyari, but we have a hunt to finish first. Three Sisters has a mermaid infestation that needs to be dealt with. If you’re on a time crunch, I would recommend waiting a few days for the next ship to come through. You might have better luck with them.” From his tone, he doesn’t particularly want me on his ship any more than I want to be there.

Unfortunately, we don’t have much choice.

I glance at Evelyn, but she’s watching the trees Dia just exited as if expecting Lizzie to burst from them at any moment. It took us a few hours to make it to the portal from town, but we weren’t moving fast. I don’t know the full capabilities of the vampire, but I have to assume she can move at heightened speeds.

No time to waffle on this.

I turn back to Hedd. “One night on land is enough for us. We’ll take the long way around. Happy to help with the mermaid issue as well.”

“More the merrier and all that.” Hedd eyes me dubiously. “We’re about to head out, so grab your shit and be quick about it.”

“We have everything we need.”

His suspicion is a thick thing in the space between us, but he moves back and motions us forward. I catch Evelyn’s arm and speak low under my breath. “Don’t be caught alone with him if you can help it. He won’t …” I clear my throat. “He’ll just make you uncomfortable, and I’d spare you of that if I can. But the quartermaster, Nox, is good people.” I had offered them a spot on my ship a few years ago, with the intention of them serving as quartermaster once they’d earned the crew’s trust. They turned me down, saying their brand of chaos would drive me out of my mind in a few short months. They weren’t wrong, but I think I still would have preferred them over Miles.

Evelyn’s too pale, but at my warning, a familiar glint appears in her green eyes. “I can take care of myself, but thank you for the concern.” She slips out of my grip and climbs up onto the ship.

Dia snorts. “She’s not as helpless as you keep thinking she is.” She lightly smacks my arm. “But love makes fools of us all.”

“I’m not—I don’t—” I sputter into silence, and it’s just as well. Dia isn’t listening to me. She follows Evelyn on board, as nimble as someone a fraction of her age.

I cast one last look over my shoulder and then follow. Within a few minutes, the ship is easing into deeper water and the wind fills the sails. I keep my attention on the shore, ready to strike if Lizzie appears. She doesn’t.

Somehow, I doubt it’s the last we’ve seen of her.