Chapter 673: Rescuing Piers Southway
Ahbi dumped me out of the veil just inside the tree line, within sight of the front entry to the palace, but out of the fight. I let out a shriek from the sudden cold, forgetting, in my dash for freedom, I'd lost my jacket back at the farmhouse. Ahbi snarled, her power surging around me. A film of heat pushed back the icy winter night and cocooned me in warmth. I hugged her and let her go, feeling her anxiety for me, but knowing I had to act.
Damn Piers Southway for needing me to rescue him.
I locked onto his sorcery, only beginning to be able to differentiate between gaping holes of nothing. His had the same subtle taste of mint around the edges. I brushed two others, could only guess they were his friends and not his enemies, and threw up all the shielding I could before making a dash for his position.
Bullets ricocheted from my wards, bouncing free in showers of sparks. It was my sorcery's idea to absorb the energy from the bullets, pumping up the power it had available with every strike. Not that being shot at was ever a good thing, but at least I gained some benefit from it.
I felt like an idiot, zigzagging my way across the snow toward two SUV's parked at angles to each other. Both rocked over and over with the impact of black balls of sorcery, and I knew the metal could only hold out for so long before it collapsed, the energy inside it spent. Cold bit through the edges of Ahbi's magic, even reinforced by my demon.
The cocoon wouldn't last long. I had to get shelter or find a new coat before I froze to death.
The sight of a trio of werewolves creeping up behind Piers made me lunge forward even faster, my demon pushing against me to give me extra speed. My last mad dash drew fire as I rushed past the weres, buffeting them with spirit magic on the way by. I slid forward, slamming into Piers from behind. He cried out as I grasped his jacket in both hands, covering him with my shielding as we both spun and attacked the rapidly recovering, gun-wielding werewolves together. My peripheral mind wondered why they didn't just morph into wolf form and take us out instead of trusting to the artillery they carried. Werewolves didn't need guns. But I didn't have time to thrash it out. The sneaky threesome cried out as Piers shattered their weapons with his power while another blast of Sidhe energy embedded their writhing bodies in steaming ground. I melted the remains of their weapons to slag with demon fire while they sagged, unconscious, Piers's sorcery draining them of energy.
"About time you showed up." His harsh words were paired with a tight grin.
"Are you a total moron or just an idiot in training?" I slashed at the ball of sorcery heading for us, cutting it off before it could hit the SUV we crouched behind. The vehicle rocked anyway, tires blowing on the other side. A good thing, as the chassis sank to the snow, cutting off the path of magic under the bulk of the truck.
"What?" He tensed as the truck rocked again, focusing on the power flowing through the metal and into his hands, absorbing it before lobbing his own over the roof in a random attack. "You've never seen a knight in shining armor before?"
I rolled my eyes, jerking him back from peeking around the back corner of the truck as a hail of bullets met him. "Don't be a jerk," I said. Looked around with growing concern. "Where are the werewolves?"
Piers's shoulders twitched. "Captured," he said. "I tried to talk Oleksander and the others into staying behind, wanted to try a sneak attack, but he insisted." He blew a breath through pursed lips, soft whistle escaping. "The Czar was ready for us."
Reality hit finally, did it?
"I tried to warn you," I said. "But I was captured by the Enforcers. Took me a bit to escape."
"As soon as we arrived, Yure appeared and ordered Oleksander and Raoul to heel." Piers shivered, rage in his face. "Like they were dogs."
Unfortunately, that was all they were to the Czar.
"That left the four of us to do our best," Piers said as the truck rocked, hitting him hard in the shoulder. "I know we should have just run, but..." Yeah. I totally understood.
A glance right and left turned up his three sorcerer friends, the young red-head passed out in the lap of the girl with the bob. Damn it, what was her name?
"What about the rest of your people?" Surely the Steam Union was way more than five young adults with delusions of white knighthood.
Piers winced, and not just from the blow to the truck that shoved it back two feet, forcing us to scramble with it.
"Ah," he said. "About that."
I had a feeling I was not going to like what he said next.
"As it happens," he went on, "we're not exactly here with permission."
Oh. My. Swearword.
"You didn't." Go away, surge of respect and kinship. No time for you right now.
He shrugged, braced himself and lobbed off another ball of black. "I tried to convince her," he said. "Did my best. When Danilo came to us, I almost had her. But she caved when he was killed." Piers's gray eyes, almost silver in the moonlight reflected from the snow, caught and held mine. "I just couldn't let it stand, Syd."
Sounds familiar, my vampire sent.
Vaguely. My demon's chuckle was wicked.
Oh dear, Shaylee sent. Sighed. Another one. Will we survive?
Smartasses.
"Who's 'she'?" My shields repelled one more volley of bullets as I snapped off some demon fire at a pair of werewolves trying to circle around like the unlucky three buried to their armpits in steaming earth. They flew back, crashing into a fountain, the statue toppling over on top of them with a resounding crash.
Piers sighed. "My mum," he said. "Eva Southway. The leader of our branch of the Union."
I snorted. Couldn't help myself. Burst into laughter at the absolute irony of it all. Piers stared at me a moment as though I'd cracked before laughing himself.
"You'll have to tell me why that was so funny," he said, eyes sparkling. "Sometime."
"Not now." I kept grinning.
"There are Steam Union in your part of the world trying to fight back." He motioned for his friends to back off. Ellis had woken, nodded groggily as the four sank into black and vanished. "But my people won't help." He turned to me. "It's just you and me now, Sydlynn Hayle. I won't put them at risk any more. I'll take all the responsibility for what's happening. But I can't walk away."
My demon hummed happily, giving me a shove toward the inevitable. She didn't need to.
I was already kissing him.
Syd. Battle. Remember? Dying, fighting, bullets...
Piers's lips were hot, so hot, burning through the edge of the cocoon Ahbi created around me. As hot as other lips I knew and loved.
Like we had time for this. But I just couldn't help myself, not when he was so in tune with my mind I wondered where he'd been all my life.
I jerked away as the SUV spun sideways, pulling Piers along with me as I tore open the veil and dove through. He didn't fight me, to his credit, though I felt him shiver beside me as I dumped us out again.
Into more snow. Back where I started at the edge of the trees, the front of the palace bathed in the crackle of fire as one of the SUV's exploded, the body bursting outward in a hail of giant shrapnel. Piers stared at the mess he'd made for a long moment before sagging to a crouch, head down, elbows on his knees.
"I failed Danilo," he said.
Considering he had a handful of young sorcerers and a pack of weres the Czar could control as his only backup, he was being pretty hard on himself. The worst part was how familiar he sounded. Heard that before, just recently. Wasn't taking it from him, either.
"Cut yourself some slack," I said. "You're alive, aren't you?"
"I promised Danilo," Piers said, turning to meet my eyes, his glistening with frustration and extra moisture. "I did my best to convince Mum, but she refused. I couldn't just let his people suffer this way, Syd." His hands clenched at his sides. "I should have known better. I'm an idiot."
He could say that again.
"You want to make a dent in this disaster or not?" I prodded him with one foot. He glanced up at me, shrugged with a slow smile. Stood to his full height, now looking down on me. The moonlight on his face really made him rather beautiful-
I snapped at my demon who sighed and shrugged.
She had the worst freaking timing.
I took his hand this time, letting him lace his fingers through mine, welcoming the heat of his skin as the cocoon began to crumble.
"Hang on," I said. "And be ready for anything."
How much did I love he just grinned and followed?
***
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