Grave Dance Part 11

I made one more stop by the bed to tuck Falin in as much as possible with him lying on top of the unmade comforter. If you ignored all the blood, he looked almost peaceful, as if he were just sleeping. "You really think he's that dangerous?"

"Al, I don't think. I know. And he has the blood on his hands to prove it."

Chapter 12.

I woke with a jolt and slammed into the mattress a moment later as if I'd jumped in my sleep. My eyes snapped open and I blinked at the chaotic swirl of colors filling the darkness.

Something was wrong.

I snapped my shields closed and sat up, brushing aside the comforter as I moved. A comforter with a stiff, lacy trim. My comforter doesn't have lace trim.

But I wasn't in my room or my bed-I was in Caleb's guest room. The glowing red numbers on the clock beside the bed told me it was 3:49 a.m. Is that it? Is it just the unfamiliar room?

No. There was something else wrong.

I blinked, trying to figure out what felt off. The air hummed with the familiar resonance of the Glen-the neighborhoods surrounding the Magic Quarter, where most of Nekros's witches and fae lived-and the grave essence reaching from the nearest graveyard felt the same as it always did. Then I realized the issue was as much what I wasn't feeling as what I was. I felt the magic in the Glen, and not the sheltering buzz of Caleb's wards.

Why are the wards down?

I didn't know, but I was going to find out.

Sliding out of bed, I padded as silently as possible across the room, but I wasn't familiar with the layout and the moonlight streaming through the closed blinds wasn't nearly enough to illuminate anything. I stubbed my toe against a box-Caleb used the room for storage-and cursed under my breath. PC's tags clinked softly as he lifted his head, trying to decide where I was going.

"Stay," I whispered in the general direction of the bed, but I heard his paws land on the hardwood a moment later.

I reached out, feeling along the wall until my fingers traced over the light switch. Then I blinked in the sudden glow of fluorescent lighting.

I hadn't brought my boots downstairs, but I'd dropped my dagger in my purse and that was on the nightstand. I dug out the dagger and unsheathed it. I hoped I wouldn't need it, but the wards going down in the middle of the night was seriously suspicious. Besides, if I didn't take the dagger, I'd feel like that ditzy blonde in every horror movie who goes out unarmed to check on strange noises. Nothing ends well for those girls.

I crept across the room, cringing as the floorboards creaked under my bare feet. Of course, I'd turned on the light, so it wasn't like I was being super stealthy. The oblivious dog trailing me didn't help either.

Opening the door a crack, I peeked into the hall beyond. My vision being what it was, I couldn't see anything but the pillar of light escaping the guest room. I opened the door wider, and a shadow crossed the doorway.

I threw a hand over my mouth to strangle the sound that tried to escape my lips and jumped back, away from the door.

"Al, you okay?"

Caleb.

I pulled the door open wider. Like me, Caleb must have woken when the wards fell, because the light pouring from my room revealed light green skin and dark, pupil-less eyes. Caleb never walked around without his glamour intact. In one hand he held a mallet, and in the other a vial containing a spell that p.r.i.c.ked at my senses, so it probably did something really nasty if released.

"What happened?" I asked as I joined him in the hall.

He shook his head. "Not sure yet. The wards were taken down from the inside. You want me to hazard a guess at who might have done that?" His whispered words were sharp, leaving no doubt whom he was referring to: Falin.

I couldn't think of any reason Falin would dismantle the wards. He was unconscious when last I'd seen him, and even if he did wake, it wasn't like the wards prevented him from leaving. I opened my mouth to say as much and then snapped it closed again. Now wasn't the time to argue.

"Stay here," Caleb whispered as he crept along the hallway.

That was a good suggestion. Unfortunately, I wasn't taking it. I closed PC in the bedroom, and then, clutching the dagger tight, I followed Caleb.

Someone had turned the lights on in the front of the house, which was good for my eyes but probably not the best sign, since we'd turned them off after we'd finished the movie we'd watched before bed and I'd said good night to Caleb and Holly. Caleb motioned me to wait as he opened the door to the den. He stepped inside and then gave a sharp hiss. I followed a moment later.

What the h.e.l.l? I mouthed as I gaped at the room beyond.

The front door of the house stood wide open and dozens of ravens filled the room. The inky black birds had gathered on every available surface. Four perched on the flatpanel TV, their talons scratching against the plastic. At least a dozen sat on the back of the couch, and more were on the coffee table and on the end tables.

They stared at us with beady black eyes. Every last one of them.

"Uh, Caleb?"

"I have no idea," he said, his whisper so quiet I barely heard him.

Another raven swooped through the open front door. It screeched, wings flapping as it drew near, and I jumped aside. The bird landed on the doorframe we'd pa.s.sed when we entered, and I backed farther away as a second raven joined the first. c.r.a.p, we would have to walk under the birds to get to the back of the house. Two more ravens flew into the room.

"This is like that Hitchc.o.c.k movie," I said, taking another slow step away from the birds. They were blocking access to the front door and the door to the hall, but there were no birds between us and the door to the garage Caleb used as a workshop or the door beside it, which led to the stairs to my loft. I backed toward those doors, trying to keep an eye on all the ravens. The birds continued to stare. "They're giving me the creeps. Aren't they big for birds?"

"That's an understatement." Caleb shifted his grip on his mallet. "I guess we call animal control? We should probably wake Holly and get a hotel room for the rest of the night."

Yeah, except how were we supposed to reach Holly? And what had attracted the birds into the house in the first place? This couldn't be normal. I reached out with my senses, looking for a spell or charm that would have attracted the birds. What I found was seriously not what I expected.

"Oh, c.r.a.p."

Caleb turned halfway around, but he never looked away from the ravens. "What?"

"Those aren't birds. They're constructs."

Chapter 13.

Constructs. Just like the cu sith in the Quarter. I opened my shields, already knowing what I'd find. In my second sight, the ravens vanished, becoming instead misty shapes surrounding a nasty clump of twisting magic. I snapped my shields closed again.

"We have to get out of here," I whispered, reaching behind me for the doork.n.o.b to the stairwell. We could escape out through my room and then circle around to the back door to get Holly. My hand landed on the k.n.o.b, and I twisted it quickly.

It didn't turn.

d.a.m.n it! We never locked the doors to the stairs, but Caleb had insisted since Falin was staying upstairs. I fumbled with the lock, finally having to turn my back on the birds to unlock the door. I twisted the k.n.o.b again, jerking the door, but it just shuddered.

"The bolt lock too?" I asked, my voice raising with a mix of exasperation and panic.

"Alex," Caleb hissed, and as if my name were some sort of signal, the ravens screeched.

The room filled with the sound of wings beating the air, the roar almost loud enough to block out the screeching. The birds dove forward just as I threw the lock.

"Get down," Caleb yelled and shoved me back toward the wall.

The ravens swooped at us, shiny black talons flashing and sharp beaks thrusting forward menacingly. Caleb uncorked his vial with his teeth and threw it at the nearest bird. A hazy green miasma exploded around the raven. It gave a sharp croak of a cry and then dropped. Caleb kicked it aside, but two more had already taken its place.

He swung his mallet. The sound of bones snapping made me cringe, even though I knew the birds weren't real. But this bird didn't fall. Caleb's death blow smashed its rib cage and it vanished, a small copper coin hitting the carpet a moment later.

Neither one of us had time to be amazed because there were more birds, so many more birds, to take the first's place. They swooped at us, talons extended.

I lashed out with my dagger, hitting one of the ravens in the wing. It went down, but didn't vanish. Climbing to its feet, the raven spread its uninjured wing wide and rushed me, its head darting as it lunged at my leg. d.a.m.n. You have to hit to kill.

Another raven dove for me, its talons aimed at my eyes. I ducked, and it got a claw full of my hair instead, pulling a clump out by the roots. I yelped, but the grounded raven was still coming for me. I jabbed with my dagger again. This time the bird vanished.

"There are too many of them," I yelled over the roar of wings as I scrambled to my feet.

"You have a suggestion?" Caleb asked, never pausing as he swung his mallet, knocking birds out of the air.

I didn't.

Somewhere beside me a door opened, and I spun around. Falin staggered into the room, one arm pressed against his injured side but a large dagger clutched in his other hand.

"Get out of here," I yelled as soon as I saw him.

He didn't retreat. His icy gaze took in the situation in one quick glance, and then landed on me. He hobbled forward, his breathing hard, pained, but the dagger in his hand cut through the air effortlessly. With every twitch of his wrist a bird vanished on his blade so that small copper disks lined his path as he made his way toward me. It would have been something to watch, if I hadn't been fighting off the d.a.m.n ravens myself.

My enchanted dagger buzzed merrily in my hand as I jabbed at the birds. I could feel it making suggestions in my muscles, trying to guide my arm, and I let it, but even with the dagger's help, most of my jabs injured rather than dispelled. Frustrated, I dropped my shields. I aimed for the knot of magic in the hazy forms instead of body parts, and the birds exploded into mist around my blade.

"Where did they come from?" Falin yelled, more ravens dissolving as his dagger struck true again and again.

Caleb's mallet took out two birds with one ma.s.sive swing. "Like you don't know."

"Guys," I huffed, but didn't say anything else. My chest burned, my breathing came hard, and my arm ached from continual motion, but more birds poured in through the open front door.

A figure appeared in my peripheral vision. I swung around, antic.i.p.ating seeing whoever had set the constructs on us. Instead I came face-to-face with Death.

His dark eyes went wide, as if he was surprised to see me, and in my own shock, I didn't notice one of the birds diving close until it was inches from me. Death's hand shot out, his fingers jabbing into the bird. He jerked, and the bird vanished. It didn't dissolve like the ones Caleb, Falin, and I killed, but all trace that it had existed disappeared-except the disk that fell to the ground.

"You always have to interfere, don't you?" said a voice behind him, and we both turned as a soul collector-dressed for a rave, in a bright orange tube top and a pair of white PVC hip-huggers-stepped forward.

She shook her head in disapproval, making her long dreadlocks swish. Then she strolled forward, slashing through the birds with her orange talonlike nails. Another reaper, wearing all gray, followed close behind her, swinging his silver skulltopped cane through the birds.

"Welcome to the party," I muttered, aiming my own dagger at a construct that dove too close.

"Alex, down!" Falin yelled, and a large hand slammed into my back, shoving me toward the floor.

I rolled as. .h.i.t I the ground, but with Caleb and Falin on one side and the collectors on the other, I didn't have anywhere to go. My roll ended with me on my back, staring straight up as three groups of ravens descended from different directions, all diving for the spot where I'd been. Not that they stood a chance against the three collectors and two fae. I covered my head as a shower of spelled disks rained over me.

Then there was silence.

I pushed myself off the floor and looked around. The front door still hung open, but no more dark shapes swooped through it. I clutched my dagger, waiting, watching, sure the reprieve would break at any moment. I think we all were. But nothing happened, and I finally released the breath I'd been holding.

Caleb immediately rounded on Falin. "What did you do?"

"They weren't after me," Falin said, wincing and leaning against the wall. Fresh red blood dripped over his gloved hand where he pressed it against his side.

"Leave him alone," I told Caleb as I stepped forward to help Falin. He needed to sit down, and I didn't care what Caleb said-he needed a healer.

A hand on my arm stopped me, and I turned, ready to lay into Caleb for being overprotective. But it wasn't Caleb; it was Death, and the look on his face killed any protest I might have raised.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, his hazel eyes scanning my face, my neck, my shoulders. He brushed aside my hair as if searching for any injury it might have hidden.

"I'm fine." And I owed him and the other collectors a debt of grat.i.tude for that. We'd have been overwhelmed if they hadn't appeared.

My gaze moved past him and I saw the other two collectors gathering the mist hanging in the air from the vanished ravens. It dissipated slowly as they reached out again and again. Souls. How creepy is it that we've been trudging through souls? Not that the stuff looked like a person or a creature. Most souls I'd seen outside of a body still looked like, well, the original body.

"How does a soul turn into mist?"

"Not any way natural," Death said, running his hands down my arms.

The raver-collector glared at him. Guess he wasn't supposed to tell me that. It wasn't as if "not any way natural" told me much.

Death ignored her. "You're sure you're not hurt? Not one of those creatures touched you? Not even a scratch?"

I frowned, looking down at myself. "I don't think so." I hadn't exactly had time to take stock yet, but I didn't feel hurt. "Nothing serious, surely."

"Alex, who are you talking to?" Caleb asked, stepping forward at the same time Death brushed my top up so he could search my waist and back. Caleb stopped. "Anyone else seeing her clothes move on their own?"

Falin nodded. "Yeah, she's not alone," he said, and I swear he glared at the s.p.a.ce near where Death stood, as if jealous.

Not that he had any right to be. Still, I brushed my shirt back in place and stepped away from Death's searching hands.

"I'm fine," I said again.

"Alex, those were carriers. As little as a scratch would transfer their spell."

I blanched, staring at Death. c.r.a.p. I was pretty sure I wasn't hurt, but the others?

I turned but didn't have time to say anything before the collector in gray stepped forward. His cane shot out, the silver skull ornament pressing into Death's chest not in a blow but more a cautionary block.

"Do you think that wise?" he asked, his eyes on Death, who glared at him in return.