Wiping the blood from my hands, I staggered to my feet and regarded the oversized garden snake. I couldn't free the beast. Maybe only Dash could. I peeked around the corner. The Arcane's attention lay solely on his display, monitoring a group of vampires as they raced toward Elyssa and the other Templars. I was out of time. I considered shooting him with the gun Michael had given me, but it seemed overkill when I could probably sneak up and knock him out.
Making my way past the cages outside the leyworm's room, I stepped over the cable and dashed for Dash. Ten feet. Seven. Five. I raised my fist. An alarm wailed. I smacked into something very invisible and very solid, rebounding like a baby off a sliding glass door.
The Arcane jumped out of his chair and turned to me, one hand extended in front of him. His eyes widened. He smiled. "You came back to us, I see." He flicked his wrist and a cage in the back area opened. Another flick of the wrist sent my gun flying to land on the table behind him. "I'll just put you away and deal with you later."
An unseen force clamped around me. I couldn't move. I could hardly breathe. It pushed me toward the cages, and there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it
A beam of brilliant purple speared toward Dash. It hit his invisible barrier and slowed, burrowing through after a second, and struck him between the shoulder blades, knocking him to the floor. The pressure on me vanished. I stood and saw Bella, staff extended, continue to blast Dash with the purple light.
The man, still crouched, waved a hand through the air. Bella's energy refracted and washed across the barrier, no longer penetrating it. Dash stood up, teeth bared in anger, his white hair standing straight on end like static-charged cotton. "Think you can come into my house and beat me, bitch?" He held a hand toward the Tesla coil. A jagged bolt of bright light raced to meet his fingers. He aimed his other hand at Bella. Energy crackled from his fingertips. Bella ducked behind a crate as the beams splintered wood and blasted parts of the stone floor to dust.
I knew there was no way I could help. My magic skills were crap, and I couldn't physically reach him. I considered letting the vampling and cherub loose, but they'd probably chase me in circles before going for him, and then what? I'd be toast.
On the other hand—a suicidal notion gripped me, but I could think of no other way to cut the Arcane off from his source. I just had to hope it worked. I ran back into the back room and offered an uneasy smile to the leyworm.
"Hey there, buddy. I can help you out if you promise not to eat me or my friend. Can you do that?"
It roared in my face hard enough to blow my hair straight back.
I suddenly wished I still had on adult diapers. "I'm going to take that for a yes." I examined the straps. They were a foot wide and layered with jagged edges that bit into the leyworm's scales and kept it from slithering out. I stood at the edge of the closest strap and prepared to flee the moment it was loose. Leaning down, I extended a finger. Touched the strap. Leapt away. The creature's eyes swiveled to follow me. The strap, however, remained in place.
The big red eye rotated to meet my gaze. The pupil shrank to an angry pinpoint of black.
The leyworm made a strange growling noise like a dog trying to speak humanese. Or maybe it was just hungry. I touched the strap with the palm of my hand. Still nothing. It was all I could do not to shout in frustration. I might need Maximus's or Dash's blood to open the stupid thing. Gripping the strap in both hands, I tugged.
And almost fell on my butt when it parted.
The leyworm twisted, but still couldn't get free. I jumped back as its flailing body nearly slammed into me. The next strap split, but only after I touched the entire width of it where I wanted it to part. Before the creature could use its new freedom to gobble me up, I raced to the last strap and slashed my hand across it.
The snakelike dragon roared and twisted. The terminals swiveled and rocked with sick, wet sounds in the monster's flesh. The creature's eyes widened, probably in agony. I found the farthest corner of the room and watched in sick fascination as it struggled. It jerked once, twice, three times. The bladed terminals slid from the leyworm's body in a spray of crimson, and clanked to the floor. I heard the Tesla coil snap, crackle, and pop one last time before it faded to black with a low hum.
Dash's eyes flicked toward the device. He screamed profanities.
Bella jumped from behind the splintered remains of her dwindling cover. "Got you now, punk!" She aimed the staff and blasted him with purple energy. Dash ducked the first blast and grabbed his own staff off the floor.
"I can still kick your ass," he said and retorted with a bolt of black light.
Their attacks, beams of pure crackling energy, met in the center, pulsating and pushing back and forth against one another, undulating up and down like two snakes furiously French kissing. Rock and wood disintegrated to dust where the two forces touched them. I didn't want to see what would happen should either force touch one of the Arcanes. Bella gritted her teeth in determination. Dash growled as sweat gathered at his brow. Slowly, he reached a hand back toward the table where the holographic image hovered, hand grasping at my gun.
I charged toward Dash, shouting a warning for Bella, when something bowled me over and flattened me against the ground. The breath whooshed from my lungs and I thought for sure I was dead. The pressure vanished. I staggered to my feet and saw Dash lift the gun.
"Die, you stupid—aghh!"
And then the leyworm ate him.
Bella screamed.
"Holy crap!" I shouted as the earth dragon's jaws chomped down on the sorcerer, spraying the vicinity with gouts of blood and all sorts of nasty tidbits.Before I could move, the creature opened its bloody maw wide and came right at me. I froze, my life flashing before my eyes. The creature whizzed past close enough to make me spin in place. It burrowed through the stone wall like hot butter, made a sharp turn, and vanished.
"Oh dear," Bella said, staring at the puddle of bloody chunks where Dash had met his grisly end. "No matter how many times you see something like this, you never get used to it."
I gagged and looked away. "How many times exactly have you seen a leyworm eat a person?"
"A person? I believe this is the first time."
Walking wide of the blood, I went to Dash's holographic display and zoomed in on Elyssa and the others. The vampires were standing just around the corner from them, apparently plotting out their plan of attack. My allies had their backs to the enemy. They'd be wide open. Elyssa dropped off the wall she'd climbed earlier and walked toward the others, unaware of the danger. I pulled out my phone and told it to call her.
She looked at her phone when it chirped at her and answered. "Justin?"
"Get ready. You have vampires at six o'clock!"
The vampires piled around the corner, guns at the ready just as Elyssa shouted a warning. White light speared from behind the cover of a crate, slashing across the attackers. Guns dropped from nerveless hands as the surprised vampires gripped their smoking flesh and dropped dead, their bodies sliding into halves. Somehow, their leader used the butt of his assault rifle to hold himself up. Adam appeared from behind the crates and kicked the lone survivor in the chest. The surprised vampire's torso slid off, spilling innards all over the ground.
"Good heavens," Bella said, violet eyes wide. "I believe Mr. Nosti might be upset."
It was all I could do not to puke. "Ya think?" I scrolled around the battlefield and focused on the pinned-down Templars. There were too many vampires between Fausta's force and theirs. "Still there, Elyssa?" I said into my phone.
"How did you know about the vampires?" she asked.
"A leyworm just ate Dash. He's got an eagle-eye view of the entire place on his tablet, so I can see everything."
"Ate him?" She made a gagging noise. "What about the Templar force coming in from the other secret tunnel?"
I found them hunkered down on the opposite side. They seemed to have a better shot at getting past the vampires than our side did. Somehow we had to find a way past. Could we go under? Over? I spotted another group of evil-doers flanking the pinned-down Templars and realized it was only a matter of minutes before all this planning was moot. With the force coming up behind them, they'd be overwhelmed in no time. Somehow, I had to contact them. If only I had a way to—it suddenly occurred to me I was standing in front of Dash's control interface, and not just a simple overhead view of the situation.
I face palmed. "Stupid, Justin. Real stupid."
Bella watched me curiously. "What is it?"
I circled the group of flanking vampires with a finger, lighting them up on the display. Using the method I'd seen Dash use, I streaked a finger across the map, leading them back to Elyssa and the others. One of the vampires stopped, pressed a finger into his ear and nodded. He waved his finger in a circle in the air and motioned the vampires toward the route I'd indicated.
"Elyssa, I know how we're gonna win this thing."
"Oh?"
I told her my plan. "Can your people handle it?"
She nodded. "What happens if the bad guys catch on?"
I shrugged even though she couldn't see me. "Let's hope they don't."
The first group of vampires I'd re-routed closed fast on Elyssa's position. Using my finger, I drew a new circuitous route while Elyssa filled in the others. I panned the view until I found a side entrance and group of fifty armed vamps guarding it. I highlighted a few at a time and sent them to various places in the compound until only a few remained. Then I located any sentries on that side of the compound and sent them to the top of the wall opposite.
"Ready?" I asked Elyssa.
"Reinforcements are on the way."
Flicking the view to the side, I spotted a small squad of Templars sneaking up to the now lightly guarded entrance. Within the space of a minute, they downed the guards with lancers and secured them. I sent small groups of vamps to the entrance, one at a time, watching as the Templars secured each squad in a quiet, efficient manner. I lost count of how many vampires I sent to their non-lethal doom, but no matter how many were out of action, scores more remained.