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"Ambitious and fiercely original. Sondi Warner is the exciting new voice we've all been wai...
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September 12 | Morning
The dun colored wolf let out a howl that cut through the din of battle, attacking with renewed strength. Her foaming mouth clamped around the vampire's delicate wrist, and she snatched, fileting skin. Once the other wolves got him in their teeth, they yanked him farther down the corridor.
Darcy scrambled free yet again. I sensed the effort it took for him to keep evading us, but his voice whispered in my head: "Go on, wear yourselves out."
I shuddered in revulsion. "You first," I spat as I jerked the drapes from a nearby window. The vampire's arrogant laughter strangled into a roar of pain as he fled deeper into the shadows. But Haley's power vibrated the air around her, and a concentrated blast of sunlight shot after the Nightwalker from her hands. The heat scored the floorboards, leaving charred, smoking gashes.
"Where'd he go?" she asked when he disappeared.
"Down there!" I pointed.
Exhausted, I raised my aching sword arm and flew downstairs after him. The bruised and battered wolves ran with me, but I didn't know how much longer we could keep this up. It seemed no matter what we did, no matter how prescient my Empathy, Darcy Cyprian stayed one step ahead.
I dropped to my knees out of breath when I reached the ground floor. A shadow unexpectedly stretched over me, and I stared up into the striking face of a woman with dark hair. "Ms. Ashivant, I presume," I grunted, rising to full height. My Empathy folded around her and felt nothing, and I recoiled. That had never happened to me before.
"Indeed," she replied, "and you're not welcome in my home."
"But that monster is?" I gestured with the sword at where Haley and the wolves still battled Darcy. His lawyer gave me a bored stare. I wondered what she was, half-afraid to find out.
Pausing, she murmured, "You have no idea what's happening as we speak, and you're just in the way. I have an important meeting with the Council of Overlay Affairs here soon. I suggest you and your friends picked your battles."
Good. If the Council was coming, they'd bear witness to Darcy's unfolding crimes—namely kidnapping and killing a human detective whose murder could bring scrutiny to our world.
The lawyer whistled, and the grey and black wolf peeled away from the snarling pack with a whimper. "Loulou, go to Cherie!" she snapped.
For a split-second, Darcy had the upper hand. He fended off the other two wolves easily. I stared in dread as he gripped Haley by the throat and lifted her in the air. My stride ate up the distance between us, but I couldn't strike fast enough. Haley struggled as he squeezed the life out of her.
"You picked the wrong cause to champion," the vampire chuckled darkly. I feinted toward him with the Damascus steel sword, but Haley's dangling form shielded him. "It's not like you imagined, is it? Your moral high ground, your strong convictions, your righteous indignation—none of that can save you in real life."
