Of Blood and Passion (40 page)

Those who hadn’t already, now backed up, making Cristoff’s guards laugh even harder. But at the sound of her shout, Cristoff whirled within the Focus to stare at her. Apparently, he hadn’t realized…until now…that she’d survived his attack.

Quinn waved at her nemesis, getting great pleasure from his knowing he hadn’t actually killed her. He was too far away for her to see his expression, but she felt his surprise and a disquiet that contained a small thread of something that felt like fear. While the thought might be misplaced, it pleased her tremendously to think that the terrible, all-powerful, Cristoff Gonzaga was just a tiny bit afraid of her.

But that hardly did her, or her team, any good. Not when they couldn’t even reach Cristoff’s forces, let alone Cristoff himself. Her gaze moved to Arturo who stood with his back to the Focus, along with Micah and Kassius. Cristoff’s personal guards. She was terrified Arturo would decide he was their only chance, and decide to attack Cristoff on his own. He’d been unable to beat his master even before Cristoff had come into his power. As it stood now, he didn’t have a chance.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.

As she watched, one of Cristoff’s guards strode forward and cut off the heads of three of the vampires and one of the werewolves writhing in pain on the ground. She heard the crack of gunfire and saw the big vampire jerk back once, then twice, then a third time. She’d handed her gun to Jason before the battle, after he’d admitted to being an expert shot.

“Jason got him,” Zack said. “Right through the heart, yet the sucker’s not going down.”

“You can’t see that far,” Quinn countered.

“Actually, I can.” Together, brother and sister watched the guard turn with a sneer and walk back within the protective force field to stand beside his mercenary brothers. “We’re fucked.”

And they were that. They’d been concerned about getting Cristoff out of the Focus. Now they had two barriers they had to find a way to break through in order to reach him.

Quinn turned to Octavia. “You don’t have any force field-zapping powers, do you?”

The ancient sorceress looked at her thoughtfully. “No. But you might.”

“What do you mean?”

Octavia reached for Quinn’s hand. “I felt something within your magic.” As her cool fingers closed around Quinn’s warm ones, the woman closed her eyes. When she opened them again, moments later, satisfaction lit their depths. “You possess the ability to draw the life force from a person.”

“Yes. My death touch.”

“It is useful for more than killing. You can draw the life out of that field of energy.”

Quinn’s eyes widened with alarm. “Draw the dragon fire into me?”

“No, you won’t have to touch it, just get close enough to consciously draw it to you. Those of us connected to you, now, will help you. As you pull that tainted power, I will send it deep into the ground where it can harm no one.”

“How close do I have to get?” How much did she really trust this woman? Then again, Octavia had used Quinn’s power to create the shield. And did she really have any choice but to trust? They had to disable that force field.

“Close. Within six feet, I believe. You’ll have to be careful not to touch it. And be forewarned, Cristoff’s guards will come after you.”

“Of course they will.” Nothing was ever easy. Quinn dismounted and strode to where Sakamoto’s werecats stood. She looked at Davu and Dera. “Any words of wisdom?”

Eyes grave, they shook their heads. “No visions.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing.” She turned to Fabian. “I might be able to disable that force field, but I’m going to have to get close to it, and stay there for probably several minutes. Can you put together a team to defend me?”

“Of course, sorceress. Can anyone be between you and the field?”

“It shouldn’t matter,” Octavia said, joining her. “She does not need an unimpeded path, simply close and sustained proximity.”

Fabian nodded. “Let’s go.”

Quinn followed him through the throng of fighters. At one point, he stopped and said quietly to those around him, “The sorceress has a plan, but will need protection.”

All those who heard followed, swelling her heart. She clung to the belief that she would succeed, hoping that Arturo would feel it and release any thought of attacking Cristoff just yet.

As Quinn feared, the moment she and her band approached the edge of the force field, Cristoff’s soldiers moved toward them. Swords were drawn on both sides. But this time, her side stopped short, forcing Cristoff’s mercenaries to leave their protective dome to reach them.

Closing her eyes, Quinn lifted her hands and felt for that wall of dragon fire-laced energy. At first she felt nothing. Then suddenly, that odd connection stirred within her again, her connection with Octavia and the Levenach heirs. And suddenly the wall tingled against her senses. It appeared in her mind’s eye as bright orange fire and she marveled at its terrible beauty for several moments before finally gathering the courage to call it to her. Her body tensed for the possibility of pain, but as the energy rushed into her hands, she felt nothing but a prickling, tingling flow of electricity.

Briefly she wondered if she could, either accidentally or on purpose, steal life forces in this way. But even as she wondered, she knew the answer somehow. To steal the energy from a body, she had to be touching it. She couldn’t accidentally harm anyone around her, whether she wanted to or not.

“Stop her!” Cristoff’s voice rang out. “
Kill
her!”

Quinn’s eyes flew open and the sight that met her gaze sent a cold shaft of fear right through the middle of her heart. Cristoff’s entire guard force was turning toward her, death in their eyes.

Hell.

No, nothing was ever easy.

Chapter 47

T
he sounds of battle exploded all around her, the clash of swords, the growl of wolves, the tearing of flesh. Quinn forced herself to keep her eyes closed even as her flesh crawled and her muscles bunched with tension. There was nothing to be gained by seeing the battle when she couldn’t run, couldn’t protect herself. When all were counting on her to disable the foul energy of that force field.

A spray of warm blood hit her face and she flinched, struggling to hold back the primal scream that tried to claw its way up her throat. Which of her friends had just died?

Easy,
cara.
Concentrate on what you must.

Arturo’s voice, his presence in her mind, helped to ground her. Breathe. She must breathe. Everyone was depending on her.

Shaking, she forced herself to focus on the energy flowing into her hands. Slowly, she felt Octavia’s strength and power merging with her own, and felt the life-signature of others in the mix, both individually and as a group. Zack’s was there. And Lily’s. It terrified her to think they were close to this battle. In her hurry to reach the front lines, she hadn’t bothered to ask Octavia if they’d have to be close, too.

With effort, she shoved that fear away, just as she had the others, and forced herself to block out everything but the energy flowing swiftly into her hands. Little by little, the energy flow became less until it was barely more than a trickle.

“It is done!” Octavia’s voice rang clearly over the field of battle. “The barrier is down!”

“Come, sorceress.” With no further warning, Quinn felt herself swept into strong arms and then she was moving vampire-fast, the rush of air blowing the hair into her face.

By the time she could see where she was, she felt herself being set her on her feet beside Octavia, far behind the line of battle. Fabian’s quick grin flashed before he once more disappeared into the fray.

A strong hand clamped around her arm, steadying her, and she looked into the face of her brother.

“Good job, Sis.”

Lily smiled beside him.

“Yes, well done, Quinn.” At the sound of Octavia’s voice, Quinn turned and met the other woman’s gaze. She’d spent enough time with vampires, now, that she was becoming used to seeing ancient eyes in young faces. But in Octavia’s eyes she saw so much more than years and experience. She saw the wisdom of the ages and a gentleness almost too perfect to comprehend.

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Quinn told her.

Octavia smiled. “That is true. You were in need of my power. But there are few I’ve ever known with the kind of courage you just displayed. As I said, well done.”

Quinn smiled, then turned back to the battle. As she watched, her army swarmed Cristoff’s guards who, she noticed with satisfaction, were no longer laughing. Too many stood between her and the Focus for her to easily find Arturo, but she could feel occasional blasts of his emotions and knew he was battling those he had no desire to kill. Unfortunately, in the heat of battle, anything could happen.

A fire arrow arced through the sky and bounced off the Focus to be snuffed out in the dirt. The crack of gunfire erupted in the midst of the battle from time to time. But those deadly arcs of green and gold light continued to shoot out of the small dome, uninterrupted.

“They’re not dying,” Zack muttered.

Quinn retrieved her horse and mounted, needing a higher vantage point from which to see what was going on. Zack was right. Cristoff’s forces weren’t dying. Dead wolves littered the ground, as did Slavas and fae. Vampire after vampire exploded, but never Cristoff’s.

“Cristoff must have acquired some kind of indestructibility spell from the Black Wizard,” she muttered. “Something he was able to cast over his entire army.”

“Then we’re fucked.”

She glanced at her brother and had to agree. The only upside was that perhaps Arturo, Micah, and Kassius were protected by it as well.

Unfortunately, with each failure to strike a blow at Cristoff from the outside, the likelihood of Arturo having to do it from the inside increased exponentially. And if he did, he was going to need her help. She tried to connect to him, tried to feel the connection forming, but he was still too far away.

Do not attempt to call up your bubble through me,
amore mio
, I implore you. I do not dare do magic or Cristoff will become suspicious.

Quinn stopped immediately, but the need to find a way to protect him against Cristoff’s retaliation, should it come to that, burned a hole in her.

She continued to watch the battle. Having heard the plan ahead of time, she understood what she was seeing when, one after another, Fabian’s opponents—Gonzaga guards—turned away from him to attack their own. He apparently had a powerful ability to enthrall other vampires when he needed to, when cajoling and ordering didn’t work. Unfortunately, his enthrallment wasn’t lasting. Of the three so far who’d turned on their own, only one had actually killed one of Cristoff’s. All three had quickly recovered. Too quickly.

Now she turned her attention to the vampire master Geert who was standing away from the battle, focused on Cristoff. The plan, she knew, was for Geert to try to mentally manipulate Cristoff out of the Focus. But even as she watched, Geert began to scream, his hands clutching his head. A moment later, his head exploded.

Dear God.
Was that what would happen if Arturo attempted to mind blast Cristoff? He’d told her Cristoff could not attack anyone he wasn’t touching, at least he couldn’t before he came into the Black Wizard’s terrible power. But he
could
counterattack from a distance. And maybe that was what he’d done with Geert, counterattacked with devastating results.

Searching, she found von Essen battling with his sword not far from where Geert had just died. The plan had been for von Essen to attempt to steal Cristoff’s power remotely, but she wondered now if he’d aborted that plan after watching what happened to Geert. She couldn’t say she blamed him.

A sudden movement caught her eye, a blur slamming through the walls of the Focus. Startled, she watched as the blur turned into Sheridan. He lifted a sword as if to strike, but a moment later, his head flew back out of the Focus to land in the dirt, face up.

Oh, Sheridan
. He’d used his ability to breach the Focus to go after Cristoff himself. Vampire-fast, he might have stood a chance before Cristoff became so powerful. Today, he’d stood none.

Without warning, Quinn felt a fire go through her middle. For one terrible moment, she thought she’d taken a bullet until she realized that everyone around her was suddenly yelling and doubling over in exactly the same way. It could mean only one thing. Cristoff had once more managed to call forth his new world, his world of pain. And if the werecat twins were to be believed, this one wouldn’t fail.

Chapter 48

A
rturo battled three of Fabian’s loyal soldiers, careful to fight hard but not go for the kill. The roar of a helicopter erupted overhead and he glanced up to find a police chopper hovering above them. Structures began to pop up out of nowhere—not entire streets of them, just random buildings. In some cases only parts of buildings. One erupted close enough to the battle that the vampires and werewolves who’d been standing on the spot were sent flying. Half a dozen moving cars appeared far to his right, but not the roads they’d been driving on.

Quinn’s army—most of the citizens of Vamp City—suddenly doubled over. Humans began to appear all over the battlefield, screaming not only from pain but from the blows of swords already in motion when they’d appeared.