The Curse (36 page)

Lanna said, “Do not anger them more. They will hurt you.”

Ignoring her, Kardos assessed the Lieutenant, shaking his head. “Nothing that will touch this bunch. Mine are better outdoors, but we can try the Halloween one I did last year.”

Could they not hear her? “Do not be stupid.”

Kell gave her a withering look and muttered, “Says the person who followed two witches into a troll trap after I
tried
to send you away.”

Kell was only angry because he worried for her, so she teased him, “Good thing for you I have not time to turn you into bug.”

Kardos piped up, “You mean a frog, princess?”

His brother said, “Shut up, Kardos.”

“More like toad, in your brother’s case,” she muttered, then said to both of them, “I can not stop Svart if you interfere. Be quiet or you get me killed.”

Kellman shook his head. “Don’t.”

“Listen to me. I must give my cousin time to find us. Trust me. I can do this and no one gets hurt.” Except maybe her.

In spite of the skeptical look in his eyes, Kell said, “You’re sure?”

“Yes. Be ready and do what I say.”

Lanna took a deep breath and whispered the chant for her cloaking. What she was about to do would lead Grendal to her. Mattered not. She had to help the others. But how long until he found her once she drew hard on the earth’s power?

She whispered a second chant and forced energy into the chain holding her and Kell. When the links snapped, she grabbed his arm and watched him vanish.

Kardos sputtered, eyes rounded with shock.

The Lieutenant stopped mid-stride, staring at where she had sat seconds ago. He roared with fury, then looked up and down, turning in a circle.

“Do not let go of me,” she hissed, dragging Kell with one hand, using her other to grab the chain holding Kardos and the man who had been unconscious in the truck. Pushing her power into the chain, she watched it fall apart.

The man whose phone she’d used jumped up and ordered, “Get out of here while you can. Beladors are coming.”

Was he Belador? Had to be. He meant for her and Kell to leave because they were invisible. But she would not leave Kardos, and neither would Kell.

Svarts charged across the room.

The Lieutenant swung around to attack the Belador man yelling at her. This crazy man lifted hands and shoved at the air, which stopped the Svart. Kinetic power.

His kinetics slowed the Svarts, but he was losing ground.

Lanna ran down the line of captives, breaking chain after chain. Prisoners jumped up and ran in all directions.

The Svarts beat back Belador man’s kinetics, forcing him into corner.

She started toward him. Her cloaking failed.

“Grab her now!” the Lieutenant yelled, pointing at Lanna.

Kell and Kardos rushed over to each side of Lanna, ready to fight with her.

She felt light-headed from tapping her powers, but she needed them again to put strong force behind the spell she had in mind. Raising her arms, she began chanting Russian words.

The boys picked up the singsong words as she repeated them and joined the chant.

Lightning crackled, shooting across the room, popping against every surface.

Svarts froze, looking around until their leader shoved past the group, not worried about the bad weather inside.

His face twisted with rage.

Anything more violent that Lanna could call up might kill everyone inside. She looked into the Svart’s eyes and prepared to die. She said to Kell, “I have new plan. You and Kardos dive away when I say.”

That might give the boys a chance to survive.

“No.” Kell squeezed her fingers, then released her as the Svarts created a wall enclosing them, moving cautiously toward her after that lightning display.

Power exploded into the room.

The Svarts wheeled around as one unit and chaos erupted.

Lanna sagged with relief. “I told you cousin would come.”

“Evalle’s here, too,” Kellman said absently. “And she’ll want us to stay out of their way.”

Sounded good to Lanna, who had lowered her arms when the Lieutenant had turned his back to face the incoming threat.

He swung around and moved fast as a lightning strike, grabbing Lanna by the throat.

THIRTY

B
eladors and VIPER agents scattered across the basement, attacking in teams of two, but not linking. Too high a risk that a Svart might rip off a head and kill all the linked Beladors with one strike. Evalle held the Nyght weapon, ready to blast a troll the minute a team had one beaten back. The weapon used a laser-delivered technology that entered the body and raced through the blood system, exploding internal organs. But it moved from one living thing to the next if two or more beings were connected, killing everyone that touched the target.

A Belador shouted telepathically and she wheeled to find a Svart pushed back by four Beladors shoving a kinetic wall at it. She squeezed the trigger and the Svart turned rigid and shook as if he’d been hit by high-voltage current.

She searched the room quickly for Kellman and Kardos but couldn’t see past the battling trolls and agents to find them or a young girl fitting Lanna’s description. Fourteen captives had raced out, screaming that the trolls were feeding.

Evalle couldn’t be too late for the boys or Lanna.

Quinn had been told to search any troll mind he could, but from the strain on his face he wasn’t having much luck.

One troll tossed aside two VIPER agents he had by the throats and howled, turning until he spotted Quinn.

Then Quinn grabbed his own head.

The minute the troll dove for Quinn, Evalle blasted the nasty creature to pieces.

Screw intel.

Shaking his head, Quinn staggered but gave her a thumbs-up that he was good for the moment.

Three trolls still engaged agents in the middle of chairs and other furniture that were piled haphazardly. Evalle pushed into the center of the carnage.

A clawed hand reached out from a battle and grabbed her, digging into her sore shoulder when he shoved Evalle to her knees. She clenched against the new pain and fought to turn the weapon on him.

Storm snarled, tackling the Svart and yanking his attention away from Evalle. She jumped up and took aim, but couldn’t kill the Svart while he was entangled with Storm.

“Eeevallle!”

That was Kellman’s voice.

Quinn rushed away from the fighting and called to Evalle,
One of them grabbed Lanna. Don’t kill her when you shoot
.

Evalle flipped the lever on the weapon to the lower strength and spun in the direction of Kellman’s voice. The teenager stood with a finger pointed at the Svart holding a young woman. Lanna. Kellman and Kardos chanted something that had the Svart slapping his face with his free hand. The Svart must not want to eat Lanna or he’d have done so, but the girl was turning blue from lack of air.

Evalle took the shot, hoping the level of stun wouldn’t harm Lanna.

The troll jerked and lit up as if he’d been electrocuted by enough power to run Times Square. But he did drop the girl.

Lanna fell to the floor in a limp pile.

Kellman reached Lanna first, then Quinn and Kardos knelt beside her. Quinn called to Evalle,
She’s alive
.

With them secure for the moment, Evalle turned to find Storm. He had bloody slashes across his chest and arms from claws where he still fought the Svart. The troll and Storm crashed through a pile of chairs, falling to the floor.

She yelled at Storm, “Get ready.”

He didn’t have time to ask for what when she lifted a hand and slammed a kinetic hit at the Svart. That caused the troll to jerk his head around to her and lift up in preparation to attack.

Flipping the lever back to deep-fry, she yelled at Storm, “Move. Now!”

The troll leaped at her, but hallelujah, Storm rolled to his left.

She blasted the troll in midair, spewing green ooze all over the place. Smelled like raw sewage in summer heat.

Storm jumped to his feet and headed toward the other two Svarts still battling.

Evalle said, “Hold up.”

Storm turned back. “Why?”

“Don’t jump in unless they can’t break away so I can get a kill shot.”

Tzader fought a Svart alongside Reece “Casper” Jordan, another VIPER agent who was not Belador. She told Tzader telepathically,
I need you to slam the troll with your kinetics to break away, then you and Casper hit the floor when I say go.

Tzader said,
I told Casper.
We’ll go on the count of three.

When Evalle yelled, “One, two, three,” Tzader hit the Svart with a kinetic shot that barely knocked the troll back a step. Tzader and Casper dove for the floor, completely vulnerable. Evalle blasted the Svart, then finished off the last one the same way.

Tzader moved toward her. He walked with a limp, but he’d heal quickly. Evalle asked, “What about the humans?”

“All safe. There was just one Svart watching them, and Trey got him with the other weapon.”

Casper swaggered up to her, wiping troll goo off his face. That cowboy only knew one way to walk. “Some fine shootin’ there, Evalle. That cleaned house.”

Not completely. Evalle had only stunned the one who’d grabbed Lanna. She was about to mention that when Adrianna came strolling up, not a drop of stinking troll goo anywhere on her tight-fitting, black jumpsuit. How did she manage to always look so put together, even at a smackdown?

Adrianna told Tzader, “Trey’s with the humans. I put them to sleep with a spell, but it won’t last long. There’s more here than I can clean up. I can give them a memory that they dreamed this like I did the gangers today, but that’s not going to work this time because they’ve got injuries that need treating. They’ll end up at the hospital, all with the same ‘dream.’” She held up her fingers and made quote marks in the air when she said the word
dream
. “They need their memories wiped, and transport to medical care, and I can’t do that.”

Was it petty of her to be thrilled about hearing something Adrianna couldn’t do? Probably.
Too bad
. Evalle smiled.

Tzader said, “Got to call in Sen.”

So much for enjoying the moment.

Sen would have to do more than just clean up the mess and wipe minds. He’d have to put this building back in shape, right down to repairing any structural damage, so the humans would never know what happened here.

Tzader sent Casper to assess agent injuries while he contacted Sen.

Evalle walked over to the teenagers just as a flush of power whipped through the air. She ignored Sen’s arrival and searched for the boys. She let out a sigh of relief when she spotted them sitting next to the girl with interesting hair. Blond at the roots, but the curls ended in black tips. Lanna had a stunned look on her attractive face. “So you’re Lanna.”

Lanna lifted her face to Evalle. “Yes. You are Evalle.”

Kellman took his eyes off Lanna long enough to smile up at Evalle. “Good to see you.”

“Glad you and Kardos are safe.” Evalle would have said more but Kardos pulled Lanna’s hair back off her face and Kellman glared at his brother.

Kellman?
Now,
that
was amusing.

Lucky for both of them that overprotective Quinn hadn’t noticed either action.

The Svart Evalle had stunned let out a groan.

Storm walked up next to her and stood over the troll. “He’s not dead?”

Evalle shook her head. “He had Lanna in his hands, so I had to drop the power on the weapon to stun.” She lifted the weapon. “But I can fix that if he doesn’t behave.”

“Wait.” Quinn snapped to his feet and looked down at the troll, who had a gold armband with odd carvings.

Lanna said, “They call that one Lieutenant. He is leader.”

Quinn said, “I couldn’t get into the mind of the other ones, but …”

Everyone fell silent as Quinn stared at the troll and it started trembling. The Svart must have mental shields up even when unconscious.

When Tzader walked up to them, Evalle held up a finger and pointed at Quinn. Tzader nodded and spoke to her telepathically.
Sen’s here and he’s going to be here for a while to clean up, plus I told him other trolls are expected to come back here to feed. Once Quinn is finished, Sen will take this Svart to VIPER lockdown.

She hadn’t thought past this battle, but Tzader was right.
I’m sure Isak will let us keep the weapon Trey has for a little longer. Trey should be able to pick off Svarts as they show up. I’ll stick around to back him up, but I need to get these two boys out of here. I don’t want them out on the streets until I know it’s relatively safe again.

Tzader turned around, facing the way they came in.
Ah, hell.

Evalle turned to find Isak striding across the room.

Sen could have torched Isak with his glare and probably would have if Isak had not been human.

Isak ignored Sen, clueless about the power Sen wielded.

When Sen’s glare shifted to Evalle, Tzader sighed and said to her,
I’ll back you up when we go in to explain Isak and the weapons
.