You look better without that stuff anyway.

I tried to ignore the little thrill that his words sent through me. Then Corrigan jerked his head towards a couple of shifters who were leaning against the wall. They immediately sprang to attention and fell into step behind us. I rolled my eyes.

“Where are the rest of your obedient servants?”

“Strangely enough, there was a rather large angry bellowing creature outside that conveniently appeared out of nowhere. They felt the need to shift so they could attack it and protect the likes of you. Now they’re a bit too naked for this crowd.”

Ah, of course. That would include Tom as well then. “Thanks for the reminder. Although you’d think that you lot would learn to come better prepared and bring a change of clothes.”

A flash of hot angry gold passed through his eyes. “You’d think that us lot could attend a party without being attacked by a suddenly materialising monster.”

We passed Solus, who doffed an imaginary hat to me and smiled, displaying very white and very sharp teeth. Of my shoes there appeared to be no sign. Oh well. Missing nothing, Corrigan let out a low rumble of a growl.

“He’s a fairy.”

Yes, yes, he is.

“I’ve seen him before.”

Yes, yes, you have.

“In my bedroom.”

That’s right.

“Right after I kissed you.”

Oh. Yes. Okay. After that.

“Why is he here?”

I gave in. “It’s a party, Corrigan. Why is anyone here?”

We emerged out into the night air. I was feeling very proud of myself. I had resisted the appeal of the Lord Alpha admirably, despite the way he fitted so snugly into his tuxedo. I’d not lost my temper at all. I’d even been able to think clearly and use my bloodfire to good effect when raiding the vamps’ trophies. I had the Ancile in my purse and the Palladium was safely where it should be. I wriggled my bare toes against the cool hard tarmac. All was right with the world.

Corrigan halted in the middle of the road and turned to face me. He had clearly used his Voice to say something to our two followers, because I just caught them out of the corner of my eye melting away into the night. They wouldn’t have done that unless he’d ordered them to.

“I have no idea why everyone else bothered to show up,” he said darkly, “but you can bet that you’re now going to tell me exactly why you did.”

And then he twisted my arm, and lifted my body in the air as if it was as light as a feather, and flipped me down onto the cold, hard ground. He bent over me as I groaned.

“I don’t like being used, kitten.”

I lashed out and caught him on the jaw, forcing him to reel backwards. ‘Then why did you let me come along in the first place?”

I jumped to my feet and faced him, trying to remember to relax my body in the same way that Thomas had during our last t’ai chi lesson.

“I mistakenly thought that it might be entertaining,” he growled. He stepped forward and grabbed my arm, spinning me round and pinning me against his body so that I could barely breathe.

I kicked backwards, connecting with his shin, then twisted away. I was tempted for a moment to pull out my concealed daggers. But that would have been against the unwritten rules, so instead I sucker punched him. He doubled over for half a beat, then straightened, but I could see that my shot had been effective.

“Aren’t you being entertained now?” I inquired.

“Having the time of my life,” he grunted.

He lunged forward, catching me round my waist and flipping me again. However, this time I was ready and twisted myself in the air so that I landed square behind him. I karate chopped the back of his neck, but he barely registered it. Damnit.

I was waiting for his next move, and grinning to myself behind his back, when his entire body tensed. I couldn’t read which way he was going to go.

“Don’t move, Mack.”

Hmm. I tried to think. Was that a ‘don’t move so I can beat you to a pulp’ comment, or a ‘don’t move so that then you do move and I still beat you to a pulp’ double bluff comment? I was still working it out when I realised he’d called me Mack.

“Corrigan?”

He snarled. My bloodfire leapt in response. This wasn’t the playfight of a cat any longer.

“I mean it, Mack, stay behind me.” His face twisted round and I realised that he was in mid shift already, black fur springing out on his cheekbones. He leapt up into the air, tuxedo bursting off and the gigantic shape of black panther taking hold.

Without thinking twice, I stuffed the clutch holding the Palladium down the back of my dress, hiked up the hem, and crossed my arms to pull out the daggers from the sheaths under my arms. If something out there had Corrigan worried, then it had me worried. I moved over to the side, and then I spotted it.

Hovering in the air, and looking more like shadow than substance, was a wraith. This seemed too much like coincidence. My purse, with the Ancile stuffed inside it, felt heavy against my back. I stared at the thing in front of us. There hadn’t seemed to have been a flicker of doubt in Alex’s story about the Palladium that the vamps had caught Tryyl and tortured him to death. And yet…

“Where isssssss it?” The shadow rasped.

Corrigan, now in pure were-form, snarled again and launched at it, lethal gleaming claws outstretched. He leapt through the thing’s entire body, as if it were as insubstantial as air, appearing behind the wraith looking slightly dazed and shaken. He shook his giant panther body, muscles rippling under the sleek black fur and bright emerald green eyes flashing, then lunged forward again, this time jaws ready to clamp onto the wraith’s leg. His teeth snapped together, a hiss of black mist streaking outwards from where his mouth connected, then clouding back in to re-form. The wraith reached out and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, flinging him to the side, and knocking the large cat against the body of a parked car.

Alrighty then. Just to be doubly sure, I twisted my wrist and let one of my daggers fly through the night air on a direct collision course with the wraith’s head. As suspected, it didn’t even slow upon contact; it just cut through the shadow form and landing with a clatter on the pavement opposite. The wraith didn’t even blink.

“Giiiiiive me it,” it hissed again.

I dropped the other dagger, appreciating that it would be useless now. It might have been more helpful if it had been pure silver, but it wasn’t and I couldn’t cry about it now. Corrigan was staggering to his paws, wavering a bit with a slight concussion. Bloodfire heat tickled at me from the bridge of my nose and behind my eyes.

“You’re going to need to tell us what it is you’re after,” I said calmly, although I had a pretty good idea of what it might be. “Otherwise how can I fetch it for you?”

The wraith quivered in the air. “You. You haaaave touched it. Where issssss it?”

I clenched my fists for a heartbeat then outstretched my palms, knowing without looking that the now familiar flicker of green fire was back. From behind me, I heard the door to the vamps’ house that we’d only just exited opening and the sound of running feet coming out to join us. I didn’t hesitate, however, and sent out a stream of flame right towards the looming shadow.

The wraith screamed and clutched its stomach where my fire had connected. Yahtzee. I shot out another and another. It fell down, half collapsing. I was about to combine both hands together to create a stream of double impact, when I was abruptly shoved out of the way by something cold. Blinking, I stared forward and saw that a vampire was hurtling himself forward. Unfortunately, the wraith was also starting to recover and threw out a dark arm, pulled on the vampire’s hair and ripped its head clean from its shoulders, then tossed it away with a sickening thump. I tried not to notice that the head bounced several times, with the now lifeless tongue of the vamp hanging out of its mouth.

Corrigan, still shaking his head slightly to rid himself of what was no doubt considerable fuzziness, returned to my side.

You know what it wants. His Voice was grim.

“Yeah,” I said aloud. “But before you say anything, I don’t have it. The vamps do.”

Because it wasn’t the more dangerous Ancile that was digging uncomfortably into my back that the wraith was after. It wanted the pointless and powerless Palladium that was now sitting snugly behind the glass of the vampires’ trophy room.

A figure joined us. “So, Initiate Smith,” the Arch-Mage stated calmly, “we find ourselves on the same side.”

“That we do, sir,” I agreed.

The Arch-Mage jetted out a snake of blue light. It circled round the wraith, binding it into one place. I flicked my own flame forward, this time catching it on the side of its face, and sending it recoiling backwards. The wraith screamed. Not in pain but in sheer unadulterated rage. I could feel Corrigan’s were-panther body tensing at my other side, preparing for another attack.

Don’t. You can’t win this one, my Lord.

He growled, but I ignored him, and flicked out another arc of green fire that rose high into the air then curved back down, landing squarely onto the wraith’s face.

“I’m starting to wonder whether it was such a good idea to host this party,” came the chill tones of Aubrey from somewhere behind me. “There seem to be far too many uninvited guests.”

“Hey,” I snapped irritably, “this one’s all on you.”

As if to illustrate my point further, the wraith shrieked again. “I waaaaaaaant it!”

“It’s after the Palladium.”

The vampire started. “How do you…?”

He didn’t manage to finish his sentence, however, because right at that point the Arch-Mage groaned. “It’s too strong,” he gasped.

I half-turned and realised that he was drenched in sweat and shaking. Shit. We didn’t have much time left. I twisted back towards the wraith again and sent out as much fire as I could potentially muster. But it was too late. The Arch-Mage’s binding light was wavering and the wraith grinned emptily then pushed against it. The blue circle snapped and the Arch-Mage collapsed to his knees. The wraith snapped itself away from my approaching flame and drew itself up towering over us. It pulled back one shadowy dark arm. I concentrated. Focus the fire, Mack, I told myself. Focus the fire. If I could just muster up enough energy…