Sera handed him her one-hour-old phone, hoping she wasn’t signing its death sentence by doing so. But Kai just mailed himself and the commandos a copy of the message, then handed it back to her. A few seconds later, his own phone rang.

“Dal, you get the photo?” he said. “Good. I want you three to figure out where in the arena it was taken from.” Then he hung up.

“You could have at least said pl—” She stopped, a pitiful groan escaping her lips. “Shit.”

An army of vampires had just burst into the lobby, moving with quick, fluid ease. A web of magic coated each vampire’s body, as taut as the leash on a rapid dog. Led by an unseen master, they moved to surround a cluster of mages.

“Members of the Magic Council,” Kai said. “Every single one of them.”

“We just can’t catch a break, can we?” she sighed.

He shook out his hands, warming up his magic. As his eyes locked on his targets, a deadly smile slid across his lips. “What would be the fun in that?”

What indeed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Dying Blood

“AT LEAST THE Council members have bodyguards,” Sera said—then, remembering Kai’s phone conversation she’d overheard earlier, added, “Though I suppose you didn’t give them much of a choice.”

“No.” He packed enough explosive force behind that single word to take down a mountain.

“You’re really scary sometimes, you know.”

Fire slid down his arms, licking at his fingers. “Good.”

One of the vampires spontaneously combusted.

“Ok, now you’re just showing off,” she told him, drawing two of her knives. “But at least we know that these vampires aren’t fireproof.”

He glanced at the knives in her hands, then met her eyes again. “How do you want to play this?”

“You’re asking me?” She almost choked on the words. “You, Mr. Bossy Pants?”

“I prefer dragon breath,” he replied, amusement tugging at his lower lip. “But, yes, I’m asking you. We’re a team.”

She grinned at him. “And I’m in charge?”

“Let’s not push it, Sera.”

“Ok.” She snickered. The lobby was full of vampires, but she just couldn’t help herself. “There are too many vampires. How about you shift into a dragon, and I herd them over to you so that you can step on them?”

“A fantastic plan.”

“I knew you’d like it.”

Kai’s magic exploded in a flash of light, and then the man was gone. A dragon stood in his place, towering over the mages and vampires. It was a good thing the lobby had a high ceiling, or his shift would have taken down the roof. Obsidian-black with a dark blue-green sheen to his scales and wings, Kai was stunning—a deadly firestorm of magical might, yes, but stunning just the same. His eyes, blue as an electric storm, locked on his first targets: two vampires trying to fight their way past the bodyguards protecting a female mage with jaw-length scarlet curls.

“Try not to step on the good guys,” she reminded him.

Kai snorted, and flames shot out of his enormous dragon nostrils, pouring down over the vampires. The scents of burning timber and cinnamon filled the air, spicy and sweet. His eyes panned across the lobby in search of new targets. He settled on a nearby trio of vampires. As he raised his enormous foot, Sera dashed off to find some targets of her own. Sure, the plan had been her idea, but that didn’t mean she needed to see him crunch vampires. Or hear it. She cringed, even as she reminded herself that blowing up vampires wasn’t any less messy than stepping on them.

She ran between two vampires, striking out with her knives as she passed. As the blades sank into them, she poured fire magic into the wounds. The vampires burst into flames, then fell to the floor, dead. Sera pulled on the fiery magic crackling atop the two monsters, twisting and molding the flames together to form a protective barrier that separated the mages from the vampires. Three vampires made a run for the mages as the barrier was going up. The fire barbecued one of them. The other two got through, but she trusted that the half dozen bodyguards could deal with two measly vampires. The other—Sera counted—twenty-three vampires she and Kai could handle. Maybe.

She ran toward the next group. She’d promised to herd vampires, so that’s what she was going to do. And fast. Before the vampires’ master wisened up and realized that he had her and Kai outnumbered over ten to one. If they all charged her at once, she wouldn’t be able to stop them. Luckily, vampires weren’t too bright. Or, apparently, evil vampire masters. And, besides, they were too busy trying to get at the mages.

Taking a trick from Kai’s arsenal, Sera blasted the vampires with a wave of wind magic. Despite how easy he’d made it look, a wave of wind was a hell of a lot trickier to control than a ball of wind. Hers didn’t shoot as straight as she would have liked. Vampires flew into the air like scattered leaves on the breeze. Half of them ended up at Kai’s feet. The dragon grunted in appreciation, then lifted his foot for the stomp.

Sera was already running back toward the barrier. Some genius vampires had decided that if they couldn’t go through the fire, they’d just go over it. They were tossing each other up in the air. Two had already made it. Another three were on their way over. Sera wound up a ball of wind between her hands and let loose. It smashed against the barrier, igniting it. Flames shot up into the air and bathed the vampires in fire. She blasted the remaining ones, smacking them into the fiery wall.