Mark of the Harbinger (Book 1)

26 - A Spell and a Bullet

The revenant lunged.

I landed on the floor in an ungainly heap, having avoided the creature's punishing bite by mere millimeters. The chains banged against the table as it thrashed, crazed beyond reason, and it screamed so loud the sound set my teeth on edge. I covered my ears and scooted across the rough concrete as the revenant howled itself hoarse.

That was it. I was out of here! 

Ignoring the burn in my scraped palms, I scampered for the loading dock entrance. I didn't know how I was going to get past the locked gate, but there had to be a spot somewhere along its length where I could either scale it or hide until I could call someone for help. At the very least I had my phone tucked in my pocket—and a solid lead on Theda. 

I was right to not have waited for nightfall. They would have moved the vampire before Havik or I could have come here, and we would've never found her. I wouldn't have been able to pick up the trail once she was transported via vehicle. 

I also needed to leave now. Helpful as this little trip had been, it'd ascended to a level of madness I wasn't capable of handling.

The orange light glancing off the horizon was glaring in my eyes as I hurried to the open loading dock door. It wasn't until I had my feet at the edge of the concrete drop-off that I realized the rumbling in my ears wasn't from the revenant or the rapid pounding of my pulse: it was coming from an idling car engine. An idling van engine.

Three men stood beneath me, looking up with startled expressions.

My luck cannot be this bad. 

But it was. 

The blond magi glowered, glasses flashing, as he demanded, "Who are you?"

Fool that I was, I said the first thing that popped into my mind. "I'm, ah, I work for Emial."

His brow rose. "Emial?"

"Yes." I cleared my throat and forced my shoulders to relax, conveying a more nonchalant posture. Could I manage to pull this off? I remembered what the magi had said earlier when speaking to the other two, so I used his concerns and amplified them. "I work for Emial! He sent me to, uh, check up on how...on how all this is going. He wanted them moved! So, chop-chop!"

The two thugs looked at one another and the magi backed up a step, his jaw tight. "Emial doesn't hire women." 

Stunned, I blinked, dread seeping through my gut. That sexist bastard! 

In that instant, I saw how my life would end, and it wasn't glamorous. The two thugs reached for the guns hidden beneath their jackets and the magi separated a strand of his magic from the inferno of his soul, whispering meaning to the riling energy. I'd either die in a fire or riddled with lead. It'd be fast, but it wouldn't be pretty.

I slung my soul forward, slamming it into the magi's. 

He stumbled, taken aback, and the spell he'd been creating wobbled out of control, flames striking one of the muscled guards. All three of them shouted with alarm.

I ran the only way I could: deeper into the warehouse. 

There was little else I was capable of. I wasn't foolish enough to think I could literally slip through their fingers simply because they were momentarily distracted, so I didn't jump from the loading dock. I didn't run toward the screaming revenant, either, as there was nothing there that would help me out of this mess. The creature was bolted to the table. No way I could release it.