Ruler [Blood Magic, Book 3]

Chapter 22: Ambush!

The night everything went sideways began like every other. Keel and his entourage moved from the throne room to the place they regularly went that had no cameras. They re-appeared on the screens the standard hour and a half later and started back upstairs. Because this happened a minimum of three times a week, I'd pre-programmed the monitors so I wouldn't have to do a lot of feed flipping on the fly. I did have to pay attention to which route Keel was travelling in order to execute the correct sequence, but there were only so many variations on the same path.

I leaned back in my chair, kicked my socked feet up on the desk and sipped the can of pop I'd retrieved from the mini-fridge a few minutes earlier. I'd gotten used to ditching my boots at the door when I arrived and making myself at home. It was one of the perks of never having visitors: as long as the job got done, no one cared how I did it.

Keel walked with Arthos and Boras in the standard royal formation, which had the king one pace-length in front of Boras and two in front of Arthos. In the weeks since his hospitalization, Boras had made a near complete recovery and the minor limp he'd exhibited when he'd first returned to his post had all but vanished. The three were trailed by other members of the royal council, who departed from the group in ones and twos until only Keel, his security chief, and top advisor remained.

As the trio took a hard right into a long hallway with several intersecting corridors, I glimpsed movement on a couple of the adjacent monitors. My eyes flickered to the action in time to see two squads of Nosferatu take their places on opposite ends of the hall Keel and company had just turned into - two vampires crouched on either side of a junction ahead of them and another two were closing the distance behind them, with three more approaching from further down the hall. The multiple cameras at multiple angles showed me the whole treacherous sequence playing out.

My feet hit the floor as I scrambled forward for the pager. In my panic, I sent several items clattering off the desk as my shaking hand rooted around its surface. Had the pager been one of the things that had gone flying? I hated to pull the remainder of my attention away from the monitors to look. Still, I conceded a quick glance and didn't see it. Less than three seconds later my eyes were back on the screens. What the hell has everyone so distracted? Why haven't they sensed anything yet? The sour churning in my gut turned corrosive. I'd spent weeks watching Keel from afar, but that could only tell me so much, not what was in his heart and not what he knew and didn't know at this moment.

I scanned the desk again. Where the hell is that damned pager? Keel was almost at the T junction; even if I found it now it would be too late, because unlike their quarry, the would-be assassins were hyper-aware of the situation and already anticipating its next moment and the moment after that. They straightened and started to move. As they did, I saw the glint of something long, straight and metal flash in the light from one of the fake gas lamps. "Keel!" I screamed, and both my hands landed flat on the screen, pinning Keel's black-and-white frame between my fingers and thumbs. And just like I'd pinned him for real, he froze, and looked startled.

I think I put it together before he did - the bond had allowed me to shriek directly into his head. It was doing exactly what it existed to do. "Keel," I said again, "Watch out!"

The final syllable barely slipped past my lips when he spun into a low backwards crouch that took him diagonally through the space between Boras and Arthos. That's when he spotted the five Nosferatu behind him, and slowed his retreat. By this point, Boras and Arthos had noticed them too. Boras assumed a defensive position in front of the king and Arthos stepped into place behind him, forming a makeshift vampire shield. They were still outnumbered seven to three, and that was a problem. The pager might be useless now, but this had happened in a common area, so I still had the alarm. It had never been tested, but there couldn't be a better time. I slammed my palm under the table and triggered it, breaking two nails in the process.