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.Once he had them balanced with hands on either shoulder, I started for the stairs, heading for the room we’d put Alex in the previous night.Stan and Janie stumbled several times behind me on the stairs, but Larry proved stable enough to get them up without dropping them.They moved easily once on the level floor.We made it to the bedroom, and I lay Bernadette on the bed.Her skin was still pale and I gave her a quick once over for bite marks.I couldn’t find any, and if any of the scratches were weremade then hopefully, the intense magical healing that she’d just undergone would purge it from her system.Stan and Janie quickly disrobed, unmindful of Larry and myself in the room, and crawled into the bed on either side of her.I touched Larry on the shoulder and gestured for the door.We walked out to the sounds of light kisses and heavy tears.I knew that soon the three would be in a much-needed sleep.The magic had taken a lot out of Stan and Janie, and the battering that Bernadette had undergone would take time to totally repair.Through the strength of their triad, they’d survive and be stronger for their ordeal.Now, if we could only get Charles back.When we returned to the basement, Geri readied the circle to try for Charles.Alex and Terry walked toward the circle and Geri motioned me to enter with them.“Alex is a little below his peak tonight after everything you two have been through.Can you stay in here and back him up?”Like she had to ask.“Yes,” I said, sitting down protectively behind him as she closed the circle.The link to Charles was weaker than the link to Bernadette.Geri had to work hard to get it to the point where she could connect it to the cauldron.Alex pushed himself to strengthen the link with his friend.Sweat beaded on Terry’s forehead as I added my strength to Alex’s.Alex pushed out to get a better hold of Charles, but something in the contact didn’t feel right.We felt Charles’ pain.From what I could tell, he was not conscious as we touched his mind because our contact was met with a fog.Geri began to draw the power around the cauldron as she’d done with Bernadette, but it was weaker.I tried to strengthen the link, but it wasn’t the same as the triad bond.Alex was there with me, pulling to get more of Charles to us.Terry reached out with us as the three of us sought to get a better hold.Then, as Geri threw the vial of blood in the cauldron, another presence came to fight us.She was human.That much was blatantly clear.Her magic was powerful, but dark.She’d waited for the blood to be tossed and used the blood to her advantage.Alex screamed as she severed the link they’d formed to Charles and a flaming sword flashed down toward the link that still existed between Alex and Terry.I threw up a shield using Alex’s energies augmented with my own.I hoped she wouldn’t realize I boosted Alex.If she did, my invisibility in Yellow Sky would be neutralized.Alex thrust Terry from the fray.He and I stood facing the sorceress with the flaming sword.“Your friend is mine,” she gloated.“I let you take his sister.This one I think I’ll keep.There is such darkness in him, darkness even he doesn’t realize he has.” She laughed.A katana of light appeared in Alex’s hand.“He’s one of mine, and I don’t feel like letting him go just because you want to claim him.” He charged.I carefully shrank my connection with him to make it invisible, but toughened it so she shouldn’t be able to accidentally sever it and pumped all the power I could into him while making myself invisible on the astral plane.His katana bounced off her hastily-erected shield.She lashed out with a bolt of energy, which I helped him deflect with the sword, but the shock sent shivers down his arm.Then Geri was there.She smashed her coyote form into the shield, howling and scratching at it.Then she stopped and sat down and peered at the slender blonde on the other side.The sorceress laughed again.“How sweet, your dog comes to your rescue.Lassie go home.” She shot another bolt of energy directly at Geri.A rock rose out of the ground and deflected the bolt.“You’ll have to do better than that, bitch!” Geri growled.Larry and Terry appeared at her side, heavily shielded and carrying glowing swords of their own.“I’m really not in the mood to deal with all of you right now.So, I’ll say my farewells for now.Please tell Burn I’ll enjoy Char.” She shot a poorly-aimed leven bolt past us, then vanished.Geri quickly pulled everyone back to the physical plane.“Sorry to take so long getting there to you, but I had to let Weasel into the circle first.I figured we needed all the backup we had at the moment.But now we’re going to have to rely on more mundane methods to find Char.” Geri rattled as she prepared to bring the circle down, and soon, the real world rushed in along with the stench of charred flesh.The vampire in the chair had turned into a pile of ash.The sorceress’ parting shot hadn’t been aimed at us, but to the vampire we held captive.She destroyed him before he could give us any information.At least we still had the werewolf in the bottle.It had been a long night already, and I was tired, hungry, and still had to get Alex home safe and sound.14Consciousness returned with a shock for the second day in a row.Someone’s arm lay across my chest.I’d long ago got over the react-first response when awakened in such a manner.Instead, I took a long deep breath and a mental check from the previous night.Alex’s scent filled my nostrils.I glanced down, and it certainly looked like his hairy arm.Then I remembered that Geri suggested that he stay with me while Larry and Terry stayed with her to watch over Bernadette, Stan and Janie.Alex, Larry, and I took a cab from Geri’s to the hospital.I hadn’t felt up to another gate at the time.Once Alex and I retrieved the Pathfinder, and Larry had gotten Geri’s car, I drove out of town again.I needed to hunt.I fed for the third time in two nights on a large deer just north of town.I hadn’t needed to feed three times in two nights in a very long time [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]