Page 87 of Stubborn as a Shadow

The fire mage whirled around, shooting sparks into the darkness. The wolf was growling and baring her teeth. Saliva dripped from her shiny, pointy canines.

“Stand down.” An aristocratic command detonated through the dark snowy landscape.

I froze. I recognized that voice. It was Keenan, the vampire. What in magic was he doing here? I thought he liked Nelson and me. I hated being wrong.

Rather than obeying, fire poured off the mage’s shaking hands. His flames melted the snow around him as he spun around frantically to locate Keenan. The wolf, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly where the vampire was. She leaped through the air in a powerful attack. The mage scrambled through the snow to follow her, but he slipped and fell. A small black form flew out of the wolf's path.

Was that the vampire?

“Stop, Godwin,” Keenan said. “Surrender.”

The mage shot fiery balls of magic, one after another, in the direction of the voice. He obviously had no plans to surrender. Trees and shrubs burst into flames. Luckily, there was enough snow that the flames died out quickly, but if he hit a cabin with his fireballs, I didn’t think the snow would be enough.

A shadowy form no bigger than a bat whooshed down from a nearby pine tree. As it descended, its small body and wings transformed, growing larger, until it was like a cloak billowing around a human form, confirming this was indeed Keenan.

So. Flipping. Epic.

I wanted my cloak to do that too.

Keenan didn’t hesitate as he covered the mage. The mage’s whole body lit up as he tried to defend himself with his fire, but the vampire wasn’t deterred. It was like the vampire was immune to fire. He crouched over the mage, who was sobbing, begging for his life, even as he continued to send fire over the vampire.

Keenan lowered his head. For a millisecond I wondered if Keenan was going to kiss Godwin, then the mage screamed. And not a sexy kind of scream. His scream gave way to a gurgling sound, followed by silence.

I gagged as the scent of blood bloomed through the air. With the mage’s fire snuffed out, the world plunged into frosty darkness. For a moment, it felt like everything was as stunned as I was. Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound.

Then the wolf whimpered.

She didn’t turn her tail to the vampire, even though she backed away from him. With each step, she got closer to me, but I didn’t know if she realized where she was going. She seemed more intent on escaping him than hunting me.

When Keenan stood, he didn’t rush toward the wolf like I expected. He took a moment to adjust his collar and brush a bit of snow from his sleeve. When his eerily red, glowing eyes drifted to the wolf, I shivered at the resolve on his face.

“Judy,” he said, and the wolf froze. “I wish I could say I’m surprised to see you here. I just wish you had left Godwin out of your plots. Good mages are so difficult to come by.” He didn’t even look at the dead mage at his feet. “But I’m giving you the same choice I gave him. Surrender. Now.”

“It was his idea, not mine,” the wolf whined. Her words scraped over my skin, and I knew she was lying. Her tail was tucked between her legs. Her chest was lowered to the ground as she inched away from the vampire. It was a submission posture, but even that felt like a lie. “Please. I’ll tell you what you want to know. I’ll tell you everything.”

More lies.

Two more figures burst out of the shadows. I wanted to groan but managed to stay quiet. Stealth was my friend, right? But seriously, that was the last thing we needed. And these two newcomers were big, big men. Why couldn’t they be scrawny and malnourished? That would be a nice change.

And where was Nelson?

“Nelson? You here?” one of the new guys asked, as if reading my mind.

The man who’d spoken was the wider of the two, the definition of brawny. If I charged him, he could probably grab onto my horn with his pinkie and flip me over without even breaking a sweat. The other man was taller, but not as muscular. His posture was a bit rounded, like he wanted to appear smaller. The taller guy was coated in snow, as if the stuff had been drawn to him like a magnet. Very abominable snowman-chic.

“What are all these people doing here, Carter? Have you betrayed us?” Nelson demanded. His menacing voice bellowed out from every shadow in the area. The darkness deepened.

Taller guy let out a surprisingly high-pitched “meep” and… disappeared? I blinked. What in the—? Where had he gone?

“Damn it,” the bigger man—Carter—muttered.

“Answer me, Carter,” Nelson demanded.

Carter’s nostrils flared, and his jaw tightened like he was fighting to keep his patience. “For fuck’s sake, we’re here to help.”

Wait, this was Carter, as inCarter-Carter? The one that was supposed to pick us up from the hotel? The shadows grew darker yet.

“Stop.” Carter growled, the sound as deep and strong as his voice had been. There was no mistaking the warning in that growl. “You’re frightening Eric.”