Page 13 of The Shade of Things
Glass tinkled, stereo equipment fell over, and bodies smacked together like tumbling dominos. Not my favorite comparison, but the visual was what it was.
I ended up plastered against Rodrigo like a barnacle on a rock. He kept his footing, plucking me off him and dropping me a few feet away.
There was a collective gasp, and I spun around to face the middle of the ballroom.
Purple flames shot up in a whirlwind, but nothing else caught fire. Not even the gangly demon in its center, shedding her vampire glamour like a second skin. She’d been masquerading as the guest wanting the citrus drink, which made sense given her real skin was as puckered and yellow as a lemon. Well, all except the blackened bits around the immediate area where Nav had stabbed her with his light staff.
Once over their initial shock, the vampires looked mostly indifferent to her presence.
The demon stepped free of the flames, swaying her corrugated hips sinuously, and tossed straggly, slimy strands of hair off her shoulder like an A-list celebrity on the red carpet.
Nav flicked a strand of platinum blond hair out of his face, his eyes glinting in challenge.
Next to me, Eli gave a low hum, the corners of his mouth flicking up. Spare me.
Lemon Demon ran a hand over her body, tiny pustules springing to life under her touch, and while I gagged, I couldn’t look away.
The entire room, including Eli, Rodrigo, and me, stumbled toward the demon, unable to resist her allure, grotesque as she was.
Nav stamped his staff twice against the floor, and every operative touched their hand to their ear. A second later a high-pitched whine rang out. The operatives remained unaffected, but the rest of us, including the vamps and the demon, yowled in pain, stuck in place.
You’d think my friendship with Nav would buy me a warning. If not me, then my baby daddy, who he wanted to get it on with.
Eli gritted his teeth, sweat glistening on his brow, and shot me a look of helpless frustration.
Had my ears not started bleeding, I would have smirked. Eli hated feeling compromised on a mission. And being frozen in place like this? Nav’s plans would be set back a smidge for sure.
The operatives formed a barricade around the still-paralyzed vamps as Clea and Nav charged the demon.
Wait, did that mean Celeste was still out cold, or had Clea just moved on to a different part of the mission?
The noise drilled into me but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t move, not even to rise onto tiptoe and locate Celeste.
Not finding the vamp through my shadow’s green vision, I sent Delilah careening up the stairs, but it turns out we had a limited range of contact because any farther and my magic fell dormant.
The horrific noise dropped away, and now mobile, the vampires stampeded. The undead and the Carpe Demon crews came together like a savage horde.
While the coast was clear, Eli and I edged out the door. Before I could race upstairs seeking our quarry, Rodrigo blocked my way. “Present yourself at Blood Alley tomorrow.” He named a time. “You’ll be expected to have something concrete to deliver.”
Eli called out to me from the top of the stairs, and Rodrigo turned away, the threat delivered.
I was so lost to my anxiety of how I’d pull a miracle out of my ass by tomorrow as we searched the house for Ian that I barely registered when we found him cowering in a bedroom closet, knife in hand.
He jabbed the blade at us. “I’m not coming with you.”
Eli held his hands up placatingly. “We just want to talk.”
“Did my family hire you to find me? I won’t be locked up in a loony bin. I’d rather be stuck with a vamp like Damien.” He lashed out again with the knife. “Where’s Celeste?”
I pressed my lips together. Ian’s bad choices were his own, but boy, did my mom side want to lecture him.
Eli placed himself firmly in the man’s line of view. “A girl has gone missing.”
“Yeah, well,” Ian muttered, “shit happens.”
Eli tensed, his expression grim. Suddenly he sucked in a breath and exploded into motion. He grabbed Ian by the shoulder and bashed his arm repeatedly against the closet door until the knife clattered to the ground.
I kicked it away.
