Page 48 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 1

The first was a vegetal, wild smell, like a herb garden after heavy rain, mingled with the tingling sense of untamed magic. A hulking green shape burst from Evangeline’s bedroom, the size of a grizzly, but shaped like some sort of massive wild cat. It had a mane of wild, thorny vines that whipped through the air and swatted away any vampire reckless enough to get close. The beast’s massive claws swiped across a vampire’s face, knocking him away and pinning him to the floor. It bent its huge head and snapped its jaws shut over the attacker’s neck with a wet, meaty noise. Then it let out a deep, rumbling purr, raising its head, looking directly at me. I could have sworn that it—no, he; it was unmistakably Evangeline’s so-called cat—looked smug.

The second impression that hit me was Evangeline’s bellowing war cry as she charged out of the room behind the transformed Pothos. She’d twisted her hair back up out of her face and was wielding a long black sword. She caught one of the vampires in the stomach with it, and he doubled over, wheezing and stumbling back toward me. I snapped his neck without taking my eyes off Evangeline.

So much for keeping her out of the fight.

She shot me a wild, triumphant grin, but it vanished when she looked behind me. Before I could react, searing pain cut through me as a knife dug into my side, scraping over my ribs. I let out a feral sound and spun, driving my fist into my attacker’s chest. It was one of the smaller vampires. Blood streamed from his broken nose where the book had hit in the face earlier. He looked distantly surprised when he looked down and saw that I’d punched straight through his ribcage.

“Shit,” he slurred, and then Chanel sent a cast iron skillet through his skull.

Pothos threw out two massive clusters of vines, grabbing two vampires out of the air and slamming them together again and again until they were unrecognizable masses of meat. The chaos of the fight seemed all-consuming, and between the four of us we made quick work of the remaining vampires.

The noise and frenzy of the fight died so suddenly it was almost startling. One moment we were fighting for our lives, the next the place was silent, aside from the dripping of blood hitting the floor, and the pleased, rumbling purrs of Pothos.

“Well,” I said dumbly. “That was… unlike any fight I’ve ever been part of.”

Evangeline was grinning again, her hair escaping her bun and curling against the sword resting on her shoulder. Its blade was just wood, I realized, although it had been lacquered to a glossy black.

“The sword was a surprise,” I admitted. “I didn’t know you knew how to fight without magic.”

“I did kendo for, like, fifteen years,” Evangeline told me with a modest shrug. “Plus, my parents were extremely into Errol Flynn movies when I was a kid. I picked up a couple things.”

“I feel I owe you something of an apology,” I told her with a small wry smile. “I seem to keep underestimating you, and you keep surprising me.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of—” Evangeline began, then doubled over with a sickening noise. It sounded as though she was screaming through clenched teeth.

I was by her side in an instant, bending to get a look at her face. She’d gone worryingly pale, and sweat beaded at her temples. There was a strange sound, like a head of lettuce being cut, and then the massive battle cat was, once again, the small tabby cat. Pothos wound around Evangeline’s legs, looking up at her with big, worried eyes.

“Are you hurt?” I asked urgently. “Did one of them land a solid hit?”

She waved a hand dismissively, although it would have looked more convincing if she wasn’t swaying. “Just cuts and bruises,” she muttered. “It’s the curse.”

Her hair had fallen over the spot on her shoulder where the cursed blade had struck, and I brushed the chestnut curls aside gently. Her skin was warm beneath my fingertips—not the normal human warmth but a worrying, feverish heat. The wound had turned a blistered purple-gray, and the jagged runes had crawled halfway down her upper arm. More worryingly, they were starting to stretch out toward her spine.

Recognition jolted through me. It had been a long time since I’d seen the runes—so long that they’d almost slipped my mind.

“This isn’t good,” I muttered.

“Really?” Evangeline wheezed. “I never would have guessed.”

I could hear the barely contained fear beneath the sarcasm. Gently, I eased her toward the sofa with one arm around her good shoulder, and my free hand in hers. Even once I got her seated, she held on to my hand. I squeezed her fingers gently in a way I hoped was reassuring, and she tightened her grip, as if I’d somehow granted her permission.

Pothos jumped up onto the sofa and curled into Evangeline’s lap, licking blood from his grassy muzzle.

“I recognize this curse,” I told her. “I haven’t seen it in centuries. It’s deeply illegal in Eldoria. The vampires signed an accord forbidding its use.”

“What’s it for?” Evangeline asked. I hoped that giving her an opportunity to gain new information might momentarily distract her from the pain of the curse.

“It was used back in the old days,” I said grimly. “Before relations between vampires and humankind had settled out a bit. It was developed for thralls.”

“So, for human cattle?” Evangeline said.

I nodded, wincing. “It’s meant to make the subject easy to control, and also easy to track. It usually draws from ambient magic, but it must get supercharged when you try to use your own power. Even back when it was being used often, it was never used on witches. The results may be unpredictable.”

“Great,” Evangeline said through gritted teeth. “Super cool. How do I fix it?”

The living room seemed smaller somehow, as though Chanel was curving the walls around us for comfort. I didn’t find it particularly relaxing.

“I can lift it,” I said, tracing my finger lightly over one of the runes just under the wing of Evangeline’s shoulder blade. She shuddered faintly at the touch, and I pulled back. “I’ll need the proper supplies, though, and I don’t think we should stay here. Your wards didn’t block the tracker, so we need to get you somewhere more secure for the time being.”

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