Page 65 of The Incubus and the Bodyguard

Air shifted beside Vlad. Tarang leapt with a furious roar.

Alarm choked his breath. “No!”

He reached for the tiger, his fingers closing on empty space.

Santana crushed an object in his hand.

Tarang dropped mid-leap, a grunt of pain leaving him. His body landed on the concrete floor with a sickening thud.

Vlad rushed over to his familiar, his heart slamming against his ribs. He dropped to his knees and touched the tiger’s neck with a trembling hand.

Relief made him weak.

Tarang’s pulse thrummed rapidly beneath his fingers. The tiger opened an eye and gave him a glazed look, his rib cage moving with a shuddering motion.

Rage replaced fear. Vlad twisted around and glared at Santana.

“What the hell did you do to him, asshole?!”

Santana moved with a speed that belied his lithe frame. Vlad barely managed to dodge the saber as it whistled past his face. He stumbled back, raised his gun, and fired.

The crime lord twisted in a motion that should not have been humanly possible, avoiding the shots. His blade found Vlad’s weapon and sent it flying, the edge slicing a deep cut in Vlad’s palm.

“You’re not the only one with special abilities.” Santana’s eyes shone with an unholy light as he circled him. “My uncle’s magic has granted me a few tricks of my own.” He lunged.

Vlad covered Tarang with his body and blocked the next strike with his back. The nanorobot vest absorbed most of the impact. His heel found Santana’s shin. The crime lord cursed and fell back.

Tarang’s labored breathing filled Vlad’s ears, each one weaker than the last. Fear clawed at his insides. He could feel their muted connection growing fainter.

He climbed to his feet and turned to face Santana.

“Tell me what you did to him!” Vlad snarled.

Santana’s smile was pure evil. “The same thing I’m about to do to you.”

He reached inside his pocket and removed a second object.

Vlad’s stomach plummeted when he finally discerned their shapes.

They were crude voodoo dolls, no bigger than his thumb. The one Santana had crushed resembled a tiger. The other was human-shaped.

“My uncle made these for me.” Santana held up the tiger doll. “An insurance policy, in case the ones we had Delroy carry failed.” His fingers tightened on it. “I must say, watching your familiar suffer is quite entertaining.”

Tarang whimpered.

Fury and terror churned Vlad’s gut. He charged Santana with a roar.

The crime lord danced out of reach, his laughter ringing mockingly in Vlad’s ears as he avoided his strikes with unnatural grace.

“You’re good. But not good enough without your powers!”

His fist found Vlad’s jaw. Stars exploded across Vlad’s vision. He hit the ground hard and rolled on instinct, avoiding the saber by a hairbreadth as it stabbed into the concrete where his head had been.

“I was going to let the curse do its work.” A mad gleam brightened Santana’s gaze. “But killing you might serve my purpose better!”

He crushed the human-shaped doll’s chest.

Agony exploded inside Vlad’s body. He screamed, his back arching off the floor, white-hot pain squeezing his ribcage and causing black dots to swarm his vision. He gasped for air in vain, his lungs refusing to work.

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