Page 73 of Blood Bearon
Which means she’s probably trying to find a way down here to help. You need to end this. Now.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Korred taunted.
His voice was closer than expected, and the noise didn’t bounce the same off the walls. Khove grinned with evil and rose from cover, firing as he came. The first two bullets missed, but the third exploded on the table next to Khove, splashing him with uranium dust, blackening the skin on his arm and killing the spell he held ready to launch.
“You sonofabitch!” Korred shouted. “Thathurts.”
Khove breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. He’d ended the fight, and Korred was still alive. Perhaps hecouldfind a way to end this without killing him.
“Of course, it hurts,” he said, gun unwavering as he stepped closer. “That’s the point. You don’t think magic would have hurt if it had hit me?”
Korred sniffed. “Of course not. You would have been dead before the pain registered.”
Rolling his eyes at that logic, Khove called up to the room. “The handcuffs if you don’t mind!” he shouted.
“Handcuffs?” Korred asked. “Why are you asking for handcuffs?”
“Because it’s over, Traitor. You’re done. Finished. You lost.”
One gray eyebrow rose in surprise. The other half of his face didn’t respond, the nerves clearly dead as well. “Ilost? Oh no, Khove. You are sorely mistaken.”
Khove went to full alert. What was he talking about? “You’re hurt. I fire this at your chest, and you go down. Painfully.”
The evil mage chuckled. “You forgot one tiny little thing. So shortsighted of you. Typical.” Then he snapped his fingers.
Flames erupted from the rooms surrounding the one he’d left Rachel in. Watching in horror, Khove stared as the heat started to batter at the magical protection, forcing it to defend her from all sides.
“Thank you for the distraction,” Korred mocked. “It’s been fun.”
Khove tightened on the trigger, but he’d been distracted, and the mage used his free hand to open a rent in reality underneath him. He fell into it even as the bullet whizzed by overhead.
“Run, Khove!” a voice echoed up from the rent. “Run to the Manor. I’ll be seeing you soon!” Maniacal laughter filled the air until the rent closed up and cut it off.
“Khove!”
He whipped his head back around to see Rachel at the window. Black smoke was beginning to fill the air as the hotel went up in flames.
“Back up!” he shouted, lifting the gun.
Rachel’s blue eyes went wide and she ducked for cover as he fired. The bullet exploded against the shield and the uranium did its job, taking it down.
That meant it could no longer hold against the fire, however, and flames started to lick inward, just as he was sure they were eating through the walls. This was no natural fire. It was already burning bright and hot, not needing any time to reach that level.
“Jump!” he shouted, rushing closer to the edge. “I’ll catch you.”
“It’s three stories up!” Rachel protested, covering her face with one arm. “Are you nuts?”
“No. Are you? You’ve already jumped off a two-story building in my arms. What’s one more?”
“It’s one more story!” she shouted back.
Something exploded in the room to the left, a fresh burst of flames spewing out the window. Rachel yelped and backed into the room.
“Are you ready?” she screamed.
“Just jump!” he bellowed, then cursed as her figure came flying out of the window.
He backed up, running twisted like a football receiver until he was underneath her, his powerful arms absorbing the force of the impact. He lost his balance and fell, landing on his side, but somehow managing to keep Rachel safe.
