The Mage in Black Read Free

that, all thoughts of ravaging Adam screeched to a halt. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Giguhl.”
    “It’s not my fault. You know I have a small bladder.”
    “Okay, fine, little girl. Go tinkle. But make it quick.”
    He ran off toward the doors on the side of the building.
    With one last look at the charred mass that used to be Fatty, I turned to walk toward the car. I was almost there when a faint sound made me stop in my tracks. “Godsdammit,” I cursed under my breath. “Look alive, mancy.”
    He looked over from the windshield he’d been cleaning. “What’s up?”
    “Sirens.”
    Adam cocked his head to listen. “I don’t hear them.”
    My vampire hearing caught the sound long before human or mage ears would. “We’ve got about ten minutes. It’s time to go.”
    I turned to go tell Giguhl to shake a leg, but a movement inside the store brought me up short. I’d forgotten all about the human, but the shotgun he held told me he hadn’t forgotten about us. I ran back toward the car.
    Before Adam could ask why I was running, the shotgun barked. Luckily, the human had no idea how to handle such a powerful weapon. The shot went wide and took a chunk out of the tin roof over our heads.
    “What the fuck was that?” Adam yelled.
    “The human! I’ll take care of him.”
    “Sabina, no! He’s innocent. You can’t kill him.”
    Another blast, closer this time. I ducked behind the SUV next to Adam. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”
    Adam’s expression told me he’d been serious. “He can identify us and the car to the police. Unless you want to play Smokey and the Bandit all the way to New York, he’s got to go.”
    I moved before he could stop me, pulling the Glock out of my waistband as I went. Behind me, Adam cursed and moved to stop me. Speeding up before he could accomplish his goal, I raised the gun just as Darrell pumped the barrel again.
    But before either of us could shoot, a dark figure exploded out of the store. Nick’s second wind hit at exactly the worst moment possible. He grabbed the human, breaking his neck like it was nothing more than a matchstick.
    “No!” Adam yelled behind me.
    Nick grabbed the shotgun as the human fell. In Darrell’s hands, the shotgun had been troublesome. In Nick’s hands, the same gun scared the shit out of me.
    In slow motion, I pivoted and ran toward the bathroom. Two reasons. One, I needed to warn Giguhl and somehow get both of us out alive. Two, the movement turned Nick’s attention away from Adam. I had a better chance at surviving a shotgun blast than the mage.
    Bam!
The brick wall six inches above and just ahead of me exploded. I zigzagged toward the restroom and pounded twice.
    “Time to go, G!”
    “Jeez, give me a minute!”
    “Now!”
    “Can’t a demon take a leak without being disturbed?” he grumbled. The door opened as he was pulling his pants up. “What?”
    “What happens if you get shot?”
    His goat eyes widened. “It hurts.”
    “But you won’t die or get sent back to Irkalla, right?”
    “Nope.”
    “Good. Run!”
    We hauled ass across the parking lot just as Nick pumped the shotgun again. Adam accelerated to meet us. Giguhl wrenched the SUV’s back door open and dove in just as another blast ripped through the air. I heard the demon yelp, but I was too busy trying to get my own door open. When the latch finally gave way, Adam was already accelerating. I jumped in and grabbed my gun from the console. A click of a button lowered the window, and I ducked through the opening to take care of Nick.
    A shot hit somewhere near the rear of the SUV. The car fishtailed as Adam struggled to maintain control. Sparks and a hunk of red, twisted metal appeared in the road behind us.
    “That bastard killed my Ducati!” I yelled. With steely resolve, I rested my forearms on the top of the Escalade.
    I’m a good shot, but even I have trouble aiming at moving targets from a speeding car. It took three shots. The first hit the Kum-N-Go