The Epilogues: Part I: Badge of Honor (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 6), Hailey Edwards [year 2 reading books TXT] 📗

Stalking toward her, blades in hand, I found a mangled pile of meat. “Goddess.”

Hunkered down behind a dumpster, just outside the pool of light cast by the nearest lamppost, sat Sue. I winced at the hand she pressed to her stomach, which prevented her insides from leaking through her fingers. The building behind her was the only thing propping her upright.

She had fought the vampires, all right, but she hadn’t won.

“Keep an eye out,” I ordered Ambrose. “I can’t afford any surprises.”

Seven or eight feet closer to her, I encountered a pocket of viscous air that pushed back against me. It reminded me of a ward but not quite. The resistance alerted me to the barrier, but it let me through with minimal effort on my part, almost as if it had been keyed to open for me.

On the heels of that realization, I stopped an arm’s-length away in case this was an elaborate trap.

“Can the officials see us?” I glanced back the way I had come. “We’re in a warded space, aren’t we?”

“They can’t see or hear us.” A sharp wince accompanied each inhale. “There’s only you and me.”

That was handy, and exactly what I needed in order to run down the clock.

“We know Jefferies is responsible for the kidnappings.”

“He knows you know too.” She wet her busted lip. “Those weren’t volunteers out there.”

“They were Clan Jefferies?” I felt better about the amputation already. “They put a hit out on you.”

“Yeah.” She laughed, a rasping noise. “They figured out I was…dropping hints and…punished me.”

Had her fate been meant for me? Had Jefferies planned to gut me until Sue double-crossed him?

That scenario made sense of their insistence on my entering the gauntlet.

No wonder their instructions had been vague. I had one job: to die.

“You set us on the path.” I went to her and took her hand. “You did everything in your power to help.”

“You have to…get to my family.” She squeezed my fingers. “There’s a…fail-safe.”

Worst-case scenarios churned through my brain. “What kind of fail-safe?”

With great effort, she rallied her strength and steadied her voice.

“The vampire who stabbed me wanted me to die knowing…the bubbles are linked. The second will burst after the first is breached.” She centered herself. “He told me the black witches sold out his master, that you know where your friend is being held. He said you would save your friend and…let my family die.”

“I hate to burst your bubble—” seriously bad choice of words, “—but that’s not me.”

Hope fluttered in the pulse at her throat. “Can you save both?”

Gazes locked, I let her see I was serious. “I can try.”

“Good.” She exhaled. “Thank you.”

“Jefferies will have watchers posted to report which of us exits the gauntlet.”

Sue was in no shape to move, but I couldn’t waltz out and get help without risking both our loved ones.

“Yes,” she confirmed in a whisper, “but I have a way out.”

“How?” I scanned the area behind her. “I thought the only way out was through.”

“Use this.” With her blood, she drew a sigil on the concrete. “It will cut through the magic.”

Smart of her to come into this with an emergency exit strategy.

And, in hindsight, this might explain her interest in my magical capabilities.

Just as I had come armed with contingencies, so had she.

“Come with me.” I searched her face. “You’ll die if I leave you here.”

“I was hoping…” she smiled then winced as her swollen lip pulled, “…you would say that.”

“Hold still.” I rushed past her, Ambrose whirling around me. “Let me open the way first.”

The modified pen didn’t like brick much, so it was slow going to get the design solid enough to activate. Ambrose pumped energy into the design while I resisted the urge to bite my nails. Slow at first, then gaining speed, the wall twisted and warped, spun and swirled, a whirling vortex of power.

The portal reminded me of the hop to Faerie and back and made my stomach churn.

“It’s safe.” Sue attempted to rise again. “I’ll go…first.”

Bending down, I looped her arm around my shoulders and eased her onto her feet. “Let me help you.”

“I must…leave of my own accord.” Her smile ended in a grimace. “That’s the only…way…this works.”

As much as I hated to admit she was right, Linus had been explicit in his instructions.

We both had to wait out the gauntlet for a draw. That meant we both had to exit of our own free will.

Before I waffled further, Ambrose read my unease and zipped through it at warp speed.

White-hot agony splintered in my chest as we were cut off from one another, separated by the wall of magic containing the gauntlet, but it eased up when he stuck his head through and jerked his chin toward the portal.

Not a portal, I reassured myself. Just a swirly exit door. That’s it.

Breaking free of me, Sue lurched forward under her own steam and fell through to the other side.

Picking up one foot, I stuck it through, relieved when it hit solid ground. I drew in a long breath, braced for it, then shifted my weight and slid through into a pocket of normal Atlanta. It ought to have filled me with relief, but dread settled around my shoulders like Linus’s dark cloak.

I had no phone to book a ride to Lake Lanier, but I wasn’t hanging around to wait on the Grande Dame. She might call a draw, a default, or disqualify Sue and me outright. She didn’t need us present during her deliberation, but the tactical witch coven— They could use every spare hand they could get.

For better or worse, I was out of the gauntlet. To make that sacrifice worthwhile, I would be there when Neely was pulled out of the water. I deserved to have a win, and I would take that one happily.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

I yelped and spun, about to wet my pants. “Remy?”

“Four, but sure. Close enough.” She glanced down at Sue’s limp body. “I expected trouble, but I