Bloodline Diplomacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 3), Lan Chan [best way to read an ebook .TXT] 📗

yet I held my breath as her eyes clouded until there was nothing but black pupil. Her lips parted to reveal incisors that pierced her bottom lip. I had a flashback to the day of my entrance exam when she had circled around me trying to find a weak spot in my protection circle. That had been a friendly display of power. This was Desi at her very basic. I blinked and she was halfway across the room. Rachel had no ability to phase but she didn’t need it. As Desi descended on her, the human kicked out and sent the vampire back. She touched the pendant at her throat, and it glowed an unearthly yellow that caused Desi to snarl. The vampire made a gurgling sound in her throat like she’d been burned. I would bet my life that was some kind of light amulet.

Without Desi to hold him in place, Max sniffed the air. Something in the aura around him seemed to irritate because he kept shaking his head. He roared again because he was unable to dislodge that irritant. When shifters got pissed, they lashed out at everything around them. Sophie tried to move forward again and then stopped short when his red-eyed gaze swept the room.

“Shit!” I said. He’d gone rogue. When a shifter lost all sense of civility, they gave in to their most animalistic instincts. Max had gone over the edge. What concerned me was the timing of it.

“Why aren’t they coming out?” Astrid asked. Her attention was on the doors to the conference room. “Keep her back.”

She pushed Sophie at me once more and strode forward. Desi and Rachel were locked in a pirouette of dancing limbs. Rachel was armed but Desi had vampire speed and strength. The fight should have been a foregone conclusion. Somehow, Rachel was managing to hold her own. Everywhere the knife touched her, Desi’s skin burned like she’d been hit by sunlight. The savage intent on Desi’s face was matched by the visceral hatred in Rachel’s.

Max sprang at Astrid when she tried to approach him. He charged in a flurry of claws and teeth. She managed to evade him but was finding it difficult to get at him without hurting him at the same time. Sophie clutched onto my arm. Her pulse was thready. Every now and again, plumes of black smoke wafted from the supernaturals. When this happened, both Desi and Max flinched. I remembered what happened when Kai had teleported. Wards had been set up to dissuade the supernaturals from using their abilities. It was like they were being magically shocked with each use of power. This had to stop.

Over at the conference room doors, Brigid was banging on the wood to no avail. “Stay here,” I barked at Sophie. She was riveted to where Max was attempting to get at Sean from behind Astrid.

“Why isn’t it opening?” I asked Brigid when I arrived beside her.

She snarled at me, her perfect features giving way to the darkness behind her glamour. “How the hell should I know? Your friends are the ones who did this.”

She gave me her back and attempted to wrench the handle open once more. She was a wind elemental. It said a lot that she wouldn’t risk being singed by using her powers. Ignoring her, I closed my eyes and dropped into the Ley dimension. It was immediately apparent why the adults inside the conference room hadn’t come barging out. Somebody had weaved a concealing circle around the room. It glowed in a bright daisy-bud yellow. I turned my mind to the room and found a flickering of the same yellow shimmering over Max and Desi’s chests.

Max roared again. He’d managed to get past Astrid by feigning an attack on one of the Evil Three. Now he was advancing on Sean. In his human form, Max was a hothead. As a rogue shifter, he had no safeguards. His lion was enormous. One swipe with his claw and Sean was done for.

Turning my attention back to the door, I found the thread where the concealing circle started and broke the connection with my own circle. A rushing howl of wind ripped through the conference room. I jumped aside as the adults poured out.

Matilda took one look at the scene and sprang. She phased through a number of guests. When she reached Max, her hand became incorporeal. I almost upchucked when her arm disappeared into Max’s thick chest. Sophie screamed again.

I was about to move forward when Kai appeared out of nowhere. His whole body sizzled with black smoke, but it was the rage in his glowing green eyes that held me captivated. Max made a choking sound. I imagined Matilda gripping his heart. Her expression was serene as she phased. Months ago she had tried to tear Kai’s soul from his body.

There was a beat of perfect stillness and then Kai lashed out. Before when he had fought the Sisterhood, it was with a disadvantage. Their ability to phase was completely foreign and not something the supernaturals could counter.

The whole room exhaled when his palm clasped around Matilda’s throat and made contact. Her eyes became pools of white. Her mouth opened just a fraction before Kai wrenched her back and away from Max. With his other hand, he pushed his healing magic into his friend. Max fought it for a second before his eyelids drooped and he fell unconscious.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I watched Harlow raise a gun. I drew the circle around Kai just as she fired. Instead of bullets, demon sludge hit the edge of the circle. I screamed and clutched my head. The corrosive substance ate away at my magic. My vision became spotty. Pressing my back to the wall, I let the circle go. The sludge dropped to the floor and began bubbling.

Kai threw Matilda into the glass window. The sound of it shattering broke the shocked spell on the room. Everything happened at once but I