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:Yeah,: Daire replied. :But I don’t see anything. Maybe it’s hidden beneath the carpet.:
Blue blazed around the queen like a nimbus and she stepped toward us. “Come and get her, Blood.”
Ezra snorted. “Yeah right. And get frozen like them?”
Her energy blazed higher, crackling between her hands like a fireball. I didn’t smell her blood, though. Aima queens carried their power in their blood. So what the fuck was she using to generate so much magic?
Kevin waited until she passed him and Guillaume, and then he bashed her over the head with the borrowed blade so hard the tip broke. Now I fucking smelled her blood. She staggered, almost went down, but a rising blue flood lapped the floor and ceiling in rippling waves. She leaped toward us, fangs bared, eyes like cold blue fire. I shoved Daire behind me and allowed Leviathan to boil up out of me. At least I’d have armored hide and teeth, even if I couldn’t maneuver in the tight hall.
But she dove toward the floor and disappeared.
I gnashed my teeth. :Motherfucker. Now what? How do we get them out?:
“Kevin, use that blade and cut into the carpet,” Ezra called down the hallway. “See if there’s something underneath.”
A couple more Blood appeared at the other end of the hallway, racing toward us.
“Stop,” Daire barked out. “There’s a trap in the floor. We’re not sure where it starts.”
Dropping to his knees, Kevin used the broken blade to tear a slit in the carpet. He tugged it open. Ripping a wider hole. “Yeah! There are blue runes on the cement, sort of like her tattoos.”
“Is it paint?” Ezra asked. “Or can we wipe it away?”
The Blood at the other end of the hall started cutting into the carpet, ripping it up so they could see where the runes started as they slowly made their way closer to our fallen queen.
Kevin reached out with a trembling finger and touched the floor. Then more confidently. He looked up at us, eyes sparkling. “It’s chalk. We can wipe it away.”
He started swiping his palms across the floor.
But he was at least thirty paces away. It’d take him forever to reach us.
“The stair exit.” Daire whirled around and started running back the way we’d come. “There was a firehose. Maybe it’ll reach.”
:No need,: I replied. :Tell him to see if he can get Shara out of the danger zone. I’ll take care of the runes.:
“Check our queen,” Ezra called. “Is she breathing? Can you pick her up and get her out of there?”
Kevin popped to his feet and raced over to where the alpha lay sprawled. He reached down and placed his fingers against her throat. Relief flickered across his face. “She’s breathing. She’s alive. It looks like she’s asleep. Let me see if I can get her out. Rik’s got a tight hold on her.”
While he worked on slipping her free, I rose up as high as I could, flattening my back against the ceiling. So I could let my dick slip free from its hidden sheath.
“Dude, what the fuck are you doing?” Ezra retorted.
:It’s fucking chalk.: I started a steaming stream of piss. :While a bear shits in the woods, a dragon pisses where he wants.:
“Fuck me sideways.” Ezra unzipped his pants and yelled down the hallway. “Piss the runes away until you can reach our queen.” Then lower, he muttered, “Never thought I’d get into a pissing contest with a dragon.”
48
SHARA
Janelle squatted beside me, her whispered words fierce and rapid. “We don’t have much time.”
I was lying down, but I didn’t remember falling or going to sleep. I wanted to ask her what had happened, but nothing seemed connected to my brain. I couldn’t make my lips work.
“I’m caught in a tale as old as time itself. This trap is mine, set long ago under your predecessor. Forgive me, Shara. I would have liked to be your sibling, but I can’t risk you getting a deeper hold on me. You may yet escape. Your Blood are smart. They didn’t fully enter the snare. If you break free, look where they don’t want you to see. Remember what died here. They want you dead before you can do something about it.”
“Who?” I tried to ask. But I couldn’t even make my lips work.
