Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

            Gathering myself, I pulled on the ley line. Tingling and warm, I faced the snarling pack. “Lenio cinis!” I exclaimed, and a bolt of line energy poured upward from me, hitting the low clouds and flattening out before bursting into a blazing light. A boom of sound followed, beating down on us in a physical wave. I.S. looked up from their phones, taking notice but not moving from where they were parked. Fine by me.

            That ought to push you out into the open, I thought as yelps of surprise swamped the barks of anger. Car alarms began to warble, and I found my balance as David and the large gray alpha rolled apart, both panting.

            Blood dripped from David’s ear. Walter’s one eye was swollen shut. Chunks of fur were missing from both of them, and I couldn’t tell whose blood was whose. All too soon, the two lines began to re-form in a haze of dust—David, Cassie, and a growing handful of Cincinnati’s Weres before a ragtag assembly of mistrustful, increasingly agitated alphas. Walter’s alpha pack moved uneasily behind him, the moon and reflected ambient light making them swiftly pacing ghostly shadows. Where are you, you little magical pissant? I thought, jumping when Bis’s light weight found my shoulder.

            “Wow, Rachel. You lit the entire city!” the small gargoyle said, and I touched his feet clamped to me.

            “Think I got their attention?” Satisfied, I tucked a strand of hair behind an ear and scuffed to a halt beside David. “Ah, you okay?” I asked, and he made a low, rumbling growl. It lifted from him with the sure savagery of the feral wolf, but it was tempered with intelligence, and I stifled a shudder, glad it wasn’t aimed at me.

            “Damn it, Vincent! I can’t do this if Parker doesn’t do her fucking job!” rang out, and my focus snapped up, searching until I found the disguised man, his spelled-blond head almost hidden behind the milling, snarling wolves. Now that I was closer, the odd, charmed timbre to his voice was obvious. Yeah, I’d hide myself, too, if I was spelling for the city’s subrosa.

            “Give it up!” Bis called out, and Cassie made an odd, yowling chortle of agreement.

            “You aren’t getting David while I breathe,” I added, and the man in the spelling robes seemed to find that funny. Hands on his hips, he hardly acknowledged Walter and Parker as they padded close, both panting and ragged from the fight.

            “Sometimes, even a fool gets the right answer,” the magic user muttered.

            And then he moved, arm swinging as he pulled on the line with enough force to make my knees wobble. My expression blanked as unfocused energy blossomed in his hand, purple and green and orange.

            “Watch out, Bis!” I shouted, and he took off, wings beating for altitude as he sought shelter in the air. “Dilatare!” I exclaimed, almost joyous as a ball of force exploded from me in all directions, sending friend and foe alike tumbling in an innocuous but effective defense. I didn’t have to hurt anyone to protect those who looked to me. I was better than that. So far.

            The magic user, though, had felt it coming. He had stood firm behind a quickly raised protection circle as everyone hit the ground and rolled. I froze, horrified as I realized I had just knocked everyone free of David.

            “Always thinking, huh?” the man said as the mass of energy in his grip flickered and grew. “In articulo mortis!” he shouted, aiming a fisted hand right at David.

            Breath a quick intake, I lunged to knock David clear as a green bolt shot from a ring on the man’s finger. It hit David square in the chest. “David!” I called as I slammed into him too late, my aura tingling as the curse flickered over me before sinking into the Were. “No!”

            I pushed up, David beneath me as he made a choking gurgle. A whine slipped from him as he shook, and then he went still, his open eyes suddenly vacant.

            Cassie slid to a terrified halt beside David. “He’s alive,” I said as she rounded on me, her lips pulled high in a snarl. “It’s a curse!” I yelled as she barked at me, her back arched and tail switching. “He’s alive. Cassie, he’s alive! I can fix this.”

            “Get Hue in a car,” the robed man said as he walked away. “We need to move.”

            “Ah, Rachel?” Bis said, his wings blowing my hair into my eyes. “Al left.”

            Surprised, I looked up. The footing of the bridge was indeed empty. And then I felt the blood drain from me. Walter’s alpha pack was not running away. No, they were rallying. With David down, the focus was nullified, and with that gone, Walter’s pack was gathering in behind the heavy gray wolf with a single, murderous aim: David.