Biting Cold (Chicagoland Vampires 6)

The sigil brightened, the flame rising, but no angel appeared in the middle of it.

"Seth?"

"Low-grade materials," he said. "We had to make do. We're trying."

I blinked rain from my eyes, my breath steaming in the chil.

"Try harder! Malory can't keep this up much longer!" She was already, I figured, seconds away from writhing on the ground and taking Ethan back to dark magic town with her.

Seth puled off his shirt, flexed, and unhinged his wings. They released into the night, sending that sugar cookie smel through the park. My stomach picked the wrong time to grumble.

"Dominic! I wil and summon you to appear! Bear witness to my command!"

The sigil flashed and flickered again, and then completely extinguished.

"Is it the rain?" Jeff caled out from the other side of the sigil.

"Do we have to start over?"

For a moment, there was silence. As if fearful of what we'd wrought, the earth trembled beneath us.

And then, suddenly, the earth inside the smoking circle burst open, and Dominic shot through the air, wings extended.

He roared with impressive gusto, then locked eyes with Seth and flapped his wings back to earth again, stalking toward him with obviously malicious intent.

"You dare cal me? You, who cower behind the words and deeds of humans?"

With what little strength he had, Ethan reached out to grab him, but Dominic stepped beyond the bounds of the sigil and out of Ethan's grasp.

Seth caught the miss and rotated around, luring Dominic back toward the sigil and Ethan.

"Unlike you, I have been working, dear brother. Trying to rid the world of the pestilence you and yours seem so eager to forget."

Seth's lip curled. "Humans are not a pestilence on the world. Protecting them is our sole obligation. Our sole responsibility."

"They are a plague!" Dominic leapt toward Seth, who maneuvered away from him but didn't manage to get him any closer to Ethan.

Who had said this part was going to be easy? Just grab the monster, she'd said, and pul away his power. I muttered a curse. And tried my own tactic. If Seth couldn't lure him closer, maybe I could.

"Dominic!" I caled out, spinning the sword in my hand, hoping a distraction might be enough. "Fight like a man!"

"I am more than man." But he was too preoccupied with Seth to bother with me. He pushed Seth like a school buly and, when Seth jumped into the air, folowed suit, his wings flapping slowly behind him.

"Every being with power has its purpose," Dominic said. "I have served mine, and I was punished regardless. My wings bear witness to that."

His voice was exactly like and unlike Seth's. The timbre was the same, but the cant of the words was different. Seth spoke plainly; Dominic pronounced.

"You weren't punished," Seth said. "You did dark things and your body changed as a result of it."

They wrestled in the air, the twins of light and darkness, just as in the picture the librarian had showed me. It occurred to me that I was seeing a battle that was primeval, fundamental in nature. Creatures of the beginning of the human world, fighting over whether humans should be alowed to rule themselves.

"Catcher!" I caled out. "Throw some magic!"

"I might hit Seth!" he caled back. I guess, given what we were battling against, I had to appreciate his concern for the colateral victims of his magic.

They pushed each other away, separating midair before battling again. "I made decisions no one else would make!"

"You destroyed people and cities."

"They deserved it."

"It wasn't your cal to make!" Seth raised his voice, his words booming across the park. I expected CPD patrol cars and picture-snapping residents any minute, so I acted.

I got a running start, held my sword upright, and leapt into the air toward the flying dervishes. The edge of my blade caught the webbing of Dominic's left wing. He screamed out his pain and the wing flapped backward with enough force to propel me through the air, just as he'd done with Jonah.

I hit the ground with a dul thud that pushed the air from my lungs.

The rain had soaked the ground and made the playground muddy, washing away the remnants of the sigil. But Ethan and Malory waited, magic at the ready, both of them al but humming with the energy of it.

Seth and Dominic roled through the mud, which put the top of Dominic's wing within a hand's length of Ethan.

"Ethan, Malory, now!" I yeled out.

Ethan grabbed the edge of Dominic's wing. It took a second, and then Malory screamed out as the connection burst open between them. There was no pleasure in her scream.

Dominic roared out again, flipping his wing in an effort to dislodge Ethan. He put his palms together, and with a crackle of light, the giant broadsword appeared in his hands. He swiped at Ethan, but Ethan, helped by his vampire strength, dodged the blade and wouldn't let go, and Malory wouldn't break the connection between them.

"Nearly there," Malory said, pain in her expression.

Dominic arched back, roaring again like an injured lion.

Catcher didn't miss this opportunity. He wound up two bright blue orbs and tossed them in Dominic's direction.

They exploded against his chest in a burst of blue sparks.

Dominic fel back, hitting the ground with a thud.

But so did Ethan and Malory.

The dark magic had stopped, and so did the rain.

I knew any reprieve would be temporary. Body aching, I puled myself off the ground and limped toward them again.

"Malory! Ethan!"

Ethan's grip was stil on Dominic, but the magic seemed to have knocked him out, too. Catcher dragged Malory away, her palms red and chafed from the magic she'd puled out of Dominic. I did the same with Ethan, ignoring the bleeding gash on his arm and the intoxicating scent of blood.

"Watch him!" I demanded of Seth, but Dominic was up and roaring again before I could even pul my sword. Seth took point this time.

I patted Ethan's face. "Ethan! Wake up."

He suddenly sat up, coughing and sputtering for breath as if Malory had sucked out the rest of his oxygen. "I'm okay. I'm fine."

Tears bloomed at my lashes. "Thank God. Did it work?"

"I think so. I felt so much magic. If he's not cleaned out, he has a hela large tank."

I couldn't help the sarcasm. "Who says 'hela large'?"

But Ethan's focus was better than mine. "Sentinel," he weakly said, pointing back to the fray.

Dominic had Seth pinned in the mud and was whaling, older brother - style, on his twin. I made it to my feet again, my sword now filthy with mud, and wiped it on my leather pants.