Blood Games (Chicagoland Vampires 10)

He glanced back, rushed Ethan again, correctly guessed that Ethan’s feint to the left had been just that. He aimed low, wrapped his arms around Ethan’s knees, sending them both to the floor with a crash.

They rolled once, then twice, sending up smoke and sparks with each revolution. Ethan crawled free, kicked back when the troll tried to grab his feet again. Ethan grabbed an office chair, nailed the troll on the back, and sent him sprawling again. His chest still bobbed, but he didn’t get up.

Ethan wiped blood from his forehead with the back of his hand, then glanced at me. “And I think, Sentinel, that will do for now.”

He’d just taken a step when a trapdoor opened beneath him, swallowing him and sending smoke and sparks billowing into the room.

“Ethan!” I screamed, dropping to the ground at the edge of the door. “Ethan, you are not allowed to die again!”

I didn’t breathe again until I felt his fingers, straining at the rim of the square gap the trapdoor had created.

He reached up and I grabbed his arm, planting my feet to try to pull him back. But his hand was slick with sweat and soot and he began to slip from my fingers. Fear lanced through me.

“Give me your other hand, Ethan. You’re slipping!”

He cursed, shifted his weight, trying to swing his body up to give me his other hand . . . when he slipped forward another inch, and then he was moving and my hand was empty.

My mouth opened in a scream, but suddenly the troll was there, reaching out, grabbing Ethan by the shirt. With a grunt and shower of wood and smoke, the troll hauled him out, tossing him onto the floor of the room. Ethan lay on his back, face streaming with blackened sweat, coughed vigorously.

He climbed to his feet, looked at the troll, extended a hand. “I appreciate that.”

The troll nodded. “You beat me fair and square. That’s all she said I had to do.”

Ethan coughed again. “Now that we’ve all fulfilled our bargains, perhaps we should leave?”

Together, the three of us carefully picked our way across the room, coughing and dodging showers of sparks that poured down from the ceiling above us, and fountains that burst through the floor every time the fire took another bite of it.

We reached the door in the room’s far corner, the EXIT sign still glowing above it, and pushed.

Nothing happened. The door didn’t budge, even an inch. Ethan rammed it with a shoulder, wincing, but tried again.

“She probably welded the damn doors shut,” Ethan said, kicking it in frustration, and with enough force to fell a shape-shifter—but not to even rattle a very inappropriately labeled door.

“I will try,” the troll said, stepping forward.

We moved aside, watching as he rammed his impressive bulk into the door once, then twice, then a third time. When blood began to speckle through his pale gray shirt, I put a hand on his arm. “Maybe let’s try a different option.”

“Window,” Ethan said, and we followed him to the perpendicular wall, which was marked by a horizontal band of windows.

Ethan dug through debris, pulled out what looked like a pipe, and smashed through the glass to allow us egress.

I looked back at the troll. “If you jump, will you be okay?”

He walked to the window, peered down. “Long way down.”

“It is.”

“I can make it,” he said, and, without hesitation, climbed onto the ledge and jumped. Ethan and I peered out, watched as he hit the ground with a thud that shook the entire building and left a crater in the ground that sent up a plume of smoke.

I stretched out the window, struggling to see anything in the darkness, and holding my breath until I saw him rise and walk away.

“He’s clear,” I said.

“Then let’s move, Sentinel. Because I believe we’re running out of time.”

I climbed onto the ledge in stiletto boots, moved to the side so Ethan could climb out, too.

I made the mistake of looking down, and vertigo wracked me. It was only the iron grip of Ethan’s fingers on my forearm that kept me from tilting forward into darkness. Vampires could jump, sure. But I didn’t think falling face-first was the same thing.

“Three . . . two . . . one,” Ethan said, and as the door burst open and flame rushed us, we took the step.

Time slowed as the ground moved slickly up to meet us, and we landed with our hands still together. My knees wobbled from the impact, but I stood straight again and, as timbers crashed to the ground around us, hauled ass to get away from the fire raging behind us.

* * *

Malik, Bennett, and Lakshmi waited twenty yards away. Relieved magic enveloped us as Malik jumped forward to embrace us both.

“Where are Nicole and Sarah?” Ethan asked.

Lakshmi kept her gaze on the warehouse, which mooted the very venomous stare I offered her. “They aren’t out yet.”

Ethan’s eyes widened, and he cast a glance at the building. The structure was enormous—eight stories of sheer brick walls, nearly as long as a football field. The roof over the end of the building where I’d been held was already falling in.

“The building won’t be standing much longer,” Ethan said.

“She’ll want to finish it herself,” Bennett insisted.

“She’ll die and won’t care if she finishes it. Besides, I’ve already won. She has nothing to lose.”

Bennett looked nervously back at the building. To save his Master’s life, or her pride? That was the question.

“If you go,” Lakshmi said, “points will be deducted, as you’ll have interfered with the test.”

“Lakshmi, respectfully, you can f**k your test. If your GP believes a vampire is worth more because he leaves his colleagues to die, then it’s even less reputable than I imagined.” Ethan looked back at me. “I’m going back for her. Stay here.”

Panic rose, hot and suffocating. “You’re not going back in there. At least, not without me.”

“I’m going,” he said, in a voice that brooked no argument.

“This isn’t the time to play Master of the House.”

He looked back at me, his expression fierce. “This is my test, and I will finish what remains of it, whether they score it or not. You will not risk your life any further than it’s already been risked tonight. If you step one foot toward that building, there’ll be hell to pay. Malik, keep an eye on her.”

“Liege.”

Ethan turned to face me and pressed a hard kiss to my lips. “Stay here.”