Dark Flame (Flame 3)

The remaining five, along with Roche, flew closer.

He took a measured breath and fired to the left again, then the right, quick shots. The first warrior fell into the water, but he’d missed the other one who drew close to the bridge, sword raised.

Brannick fired into the man’s chest, then levitated at the same time, diving forward to catch the warrior’s sword as it flipped from his hand midair. Brannick heard him hit the water as well.

The three remaining warriors were farther back, guarding Roche. Yet still they flew toward the bridge.

He needed to lead them away from Juliet.

He levitated to the west bank. When he touched down, he turned and fired at the fifth man flying straight for him. The shot hit the fae’s left arm, the force sending him spinning backward. He landed hard on the far bank near the sidewalk, but rose to his feet immediately. Brannick had only nicked him.

Juliet’s voice entered his mind. Fae warrior to the north and behind you.

He took Juliet at her word, spun and drove his sword into the man’s abdomen. The warrior fell backward as Brannick withdrew the blade.

Brannick turned and started to levitate, but the warrior whose arm he’d nicked caught him at the waist and brought him down hard on his back. Brannick still had his Glock in his hand, and he dragged it between their bodies and fired. The recoil slammed into Brannick’s gut but the warrior fell limp.

He pushed him off and rose to his feet. He’d lost track of the other warrior.

Brannick, behind you!

He had just started to turn, when he felt a tremendous pressure on his back. He looked down and saw the point of a bloody sword emerge from his own abdomen. He couldn’t feel his legs. He couldn’t think.

His enemy jerked the sword from Brannick’s body. He watched the blade disappear, then fell face down on the grass not far from the man he’d shot to death. He heard shouting near him, the sound of victory.

Where was Juliet? Was he leaving her to the enemy?

His mind began to swirl with black clouds. Juliet. He had to get to her, to help her.

But his consciousness faded, then he fell into a black hole.

What seemed like a second later, however, he emerged inside what he knew instinctively was his own dreamglide. He had no idea how he’d gotten there, or how the hell, as a vampire, this was even possible.

He was on the bridge with Juliet, yet not with her, but hovering nearby. She wasn’t in his dreamglide with him, which meant he needed to figure out what kind of trouble she was in.

Roche was on the bridge not ten feet away from Juliet. But he kept looking around as though he couldn’t see her.

Juliet, can you hear me?

Brannick, is that you? Wait a minute, where are you? I’m seeing your body through the stone balustrades of the bridge. You’re lying face down in the grass. You look like you’ve passed out. How are you in my head?

I’m in a dreamglide, something I think I created by myself though I have no idea how I did it. And I’m right next to you. Can you come to me? Brannick couldn’t fathom how much power it required to do exactly what he was doing. How could a vampire perform a fae skill?

He felt Juliet grow very quiet and a moment later, she drifted into his dreamglide. Within the half-dreaming, half-waking state, she rose to her feet and turned to stare at him.

She gripped his arms. Then you’re not dead?

Close, but not yet.

Suddenly, memories of all their times together from the past five months rushed forward. The swell and sensation was so great, he almost fell, but righted himself at the last moment.

He and Juliet were lovers. No wonder the sight of her in Carl’s garage had started leaking memories to his conscious mind.

His first inclination was to haul her into his arms, but he had a couple more important things to attend to.

Through the blur of the dreamglide, he could see Juliet below him in real-time. She sat on the bridge ten feet away from Roche, her legs pulled up, her knees pressed into one of the curved stone balusters.

It looked like Roche couldn’t see her, but she’d done the smart thing curling up against the bridge rails.