Aeromancist (Seven Forbidden Arts 3)

He turned his head away from the skimpily dressed female and male donors waiting to be picked, most of them wearing nothing but a thong, and turned his attention back to the room. He noted the iron walls. One way in. No other exits. The bouncer motioned for him to enter. The minute he’d stepped over the threshold, the door shut behind him. The slide of a deadbolt sounded on the outside, but he didn’t focus on being locked in. He fixed all his attention on the dark-haired man who jumped from a couch in the corner.

Daniel.

Lann stalked toward him. “Where’s David?”

Daniel grinned. “I’m David.”

His voice was high-pitched. Skittish eyes danced around in his head. They may look alike, but Daniel definitely got shortchanged when brain cells were divided between the twins.

Lann tsked with disapproval. He shook his hand to loosen his fingers.

Daniel took a step back, his pupils bouncing left and right in his sockets. “No!” He lifted his hands. “Don’t zap me.”

“Tell me where David is.”

The sick sound of his laughter assaulted Lann’s eardrums. “David’s out.”

Not good. The set-up wasn’t going as he’d thought it would. He hoped Clelia was getting it all on the comm system.

Joss’s voice sounded in the link in his ear. “Clelia, get the fuck out of there. It’s not what we expected.”

“Too late,” she said. “I’m going to have to burn some vamps.”

“Lann,” Joss said tightly, “get out.”

Daniel was lurking in the corner, his attention trained on Lann and his laugh persistent.

“I’ll ask you one last time,” Lann said, “where is David?”

Daniel fixed his gaze on the ceiling.

Lann cursed. “Clelia, run! They—”

The roof collapsed before he could finish his warning. Sons of bitches. He dodged a wooden beam. Debris, plaster, and bricks exploded around him. The dust momentarily blinded him, but he already had his pistols trained in the air. Vamps descended from the sky through the open hole in the roof. Lann did what he was trained to do. He aimed and shot, taking down two, four, five vamps. The bullets wouldn’t kill them, but they caused enough injuries to create the delay Lann needed. Daniel had left through the gap. It was going to take Lann a few seconds to pull up ball lightning or a straight blast.

When the vamps fell back, seeing the others fall like flies, Lann used the time he’d gained to shoot ball lightning out toward the night. It rolled up into the sky and set off powerful bolts of electricity as it exploded to light the scene below. Vamps—those who were still alive after the electric explosion—scattered away, crawling into dark corners or hiding where they could. For precious seconds, Lann wasn’t under attack. Standing alone in the center of the collapsed room, he quickly took stock of the situation.

“Clelia?” he said.

“I’m fine. You?”

“I’m coming out.”

“I see your coordinates on the wrist sat. I’ll meet you.”

The metal door of the room had dented with the blast, but it was still bolted. The fuckers had used low-impact explosives. They didn’t mean to kill, or they would’ve used something more powerful.

Clelia’s voice filtered back into his earpiece. “Your path’s clear.”

Lann used the fallen wall and rubble to climb to the non-existent ceiling. He pulled himself through the hole, made his way to the lower part of the roof, and jumped to the pavement, landing on his feet. Clelia was waiting in the street, scanning their surroundings.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I rocked the aeromancist’s world,” a voice said from the side.

Lann and Clelia turned in unison toward the sound. David leaned with his shoulder on the side of the half-destroyed building, his arms crossed. His face shone silver in the dark. Puffy cheeks balled out as his thick lips pulled into a grin. The stench of rotten meat filled the air.

“What are you up to, Piranha?” Lann cracked his fingers. “You better start talking because I’m only getting warmed up.”

To prove his point, he hit a thin line of blue lightning across the ground, the sound like the crack of a whip. It landed short of David’s boots.

David narrowed his eyes. “Only because of the lady,” he nodded at Clelia, “will I let that insult pass.” He straightened. “If it slips from your pretty boy lips again, I call back my boys. They’ll make a fine meal of Pussy in Boots here.” He licked his lips as he looked at Clelia.

“You’ve got our attention,” Lann said, “so spit it out.”

“Thanks for accepting my invitation,” David drawled. “I wasn’t sure if your boss was going to take Daniel seriously.”

“Cut the introductions,” Lann hissed, “the politeness doesn’t suit you.”

David made a face. “And here I was just starting to enjoy our visit. Fine. Suit yourself.”

Lann was out of patience. “Why are we here?”

“You’re here because I wanted a meeting.”

“Bullshit,” Lann said. “We’ve just taken out fifty or more vamps. You wouldn’t sacrifice that many for a simple meeting.”