Chase was out the door of my room before I had my t-shirt over my head. The pub was dark, but I could see him shifting, his red scales glowing like embers in the dim light from the street.
I can never come home again. My stomach was leaden. I can’t come here anymore. Every time, I bring them here. Tears burned at the edges of my eyes. No time for that. Time to protect what I love.
The dragon in my chest was pulsing. The pain of realizing I was losing my home formed a tight core, with layers of grief and rage swelling it to a chest-bursting size. I grasped at that knot with my mind, trying to rip it open at last. I felt the dragon writhing within me. The world shimmered.
The back door burst open. Chase blasted whatever stood before him with a burst of flame, driving them back. My concentration shattered, the world resolved itself again. I cursed out loud and charged forward. If I couldn’t shift, there were plenty of shadows to be had in that alley.
A motley crew of shifted creatures greeted me with snarls and hisses as I reached the doorway. Chase stood in the middle, blasting them with fire and slashing at them with claws, but it was easy to see that he was going to be overpowered quickly.
Fear and anger flooded me. They were not taking him from me. Not now. Not ever. I raised my hands and grabbed the shadow of the dumpster and hauled it over the heads of three dog-shifters. Their yelps were quickly smothered in a tar-like blanket. I squeezed, and they collapsed in a heap.
More Chosen slithered in to take their place. So many more.
A van screeched to a stop at the end of the alley. Galen dove out of the driver’s side door, already shifting. Cass and Aric opened the panel door and poured out, charging toward us. The shifters at the back of the pack turned to take them on. I heard the sizzle of electricity, the whoosh and rattle of ice. Vines along the brick walls began to wriggle their way off the walls.
Rough hands snatched at my arm. I looked up to see one of the Chosen leering down at me, pointed fangs bared. He hauled on my arm and pulled me into the alley with a triumphant hiss. I grabbed at the shadows around us. His eyes widened as one wrapped around his throat, constricting. He grabbed at it with his free hand, then released me to grab at it with both. His eyes bulged. As he slumped to the ground, I released it, horrified. He moved feebly, but didn’t get up.
The battle continued around me as I stumbled back to the doorway. Galen wove vines and weeds around the legs of a pair of pit bull-shifters, sending them tumbling into one another. His claws slashed at their throats, cutting off their howls. The air crackled with static as Cass sent bolt after bolt of electricity into the pack of shifters. The alley glowed amber with each wave of fire that Chase unleashed, and the walls were rimed in frost from Aric’s breath. Still, it seemed like the Cult would never stop coming.
Suddenly, I heard cracking sounds filling the air. Gunfire. I flattened myself back against the doorway. Chester Malone rounded the corner, rifle in hand, and popped off a shot at one of the Chosen. It whirled on him, looking more annoyed than pained, but it was all the distraction Chase needed to finish him off with a blast of fire. Paddy Doyle stepped up with something large and automatic, spraying the alley and sending me further in.
“Careful, idiot! Some of them are mine!” I screamed over the hail of bullets.
“What? The snakes, the dogs, or the giant lizards?” Doyle shouted back in disbelief.
“The dragons!”
“Dragons? Fuck me!” The gunfire continued, but in shorter, more controlled bursts.
The largest of the Chosen rose on his serpent’s tail and hissed some sort of command. His hands moved in a flowing pattern, and reality took a brief vacation. The wall across from me, next to the dumpster, tore open. What should have been the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant was instead a swirling black void. The remaining shifters dove into the void, and it slammed shut behind them, leaving us all staring at the wall trying to catch our breath. I saw Malone and Doyle cross themselves.
“Saints preserve,” Malone whispered. “Witchcraft and sorcery. On our patch.”
“The devil’s work,” agreed Doyle.
“Superstition and nonsense, m’boys.” Kiernan Donovan rounded the corner. “I’m sure that young Sia has a perfectly scientific explanation for all you’ve seen tonight.”
My boys had shifted back to their human forms. Malone and Doyle looked at me, then at the boys, then back to me expectantly. My mouth worked hard, but no words came out.
Donovan waved his hand dismissively. “Never you mind. No need for a lengthy explanation. I’m just glad that me and me boys were here to lend you a helping hand.”
A helping hand. No. Oh, fuck no. “We didn’t need your help, Mr. Donovan. We had it firmly under control.”
“Oho? Did ye now?” He smirked at me. “Looked a right mess to me. You tell Miss Kitty McKinnett that I’ll be by in the morning to talk repayment.”
He was three feet up the wall before I knew my hand was up. A long, barbed-looking tentacle of black shadow gripped him firmly by the throat. Malone and Doyle took two steps back, then began to raise their weapons.
“I wouldn’t, boyos,” I hissed. “I might just slip and break something.”
“Now, Sia. Darlin’. Be reasonable,” Donovan gurgled, eyes bulging, face turning a nasty shade of purple. “You wouldn’t want to make nice Mr. Donovan what gave you your lovely birthday present angry, now would ye lass?”
I squeezed. The gurgle went silent. His hands clawed at the shadows frantically.
“Now, Mr. Donovan. Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to stay the fuck away from Kitty McKinnett.” I flicked my wrist. The tentacle hauled him away from the wall, then slammed him back into it. “Far away. You, your boyos, everyone stays the fuck away from her. And her friends. And her family. And me. Do we have an understanding?”
He glared at me defiantly. I flicked my wrist again. His head bounced painfully against the bricks. His lips were turning blue. The fear won over. He nodded frantically.
I opened my hand. He hit the ground in a heap. His boys rushed over to him, trying to help him up at each elbow. He swatted at them, wheezing and dusting himself off as he shakily rose from the grime of the alley.
“Your word?” I raised my hand again. Shadows wavered.
Donovan blanched. “My word of honor,” he growled.
“Good evening, gentlemen.” I gave them a fingertip wave with my upraised hand. The shadows writhed. Malone and Doyle hightailed it out of the alley. Donovan stalked after them. He paused at the corner, straightened his jacket, then walked off into the night.
Cass caught me before I could hit the ground. Every bone in my body felt like jelly. It wasn’t from the shadow play, either.
“Holy fuck. Holy fuck.” My head sank into my hands, braced on my knees. I rocked on the ground, barely conscious of Cass stroking my hair soothingly. “I just pissed off the Irish Mob. I just told off the fucking mob. We’re dead. We’re all dead.”
I heard a stifled laugh behind me. My head whipped around. Aric had his hand over his mouth in a weak attempt to muffle himself. The rest of the boys glowered at him.
“What the fuck is so funny?” I hissed.
Aric lowered his hand. “You’ve got the Chosen of Apep trying to sacrifice you, and you’re worried about some low-rent gangsters?” he smirked.
“Low-re… it’s the Irish Fucking Mob. They own large chunks of this town!”
“So do I.”
Anger turned to disgust. “Just because you don’t care about anyone but yourself doesn’t mean I share the sentiment. I don’t care about what they’ll do to me. I care about what they’ll do to Kitty. And Missi. And Billy. And my regulars.” I tried to rise, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate. I had to settle for glowering at him from the ground. “These people trust in me, and I betrayed that trust by putting them in danger.”
“Ya did no such thing, so shut yer hole,” a tired voice said from behind and above me. I turned and looked up. Kitty leaned over the rail to her landing, smoking a cigarette and hefting her tire iron over her shoulder. “You did fine. You did great. Whatever the hell you did.” Her eyebrow lifted. “What did you do, anyways? With the darkness and the hands?” She waved her hands around in circles.
I looked for words and found none.
“Magic, ma’am,” Cassidy answered for me.
“Magic, huh?” She took a long drag on her cigarette. “Maybe I’ll make you the new bouncer. If you can turn Kiernan Donovan that lovely shade of ivory, a few drunks should be a piece of piss.” She laughed a short bark of a laugh. “It was lovely, too. I’ve wanted to send his ass packing for an age.”
“But…” I began.
Kitty blew a puff of smoke in my direction. “But nothin’. We’ll get by. We always do.”