Chapter 17

The streets of Providence were a patchwork of cracked asphalt and flickering streetlights, ghostly under the half-hearted glow of the pre-dawn. We moved like shadows, each step carrying the weight of what lay ahead. Mel led the way, her eyes locked forward with a determination that outshone even the moonlight. The rest of us—Annabelle, Sebastian, Donnie, Pauli, and myself—followed best we could. I had my speed back. I wasn’t quite as fast as I used to be, and I needed some blood… badly…

But I kept up. Somehow. Pauli helped the rest of the group keep pace, periodically grabbing them and, in a flash of rainbow light, bringing them to where Mel was leading us.

“Empire Street’s just up ahead,” Mel whispered. “I think that damn wizard is still there.”

When we arrived, I was shocked at the sight. The old Chinatown was a gaping wound in the cityscape, a massive sinkhole that swallowed almost an entire block. At its center stood Anqi Sheng, a figure draped in robes that seemed to ripple with their own dark energy, his eyes glowing with a malevolent light.

He spotted us from a distance. He raised his arms and floated toward us. He screamed something to me in Chinese. Didn’t know what it was.

“Sorry we’re late,” I shouted back. “Traffic was a nightmare.”

Before anyone could move, Anqi Sheng raised his hand, and the air crackled with raw magic. A bolt of lightning arced from his fingertips, striking the ground before us and sending a shockwave that knocked us off our feet.

“Son of a—“ I gritted out, climbing back to my knees. “I totally expected he’d start monologuing. Bad guys always have shit to say before they try to kill you.”

“Ancient Chinese villains,” Annabelle muttered. “Not as chatty as the modern American types.”

“All I have to do is touch the bastard,” I shouted. “I have the power to do the rest. But getting close won’t be easy.”

“We’re on it,” Annabelle shouted. She was already moving, her dragon-spirit dagger materializing in her hand. She darted left, circling to flank the wizard. Sebastian followed suit, a giant knife in his hand, as he ducked into a shadow.

“Donnie, cover me!” I shouted, rushing forward. The air shimmered around Anqi Sheng as he summoned a shield, but I aimed for a weak spot—a flicker in the protective barrier. My wand sparked, shooting a stream of concentrated energy at the flicker. It fizzled on impact, barely making a dent.

Anqi Sheng said something in Chinese. Again, couldn’t translate it. I’m sure it was something along the lines of “nice try” or “is that all you’ve got?”

“I’ve got more where that came from,” I sneered. “Enerva!”

He dodged my spell and extended both arms. He spun himself like a tornado in mid-air… then threw the wind he’d built up straight at us. The force threw me backward and into Donnie.

I could swear he copped a feel as we went tumbling to the ground. Or maybe he was just trying not to go crashing bald-head first into a nearby car. I decided to assume he was trying to avoid a concussion rather than get a cheap and fleeting thrill in the middle of a battle with an ancient wizard. I mean, sure he wouldn’t…

Couldn’t worry about it at the moment. I sprung to my feet.

“Everyone attack together!” Mel shouted. “He can’t stop all of us at once!”

Just then, Sebastian appeared behind the wizard, his dagger poised to strike. The hunter launched himself off a parked car to get the height he needed, but Anqi Sheng whirled around, parrying the blow with a flick of his wrist, sending Sebastian sprawling back to the broken pavement.

Anqi Sheng shook his finger at Sebastian. “Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

“He’s too powerful,” Sebastian panted, clutching his side. He was in pain, but he forced himself back to his feet.

“Yeah, no shit,” I muttered under my breath. “Look everyone! We can’t beat him with brute force. And I can’t get close enough to him if he sees me coming. I need a distraction!”

“On it!” Annabelle called out. “Pauli, do your thing. When we have the wizard’s focus, teleport Mercy straight to him!”

“You got it!” Pauli added.

But as we were formulating our new strategy, Anqi Sheng rose higher into the air, his eyes glowing with malevolent energy. He began raining down spells, bolts of deathly fire magic that exploded on impact, sending chunks of asphalt and dust into the air. The cityscape around us turned into a war zone, the wizard’s power turning Providence into a nightmare.

Annabelle launched herself into the air. A pulse of green light—Isabelle was helping out—gave her an extra boost. With Beli in hand, she hurled herself straight at the wizard.

She collided with him, Beli carving a gash in the wizard’s stomach. Which he healed with a pulse of golden magic a half-second later. Meanwhile, Donnie went to work with his throwing knives. Hurling one after another at the wizard. I wasn’t sure they were reaching him, and it wasn’t much of a threat, but it gave us an opening.

“Pauli!” I yelled. “Get me up there! Now! Above him so he doesn’t see me coming!”

“Got it, bitch!”

I felt Pauli’s rainbow-colored coils wrapping around me. The world blurred for an instant, colors blending and swirling, then solidified again as Pauli released me mid-air, right above Anqi Sheng.

“Good luck, darling!” Pauli called out as I plummeted toward the wizard.

As a human, this would have scared the living daylights out of me. But now? It was just another Tuesday.

I aimed my wand straight at the wizard. His eyes widened in surprise, but before he could react, I crashed into him, jamming the wand into his chest.

“Ever heard of personal space?” I snarled.

“你该死的!” he cursed at me in Chinese, which I didn’t understand but definitely got the gist of.

We grappled in mid-air, the wizard’s magic keeping us both aloft. He tried to push me away, but I clung to him, my grip like iron. Sparks flew from our point of contact, the force of our combined energies crackling in the air around us.

“You’re not getting away that easy,” I hissed, tightening my hold.

“你以为你能打败我吗?” he spat, his voice filled with contempt.

“Can’t understand you, asshole,” I gritted out, struggling against his attempts to dislodge me. “But I’m guessing it’s something along the lines of ‘You’ll never stop me,’ right?”

He responded by conjuring a gust of wind, trying to throw me off balance. I countered, channeling my own magic through the wand embedded in his chest. We spun through the air, locked in a deadly dance, each trying to gain the upper hand.

“Stubborn, aren’t you?” I growled, feeling the strain of maintaining my grip and focus.

“体会到绝望吧!” he sneered.

“Yeah, yeah, bring it on,” I shot back. All I needed was to get a good grip on his head. I was more focused on trying to keep myself up in the air with the wizard, since the only way I could was to keep hold of him, than I was getting my spell off.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but it’s time for your final curtain call,” I whispered through gritted teeth as I finally grabbed his head with both hands. I could feel Nico’s power simmering just beneath my skin, ready to be unleashed.

“Now, Nico!” I screamed internally, and the Loa of Balance responded instantly. A surge of energy flowed from me into the wizard. His eyes widened in shock, then horror, as he withered in my grasp.

“千年!” The wizard’s voice cracked as his body withered in my hands.

He couldn’t hold his magic anymore. Which meant we couldn’t stay afloat. We plummeted from the sky, our descent rapid and unforgiving. The ground rushed up to meet us, but I felt no fear.

I was a real vampire girl again.

We hit the earth like a meteor, dirt and debris flying everywhere. I stood up from the crater we’d created, brushing off my clothes. In my hands, the wizard’s body was nothing but a lifeless husk, more shriveled than an old raisin left out in the sun.

“Mercy!” Mel shouted, racing towards me with the rest of the team close behind. “You okay?”

“Define ‘okay,’” I muttered, dropping the wizard’s corpse unceremoniously to the ground. “But yeah, I’m fine.”

“Is he...?” Annabelle started, her eyes wide as she looked at the wizard’s remains.

“He’s done,” I confirmed. “But we don’t have time to celebrate. The other ghosts could still integrate with the vampires if we don’t destroy those statues.”

“We only have until sunrise,” Mel added, her voice tinged with urgency. “That’s what the Emperor kept telling everyone back when he was… inside of me. Ugh, that sounds so dirty when I put it like that.”

“Sunrise?” I glanced towards the horizon, and sure enough, the first hints of dawn were starting to appear. “Crap, we’re running out of time. We need to get to those terracotta statues buried under all this rubble.”

“Move it, people!” Donnie barked, already heading towards the sinkhole where Old Chinatown lay hidden. “We’ve got work to do!”

“Sun’s coming up, Mercy.” Mel’s voice was somber. “Even with a hundred vampires, we couldn’t dig those statues out in time.”

“Fuck…” It was the only word appropriate for the moment. And all I could think about was Juliet and Muggs. Mel was right. We didn’t have enough time.

Don’t give up so fast. Nico’s voice reverberated in my mind. I sucked out more than the wizard’s life. I also grabbed his memories. I picked up a few spells I can teach you. Here’s one that might work—d“zhèn. It’s an earthquake spell.”

“Wait, isn’t that what destroyed this place to begin with?”

Trust me.

“Fine,” I grumbled, raising my hands towards the rubble. “Everyone, stand back!”

“What’s she doing?” Donnie asked, wide-eyed.

“Magic,” Sebastian shrugged. “It’s what she does.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, focusing on the earth beneath me. “D”zhèn,” I intoned, feeling the power thrumming through my veins. My wand lay forgotten at my side; I didn’t need it anymore. Not for this spell, anyway.

The ground rumbled in response, like a sleeping giant stirring beneath the surface. With a flick of my wrist, boulders began to shift, the earth itself obeying my command. Chunk by chunk, I pulled away the debris, revealing the hidden remnants of Old Chinatown.

“Well, that’s new,” Annabelle remarked, her eyes wide with awe.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m amazing. Keep your head in the game. Because when I clear a path you need to destroy those damn statues.” Sweat beaded on my forehead—not common for a vampire—as I continued to manipulate the earth.

“Mercy, look!” Mel pointed excitedly as I removed a giant slab that hid a chamber under the already hidden city we’d been in before. The terracotta statues emerged, their cold, lifeless eyes glowing faintly with an eerie green light.

“That’s our target!” I shouted. “No time to lose, people. Let’s smash some pottery.”

“Go, go, go!” I urged, watching as the team scrambled over the rubble. They spread out, each hunting for statues with a desperate urgency. The sun was rising, casting golden beams across the chaos.

“Mercy, we can’t survive this,” Mel’s voice wavered, her fear palpable. She shielded her eyes from the encroaching sunlight as smoke started simmering on her skin.

“Pauli! Get Mel out of here!” I commanded.

“Mercy!” Mel yelled. “You have to—“

“Got it, bitch!” Pauli wrapped himself around Mel, and with a flash of rainbow light, they vanished.

Mel was right. I had to get out of there, too. But not until I smashed every statue I could get my hands on. Any one of them could be the one responsible for the ghosts inside Juliet or Muggs.

But the sun was already striking my face.

To my surprise, it felt... good. Warm. Comforting. Not the searing agony I had expected.

“You’re not burning?” Sebastian’s eyebrow was cocked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know why not...I should be frying right now.”

Surprise.

“Nico.” I laughed under my breath as I resumed smashing statues. The rest of the group didn’t know about Nico in my head yet. And even if I was alright…we still had to take care of these statues fast. The green light flickering from their eyes was fading fast. “Care to explain?”

“Baron Samedi owed me more than one favor. Let’s just say he isn’t the one holding onto your soul this time around. I made a few...adjustments to his original design.”

I shook my head in disbelief. Niccolo the freaking Amazing! That might work. I couldn’t believe it. But I didn’t have the time to relish in his magnificence and my surprise.

“D’zhèn!“ I cast again, feeling the power surge through me. The earth responded eagerly, shifting and cracking as it revealed more of the buried statues.

“Clear the area!” I shouted as the green glow from the statues’ eyes were barely flickering now. The ghosts were almost fully integrated with the vampires they possessed.

I raised my hands. A massive chunk of rubble lifted from the ground, hovering above the statues. With a forceful thrust, I brought it down, smashing through the terracotta warriors like they were made of sand.

“Hulk smash!” Donnie laughed.

I shook my head. “Vampire smash. Or maybe…the Monster Mash! Get it? See what I did there?”

“Hilarious,” Sebastian remarked. But he wasn’t laughing. “Now, why the hell aren’t you burning? Are you human again?”

Annabelle was looking at me now, also seeking an answer.

I laughed. “Let’s just say I have something of a guardian angel. An old friend. And he’s full of surprises.”

“Do you think we destroyed them all in time?” Annabelle asked.

I shook my head. “Only one way to know. We need to get back to the Underground. Pauli, where’d you take Mel before?”

“Couldn’t take her into HQ,” Pauli said. “Didn’t want to risk her getting taken again by the Emperor. So I dropped her into the sewers.”

I nodded. “Good thinking. Go get her and we’ll meet back at the Underground. All we can do now is hope.”