While the older mages discussed things, one of the women walked up and interrupted them. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties, attractive, with long brown hair, wearing a long dress and lots of jewelry like a hippie earth mama.
“Someone is digging a tunnel,” she announced. Everyone turned to stare at her. She shrugged. “I assume it’s a tunnel. What else would they be digging?”
The wards we had set covered only the doors and ground-floor windows. Trying to ward the entire building would have taken too long. Even with a smaller building, warding down into the earth or up into the sky to cut off all means of escape would take a huge amount of energy.
“Can you figure out where they might come out?” Sam asked.
The earth mage nodded. “As soon as I can get a direction. Right now, I just know the earth is being disturbed by magic.”
Bailey tried to call using the Hunter’s phone, but it just rang. Not even voice mail.
Chapter 23
As darkness fell, we spread out again, surrounding Harland Hall. Where Jolene and I sat, we were blocked from the wind, but the temperature fell significantly as the sun set. The lights around the buildings and along the sidewalks came on, drowning out the pale light from the rising crescent moon.
“Are you cold?” I asked Jolene. I could always use ley magic for warmth, but she couldn’t tap the ley lines.
“Naw,” she said. “I grew up here and I’m a skier. Long thermal undies and a wool sweater, so I’m fine.”
“What did I miss?” Shawna’s voice asked.
I tried not to jump, but I had just looked in that direction a few seconds before, and no one was there.
“You’re going to die doing that,” I said.
She laughed and stuck out her hand to Jolene. “Hi, I’m Shawna.”
Jo shook her hand, but I could tell she was a little reluctant.
Shawna grinned, showing her fangs. “I’m safe. Look!” She held out a laminated card with her picture on it. It said ‘Investigator’ at the top, right under the City of Westport crest and ‘Office of the District Attorney.’
“I’m officially a defender of the law, protector of the innocent, keeper of the peace.”
I stared at the identification card, trying to read it in the faint light. “You’re kidding.”
“If you remember, that’s what I said when you told me about the job. This is my first night. You shoulda seen the look on Eileen’s face when I quit and told her about my new position. Where’s Ms. Jones? I need to report. What’s going on? Why so many sweetbloods hanging around staring at an old building?” It was obvious she was excited, her speech rapid-fire, and not waiting for answers.
“Sweetbloods?” Jolene squeaked.
“Yeah, all that magic,” Shawna said. “And it’s been the ruin of many a poor girl, but Lord, I ain’t gonna be one,” she sang in a clear, sweet soprano.
“Frankie’s around the other side of the building,” Jolene said, pointing.
“Gotcha. Catch ya later.” And with that, Shawna was gone.
“A vampire?” Jolene asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“I’m going to be working with a vampire?”
“You took the job.” I shrugged. “You won’t be working with her if you’re on the day shift.”
A couple of minutes later my phone buzzed.
“Looks like they’re tunneling toward the northwest,” Bailey said when I answered. “I’m putting most of our people out in that direction. I need you to stay where you are in case that’s a diversion and they try to break out another way. I’m sending Investigator Kincaid over for another set of eyes.”
As quickly as she left, Shawna was back. The university had a lot of lights, and the crescent moon was out, but I knew the vampire could see far better than Jolene and I could.
“Ms. Jones gave me a quick rundown,” she said, “and said you’d fill in the details. I take it that I’m here for my night vision?”
“And because you can’t shield,” I said. “There’s likely to be some pyrotechnics going on pretty quick.”
“Here,” Jolene said, holding out her hands. “It’s not as good as a shield, but it should provide some protection.” I couldn’t see what she held, but Shawna took something and seemed to put it around her neck.
“A charm?” Shawna asked.
“Yeah. It’s an aversion charm. People will love you even less than they do now,” Jo said.
Shawna laughed. “Spoken like a girl who loves vampires. Okay, you protect me from magic users, and I’ll protect you from bloodsuckers. I’m not real fond of them either.”
Jolene and I told Shawna about the events of the afternoon, and also about the hotel experience the previous day.
Suddenly, we were interrupted by yelling and flashes of light from the other side of Harland Hall. Shawna’s phone rang, and when she answered, I heard Frankie’s voice.
“They’re breaking out!” then, “Holy shit! There’s, oh, my God, six, seven, no, nine Hunters!”
Mage wars are pretty quiet in comparison with humans’ conventional warfare. But if you liked fireworks, mage wars are bright and colorful. No machineguns and very few explosions, just the crackle of lightning, the whoosh of fireballs, and the whisper of wind, with occasional thunder and sounds of things breaking. I saw a tree fall off to the side and behind the building.
“Nine Hunters? We weren’t prepared for that at all,” Jolene breathed.
And that didn’t make any sense to me at all. Hell, there were only five hundred Hunters in the whole world before the City of the Illuminati melted down, probably killing at least half of them.
I grabbed Shawna’s phone and said, “Frankie, this is Erin. We have an illusionist, don’t we? I think they do, too.”
I heard an intake of breath on the other end, then Frankie disconnected.
“Illusions?” Shawna asked.
“Magic to project copies of the men you have and confuse your enemy. Make us think they have double or triple their manpower, and we have to guess as to which ones are real,” I said. “While you’re fighting an illusion, the real thing cuts you down.” I had trained extensively with and against teams using illusions.
“Here, wear this,” Jolene said, holding out charms to each of us. “Dispel-illusion charms.”
“You came prepared tonight,” I said as I slipped the chord over my head.
“New job. Figured I should put my best foot forward and show how valuable I am,” Jo answered.
It was driving me crazy seeing the flashes of fire and light but not being able to see the fight. I knew I could make a difference if I was there, but if I was right about illusions playing a part in the battle, it was even more important to hold my assigned spot and look for the enemy using a diversion to sneak away.
“There,” Shawna said, pointing.
I wasn’t sure what she was seeing at first, then I noticed a man sticking his head out of a second-floor window. The rest of his body followed, and he drifted to the ground. Another head appeared at the window.
“Stay here, and call Frankie,” I told my companions as I took off running toward the building.
The second man drifted to the ground, and a third head appeared in the window. I drew my short sword and shifted it to my left hand while I readied the spell for the Sword.
I was almost in range for my ley missiles when the second man on the ground spotted me.
“Hey! Over there,” he called out.
I loosed a ley missile at him. Because of the distance, I knew it wouldn’t have much power in it when it reached him, but he staggered. The first man, the aeromancer who was lowering the third man, whirled about. Even in the darkness, I recognized Gavin Edmundson.
I pushed ley line magic ahead of me and saw Edmundson’s mini tornado burst apart yards short of reaching me. I loosed another ley missile in his direction. It didn’t penetrate his shield, but the man he was lowering to the ground suddenly dropped the last fifteen feet.
The ground I was running across turned into deep mud at the same time as it started raining. The rain was coming not from the sky but from the grass and trees around me, driven by a cyclonic wind.
I hunched down, trying to keep myself from being blown over, and let loose ley missiles, one after another. The rain slacked off, and then the wind diminished. When I was able to stand and get my bearings, I saw Edmundson and one of the others running. Of the third man, there wasn’t any sign, but there were two six-foot holes in the side of Harland Hall as a result of my ley missiles. I might have gotten lucky and nailed the third guy. As I pulled my feet out of the mud and started off in pursuit of the two mages, I wondered how I would explain those holes.
The man running with Edmundson was thin, with gray hair, and shorter than the Hunter. He tripped, stumbled, arms wind-milling as he tried to keep his balance, then he lurched to the side and went down.
Edmundson changed course to go around the other side of the building toward where Frankie and Bailey had been directing operations. As he cleared the corner, he stumbled, then suddenly flew backwards, head over heels.
The older guy tried to stand up again, and now that I was closer, I could see why he was having such difficulty. He got to one knee and tried to stand, but Shawna came up behind him and kicked him in the head. Even a shielded mage was vulnerable to the speed and jumping ability of a vampire.
The guy tried to rise again, but I leaned over and put the point of my dagger on his throat.
“You won’t be the first man I’ve killed tonight,” I said. “Drop your shield.”
I saw the whites of his eyes and could make out his expression.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said. “You won’t make it through my shield, and I’m holding a Hunter’s spelled blade.”
The fight went out of him, and he dropped his shield.
“Did they give you a pair of those fancy handcuffs yet?” I asked Shawna.