“Rayne. Fuck.” Fury exploded. I was too fuckin’ far away. There were several thumps behind me. I knew what it was, the vampires and Long Necks from the rooftop. “Roarke, damn it. I can’t hold them.” “Delara. Jedrik. Where the fuck are you?” No response, meaning they weren’t close enough.
I grunted as a shuriken embedded into the back of my right hand.
The gun dropped.
I kept running for Rayne.
I silently called to my Ink. It was dangerous using it without others to back me up since it made me weak. Shit, I hadn’t called to it in over two decades because I always worked alone. But I had no choice.
I was tackled from behind and crashed to the pavement. I jerked my elbow back into the culprit and heard a crack.
I did it again.
His weight was off me, so I rolled right. When I bent my leg to reach my knife strapped to my thigh, burning pain shot into my abdomen.
Jesus. Fuck.
My eyes and hand went to my stomach. A knife protruded and blood seeped into my T-shirt. I clenched my jaw and yanked the blade out. Then I leapt to my feet.
When I straightened, the Lilac’s followers surrounded me. My Ink was useless to try and call with a fuckin’ gaping stab wound, and there were no other Scars close enough to contact by telepathy. But no way in hell was surrendering an option.
A Long Neck came at me. I shifted right, flipped to my hands, and then kicked out, sending him backward into one of his buddies. I swayed as my vision blurred.
Putting my hand to my head, I staggered, and then fell to my knees.
Christ, I was outnumbered, wounded, and had one knife against seven assholes and a Lilac.
I lifted my head and searched for Rayne.
“Kilter!” She ran toward me, but the Long Neck who dragged her from the SUV, grabbed her arm and whirled her backward. She flew through the air and crashed into the hood of the car. Blood ran down the side of her face and her lower lip.
Fuck. No. “Rayne,” I yelled.
I pushed off the pavement and climbed to my feet. Fuck, I had to get to her. I took one step toward a vampire preventing me from doing that when webs looped around my legs from behind and I crashed forward.
No.
“Rayne,” I shouted. “I’m down. Rayne. Lilac has her.” There was no response. No one was close enough, damn it.
I shifted to my right side and slashed at the webs with my knife. It was pointless.
I knew I was fucked.
The Lilac laughed then ordered, “Secure him.”
Three vampires jumped me, pinning my body to the ground, one on each shoulder, the other crushing my windpipe with his knee.
“Kilter,” Rayne shouted.
I managed to free one shoulder and punched my fist into the balls of the vampire cutting off my oxygen. He dropped, curling into a fetal position, screaming in agony.
Didn’t matter much. The others had me down and I was fading—fast.
I looked toward Rayne. She stood standing over the Long Neck.
No blood. No wounds. He was dead.
Fuck. She’d used her ability. She killed him.
Good girl.
She looked in my direction then to the Lilac.
A wave of dread shifted through me. I knew what she was going to do. Oh fuck, no. She couldn’t defeat a Lilac. She’d never get close enough to touch her and use her ability.
“Rayne, no,” I said, but my words came out a ragged whisper as I struggled to breathe.
She walked toward the Lilac. Christ. She had no idea what these bastards would do to her. Then the name hit me. Jasmine. Lilac Jasmine. Jesus Christ, she was the one who imprisoned Waleron for over sixty years.
“Let him go,” Rayne said. Then she pulled a gun—the gun I’d dropped—from behind her back and pointed it at the Lilac. “Tell your pets to let him go.”
My heart thumped harder and my chest cramped as I watched and could do fuck all.
“Are you going to shoot me, Rayne?” the Lilac replied. “I saved your life. Did you know that?” A vampire shifted to block my view of Rayne.
“Kilter saved my life. I was an object before him.”
Everything in my body stilled.
“You think a bullet will stop me?” Jasmine said. “You were always a pathetic, naïve girl, Rayne.”
I jerked as the gun went off.
The vampires hissed and two moved toward Rayne.
The gun went off again. I couldn’t see what she was shooting at, but I heard a body thump to the ground.
“Wait,” Jasmine ordered.
“Kill him and the next bullet goes through my head before any of your pets can get to me. Or let him go and I walk away with you and no one gets hurt.”
What? What the fuck was she doing?
The two vampires holding me down each grabbed an arm and yanked me to my feet. I struggled against their hold, but with the webs around my legs, I couldn’t move.
My head was forced back as a thin wire cut into my throat.
“Rayne, no,” Roarke yelled.
I could no longer speak, so I used my telepathy, hoping her shields were down enough for me to break through to her. “Babe, no. Don’t do this.”
Her eyes darted to me then back to the Lilac again. But I saw the trembling in her hand as she held the gun. A gun that was pointed at her own head. My stomach churned.
“If you kill yourself, then he dies,” Jasmine said.
Rayne glared. “If you want me alive, then let him go.”
Fuck. “No.” The wire tightened on my throat and I could no longer breathe. “Jesus, Rayne, I’m not worth it.”