“Those who guard it are letting you clean it?” the first man asked.
“That’s enough.”
I whipped my head around, relief flooding me. Niamh had come. And she’d brought back-up.
Fifteen
Austin Steele stood in the middle of the street, moonlight outlining his powerful body. His strong arms hung loose at his sides and his raw intensity electrified the air. He leaned forward, just a little, balancing on the balls of his feet, obviously ready to charge forward at a moment’s notice. He’d come to fight, there was no denying it, and he clearly did not plan to lose.
Relief washed over me. We might’ve had beef, but damn I was glad to see him.
A little removed from Austin stood Niamh, still decked out in her running sweatbands, and unbelievably holding a beer.
“What is this, a pack?” The first man smiled and took a step toward Austin Steele. The second man jerked me around, making me his shield. “A bit long in tooth, aren’t we?”
“I’m not with him, no,” Niamh said, motioning to Austin. “I’m with them.” She gestured behind us.
Glancing back, I could just see Mr. Tom and Edgar walking down the middle of the street, Mr. Tom’s cape billowing out behind him.
The first man laughed. “What a hilarious little town. The four of you geriatrics are its protectors?”
“The town’s protectors? I wouldn’t bother me arse.” Niamh laughed, the sound conveying the speaker’s idiocy. She immediately became my bestie. “No, we are that lady’s protectors.” She pointed at me. “The notion of us protecting the town would be nearly as hilarious as your getup. You have an awfully large cape. What are you trying to compensate for, then?”
“So she does intend to be the chosen,” the man said, a smile curling his lips. “And here I believed that she wasn’t Miss Havercamp.”
“She isn’t Miss Havercamp, no. Fun fact, Miss Havercamp is actually called Mrs. Drury now,” Niamh replied. She took a sip of her beer. “Terrible last name, I know. I tried to warn her away from taking it. Diana, I said, it doesn’t matter your age, people will still make fun of you for that name.”
The man’s smile dwindled. The second man lightly shook me for no reason, drawing Austin’s attention.
“Then…what is she doing here?” the first man replied. “I received reports that someone new was applying to be Ivy House’s chosen.”
“She’s not applying,” Niamh said. “She’s stumbling into the situation without a clue about what awaits her at the other end.”
“I can make sure it will be me,” the man said, his tone silky.
“I will make sure that it isn’t,” Austin replied, absolutely no bravado in his promise. It sounded like he was stating a fact, and his confidence made it absolutely believable. His confidence, and the rough viciousness of his voice.
The small hairs rose along my arms and a shiver ran through my body, fear at his savageness…and a little excitement for the same reason.
“Let her go, and get out of town,” he said. “She and this place are under my protection.”
The man laughed. “Is that right? Your protection?” He turned dramatically and looked behind him, then all around. “Are your faithful subjects hiding in the brush? Or are you as solitary as you seem?” He laughed again. “Felix, bring her—”
“Sorry.” Niamh wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I should’ve introduced ya —this is Austin Steele.”
A quiver ran through the two men. The smile dripped off of the first man’s face and his body froze. The man holding me squeezed harder in reflex. He jerked me around, directing his Jessie-shield at Austin.
“Ah. Austin Steele,” the first man said, his voice tight. “Your reputation precedes you, of course. Funny, I’d heard you weren’t interested in pressing for more power.”
“I’m not. We don’t want any trouble.”
“You don’t want any trouble.” The first guy made a small gesture to his pal, and the hands squeezing my arms relaxed and then pulled away. “You don’t want any trouble, and you’re not strategizing for more power, yet here you are sidling up next to Ivy House. The coincidence is…amazing.”
“The coincidence is just that, a coincidence. Ivy House has been without a master for generations. Long before I arrived. This is a sleepy little town, and I plan to keep it that way. You have overstayed your welcome.”
The man’s gaze zipped to me. I’d been edging away to the good guy side, but I froze in place, like we were in some demented game of red light/green light. His gaze flitted around the others before settling back on Austin. “What a tangled web, indeed. Well, Mr. Steele, if you plan to halt progress, I hope you’re prepared to go up against your match.”
“And who might that be, you?” Austin said, power coiling in his body.
“My employer, actually.” A white card magically appeared in the man’s gloved hand. He flung it, the rectangle cutting through the darkness and skidding across the road. He turned to me and bowed, his cape swirling around him. “Watch yourself, lady. You wouldn’t want to pick the losing side.”
He flared his cape and stalked away, melting into the brush and disappearing, his exit as strange as his entrance. His lackey followed suit.
Limbs shaking, heart racing, and phone cracked or worse, I tried to round on the three elderly people and Austin all at once. Their positioning made it impossible, so I aimed my miserable uncertainty at Austin.
“Lucy, you have some s’plaining to do!”
A blur of movement caught my attention in my peripheral vision. A second set of hands clamped down on my arms, fingers long and spindly though strangely strong. A face leaned in toward my neck.
My adrenaline spiked. Fear coursed through me.
A sharp blast of pain dug into my neck, prompting a sort of primal fear I’d never felt before. I was already moving.
I jabbed over my shoulder, catching the perpetrator in the eye. He jerked back and howled, and I realized it was Edgar.
This would not be the night I was buried in the yard.
I shook out of his hands, turning to sprint.
Blackness overcame me before I took a step.
Sixteen
Earl watched, struck mute with surprise, as Edgar jerked away from Jessie, howling. His fingers and fangs came loose from her neck.
Austin Steele was there in an instant. He lifted Edgar with one hand and launched him into the bushes on the side of the street. Jessie was already succumbing to Edgar’s bite, stunned and headed for sleep. She fell bonelessly to the ground—or she would have if Austin Steele hadn’t swooped down and scooped her up mid-fall, cradling her to his chest gently despite his size and strength.
“My goodness.” Earl clapped. “Quite the fast-acting hero. I am impressed.”
“Oh sure, yeah, clap after someone else saved your charge, you donkey,” Niamh said to Earl. She turned to Edgar, crawling out of the bushes, green shoots sticking out of his clothes. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I don’t know,” Edgar answered reflexively, quailing under everyone’s attention. He shrank back into the bushes.
“Why’d you bite her then?” Niamh demanded.
“I don’t know,” he repeated, eyes wide. The bushes shook around him.
“He’s panicking,” Earl said, his comforting smile withering in the face of Austin Steele’s stare. “He’s a vampire—you know how they are. Bite first, ask questions later. I’m sure there is a good reason for all this. Edgar, let’s see if you can come up with a better answer, shall we?” Earl said, edging away from Austin Steele. He didn’t trust the big alpha when his dander was up, even with Jessie hanging limp in his arms, her head lolling on his shoulder. Maybe especially with Jessie hugged possessively in his grasp. Austin Steele’s protective instincts made him uncommonly violent, even for a shifter. Earl would just as soon keep his arms attached to his body.
“Well, we can’t tell her about the house,” Edgar said in a small voice, now completely hidden within the bushes, “and she’s going to demand some answers, so…I stunned her to give us time.”
“There, you see?” Earl said. “That is a fair point. And Austin Steele was on hand to make sure her head didn’t crack against the cement after she poked Edgar’s eye out. Collectively, we’ve done well, I think.”
“She had good reflexes, she did,” Niamh said, chewing her bottom lip.
“We can visit Agnes and get a draught,” Earl said. “I’m sure a memory potion will do nicely for tonight, and then tomorrow she can hopefully find the heart of the house, and—”
“No.” Austin Steele’s voice sent an uncomfortable shiver racing down Earl’s spine. Earl took another couple of steps away. “Tonight was just a sample. A precursor. If the house grants her its magic, we’ll see more kidnapping attempts. Stronger magic. There will be no protecting her from it. The whole town will be overrun.”
“Sure this place will be overrun eventually, anyway,” Niamh said, crossing her arms.