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them, with Wayne riding shotgun. Aliselle and I sat in the back.
Tension began eating at my stomach as we cruised around.
We started in the northwest sector of town and worked our way east. We were
crisscrossing the fourth sector, the east one, when Albert finally got a hit. This was a
newer section of town, populated by the upwardly mobile and retirees with a certain
amount of means. My parents lived in this sector. We parked on a dark side street
behind a row of clubs that seemed likely pick-up spots for our perpetrators.
Aliselle and I got out of the Explorer, took a last look at the men and began walking
toward the clubs. When we reached the corner I looked back toward the men. They
were gone. I had to trust they were watching over us.
The first place we entered was called The Rave. The clientele said  career-oriented
meat market to me. Men, still in their suits, eyed women who had taken off their suit
coats and let their hair down. Aliselle and I made quite a stir when we entered. We
cruised the length of the bar, pretending to look for our dates.
 Are you sure they said to meet them here? Aliselle asked.
 I don t really know. I kept looking around.  Hell, I can hardly remember what
they looked like.
We made a move toward the bar, then decided to check out the other clubs in the
area.
We strolled to the next place on the street. A wooden sign hung over the door,
MacReady s. Inside was a lot of dark wood and subdued lighting. Most of the people in
there were in their thirties and forties. Everyone wore jeans or casual pants, sweatshirts
or sweaters. Several appreciative looks came our way as we repeated our search
pattern.
When we stopped by the bar on our way out, the hairs on the back of my neck
tingled.
 Why don t we get a drink and wait? I suggested to Aliselle.
 I agree. She nodded at me, letting me know she felt something too.
We took a couple of stools at the bar, closest to the door. We each got a glass of
white wine. It occurred to me as we sat there, sipping our drinks, that we hadn t really
planned this out very well and it was too late now to discuss it.
We sipped our wine and chatted. We were pretty much reduced to talking about
makeup and fashion. Didn t want to say the wrong thing. A couple of men approached
us. They were mortal. But even so, we didn t want to appear too standoffish. I gave one
of them my phone number. What the hell. I could still feel something lurking in the
bar.
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Her Werewolf
Aliselle and I took a bathroom break. I stepped out of the bathroom first. I sensed
him before I saw him. His power wafted across me, raising the hairs on my arms. He
took a step toward us. It was the vampire. He was just under six feet tall, blond hair,
white skin, eyes like black holes. I felt them sucking me into their depths. I stumbled
back from him, turned to Aliselle and shoved her toward the other end of the hall. Only
thirty feet or so to the emergency exit. We were almost there when another man stepped
out of a door on our left. Tall and wiry, his face cast in shadow, but his eyes glowed.
Eyes that looked beyond us toward the vampire, his hand flicking in that direction, a
burst of energy tingling across my arm as his spell shot past.
I glanced over my shoulder, wondering if he d done something to his partner.
Instead I saw the rippling wall of an illusion behind the man. The air in front of me
popped and sizzled as one of my defensive spells destroyed whatever spell the magic
user had cast at us. The ozone smell of burnt wiring filled the air. I turned back in his
direction, saw his hands were already working another pattern in front of him,
preparing another spell. I pulled Aliselle close to my side, frantically thinking up new
ways to protect us.
I felt a web of energy dancing over the force field I d surrounded Aliselle and
myself with. The strange energy began interlocking with itself, forming patches at first
then expanding like a net.
Since it was enclosing, but not attacking, my spells did nothing to stop it. I knew I
had to keep his power from completing the net.
I tried to remember everything Albert had taught me. I just knew there was
something he d said that I couldn t quite grasp. I tried to trap the magic user s magic
and got stung for the effort.
And then I had it, I could reflect the magic user s power back at him. I envisioned
my power to be like a big metal bowl. I slowly turned the bowl over in my mind so the
inside scooped up the energy and deflected it back toward its source.
I effectively stopped his magic from netting Aliselle and myself. I was less effective
in causing his net to trap him. My bowl deflected his energies to a spot to his left. The
vampire moved closer behind us, herding us closer to the magic user and the back door.
I started casting containing spells over the vampire while the magic user took time
to reshape his powers. Once I felt I had the vampire firmly controlled, I turned all my
energies toward the magic user.
I had no idea what he was working up to next. I decided I needed to go on the
offensive. I worked on fireballs of a sort that were designed to disperse formed spells on
contact. When I had several of these balls formed, I began lobbing them at the magic
user. Little flashes of light and a muted boom erupted whenever one of the balls was
successful. We were at a standstill. I needed something more to disable and capture the
man.
A surge of power shot into me. I knew that power. Albert was close and he was
feeding me additional energy. I knew what I wanted to do. I needed to drain the energy
131
Lisa Andel
from the magic user while at the same time locking him in place so he couldn t escape. I
started forming my spell, still lobbing fireballs at him.
Wayne s power came onboard. I drew it in, amplified it, merged it with Albert s
and cast the entire combined energy with a single thought.
There was a brilliant explosion as my spell blew through his defensive barriers. The
magic user was slammed into the wall and fell in a heap on the floor. Aliselle and I were
blown back down the hall.
Aliselle knocked over the vampire. He was rooted to the spot I d contained him to,
but I hadn t immobilized him. He wrapped his arms around Aliselle, forced her head to
the side with his and bit into her neck.
Aliselle screamed. There was pounding on the back door. I twisted my ring and
shot a mental image to Dade of the hallway we were in.
Dade flashed in, followed shortly by the others. They converged on the vampire. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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