Nick sighted Desandra and fired. The guns roared, spitting bullets in quick one-two bursts. Desandra jerked, spun around, and ran straight for me.

The renders dropped the last two vampires to the floor. Desandra shot past me into the doorway. The renders closed in, blocking me from the People’s view with their bodies. I turned and sprinted out into the hallway. The last thing I saw was Ghastek’s face from the other doorway. He looked like a man who had just witnessed the start of a war.

The hallway was deserted. Twenty yards away, at the end of the hallway, the moon shone through the shattered windows of the sunroom. Jim stood to the side, snarling as the shapeshifters leaped out the windows one by one. I jogged to him, the two renders covering my exit.

“Run!” Hugh thundered, his voice chasing us. “Run to your pathetic castle! You have until noon tomorrow to give me the murderer or I’ll end you! If I see you in our territory, I’ll kill you!”

I wanted to turn around and break every bone in his body before I cut his head off. He’d killed my stepfather, destroyed Aunt B, and broken Curran’s legs. He would pay. I turned back toward the room. If I just killed him . . .

“Consort!” Jim called.

If I killed him, the shapeshifters would pay for it for years. And I had no sword. Argh.

I forced my way through the fog of blinding rage and ran to the shattered windows. Hugh expected me to enter the People’s side of the city. This wasn’t a warning, it was a dare.

The broken sunroom windows loomed before me. Three stories, a big fall.

Jim grabbed me and leaped through the broken window. My stomach jumped into my throat. We landed on the ground and he dropped me on the pavement. I hit the ground running and jogged to our cars.

Jim thrust the key into the car door.

A vampire plunged from above and landed on the Jeep’s roof. The insane red eyes glared at me. I grabbed its mind with mine.

Before I could do anything else, a weremongoose shot into view, red fur standing on end, the pink eyes with horizontal pupils looking demonic. Claws flashed. The vamp’s head went flying one way, its corpse the other. I jerked the door open and slid into the passenger’s seat. Jim shoved the key into the ignition, and Barabas dropped into the seat behind me. The engine purred.

The magic wave hit. Wards ignited on the walls of Bernard’s, glowing pale green. The engine sputtered and died.

Damn it all to hell and back.

Jim swore.