Dianne Salerni - The Eighth Day

“On the other hand,” Riley muttered, “if Wylit keeps trying to cast this spell, the Morgans aren’t going to care about our deal. They’ll kill everyone up there to prevent him succeeding.”

“Evangeline has no cover,” Jax said. The Balins had tied her hands to the table’s surface. Unlike Tegan, she couldn’t hide beneath a table.

“I know.” Riley twisted around again, peering up at the summit.

“Miller said he’d kill her if we couldn’t rescue her.”

“He won’t.”

“He said he would,” Jax insisted.

“You don’t know him. He won’t .”

The helicopter scattered reinforcements running up the Avenue of the Dead. Seeing it fly nearer to the other pyramid, Jax grabbed Riley’s arm. “They’ve got M2s on the Moon Pyramid. They’ll shoot the copter down!”

Riley cursed and stood upright, waving his arms at the helicopter. They didn’t see him.

Jax held up Miller’s walkie-talkie.

Riley spared him one incredulous glance, then snatched the radio. “Deidre, this is Riley. They’ve got anti-aircraft guns on the Moon Pyramid. Stay out of range. Over!”

Jax cringed. Was Deidre on that thing? It was her voice that responded. “You certain? Over.”

“Our man on site confirms it. Over.” Riley glanced at Jax again, and Jax realized he’d been promoted on the field from you idiot to our man .

Instead of flying away from the Pyramid of the Moon, the helicopter turned directly toward it, bearing down on the summit at full speed. Light erupted from the top of the smaller pyramid as the M2s lying in wait fired back, revealing their position. But the helicopter was on them in seconds, silencing the big guns with its own fire.

Riley stuffed the radio into his back pocket and spoke to Jax. “Quick, go around the side and cut Evangeline loose. Get her under cover before the Morgans lose patience with me.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Create a distraction.” Riley waved him off to the right, then scrambled the opposite way.

Jax eased around the side of the pyramid until he could see the altar on the summit. Evangeline stood out in her white dress against the purple sky. Wylit was still shouting his insane statements, trying to bully the Eighth-Day Spell into obeying him. He flinched whenever the light from the helicopters passed over him, but it didn’t seem to affect him the way Evangeline’s intensely magnified candlelight had done.

“I have foreseen this death from the sky. . . .” Wylit’s voice carried on the wind that billowed the train of Evangeline’s dress. “ . . . more sacrifices to feed the power of our will . . .”

Jax caught a glimpse of Balin, gun in hand, and pressed himself into the cobblestones as flat as he could. Gripping his dagger in a hand slick with sweat, Jax gathered his nerve to haul himself up that incline and cut Evangeline free before Balin could react. Riley would do it , he told himself.

No sooner had he thought it than Riley did do it. He appeared over the crest of the summit and snatched up a fallen gun before ducking behind Wylit’s sedan chair. Balin reached under the hotel table and dragged Tegan out. He twisted her arm behind her back and held her between himself and Riley.

“Hiding behind a girl?” Riley hollered. “You coward!”

Balin apparently didn’t care what Riley thought of him. He forced Tegan forward as a shield and fired over her shoulder. Bits of wood, fabric, and stuffing flew in all directions, while Riley slid onto his back, hunkering down.

Jax crept closer to the summit. Riley had seconds, if that much, and cracks were still spreading across the sky.

“Go to sleep, Tegan!” Riley yelled. Tegan’s knees buckled. She pitched forward despite Balin’s grip on her arm. Balin tossed her aside with a curse. Riley took the opportunity to fire at Balin, winging his shoulder. Riley next aimed at Wylit, but the old man ducked behind Evangeline.

“Come out where I can see you, Wylit!” Riley commanded.

Jax could feel the force of Riley’s magic from where he stood, but Wylit merely laughed. “You haven’t got half the power of your father, boy. If you want to shoot me, put the bullet through her !”

Riley cursed and ducked as Balin fired at him again.

Ignoring the gunfire, Wylit ripped the gag from Evangeline’s mouth and grabbed her by her braid. “By my will this shall be done. Say it!” When she didn’t obey, Wylit slashed her other arm with Excalibur, then held the blade poised over her right eye. “You don’t need two eyes to serve your purpose for me. You don’t even need one. Say it. By my will this shall be done. ”

Evangeline pressed her lips together and shook her head.

Jax clambered to his feet and surged upward, holding his dagger out in front of him. “Let her go, Fishface. Or I’ll put this through your eye!”

Wylit laughed at the sight of Jax. “You dare threaten me, whelp?”

“Let her go,” Jax repeated. He hadn’t quite made it to the level surface of the summit, and he struggled to keep his balance on the incline. Pebbles shifted beneath his feet.

Wylit noticed his trouble, and his mouth widened in an ugly smile. “I’ll kill her first.”

“Kill me and you have no spell caster,” Evangeline called out.

“I haven’t run through all your family members yet,” Wylit hissed. “Your brother was too weak. He died mewling. And you’re too stubborn. Perhaps your sister will be the one I need.”

Evangeline gasped. Jax growled, “You monster.”

“My lord!” Balin left the cover of the table, his gaze fixed on Jax. The exchange of gunfire between him and Riley had stopped. Jax caught a glimpse of Riley lying motionless behind the bullet-ridden chair. Either he’d been hit or he was out of ammunition.

Or he was playing possum.

Balin wasn’t certain either. He moved cautiously, keeping one eye on Riley while trying to find an angle to shoot Jax without risking Wylit. “My lord,” he said, “hold very still.”

Balin raised his gun, taking aim just as Miller charged the top of the pyramid, yelling like a berserker and running full tilt into Balin’s side. Balin fell with Miller on top of him. Someone’s gun went off.

Jax lunged forward and sliced his dagger through the twine binding Evangeline’s right hand. She snatched up Riley’s blade from the altar and hacked through the binding of her other arm. Then she grabbed Wylit’s shoulders with both hands and shoved him.

They tumbled past Jax, over the side of the pyramid.

EVANGELINE AND WYLIT HITthe stony hill with enough force to send them somersaulting down the incline in a tangle of arms and legs. Jax skidded after them, heedless of the winds still buffeting the pyramid. Wylit’s headdress flew off, and he landed on his back on the fifth-level terrace. Evangeline’s body struck him first before rolling off and coming to a stop inches from the edge.

Jax fell to his knees beside her. Her forehead was gashed, and her limbs were limp. “Evangeline!” He knew it wasn’t good to move someone with a head injury, but that didn’t apply to people fleeing homicidal maniacs, right? He slipped an arm under her shoulders and tried to lift her up.

Then her whole body jerked. She sat up, looking around wildly. “Where—?” Evangeline recoiled when she saw Wylit lying beside her.

Jax hadn’t given the old man a glance in his rush to reach Evangeline, but now he sucked in his breath when he saw what had happened. Somewhere in her tumble down the hill, Evangeline had lost her grip on Riley’s honor blade—and it had ended up in Wylit’s chest.