“No thanks, I like it here.”

“What’s wrong? Afraid?”

Oh, please. Like that was going to tempt me into throwing a temper tantrum and let them jump me. I wasn’t falling for that lame trick. I put my hands on my hips and smiled again, more confident this time as I glanced over the speaker. Another sad fashion disaster dressed in black from head to toe, the necromancer reminded me of one of the many reasons why I hate the goth trend: it was created and nurtured by vampires. The woman wore a ridiculous getup of black lace and vinyl complete with spider-web hose and a corset top, doing her best to look dark and mysterious. She’d make a fabulous vampire stereotype when they killed her.

“I’m real scared of that outfit. Was there a sale at Hot Topic?”

Apparently I hit a nerve and she snarled at me. I opened my mouth to toss another witty insult at her, but was interrupted by a distinctly male sound of pain cutting through the tumultuous noise of the fight, too deep to be a faerie’s voice. My panic level rose as I smelled the scent of strong magical blood. Lex had fallen to one knee.

Charging into the fray, I rushed to Lex’s side. My shields bent perilously inward for a heartbeat before rebounding and hurling vampires out of the way like undead bowling pins. When I reached him my shield stretched and enveloped Lex. My brain paused for a heartbeat to wonder about that bizarre detail, because really it should’ve bounced him out of the way as well since I hadn’t had the good sense to drop them before reaching his side. Deciding to ponder that later, I focused on the set of claw marks slashed across his midsection as I hauled him to his feet.

“This qualifies as distracting me,” he growled in annoyance.

“What? You’re hurt, you need help.”

“Barely a scratch. Ol’ no thumbs there, now he needs a medic.” He nodded at a nearby vampire who was indeed missing his thumbs and most of his fingers, which were scattered around his feet like fat, pale worms.

My stomach bolted up near the back of my throat and I realized we were in trouble, because I was sure I couldn’t shield and retch at the same time. “I think we should let him set an example.” I nodded at the faerie-sized blur darting in and out of the mob.

“No, we’re not, and I was doin’ fine on my own.”

“We need a new plan.” Poking at his wound, I tried to gauge how severe the damage was, accidentally coating my fingers with his blood in the process.

“Had to call a guardian and your pixie buddy, eh witch? Not strong enough to defend yourself,” another new voice commented. I spun around to watch in morbid fascination as the limb-impaired vamp reattached his severed arm.

“And you? Needed a hand?” Lex drawled. “Now you, stay here,” he ordered as he glared at me. He lunged toward the vampire, and the two circled each other in a frenzied dance. “You tired yet? You’ll run outta blood ’fore I even break a sweat,” he taunted the vampire.

“Kitty!” Tybalt called out to me as a vamp landed with a thud at the faerie’s feet.

“What?”

“Better idea. Conjure sunlight!”

“What?”

“Just do it. Invoke Apollo, trust me,” the faerie ordered.

I shrugged, not sure where Tybalt was going with his request, considering sunlight doesn’t hurt vampires like it does in movies. Instead of burning them into a pile of ash it gives them severe sunburn, but hey, I didn’t have much else to do while inside my shields, so I decided to run with it. Grabbing my lighter, I held it tight in my right hand, and after sorting through the collection of symbols hung around my neck, I found my sun medallion and clutched it in my left. Holding the button down on my lighter, I turned the flame up to its highest level and held it aloft.

“Great Apollo, drive your chariot hence,

Burning bright for our defense.

Life from light, push back the night,

Chase the darkness from our sight.”

Honestly, I wasn’t quite expecting the result I got. I figured the spell would give me a little bit of sun like the one that had illuminated the room beneath the faerie mound. Instead a small supernova formed from the fire in my hand, a bright white light that blinded me for a moment with its pure intensity. I squeezed my eyes shut as piercing inhuman howls split the summer night. The awful scent of burnt flesh and toasted vinyl filled my nostrils, and I flinched at the heat building up in my grasp. My brain warned me that it would be a smart idea to drop the lighter a split second before it exploded.

I shrieked, shaking my open hand back and forth as lighter fluid and melted plastic rained down on me and scorched my skin. The light died, but I was in too much pain to care at that point. My hand was on fire, I was sure it had to be, even though I hadn’t opened my eyes to actually look at it. The pain was all the information I needed right then.

When I was tackled to the ground I realized my shields had dropped in my distracted state. I mentally resigned myself to the fact that my dumb ass had gotten myself killed, and I braced for the inevitable.

“Catherine!”

“Kitty? Kitty!” Tybalt’s voice assaulted me as I was shaken back and forth and battered by two sets of hands.

“Fire, on fire!” I squeaked.

“I know,” my cousin answered. For a few seconds more the battering continued until finally the assault ended.

“Are you all right?” Lex asked.

“On fire! Hello!”

“You’re not on fire anymore, Kitty,” Tybalt assured me.

“I’m not?”

“Nope.”

Slowly, I opened my eyes, peering down at myself. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but I had some very nasty burns on my right hand, with a sprinkling of minor ones on my arm and across my torso. Thankfully my clothes seemed to have taken the worst of it.

“Great idea, Tybalt. ‘Invoke Apollo.’ You lit me on fire, damn it.”

“Only a little. You lit the vampires on fire a lot more.”

“We need to get her home. My truck’s this way,” Lex interrupted us. He scooped me up into his arms and began to carry me away like a slender damsel in distress, something I certainly am not.

“Whoa, whoa, put me down, you’re injured.”

“You distracted me.”

“I did not. Put me down.”

“Not a chance, honey,” he drawled. I briefly considered the childish response of biting him to get my way. The thought of biting reminded me that the area had somehow become vampire and necromancer free.

“Where’d all the dead people go?”

“Ran home to their mamas, I imagine, after the toasting you gave ’em. Never seen that trick before. You’ll have to teach me that one,” Lex explained, seeming impressed.

“Yeah, it was perfect until you lit yourself on fire too, Kitty.”

Wonderful. From now on I’d just have to light myself on fire every time I got attacked, and all would be right in the world.

“Hey, Tybalt, that doesn’t count as part of the test, does it?” I asked.

“No, but I’m sure they’ll give you at least a night to yourself after that last one.”

“Oh good.”

The three of us approached an SUV. The lights flickered as it chirped and the doors unlocked. The car was black. I suppose I should have expected that.

“What happened to your pickup?”

“Needed a change. This one’s a hybrid.” When we reached the SUV, Lex set me on my feet and opened the passenger side door for me. “After you, Miss Baker.”

I brushed myself off before climbing into the car, and I noticed I’d picked up even more blood that wasn’t mine. “You’re still bleeding.”

“It’s only a scratch.”

Frowning, I got into the car and he shut the door. Tybalt let himself in behind me and climbed into the backseat, and then leaned forward to stare wide-eyed at the million-and-one electronic gadgets scattered across the dashboard.

“Ooh, what does that do?”

“Don’t touch anything.”

“Though I do appreciate the light show, I was doin’ well enough on my own,” Lex drawled as he plopped into the driver’s seat.