Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews Page B

second to shift gears. “I blended. I made it think I was the same as it was.”
    “Blend with me, then.” Mimicking a different type of magic would camouflage Julie’s mind, forcing the creature to concentrate on the magic object instead. Like hiding a weak light in the flare of a strong one.
    That thing couldn’t target her mind if it couldn’t sense it.
    She shook her head. “I can’t. I’ve tried already. Your magic’s too strange.”
    Shit. Another side effect of my screwed-up heritage. It wasn’t enough that I had to burn my bloody bandages so nobody could identify me, but now I couldn’t even shield a little kid. What did I have that she could blend with? There were a half dozen enchanted artifacts in Greg’s collection but nothing that exuded enough magic to hide her.
    Slayer.
    “Stay here.”
    I dashed to the kitchen, swiped Slayer off the table, and sprinted back to the bathroom. Julie’s face had gone blank. I thrust Slayer into her hands and barked, “Blend!”
    Awareness snapped back into her eyes. I felt the magic creep to the blade. Julie’s breath came out in ragged gasps.
    A barely perceptible change took place within the magic field. She took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. “Okay.”
    The creature screeched in frustration.
    I hugged Julie to me. Physical danger I could deal with, but having Julie turned into a zombie would’ve screwed things up beyond repair. As long as we could keep that bitch out of my kid’s head, we had a chance. She clamped the sword with both hands, face pinched, concentrating on the blade.
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    I steered her to the doorway. “Let’s go.”
    We stepped from the bathroom. The creature’s lavender eyes focused on Julie. It licked the ward, burned its tongue on the crimson, and recoiled.
    I tried the phone. Dead. Why me?
    “Giiirl. Want, want, need…”
    “You okay?”
    She nodded.
    The magic crashed. I took Slayer from Julie and tried the phone again. Still dead. Fuck me.
    The creature’s hair fell lifelessly about her. She clutched onto the bars to keep from falling. Yeah! Choke on tech, you piece of crap. No tentacle hair for you.
    The creature thrust her legs against the wall and heaved. The bars bent with a long, tortured screech.
    Julie darted into the bedroom. Now wasn’t a good time to hide. First rule of bodyguard detail: know where your “body” is at all times.
    The creature heaved again. The bars parted.
    I stepped into the kitchen. First I’d deal with my lovely new window ornament and then I’d go and dig Julie out from under the bed.
    Julie reappeared with her knife in her hand. Her fingers shook, making the point of the dagger dance.
    She planted herself behind me and bit her lip.
    Theywould not get this girl. Not today. Not ever.
    Boom!
    Something hit the door with a solid thump. Julie jumped.
    “Steady. The door’s solid. It’ll hold.” At least for a few minutes. I stepped deeper into the kitchen and moved a chair out of my way, giving myself space to work.
    At the window, the creature tasted the air with her tongue like a snake and thrust her head into the gap.
    Boom!
    I jumped onto the table and sliced her head off in a classic executioner stroke.
    The head thudded on the table and rolled to the floor. The body froze halfway through the bars. Thick reddish slime slid from the stump of the neck in a slow gush. An oily stench of rotten fish and bitter, stale seawater spread through the room.
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    I picked up the head by the tangle of hair and stuck Slayer’s point into the left cheek. The flesh sagged a little, liquefied by the saber’s magic. Nothing as obvious as what the blade would do to a vampire, but Slayer’s magic affected it. Thin tendrils of smoke rose from the saber’s blade. Julie was right. Definitely an undead, but not as undead as a vampire. Perhaps, she was just mostly undead. Could you even be mostly undead?
    Boom!
    The door splintered, vomiting chunks of wood onto the hallway carpet. I dropped