Free Moonlight(Pact Arcanum 3) by Arshad Ahsanuddin Page A

voice. “It was that you tricked me into accepting it. Why didn’t you just tell me the truth beforehand? I might even have welcomed the extra protection if I’d had a chance to think about it.”
    Layla ran her fingers through her loosely braided hair in frustration. “We have always rushed into things, have we not? The relationship itself was ill-considered. Your brother has said it often enough.”
    “I don’t regret being with you, Layla,” said Toby. “I just don’t know if we can make it work in the long term. This … this is just added pressure.”
    She smiled at him. “Consider it a challenge, Tobias. You have never balked at any obstacle before. If we work together more often, who knows what we could accomplish?”
    Toby grinned at her transparent attempt to push his buttons. She knew he was extremely competitive, and he didn’t like to back down. But I know that you know, and you’re just doing it to make me feel better. He appreciated the gesture of support, but she would just have denied it if he thanked her, so he said nothing. When did we get to know each other so well? I never even noticed. “I’ll see you when—”
    At that moment, the virtual screen winked out and Toby staggered when a piercing squeal of static burst in his ears. Blinking away tears of pain, he spoke to his AI. “Strings, what the hell just happened?” Silence. “Strings?”
    Toby manually activated the internal diagnostics routine for his implant network, but couldn’t even bring up a test pattern. He was offline. Turning to the security detail in suspicion, he saw the Sentinel bodyguard shrugging out of his jacket to free up his sword arm.
    Jack dropped his jacket to the ground and spoke over his shoulder to Toby while he scanned the shadows. “My AI network is down. Can you jump her to safety?”
    The other Secret Service agents started running toward Andrea. Toby opened his senses fully, detecting the jumper block as soon as it solidified. He moved to Andrea’s side in a blur, calling an ebony magician’s staff to his hand while he tapped his Gift for speed, reaching her ahead of the agents. He grabbed her wrist and immediately cast kinetic shields over the two of them, feeling the air ripple with magic all around them.
    “Multiple teleports, incoming!” he yelled at the security detail. “Do what you can to keep them off us while we take them out!”
    Jack shrouded himself in invisibility, and the first of the vampires appeared in flashes of white light. He cut them down from concealment as fast as he could reach them, but the Nightwalkers were jumping in on all sides.
    Toby summoned fire to his fingertips and let go of Andrea’s arm. Around him, the agents had all drawn their guns and were picking targets. “Bullets won’t stop them!”
    “Watch and learn, Sentinel,” said one of the agents, opening fire.
    Toby stared with disbelief when the vampires went down screaming, some on fire and others with huge chucks of flesh blown away. “What the fuck?” he said, pushing Andrea behind him.
    “Alternating explosive and white phosphorous rounds,” Andrea said in shock. “Standard issue for Nightwalker engagements.” She gritted her teeth as she hissed in his ear. “They already knew, didn’t they? What does the Court want with me?”
    Toby didn’t answer, just leveled his own brand of fireball at the oncoming Nightwalkers while they regrouped. Then he probed the surroundings for the spellcaster who had cast the jumper block.
    The Nightwalkers kept coming, swarming over the Secret Service agents one by one and tearing them to pieces, until only Jack and Toby were left, the magician casting a sea of fire in all directions while the swordsman cut down the ones who made it through the flames. Then, suddenly, a sphere of white light about two feet across flew out of the shadows and enveloped Jack’s head. The Earth Sentinel staggered and began to cough, then collapsed on the ground. Toby heard a weak