Blood of the Maple by Dana Marie Bell

Author:Dana Marie Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

Amara pushed and pushed, but nothing happened. The door remained stubbornly shut. “I need help!”

A pair of hands joined hers, their stony grip sure and steady. “I’m here.”

Rock. She’d recognize those hands anywhere. “Thanks.”

“Me too.” Another pair joined Rock’s, pale and small, the nails bright red. She hissed as she pushed. Amara recognized her as one of the vamps who’d cried out that she was guilty.

“Anyone else who wants to help, see if you can find another way out.” She couldn’t run the risk of doing more harm than good. Too much force could take the entire wall out.

She pushed, her muscles straining, and considered taking out the wall anyway. Soon it would be too late. The creaks and groans of the building told her the structure might soon fall on their heads, killing everyone inside.

Then something happened. The plants on the other side of the door quivered. She could feel their pain, but they were tainted, weeds of the worst kind, and she felt very little sympathy for them.

The door moved.

“Bad Parker. No cookie for you.” The voice had grown more distant, weaker. Terri was losing strength.

“Keep pushing!” Whatever was happening, the plants were losing their strength. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed a withered, limp leaf falling to the floor. “What the hell?”

“Push now, talk later.” Rock never let up. He kept the pressure going, digging his fingers into the metal door. He didn’t even sound winded, but that was an earth elemental for you. Their strength was rooted in the ground they stood on.

Water lapped at Amara’s feet. “Have the pipes burst?” The town’s witches chanted, the spell they wove keeping the ruined ceiling from collapsing.

“Dunno,” the vamp with the painted nails grunted. “Keep pushing.”

Amara pushed. The door gave some more, the groan of metal and wood shuddering through the room. “It’s gonna give.”

With a shriek, the door burst open. Dry twigs snapped. Dust and pollen swirled around them in a rank, dry cloud.

Rock sneezed.

“Bless you.” The female vamp took a step back, waving her hand in front of her face.

Rock glanced down at the vamp, his nose wrinkling. “Thank you.”

Amara stepped through the door and into the wreckage of the gardens around the town hall. Every single plant was withered and dead. The tree that had once shaded the hall was leafless, its branches creaking in the wind. It looked ready to topple over at any moment. The roses Glinda had planted were gone, broken and twisted by the rampaging weeds.

She stared around at the carnage jealousy had wrought and felt the fire burning in her belly burst into a goddamn volcano. “I’m going to kill that bitch.”

Dominic Davis stepped carefully over the rubble and pushed up his glasses. “Amen.”

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