Dark ninjas, Keller thought. An elite group made up of vampires and shapeshifters, the Night World experts at sneaking and killing.
Keller's mind, which had been roiling in clouds of stifled anger, was suddenly crystal clear.
"Nissa, take her!" she shouted. It was all she needed to say. Nissa grabbed Diana. It didn't matter that Iliana was screaming breathlessly and too shocked to want to go anywhere. Nissa was a vampire and stronger than a human Olympic weight lifter. She simply picked Iliana up and ran with her toward the back door.
Without being told, Winfrith followed close behind, orange energy already sizzling between her palms. Keller knew she would provide good cover-
Winnie was a fighting witch. She made full use of the new powers that all the Night People were developing as the millennium got closer. As one of the ninjas lunged after them, she let loose with a blast of poppy-colored energy that knocked him sideways.
"Now you!" Keller shouted to Galen, trying to hustle him into the hallway without turning from the ninjas. She hadn't changed and didn't want to if she could avoid it. Changing took time, left you vulnerable for the few seconds that you were between forms. Right now seconds counted.
Galen got a few steps down the hall, then stopped. "Grandma Harman!"
I knew it, Keller thought. He's a liability.
The old woman was still in the living room, standing with her feet braced apart, cane ready. Her apprentice, Toby, was in front of her, working up some witch incantation and tossing energy. They were right in the flow of the ninjas.
Which was as it ought to be. Keller's mind had clicked through the possibilities right at the beginning and had come to the only reasonable conclusion.
"We have to leave her!"
Galen turned to her, his face lit by the multicolored energy that was flying around them. "What?"
"She's too slow! We have to protect you and Hiana. Get moving!"
His features were etched in shock. "You're joking. Just wait here-I'll bring her."
"No! Galen-"
He was already running back.
Keller cursed.
"Go on!" she yelled to Nissa and Winnie, who were at the entrance to the kitchen, where the back door was. "Take the limo if you can get to it. Don't wait for us!"
Then she turned and plunged into the living room.
Galen was trying to shield Grandma Harman from the worst of the energy being exchanged. Keller gritted her teeth. This group of ninjas was only the first wave. They were here to breach the wards and make an opening for whatever was going to follow.
Which could be a dragon.
The ninjas hadn't finished their job, though. Most of the wards were holding, and the one that had fallen was on a small window. The dark figures could only squirm in one at a time. The house shook as whoever was outside slammed power at it, trying to break a bigger entrance.
Faintly, Keller heard an engine rev up outside. She hoped it was the limo.
Galen was pulling at Grandma Harman. Toby was grappling hand-to-hand with a ninja.
Keller batted a couple of the sneaks out of her way. She wasn't trying to kill them, just put them out of commission. She had almost reached Galen.
And then she heard the rumbling.
Only her panther ears could have picked it up. Just as the first time when she'd heard it, it was so deep that it seemed both soft and frighteningly loud. It shook her to her bones.
In a flash, she knew what was coming.
And there was no time to think about what to do.
Galen seemed to have sensed it, too. Keller saw him looking at the roof just above the door. Then he turned toward Grandma Harman, shouting.
After that, everything happened at once. Galen knocked the old woman down and fell on top of her. At the same time, Keller sprang and landed on top of both of them.
She was changing even as she did it. Changing and spreading herself out, trying to make herself as wide and flat as possible. A panther rug to cover them.
The brick wall exploded just as the window had, only louder.
Shattered with Power, Keller thought. The dragon had recovered... fast.
And then it was raining bricks. One hit Keller in the leg, and she lashed her tail in fury. Another struck her back, and she felt a deep pain. Then one got her in the head, and she saw white light. She could hear Galen shouting under her. It seemed to be her name.
Then nothing.
Something wet touched her face. Keller hissed automatically, pawing at it in annoyance.
"Lemme lone."
"Boss, wake up. Come on, it's morning already."
Keller opened heavy eyes.
She was dreaming. She had to be. Either that, or the afterlife was full of teenage girls. Winnie was bending over her with a dripping washcloth, and Nissa was peering critically over her shoulder. Behind Nissa was Iliana's anxious little heart-shaped face, her hair falling like two shimmering curtains of silvery-starlight gold on either side.
Keller blinked. "I was sure I was dead."
"Well, you got close," Winnie said cheerfully. "Me and Toby and Grandma Harman have been working on you most of the night. You're going to be kind of stiff, but I guess your skull was too thick to crack."
Keller sat up and was rewarded with a stabbing pain in her temples. "What happened? Where's Galen?"
"Well, golly gee, Boss, I didn't know you cared-"
"Stop fooling around, Winnie! Where's the guy who's got to be alive if the shapeshifters are going to join Circle Daybreak?"
Winnie sobered. Nissa said calmly, "He's fine, Keller. This is Iliana's house. Everybody's okay. We got you guys out-"
Keller frowned, struck by a new worry. "You did? Why? I told you to take the girl and go."
Nissa raised an eyebrow wryly. "Yes, well, but the girl didn't want to go. She made us stop and turn back for you."