Page 45 of Deck the Skulls

He looked down and winced. “Damn, that sucks.”

“Is it over?” Cora called from the stairwell.

“No, wait for me!” Pike said, but Cora must’ve ignored him because she came flying out, stumbling to a stop among the wreckage.

“Oh damn,” she said, taking it all in. There wasn't a single piece of furniture that hadn't been smashed. The front door was toast and one of the front windows was nothing but shards. They could clearly see people walking past, none of them even bothering to look over. Rissa’s brows furrowed, obviously puzzled by the pedestrians’ lack of interest.

“There are magic wards,” Zan explained before she could ask. “They keep humans from seeing in here or even noticing us.”

“Huh,” she said, then shifted her gaze back to him. Her mouth turned down, and she rushed to his side. “You’re hurt!”

Before he could say anything, she looked at Cora and Pike. “There’s a first aid kit upstairs. Third floor, smaller bathroom, under the sink.”

Pike nodded. “On it.” Then he turned and lumbered back up the stairs. As Pike left, Kimble moved to Cora’s side and murmured something about being thankful she’d stayed out of danger.

“I could’ve fought,” Cora argued. “Rissa stayed and fought.”

Kimble cast her an annoyed look. “She did, but she shouldn’t have.”

Zan could hear thebad humanimplied in those words. Thankfully, Rissa was too busy examining his wounds to notice Kimble’s tone.

“Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?” Rissa asked, looking at a series of deep punctures on his left shoulder. They were sluggishly seeping blood. As far as wounds went, they weren’t fun, but they weren’t that bad either. What was worse was the way his head ached. He’d taken a couple of substantial blows before he’d broken free of the durmin holding him. He knew what a concussion felt like, and he had a pretty good one.

“I’d like to lie down,” he admitted. “Let me throw on some clothes, clean up this mess, and we can go upstairs.”

Rissa shook her head with a frown. “No cleaning. You’re marching your fine ass upstairs and laying down.”

Right then, Pike came back downstairs with the white box full of bandages and antiseptic. Placing it on the only clean spot on the bar top, he started to open it, then let out a startled sound.

“You’re still here!”

Everyone turned to see Skyler emerge from behind the counter. She was disheveled, but wasn’t crying and didn’t have any visible wounds. That was good. Nymphs didn’t heal as well as most other magical creatures. In fact, unattached nymphs were almost as vulnerable as humans.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“Everything here can be replaced,” Anatoly said, gliding over to her. While Rissa was distracted by Zan, Anatoly had gonearound to make sure there was no magic left in any of the durmins. Unlike Zan, Anatoly could see auras, and that made it easy for him to judge the potential danger of what looked like nothing but piles of rat bones to Zan.

“I ruin everything,” she said, not looking at Anatoly. Zan got the feeling she wasn’t hearing him either. She was lost in her own head. “I’m useless and a burden. No land wants me. I have nothing.”

“Can I offer you a safe place to stay for the night?” Anatoly asked. Zan felt the vampire’s power rise and knew he was going to put the nymph in thrall to calm her down. He reached out to take her hand. “Your name is Skyler, correct?”

“Don’t touch her!” Mason said, stomping over and shoving Anatoly away from the nymph.

Anatoly didn’t strike back, but he did give Mason an annoyed look. “I was only going to comfort her.”

“You were going to force her to join your flock!” Mason argued, putting his big body between her and Anatoly.

Anatoly shook his head. “I have Zan and Rissa. My soul is bound, and my sanity is safe. I have no need to force a landless nymph to be my flock.”

Skyler peeked around Mason’s bulk. “Do you mean that?”

Zan opened his mouth to reassure the nymph that Anatoly would never force anyone, but Rissa spoke up, cutting him off.

“If Anatoly tried to make you do something, I’d kick his ass,” she said, then raised an eyebrow at the powerful vampire. “Right?”

Anatoly’s lips twisted, as if fighting a smile. “Indeed.”

Mason still hadn’t moved, but he didn’t look as fierce anymore. “I think she’d be safer at my place.”