Biting Cold (Chicagoland Vampires #6)(14)
Author: Chloe Neill

Okay, the gnome had a potty mouth. Which was an odd juxtaposition.

"Wait," Ethan said, holding up a hand. "Paige made you to help her guard the book?"

His lip curled in anger, the gnome tottered forward and kicked Ethan in the shin.

Ethan spewed out a curse, but he had it coming.

"No one made me, bloodsucker. I am what I am. We help Paige only because we don’t want the world to go completely crazy just because some stuck-up Chicago sorceress can’t mind her own business. I don’t especialy like sorceresses; they don’t get me. Much like vampires." Then he muttered something under his breath about vampires and arrogance and our being "basicaly realy big mosquitoes."

"Okay," I said, "let’s al calm down." I looked down at the gnome. "I’m sorry for the confusion. We weren’t aware you were working with Paige. And we didn’t catch your name?"

One eye squinted closed, he looked me over, gauging my trustworthiness. "My name is Todd."

Not the type of name I would have expected for a gnome, but fine al the same. "Todd, I’m Merit, and this is Ethan."

"Nice to meet you. Now that we’re al buddy-buddy, we should probably deal with that."

"With what?" Ethan asked.

Todd pointed across the pasture. The scattering of clouds above the field had turned blue, and they were swirling with a speed that wasn’t natural.

I’d once joked with Jonah that we’d find the source of the city’s magical drama when we found the giant sucking tornado that marked the spot. I must have been right.

"Is she controling the weather now?" I wondered aloud.

"It’s not a real tornado," Todd said. "It’s magic."

Visible magic, just like Tate could do, which did not make me feel any better.

Ethan winced, squeezing his hands closed as, I assumed, he battled Malory back mentaly.

"You okay?" I asked him.

"I’l manage," he said, but as a harsh, magical wind that smeled of smoke and sulfur began to pour across the land, I wasn’t exactly confident he was going to stay that way.

I looked down at our new aly. "What’s the plan, Todd?"

Todd adjusted his smal, conical hat. "We stop this. There are more of us than there are of her."

His confidence was surprising…and not entirely believable. I couldn’t imagine the three of us were going to be much of a match against a woman who had the power to move heaven and earth.

"Three to one aren’t great odds," I said.

Todd laughed mirthlessly. "No, but they aren’t the correct odds, either. Guys?"

The forest floor erupted into a carpet of gnomes. They emerged from open splits in nearby trees and what looked like burrows in the ground, and spiled out around us, probably a hundred in al, al in the same primary-colored uniforms and white caps, long beards extending nearly to their belts.

The ground looked like the overstock aisle at a garden accessory store.

Todd put his fingers between his lips and made an ear-shattering whistle. Like troops before a flag, they gathered to attention.

"The witch is nearly here," he said, "and we know what she’s going for."

The gnomes nodded in agreement, and there were whispers of "the book" across the sea of them.

"Across the woods and stream is the door to the silo," Todd said. "She must not reach it or the book. She must not cross the stream. We cannot alow it, or for the evil to fly across the land again."

Todd pointed at a gnome who was wearing a particularly garish pair of plaid pants. "Keith, take the left flank. Mort, take your crew down the right. Frank wil cross the stream and keep an eye on the rear, and I’l lead my crew head-on."

Those orders given, Todd began discussing specific strategies with his troops. It was an amazing thing to behold, and I was ashamed I’d doubted him and assumed he was any less of a soldier because of his stature. He ordered his troops around with the aplomb of a seasoned general and the adeptness of an expert tactician.

Unfortunately, not even Todd was entirely sure what Malory would do – and I wasn’t, either. I knew she could work a spel, and I knew she could throw orbs of magic that hurt like hel when they made contact. (I’d had orb-avoidance training with Catcher.) We al knew what she wanted, and we knew she was intent on doing whatever it took to get it, regardless of how many people she hurt along the way.

When the gnomes began to take their positions, I looked to Todd. "What do you want us to do?"

"What can you do?" He didn’t sound confident he’d be impressed by my answer.

I tapped the pommel of my sword. "We’re both good with steel. Also, I know her. I could help with distraction."

"How so?"

I looked around. "If the goal is keeping her on this side of the trees, maybe I can distract her so your troops can surround her?

It might help your flanks get better position."

"That’s not a horrible idea," Todd said, but Ethan wasn’t impressed.

"You wil not use yourself as bait," he gritted out.

I hadn’t thought about it in those terms, but he probably wasn’t too far off base. And I knew he meant it protectively, but my safety was secondary. Our first – and only – priority was keeping Malory away from the Maleficium.

I faced Ethan. "I stil stand Sentinel of Cadogan House," I reminded him. "I’l do what it takes to keep you safe."

"Merit – "

"Ethan," I quietly, but sternly, interrupted. "I have to do this, and you know it. I can’t stand around and let other people fight this battle for me. I have more honor than that. You wouldn’t have let me stand Sentinel otherwise." But was it honorable? I was helping set up my best friend for an ambush. Sure, I wanted to throttle her and scream at her, but I didn’t want her hurt.

"How exactly are you going to stop her?" I asked Todd.

"We’re gnomes," he said. "Skiled warriors."

"Could you not kil her? Please?"

Todd blinked at me, that simple action showing me exactly how stupid he thought that was. "We’re gnomes, not humans."

He cast a teling glance at the sword at my side. "Our goal is to keep her out of the silo, not put her in the ground. If we best her, she’l have no choice but to submit to us. It’s a rule of civilized combat."

It might be a rule of civilized combat, but I seriously doubted Malory had taken any classes in that.

Our roles decided, Todd joined his company of troops, and they began to take their positions. Their departure left Ethan and me alone. It took a moment of courage before I could look back at him. I hadn’t exactly given him a chance to speak his piece.