How?
That was my first thought.
My second was, why?
And then, with nearly soul-crushing defeat, why me?
I ripped out Richard's throat. I threw him off a skyscraper, for fuck's sake! Vampires were parasites, but they weren't as indestructible as the damn city rats.
It was twilight now, and the shadows were deep enough to shield the vampires from the last rays of sunlight. Damon placed a possessive hand on my waist as if the simple gesture would deter the leech, but instead, the creature grinned as though excited by the prospect of fighting us both.
"They've got some fucking nerve," Damon snarled. Acting on instinct, he angled himself even closer as he assessed the impending danger, his body thrumming with heat and power. I was sure he didn't expect the vampires to pick a fight with the control the Caine's had on the city. And to do it out in the open?
Our options were limited: fight or... fight.
"You'll wish you died that night," the vampire hissed. This was not Richard; this vampire was an heir created by him. The glamour over the vampire wavered—not as strong as a faerie's, but still convincing from afar—and a green-haired male watched me with pure hatred on his pallid face. "You'll be begging for death when I'm done with you. For what you did to my sire."
"Fuck," I said between gritted teeth. "I was hoping he wouldn't say that."
Vampires didn't take kindly to the death of their sires. Revenge upon those responsible for a sire's death was not only an act of love but a move for power in the clan. Through some fucked up twist of fate, not only did the wolves and Natalia's gang have a target on my back, but I had a vampire problem, too.
For once, I'd love a fucking break.
"You need to get out of here," Damon ground out. Fangs elongated in his mouth, and his muscles ripped beneath his skin with the Change and its raw power. "I need to make an example."
"Can't you call for backup or something?" I shot back. "Don't you have cronies all over the place?"
"I told them to hang back tonight." His eyes glowed. "I need to buy some time before they get here, and you need to fucking leave."
My wolf perked her ears, and I looked outward at the bodies passing by.
Where there was one vampire, there were more.
"Where would I go without running into more trouble?"
The vampire's nose wrinkled in a snarl that revealed rows of sharp teeth, and a tremor of the Change wracked my body, setting my irises blazing gold in the reflection of the windows beside us. The likelihood that other vampires hid in the crowd was high, but so was the potential for innocent casualties. For exposure to humans and other supernatural creatures in the city, including the Goodwin Pack.
There was no fucking way Mr. Goodwin could find out for a third party of my whereabouts. And with whom?
We needed to lure the vampires out of the busy mess around us. But where the hell could we go?
Thoughts racing, my magic and the wolf responded to my brewing panic. Tomorrow, the moon was full—for the first time since Damon trapped me—and the wolf was in her greatest control. With a forceful lash of power, the wolf shoved against my bones, fangs rupturing from my gums and claws from my fingertips. She wanted to take down a vampire the old-fashioned way with teeth and claws.
I should've been afraid. Maybe, a month ago, I might have been. But now, even as fear coursed through me with the idea of the wolf's control, I liked her idea.
Damon said we needed a diversion, right?
I could do that. Of all the nights to be this reckless, tonight was the night.
Without another second of hesitation, I promised, "I'll ask for your forgiveness later."
His eyes widened, but I ripped free of his grasp before he could stop me and bolted into the crowd.
Damon Caine's vicious snarl followed me. "Halina."
It was a threat: I'll also make an example of you.
But I was already gone, the wind whipping through my hair, the exhilaration of the chase making me feel lighter, stronger, and freer than I had in ages. Car horns blared from all sides, followed by curses, shouts, and startled laughter, and the irony of the moment did not fail me.
I wanted this chase. Despite the circumstances, I liked it.
"Come on, you piece of shit," I said under my breath, certain the vampire heard every word. "Let's fight it out the right way."
The wolf's howl echoed in the rapid pulse of my heart. Finally.
Shrouded in the guise of prey, I veered through the dinner rush. My expansion of power from the Hallowed Star made my motions choppy—I crashed through linked arms and extended hands, nearly knocking a tower of pizza boxes out of a driver's hands—but I pushed forward until the crowd thinned just enough to pounce into a back alley.
There were five of them, at least. And they were close.
The back alley turned into a shadowy maze of dripping water, staircases, and trash. Mingled with the stench of the garbage and the vampires, I scented Damon nearby. The scene felt oddly familiar, and I skidded to a halt, scanning the cement labyrinth unfolding before me.
Come on, little leeches. Come to Halina.
"You can run," the first vampire crooned from the shadows. "But we are faster, witch."
I narrowed my eyes. Cute. Very cute. Extending a hand, I scraped my claws against the wall, golden sparks erupting from the dark stone. "Let's see what my claws can do to your skulls, you assholes."
Above me, metal hitting metal rang over the alley, followed by a screech of warning and a bone-crunching. Ahead of me, Damon emerged. He changed into a picture of magnificence, and his eyes glowed in the dim light.
You're in a shit ton of trouble, his eyes said. I focused on the black ichor on his muzzle and then shuddered. If we survived this, I would take all the trouble he could give me.
Okay—maybe not all of the trouble.
Fuck, don't make an example out of me, too.
"You're outnumbered," the vampire called. He perched at the top of the three-story building, looking like a demon right out of hell against the navy backdrop of the sky. "Not even you, Alpha Caine, can take on ten vampires! Not even if you rip all of our arms off!"
At his words, nine heads poked out from the top of the buildings, caging us in, and I scented the decrepit rot from vampire flesh. Moving beside me, Damon snorted. Piece of cake.
"And your pet," the vampire continued, grinning at me like I was a five-tiered chocolate cake. "I may be young, but even I know that a half-breed like that should not exist in our world, wolf. Has something changed?"
My heart skipped a beat. I glamoured my scent before we left the Compound. There was no way in hell—
"I was there, you see. I saw firsthand what she did to my sire—the way she blasted him with her power. And now, she sprouts claws? She holds your—" the vampire inhaled deeply—"scent? What an interesting turn of events, Alpha Caine. An interesting turn, indeed."
Damon was rigid beside me for a moment, and I caught the slight puff of his breath when he slowly inhaled as if to confirm the vampire's words. Instead, my block on the bond glowed, and a spark of power zapped from his fur. But the alpha tensed his shoulders, and his fur rippled as he—he fought it.
Stop, I wanted to say. Stop it right now before we both die.
"Are you going to stay up there all night and run your mouth?" I shouted, snapping my jaw for emphasis. I needed to rip into something—to destroy it with my bare hands."Or is this your poor excuse of an audition monologue?"
Damon ticked his claws against the pavement. He didn't look at me. The menace rolling from him nearly brought me to my knees. He knows, my panic screamed. He knows what you are.
Despite everything before us, he tried fighting the block on our bond.
This wasn't good.
The green-haired vampire screeched again, this time pounced from his perch, and began a spider-like crawl down the building. His cohort followed his command, their spidery limbs disjointed as they moved quickly, like shadows.
Whatever Damon did or didn't know had to wait.
With a monstrous howl, Damon leaped toward the first vampire dressed in a long flowing skirt, its hair buzzed close to its skull, landing on a mountain of crates directly ahead of us with the vampire's shoulder between his powerful jaws. The vampire screamed, and black blood sprayed from the creature, but it fought with a vengeance, and the two of them tumbled into the rubble, a mix of snarls and teeth and claws.
Focus, the wolf commanded.
Right.
Adrenaline worked my muscles into an invigorating heat that sent me sailing up and over the small woman who rushed me, the power of the pregnant moon fueling me in a way my ordinary magic could not.
Let me out, the monster whispered in my ear. Let me out. I want to play, too.
I shoved it back. "Come on! I want you to come after me, you bitch!" I taunted, slicing my claws against the wall again. "I want to see what you're capable of!"
The wolf howled with delight.
"Romeo!" the vampire in Damon's jaws screamed to the green-haired vampire. "Romeo, help!"
But it was too late. Damon thrashed his head vigorously, mauling the creature without mercy. He reveled in the sound of their screams, in the way their bones crunched beneath his powerful jaws. Finally, a slick pop of the vampire's head hitting the wet ground.
The vampires around us screamed out in pain, and then they were upon us again. He covered my blind spot as I covered his, and we took another vampire down, this time with the combination of Damon's strength and my speed. Entrails rained over the alley, followed by black blood and the rotten stench of expired meat. Two down. Eight to go.
To my surprise, another vampire entered the alley. Swinging his head to look at me, Damon growled, lowering to the ground as if to say, stay here, and charged at the two ahead of him.
"Kill another!" Romeo dared me with another insane smile. "And two more shall take its place! My brothers and sisters are plenty!"
Where the fuck was the backup?
Gritting my teeth, I braced for impact when Romeo charged me. Pouring every ounce of my anger into my bones, I took the impact head-on. It felt like running straight into a cement wall, and the force threw me back.
"You monster!" Romeo hissed. Landing in a crouch, I pushed off again, swiping my claws once, then twice. Sink them into his flesh, the wolf commanded. Destroy him!
Damon let a howl rip through the alley, pouring his might into each note, making the world quake around us. Heads rolled through the alley. My wolf roiled in my stomach when we scented three more, then four more. Five. Six. The new vampires were armed.
This was a trap, and we walked right into it.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was a goddamn infestation.
"Do not hold back!" Romeo ordered his clan.
Pushing off my hind legs, I leaped from one crate to the other, swiping my hands and raking my claws along the metal frame of the dumpster I landed on. This created a spark that I propelled with a blast of my power, the golden light flaring to life with the intensity of pouring gasoline on a fire. Vampryic bodies splintered under the power of the blast, creating absolute chaos among the clan.
You thought!
I smiled, and I felt the wolf and the monster smile, too.
Let me out, let me out, let me out, the monster tisked in my ears. Let me get a taste. Let me get a taste.
Four vampires with various pipes as weapons circled the dumpster, and their attempt at menacing expressions made me laugh. What did they expect? For me to cower?
A red-haired woman wielding a net in one hand and what has to be ninja stars in the other called me something in another language.
"Back at ya," I hissed and jumped from the metal dumpster, knocking her to the ground. She threw her arms up as though to strike me, but I caught her blow in my teeth, and the vampire screamed in agony.
Yes, the monster laughed. YES.
Putrid blood exploded in my mouth. And for a moment, a cold shock rocked my body, each nerve tightening one by one as the monster lurched forward and took control.
No, no, no, no, no.
But it was too late. As though the air had been sucked out of my lungs, time stopped, and everything halted as my ears rang with the monster's absolute glee.
YES. YES. YES, the monster howled.
I was moving outside of my own body. Blood coated my teeth and tongue when the monster thrashed her head, shaking the woman with enough force to snap the bone in her arm. No matter how hard I fought, I couldn't stop what happened next: the monster reared back its head and sunk its teeth into the vampire's neck, tearing veins and flesh and sinew right from her pale skin.
Disgust coated my mouth. My soul. I slammed against the monster's hold, fighting harder and harder with every second it controlled me. Vampires poured in from all sides, then. More and more with weapons. The monster wanted Romeo, next. But when we looked, he was gone.
Suddenly, through the chaos, another sound reverberated through the maze-like alleyways: Damon's howl.
And it was full of pain.
Fucking move! I screamed at the monster. For all that it was, the monster was a part of me, and it knew of its mate.
"Get her in a corner!" a spear-wielding vampire ordered.
Just one bite, the monster thought. The scent of Damon's blood hit us next, and we staggered back, shocked, terrified, for what waited around the corner.
There was a loud crash. Damon was snarling and fighting, and Romeo was taunting him. I was no longer the vampire's target. There at the mouth of the alley, the busy street behind them, Damon and Romeo clashed. In Romeo's hands was another weapon—smaller, the size of a dagger, double-edged and double-sided, with a ruby encrusted in its silver hilt.
Silver.
Real silver.
"No!" I screamed. The monster's hold wavered, and I threw everything I had against my flesh and bones to regain control. A tremor of pain tore up my spine when I moved, but I didn't care. Damon was blooded and hurt, and there were too many of them to handle. "Damon!"
He didn't hear me.
The vampire and the alpha clashed again. My power bubbled and thrashed in the pit of my stomach like an ocean tempest, and my insides burned with the monster's struggle to regain control.
We need to help him! I screamed at the monster. But it didn't understand. It wanted out.
Tears blinded my vision; I crashed to my knees under the weight of a vampire who lunged onto my back. Frothy magic burst from my hands when I twisted to fight it, the force sending me sprawling onto my back. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. There were so many vampires, and I had such little control. Grinning, they approached like wraiths in the night. But before they could attack, another howl washed over the landscape.
Rosalia.
And then another, and another, until the Caine wolves howls rocked the very city.
They made it, I thought hazily. A fresh wave of exhaustion nearly made me sob. Power glowed from my hands as I struggled to stand—just a few more seconds.
Unlike anything I'd ever heard, a pained scream tore into me, soul-deep.
Damon Caine lay on the pavement with Romeo's severed head in his jaws—
The silver dagger buried deep in his chest.
🩸👑🩸👑🩸👑🩸
Now THAT doesn't sound good. What do you think is going to happen next? Do you want to see more of Halina's monster?