Shit. All I could do was lie there like a very naked and oozing slug. Aric. Where are you, wolf?

Aric didn’t respond to help me. But Koda did. He tackled the vampire like a seasoned linebacker. He may have been hurt, but he tore into the vamp and ripped him apart. Ash exploded as he made the kill. He veered, ready for more, but the ash had occluded his vision, and he didn’t clear it fast enough to avoid the ninja or his lethal nunchucks.

Koda yelped when the ninja stabbed the tip of a blade into his haunches and then raked a knife across his face. It was horrible, but the attack brought Shayna racing from the opposite corridor. She lifted the IV pole and split it with her power, transforming it into two long and razor-sharp scythes.

The ninja leapt away from Koda and attacked. He wasn’t afraid. He was a master of weaponry.

But so was my sister.

Shayna howled one of her more pathetic wolf calls and spun forward, spinning her scythes. The ninja hadn’t expected someone so thin to be so lethal. His eyes widened when Shayna all but gutted him with her first strike. He pivoted right then left, catching one handle with the chain of the nunchucks. He brought the blade down, but couldn’t avoid Shayna’s kick to the groin.

The ninja recovered too damn quickly, reaching for a dagger from his belt and jabbing it at Shayna. She twisted out of reach, bringing her other scythe down in an arc. He evaded her blade and whirled back, and together they began a deadly dance of strikes and blocks. They fought like two vicious gladiators, my sister’s cunning and skill leading the ninja away from Koda, giving him time to rush another vampire.

I wasn’t a coward, but I was badly hurt and needed to hide from the last gun-toting vampire staggering through the rear entrance. He’d lost a foot, and yet he hobbled faster than most humans ran.

The linen cart had been pushed off to the side near the wall. It wasn’t much in the way of cover, but it was my only option given the condition of the ED. I crawled through the devastation and the ick. Shards of glass and splinters of wood scraped painfully against my breasts, belly, and thighs. It took me a moment, but I finally managed to reach the small pocket of protection before the vamp noticed me.

My body gave out just when a pair of feet in bloodred platform Mary Janes stepped in front of me. The most notorious Catholic schoolgirl had arrived.

I glanced up Edith’s long legs, careful not to look too closely. Edith wasn’t a fan of underwear. “Hi, Celia,” she said cheerfully. “The master sensed you were in trouble and sent us to help you.”

“Eh?” was all I managed.

Edith hauled me up by my shoulders with ease. She tossed back her long midnight hair and grinned. “The master also sends his love,” she said right before she kissed me.

That’s right. Edith kissed me. On the lips. I clenched my jaw shut before she could shove her tongue down my freaking throat. My eyes were wide as I kicked out uselessly. Edith’s eyes were closed as she continued what she probably thought was one hell of a smooch. I wanted to gag, having had an idea where her lips had been, but that would have granted her access to the inside of my mouth. No way in hell did I want anything of Edith’s near any of my orifices.

If it wasn’t strange enough having one of the Catholic schoolgirls making out with me, an odd blue haze surrounded us, and all I could think about was Misha. I thought of his gray eyes and how they softened only for me, and about that wicked smile he flashed when he was up to no good.

Then, unexpectedly, he materialized through the far wall and stalked toward us. It was hard fighting off Edith’s tongue as it slid against my teeth while I gawked at Misha, flabbergasted by what the hell was happening. His black silk pants hung shamelessly low on his hips, exposing his Herculean physique, glistening with sweat. He slinked leisurely, like a serpent over the rubble, while his long mane swept off his powerful shoulders. My eyes widened as every part of him tensed with each step. When he reached me, he pushed my hair away from my face, and joined our kiss.

I just about had a coronary, but then Misha vanished and was suddenly inside me, building my strength and caressing everything that hurt. Including my ass.

I jumped away at the realization, flipping backward—away from Edith and the linen cart—and landing in a crouch. The strange blue haze surrounding me intensified and glowed, erasing my pain and damnit all, tingling every part of me.

Edith fixed her attention on my breasts. “The master will be pleased by your response,” she said, smiling.

The cocking of a gun had me scrambling back toward Edith. I dove behind the cart and hunkered down, narrowly missing getting shot. Edith just stood there and tilted her head like she couldn’t understand my reaction. “Edith, get down!” I yelled.

She huffed. “What’s the big deal? They’re only bullets.”

The gun jammed, but then the vamp managed one more shot. It hit Edith right in the arm. She screamed in agony as smoke rose from her wound and black pus seeped from the gaping hole.

Edith peered at her wound and back at me. “That fucker is shooting with gold bullets!”

“I know. Get down!”

Instead of listening, Edith completely lost her shit. She looked up at the ceiling, raised her arms, and screamed. I fell back on my new and improved ass. I’d only heard her scream like that once before—when we’d found the beings who’d kidnapped and tortured her master. It was a guttural, primal, PMS type of scary scream—good for us and bad, very bad, for the vamp who’d shot her.

I snagged a patient gown seconds before she picked up the linen cart and flung it into the gun-wielding vamp. He grunted upon impact but all I could see were legs sticking out from the bottom of the cart. The cart shook as he tried to rise, but not before Edith screamed once more and launched herself on top of him.

Edith pierced her carefully manicured and deadly nails through the flaps of the cart and reemerged with the vamp’s colon. She tossed the intestines and what resembled a kidney aside. I stopped watching then. Not only because I was grossed out, but because her kiss had somehow transferred some of Misha’s power into me. And Lord knew I needed it then. The ED was suddenly flooded with more weres and vampires chanting, “Shah, Shah, Shah,” as if trying to locate him.

I rose, my claws and fangs protruding, and charged.

The wolves around me howled, one after the other, their call inciting one another to fight with great zeal. In the distance, another faint howl echoed, tugging at my heartstrings and making me want to cry. I ignored the emotions it stirred, desperate to stay alive and focus.