The oxen must have served as dessert because moments later Misha exited the cave with the good Catholics nuzzling against him. The tranquilizer guns that had been used to sedate Misha dangled at their sides. Misha sported pants, left over from one of his appetizers. His brutish size had diminished and he seemed a hell of a lot better, but his irises continued to flicker with a touch of insanity.

Misha bounded to me, completely ignoring Aric’s and Tye’s menacing snarls. When I moved closer to him, Aric hauled me back into his arms. I touched his face and, notwithstanding my nervousness, tried to speak calmly. “It’s okay, Aric. Please don’t be afraid.” Aric tightened his grip. He’d seen straight through me and knew I was scared.

I gently nudged him away. Aric was a lot stronger than me. If he didn’t want to let me go, I couldn’t have made him. All the same, he released me. He didn’t want me anywhere near Misha, but I had to say a peaceful goodbye to avoid any further carnage.

Misha took my hands. “You came for me.”

I smiled although I remained very much afraid of him, and just wanted to leave with Aric. “I told you I would, but now it’s time for me to go.”

Misha’s smile faded and his eyes flashed green. “No. You cannot leave me.”

Aric let out a sadistic growl and rammed his face into Misha’s. Misha gave Aric an inhuman stare, but refused to relinquish his hold. Misha still needed to eat, but Aric was the wrong wolf to take a bite of. The increasing hisses from the vampires and Tye’s own vicious growls made my words come out panicked rather than reasonable. “Please let me go, Misha. You’re safe now, we all are.”

But I was very wrong.

From a back entrance a were towing a large crate of supplies strolled into the compound. His pace slowed as he took in the devastation around him. Tye and two vampires charged him, but they were too late. “Lucinda!” he screamed before Tye severed his head.

Chapter Twenty-three

The ground shook and a furious scream blasted from all directions. We searched frantically, trying to place the source of the screeching until the fortress exploded around us. Aric shoved me to the ground and shielded me with his body. His entire form rattled against mine as falling debris pummeled his back.

Then everything stopped. I lifted my head. Pieces of the ruin and chunks of wood littered the area and a cloud of thick dust swirled in the still air. Aric leapt to his feet. I pushed up my hands, still shaken by the sudden eruption of chaos when a skeleton hand broke through the ground and grabbed me by the throat. I broke off its fingers while Aric yanked the rest from the dirt and crumbled the bones to powder. “Shit. She’s raising the dead—stay close to me.”

I didn’t really pay attention to the “stay close to me” part, I was still stuck on the “she’s raising the dead.” Dozens of skeletons ripped through the earth in all directions, bombarding our small unit with flinging arms and furious jaws that could still bite. But the skeletal remains of the Mayans weren’t the only things that frightened me. Lucinda had materialized—and damnit all, she was pissed. She screamed incantations and swore in Spanish, only to halt the moment she spotted me. A black film spread over her eyes and her mouth hollowed into a dark pit. “Te mato, puta,” she told me.

Great. One more evil darling who wanted to kill me.

Her jaw unhinged from her face to tap against her chest. She retched, spewing a colossal serpent that slithered with preternatural speed in my direction. Hank leapt in front of it, baring fangs and slashing at it with his claws. A noble effort; too bad it had little effect. The snake punched holes into Hank’s body like large speeding bullets. No one could help him. We were all busy busting up the skeletons that continued to erupt through the ground. It wasn’t easy. If we failed to pulverize the bones to dust they’d reassemble, more incensed to take us down.

Hank stumbled back, crashing near my feet and resembling a bloody Connect Four board with legs. The barrage of swears that accompanied his wobbly rise assured me he’d live if fed. The next vampire, named Jackie, wasn’t so lucky. The snake shot straight through her sternum and into her heart. Bloody ash rained upon Aric and me as we fought our way through the destruction and down the mountain. Misha and his family followed, all the while fighting off Lucinda’s hexes.

I’d just caught sight of the barn when two hands shot from the ground and gripped my ankles. I fell hard. Dead limbs hooked on to my legs. Decaying fingers raked my body and tugged on my clothes and hair. The smell of rot encapsulated me, adding to my terror and making me scream. My fright alerted the snake to my presence. It fired toward me. But before it could strike, Aric attacked.

Tye broke me free from the sea of appendages as Aric tore into the snake in his wolf form. I scrambled to my feet, panting from fear and exhaustion. The only vamp still in one piece was Misha. I fought my way to help Aric only for someone to reward me with a slap to the face—or so I thought. Edith’s hand had flown through the air. Unfortunately, Edith was no longer attached. Lucinda’s magic had severed it along with most of her opposite arm.

Lucinda cackled through her gaping black mouth and, being the wicked witch from El Salvador she was, formed a tornado around herself. Because flying hexes and an army of fleshless dead aboriginals clearly weren’t enough. She whirled toward us, sending Tye slamming into a tree. I bolted away from the pulling force of her vortex and into the forest of dead trees, digging my claws into a thick palm to keep the blustering whirlwind from jerking me back. My efforts were worthless. She ripped me away like Velcro and sent me spinning toward her.

A knife flashed in the dense cluster of debris churning around her. I flipped my body, landing at her feet and away from the blade. Lucinda shrieked as my claws punctured through my sneakers and jutted into her thighs.

She dove at me, clutching her knife. I barely caught her wrist before she stabbed me. The blade arced an inch away from my right eye. It should have been impossible for her strength to match mine. She must have invoked additional power—one that grew with every breath she took.

Aric shouted through the howling wind, urging me to fight and yelling that he was coming. He never made it to me. The funnel encircling us launched him into the old barn. I heard him yelp as it collapsed on top of him.

I tried to change, but my ability was blocked within the eye of the tornado. Lucinda and I thrashed and rolled over the remains of her Mayan warriors. She must have grown up fighting on the street, but hell, so had I. And I’d be damned if I’d let her beat me. I twisted her wrist and head-butted her in the face, catching the hilt of her knife and forcing it into her left eye. Her screams were low and evil, calling forth more power and making me want to kill her that much faster.