She was writhing so much that I was afraid she might fall right into the pond and drown, being unable to swim to the surface.

Gripping the rope that bound her ankles and wrists together, I tried to move her gently toward me, away from the edge of the lake, before placing both palms around the rope and sending heat surging through it. I had to be careful not to send through too much in case I lit the whole rope on fire and ended up burning her. I managed to release just enough to singe the rope and make it weak enough so that it snapped.

The girl stretched out her limbs for the first time in God knew how long. Tears of relief filled her eyes as I helped her to sit up. I wanted to stay with her for a moment longer to comfort her that the worst was over, but there were too many other humans waiting for me to attend to. Even with Ashley, my mother and me working, we still had a mammoth task ahead of us.

“We need to hurry,” my mother said, eyeing the humans still bound.

After the first girl I’d released, the others were faster. I was beginning to feel more confident with my heat so close to their bodies, and I was able to singe through the ropes much faster.

As we released the humans, we ordered those who were able to stand on their weak legs to hide round the side of the castle where nobody seemed to be right now. Once there was a substantial crowd waiting there, my mother told Ashley to wait with them.

I wiped sweat from my brow, looking over our progress. We had about three dozen left. It was still a lot, but nothing compared to how many there had been when we had first started.

“No!” A shrill voice pierced my eardrums. It sounded no further than twenty feet away. I was in the middle of bending over a girl and turned in time to see Julisse racing full speed toward me. Her dark curly hair was scattered across her sweaty face, her eyes practically red with rage.

I tried to shoot flames at her, but she had managed to conjure up a shield of water around herself with whatever power she had left in her.

I braced myself for impact, expecting to fall back into the lake of blood, when something raced past me in a blur. The next thing I knew, Julisse crashed to the ground, Caleb on top of her. She struggled beneath him, but Caleb was too quick. Before she could summon a curse, he’d already slashed through both of her palms. Then, lowering his head to her neck, he sank his fangs deep into her flesh and jerked upward, ripping right through her jugular.

Blood spurted everywhere, soaking the ground and forming a pool quickly. Finally, extending his nails as far as they would go, he severed her head completely. It rolled around sickeningly on the ground before halting in the middle of the pool of blood, face down.

Caleb got off her still-twitching body and when he turned to face me, he looked more menacing than I had ever seen him before. His chest heaved, his mouth dripping with blood, his eyes much darker.

Wow. Go Caleb.

His gaze sent shivers running through me. I was so used to him being gentle with me, I often forgot just how ferocious he could be. He wiped away the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and then, since he was already shirtless, he tore a piece of fabric from the hem of Julisse’ dress and wiped his hands on it.

He walked toward me, his eyes warming a little as he looked down at me. He examined my skin, which was still red from the curse that Isolde had shot at me.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “You?”

He nodded. His skin was also tinged red. Clearly he had survived a curse like I had—more confirmation of Mona’s statement that the black witches had lost their touch.

I didn’t spend much time with Caleb before he left me and raced back into the battle. I needed to finish helping my mother free the rest of the humans. We worked quickly, and luckily no more distractions came before we finished releasing all of them. We herded those who could walk around the side of the castle toward Ashley, then came back to assist those who couldn’t stand. Many were just in shock, while others had genuine injuries.

Once we had finished, we left Ashley with them and cautiously approached the battle again. It was still raging, though, as before, we seemed to have the upper hand. Ibrahim and Corrine hadn’t let up their efforts. I scanned the area for my father. He stood near my grandfather, back to back as they clashed with four warlocks.

My stomach felt queasy as I caught sight of Micah—now in his werewolf form since nightfall had already arrived—biting off the hands of a screaming witch with his huge jaws. I looked around for Mona, wondering where she’d gotten to. I couldn’t see her anywhere. For that matter, I still couldn’t spot Rhys either.

I was about to suggest to my mother that we start helping when a thought struck me. “I wonder if there are more humans in the castle?”

“Let’s check,” my mother replied.

We didn’t want to be distracted by anyone attacking us, so we made our way as discreetly as possible around the edge of the battleground toward the main entrance of the castle. I looked at my mother just before we entered. I wasn’t sure what surprises this house of horrors held for us this time, but I didn’t think it wise for the two of us to go alone.

“I think we should take at least one other person with us,” I said.

“I’ll come.” A gruff voice came from behind us. It was Micah—now finished with the witch he’d been mauling. He had blood smeared on his mouth as he looked up at us, his eyes gleaming.

“Okay,” I said.

A vampire, a werewolf and a fire-wielder. It felt like we’d make a decent team.