“Get in the van, Kieran,” I said, moving very slowly to stand in front of him while he struggled to lift his heavy feet all the way in. He pushed something at me, hiding it in the small of my back. It was too square to be either a knife or a stake.

Taser.

“No, don’t go,” Solange said, pulling off the nose clips and tossing them aside. “I’m still hungry.”

Apparently adrenaline, fear, panic, and guilt could only hold out for so long against bloodlust.

Solange was gone.

I wasn’t sure who was standing in front of me. She might have Solange’s ethereal beauty and her ballerina grace, but she wasn’t Solange.

Oblivious, Kieran leaned toward her, as if I weren’t in his way.

Vampire pheromones.

Without his nose plugs, he was vulnerable. I’d grown up with Solange and her brothers so I was mostly immune. Theoretically.

Because, lately, Solange was breaking all of our theories.

Kieran didn’t even notice the bats swarming above us. I ducked my head a little, trying not to scream like a child in a Halloween haunted house. “Crap,” I said darkly, shoving him down into his seat. “Solange, back off.”

“No.”

Kieran leaned farther forward, his blood dripping on the car mat and out into the grass. He tried to shove me aside so that Solange could finish her dinner. I shoved back without turning around, making sure to poke him hard in his wound. The flesh was warm and ragged and sticky under my finger. I decided I might just throw up later. It was worth it though, as Kieran recoiled, hissing through his teeth. The pain broke the lure of Solange’s pheromones, if only for a moment. I elbowed him savagely so that he fell back completely into the van, and then I slammed the door shut on him.

Solange only smiled. Her eyes were veined in red, like an autumn leaf. “I’m still thirsty,” she murmured.

I scowled, trying to remember the Solange I knew, covered in clay and only wanting to be left alone. “Too bad,” I said through my teeth, which weren’t nearly as impressive as hers. Her fangs gleamed when her smile widened. Bats flew in a whirlwind over her head. “Go away, Sol.”

“Mmm, I don’t think so.” She shrugged one shoulder. “You can run if you like. I’m going to start with Kieran first. You’d only taste like lemons and ash. I can smell your anger.” She wrinkled her nose as if I were spoiled meat. “It doesn’t enhance you, not like the others.”

“Gee, I’m so sorry that the fact that I want to punch you right in your princess nose might ruin your palate. We’re not bottles of wine.”

She just shrugged again.

And then she was pressing me into the van, so close I could see the blue under her skin, hear the flap of bat wings and the crackle they left in the air. I couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t snap my neck just to get to Kieran, slowly bleeding himself into a coma behind me.

So I did the only thing I could think to do.

I Tasered my best friend.

I wasn’t sure if it was the jolts of electricity running through her or the proximity of the dawn, but she fell backward onto the grass. I didn’t even have time to make sure she was all right. Technically, she was already dead, so a little shock wouldn’t hurt her for long. Okay, 1500 volts, whatever. She’d survive, but Kieran needed help now.

I paused.

She’d survive being Tasered, but not the dawn.

I’d have to bring her with me. “Shit,” I said. “This is just the worst night ever.”

I approached her carefully, nudging her with the toe of my boot. She lay still, pale and slight. “If you bite me, I’m biting you back,” I muttered, crouching down to lift her up. When she didn’t open her eyes and try to eat me, I felt marginally better. I dragged her awkwardly toward the van and stuffed her into the front seat. “If you wake up cranky, I’m so Tasering you again.” I ran around to the driver’s seat. “I’ve already blown up a town tonight, so don’t think I won’t.”

The bats, angered, dive-bombed me. I tucked my head into my collar and ran faster, hollering. The screaming didn’t scare the bats off but it made me feel better. I felt one catch in my hair, then bounce off my shoulder.

“I really hate everybody right now,” I said, diving into the front seat. I yanked the door handle just as another bat hit the glass. Solange was slumped next to me. I kept the Taser in my right hand, contorting to start the van with my left. Kieran shifted in the backseat. “Don’t die,” I told him sternly.

He tried to chuckle but it turned into a wet gurgle. I hit the gas pedal and peeled out of the field, kicking up clods of dirt and grass.

“Don’t wake up,” I chanted at Solange. “Don’t wake up.”

The bats followed us like a black, leathery cloud. Their eyes were red when they dipped down into the spear of the headlights.

“Don’t wake up,” I said again. “And don’t be such a stereotype. Bats. God.”

They were so thick now, it was hard to see. I prayed really hard that I wouldn’t drive us right into a tree. I craned my neck. The Taser was heavy, making my wrist ache. A bat hit the windshield, cracking it like a rock. Blood smeared the glass.

“I’m sorry!” I yelled. “Get out of my way, you stupid flying rodents.”

Another hit, and another. A crack snaked through the windshield. Fur and blood matted in the fissure. Bile burned the back of my throat.

Solange stirred.