Four white boats, flashy and built for speed, bobbed next to a small yacht. Three vampires waited in the ones at the end of the pier—our captains, I presumed. But just as I stepped onto the first wide plank the scurry of tiny feet alerted my senses.

“Celia, look out!”

I was already looking over the edge of the yacht before Shayna could finish shouting her warning, watching the little brown field mouse disappear into the adjacent wooded area. I stood to leap back onto the dock, but the scowls from Misha’s vampires halted me in place.

“A cat that’s afraid of a mouse. Nice,” one of Misha’s bodyguards muttered.

My jaw clenched tight. “I’m not afraid. I’m just sort of…allergic.”

“You’re allergic to mice,” one of the good Catholics repeated, disgust dripping from each word.

“Well, all animals, actually,” Emme said, frowning at them as much as her angelic features allowed. “But that doesn’t make her weak.”

The Catholic schoolgirl jerked her head in Emme’s direction. Her fair complexion and long red hair bequeathed her with a striking beauty. I might have envied her—if she also hadn’t been bequeathed with royal bitchiness. “Yes. It does!” she snapped. “It also makes her a problem. Our problem.”

“Colleen,” Misha warned.

She dipped her head low enough so that the vee of her tight shirt showcased the crease between her enormous bosoms. “A thousand apologies, Master. But what are we to do if she develops a reaction?” She scoffed in my direction. “I’m fresh out of Benadryl.”

I cracked my knuckles and landed in front of her, kicking aside the pile of sticks I’d dropped. “No Benadryl necessary. Beating your ass will fix me right up.”

She hissed, her incisors protruding out, only to land with a hard thump on the dock. Her fair skin discolored and a small gurgle escaped her throat. I exchanged glances with my sisters.

Taran withdrew the fire from her fingertips. “Damn, Celia. I didn’t even see you strike.”

I slowly lowered my balled fists. “I didn’t touch her….”

With the exception of Colleen, who continued to lie like a dying slug, and Misha, all the vamps resumed their parade-rest position with their gazes firmly dropped. Misha stared out over the water, his arms crossed in front of him, his expression blank. Yet his deadly tone left nothing to the imagination. “I find it grating to remind my family that guests—especially those who are attempting to save our very lives—need to be respected. Colleen. Is there something you wish to say to Celia?”

“Ir-kie,” Colleen croaked.

Misha turned to me, smiling. “Colleen extends her deepest apologies, my darling.”

“Apology accepted,” I mumbled, stupefied by Colleen’s clay-colored lips.

Tahoe’s magic must have been potent enough to camouflage Misha’s own. I hadn’t caught even the slightest whiff of his power. Yet there it was, squashing Colleen to the pier like a woolly mammoth on a grape.

Slowly Colleen’s natural color returned. The minute her lips tinged pink, she scrambled to her feet and joined the others, careful to give Misha ample space.

“Shall we, ladies?”

The vamps rushed to pick up the twigs my sisters and I had dropped when Colleen challenged me. They placed the neat piles at Shayna’s feet once she sat in the nearest boat.

“I don’t suppose I can convince you and Emme to ride with me?” Misha asked.

I leaped into the boat with my sisters and two other vampires. “No. I stay with them.”

Misha watched me closely from the dock while six vampires piled into the boat farthest away. “Master,” a vampire in the center boat pleaded. “You’ll be safest with your own.”

Misha joined the vampire and three others after a brief pause. “Stay no farther than six yards apart.”

“Yes, Master,” the captains echoed before the engines caught and the motors roared in unison.

Shayna adjusted the bow back onto her shoulder once she finished fastening her life vest. The vamps had eyed her suspiciously when she hauled the giant weapon out of the car, likely questioning her lack of arrows. Yet they failed to ask her directly. Perhaps they didn’t want to risk pissing Misha off. His response to Colleen’s behavior left little doubt that punishment in the House of Aleksandr was swift, severe, and potentially lethal.

No one spoke most of the way. Emme wriggled in her seat nervously and Taran kept lighting balls of fire between her palms. Shayna remained unusually still, focusing ahead, ready to attack. Her reflexes were as sharp as mine. And while she didn’t have much physical strength, the sharpness of her blades compensated for her lack of muscle.

I moved next to her and nudged her with my elbow. “You okay?”

She grinned, surprising me with her typical sparkle. “Yeah. I’m ready, you know, dude? I mean, I’m scared senseless, but it almost seems like I’ve been preparing for a fight for a long time.” Her brows quirked. “I never knew why I could pick up sword play and weapons training just by watching movies and stuff. It seemed like such a waste of a gift—with all the guns out there and all, who cares if I’m good with a knife?” She reached into her back pocket to check her toothpicks for the fifth time. “Maybe this is the kind of thing I’ve been working for.” She shoved the little box away before returning her focus ahead. “I just hope I get more than one opportunity to show what I can do.”

I tapped her thigh with my hand. “Yeah. Me, too, honey.”

Thunder and lightning struck in the distant mountains. “Goddamn witches,” our captain said. “They’re probably the ones bringing the storm.”

“What the hell are you rambling on about?” Taran asked.

The vamp rolled his eyes. “Witches often practice their spellwork in the mountains to avoid accidently killing anyone when they cast. The stronger spells charge the air with magic, stimulating nature to produce storms.”

I watched the gathering clouds and the escalating bolts of lightning. Witches smelled of magic and the dried crushed herbs they used in their spells. Ambrosial scents of spearmint, sage, rosemary, and basil thickened the air.

Taran shuddered. “Damn. Their magic is strong.”

The vamp smiled. “Yes. It makes their blood pretty damn tasty.”

Emme winced. I shook my head. Why did we always end up with the freaks?

My tigress paced restlessly inside me. Neither of us liked the boat—not enough room to move, to roam. And the whole fear-of-drowning thing didn’t help either. I stood and stretched my legs just as Fannette, Tahoe’s only island, came into view. We’d arrived. It was time.

The vampires hustled to get their gun holsters on, cringing as the clips of gold bullets brushed against their bodies. The gold would soon make them sick, but nausea was a small price to pay in exchange for the firepower we’d need.

The motors cut as we approached the bay. We glided across the fog-covered water, stopping a few yards from shore. Silence sliced like Shayna’s blade. No birds flew, and the breeze ceased to a trickle. The only sound was Tahoe’s gentle splashing against the smooth rocks bordering the beach. Yet its normally gentle lullaby failed to reassure me. An odd eagerness seeped into my pores, taunting me to draw closer.

“Come into my parlor,” said the spider to the fly.

Misha and the vampires stood as a single entity, their eyes sharp, their claws protruding. The taunting sensation grew nearer, stronger. My inner beast growled, loud enough to rattle my heart.

“Wha-what…” Emme began.

“Something’s here,” I whispered to Emme.

My tigress eyes replaced my own, but her vision couldn’t pierce through the thickness of the fog. I froze. Watching. Waiting. The urge to attack growing.

Water exploded like the start of a fountain to our left. I’d caught a glimpse of something wide, green, and thick before its arms encased the closest vampire. He vanished in a burst of water and a holler of agony. Shayna and I rushed to the edge, only to get flooded with an eruption of blood and ash.

Bullets shot wildly into the water, and the roars of my angered beast escaped. My sisters screamed—except for Shayna. Her eyes narrowed at the water as she reached for her stack of kindling. She placed the stick against her bow. As she pulled, gold light flickered from her necklace to her fingertips, transforming the wood into a thick gold arrow, the tip wide and deadly. She closed her eyes and pointed to where the vamp had dematerialized—only to aim four feet away at the last second and propel the arrow at an unimaginable velocity.

A two-hundred-pound infected female broke through the water, tipping the side of our boat forward. Green fluid bulged her thickened muscles; a maw full of sharp teeth snapped with hunger. She screamed, revealing the arrow protruding from the top of her skull down into her throat. Shayna failed to hit the heart.

But I didn’t.

My claws struck hard through the vampire’s chest, crushing her sternum until my fingertips gathered around the hot, pumping muscle. I yanked it out in an upsurge of putrid-smelling fluid and ash. The force knocked me back, but I jumped to my feet, landing on the starboard bow.

“Stay down until I say,” I hissed at Taran and Emme.

Taran’s mouth tightened as she clutched Emme against her. “I thought these a**holes couldn’t swim.”

“We’re in shallow water,” Shayna answered tightly. She pointed another transformed arrow down into the lake, one foot on the floor of the boat, the other bent at the knee against the gunwale. Her hands stayed perfectly still as she waited for the next attack. Across from us, the vamps inched around the perimeter of the boats, the barrels of the gun pointing down. Misha stood in the middle, fury and hatred pushing back the mist around him.

Something bumped the floor beneath Taran and Emme. Emme’s head shot up. I shook my head. Don’t move, I mouthed.

The vamps in the boat next to Misha’s didn’t heed me. They scrambled away from the thud against the starboard, announcing breakfast time to the bloodlusters prowling beneath. They surfaced, hungry jaws snapping as they dragged two vampires into the murky depths—including Colleen.