Our group circled out instinctively, keeping our backs to the center. The problem was, not every danger slithered along the earth.

A sound mimicking the rattle of a snake and a plague of locusts resonated from above, first from one side, then the other, building and growing more fierce. Something—or some things—hid in the tall trees. Shayna whirled her transformed arrow point up. Tim and Hank cocked guns. I spun, wildly scanning above, except the denseness of the trees made it impossible to see.

Screw this. I threw my sweatshirt on the ground. My spaghetti stain was barely noticeable now that swamplike ash caked most of my skimpy tank. “Misha, does Zhahara’s compound have an open area? One with enough coverage for you to hide?”

Misha raised his chin, likely knowing what I planned. “There is a large field close to the stables encircled by trees and brush.” He pointed between a section of trees. “That way.”

“Okay. Good.” I protruded my claws and sliced a gash into my arm. Damn, my nails were sharp. I pressed on my open wound until blood oozed out, then wiped the warm fluid over every inch of my bare skin. Misha hissed, giving me the impression I resembled the vampire equivalent of fudge brownies. He blinked his feral gray eyes at me. With ice cream. He stepped forward. And sprinkles.

My eyes narrowed. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”

Only Misha could smile with nasty green slop smearing his strong jaw. “I would never dream of it, my darling.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Celia.” Taran’s voice told me she wasn’t in her happy place. She glanced at my arm, Misha, and the trees. “What the hell are you doing?”

My voice hardened. “We need bait.”

I ignored my sisters’ gasps and Taran’s gangsta-like tirade. Did I like being the proverbial virgin to the bloodlust volcano? Hell. No. But a strong offense beat a cowering defense.

Misha’s BFFs stayed close at my heels, smacking their lips as I hurried through the trees. My blood worked on vampires like Doritos did on me. I’d traveled only a few yards when a bloodluster leaped on top of me. Misha ripped off his head before I could react. He helped me to my feet, flashing enough fang to prod me forward.

More yards. More vampires. Six kills before we finally reached the clearing.

“Wait here,” I said quietly.

Shayna scrambled to my side. “Dude, please don’t do this,” she urged.

I avoided Taran’s glare and placed my hand on Shayna’s back. “We need to lure them out. Just…well…when you see anything, get ’em.”

Shayna widened her large blue eyes. Perhaps we could have come up with a better alternative, but the monsters were picking us off one by one. I shoved my debilitating fear behind my inner hysterical female and crept forward.

The field expanded to about an eighth of a mile. Overgrown grass poked through the wide boards of the collapsed white fence. Festering horses lay against the borders. The poor things had probably attempted to flee the infected vampires. They’d been gutted and left for the bugs to devour.

My insides lurched; I was nauseated by the smell of rot. I inched to the center, fighting the urge to run away screaming. No cape waved behind me. No S covered my chest. And it wouldn’t take funky green rocks to bring me down. But I wasn’t helpless and I had to try.

I reached the middle of the clearing and forced more blood from my wound. I’d once read that deer hunters often waited hours for the perfect buck to appear. Well. Goody for them. In mere seconds, I had more company than my tigress, nerves, and bladder could handle.

Infected vampires popped up from behind bushes, trees, the barn, and its rooftop, barely covered by the torn, blood-smeared rags they wore. Sickly glowing green eyes sparkled with gluttony as they fixed on me. Tongues flickered with growing anticipation. Twisted smiles spread across eager, jagged mouths. And Celia Wird just about peed.

My new admirers were, hands down, the most infected I’d seen. Their skin was a mere film, barely keeping in the bulging green fluid pulsating beneath. Their stomachs had bloated to the size of watermelons. They’d fed well. Yet their insatiable appetites were far from satisfied. And now they hungered for me.

Rattled hisses thundered in my pounding ears as they charged. I searched the thick brush, unable to spot my allies as the bloodlusters closed in.

Oh…crap.

I shifted until my lungs begged for oxygen and surfaced right in front of a bloodluster. Shots fired, detonating the bloodluster’s head, spraying chunks of skull and ash. His torso collapsed on top of me, spilling the nasty infection from his severed neck as rifles boomed and Taran’s fire roared. I couldn’t catch enough breath to shift, but a charging voracious female motivated me to shove the dying bloodsucker off me.

I rolled—fast—over a broken fence post and onto my knees, hauling the jagged timber into the soaring vampire’s chest.

The female’s leftovers spurted as javelins of broken tree branches rocketed through the misting rain at the herd of bloodlusters sweeping the field. Emme nailed every infected vampire, popping through their bulging muscles like algae-filled water balloons and impaling them to the ground.

We hacked through hearts and tore off heads until everything fell silent, except for the panting from our exhausted group.

I collapsed to my knees, landing on a pile of disgusting ash. Taran bounded to my side, shaking my weary shoulders violently with each word she shrieked. “Son of a bitch! Don’t you ever f**king pull another goddamn stunt like that again. Do you hear me? I’ll kill you; I swear to God I’ll kill you if you ever try that crazy-ass bait shit again!”

“O-kay,” I moaned.

My uncharacteristic compliance only freaked her out more. She shook me harder, screaming and cursing.

“Taran, Taran!” Shayna yelled, trying uselessly to pry her off me.

“What!”

“It’s not over, dude.”

“The hell it’s not. We killed the bloodlusters. Time to take our toys and go home.”

I wiped the blood from my eyes as Emme healed me. “Shayna means we still have to deal with Zhahara. She’s still out there.”

CHAPTER 16

Taran dropped me like a severed limb. Colorful curses, in a wide range of languages, tumbled out of her in one jumbled mess. Most of her vivid expressions didn’t make sense, but I wasn’t stupid enough to call her on it.

Misha knelt beside me, out of breath from battle. “How do you feel?”

“I’ll get my second wind in a moment,” I answered truthfully, stumbling to my feet.

Misha grasped my elbow. “Is your family fit to continue?”

Emme and Shayna nodded, shaken yet still determined. Taran made a rude gesture. I took that as a yes. “We’re fine.”

Misha led the way, his family close to his side. Shayna and Emme flanked me while Taran took the rear, bitching about needing a shower. Yeah. Well. No kidding. I thanked heaven Aric wasn’t around to see me. My eyes widened when I realized where my mind had wandered. I blamed the rush of adrenaline for my girlie thoughts, not wanting to admit how I couldn’t stop thinking about that wolf.

I sighed, longing to see him. Physical intimacy was something I hadn’t engaged in in years. It frightened me…but it frightened me less and tempted me more in Aric’s presence. Would he be gentle? I wondered. I remembered the softness of his touch against my body, despite all his preternatural strength. I smiled. Yeah. He would be.

“Taran’s very angry with you,” Emme whispered, interrupting my thoughts.

I glanced over my shoulder and met Taran’s scowl and another windstorm of swear words. “What gave you that idea?”

Emme stumbled over a rock when she looked back at Taran. She blushed, though no one seemed to notice. “Celia,” she whispered. “What you did—back there—was so very…”

“Ridiculously suicidal?” I offered.

“No. It was brave.” She rubbed her hands together, trying to stay warm. “I wish I had an inner tigress.”

I slipped a nasty, bloodlust-coated arm around her. “Every woman has an inner tigress—that part of her that gives her strength and helps her to survive.” I smiled softly. “I’m just able to bring mine to the surface.”

I helped Emme up a steep incline. She seemed so weak. I was going to ask for a rest period when the vamps fell into a crouch. I crawled up the hill, Taran right behind me.

“If the goddamn theme from Halloween starts playing, I will seriously wig the hell out.”

Taran wasn’t exaggerating. We crouched in the woods, gawking at a three-story Gothic castle. Thunder boomed in the darkening sky and lightning crashed, illuminating the mammoth structure. ’Cause God forbid we didn’t get the full house-of-horrors effect.

Misha tensed next to me as the two vampires standing guard at the back entrance adjusted their positions. I touched his arm. “What is it, Misha?”

The sharp scent of his anger twisted up into my nose. “The guards are not infected.”

Shayna’s soaking-wet ponytail whipped behind her. “Dude, are you sure?”

I groaned. “He’s right. Their eyes haven’t glimmered.”

Misha’s head angled toward mine. “And they are not Zhahara’s vampires.”

My heart stopped. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Neither bears her mark.”

I bit my bottom lip. So not a good idea. “You can tell from here?”

Misha’s eyes filled with enough menace to start a fire. “My deepest worries have been confirmed. More than one master seeks to destroy me.”

A wave of fierce and angry mutterings spread among Misha’s family. Taran swore. “So then who do these idiots belong to? And why haven’t the bloodlusters attacked them?”

Misha stood, his fury growing with every word he spoke. “I have no answers. They could belong to a foreign master.”

Emme coughed as if she were choking before her eyes rolled into the back of her head. I caught her and turned her on her side. “Easy, honey,” I cooed as she dry-heaved. “You’re okay.” My eyes narrowed at Misha. “What’s happening?”