Chapter 37
Thirty-Seven
BECKS
There are more vampires than I realized—at least two dozen by my count—and only five of us to hold the line. They move fast and are coordinated, trying to split us up, but we refuse to break.
Gunshots sound. Magic detonates. Snow is churned into slush beneath our boots as bodies hit the ground.
It’s brutal and relentless, but little by little we thin their numbers. The fight drags us deep into the trees, farther from the cabin. But that doesn’t weaken us; it gives us room to fight without worrying about collateral damage. Without worrying about Haven.
The farther we get from the cabin, the more certain I am that at least she’s safe. I’d fight a whole forest full of vampires on my own if it meant they’d never reach her.
When the tide finally turns, the remaining vampires scatter into the trees.
We split up without needing to say a word, each of us giving chase. We can’t let a single one escape. Not to warn anyone, not to regroup. No survivors.
I toss the still warm heart of the vampire I was chasing onto the snowy ground. I may have gotten a little carried away, but protecting Haven brings out the beast in me and I didn’t just kill the vampire, I tore it apart.
Movement catches my eye, and I glance up to see Titus striding toward me. His upper lip curls when he sees what I did to the vampire.
“Was that really necessary?” he asks, and I shrug.
“He’s dead.”
“And then some.”
I glance at the sky through a break in the trees.
The moon is almost completely red now. We took too long.
Even though we rounded up the group of vampires who descended on the cabin, I still have this itchy feeling that Haven is in danger.
It won’t go away until I can see her and know she’s all right.
“Let’s get back,” Titus says, frowning into the night, looking like he’s feeling the same unease I am.
I nod and then freeze, taking in a lungful of air.
“Do you smell smoke?” I ask, and Titus goes rigid.
I don’t wait for his confirmation before taking off for the cabin. Moving like a blur through the trees, I sprint faster than I ever have before, cursing that there isn’t a clearing where I can shift into my dragon.
The smell of smoke and ash only gets stronger as I near the cabin, until up ahead through the trees I spot a fiery blaze.
Running faster, scales break out over my skin. When I break through the tree coverage, I skid to a halt.
The cabin is completely engulfed in flames.
I was wrong. Fighting the vampires away from the cabin didn’t protect her, it left her exposed. The realization hits like a blow to the sternum, a soundless snarl ripping out of me as my legs fold.
It was a trap we walked right into.
I scan the windows, looking for signs of movement.
She has to be all right. Fire won’t hurt her.
Except that isn’t entirely true. She has some resistance as a fire wielder, but only to a point. Burn hot enough, long enough, and even her body will fail. And smoke doesn’t care about magic. Inhalation could kill her faster than the flames ever would.
Titus catches up with me, panting from the sprint. “What happened? Where are the girls?” he pushes out between breaths, his gaze wide and wild.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I don’t see signs of anyone.”
Determined to check every burning room of that cabin if I have to, I get to my feet just as a figure skirts the corner of the burning blaze.
My pulse stutters with hope, then crashes when I see it’s not Haven or Ensley.
Another figure joins the first, and they start arguing.
More vampires.
The blood moon is minutes away. Even now, the demon might be moments away from taking her from me forever.
Not only that, Ensley is nowhere to be seen. I have no doubt the vampires or demon wouldn’t hesitate to kill my sister on sight.
“We only need one alive,” I say to Titus right before I shoot forward, coming up behind one of the vampires, the male.
Before he can react, I grab his head and twist, breaking his neck.
Titus has the female vamp incapacitated before he hits the ground.
She bucks and kicks like a wild animal, hurling insults at us.
Titus just tightens his grip, pressing his forearm into her throat.
Her eyes bug and she tries to free herself, but Titus isn’t letting her go.
With Ensley missing, Titus’ grip is driven by the same terror burning through my chest.
I get in the vampire’s face, knowing my scales are already showing along my neck and arms. My vision has sharpened, the world snapping into cruel clarity, and I know my pupils are slits.
“Where are they?” I demand, my voice rough and distorted as my body strains to shift.
She stops fighting, her expression twisting with hatred. Titus eases his grip on her throat so she can speak, but instead she starts to laugh.
Talons push from the ends of my fingers, bones morphing and elongating with sickening pops. Scales crawl up my hands and across my face as extra teeth crowd my mouth, my jaw stretching forward into the beginnings of a snout.
The vampire sobers when she sees the change taking hold.
“I won’t ask again,” I warn, my voice deeper now, more beast than man.
“You’re too late,” she sneers. “The new age begins tonight.”
Fear crashes through me.
The demon has her. I know it. It’s going to take her from me.
A scream tears through the forest.
I snap my head toward the sound, blood roaring in my ears as dread slams into me.
I recognize that scream.
I turn away from the vampire. Titus can deal with her.
My control shatters.
Magic detonates beneath my skin as my body gives in to the shift. My spine arches violently, bones cracking and reforming as my frame expands, muscle and mass surging outward. Teal scales ripple over me in a violent wave, armor-hard and gleaming as my wings tear free with a thunderous snap.
Black horns curve from my skull, heat and pressure exploding behind my eyes as spikes erupt down my neck and spine. My claws bite deep into the earth as the last of my human shape is burned away.
When I lift my head, a dragon stares back at the world.
Huge, lethal, and unleashed.
Hang on, Haven.
I’m coming.