The next day and a half was a flurry of activity as I got used to my strength and we made our plans. Then, that night, we’d gone out to the woods to try out and practice my new powers. Ideally, I would’ve liked a few more days to train before we took on the greatest hunter of all time, but we couldn’t always get what we wanted. All of us were keenly aware that, the longer we waited, the greater the chances became that we’d be attacked and caught on the back foot, which was the last thing any of us wanted.

We were pushing ahead with the plan tonight and this, my homecoming, was step one.

We were all as sure as we could be that we’d thought of everything, but that didn’t stop my heart from throwing itself against my ribs as I pushed my front door open the next night.

My house looked the same, everything still lying ruined on the floor, but instead of feeling that sense of helplessness and invasion that I’d felt the last time I’d been here, I felt strong and proud.

I was rather confident in my abilities after the practice last night, since I’d been able to dodge a flying arrow coming straight at me by the time dawn had come. The guys had taught me to leap and evade, to run at hyper-speeds, defensive tactics, and how to use all my advanced senses to my advantage.

Nervous anticipation fluttered in my belly as I made my way through my house, making sure to stick to the plan and linger in front of the windows every once in a while, drawing the curtains open. I was more afraid than I’d let on to the guys. If Horvath managed to get the drop on us and to kill me despite our plan and my newly-minted vampire state, the guys would be inconsolable and Maddox would never forgive himself for turning me in the first place. He would blame himself forever that he’d done it and that he hadn’t listened to Jaeger and kept me tucked away back at the hotel.

Guess I can’t let that happen, then.

I made a show of acting irritated as I walked by the windows and cleaned up my trashed place, even going outside and muttering about pranksters as I shoveled my broken possessions into the trash. Cleaning up was therapeutic, even if I was now more angry than upset about the break-in.

A few times, I nearly forgot the true purpose of the clean-up and I had to remind myself not to move too fast or do anything that would too obviously give away the fact that I’d been turned. We didn’t want Horvath and his men to know about that until the very last minute.

Hours passed and as they did, the more nervous I got. I’d been so sure that Horvath would come after me if I came home, but nothing was happening. The question was, why?

Old Horvath had made it sound in his note like he wouldn’t give up, which matched what the guys had said about his dogged persistence, but maybe he’d moved on after all. Or maybe it would take days of waiting, the thought of which made my insides grow cold. It was easy to be brave for a few hours. The longer this went on, the more tense and brittle I grew.

Staring out of the window into the night, all was quiet outside. There wasn’t a soul on the icy sidewalk and there was no one moving through the shadows cast by the old streetlamps.

I released a heavy sigh when a sound made my ears prick. Just the faintest of scratches, seemingly coming from the ceiling. And then, suddenly, the noise grew louder and the skylight came crashing down. My mind was reeling as a massive figure landed on me.

Hard.

Fear and rage lanced through me in equal measure as I tried to think straight. Using a technique Beckham had taught me to hone my senses for a fight, I cleared my mind of everything but the mission and the world slowed down around me.

I took advantage of the moment of sharp focus to scan my surroundings. Four more men came crashing down into the house, followed by one woman. She was decked out in black leather, had a sword strapped to her belt, and even held an old, half-rusted-looking shield in front of her.

The man who had landed on top of me was dressed similarly, except that his leather was dark brown and stained in places with… Was that dried blood? A quick sniff confirmed my suspicion and my stomach revolted against the smell of his prior victims.

There was an evil grin on his lips and his eyes glinted murderously. His hair was patchy and his breath acrid. 

Horvath.

I kicked out and he must’ve been surprised by the strength of the movement, because I managed to get free. I donned a crossbow and arrows from where I’d stashed them earlier and whipped a knife out of my boot.

The guys were closing in as well. Jaeger had been hiding in the attic while the others had been peppered around the perimeter of the house. Horvath spun as Jaeger dropped into the fight and lunged for him while I was suddenly faced with one of the other men.

This one wasn’t dressed like he was going to a renaissance fair, his black fatigues made him look like a military man. He was wielding a large knife and looking like he knew what to do with it.

He came at me lightning fast and I evaded his attack, the metal of our weapons clashing as I leaped at him. The kitchen appliance with the evil eyes grunted and jabbed the knife at me with a sneer.

“So they turned their little thrall? Bad move, sweetheart. Only makes me want to kill you more.”

“No,” I told him, confidence flowing through my veins now that I realized I could hold him off and spar with him like a true equal. “The bad move was your coming after us.”

Laughing manically, he came at me again. “Think you can beat me, little one?”

“I do, actually.”

Cooper had showed me how to circle an attacker faster than the rotors on a helicopter, telling me that this move would be impossible to follow if the attacker in question were human. I’d had a bit of trouble pulling it off in the woods, but I nailed it now.

Spinning around and around him, I grabbed the crossbow, took aim and shot him right in his evil eye. An incredulous expression crossed his ugly features just before he went down.

All around me, the sounds of weapons clashing was growing frenzied, as were the grunts and shouts of those locked in battle. Maddox, Cooper and Beckham were each facing off with one of the other men, while Maddox was fighting off the female attacker as well. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her lunge at him, his back turned to her.

My heart stammered to a stop as I saw her raise her sword and drive forward. I flew across the room, desperate to get to him before she hurt him.

Or worse.

My heavy winter boots connected with her knees when the tip of the sword was a hair’s breadth away from connecting with Maddox’s back. Right where it would’ve stabbed straight through his heart.

She stumbled back and turned to take a swing at me in the same instant. Her blade sliced clean through my Achilles tendon and I fell to the floor like a broken damn doll before I even felt any pain. She lunged at me, sword outstretched with a wild smile on her lips. I scrambled, trying my best to get up, but the cut wasn’t healing. Why wasn’t it healing?

Try as I might, I couldn’t move fast enough, and within seconds, she was on me, raising her sword to finish me off. Hands flailing blindly, I reached behind me and my fingers closed around the handle of the knife the first man I’d dropped had come in wielding.

Gripping it tightly, I swung my arm around and stabbed the female hunter through the chest in one swift motion. Her eyes dropped to the knife lodged there, then she let out a gurgled cry and collapsed on top of me. I struggled to get out from under her, dragging my leg limply behind me.

Jaeger was facing off with Horvath, while the others finished off their attackers, moving so fast, I knew that I wouldn’t have been able to keep track of what was happening if I was still human. But now I watched them in action, relieved to see that I’d been right about them all being elite killing machines.

Maddox grinned at his attacker at the same time that he turned the man’s neck between his bare hands and snapped it, watching as the man fell to his knees and keeled over. Cooper’s fighting style was less direct and he seemed to be having fun with the man he was fighting with, beckoning him over and then leaping overhead and watching with an almost bored expression on his face until the man’s eyes sought him out again.

He evaded one last time, then ran toward the man, barreling his shoulders into his stomach and tackling him to the ground, knife raised as he straddled the man and sliced his neck wide open. Beckham moved with deadly precision and the fight was over for his attacker before it even properly began.

I watched in fascination as all three of them moved to where Jaeger and Horvath were circling one another the way boxers did before a fight. Bodies were strewn all around my house, blood seeping into the floors, and if I’d thought the place was trashed before, that was nothing in comparison to the destruction the fight was leaving in its wake, but I couldn’t bring myself to care in that moment.

“How did you survive the fire, Horvath?” Jaeger growled, ornate sword clashing with Horvath’s.

“You think you’re the only ones with magic, bloodsucker?” Horvath’s grin was bone-chillingly maniacal as he lashed out at Jaeger. “I’ve had centuries to recover, and I spent every second plotting my revenge on you lot.”

Despite the circumstances, Jaeger smirked. “Should’ve taken a little bit more time, because you suck at revenge.”

Horvath roared and rammed his sword against Jaeger’s with renewed fervor, taunting them. “You’re going to end up just like your brethren, Jaeger. What was his name? Bradley?”

At the mention of his name, the others jumped in and I watched them engage in battle with their nemesis of all these years. Horvath recovered miraculously fast from every blow they delivered, moving almost as fast as they were.

For a few perilous minutes, the battle raged on and I realized with horror that Horvath was every bit the fierce and skilled fighter that they’d said he was. My tendon wasn’t healing at all, whatever that woman had cut me with must’ve been impeding the healing process and I could do nothing but watch with my heart in my throat as the guys clashed with Horvath over and over again.

With a sickening crunch and a stunned expression, the giant of a man finally fell to the floor, clutching at his chest where an arrow was protruding from his heart. I blinked, almost unable to believe what was happening right in front of my very eyes.

The arrow burst into flame and the fire shot down its shaft to Horvath’s body, entering him and causing his chest to take on an otherworldly glow. He slowly started disintegrating, until he was nothing but a pile of ash on the rug.

Cooper let out a loud whoop and I slumped to the floor in relief. The good guys had prevailed.

Thank god.

Looking around the battlefield that my house had become, my eyes drifted shut as I succumbed to the loss of blood from my foot, and I finally let myself wonder how in the hell I was ever going to get this place cleaned up again.