“What do we do?” I ask.

Alexander’s nostrils flare. “There are at least five of them. Maybe six. Sebastian and I can handle the children, but if you can’t take out Markus, we’re in trouble.”

“I can do it.”

“Can you?”

I spring to my feet and dart over to him. His fangs snap to attention and he leans away as I raise my hands to his face. He grips me by the shoulders to force me to keep a safe distance.

“Stop posturing. I’m trying to help you.”

The muscles in his neck remained taut. “That remains to be seen.”

I roll my eyes. “Shut up. I’m not your enemy, and I never have been.”

Slowly, his fingers ease up on my shoulders, and his hands fall to the sides. Now is not the time to feed into our dislike and distrust of one another. We need each other. I stare into his blue eyes as they darken to black irises surrounded by red flames.

“What are you doing?” His tone is clipped, suspicious.

“Taking your hearing.”

“What?” he snaps.

He lifts his hands to stop me, but I shake my head and hold him firmer. “He can’t control you if you can’t hear him.”

He quickly considers this before nodding.

I have no idea what to say or do; I’m going on instinct. For the first time, I feel what needs to be done and I don’t need a spell to do it.

“Can you hear me?”

He raises an eyebrow, and I slow my words when I repeat myself, so he can read my lips.

“No,” his voice is quiet as a church mouse.

“Good.”

A loud explosion sounds in the foyer, and shards of the front door blast everywhere, some landing on the hardwood not three feet from where I stand.

When my eyes go wide, Alexander spins around, and he and his brother flank me. Heavy footsteps get louder as the vampires draw near. I smell Markus before I see him, like a bottle of musk and cinnamon. He smiles wickedly when his eyes meet mine.

“Well, well, you’ve made friends.”

It surprises me to see Markus looking the exactly same as he did when I first met him. His skin still has the same pale color, and his aura is just as thick and dark. He doesn’t look sick at all, and it makes me wonder if I affected him at all. Sebastian and Alexander seem to believe I’m toxic to all vampires, and I’ve killed some in the past, but what if those rumors were as true as the ones I was told about the coven? Or maybe Markus is immune like Sebastian. If that’s true we are in serious trouble.

Markus glances at Justine. “And who’s that on the floor? A late supper?”

“I’m surprised you’d care to notice, considering how much you hate humans.”

The vampires flanking him almost vibrate with tension as they wait for us to fight. They’re begging to be let off their leashes, to attack. And here I stand, petrified. How many times have I imagined myself the heroine in the books I read, what I would do in these situations. I always thought I’d be smarter and run away before getting myself killed. But now, running is the furthest thing from my mind. I’m going to end him or die trying.

“How about you tell your dogs to stand down and you fight me honorably? If I win, your men walk away and never think of my friends or me again.”

“And if I win?” Markus asks.

“Well, I’ll be dead so…isn’t that what you ultimately want anyway?”

“Oh, no. I have a better idea. How about I kill them both for helping you, and then, before I reach into your chest to rip out your heart, you surrender and agree to do as I say for the rest of your human life?”

“Don’t listen to him. His children are young. We can take them.” Sebastian tips his head to the side and cracks his neck.

“Well, this will be fun.” Markus pastes a cocky grin on his face as he turns to Alexander. “Alex, kill your brother—and make it hurt.”

For the first time since I met him, Alexander smiles widely, like a child before opening presents at Christmas. It warms me to him for the briefest of moments. Then I remember he’s a dick. But at least Markus can’t use him against me.

Alexander doesn’t move an inch.

Markus grimaces at us. His face shifts to harsh lines and veiny, translucent skin. “My oldest child and you’ve turned him against me.”

I don’t bother telling him it that Alexander turned all on his own.

Sebastian and Alexander crouch, and the other vampires race forward, screaming at the tops of their lungs with their arms outstretched and their hands tipped with long, sharp nails. I stay where I am, eyes on Markus. He doesn’t move a muscle as the vampires around us collide. Arms retract, fists fly. Alexander tears the head off a blond-haired vampire, like his head was only attached with Velcro. With a bloodthirsty smile, he tosses the head to the side with the spinal cord trailing behind it.

I hold my palms up, balls of glowing fire radiating.

Markus charges forward through the chaos. Sebastian jumps through the air to land a fist in a vampire’s jaw. The vampire rocks on his feet and stumbles. Sebastian snaps his neck.

I throw fireballs at Markus, but he dodges them, and when he collides with me, we fly through the air to smash into the far wall. He tries to pound on my face, over and over, but my protective wall is up and fully intact. I shake off the pain in my back and gulp air. With all my energy, I wrap my hands around his neck and draw my fireballs again. They singe his neck, and he drops me, backing away as his neck mends before my eyes.

The other vampires continue into the other room. Alexander whirs by the doors, his foot outstretched as he soars through the air. His foot crashes into the stomach of another vampire. Sebastian backflips to dodge a punch before round housing the two vampires trying to hit him with a bevy of right and left hooks.

“You’re stronger. How?”

I walk toward him, and he circles me. I let him, my light surrounding me like a cocoon. He can’t even get close enough to me to hurt me right now. Confidence fills me like never before. I always shied away from confrontation, figuring it was easier and safer to walk away, but now I’m strong enough to stay and fight. Even if I don’t win, I’m strong enough to try.

“Like I’d tell you.”

A flash of a memory hits me, making me stumble. Markus recognizes it immediately. “Ahh, more memories, Penelope? Are you in there? I’d love to see you again.”

“Shut up! Penelope’s dead.” A flash of light, a warm spring breeze— I’m in a field on the long grass. And Markus is over me, laughing as he holds a spear over his head. ‘See you soon,’ he says as he drives the spear into my heart. I let out a loud gasp.

“Come on, Penny. Let your walls down, and fight me like a real hunter.”

“Play fair? How fair is the fight when you’re stronger and faster than I could ever hope to be as a human?”

He hisses at me and pounds on my wall: right, left, kick, jab. His teeth grit together as he screams, “Let me in!”

“I don’t think so!”

Alexander appears in the doorjamb, his eyes flaring at the sight of his master. He surges forward like a tornado, his fist flying, but Markus dodges, and Alexander continues punching and kicking. Sebastian runs in to join him. Markus laughs as he stands still, holding up his arm to block Alexander’s fists and his knee and other arm to stop Sebastian’s. It continues for some time, and I wonder if I should step in, but I worry about hitting the brothers.

“Enough of this!” Markus says.

A blur of shapes moves around the room. A vase smashes on the floor. A painting falls off its hook to slide down the wall, and then the large window at the front of the house shatters as Sebastian flies through the air to collide with a tree outside.

“Sebastian!”

He struggles to get to his feet. Alexander is thrown to the ceiling and falls on his back with a spectacular thud as the plaster on the ceiling and some wood rain down over him.

“Kill him!” Sebastian yells. “Now!”

Markus peppers me with punches and kicks, knocking me back though not breaking through my armor. Each blow drains me, little by little, until my head throbs. My muscles ache, the way I used to feel after a long-distance run—without the feel-good high. My eyes burn, as if I haven’t slept in days.

With two hands out, palms facing me, he bends his knees and flies forward horizontally until his hands smash into my light. I fall back on my ass, my light faltering, dying like the flicker of a threatened power outage.

He smiles as he stands tall in front of me. My light shatters into electric dust motes that collect around my body.

“I’m impressed. You’re better than before but still not quite good enough.”

He lunges for me, and I spin around to move out of the way. He pivots, crouching to tackle me. His hands go to my neck, and I grip his wrists and fight with my mind, imagining a metal collar around my neck strong enough to stop his crushing fingers. It slows him, but not completely. I bend, feeling the pressure, and desperately try and pull his hands away, but he’s too strong.

Two balls of black light flash forward, and Alexander and Sebastian stop just long enough for me to see them grip Markus’ shoulders and attempt to pull him off. He still doesn’t let go. I panic, slapping his arms. Gasping, I try to swallow air but can’t get enough. The world is fading into darkness. My light is almost extinguished. Alexander whirls away. Seconds later, he returns to stake Markus with a poker.

Markus’s hands retract, as if they’re on springs. I fall to the floor on my stomach and roll over to take deep gulps of air. I can’t get enough.

“Your blood! Give Markus more. Now,” Alexander demands.

Sebastian rushes to my side and grabs my arm. The suddenness makes me flinch as he sinks his teeth into my wrist.

“No!” Alexander screams at his brother, seemingly unaware that he’s immune to my toxic blood. There’s no time to ease his mind. I crawl to where Markus lies. Blood drips from his chest and mouth.

“Stay away,” he hisses.

I press my wrist to his mouth, but he growls like a rabid dog before pressing his lips together in a hard line. Sebastian and Alexander fight to force him to open it but he’s stronger, even as injured as he is.

“Fuck this.” Alexander tears Markus’s jaw clear off, exposing a hollow of blood and tissues. I fight the urge to vomit and stare at Alexander in horror.

“Now!” he commands me.

I hold my wrist over the mangled vampire’s face. Tears stream down my face as my blood drips down his throat. I can’t watch. I look away to Justine, who stirs nearby. When she lifts her head to me, her eyes are on fire, and her fangs are exposed. She licks her lips. “Your scent.”

Oh, dear God. Not now. Please not now.

“Sebastian!”

He follows my gaze and subdues his new child while she fights him, trying desperately to break free from his hold to reach me. “I must feed.”

“You’ll stay where you are,” he commands her.

Markus gurgles as Alexander helps my blood along, squeezing my arm to increase the flow. I narrow my eyes up at him and ignore the sting. The more blood flowing from me, the weaker I feel. I want to lie down and sleep. My eyes grow heavier, and the world starts to spin.

The light around Markus’ wings flickers until it cools to shades of gray and black. I pull my hand away, though Alexander tries to fight me.

“That’s enough,” I say. “He’s dying.”

“He’s got nine lives. He needs to die and stay dead.”

“He just lost his last one,” I say quietly as I slump to the ground on my behind.

Markus’ wings flicker and burn brighter with the same golden tones my aura usually has, but it only lasts a moment before the light shatters into a thousand pieces, and like a thick coat of dust it sways in the air to fall to the floor like a pile of ash. His body grays, and his eyes dull. He falls back to lay limp beside me. Then he catches on fire, burning the same brilliant shades of orange and red I saw in his eyes just moment ago. Unlike the young vampire I killed, he doesn’t explode into blood and guts. His death is more...palatable.

“Estelle!” Sebastian yells to one of the maids.

Justine tugs on her hair as she paces, but Sebastian no longer holds her. Like me, he sits on the ground, seemingly exhausted. But unlike me, he finds the energy to shrug it off and stand. He dusts off his jeans.

Estelle hurries into the room. Although she gasps at the site of the burning vampire and the piece of his jaw that remains, she closes her eyes a moment, and I watch her lips move as she counts to three. When she flashes her eyes open, she calmly says, “Yes, sir?”

“Feed the lady,” Sebastian says.

“Of course.”

“Justine, you will feed until her heart slows, and then you will stop. You will never drink from Emily no matter how delicious she smells. Her blood will kill you. Do you understand?”

She nods and flies through the air to wrap her arms and legs around the poor maid. Though the maid opens her mouth in horror, her shock fades once Justine slams fangs into her flesh.

I’ve never heard a vampire suck harder and louder than Justine.

And I hope to God I never have to hear it again.