When he realized I was staring at him, both of his eyebrows rose in obvious irritation. What are you doing—you stupid wizard?

He didn’t have to speak—his irritation was settled into the way he had his arms folded across his chest.

But wait—the vampires were here. I could get out of the barrier and leave them to handle it, couldn’t I?

“Mortem Basium!” the delivery vampire screamed. Black light lashed from the black crystal on her staff, careening straight for Killian.

I kicked the vampire in the back of the knee, making her reflexively fold backwards, then chopped down on her throat with the hilt of my katana. She fell into a heap, but jabbed the staff at me.

I brought my katana up into a guard stance that blocked it, but she hit with such force it made my arms quiver and my teeth rattle.

This is what a vampire was like when they were at full strength? This was crazy! I had been so wrong—there was no way I’d win! But I didn’t have to, backup was standing just outside the barrier.

“Give up,” I snarled. “You can see you won’t make it out of here alive if you attack again.”

The delivery vampire laughed. “I already knew I wasn’t going to survive this. But that’s fine—as long as I can take that tyrant down with me!” She snapped her teeth at Killian, who had avoided the attack and was unscathed—though now Josh stood behind his other shoulder and was also trying to get him to leave.

Why wasn’t he, anyway?

The delivery vampire was on her feet faster than my eyes could track and jabbed her open nails at me.

I ducked sideways, but she followed with her speed and sank her nails into my shoulder, piercing my skin. She twisted, shredding my muscles in her claws.

I shouted, and my back arched in pain.

She dropped me and raised her hand to her mouth. Her tongue hovered just over her claws before she gagged, the scent of my blood too powerful to overcome.

On the ground, I made a change to my strategy. I couldn’t leave—she’d attack Celestina, Killian, and Josh again. But I could dispel the barrier and let everyone else in.

The vampire stepped over my prone body, murmuring in fae under her breath as the staff glowed black.

I made a show of moaning—it wasn’t too hard; pain had made my injured shoulder numb, and I couldn’t really move that arm, making my katana useless. I reluctantly released my weapon and curled my body as I tried to discreetly look for the dagger with the dragon on it. There—at the center of the circle.

I rolled twice and managed to grab the dagger. I even pulled, but it was shoved too deeply in for me to free with one hand.

The vampire clubbed me in the head with the bottom of her staff, and I collapsed, seeing stars.

I felt the surge of fae magic as the vampire triggered the spell.

Someone screamed, and the awful smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

I peeled myself off the floor and twisted around, relieved to see Killian, Celestina, and Josh were still standing. Celestina and Josh had drawn further back and were arguing with each other, but Killian had moved even closer to the barrier. He even rested his fingertips on it—which must have been blistering. Off behind him, though, an injured vampire moaned on the ground, and all the other vampires had fled halfway across the balcony.

The delivery vampire didn’t seem to care. She was unearthing a few more enchanted items from her black bag, her back to me.

Killian’s eyes lingered on me, then he tipped his head to the side, telling me to leave.

By now it was pretty apparent I couldn’t do much of anything—and if Killian was telling me to leave, he must have a plan.

I nodded and tried to stand, but the pain in my head ached with such fierceness I could barely see straight, so I slumped back down onto my knees.

Killian made a quiet exhale of irritation. “You betray your own kind for what—the fae?” His voice was dark, and he stared at the female vamp, the tilt of his chin saying he was unimpressed.

“They pay well, but that’s not why I took this job.” Her hands shook as she pulled out a wood carving of a phoenix and set it on the ground. “You made me! You’re a vampire—how could you limit the number of Unclaimed in the area?”

As I discreetly edged toward the side of the barrier, it dawned on me that her hands didn’t shake from fear, but rage.

Killian impassively stared at her. “Unclaimed vampires are liabilities at best, and most often live short lives. As a species, we cannot allow such a thing any longer.”

“You took away all my options—my choice!” she shrieked. “The rest of the Regional Committee didn’t want to ratify the law because they considered it cruel, but you did!”

Killian scoffed. “You are using a law that has only recently passed to defend murdering innocents and vampires alike for months.”

“Because I knew you’d pass it!” she snarled. “You’re Killian Drake—you’d never let it go until you have all of us under your thumb and your control.” She laughed, the sound staccato and unhinged. “And you don’t even care! You’ll do whatever you wish with no regard for who it harms or hinders!” She rested her hand on the phoenix. “Well, no more. You can’t escape the building before I release this magic. You will pay for everything you have done.”

I stopped edging sideways and stared at the phoenix, a bad feeling boiling in my gut.

She squatted on the ground, one hand resting on the phoenix carving, the other on the dragon dagger, and once again started to murmur in melodic Fae.

The phoenix statue glowed, and the wood actually started to singe while fire churned around the vampire’s feet as power built.

This wasn’t a single strike like she’d been launching with the staff, this was a massive spell. If the power was any indication, it would clear through the entire floor—perhaps the building. “Are you crazy?” I shouted. “There are innocent people here!”

“Collateral damage,” the vampire said coldly. “Sacrifices are necessary for new beginnings. This rebirth will cleanse the vampire race so we can live as we deserve with no regard for laws of any sort.”

She was totally off her rocker, but I couldn’t let her kill everyone.

“Hazel,” Killian started. “Don’t—”

I ignored him and bolted for the crazy vampire. This time I wetted my hand in some of my blood that was flowing at an alarming rate from my mangled shoulder, then smacked my hand over her face, thrusting one of my fingers between her lips.

She wrenched herself backwards, retching and gagging. She kicked me as she scurried backwards, kneeing me in the chest so I lost all my air. I wheezed for a few moments, then grabbed the phoenix sculpture.

It was a lot heavier than I had estimated. I could barely lift it with one hand. I tried to throw it, but I couldn’t get it high enough to get any sort of lift on it. So I leaned back onto my butt and kicked it.

It didn’t clear the circle, but it skidded a few feet away.

I tried to scramble after it, but the vampire darted in front of me. “You cockroach! Just die!” She grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off my feet, then threw me, slamming me into the ground.

Something in my injured arm crunched. The pain was so overwhelming I couldn’t breathe. My stomach rolled, but all my muscles were already bunched in pain. My neck hurt, and for a few moments I wondered if she had crushed my windpipe. I tried to gasp for air, my hair matting in the dribble of my own blood. After what felt like an eternity, I was able to take in a shallow breath, and then another.

But when I tried to move, my body wouldn’t listen.

I heard gunshots, but it sounded like they ricocheted off the bubbling surface of the barrier.

The delivery vampire laughed and said something, but her voice was muffled as my ears rang.

I blinked until my vision cleared, and what I saw made my chest hurt.

The other vampires had fled, but Killian, Celestina, and Josh remained.

Celestina and Josh must have realized Killian wasn’t going to leave. Rather than seek safety for themselves they stayed, loyal until the end.

Josh had the tip of his broadsword stabbed into the barrier, his muscles straining as he pushed everything he had into his sword.

Celestina picked up a chair and threw it at the barrier. It splintered and fell in a shamble. Next, she picked up a table and hammered at the magical barrier. The red of her eyes was stark—she knew it was hopeless, but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Killian must have been the one to fire the gun. He held a handgun at his side and still had his other hand planted on the barrier, ignoring the painful sparks and flickers of magic. His eyes were obsidian black, his lips curled back in a snarl that showed more of his prominent fangs than usual.

They were going to die.

Even if the vampire set off the massive fae spell, I’d probably survive with my magic blood. But Celestina, Josh…and Killian…they’d die.

The female vamp stood just on the other side of the barrier from Killian, a mocking smile on her lips as she held the phoenix statue out, rambling off the fae spell.

Get up! I screamed internally at myself. I have to do something! Anything!

I tried to move my arm, and hot agony knifed through me—though I was too weak to do more than whimper. I tugged on the magic in the air and pulled it through my blood, but I couldn’t concentrate long enough to get it to flicker at my fingertips. Everything hurt too much.

Flames ate up the phoenix statue, and I could tell by the ever-widening circle of fire around the vampire that the spell was almost complete. She would win, and kill Killian. She would kill the vampires I had slowly come to think of as my friends.

My eyelids drifted shut against my will.

Get up! Hit her—take her out. The thought came unbidden from the darkest bits of my mind: kill the crazy vampire to save them. Commit what House Medeis labeled as one of the greatest atrocities, for Killian Drake—a horrific vampire by nature.

But he had laughed and smiled with me. He’d protected me from my own kind—from his own Family! I didn’t know what we were—friends seemed a weird definition, and one Killian would probably scoff at. But he had stood at my back, and every teasing poke, every challenge, every smirk had drawn me from my own bitterness and made me laugh despite my terrible situation.