Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

MIKO

T wo pairs of pink vampire eyes fell on me.

Fuck.

The ladder rattled violently, the hissing of the horde dangerously close.

"Kill the wolf!" Dawn spat. "Kill the wolf!"

Daria launched forward in an attack, her vamp speed mind-blowing. I went for a dive, a hand snaring the collar of my jumper. Daria yanked me backwards, bringing her fangs to my neck and pierced the skin, the sting a hot flare.

"Fuck you!" I roared, cracking her in the face with the back of my head.

She released me. I turned and delivered an uppercut, sending her flying into the roof wall with a sickening thud.

Joe charged, his hands curled into claws, his toothless gums black in the moonlight. I wasn't fast enough to dodge him. He crashed into me. We went down together, me landing hard on my spine.

Ignoring the pain, I grabbed his hands, holding him back. Without teeth, thanks to Lance and his people, he went for clawing my face off.

Fuck this.

I snapped his left wrist. He didn't seem to notice, too deep in Dawn's thrall and practically a zombie vampire, indifferent to pain, only here for one thing.

"Eat!" the horde cried as one below.

They were here, Dawn coming up the ladder, and my vampire friends were trying to kill me.

Great.

Joe's left arm dropped. I managed to punch his mouth. His head snapped back, the rest of him taking a backward tumble. He landed in a heap on my legs, thrashing angrily.

I'm sorry…

I kicked him off me, leaping to my feet. He rolled, getting on all fours.

Offering up another apology, I kicked him in the head. The poor guy went down hard, not moving.

Shit. I knew he wasn't dead. He was still breathing, and you didn't kill a vamp by using its head as a football. Zombies ended by shutting down the brain.

Hopefully, Joe would keep his brain intact. But if I had to stop him from?—

Don't think about it…

Daria jumped back up, blood gushing from her broken nose. She hissed, a puff of pink condensation passing her lips.

"Fight it!" I yelled, trying to reach her. Was she still in there, or had Dawn killed her and reanimated her like a human?

Dawn erupted with laughter from the direction of the ladder.

Yeah. So hilarious.

Daria hissed again, darting forward, only to come to a juddering stop after a few steps. She staggered, clutching at her chest.

Shit. What now?

"Miko…" she whispered, hunching over. "I…"

"No!" Dawn bellowed from the ladder, the horde hissing in response.

I stepped forward. "Fight it, Daria."

This was a good sign, right? This meant Dawn still wasn't quite strong enough to take over supernaturals. That was my theory, anyway, and I was lucky enough have an extra Orion boost to get its arse.

Daria whimpered then retched. Nothing came up.

"You are mine!" Dawn cried. "You are mine! You are mine! You are?—"

Daria retched again, a stream of pink vomit exploding out of her.

The ladder rattled and clanged, appearing to come loose at the top.

Come on, Daria. Come on.

The vampire puked her guts up five times in a row until a puddle of pink goo sat at her feet. It faded to black, steam curling from it. She gasped, her breathing labored.

I went to her, ready to knock her out if she attacked me. But when she lifted her head, her eyes were back to their regular purple hue.

"Miko…" she rasped.

We didn't have much time. "Can you walk?"

She straightened, rubbing her stomach. "I think so."

Joe stirred, groaning. That same pink liquid poured from his open mouth, quickly turning black.

"My vampires!" Dawn wailed, a bolt pinging free from the top of the ladder.

"Thank goodness," Daria said, heading for Joe.

I got to him first, throwing his scrawny body over my back. He groaned again, muttering something as he locked his arms around me.

"Okay there?" I asked.

"Been…better."

"Can you manage him?" Daria asked.

"Yeah. Can you run?"

"I will make myself." She seemed stronger already. "Dawn. It?—"

"We'll talk about it later. Let's go."

We checked the other ladder first. The lower roof was clear and flat, stretching all the way to the curve in the road, ending close enough to the woodland fence for us to leap over it.

"Come on," I said, climbing onto the ladder.

A head crested the wobbly ladder, pink eyes blazing, tendrils of smoke swirling around its head.

"You will not escape!"

Dawn controlled a man's body with no extras. No wings, claws, or tentacles. God, never let it be tentacles. They reminded me of a scary story my sisters told me when we were kids about some giant squid in the ocean snatching cruise ships from the surface. It still haunted me to this day, putting me off boat trips and cruises for life.

Now was not the time for jaunts down memory lane. I moved down a couple of rungs, then dropped safely onto the lower roof. Daria followed, the two of us breaking into a run.

Dawn cackled like some wicked witch. "Run, run, run!"

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing it watching us from the higher roof. On the road below, to my right, the horde charged.

We picked up speed.

This better work.

Approaching the edge, I performed a quick inspection, preparing for my leap.

"Jump. Run into the trees," I ordered. "We'll find shelter."

Daria responded to my orders with a nod, getting herself ready. After a stint at being Dawn-possessed or whatever, she was doing great.

We ran the final stretch at full speed, springboarding off the edge in perfect synchronicity. We sailed over the arriving horde, clearing the fence, and landed on a patch of damp grass right on the cusp of the tree line.

"Eat!" the horde boomed.

We took off into the trees, the fence clanging behind us. Those pricks would make short work of it, so speed was of the essence.

A canopy of branches fractured the moonlight, the woodland becoming denser the deeper we went. Wildlife stirred, a rabbit hopping across my path, a deer bolting up ahead. We kept going in as straight a line as possible, Joe whispering his thanks a couple of times.

"No worries," I answered, ducking a low branch.

The sounds of the horde were a good distance behind us now, but that didn't mean I'd be kicking up my feet yet. I still needed to go back there to rescue my pack, and then find Ori.

Basil's scent tickled my sense of smell, trailing off to the west.

Cookies.

"Do you sense the fae blood?" Daria asked as we both came to a stop.

"I do." The stink of blood magic came with it. "To the west."

"Yes."

My pack would know to run when the runes dropped. They'd be on high alert, constantly searching for a weak spot to get free. With the horde coming after us, it cleared that hurdle for them, too. They would be alright, I'd make sure of it.

But these magi wouldn't be.

A growl rumbled in my chest. "Let's go."

I led the charge west.