Chapter 29

Summer had never been around so many vampires in her life. The woods were teeming with them—so many that her skin was crawling—and then she realized she was one of them now.

Raven, the tall, statuesque wind vampire that Baojia had insisted on being her guardian, touched her elbow. "You okay?"

Summer looked up. "I'm fine."

Raven nodded. She was Black and her skin was really dark, but Summer's new night vision meant that seeing her was as easy as spotting someone in broad daylight. Her close-cropped hair was military short, and she had the bearing and attitude of a soldier like Baojia. She was both comforting and intimidating.

"Katya wanted me to take you to Ivan," Raven said. "Are you sure?"

Summer nodded. "Yes. I need to kill him."

Her nod was terse. "Just remember, I have your back. And I promise I won't drop you." With that abrupt warning, Raven scooped Summer up under her armpits and took to the sky.

Summer was so shocked she didn't even try to scream. She sucked in a breath that rasped across her burning throat, and swallowed hard. Raven flew them up and over the trees until Summer could see a massive house in the distance with a large fire burning in front of it.

She felt a lurch of pure anger combined with a desire to weep. He was close. The man who tried to kill Dani was so close. Was she strong enough to kill him? Was she fast enough? Did she have the guts?

Summer knew that in this fight, she could definitely be the loser.

Was it worth it?

She remembered Dani's pale face in the hospital room, the tubes and lines running out of his body to monitor him and keep him alive. The pins in his bones and the bruises on his body.

Ice-cold rage filled her chest.

I'm going to kill you, Ivan.

"We're going to drop down on the edge of the clearing," Raven said. "I can already see Daxa overhead. It doesn't look like Ivan has any air support."

"I never saw him with any other vampires," Summer said. "He hired humans to kidnap us and run the farm."

"What the hell?" Raven scoffed. "So he's an idiot."

"Maybe." Summer tried to shrug, but with Raven holding her, it wasn't very successful. "Or maybe he just doesn't have any friends."

They dropped to the ground and immediately two bullets whizzed past them. Summer dodged to the right before consciously thinking, her ultrasensitive hearing homing in on the high whine of bullets as they approached. It was as if she were listening in slow motion.

"He knows we're here," Summer said. "Has someone disabled the cars?"

"He can always run," Raven said. "We need to find this guy. Quick."

Carwyn had collected three baby vampires who were trailing him like ducklings as he skulked through the foggy cathedral of cedar, pine, and redwood. He'd taken his shoes off, digging his feet into the earth and drawing as much energy as he could.

"We have to leave," one of the newborns said. "Let's just get out of here!" She was a young woman named Jade with large brown eyes that constantly scanned from side to side. She jumped at everything, completely overwhelmed by her newly awakened senses. "It's too loud here. I can hear them coming."

Carwyn frowned. "Where?"

Jade turned to the right and pointed. "I hear them."

Newborn instinct tended to be supercharged, so he pushed the newborns behind his massive frame and faced the direction Jade had indicated. He whispered, "How many, Jade?"

"Two." She gripped Beth's hand while the young man behind them, a tall, wiry Latino teenager, moved to Carwyn's side.

Carwyn touched his shoulder gently. "I can take care of the hunters."

The young man's jaw clenched.

"Trust me," Carwyn said. "Protect the girls."

That seemed to mollify the boy. He nodded and dropped back.

Carwyn could feel the hunters now. They were good. They moved silently through the trees, darting back and forth, playing with his perceptions until they…

They disappeared.

Jade whispered, "Look up."

Of course. They'd sensed Carwyn's amnis and climbed into the trees to escape detection.

"Stay behind me."

"They're right here." Jade was panicking. "Right here!"

Carwyn looked up just in time to see an Asian vampire holding a long spear falling toward him. He pushed the newborns back and launched his body upward, propelled by the earth beneath his feet. He met the vampire in the air, his hunting knife already drawn.

He felt the spear enter his shoulder and roared with the burning flesh wound.

Surprise was the other vampire's only advantage though. Once they reached the ground, Carwyn dug into the ground and split the earth, swallowing the other vampire up to the waist.

Carwyn pulled the spear from his body and tossed it toward the newborns, hoping one would catch it. Then he spun around, slashed the back of the vampire's neck, and pulled, detaching the head from its body. A massive spurt of blood shot up, and Carwyn heard one of the newborns retching.

"No!" A scream from behind had Carwyn spinning again.

The hunter's partner flew down from her perch in the trees and flung another spear toward the newly turned vampires with a scream. Carwyn saw it and lunged in front of the group, absorbing the impact, but not before he saw the young man protecting Jade and Beth hurl the spear toward the hunter.

His aim was true, and his new strength forced the other spear through the heart of the woman with the long braids. Her beautiful face was twisted in rage, and she looked offended that the young vampire had wounded her.

It didn't matter for long though. She broke off the spear in her chest and tossed it to the side, lunging with fangs bared as Carwyn struggled to his feet. He'd taken a spear to the shoulder and another to his gut now. He was losing blood and more than a little grumpy about it.

The hunter was at the young man's throat, holding him down as Jade and Beth tried to pull her away. They might be strong, but they had no idea how to leverage that strength.

"Beth," Carwyn yelled. "Your knife!"

The girl's eyes went wide and she pulled the knife from her pocket, where it was still sheathed in the leather case. She pulled the leather off and stabbed the hunter in the back.

That made the woman let go and snarl at Beth, who backed away as quickly as she'd struck.

Carwyn used the distraction to grab the woman around the waist and fling her into a tree. As soon as she hit the ground, the earth swallowed her, only to spit her out almost immediately.

"Silly man." The other earth vampire hissed. "Did you think that was only your little trick?"

Carwyn felt the earth beneath his feet trying to open, but he forced his amnis down and pushed out, his amnis battling with the woman's as they circled each other.

The ground beneath them bucked and rolled, one energy fighting the other until Carwyn felt for Brigid's amnis, took a chance, and pulled.

On the other side of the woods, having just shot through the spine of her second hunter, Brigid felt the pull and shouted at Baojia, "Carwyn needs me!"

Without another word, she ran toward her mate.

Baojia's people had spread through the trees, some soldiers picking up newborns and whisking them away from the fight as others stalked Ivan's guests, turning the hunters into prey.

Brigid raced through the trees, ignoring the sound of vampires in the distance.

Find the man.

She veered toward his amnis, entering a small clearing where Sultry and Carwyn were circling each other.

The woman turned to her. "You?"

Carwyn used Brigid's energy and her distraction to push his elemental power at the woman. The earth rippled, then folded over the vampire's feet, dragging her toward Carwyn, who waited with a hunting knife drawn.

"How the hell" —the woman screamed— "are you so powerful?"

Carwyn grabbed her neck, twisted, and slashed her spine with the hunting knife before he dropped her body to the ground. Then he turned to the newborns and said, "I'm really fucking old."

All three of the newborns were looking at Carwyn as if he were a cross between Captain America and Conan the Barbarian. Their faces kept switching between admiration and revulsion. It was an interesting mix.

The thin young man looked at the bloody remains of Sultry and Smug, then at Carwyn. "Will I be able to do that?"

Carwyn and Brigid spoke at the same time.

"Yes," she said.

"Please don't."

She shot her mate side-eye. "Eventually you will be able to control your strength like Carwyn, but you'll need to learn hand-to-hand combat."

"But really, all of you should endeavor to live a peaceful life." Carwyn looked at Brigid. "But yes. Eventually you'll be able to do this." He pressed a hand to his abdomen, and Brigid saw that he was bleeding badly.

"Just your gut?" She walked over, and the hand that went to his shoulder came away sticky. "They were a pair, were they? Shoulder and gut. Anything else?"

"Is he going to be okay?" a newborn girl asked.

"He'll be fine." Brigid could already feel Carwyn drawing from the earth around him, relieved they weren't in the middle of the city. Not that there was any good place to take two penetrating wounds, but her mate would heal quickly around so much thriving, open land.

She looked at the newborns. "There will be a vampire coming this way. He's Asian, looks around thirty, and walks like a soldier. His name is Baojia, and you'll be safe with him." She put her hand on Carwyn's cheek. "I'm going to find Ivan."

He nodded. "As soon as I leave them with Baojia, I'll follow."

"Good man." She pressed a fierce kiss to his mouth and ran back toward the mansion.

She'd counted at least nine dead hunters and was hoping that the rest had been dispatched by Baojia's men. She reached the clearing and saw the bonfire burning, the pale, red-haired vampire walking around the flames.

The fire reached for them, and the void of elemental energy around the immortal gave way to sudden, blinding clarity.

Brigid was facing another fire vampire.

She bared her fangs and stood on the other side of the stone hearth, watching the vampire through the flames.

"You don't need the wig anymore." The redheaded vampire rolled their neck in a slow, lazy motion. "Are you the Irish one?"

"I'm Irish." Brigid mirrored the vampire's movements, walking slowly around the fire and trying not to think about Ivan in the house. Or in the forest. Where was he?

"I'm not." The vampire held a ball of fire in their hand, slowly turning it in their fingers. "I do get asked a lot though. Must be the hair."

"Oh aye." Brigid pulled the wig off and rubbed her nearly black pixie cut. "The hair would do it."

"I came back to the manor when I realized what was happening." They looked toward the forest where the moon was rising over the trees. "It was foolish of Ivan to take the Mackenzie girl."

How did this vampire know so much?

They shook their head. "I think she reminded him of Constantina. Do you know who that is?"

"Haven't had the pleasure of chatting with Ivan much. More's the pity."

"That woman was always his weakness." They huffed out a breath.

"It sounds like you care about Ivan."

"In a way," the vampire said. "Why do you care about him?"

"He's hunting humans and turning them into vampire prey."

"And?" The vampire tossed the fireball from one hand to another before they changed direction. "What do your modern morals mean to us?"

Damn it, she'd been trying to play it cool, but she just couldn't take it anymore. "Who are you?"

The vampire looked amused. "Who are you? I tried to introduce myself when I asked if you were the Irish one, but you ignored me." They smiled. "Rude girl."

"I'm Brigid Connor, daughter of Deirdre of Wicklow."

The vampire smiled, their fangs thin and long. "So you are the Irish one."

"Who are you?"

The vampire touched their tongue to one fang. "I'm Zasha Sokolov, of course. Ivan's grandsire." They smiled. "So delighted to finally meet you."

Shit. Brigid didn't waste her time with pleasantries. She pulled as much amnis as she could from Carwyn, spread her arms wide, and rammed the fire toward Sokolov.