Her eyes find mine, wide with terror.“Vex!”
The Khorvath materializes behind her.
Not fully.Not solid.But more real than it’s ever been, a towering distortion of black ice and swirling snow, twelve feet tall and vaguely humanoid.Its face is a void where eyes should be, and when it speaks, the voice is like glass shattering inside my skull.
“Mine,” it hisses.“She is mine.Warden.Vessel.Mine.”
White eyes.Fangs.Every vampire instinct screamingprotect, claim, kill.
I launch myself at the creature, claws out, moving faster than anything human could track.My hand connects with one of the tendrils, and—
Pain.
Not ordinary cold.This is different.Ancient.Wrong.It burns like acid even as it freezes, and I can feel my flesh crystallizing where I touch it.My healing factor kicks in immediately, but it’s struggling, fighting against something that shouldn’t exist in this world.
The tendril releases Tessa just long enough for her to drop to the ground, and I’m there, putting my body between her and the creature.The other brothers arrive, Blade in full bear form standing over Hannah, Fury wreathed in flames but still human looking, Prophet’s hands glowing with divine light.
We attack as one.
Blade’s claws rake through the creature’s torso, tearing chunks of ice and shadow away.Fury’s fire melts its tendrils, steam rising in great hissing clouds.Prophet chants in an ancient language, golden light lancing out like spears.
But it’s not enough.
For every piece we destroy, two more form.The creature is regenerating faster than we can damage it, and it’s growingstronger.The temperature drops twenty degrees in seconds, frost spreading outward from the Khorvath in waves, and I can see my brothers slowing, their movements getting sluggish.
A tendril lashes out, catching me across the chest.
The impact sends me flying backward, and I hit the van hard enough to dent the metal.Pain explodes through me, not only from the impact, but from thecold.The ancient frost is in my system now, spreading through my veins like poison, and my healing factor is screaming in protest.
Can’t heal.Can’t move fast enough.Can’t—
“Vex!”Tessa’s voice cuts through the haze of pain.
She’s crawling toward me, her face pale, the mark on her shoulder blazing like a beacon.The Khorvath is advancing on us, tendrils reaching, and I try to stand but my legs won’t cooperate.
Get up.Protect her.Get.Up.
But my body won’t listen.
The frost has spread to my core, crystallizing my blood, and every breath feels like inhaling razors.This is what it did to the Johnsons.This is how it kills, from the inside out, turning living flesh into frozen sculpture.
I’m dying.
And Tessa is going to watch.
Then she’s there, her hands on my face, her warmth shocking against my frozen skin.
“No,” she says fiercely.“No, you don’t get to die.Not now.Not like this.”
“Tessa, run—”
“Shut up.”Her hands move to my chest, feeling the frost spreading beneath my shirt.“You need to heal.You need—” She stops, understanding dawning in her eyes.“You need blood.”
“No.”The word comes out as a growl.“I won’t—”
“I’m not asking.”She yanks her jacket sleeve up, exposing her wrist, and shoves it toward my mouth.“Drink.Heal.Then get back up and kill that fucking thing.”
“Tessa—”
