“Stay behind me,” Josh shouted, his back pressed to Georgie as he edged them away.
Ethan fought close by, his shirt and flesh ripping as a vampire snagged hold of him. I didn’t take my eyes off Sarah. Hatred gleamed in her fire-ridden eyes. She began to claw her way slowly up the brick wall.
I walked toward her, gritting my teeth and increasing the wind, holding her pinned to the wall. Ignoring the fighting going on all around me. Ignoring Karson, who was yelling at me to stay where I was. He was right, it was dangerous to move, I should stay where I was or I could die. But if I held her, without their firstborn, the vampires would retreat, and this would all stop. A burst of euphoria washed over me. I was only vaguely aware of Ethan and Rodney moving with me, throwing off anyone who attacked. The sounds of wind roaring, cracking, and cries assaulted my hearing. A little closer, if I could hold her, Ethan and Rodney could contain her.
The lights went out. Everything went black.
In an instant, I froze. My power fizzled and died. Then panic exploded through my body. No one knew I was afraid of the dark aside from those on Karson’s side. And Rodney …
Thumping, cracking, and a grotesque wet, ripping noise thundered against my hearing. Something rushed past, so close my hair ruffled. The darkness crushed against my chest. The room swayed beneath my feet, my legs lost power, and I dropped to my knees, my heart beating like a frightened rabbit.
Breathe, Amelia breathe, a voice said. It sounded like my mother.
I sucked in a breath, then another.
I was defenseless, blind. If I didn’t move, I knew I’d be dead. And yet, my muscles refused to budge. I was an empty house, gutted by fear, rotting at the rafters. All I could do was kneel, trapped by terror.
But with my mind, I called the sword to my hand. Hard metal slapped against my palm and my fingers snapped around the handle.
Feel my presence, Amy.This time it was Ethan’s voice replaying in my head, his voice a brick in the foundation.
I squeezed my eyes shut. My ears became white static. I became mindless to the noise of fighting.
And then?—
Cold, dark energy swelled toward me from behind.
“Amelia,” Karson cried. Through the static, it sounded distant. But his voice sparked my body to life. I twisted and swung. The blade sliced through something solid, an awful, serrated, ripping sound. A clank. A slapping noise.
I didn’t have time to even register it, before another one came. I sprang to my feet as I twisted. I hit something hard, then the pressure was gone and my blade kept swinging, pivoting my body with it.
The lights snapped on. Blinking through the burst of sudden brightness, I looked wildly around. A vampire was lying at my feet, his headless black shirt gushing blood.
A streak of movement above caught my eye. Sarah’s face flashed in front of mine as she rocketed through the air, a ghost of a smile twitching on her red-painted lips. She lifted a hand, opened her palm, and blew. Black powder swarmed the air like thousands of bees. The stench of something similar to burning oil clogged my nose, stung my eyes, and seared my throat.
The room twisted on a ninety-degree angle and then began to tumble. The ceiling fell away as I collapsed onto my back on the ground.
Sarah stood above me, her eyes as dark as sin. She stamped a sharp heel on my chest. Pain spiked through my body. I tried to cry out, but my throat was ripped raw and only a cracked huff of air fell from my lips. My ears buzzed, like furious bees around their nest.
I summoned my powers, called on them, but it was like looking for souls in a haunted house. Whatever she had given me had disabled them.
“Stop!” a voice roared. “Enough.” Possibly Rodney’s—it was hard to tell. With everything buzzing and whirling, I couldn’t get a grip on anything.
The fighting stopped and everything fell abruptly silent.
“Sarah, don’t,” I heard Ethan whisper, his voice shaky with fear. I’d never heard him so afraid before, and it twisted my heart. “Please, we can work this out.”
His pleading must have struck because I could feel Sarah’s heel twitch on my chest. But she didn’t remove it.
I tried to look at him, but my head flopped uselessly to the side. Through my blurry vision, I could see that the few remaining vampires had curled to opposite sides of the room. They wavered in and out; I blinked but couldn’t draw focus. My eyes fell to Karson’s watery image.
“Let it be known, I broke no laws,” Sarah cried. “You killed my brother, and now as punishment for your crime, you can usethe ash blade and place it in your own heart, or I can kill the one you love.”
“I will kill you,” Karson breathed fire, his eyes glittering with a mixture of panic and rage. “If you harm her, I will kill your mother, your father, everyone you love or have ever loved. And I promise you won’t ever see the sunrise again.”
Sarah laughed bitterly. Her foot pressed down on my chest, crushing the air from my lungs. I tried to raise my hands, but my arms felt like they were made of concrete. My fingers fumbled for the handle of my blade, but they moved as fast as snails creeping along the floor.
For a few seconds, fear engulfed Karson’s face as he stared at me. Karson the indestructible, immortal vampire was scared. For me.
