Evan starts to head in that direction but I stop him, saying, “Are you Willow?”
The woman’s eyes get impossibly wide. “Y-yes?”
Evan and I exchange a look.
“Stay with us,” he says. “We’re friends of Kaine’s. We’re here to help.”
She seems relieved, yet she shakes her head. “I’m trying to help the humans!”
“What humans?” he asks.
“He has a dozen of them locked in a room upstairs.” Her eyes flash a supernatural midnight blue.
Willow isn’t human. She’s a vampire. Had Kaine turned her?
My stomach sinks. Fuck. What if I drained her to the point of death, and Kaine’s only choice was to turn her?
Someone screams, “We’re under attack!” and the people nearest us break into a frenzy. Shouts erupt through the building as people begin running for the exits. Straight toward us.
I yank Evan and Willow, pinning them to the wall as people scramble by. The glasses she was holding shatter on the ground, creating a slippery mess. A few people fall to the floor and get trampled.
When the crowd reaches the door, they push against it, pinning those at the front.
“Open it!” someone shouts from the back.
“I can’t!”
They try again, pushing and pounding on the door, but to no avail. It doesn’t move an inch. Panic spreads through the crowd. Evan and I stand pressed against the wall, our feet getting stepped on every few seconds.
How the hell am I supposed to find Foxx in this mess?
Evan leans in to say something to Willow, who nods then pulls away into the crowd. Evan follows.
“Evan!”
“Find Foxx!” he cries. “I’m going for Orem!”
I curse, fear gripping me by the throat. God damn it. Why can’t he just stay close like I said? Yet deep down, I know he’s right. We need to find Orem to break the binding spell on the doors, or else all of these people are going to get hurt. I could create a portal, but there’s no way we would get all of them through fast enough, and certainly not without Foxx noticing.
I shove past the crowd, inching my way along the wall until I’m free.
A wolf yelps after being caught between two vampires. Without thinking, I raise my hands and throw two fireballs at the vamps, hitting them square in the chest. They must be wearing protective clothing because the fire bounces off them, extinguishing as soon as it falls to the floor.
The closest one hisses when he sees me. “Amir, it’s him! That’s the phoenix!”
They both turn their attention to me, eyes gleaming as if given a prize. I try to remember their gifts but come up short.
The wolf who had been bitten lunges for one of the vampires, knocking it to the ground and sinking its jaws into the side of its neck. With one quick jerk, the vampire goes limp.
I send a second round of fireballs at the other vamp, aimed higher toward their throat. One makes contact with their skin, igniting and killing them instantly. More people scream in panic, scrambling to get away.
The wolf looks at me with gratitude before turning and snapping at a vampire who was trying to feed from a human. The vamps are in a frenzy. No holds barred.
I look around, hoping to spy Evan somewhere in the crowd.Please let him be okay.
A flash of blond hair catches my attention, but it’s not Evan’s. Foxx is slithering behind the bartenders like a coward trying to get to the exit.
“Foxx!” Between the noise and the size of the crowd, my voice doesn’t carry far.
