He half-led, half-carried me down the staircase, where we found our path blocked by a horde of hungry vampires.
“Sorry,” Adriel mumbled as he released me.
Without his support, I stumbled backward into the wall as Sorsha whirled toward the vampires. She threw her full weight behind the stake, slamming it through the chest of the nearest vampire.
Adriel was at her side before she could withdraw it, staking the next male who lunged for the princess.
Nausea gripped me as I hiked up my dress, my shaking hand closing over the smooth edges of my second stake.
This was absurd. I could barely stand, let alone fight, and I cursed my own foolishness at letting Mirabella feed on me.
But I had to try. There was no way the three of us would make it out of here alive if I couldn’t hold my own.
Just then, a vampire that Sorsha had staked stumbled forward, blood spurting from his chest. She’d missed his heart, and he was angry.
Summoning all my strength, I gripped my stake with both hands and lunged for the injured male. The tip lodged in his breastbone, but I hadn’t driven it all the way through.
Growling, I heaved again with all my might, but the vampire grabbed me, and I pitched backward. His entire weight crashed down on top of me, sticky black blood soaking my dress and lodging in my mouth.
I choked on the taste of death and decay, the sickly sweet stench of the vampire mixing with the coppery tang of mortal blood as I gasped for air beneath him.
I wanted to be sick, but in a stroke of luck, the vampire’s fall had driven the stake through his heart.
Bracing my hands on his chest, I tried to heave him off me, but he wouldn’t budge.
Bucking my hips, I tried again, but he was simply too heavy.
I couldn’t breathe. He was crushing my lungs, and Mirabella’s venom had sapped my strength.
Just as I was beginning to panic, rough hands yanked the vampire off me, and Adriel pulled me to my feet once more.
Bodies littered the stone floor, and a few dazed mortals had awoken from their stupor to stare blankly at the carnage.
“Where are they?” Adriel demanded. I didn’t have to ask what he meant.
“Downstairs,” I panted. “In the crypt.”
Wordlessly, Sorsha snaked an arm around my waist and guided me down the dimly lit corridor. Adriel paused to stake a few blood-drunk vamps that stumbled into our path before throwing open the heavy wooden door.
Sorsha’s ball of faelight winked into existence, illuminating the narrow stone staircase. But as we descended into the crypt, I realized something was wrong.
The warm glow illuminated the outlines of at least twenty sarcophagi. But spaced between the pillars and bulky stone coffins were dozens of undulating shadows.
Adriel’s stillness told me I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. A low sigh echoed through the crypt, and I realized that the writhing shapes were bodies.
Nearly two dozen vampires were sprawled around the darkened chamber, tangled with naked mortals. Judging bythe wet squelches and soft groans of pain, they were busy feeding.
Blood pounded in my ears as I weighed our options. We were no match for that many vampires, but we couldn’t leave without the hands.
A pair of red-tinged eyes gleamed through the dark, the glow of Sorsha’s fae light reflecting in that monstrous gaze.
“The hands,” Sorsha whispered.
“There,” I rasped, pointing at a dusty glass case along the wall.
Adriel’s body became a blur as he shot across the chamber.
As he moved, Sorsha’s faelight split into a dozen more glowing balls. They fanned out to illuminate the horrific scene — no fewer than thirty mortals lay on the cold stone floor. Some of them weren’t moving, and a wave of disgust rose in my throat.
