Stop thinking with emotions. Stay calm. Think, damn it. Think!
I closed my eyes and forced myself to take a deep breath. There was one way and only one way I could get the fuck out of here. I had to shift.
I reached for the familiar sensation, the pull deep in my core that would transform my bones and flesh. Nothing. What the hell? I reached again—harder this time, willing the change—but it was like grasping at smoke. The demon poison coiled through my veins like acid, blocking every pathway to my vampire nature. I tried again, straining with everything I had left.
Come on. Come on!
My muscles seized as I fought against the toxin coursing through my system. Sweat poured down my face, mixing withblood as I battled for control over my own body. The shift was like trying to grasp smoke—there one second, gone the next.
Pain exploded behind my eyes as I pushed harder, demanding my vampire form to emerge. My vision blurred, darkness creeping in at the edges, but I refused to give up. Not when Joy's life hung in the balance.
Finally—finally—something gave way. My bones began to contract with agonizing slowness, each transformation feeling like it might tear me apart. The process that usually took seconds stretched into an eternity of torture. My muscles cramped and spasmed as they fought to reshape themselves while the poison tried to keep me locked in human form.
With one last desperate surge of will, I completed the shift. My smaller bat form slipped through the thorns, and with one final burst of strength, I flew out of that nightmare.
"No!" Marsha cried out. "You can't leave. Ari..."
Her voice faded to white noise as I beat my wings frantically. Pain shot through the delicate membranes with each stroke. The poison had left them cramped and unresponsive. I lurched sideways, my tiny body struggling to gain altitude as the cathedral's vaulted ceiling stretched impossibly high above me.
Up. I have to go up.
My heart pounded against my tiny ribs as I fought for height. Each wing beat was like lifting lead weights, my muscles screaming in protest. The broken stained-glass window glowed far above—fragments of colored glass catching the light like jewels around a jagged opening. Saints and angels stared down at me from the intact portions; their painted faces seeming to mock my desperate escape attempt.
I was losing momentum fast, my poisoned body failing me when I needed it most. The stone floor waited below, ready to claim me if I faltered.
Desperation flooded my system with adrenaline. I angled upward, pushing through the burning pain in my wings, climbing toward that precious gap in the broken glass where freedom waited.
“Come back here,” Marsha screamed.
She started chanting. Shit, a spell. The air around me began to thicken and shimmer—her magic reaching for me like grasping fingers.
I flew toward the jagged broken window, my wings shuddering with each panicked beat. Dark smoke poured into the cathedral, scraping my throat and making my tiny eyes stream with tears, blurring my vision. I blinked frantically, trying to clear them as I fought for altitude.
Flames licked higher and higher into the sky beyond the window, their hungry tongues turning the entire world into a hellscape of orange and red. The heat hit me in waves, even from this distance, making my already labored breathing even more difficult.
Almost there. Almost free.
Dark clouds rolled overhead like an army of shadows, swallowing the firelit sky. Lightning split the darkness with a deafening crack that seemed to shake the very air around me. Then the heavens opened up.
Rain pelted me with the force of tiny hammers, each drop feeling massive against my small bat form. My wings, already weakened by poison, buckled under the assault. Every beat sent fresh agony through my shoulders, but I forced myself to keep going. I had to reach Joy. I plummeted several more feet before desperately flapping back up only to be knocked down again.
No, no, no!
With one more desperate push, I drove myself forward. The jagged edges of the broken window loomed ahead—then I was through, tumbling into the smoke-filled bayou.
Panic gouged at my chest as I swirled back and forth, completely at the mercy of the wind and rain. My wings were like lead weights, refusing to keep me aloft. The burned trees and steamy ground rushed up toward me with terrifying speed, blackened branches reaching like skeletal fingers ready to snare me from the sky.
Fuck.The earth was coming up fast—too fast. I was going to crash.
