“Go!” I shouted, looking back at the advancing vampires and then back at my mentor.
She stared at me with sorrow and pride in equal measure as the realization that I wouldn’t survive tonight settled into her.
“God bless you and keep you!” Maz shouted, her voice cracking with emotion.
My throat tightened, but I didn’t allow myself to get overwhelmed. Tears meant blurry vision and blurry vision meant death, so I pushed everything back down and pressed on, pushing the vampires back with Sterling and a few others. We wouldn’t win, but we would keep the majority away from the exit doors to allow our hunters a chance to escape.
The problem with pushing the vampires away from the exits meant we had backed them into a corner and now our backs were exposed to the open room. I felt the warmth of a body approach me just as the vampire in front of me lashed out and raked his long fingernails across my face. A second later, something sharp ripped through my back and a bloodcurdling scream tore from my lips.
I looked down, shocked to see a wooden stake had been driven into my abdomen from behind.
“No!” Sterling yelled, but as he tried to reach me, two vampires took him down, one of them wrestling his katana away from him.
This was it. This was the moment they prepared you for in the society. The moment you would meet your maker and hope that you had done all you could in life to make him proud. I just hoped I had served him well, doing my best to fight evil at every turn.
I spun, wanting to face my attacker and not die in fear with my back turned to the one who would grant me death. When I did, I came face to face with an old-ass vampire who looked like he wanted to swallow me whole.
I raised my arms, hands shaking as the shock of my wound set in and I realized I wasn’t even strong enough to drive this stake through him.
The old man grinned, peeling his lips back to expose his teeth, and I readied myself for death.
Lord, have mercy on my soul. Make it quick,I prayed.
I was about to close my eyes and give in to the dizziness washing over me when a blur of movement, faster than anything I’d ever seen, slammed into the old man and he went flying. I started to fall, my legs growing too weak to keep me upright. Luka zoomed into view and reached for me. I landed in his arms as he drew me to his chest, face looking as pained as I felt. Sage and Walsh, the two werewolves from his hotel room, were in their wolf form, tearing into vampires left and right.
I looked up into Luka’s stormy eyes. “You came for me?” My voice was breathy, weak.
Luka frowned, staring down at me with tenderness. “If you could stop trying to get yourself killed, I wouldn’t have to.”
I smiled weakly at his joke, but my eyes crossed as I tried to focus on his beautiful face.
“You need a healer.” His voice held a sudden urgency.
He moved to leave but I cried out, “My friends!” I looked over his shoulder to see Sterling fighting for his life as he snuck shocked glances at me. He was probably wondering why I was draped half dead in some vampire’s arms. One of the wolves trotted up to me, and by the smaller form and rust colored fur I imagined it must be Sage.
“Please help him. Help my friend.” I gestured to Sterling.
Without another word, Sage and Walsh took off, darting through the melee and pouncing on the back of the vampire attacking Sterling.
Luka’s fingers gently probed my wound and I whimpered, my teeth chattering. “It doesn’t even hurt anymore,” I assured him.
His jaw clenched. “That means you’re near death. Pain means you’re still alive.”
With that sobering fact, everything blurred around me as he zoomed us out of the gala, and then the dizziness finally took me, and everything went black.
Chapter Nine
Muffled voices pierced the blackness.I tried to focus on them, but it felt like I was drowning in cold darkness.
“Drive faster!” Luka’s voice snapped, panic and tension registering in his tone.
Luka.
Memories suddenly came rushing back to me, the gala, the attack.He saved me, he came for me. I was totally wrong about him, I could see that now. Maybe all of the other vampires were evil, but not him. He was good.
“I’m going as fast as I can without wrapping this car around a pole,” a familiar male voice called back.
Walsh. The werewolf.
