Holding me in place with a hand on my shoulder, she reached for my mother and helped her to the floor. Dad followed, both of them joining us underneath the table.
I saw a flash of light as Cassie turned on her phone, thumbs flying across the screen. Calling for back-up I assumed.
“Do you see anything Alexei?” she whispered.
“Not yet.”
The air in the room changed, energy shifting in a way that even as a human I could feel it. Around me, the supernatural beings all stiffened, like animals sensing danger. Cassie’s grip on my arm tightened.
“Everyone stay where you are!” someone called in a heavily accented voice. “You move, you die.”
Several people screamed, and throughout the room lights flashed as cell phones were turned on. Hopefully people were calling the cops, not livestreaming whatever was happening for social media. Alexei cautiously popped his head up over the table, looking around.
“How many?” Cassie asked Alexei.
“Eight. Two on each door, four walking around.”
“Shit. I don’t like those odds.”
We listened as some of the men walked through the tables, demanding that guests identify themselves. I heard a cry of fear from a couple of tables over as one of the men called, “You! You are Mia Fallon, yes? You will come with me.”
Shit. Mia Fallon was a teammate from the Games. These men were here for us. They must be the Romanians.
“Names!”
I jumped as a voice came from behind me. Even in the dark I could tell the guy was looking right at me.
“None of your fucking business!” Cassie hissed angrily.
Then all hell seemed to break loose. Cassie shoved me deeper under the table, then she was gone. I heard a series of strange sounds. Bones cracking. Several low growls. The sounds of ascuffle. Flesh hitting flesh. I peered through the darkness, my hand holding tightly onto my mother’s as I tried to see what was happening.
A couple minutes later the lights came back on. Blinking, I looked around. Cassie was rolling around on the ground with a guy twice her size. She was in full vampire mode, fangs descended, eyes red, fingernails morphed into sharp points. Two bears were fighting nearby, one of them Alexei I was sure, while a wolf stalked back and forth in front of the table, growling as she stood watch over me and my parents. I’d never seen Eleanor in her wolf form before, but somehow I knew it was her.
Armed gunmen were stationed at the doors at both sides of the ballroom, not letting anyone in or out. I knew there were at least two other attackers here besides the guys fighting with Alexei and Cassie, but I couldn’t get a look at them. I wondered if any of the other guests were fighting back.
“Police! Everybody freeze!”
The doors crashed open, knocking over the guards, and all around, people were in motion. Several guests raced out the doors, taking advantage of the distracted guards. Others huddled beneath tables, calling loved ones as if they weren’t sure if they were going to make it out alive. Cops in tactical gear struggled to subdue the men stationed near the doors.
The guy Cassie was fighting got a drop on her, rolling her onto her back and straddling her waist. His beefy fingers clamped around her neck while she struggled to get away.
“Back off, Ionescu. That’s my daughter you’re choking.”
Anson Weatherby seemed larger now, his chest puffed up, face terrifyingly cold, all signs of intoxication gone now that he was in his vampire form. He let out a terrifying hiss that was enough to distract the Romanian so that Cassie could flip him off her.
“Thanks, Dad,” she called as she punched her attacker in the face hard enough to make me wince. I heard the telltale sound of bones cracking as she broke his nose. His hands shot to his face, coming away bloody, and I looked away before I passed out.
There was a flurry of shouting in another language – Romanian I assumed – and suddenly all the bad guys leapt to their feet and took off, pushing people out of the way like they were the offensive line clearing the way for a quarterback making a run for the goal line. With so many people in the crowd, the cops couldn’t shoot at them, but several of them took off in pursuit.
Cassie reached out a hand and when I took it, she helped first me and then my mother crawl out from our hiding place. Dad scrambled after us, looking around like he was confused by what was going on.
With one final roar, Alexei shifted back to his human form, then watched protectively as Eleanor also shifted.
“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” my father grumbled.
“Romanian assassins are hunting the women’s soccer team,” Anson said, his tone completely nonchalant, like he was describing something on a television show. “These guys were looking for your daughter and her teammates.”
It occurred to me that Anson knew the team was in danger and never told anyone about it. He had to be a total psychopath to have that kind of information and be completely unbothered by it. Then again, he was the kind of man who beat his wife and made misogynist jokes at an event featuring female athletes. Women weren’t important enough to care about.
