Ravenous

regard Perry's sweet, scholarly smile quite the same way again.

She ran the rest of the way up the hill and flung herself on the damp grass, trying to stay flat and out of sight as she surveyed the scene of the battle. Up here she was as high as the uppermost bleachers, but now she was facing the action. There was Omara, over there the tight S-curve that was her line of defenders. The vampires seemed to be using any and all weapons, firearms, blades, and magic included. Through the tiny queen's generalship they were holding their own, and the mob of changelings and ghouls had thinned out.

Then she saw Alessandro, and her heart seemed to shatter. He was on the far side of the battle lines, the enemy side, running straight into the melee. His coat flowed behind him, his sword mowing through the throng like a clever scythe. Ghouls jumped him from behind, but he swung, backhanding them into the air. Three flew up, landing in ragged heaps, but at least a dozen were closing in behind them.

And he was wounded. She could see it in his movements. That, more than anything, galvanized her. I have to help him. I have to help all of them. Now she understood Elaine Carver, dying to keep Fairview safe. She did it because she was the only one who could.

A tug twinged in the energy field. Holly turned left, looking with her eyes and with her mind. She saw the figure with the book, the changelings, the ad hoc ritual circle in the parking lot. They 're opening a portal. It was time to do her job.

Holly scrambled to her feet. Perry thundered up with a deep woof, his ears going back.

'What?' Holly looked where Perry's gaze was fixed.

There was a line of sullen-looking vamps walking up the hill behind her. They came side by side, black coats flying, like the title shot of a trendy TV show. Oh, crap, it's the designer vamps.

Nothing about them said good guys. Why does everything have to be so bloody complicated? 'Get behind me,' she said to Perry.

The wolf looked at her in disbelief.

'I mean it.'

He made a doggy protest. One tall vamp in the middle smiled, showing the full length of his fangs. He ran his tongue over his teeth, the meaning clear. Holly moved beyond being afraid and on to fed up. Oh, spare me the foreplay.

She needed a few practice shots. Here was a row of perfectly good targets.

She let her consciousness sink into the earth and felt the hum of power through her toes, then creeping up her thighs in an erotic column of power. The sensation was like standing in a bathtub of champagne, golden bubbles of energy exploding under her skin. It felt good, and right, and deadly. Shifting her weight, Holly felt the thrum of potential reach her belly.

A laugh welled up from wherever inappropriate jokes were born. 'Hey, boys!'

A dozen pairs of vampire eyes glinted evilly in the darkness—at least, those not wearing shades despite the pitch black night. I bet they practice that glint in front of the mirror.

She raised her hands, wiggling her fingers. 'Wanna play?'

From their expressions, she didn't scare them one little bit. They were halfway up the hillside before she released her first bolt.

It hung in the air, a scrap of sun in the night, incandescence where the moment before, a vampire had stood. The vamp twisted in the air, landed with a splat, and exploded in a shower of grave dust.

Cool.

Perry howled with triumph. Holly aimed again, feeling the pressure of all that glorious energy against her diaphragm. Her will—my free will!—harnessed the shot, making the aim true and fierce.

Best of all, it was easy. She could fight without pain, without being drained. She fired again, and again. The shadows around the bleachers faded to white, the light washing the stars from sight. Each shot exploded a vampire.

They ran. The prey had suddenly become the hunter. Perry chased them down the hill, calling his wolves to the chase.

Now, the ritual and Alessandro.

Descending the hill, Holly moved slowly, using an odd crab walk to keep her footing on the steep slope. She could smell churned earth and crushed grass, blood and rent flesh. Sweat slicked her skin, turning icy in the rising breeze. The stink of death made her mouth water in a bad way.

The battle was changing shape, neat battle lines collapsing into a brawl. To every side there was yipping and yelling. Metal crashed on metal. Spells cracked the air with the snap of bullwhips. Holly stopped to fire a blast once, twice. Cries of anger came as the flash blinded the nocturnal creatures. As they covered their eyes she streaked past, brushing sleeve on sleeve with a particularly ugly changeling.

She spotted Omara's green shift. The gold decoration on the queen's garb flashed as she threw a ghoul to the earth, crushing its throat with a twist of her dainty hands. Good to be on her side.

Holly felt a hand clutch the back of her jacket. Then claws were at her sleeves, her ankles, her belt. The night had grown talons. Teeth wrenched the flesh of her calf. Ghouls.

Holly kicked out but lost her balance as a dozen bony arms grabbed for her limbs. Ghoul claws raked down her face, scraping but not yet tearing the flesh. Holly's leg throbbed, her shoe hot with blood. Fangs sank into her shoulder, and Holly lost her temper. Screaming in pain and fury, she elbowed the thing in the face, at the same time letting fly a firestorm of white heat. Steam shot upward from the ghoul, the blast too hot for mere smoke, leaving nothing but a carbonized twist of flesh. Kicking the charred creature away, Holly watched it shatter on the grass to flakes of black ick.

The other ghouls gibbered in terror, dropping to all fours to run. Holly took three or four steps toward them. It was enough to send them bolting.

The bites from the ghouls' viselike jaws knifed through her leg and arm, bringing nausea in their wake. Holly's journey shrank to putting one foot before the other. She stumbled the last yards to where the vampires were bunched in a tight, defensive circle. No creature bothered her for those excruciating steps. Apparently the ability to barbecue at will had earned her some street cred.

Then Alessandro shouldered through the wall of vamps, looking around wildly until he saw her. He was a mess, his hair straggling in a shredded aureole, his coat torn and covered with muck and blood. He was taking her into his arms, and then pulling her to safety behind the front ranks of the vampire warriors. He felt so good, so strong, Holly melted against him. At the moment nothing mattered but the fact that they were both still standing.

'You're hurt,' she mumbled into the collar of his filthy coat.

'So are you. Don't worry about me. I'll heal.' From the way he held himself, she wasn't sure about that. She gave him the best of her kisses, her hands clinging to his sleeves.

It was all the time she could afford. 'I have to stop the ritual.'

He dug his fingers into the snarled mass of her hair, tipping up her face so that his golden eyes could hold her gaze. His look was possessive, full of battle fire. 'Whatever you need. I'll get you there.'

Her knees wobbled as Alessandro opened his mouth to say more. She grabbed for him just as he stumbled, trying to steady himself. The ground was shaking, rolling with sickening heaves. We're too late.

With one last jolt the tremor stopped. Holly panted, still as a mouse within the circle of Alessandro's arm. Seconds passed. Then, as if invisible hands parted the sea of warring bodies, the combatants drew back from the goalposts dead ahead. All fighting ceased, every vampire, ghoul, and changeling stopping to stare at the aurora borealis flickering between the two uprights. Sickly green, the pale sheen spiraled in a roiling flutter that brought bile up the throat. A portal.

At least it's a change from orange.

Omara came up beside them, her face set in a fierce mask. 'I beg you, Holly Carver, stand with us now. If I have wronged you, do not hold it against my people. Help me save them.'

Brighter light rippled around the green whirlpool. A howl went up from the changelings, part jubilation, part terror. The vampires, to a fang, were silent and still. The ghouls just ran. Contrary to all expectations, they were the smart ones.