Cold Blooded

“No.” Ben’s voice hit my eardrum a second before I sprang. “You must not engage it.”

Too late. Better me than my father. I lunged, my arms wrapping around its chest. The force of the electricity blinded me, trying to buck me back, but I held on, digging my claws into its decaying flesh.

It roared.

“I will not let you kill us,” I groaned. The voltage was agonizing. My face contorted in pain. I tried to funnel the energy out of me as fast as I could, but I couldn’t do it quickly enough. Once it filled me up completely, I would either pass out or my heart would explode. “I don’t care if I die,” I yelled, “but I’m taking you with me.”

“Your death won’t be necessary, Hannon.” A familiar and the most welcome voice I’d ever heard sounded next to me as the Screamer was efficiently ripped off me.

I collapsed onto the ground, my body ringing with nasty aftershocks. I struggled to catch my breath. Tyler and Danny hovered over me with worried expressions. “I’m … fine.” I coughed, rolling over onto my knees. “Go … protect Dad. He needs … Ray.”

“Sorry it took so long,” Tyler said, stepping back. “We ran into a group of mouthy vamps who tried to stop us.” A look of horror flashed over his face as he spotted our father in the bushes.

“Ray is a wee bit occupied at the moment.” Danny crouched next to me. “But it looks like he may be freed up in a second or two.”

Ray had the Screamer by the throat.

But that wasn’t even the most unbelievable part. He appeared to be pulsing with the same kind of energy as the Screamer.

“What is he doing?” I said, staggering to stand. “Why is he lit up like that?”

“I have no idea,” Danny said. “But it’s a fairly incredible thing to witness if you ask me.”

Rourke paced back and forth on the other side of the fight, ready to spring if Ray collapsed. I was glad to see him back on his feet. The look on his face was pure determination. No doubt he was pissed the Screamer had gotten the best of him.

“You’re not gonna mess with me again,” Ray yelled. “This time I’m making it permanent.” He maneuvered the Screamer to a kneeling position. “You don’t get to eat me or any of my goddamn friends.”

It was nice to hear we’d graduated to friends, but the entire ordeal between them was so strange I stood there unmoving, the aftereffects of the energy still ringing in my ears.

“Jessica,” my brother yelled. “What do we do now?”

My brother’s voice shook me out of my stupor. I ran over to where he sat with our father. “I don’t know.” I knelt again, plunging my hands back into my father’s fur. “We need Ray. But even if he can kill the Screamer, that isn’t going to save Dad’s life. I don’t understand what Ray needs to do.”

Jessica … my father’s voice trickled weakly in my mind. Don’t worry about me. Defeat … that thing … before it kills you…

Dad, we’re not leaving you. They have this handled. Please don’t give up on us. I talked to a seer and she said Ray would help us. You need to stay alive—

“Jessica! Move!” Rourke yelled.

“Argh!” I spasmed and fell forward as white-hot energy raced through my body once again.

The Screamer had me in a choke hold.

It had escaped Ray’s grasp. My back arched as my hands clawed at its forearm. Its mouth was right by my ear, its dirty fangs an inch from my neck. “I will have you.”

I shot my elbow into its ribs and tried to force it backward. We have to try and absorb the energy. But my brain was too fuzzy and I couldn’t catch my breath.

Ray yelled behind me, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

In front of me, my father rose on unstable legs, Tyler springing up next to him. My father growled and bit the air, wanting to help me. I pushed back into the Screamer with everything I had, trying to put space between us and my family. If my father got his teeth onto the Screamer, it might be enough to finish him off.

Dad, get back!

“Jessica,” Rourke yelled from above me somewhere. “Hold on!” There was movement all around me. I was spinning out from the Screamer’s hold.

Right into someone’s waiting arms.

“It is okay, Ma Reine.” Something smoothed my hair. “We have everything under control now.”

25

“If this is under control”—my throat rattled as I brought a hand up to my head—“I don’t want to see out of control. My brain feels like two fried eggs in a hot pan.”

“Oui,” Naomi said. “Screamers, as you call them, are hard to defeat and often ravage for weeks. But it looks as if we will be lucky with this one.”

Ray had the Screamer again and they were struggling on the lawn. Rourke was rooted firmly in front of us, standing sentinel between us and it.

Tyler yelled, “Jess, we’re going to shift. We can help better in our true forms.”

I nodded. “Naomi, we have to help my father,” I said, anguish in my voice as I stood, stumbling to get my footing. “It may take Ray too long to finish the Screamer off. We have to find a way to help him.”

On cue Ray yelled, “This is it. I’m new to all this supernatural bullshit, but you must die now.”

I turned to watch Ray radiate power into it. The Screamer was strong, but Ray held his own. “I don’t understand, how’s he able to do that? That’s not a normal vampire thing, is it?”

“Non.” Naomi shook her head. “I do not know. It may be that his special gift is to handle the Strigoi? It is a unique gift, but he is … unique.”

“No,” a thin breath whispered in my ear. “Reaper.”

“What?” I asked absentmindedly, moving toward my father, who had lain down again after his brave attempt to help me. I sat, placing my hands into his fur one more time. My body was still recovering from the blast, but I forced as much power as I could into him. Upon feeling our connection, he whined.

The welts had grown in the short time I’d been gone.

“A reaper,” Ben persisted. “Those who claim souls.”

“How can Ray possibly be a reaper?” I asked. I’d heard of reapers from legend only. My brain was still focused on my father. “Ben, can you do something useful and tell me how to help my father and reverse this curse?”

“I know nothing of curses.”

Barking erupted behind me. I brought my head around to investigate and something near the roof of the house caught my attention. Eudoxia stood high atop the house on a widow’s peak I hadn’t noticed before. Her hands were held up to the sky, her dress billowing in the air.

“She’s keeping the ward going,” I commented.

“Oui.” Naomi nodded. “She has stayed the Underworld. For now. But there is much sulfur in the air. I flew up to the sky before we found you. There are rings around the entire perimeter of the Coterie, except for the front. The witches have amassed with your wolves. It is unclear why they have come, but your partner is with them.”

I could always count on Nick. He’d been busy. If Tally had shown, it likely meant Maggie had seen something else, or she’d decided to come find Marcy herself. Either way, it was a bonus. The fact that the wolves were here meant Nick had made contact and had enough time to get reinforcements here. That boy deserved a medal.

“Now you finally die, asshat,” Ray yelled. He was on his knees, hovering over the Screamer, his entire arm inside its back. I watched in fascination as he slowly pulled something out of Conan’s abused body.

It was a shimmery half-formed mass.

Once it was out of the body, Ray struggled to hold on to it. Tyler and Danny barked like mad, clearly uneasy. It was quite a sight.