As Cassidy sprinted toward her mate, she removed another stake from her pocket. The new Savage was almost on top of Dante when he turned toward it. When the thing leapt at him, Dante grasped its shirt and, with one hand, lifted it over his head and threw it across the room. The Savage skidded across the floor before crashing into the wall.
From the corner of her eye, Cassidy caught a rush of movement. She turned to see a woman sprinting toward Preston and a young girl. It took her a second to recognize the young girl was Julie as terror contorted her face and she’d lost weight.
The woman was almost to them when Preston stepped in front of her, and she crashed into him. When the impact propelled them into the wall, rotten wood gave way beneath their weight, and they disappeared in a puff of dust.
Julie stared at where her brother had stood with her mouth gaping open. Kyle tore the head from the Savage he was fighting and was about to rise when two more pounced on him. Cassidy started toward her brother when another Savage ran toward Julie.
Bloodlust emanated from the creature stalking Julie as its teeth clacked together and red burned in its eyes. Julie took a frightened step back, but like a deer caught in the headlights, she didn’t run to avoid her approaching death.
“No,” Cassidy breathed.
She looked to Dante as he plunged his fist into the chest of the Savage he was still battering and tore out its heart. He was fine, and Kyle was holding his own, but Julie remained frozen in place.
Cassidy raced toward the Savage and was almost to it when it reached Julie. The young girl shrieked when the monster grabbed her arms and lifted her off the ground. Cassidy watched in horror as the thing sank its fangs into Julie’s throat.
Rage propelled her to cover the remaining fifteen feet in a fraction of a second. Leaping into the air, she encircled her legs around the Savage’s waist, lifted the stake over her head, and plunged the weapon through its back.
She ignored the sickening crunch of bone as she pressed her weight into it, driving it deeper. The creature released its bite on Julie as it slapped at her over the top of its head. But it was already too late for this monster as the bone gave way and the stake plunged into the heart muscle.
Releasing her hold on its waist, Cassidy pushed herself away from the Savage and landed on the ground. Grasping Julie’s wrist, she pulled the girl out of the way as the Savage staggered back and fell to the ground.
Dante ran toward them, but the Savage he’d tossed over his head was close on his heels, and Kyle was still fighting off the other two Savages. When Dante spun to face the Savage, it collided with him, and they both tumbled to the ground.
Her instincts screamed at her to go to Dante as they rolled across the floor, punching and kicking each other. She was about to tell Julie to hide in the corner, but then Dante came out on top of the Savage. From what she could see, he was the only one with a weapon in hand.
Her brother got his legs up between him and one of the Savages and thrust upward, but as he propelled the Savage away from him, it caught Kyle’s foot and yanked him toward it. Her brother grunted as the Savage dragged him across the floor. When the other Savage charged at him, Kyle kicked it under the chin with his free foot. The Savage’s head shot back, but the blow only deterred him for a couple of heartbeats.
Cassidy pushed Julie behind her and nudged her toward the corner of the room. “Stay over there.”
She didn’t wait to hear what the girl said before she yanked the stake from the back of the asshole she’d killed and ran to help her brother. She was almost to Kyle when Jasmine reemerged from the wall. The dust covering her hair and clothes caused the fire in her eyes to look as if it burned hotter.
Cassidy shot a panicked look toward Julie, who huddled in the corner, but Jasmine didn’t notice her as she focused on Dante. Cassidy opened her mouth to shout a warning, but it was choked off by the Savage who tackled her.
Dante was about to put a stake through the vamp’s heart when a fist smashed into the side of his face. The impact threw him off his victim. He tried to figure out what happened as he blinked away the lights flashing before his eyes.
When his vision cleared, he discovered Jasmine standing over him with a cruel smile on her face and a victorious gleam in her red eyes. She didn’t give him more of a chance to recover before she pounced. Trying to fend off her blows and slashing nails was like trying to fight off a honey badger on a rampage.
Dante knocked away one of her hands but realized too late she’d used it as a distraction from the stake in her other hand. He had no idea where the weapon came from; it hadn’t been there seconds ago. Somehow, he managed to turn in time to avoid taking the stake to his heart. Instead, the wood sank deep into his shoulder.
Gritting his teeth against the pain of the wood grinding against his bone, he grasped Jasmine’s throat. He started to lift her off him when the Savage he’d been fighting seized his wrist and jerked it down to pin it to the ground.
With his grip on her broken, Jasmine grasped the stake in his shoulder. He tried to lift his hand, but when she twisted the stake, a tingling sensation ran down his arms. His numbed fingers twitched but didn’t do much else.
Dante tried to yank his wrist free, but the Savage shifted and pinned
