"I don't have time for you," he told me in an exasperated voice. I glared at him, my frustration growing by the second.
"Oh, am I interfering with your plans for world domination?" I asked dryly. All villains thought they were unique. They weren't. He and his group were obviously up to something terrible, but I'd dealt with weird villains before.
The figure turned to the side and ran for Dan.
Jessica screamed. She'd been watching from the sidelines, tugging on Dan. It looked like she was trying to get him to wake up fully so they could run away, again, but he was too weak. Unfortunately, she had drawn my opponent's attention. "No, don't hurt him!"
Not on my watch. I sprinted after him, rushing as he snatched Dan up by the back of his shirt.
I launched myself at the mysterious figure. He let out a guttural sound of pain as he flew forward, and Dan tumbled out of his grasp, rolling to land at Jessica's feet. I recovered and stooped quickly to check on Dan.
"Are you okay?"
His delirious eyes met mine. "These guys are weird. They're part of some secret group. They call themselves the Called and—" He broke off as a commotion occurred across the clearing. I looked up to see that my hulking opponent had turned his attention on Bryce, who was huffing and struggling. He was weakened from the curse’s effects. I knew exactly how that felt. I needed to go after him, but another hooded cretin jumped in my way. These guys were dangerous, and we needed to stick to our original plan if we wanted to escape the Pocket Space.
My eyes met Lyra's across the clearing. Sweat marred her face, and a thin trail of blood ran down her cheek where the woman had managed to land a shallow blow.
"You're not getting past me," screeched my new opponent, who was on the shorter side with the aura of a vampire. He went for Dan and Jessica. Luckily, he was much weaker than the hulking guy. I easily pounced on him, taking him down. As soon as my fingers landed on him, I sensed the evil and darkness lurking inside him, and my hunger surged. I ripped back his hood and sank my fangs into his neck. Now, we had confirmation that there were two of them. I drank greedily for a few seconds.
"Watch out," Dan yelled. The hulking figure was back. He'd thrown Bryce several yards across the battlefield, sending Bryce careening into me. Arlonne came upon the large hooded guy with a deranged fervor, after having fed on the other dark vampire.
"Sorry," Bryce said, his breathing heavy. My side ached, but it wasn't bad. "These guys are much tougher than I thought. They're not normal."
"I know," I said through gritted teeth. Lyra fell back, pushed by the woman's blade. My darling wife had managed to hold her own with the other woman, who had a gash on her stomach. "Nice hit."
"I had to fight like hell for it," Lyra breathed. She looked between Bryce and me. "We've got to get out of here. It's not worth it to fight with these psychos. We’re wasting precious time when we need to get back."
I nodded. She was right. We had no idea what these guys wanted, other than to take Jessica with them and leave poor Dan for dead.
Lyra pressed her back against mine as the scarred woman and the hooded guy continued walking forward. "Any ideas?" she asked.
"Yes, get the humans, and get out of here," I said fervently. "I know these types. They’ll fight to the death for whatever cause they have. Let’s get everyone to safety."
Dan reached out to tug Jessica's pant leg. She crouched down and said something to him, but it was cut off by the sound of a wail.
"Now what?" Bryce moaned as he pulled himself up. The warriors, the scarred woman and hooded giant, were marching over to us, but they also stopped. It was a low wail. Lyra froze beside me. It was familiar.
"The monster," she muttered. "It's back." Jessica let out a screech.
My senses were bad, but I could hear the beast clambering toward us. Its footsteps were heavy and panicked, its body smashing into things along the way.
"Something's wrong with it," I whispered to them. The beast charged forward into the clearing, and the sight of familiar red and dark hair greeted me. It was Roxy, with Colin and Kane.
"Kane," I shouted, but it was no use. He was unconscious on the monster’s back. Roxy held him up as she stared at us. Her face was stricken with confusion as she surveyed the scene, brow knitted with concern. Panic rocketed through everything. The hooded figures had no idea what was going on, either. It was a good enough distraction.
“What are you—” Lyra cut off, astounded.
"I'll explain later," Roxy yelled at us.
Our opponents pulled back. The scarred woman gave a skeptical but cautious look toward the monster. She drew something out of her pocket, a rod-like device with a light on the end. She pointed it at the creature, and a whip of red light flew out of the end. The creature roared when the light struck it.
“Yield, you ugly thing,” the woman said, her lips curling.
“Stop,” Colin yelled at her from atop the monster’s back.
The woman didn’t stop, but the beast reared back with a protesting screech, then lashed out with a claw and snapped it at the woman. She stumbled backward as she attempted to throw the whip again, but this time the monster jumped to the side to avoid it.
The monster threw its head from side
