Declan, cornered, nodded to me before killing the vamp to his left and spinning around twice, removing the heads of all six vampires surrounding him. I was glad to know that he was on my side, though it gave me a chill to know that he could have easily killed me if he hadn’t seen something worthy inside me.
Leaving the fight in Declan’s capable hands, I searched around for Adriel, though he was nowhere to be found. I gave up and headed back towards Ethics class to find Landon. I hadn’t hit him too hard with the baton, but I wasn’t sure how long he would be unconscious.
Kayden would have put him somewhere close by, so I checked a few of the classrooms until I noticed the sign for the men’s shower room.
Slowly entering the room, I found a cowering vamp in the corner.
“Are you with me or against me, Taavi?” I glared at him, waiting for him to make the first move.
“I’m whatever won’t get me killed, Ceyla.” He bowed his head and averted his eyes.
“Good. Go stand watch. Yell if someone stabs you.” He scurried past me as I continued my search.
Hearing a slow heartbeat behind a gated door, I pulled the key from my bra. I unlocked the door and found Landon propped up on a bunch of towels.
“Landon, time to get up. I need to get you somewhere safe.” I shook his leg and slapped his face hard enough to get a response.
“Hey!” He grabbed my wrist as his eyelids fought to stay open.
“It’s Ceyla. We need to leave.” I put my face closer to him so that he could see me.
“Ceyla. Are you okay? Where am I?” Groggy, he tried to sit up and look around.
“Shower room. Sorry that I had to stun you. I had to make it look like Declan had attacked you until things died down. Can you move?”
He tried to get to his feet, but listed to one side. I shoved my body against his to bolster him until he could get his bearings.
“I think I can move. I just need a second. What’s happening?” He struggled to get his legs to move through the numbness.
“Declan is busy killing everyone and I’m searching for Adriel.”
Landon finally stood and shook his head. “You could have warned me about Declan, though I should have known you would claim the best assassin here.”
“Why didn’t you tell me how amazing he was? I would have recruited him first.” I slapped his arm, though he probably couldn’t feel it.
He threw up his hands. “Sure he’s a good fighter, but I didn’t know much about him. Silas could tear apart a bear shifter with only his claws, but I wouldn’t suggest that you recruit him.”
“True.”
“Did you also decree that the Bitten and the rest of the lunatics here can join your coven, regardless of their crimes?” His frown implied that I might have overpromised a few things.
“We’ll see who survives and take it from there.”
A scream from the other side of the room made me jump. “I didn’t mean that he should actually scream if someone stabbed him.” Annoyed that Taavi was a coward, I ducked my head around the corner to find Taavi dead at the feet of Silas.
“Shit.” Cornered, we had no other way out of the room.
Silas followed me into the changing room as I backed up toward Landon. “I knew I would find you eventually, Ceyla. Come here and give me a kiss.”
“Hard pass, Silas. I would offer you a place in my new coven, but I hate you.”
I nudged Landon over so that he could cling to the water pipes hanging down from the ceiling and took a step closer to Silas.
“I knew Landon had a thing for you. He was the only thing keeping me from you, Pixie.” Silas cracked his knuckles and extended his claws.
“You don’t get to call me that, you twisted bastard.” I crouched down and eyed Silas as I tried to figure out how to kill him. Even though I had two stakes, Silas wouldn’t go down easily.
He charged at me, but I dove under his arms and rolled behind him. Seeing that he’d missed me, he smiled and pulled out a stake from his pocket. “I stole this from one of your new coven members and then I killed him with it.”
I shrugged. “Hopefully it was Rainer. I never liked that guy.”
Silas roared and came at me again, swinging the stake at me. I ducked under his arm, but the wood scraped my skin, sending a raw pain up my arm. Blood oozed from the wound and trickled down my hand.
Smelling my blood, Silas licked his fangs. “I’ve always want to see how you taste.”
He swung at me again, but I jabbed a stake into the side of his knee. He roared and backhanded me into the tile wall. Tossing the stake across the room, he limped towards me.
Seeing three of him, I wasn’t sure who to fight. He lifted me off the ground by my neck and slammed my back against the floor.
“Ceyla!” Landon called to me, but I knew he was too weak to move.
I tried to get to my feet, but Silas’ shoe came down on my throat. Pissed that Silas was winning, I jabbed the other side of Silas’ knee, forcing him to drop to his good leg. I reached up and dug my claws deep into his neck.
Stabbing his stake into my shoulder, I screamed through the burning pain
