“¡No por favor! ¡Libérame! ¡Te lo ruego!” A frightened voice echoed from the tunnel.
I stiffened, and Oliver’s head jerked, his eyes opening in alarm. He glanced at me as his eyes sharpened with clarity.
The frantic voice rang out again. “¡Por favor! No me lastimes... ¡No me lastimes!”
Oliver jumped to his feet. I followed suit, but my legs were sluggish and unresponsive. I teetered, and Oliver caught me by the shoulders. Together, we crept toward the main tunnel and peered around the corner.
Two vampires pulled a woman by her arms, dragging her toward one of the cave rooms. Like the Santera from the restaurant, this woman was dressed in all white, though her dress was stained with dirt and blood.
Panic rose in my throat as we watched the vampires shove the Santera into a room.
“That’s the same room—” I whispered.
“Yes,” Oliver muttered grimly.
The same room the vampires had feasted in earlier.
The Santera screamed, a shrill sound that pierced the air. My vision clouded, and I saw my parents’ faces, heard their screams, felt the agony of their deaths.
The Santera cried out in Spanish again, breaking through my painful fog. My chest heaved with panicked breaths. I blinked and shook my head, looking at Oliver’s stony expression.
“We have to stop them,” I whispered, my hands shaking. “She’s alive.” And if I let her die, it’ll be like my parents dying all over again.
Oliver’s lips pressed together, his jaw hardening. His fierce gaze fixed on me. Determination and anger blazed in his eyes, and he nodded. Reaching into his back pocket, he handed me the sheathed athame.
I blinked at him. When had he grabbed this?
He widened his eyes meaningfully. I drew the weapon and handed him the sheath, which he pocketed.
We snuck down the hall, our footsteps light and soft. Loud scuffling and shrieking echoed from the room with the vampires. I couldn’t tell what the woman was saying, but I knew she was pleading—begging for her life.
My heart raced, and my palms sweat. I have to save her.
I took a deep breath. After sharing a glance with Oliver, I darted into the room and froze.
Three Santeros lay on the ground, all unconscious except the woman we’d seen earlier. Blood oozed on the floor as two vampires feasted on their blood.
“Lilith,” I swore in a whisper.
The vampires raised their heads, and I gasped. One was male, his mop of black hair hanging limply over a sickly pale forehead. But the other was female. Her dark, venomous eyes bore into mine, her long, curly hair falling forward across her chest. Both their mouths were covered in blood that dripped and stained the Santeros’ white clothes. The demons hissed at us, but the conscious Santera struggled even harder against her captor.
“¡Por favor sálvame!” she begged, her brown eyes frantic as she glanced from me to Oliver.
The male vampire tightened his hold on her wrist and bared his teeth at us. “This room’s occupied,” he growled. “You need to leave.”
I gripped the athame so tightly my knuckles turned white. I wanted to say something clever or heroic, but my mouth was frozen.
“Release them,” Oliver said, his voice slow and deep.
The vampire holding the Santera stared at Oliver through narrowed eyes and cocked his head at him. He shoved the woman to the ground, and she collapsed by the other Santeros.
The male vampire strode toward Oliver, its keen eyes sparking with interest. “Who are you to command us? You are not El Diablo, so you have no authority here.” His eyes searched Oliver up and down and then fixed on me. “You have no stakes, so you cannot kill us.”
“No, but we can banish you,” Oliver said, his eyebrows lifting.
My heart stopped. I can’t banish a demon. I’ve never done it before! My sweaty hand gripped the athame even tighter as I feared it would fall from my shaking fingers.
The vampire’s lips curled into a smirk. “You can’t banish me.”
Silence passed between them. The vampire’s smile faded. Oliver’s eyes narrowed.
Oliver raised his hands and shouted,
“Vile demon of unholy crimes,
I banish you ‘til the end of time!”
Blue orbs glowed from his hands and shot toward the vampire, whose eyes widened briefly before he was encompassed by Oliver’s magic. It was the same ethereal glow that Kismet had used to banish the werewolf.
The vampire screamed, a sickly, animal sound that grated against my ears. He howled and thrashed until the blue glow intensified so much that I had to shut my eyes against it. The stench of burning flesh filled my nose, and I held my breath.
The blinding light diminished, and the vampire was gone.
The female vampire stopped drinking the Santeros’ blood, her furious eyes fixed on us. Slowly, she rose to her feet and approached us. The woman who’d screamed earlier didn’t move, and her neck was covered in blood.
Horror clenched my heart. No, she can’t be dead. She’s not dead yet.
Oliver expelled heavy breaths next to me. “Your turn, Desi.”
I swallowed. My limbs were frozen. I couldn’t move. My eyes were glued to the predatory glare of the vampire as she drew closer.
One of the Santeros twitched, then shifted, trying to rise. His eyes opened, and confusion washed over his pale face.
Determination pumped my heart faster. My blood raced through my body. I gripped the athame firmly without trembling. A calm, warm breath of air coursed through me.
I flung the athame into the vampire’s chest and thrust out my palms to Push her against the wall. She hissed in agony and jerked the dagger from her chest as it glowed red with her blood. Her fangs bared, she stepped toward me, but I raised my hands again. Magic flowed through me. I sensed it in every part of my body, and it hummed with energy.
Copying Oliver’s words, I chanted,
“Vile demon of unholy crimes,
I banish you ‘til the end of time!”
My body jerked forward
