Turning from the newly cleaned kitchen, she said, “I’ll be so happy when nightfall comes and Shane can go—” Nicole gasped and flinched back from the monstrous snow leopard that was stalking her way.
Dawn was in her human form, standing in the living room, just staring at Nicole with dead eyes, so the animal must’ve been Sadey. “S-Sadey?” she squeaked out, inching down the length of the counters, “it’s me.”
Her pupils were so blown there was only a thin ring of gold in the snow leopard’s eyes.
“No, no, no, Sadey, this isn’t you. This is someone playing with your head.”
The cat stalked closer. God, she was big. She easily weighed more than Nicole, and her massive paws extended long, curved claws every time one hit the wooden floor.
Never give a predator your back.
She walked backward around the kitchen island. Sadey was herding her toward Dawn, and it scared her. Dawn didn’t look right, tracking her with soulless gold eyes.
“Evan!” she called out.
Sadey hissed and lurched forward a few steps. Too close, too close!
“Oh, my gosh,” Nicole murmured, putting her hands out in a calming gesture. She was shaking so bad. Evan, please help me!
She had to walk right past Dawn to get to the living room, where Sadey seemed determined to force her to go. All the hairs rose on her body the closer she got to Dawn’s stoic figure. Something was so wrong with her. So wrong.
“Dawn, wake up,” she pleaded. “Please wake up.”
Dawn didn’t move at all except for her eyes...watching her, watching her.
Sadey was stalking closer, which had forced Nicole to stop hesitating at the kitchen island, and scoot closer to Dawn. When Nicole was just a few feet from her, Dawn flinched. Startled but the sudden motion, Nicole let off a shriek.
Dawn just lifted her hand and pointed her finger toward the door. “You should go outside where it’s safe from the vampires,” she said in a voice that echoed with hollowness.
“Bu-but the Novak Raven told us to stay here. Evan told me to stay here.” Evan, Evan, Evan!
Dawn shook her head, and the color came back into her eyes. For a split second, she looked scared, and then her pupils dilated again and her face went slack. “You should go outside. It’s safe out there.”
She was lying. Dawn was lying, and Sadey was herding her toward the door while Evan was sleeping. She wasn’t safe outside. She wasn’t safe in here either. Think!
Power crackled through the air. As soon as Shane appeared by the door, she locked her legs against any forward motion. Getting close to Dawn had been terrifying enough. Shane would definitely attack her.
“Yeah, Nicole, go outside.” His voice was twisted with a cruelty that dropped her stomach to the floor. “You’ll be safe out there.” He pushed the door open. “Allow me.”
Sunlight filtered in across the floorboards. Shane stood beside the door, out of the ray of light that infiltrated the room.
When she glanced at Dawn, beads of sweat were pouring down the sides of her red face. “Run, Nicole,” she gritted out through clenched teeth.
“Evan!” Nicole shrieked as she bolted for the sunlight.
While Sadey charged, a guttural snarl in her throat, Dawn fell to her hands and knees, the sounds of her breaking bones popping through the room.
Shane’s smile made her sick as she reached the doorway, and quick as the strike of a cobra, he reached out and yanked her arm. She felt the warmth of the sun on her cheeks for a split moment before he pulled her back into the shadows of the house. His claws dug into her arms, and his eyes turned solid black as he yanked her toward his opening mouth.
Smoke…so much purple smoke exploded around them, and right when she closed her eyes to prepare for the pain, she was shoved backward.
She yelped as her tailbone hit the floor and, terrified, she looked up to see Shane standing in the clearing smoke, his body burning. The smell of burning skin filled her senses, and she gasped in horror as the corpse’s legs snapped at the knees, and he fell into a pile of ashes.
Evan was behind him with a stake in his hand, his face looking gaunt and monstrous, his eyes black as night. Lips curled back, he turned to Sadey and Dawn’s snow leopards, who were stalking his way. “Stop!” he roared in a monstrous demon’s voice.
The cats didn’t even pause.
“Aric! Garret!” he yelled. Evan shook his head hard and dropped the stake, fell to his knees in the ashes, then gripped the sides of his face and snarled. “Fuck. Fuck! Shut up! Get out of my head!”
Aric and Garret appeared in the hallway, eyes black and empty, and Nicole knew her time was up.
“No,” Evan murmured, shaking his head. “Aric, fight Vlaric! Push him from your head!” When he slashed his claws out at Sadey who was getting too close, she hissed and backed away by a few feet. “King! Protect us!”
Aric pitched forward, and his eyes cleared. “Get her out of here,” he choked out, and then his eyes went black again.
Chest heaving, Evan uttered a curse and wrapped his arms around Nicole just as the snow leopards and vampires charged for them.
It felt like her entire body broke apart as Evan disappeared into the smoke and bats. She couldn’t draw a breath as they sped through space. Then she hit the ground hard and sucked air into her screaming lungs. The ground was dirt, and there was a row of old tractors against one of the walls. There was a loft full of hay bales. They
