It crept forward, slowly, which seemed rude. I’d seen how fast they were, so this one approached slowly for the fun of it…
It ignored its master, didn’t try to intervene in the fight. Then again, I doubted it gave a damn about its master. This wasn’t a beloved pet—it was a guard, and it had no care for the one who imprisoned it.
It leapt forward, and I rolled to avoid it. Teeth dug in, but caught the ankle of my shoe so I didn’t lose my foot. I used my other to kick it—hard.
It let go, and I got to my feet. The fence line was only about ten feet away…
“Go,” Kase snapped, as if he’d known what I was thinking.
The beast leapt, but Kase was faster. Somehow, he got between the thing and me, took the hit himself, let it dig its teeth into his shoulder instead of mine. He grabbed its throat and threw it to the side.
Worse, the distraction let the man close in land another vicious slash to Kase’s ribs.
My feet wouldn’t move. I couldn’t run…Kase was obviously overwhelmed, and I couldn’t leave him like that.
A thought came to me, one that made little sense, but then again, I was in hell. Things hadn’t made sense since I’d arrived.
I opened my hand, the one still smeared in blood, and let it drip on the plants to my side.
That same high-pitched scream from before came again, but I didn’t stop. I bled on the ones close by, and the man jerked his gaze toward me.
Suddenly, Kase didn’t matter as much to him.
Though, I didn’t care for having his attention, either.
The beast left Kase alone, as well. While it might not love its master, it had been trained to protect the plants.
Kase didn’t move, collapsing to the ground as his opponents moved away.
The beast jumped toward me, and I flung my hand out to try and catch it before it got its jaws around my face. The action sent drops of my blood flying toward it.
When they landed, the thing yelped as if my blood burned it. The beast shook its head and bolted in the other direction, a whimper following as if it had just realized to hell with this.
“What are you?” the man repeated, his hands open, his claws spread, his voice low and furious.
He walked toward me, each step slow and lumbering. It was then I realized all the wounds that covered him.
It seemed Kase had done his share of damage, even if it didn’t show as openly…
I brought my arms together, a last-ditch effort, but nothing happened, just as Grant had said.
The man was so close, I could see the glistening of that slime-like substance on his skin. I could smell the rot on his breath.
However, before he could do anything else, a familiar roar filled the space, one that had terrified me before.
Troy—fully shifted and looking every bit as large and monstrous as the man—flew past me, and with one swing of his claw-tipped hand, decapitated him.
I charged forward, past the still falling body, past Troy, and dropped to my knees beside Kase.
Please let him be okay…
I hadn’t thought about losing him before. Vampires were immortal, so it wasn’t the sort of thing I had to worry about.
Fear gripped my chest, made it hard to pull in air, especially when I stared down at Kase’s battered form, his chest not rising since he didn’t need to breathe.
Finally, he blinked, eyes that same red that I used to hate, and I drew in a shaky breath.
Thank fuck.
Chapter Eight
Filth covered the house, but I lacked the energy to complain about the accommodations.
Staying in the home of the man who had been ready to carve me up and plant me wasn’t my idea of a good time, but one good look at Kase had reminded me that there were bigger issues than my comfort.
He looked…horrible. His skin was even more pale, dark red blood covering so much of him, his shirt in tatters that helped expose his damaged body.
It made the fight with Troy seem like nothing, and I couldn’t shake the memory of him taking blows meant for me.
Troy had reminded me that the creatures that guarded the fields hadn’t been interested in coming anywhere near me after the whole flinging-blood thing, and with the master himself dead…the house was probably the safest place around.
So Troy had helped Kase inside and gotten him settled in a bed upstairs, before heading down to check the rest of the house, and probably to shift back to human.
“Are you going to be okay?” My voice wavered at the question.
Kase leaned against the headboard, red covering so much of his clothing. “I’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“I will be fine,” he repeated. “I just need to rest.”
“And feed?” I held my arm out. “I know my blood isn’t to your liking, but if it keeps you alive, maybe your delicate sensibilities can deal with it.”
He shook his head. “After seeing what it did to the things here, I’m going to guess that the taste is the only warning I would get. I don’t want to know what it might do to me if I swallowed it.”
I opened my mouth, but he held up his hand to end the conversation.
I sat on the bed beside him, hunching forward. “I wish I could have helped more.”
His eyebrows drew toward each other like I wasn’t making any sense. “Ava, even after I told you to run, you stayed there. I’d be dead—more dead than normal, as you would say—if you hadn’t come up with that blood trick. Also, I did happen to see you running through the field like a ghost,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to mention that or not.”
“What does that mean?”
He shifted, a grimace before he stilled as if realizing no amount of moving around was going to
