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Mouth agape, Uuka shook his head. “I-I don’t know. I would not have thought so, but…”
Feruzi, another panther, stepped forward. He looked devastated. “I think this is my fault. Abuya didn’t like that we are guarding the home of a vampire. He doesn’t trust Ash and thinks her evil magic has made Uuka believe she is what she claims. I tried to tell him that our king trusts and loves her, and we should too. I thought the talk went well. He seemed fine afterward, and calmer, but it appears I misread the situation.”
Uuka looked hurt and angry. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“We can sort this shit out later,” Ash interrupted. “They’re very close, and there are many innocent humans nearby, not just my parents.”
The look Uuka shot Feruzi as he turned to give everyone orders promised they would talk about the issue later. Ash ran inside and woke Dani. She wanted to let her family sleep through whatever was coming, but she couldn’t risk them hearing a commotion and coming outside to investigate.
“What’s happening?” Dani asked as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.
“We have possible unfriendlies approaching. Dragons and vampires. I need you to wake Mom and Dad and keep them inside. Promise me.”
Dani’s eyes widened, and she sat up straight. "What’s going on?”
Ash groaned. “Seriously, there’s no time. I have to get back out there. Please. It’s way too easy to imagine Dad hearing something and running out there to fight cosmically powerful creatures with his shotgun.”
Dani nodded and jumped out of bed. “That tracks. Good call on the warning. I would have done the same. What are you and the panthers going to do? Fight?”
Ash shrugged. “I don’t see that we have a choice. It looks like Abuya turned traitor and reported us to Nadya, who apparently has a couple of dragons at her fucking disposal. Balls, this is a pickle.”
They heard a loud explosion outside, and the night was bathed in flames. “Shit!” Dani exclaimed. “You better get your ass out there.”
Ash dashed outside to see a hovering dragon raining fire on a house three doors down. A second dragon taunted the panthers as they tried to fight it from the ground.
“Oh, my God,” Ash gasped in horror as one of the dragons bathed the Addams’ roof in fire. Dragonfire burned hot enough to destroy the house and everything or everyone inside it within minutes. She and Dani used to babysit the Addams girls, and Ash knew that all the bedrooms were on the upper floor.
Before she could enter the burning house, Ash heard an unfamiliar voice behind her. “There you are, little newborn blood bitch.”
“We’re delighted you came out to play,” a second voice added.
Ash whirled to see a male vampire ten feet behind her and a female five beyond him. They bore a familial resemblance, and she wondered if they’d been related as humans.
“What do you want?” Ash asked, readying for a fight.
The female grinned. “Nadya sends her regards.”
“I guess the truce is over. How’d you get dragons to do your dirty work?”
The male answered. “Nikoli drove them to us. He burned the human mate of one, and the other fled the battle after you killed the king. He deemed us his best chance for revenge against the traitor prince.”
Ash shook her head. “That logic is so flawed I don’t even know where to begin picking it apart.” She heard the family inside the burning house screaming for help, so she was out of time. “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”
After pulling the shadows around her, Ash called the tendrils to bind the vampires. Black ropes rose, constricting their legs, then encasing them in cocoons of darkness.
“Stay there. I’ll deal with you later.” Ash sprinted toward the burning house. She kicked in the back door and ran inside, looking around in horror. Flames were everywhere, so saving the family would be difficult. Vampires were also flammable, which made dragonfire one of the best weapons to use against them.
Ash ran through the kitchen toward a hallway, but it was blocked on both ends by fire, so Ash punched through the closest wall. Forcing her body through the hole, Ash dashed through the living room toward the stairs.
“Megan! I’m coming. Get to the kids!” she shouted.
As firelight glowed around her, Ash flung whips of shadow through the hole toward the sink and tore out the plumbing, which sent water spraying into the room. It would help protect the structure long enough to get the family out. She also sent shadows through the walls to the pipes, tearing them out in the areas where she felt heat.
In the blink of an eye, she was up the stairs and running down the hall. She saw scorch marks on the ceiling and heard the joists crackling in the attic. The roof wouldn’t hold for much longer.
In the girls’ bedroom, she saw Megan Addams trying to wake her younger daughter Alyssa.
“Come on, baby,” Megan pleaded, coughing. “Please get up.”
