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George's voice rang out. "Challenge accepted!"
Renok and the bald-headed guy jumped to their feet. I leaped onto the table and pulled Slayer out. Oh no, you don't.
"Interfere and die," Curran said.
Jarek's people halted.
The two werewolves rolled across the floor, snarling and biting. Jarek bit Desandra's left arm. She hammered a vicious punch into his face and rolled on top of him. Jarek tried to rear. Desandra raised her hand and smashed it into his chest. Ribs snapped like toothpicks. Desandra thrust her hand into her father's chest, tore out his heart, and threw it on the floor.
Everyone stopped.
"Rot in hell, you bastard." Desandra straightened, her monstrous clawed hands bloody. "Anybody else want to take my children? Anybody? Come on!"
She spun, pointing her hand at the Belve Ravennati, Volkodavi, and Jarek's people. "I'm waiting!"
Nobody moved.
Desandra's monstrous face jerked. She fell back, changing in midair, and landed on her back. Bulges slid across her stomach. "The babies!"
"She's going into labor," Doolittle said in a clipped voice. "I need access."
Renok jerked a sword off the wall and jumped, aiming for Desandra. As I cleared the table, I knew I was too far.
Andrea's bolt sprouted from Renok's neck. He ignored it, swinging at Desandra.
I sprinted, trying to squeeze speed out of every fraction of a second.
The sword rose in a gleaming metal arc and came down like an executioner's axe. George thrust herself between Renok and Desandra. I saw it in slow motion, as if time froze: the glint of the metal blade as it traveled down, the angle of the strike, and the precise moment the razor edge cut into George's right shoulder. Crimson blood washed the blade. It cleaved through the shoulder joint, passing through muscle and bone with ridiculous ease.
George's arm slid off her body and fell down.
I stabbed Slayer into Renok's chest and cut a hole in his heart.
George grabbed Renok's neck with her left hand, squeezed, and pushed him back. He flew and crashed into the table. George slid on her own blood and fell next to me.
Mahon roared. His face twisted, his eyes mad, and the massive Kodiak charged the fallen werewolf, almost mowing me down.
Curran landed next to me, picked up Desandra, and jumped over the table, putting distance between us and the raging Kodiak. Derek swiped George and her arm off the floor and followed him. We ran to the back of the great hall.
Mahon crushed Renok and ripped into another werewolf. Jarek's people went furry in a flash of teeth and claws.
"Damn it all to hell," Hugh growled. "Do not engage."
The Iron Dogs backed away.
"Form a perimeter!" I barked, and pulled my sword out. Andrea stood next to me on the right, Raphael next to her, Eduardo and Keira on my left. We became a semicircle, shielding Desandra. She screamed.
Aunt B ripped a banner down and dropped it on the floor. Curran lowered Desandra onto it, turned, and jumped, changing in midleap. A moment and he tore into the werewolves next to Mahon. The remaining two packs moved away, hugging the wall to avoid being caught in the carnage.
George moaned in Derek's arms.
"Hold on," he told her.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," George said.
"I need clean water," Doolittle called out. "Beatrice . . ."
"It's under control," Aunt B said. "Not my first time reattaching a limb."
"Can I be of assistance?" Saiman asked.
"Have you ever delivered a child?" Doolittle asked.
"Yes, I have."
"Good. We have to perform a C-section. One of her unborn is trying to kill the other."
"Fascinating," Saiman said.
A werewolf dashed our way. I sliced his legs, Raphael slit his throat, and Andrea shot him through the heart.
Isabella marched to us, her sons in tow. "I will see-"
"Don't," I warned.
She opened her mouth. Eduardo shifted, gaining a foot in height and another across the shoulders, and bellowed at her. Isabella took a step back.
Desandra howled, a sharp cry of pure pain.
At the other wall Curran and Mahon raged, tearing werewolves apart. The last of the shaggy bodies stopped moving. Curran and the giant bear were the only two left standing. Mahon swung and hit Curran, huge claws raking a bloody trail along his gray side. Curran roared. Mahon rose on his hind legs. Curran lunged forward, locking his arms on the bear, and took him to the floor.
"It's me," he said.
Mahon snarled.
"It's me," Curran repeated. "George is safe. It will be fine."
I held my breath. Sometimes werebears snapped and went berserk. That was how Curran had become the Beast Lord-he had killed a mad werebear. But Mahon was always calm. He was always in control-
Mahon reared, tossing Curran aside like he weighed nothing. Curran landed on his side and rolled to his feet. The bear bellowed and ran straight into the door, taking it off its hinges. A moment and he vanished down the hallway.
"Fucking animals," Hugh said, disgust on his face.
A deep voice rolled through the castle. "I've seen enough."
Everything stopped. Astamur stood in the doorway.
Hugh turned. "Who are you?"
Astamur opened his mouth. No sound came, but I heard him in my head, clear as if he stood right next to me.
"I am the shepherd."
The rifle in his hands flowed, as if liquid, turning into a tall staff. Astamur looked at Hugh. "For twenty years I watched you. You're bad for this land. You're bad for my people. Tell your master he wasn't welcome in the mountains when he was young. He is not welcome still."
"Cute," Hugh said. "Kill him."
The nearest Iron Dog moved toward the shepherd.
Astamur raised his staff. I felt a spark, a tiny hint of magic, like a glimpse of a titanic storm cloud in a flash of lightning. The butt of the staff hit the floor. A brilliant white light drowned us, as if a star had split open and swallowed us whole.
* * *
The floor shook. Thunder crashed, slapping my eardrums with an air fist. Next to me the shapeshifters clutched at their ears, screaming. The floor shuddered under my feet. I blinked, trying to clear my vision. Things swung into focus slowly: an empty space where Astamur used to be and a widening crack crawling upward through the wall. A gap sliced the floor to the right of me, fifteen feet wide and running all the way across the great hall and into the hallway. Bright blue flames shot out of the gap, cutting the great hall in two. We, the Volkodavi, and the vampires were on one side. Curran, Hugh, the Iron Dogs, and the Belve Ravennati were on the other.
