She turns to me with a finger pressed over her mouth. I nod, letting her know I understand, and she hands me a bundle of clothes. I throw the sweater on over my sleep shirt, but before I can get the pants on, there’s a commotion in the hallway outside the room.
I flick my gaze to Ensley, my eyes wide with fear as whoever is in the cabin starts ransacking the rooms. They’re not even bothering to be stealthy as they call to each other, asking if they found anything. From the different voices, it’s at least three vampires, if not more.
Ensley darts to the computer and hammers a few keys. The monitors flicker, then silently flare to life, bathing the room in cold light. The exterior feeds show nothing but darkness, no movement anywhere outside.
Inside is another story.
Four vampires prowl through the cabin, their figures ghosting across the screens: two moving on the upper floor where we are, two sweeping the rooms below.
Bending down, Ensley takes off her boots and then hands them to me, gesturing for me to put them on.
I give her a confused look and she cups her hands to one of my ears and whispers, “If they find the room, I’ll distract them and you run. Take the car and get as far away from here as possible.”
I shake my head. I can’t just leave her outnumbered and at the mercy of our enemies. But Ensley gives me a stern look, and mouths that she can take care of a few vamps.
My heart is pumping faster than ever before. I don’t know what to do.
Outside the room, the vampires are getting agitated that they haven’t found us yet. I hear one tell another to start looking in the closets and for hidden doors, and my fear spikes.
Ensley gestures again for me to put on the boots, and then positions herself between me and the door, her hands raised as she creates a ball of faelight.
The boots are at least two sizes too big. I’m a little worried they’ll fall off or trip me if I have to run, but the alternative is venturing out into the snow in my bare feet. I won’t last long if that happens.
The boots have laces and I pull them as tight as possible. I’m just straightening when a voice on the other side of the wall says, “Hey, over here. I think this is a door.”
Ensley casts a quick glance in my direction. One that says, Get ready.
The door to the surveillance room starts to open in front of us, and Ensley lets it, standing at the ready to blast whoever is on the other side with her faelight.
A figure steps into view and she reacts instantly. The ball of faelight flies from her hand and explodes on impact, the force flinging the vampire backward, his body slamming through the wall and into the room beyond.
He doesn’t get up.
She already has another one formed when a second vampire charges the room, but this time the vampire throws up a shield of shadows, deflecting the blast, and he barrels into her.
They collide hard and go down in a tangle of limbs and snarls.
Shouts ring out from below, boots pounding up the stairs as Ensley grapples with the vampire above her.
Reaching into myself, I take hold of my magic, thanking the Creator when my power surges to the surface and my hands light on fire. I press a fiery hand to the vampire’s face as she’s engaged with Ensley, burning and blinding her.
She screams, clawing at her eyes and releasing Ensley. Ensley doesn’t hesitate, blasting her back with a powerful stream of faelight to the chest. By then, two more vampires appear in the doorway.
Shadows snap around my throat and haul me into the air. I throw my hand out, fire bursting free in magenta and purple. One vampire screams as she burns. The other doesn’t even flinch, his shadows still locked tight around my neck.
Ensley fires a faelight ball at him. Distracted by me, he never sees it coming.
The shadows vanish from my throat and I crash to the ground, coughing as I drag air back into my lungs. Somewhere in the hallway, the vampire I set on fire is screaming. I don’t see the one Ensley hit with faelight, but that doesn’t mean he’s no longer a threat.
“Come on,” Ensley says, dragging me to my feet. “We have to get out of here.”
We rush into the hallway to find the vampire I lit on fire slumped against the wall, unmoving. Flames crawl up the wooden paneling, licking toward the ceiling. In moments, our exit will be cut off.
We turn toward the stairs. Glass explodes below. Shouts follow.
Ensley and I lock eyes.
There are more of them.
