Determined to check every burning room of that cabin if I have to, I get to my feet just as a figure skirts the corner of the burning blaze.
My pulse stutters with hope, then crashes when I see it’s not Haven or Ensley.
Another figure joins the first, and they start arguing.
More vampires.
The blood moon is minutes away. Even now, the demon might be moments away from taking her from me forever.
Not only that, Ensley is nowhere to be seen. I have no doubt the vampires or demon wouldn’t hesitate to kill my sister on sight.
“We only need one alive,” I say to Titus right before I shoot forward, coming up behind one of the vampires, the male.
Before he can react, I grab his head and twist, breaking his neck.
Titus has the female vamp incapacitated before he hits the ground. She bucks and kicks like a wild animal, hurling insults at us. Titus just tightens his grip, pressing his forearm into her throat. Her eyes bug and she tries to free herself, but Titus isn’t letting her go. With Ensley missing, Titus’ grip is driven by the same terror burning through my chest.
I get in the vampire’s face, knowing my scales are already showing along my neck and arms. My vision has sharpened, the world snapping into cruel clarity, and I know my pupils are slits.
“Where are they?” I demand, my voice rough and distorted as my body strains to shift.
She stops fighting, her expression twisting with hatred. Titus eases his grip on her throat so she can speak, but instead she starts to laugh.
Talons push from the ends of my fingers, bones morphing and elongating with sickening pops. Scales crawl up my hands and across my face as extra teeth crowd my mouth, my jaw stretching forward into the beginnings of a snout.
The vampire sobers when she sees the change taking hold.
“I won’t ask again,” I warn, my voice deeper now, more beast than man.
“You’re too late,” she sneers. “The new age begins tonight.”
Fear crashes through me.
The demon has her. I know it. It’s going to take her from me.
A scream tears through the forest.
I snap my head toward the sound, blood roaring in my ears as dread slams into me.
I recognize that scream.
I turn away from the vampire. Titus can deal with her.
My control shatters.
Magic detonates beneath my skin as my body gives in to the shift. My spine arches violently, bones cracking and reforming as my frame expands, muscle and mass surging outward. Teal scales ripple over me in a violent wave, armor-hard and gleaming as my wings tear free with a thunderous snap.
Black horns curve from my skull, heat and pressure exploding behind my eyes as spikes erupt down my neck and spine. My claws bite deep into the earth as the last of my human shape is burned away.
When I lift my head, a dragon stares back at the world.
Huge, lethal, and unleashed.
Hang on, Haven.
I’m coming.
Thirty-Eight
