“Attack,” Bogdan said pleasantly.
Winnie jerked violently. Like invisible strings had suddenly yanked tight.
My blood went cold.
This wasn’t metaphorical.
Whatever he was?—
Whatever this connection was?—
It was real. And it was powerful.
Winnie stood abruptly from her chair. Her whole body trembled.
“Fight it,” Bianca cried.
Winnie made a horrible sound in the back of her throat. “I’m trying.”
Bogdan smiled.
I looked at all three of my children. Then nodded once, giving them the signal to initiate our grand plan.
All three kids jumped into motion with terrifying coordination.
For one surreal second, Bogdan simply stood there watching them. Amused. Then Billie launched the first water balloon directly at his chest. It burst against his coat with a wet smack.
Bogdan blinked down slowly. “Was that a balloon?”
“Holy water balloon,” Billie corrected.
“We blessed it ourselves,” CJ added.
Smoke hissed from the front of his coat. Bogdan looked genuinely offended.
“Oh,” Bianca said with satisfaction. “Good. That means it works.”
CJ whipped out one of the olive oil misters from behind his back and sprayed Bogdan directly in the face with garlic-infused oil. The kitchen immediately smelled like an Italian exorcism.
Bogdan recoiled violently. “What in God’s?—”
“It’s actually in God’s name,” CJ informed him while continuing to spray. “Important distinction.”
The entire situation had gone so catastrophically off the rails I genuinely couldn’t process it fast enough. Water balloons. Garlic. My children were attempting to Home Alone a five-hundred-year-old vampire.
Winnie stood frozen beside the table, trembling visibly, like she was fighting her own body inch by inch.
“Run,” she gasped at the kids. “Please just run?—”
“No!” Billie shouted.
Another holy water balloon flew through the air. This one hit Bogdan directly in the shoulder. More smoke. More hissing.
Bogdan’s amusement finally vanished. His gray eyes darkened as he advanced on my children. Every protective instinct in my body took over completely. “Upstairs,” I barked.
The kids bolted immediately.
Bogdan moved fast. Too fast. One second he stood beside the dining table. The next he was lunging forward.
