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Charlie’s claws came out, but dread at what would follow stopped him from attacking. Riva’s shouts echoed as she pushed him out of the way, her claws digging in on Malifeskos’s back without hesitation. She yanked. It worked as Malifeskos jerked back enough to loosen his hold—and Charlie used that last shot to grab Diego’s shoulder, heave him up, and toss him in the other direction. Before the large man could follow, Charlie was climbing back once more and wrestling the thrashing body down.
“Don’t leave,” he commanded. “Stay with me and keep holding him down. We have enough strength between the two of us.”
“Kill!” Malifeskos yowled. “Blood!”
“What the hell—”
A thrum weaved its way into Charlie’s body as the crazed words were let out, each one more familiar than the last. Riva kept cursing through it, trying to get the man’s attention while Diego crouched at their side. The vampire was braced, too, to take over in case one of them failed, but it was obvious none of them wanted to hurt Malifeskos any further.
“Diego, what does he look like?”
“What?”
“His face,” Charlie clarified. “What’s his reaction? What are you seeing?”
Diego peeked under, frowning. Malifeskos’s head snapped up and his struggle renewed. Riva hissed.
“Angry.” Relief started to creep in until Diego’s next words. “Then he spotted me and looks…gleeful. Hungry.”
“Holy shit.”
“We need to get him under control,” Riva said. “We need to do something. Anything.”
There was one thing left to do, then. Charlie gritted his teeth. Then he lifted his elbow, risking that moment of taking his weight from Malifeskos before he brought it down on a nerve point. There was a shudder before the body slumped and the erratic breathing slowed down, then became quiet. Diego hunched over to check.
“Still alive. Knocked out.”
But Riva wasn’t even looking at the two, her attention solely on him.
“What you said earlier about something using Sona….”
“Yes,” was all he said, but it was enough to harden her resolve.
“We will get him to the prison chamber and keep them distracted.”
“If something doesn’t feel right, lock yourselves up, too.”
She blinked, then nodded slowly. “Right. Find out what this is.”
“What is going on?” Diego asked, in a state of befuddlement. “Why are we locking ourselves up?”
Charlie didn’t stay behind to listen to Riva’s answer, already dialing a number when he couldn’t figure out where to find her. Daria was distracted when she picked it up, the hello mumbled.
“Where are you?”
“My magic warned me, Charlie. It warned me that something was about to happen, and the next thing I knew, Oscar’s dead.”
“It’s not just that. Malifeskos turned murderous, too, but we handled it.” There was a moment of hesitation before he let the rest out. “Me, too. Where are you?”
“What?”
“I almost killed Sona. I tried to choke her out. Malifeskos did the same to Diego. I don’t know if we were motivated by the same thing, but in my case, it was…hard to explain. Like there was some force egging me on.”
“Evil.” Her voice turned cold. “Thisis what the bald man was talking about and what I was being warned about. It wasn’t me. It was our surroundings. Maybe unlocking my potential unlocked it, too, and now it’s following us…yes, Yano. Hold on.”
“Yano? He’s with you?”
“Yes. To bring some more books, but then Oscar happened. Now we are off to do something else.”
