“Stop!” I bellowed over the ruckus as I drew out my weapon.
To my amazement, everyone actually stopped. And stared at me. My eyes scanned the crowd. Wolves panted, but otherwise remained still. Vampires looked as though they’d turned to stone, their red eyes watching me.
“It’s me you want, right? Us? Leave them out of this!”
“Damn it, Alexis,” Tristan muttered after he and Owen popped in right next to me.
“I stopped them,” I whispered.
“Fine! Have it your way,” one of the vamps yelled, and they slowly closed in on us.
“They’re not exactly stopped,” Owen said. He, Tristan, and I stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the vampires encircling us. Owen held his hands out, ready to fight with magic. Tristan, always strategic, seemed to just stand there, but I knew he was calculating, planning his attack and how he would defend both of us at the same time.
“Well . . . at least they’re distracted,” I said.
“Use your mind,” Tristan told me as the vamps came closer.
Of course. I made the thought sound confident for his benefit, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t know if I could use my one major advantage in this large group of people. Especially without alerting anyone I even had the power.
“Let’s do this,” Tristan growled, and faster than a blur, he’d pulled a razor-sharp disc from his belt and sent it flying at a random bloodsucker, severing its ear before even the vampires could react.
That did it. The vamps put on their speed and charged us. Tristan hit the closest ones with his power, and they dropped to the ground. He continued hitting more, and Owen and I helped with our own powers until they swarmed on top of us, and it became mano-a-mano. Well, sort of. They vastly outnumbered us.
I swung my dagger in an arc at the two leeches rushing at me, and they jumped out of reach, afraid of the silver. They separated enough to take me from both sides. I used my left hand to shoot lightning at the male vamp and used my right to wield the knife at the female. She dodged my swipes, and he tried to out-move me, but the electric current zapped him until his skin turned purple and smoke rose. He disappeared with a pop.
The female, with black hair that made her skin look whiter than white, moved fast—faster than the human eye could see—but so did I. Just one-on-one, I could focus on her mind and knew her plan before she charged me. I jumped out of her way and swung my dagger in a perfect, smooth move that sliced across her stomach. The slash wasn’t deep—not deep enough to kill her—but she screeched with pain from the enchanted metal.
“You bitch,” she shrieked, flying at me again.
I jumped and cartwheeled in the air, getting another swipe across her back before I landed on my feet. Another male blurred toward my left as the female, weaker now, charged me again. Remembering everything Charlotte and Tristan taught me, I did a roundhouse on the woman, kicking her in the jaw and sending her backward several yards. At the same time, I jabbed my dagger at the male, and it sunk three inches between his ribs. Hearing his thought about flashing, I jerked it out before he disappeared with it still in him. The female took advantage of this moment and jumped on my back. Her height and my lack of it made her feet drag, bringing us down. My dagger flew out of my hand and skidded across the ground, out of reach, as I sprawled on my stomach, the vampire on top of me.
I wiggled under her, trying to reach for my other knife on my left side. She pinned my hips down with her full weight. Her hand pushed between my shoulder blades, pressing me into the ground with all of her vampire strength. Then she grabbed my hair and yanked my head backward so hard, I was surprised my neck didn’t snap. Tristan and Owen both caught sight of my struggle, but neither could do anything, occupied with their own fights. I writhed again, but it was no use. The vampire weighed me down like a boulder on a sheet of paper.
“Vanessa and Lucas will be pissed,” she said, her voice hoarse and gravelly, “but . . . oh, well. Your blood in my veins will be worth it.”