the bulging veins writhed with the creature’s dark blood, finding the connection to their severed counterparts and rejoining. Right before my eyes, the limb reattached itself with a wet sound, then the vampire wiggled his fingers and smiled with satisfaction.
A chair went flying above my head and crashed against the wall behind me. Quickly, I glanced around the room, looking for Jake. Half of the patrons seemed to have found their way out of the club, while the other half still fought to reach the emergency exit. Finally, I spotted Jake fighting against a vampire with tattoos all over his bald head. Jake’s silver eyes met mine for an instant as he leaped against a concrete column, flew toward his opponent, and slashed his sharp claws across the vamp’s neck.
I returned my attention to my still-kneeling opponent, who was grinning like mad. Blood stained his sharp fangs. Making a big show, he raked his claws down his chest, ripping off his black tank top and discarding it on the floor. He flexed both arms in unison, shook his head with a satisfied growl, then glared at me, hatred and murder burning in his eyes.
Crap! I pissed him off.
He seemed to float to a standing position. I shook my head and gave him a wolfish grin, letting him know I was ready for more. He bared his throat in a bloodcurdling roar. I rolled my eyes. Cool how I could still do it in my wolf form.
Was the vamp’s plan to kill me with high decibels? Hadn’t he realized we were at a nightclub with speakers as big as refrigerators standing at either end? Clearly, his bark was worse than his bite.
I was about to jump him and take care of his loud mouth when two other vamps peeled away from the fight and joined my attacker.
Oh, shit!
Okay, so the roar had been to call his pals to help him? I had to remember that one.
With his friends by his side, Loud Mouth grew a pair and started advancing in my direction. I took several steps back until I hit the wall and stopped next to a broken chair. The three vampires formed a semicircle, trapping me. I snapped my teeth left, right, and center, warning them to stay away.
The one on the left lunged at me and as I jumped to the right, the other one was waiting for me. At once, they sank their claws into my back, bearing their entire weight down on me. I yelped as pain flared along my spine, and my legs gave out under the pressure.
I struggled to get free, snapping my teeth and bucking, but my efforts were in vain. Loud Mouth stalked closer, smiling like the cat that ate an entire dairy aisle full of cream. I whimpered, a cry of help to anyone who would hear. But the sound was completely useless in the wake of the thumping bass still raging over the cries of battle.
Yet, Jake appeared behind Loud Mouth, ready to attack—except a fourth vampire flew out of nowhere and crashed into him. They rolled away in a snarling pile, knocking down chairs and tables like bowling pins.
Loud Mouth cracked his neck and prepared to jump me. An image flashed before my eyes: my body limp on the floor, my wolf head in one of Loud Mouth’s hands as he licked the fingers of the other, one at a time.
I was about to die, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
My vision snapped back into focus and—as the vamp blurred before my eyes, his hands outstretched, ready to twist my head off its perch—I instinctively went for one of my favorite tricks.
I shifted into my human form.
Chapter 23
It was madness to abandon my wolf in favor of my human form. I couldn’t tell what prompted me to do it, but it felt right.
My body unfurled, elongating, changing shapes. The hands that held me down lost their grip, fingers slipping on blood-slippery skin. Loud Mouth was taken aback for an instant, but as he got over his surprise and adjusted his attack to my new shape, I thrust my hands forward, meeting his palms with mine, interlacing my fingers with his, and squeezing with all my strength.
He scrunched up his face, confused, an expression of “what the hell?” shaping his features. I was asking myself the same question when, purely on reflex, I conjured back all the overwhelming colors, sounds, and sensations of my earlier vision and pushed them forward, using my