bowled over.
Instead, Volod grabbed her by her hair and jerked her up.
“Try to bite me without teeth.” Olivia slammed her fist into his jaw, snapping his head to the side. Unfortunately his teeth didn’t break.
He grabbed her to him in a rough, harsh movement, bringing her hard against his chest.
“Let go of me, scum.” Olivia kicked and fought, but she was no match for the incredible strength of a Master Vampire.
I lunged forward, trying to get to her, trying to help her. But the bar I was shackled to wouldn’t let me move.
Volod had Olivia pinned to him. In a blur of movement he lowered his face to her neck and bit.
Olivia shrieked. A moment later she went limp in Volod’s arms, just as the Doppler had in mine.
“No.” I sagged against my captors. The hopeless feeling inside me grew larger, heavier.
Volod raised his head and licked blood from his lips then ran his tongue over the two puncture wounds on Olivia’s neck. He tossed her aside, at Elizabeth’s feet.
Olivia landed on her backside. She looked dazed and incapable of speech.
I wanted to scream to cry … to rage … To kill Volod … To truly and finally wipe him out of existence.
Volod turned to me. “You are wondering, of course, how we knew of your coming and of your plans.” He glanced at the crowd of Vampires and Vampire paranorms surrounding all of the frozen paranorms. He made a come here motion with his fingers.
A Metamorph I recognized as Janet strode forward. I frowned. It had never occurred to me that Volod had turned Metamorphs. But what did Janet have to do with this whole mess?
When Janet reached Volod, she turned and faced us.
And shifted.
Into John. The Tracker from upstate New York who had led the recon team. The one who had come up with this entire plan, including the timing. We had been set up perfectly by Volod.
We’d had a Metamorph in our midst and we hadn’t even known it. A Vampire-Metamorph.
The world was crumbling and I didn’t know how to stop it. Rodán was dead. Nadia, dead. Other Trackers, dead. Olivia, bitten. Trackers turned into Vampire paranorms. Me, a Vampire.
And now my people were frozen, surrounded by Vampires and Vampire paranorms.
“Yes, you took the bait, didn’t you,” Volod said, “and walked right into my trap with your meager force.”
I fought to keep from slumping with the weight of the feeling of defeat.
“What are you going to do, Nyx of the Night Trackers?” Volod smiled. “When all that you hold dear is being destroyed before your very eyes.”
THIRTY-NINE
I kept my head high, striving for bravado I didn’t feel. No matter how I puzzled it out, I couldn’t see a way to stop Volod.
“Bring up her family and the friends she holds most dear.” The glint in his eye was utterly evil. “I’m not even close to being finished yet.”
Chills rolled through me. He was going to kill my family and friends. There had to be something I could do. But what?
The Great Guardian.
What had she told me? That she was with me even in times where it seemed she wasn’t.
Nadia had just been killed in front of me. My friends were next. It sure didn’t seem like she was now.
Her power was available to me, she’d said. I needed to trust her.
It wasn’t just hard. This was impossible.
Maybe what I needed to do was ask.
Great Guardian, I need you now more than ever. I believe you, but help me to believe more.
“Let’s start with her friends the Manhattan Trackers.” Volod pointed to Desmond, Angel, Joshua, and Ice. “Those four … I know for a fact you work intimately with them.”
I swallowed hard as those I cared about were brought forward. There were just no words for any of this.
When the Sorcerer Desmond and the three Trackers were arranged in the front, Volod said, “Bring up the one who is her father and the one who is her brother.” He looked at me. “You killed my brother. Now you will watch yours die, along with your father.”
My mind churned, my stomach twisted. I thought I was going to throw up.
He must have seen everything written across my face. “Yes, bitch. I know all about you and the ones you care for.”
John—Janet—pointed toward the back row. Volod sent several of his Vampire paranorms to get them.
My father looked so regal and proud in his frozen glory. He stood straight and tall, his muscles clearly taut with what I knew to