had on it and wriggle free faster than Pietro could adjust.
Then it ran, body-checking Trent sideways to free its partner. Without even a pause to read the situation, the pair of vampires simply turned and ran off into the night faster than the dragons could hope to match.
“That was eerie,” Trent said as he got to his feet. “Did you see that?”
Pietro grunted, swiping more blood from his face. “They did the same thing when they hit my car two nights ago,” he said. “Operating like they were thinking with one brain. I don’t like it. If they’ve bonded—”
“They’re getting strong. Fast,” Trent said.
“Did you notice their skin?” Pietro asked.
“What of it?”
“When they came out of the Gate, it was black and shiny. Like a beetle shell. Now it’s gray, even lighter than it was two days ago. It’s not shiny either. Looks softer. Kind of like—”
“It’s becoming more human,” Trent finished heavily. “What does that mean?”
Pietro shrugged. “No idea. We don’t know much about vampires, let alone Hunters. What are they capable of? What will they become if they feed enough? This has never happened before, that we know of.”
The two exchanged long glances, then they turned with similar unison and headed back for the house.
Pietro walked inside, looking around.
“I guess we aren’t staying here tonight,” he said dryly as Claire rushed him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Pietro
He gathered her up into his arms, holding her gently but close to him. The blood had stopped flowing from his face as the wound closed itself, but there was still a dull throb from it. Pietro carefully adjusted Claire so that she was leaning against his other side, to avoid getting her clothes covered in blood.
“Are you okay?” he asked, noting the drywall dust. “What happened?”
“Lilly is a badass,” Claire said quietly, squeezing him tight. “That’s what happened. She attacked the first vampire that came through with a kitchen knife after it had me in its grip.”
Lilly scoffed. “Whatever. I stabbed it in the shoulder. You yanked the knife out and shoved it in the thing’s eye! Now that’s badass.”
Pietro glanced at Trent, who was holding his mate tight to him, much the same way Pietro was with Claire. A slight frown filled him as he had a sudden thought, but Pietro pushed it to the side.
Now was not the time to start thinking of that. Not at all.
“In the eye, you say,” he muttered, leaning back to look down at Claire.
“And then in the leg after it tossed her into the wall,” Lilly added. “I tried to stab it in the junk, a last ditch dick-shot before it killed us, but it was too fast.”
“You tried to stab it in the dick?” Trent asked, staring down at his mate as he stroked her head.
“It was in the heat of the moment,” Lilly said defensively. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Right.” Trent shook his head. “Remind me not to make you angry when there are knives around.”
The four of them shook with laughter briefly, but they subsided quickly. Everyone was still rather stunned over everything that had happened, and lingering fear swiftly overwhelmed any joy they might experience.
“You two put up one hell of a fight,” Pietro said quietly. “I’m proud of both of you. That’s impressive. I’m just sorry it came to that.”
“What do you mean?” Claire asked, looking up at him, her hands still tight around his waist.
“I should have been more alert. I walked right into that one, and because of it, you two almost died.”
“You got hit by a rogue flying door,” Claire pointed out. “It’s really kind of tough to plan for that, don’t you think?”
“I should have done better,” Pietro insisted, upset at himself. “I was in charge of keeping you two safe, and I didn’t.”
“Everything is okay,” Claire said, squeezing him tight. “You came to the rescue. That’s what matters.”
Pietro started to say that it wasn’t, but he was interrupted by Trent, who had been muttering quietly with Lilly, and now looked like they had come to an agreement.
“We’re going to go,” he said. “Heading to our house before those things recover and come back. You two are more than welcome there. It will be safer than here.”
The threshold would be stronger there, is what Trent meant. Because he lived there with his mate. The two of them were turning it into their home.
For some reason, that hit Pietro harder than it should have. There was even a flash of something akin to anger in