the circle and hit the final symbol. The lights flicker and go out, and then a hot wave of power surges up from the tips of my toes to the roots of my hair.
“Powering up, baby.” I turn to Hunter. “Do you feel—Fuck!”
He’s on the ground.
I rush over and pull him into my lap. He’s barely conscious and there are blue smudges beneath his eyes.
“Hunter, what the fuck.” I shake him.
He opens his eyes. “Save Fee.”
“What did you do? What… The serum? It’s the serum you took, isn’t it.”
His eyes flutter closed.
I want to jump to Fee, but I can’t leave Hunter to die. He’s her mate. I need to get him help. The lab might have a solution. But Fee…
Oh, God. Yes. “Jasper!”
The air crackles and my tormenter appears. His face is dark like thunder, and he advances on me, ready to claim me and take me out of here. It’s so fucked up how I can read his face.
“No!” I grip Hunter tighter. “You need to find Fee. Help her and whoever came with her. Please.”
“I don’t give a fuck about Fee,” he says.
“But you give a fuck about me, so, please. Do it for me.”
He looks like he’s about to tell me to go fuck myself too, but then he takes a deep breath and nods.
“I’ll do it. But then you’re mine. For a whole week.”
His…I know what that means. I have no choice. “Deal.”
He winks out, and I hug Hunter close and make the jump to the lab.
Fee
The super vamps closed in. Barrels of their guns pointed at our heads and hearts. One move and they’d shoot—the warning was written all over their faces. They were fast and strong even with the magic being muted.
The evidence lay on the forest floor to my far right in the broken body of a Magiguard who’d tried to fight back.
The super vamp broke his spine.
How was this possible?
How were they retaining their abilities, unless…Unless it wasn’t magical. A genetic modification, maybe? Then why use vamps? Why not humans? I was so confused, and there was no time for this train of thought because I was pretty sure we were about to be executed.
“Who wants to go first,” one of the super vamps said. He stepped forward, and moonlight bathed his features—cold dead eyes, sharp cutting cheekbones.
“Boss, orders were to mass execute,” another super vamp piped up.
Cold Eyes turned his head to the other vamp with an icy look. “If I want your input, I’ll fucking ask for it. This is my show, and I’ll run it how I fucking want.”
The other vamp snapped his mouth closed and nodded curtly. “Boss.”
Cold Eyes stepped up to a Magiguard and held the gun to his head. “I think this one will be a headshot.”
“No!” Brit cried out.
The shot was a soft pfft, and the Magiguard keeled over.
He’d done it.
He’d pulled the trigger.
The Magiguard was dead. Eyes open, unseeing dead. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck!
Brit tucked in her chin, shoulders heaving as she fought to keep her shit together.
The super vamp unscrewed the silencer off his gun. “This should make a more satisfying sound.”
No one spoke. No one tried to reason with him, to stall him, because his dead eyes told us that there was no stopping this. To run would mean to be gunned down. To attack would mean to be gunned down. We were fish in a barrel, and he had his gun pointed at one of my Loup. Dexter, that was his name. He was quiet. Kept to himself but was a mean fighter.
Cold Eyes lowered the gun to Dexter’s chest.
“Stop!” The word was out before I could check myself.
The super vamp turned his head to look at me. “Did you want to go next? Is that it?”
Grayson tensed beside me, but before he could speak, Dexter lunged at Cold Eyes. The super vamp spun, and a shot screamed into the night.
For a moment, there was only the rush of blood in my ears, the heave of my breath, and then Dexter’s gurgling death throes filtered through the whooshing in my head. My vision blurred, and I blinked back tears, maintaining eye contact with my Loup until the light in his eyes died.
Super vamp toed Dexter’s body and then moved up the line, skipping another Loup to stop at a Magiguard.
There was no preamble this time. He shot her in the head.
Brit bit back a cry. She was next. Oh, fuck.
He aimed the gun at her chest and then took a