of me.
She was free! How? She must’ve worked her way out of her bonds while Sarah was monologuing.
Sarah jumped to her feet and shoved my mother, who crashed back into the wooden table. It buckled under the force, the tabletop hitting the floor as the legs shattered. Mom lay on top of the rubble, unmoving. Something landed by my hip, and my fingers curled around it.
Too weak to get up, I was still lying in the same spot when Sarah turned back to me. My blood was smeared across her face and down her chin, staining her white Camp Shadow Lake t-shirt. She snarled at me and leapt forward, knees straddling my hips as she came down on top of me.
I pulled my hand into my chest at the last second, the splintered piece of the table leg gripped tightly in my fist. Shards of wood stung my palm as the force of Sarah’s momentum pushed the sharp end into her flesh, but I held tight, refusing to let go.
Sarah’s eyes widened as a warm, sticky fluid coated my hand. I knew that feeling. I’d felt it before, when my father’s blood dripped through these very floorboards to coat my face.
As I watched, the vampire’s skin turned gray, black veins showing through the now-translucent skin. Her eyes rolled back in her head just before she collapsed on top of me. Then she was still.
Before I could take my next breath, a roar of rage vibrated through me, warming my cold, sweaty, half-drained body. Despite my wooziness, or maybe because of it, my lips pulled up into a serene smile.
Levi was awake.
Chapter Twenty-Six
If I had any doubts about Levi’s fighting skills, they evaporated the moment Sarah’s spell broke. Levi rose up like a vicious panther, coiled and ready for battle. Whirling, he scanned the room, appearing to take note of all that had gone down in the blink of an eye.
“Sarah,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble as he noted her dead body. Then his head snapped up, and he zeroed in on Lars.
Lars and Chloe seemed frozen in the wake of Sarah’s death at my hand and Levi’s sudden recovery. She’d been their leader, the one to call the shots, and now she was slowly disintegrating on the floorboards. Her skin, like Micah’s, was withering and flaking like ash. It was not at all what they’d expected to happen.
I couldn’t quite believe it, either. One moment she was killing me, the next… I’d killed her? My vision… Had I been wrong or had I somehow changed my fate?
I didn’t have time to process. Levi moved with superhuman speed, darting to Lars. Their bodies slammed together as arms locked around each other, hands clawing towards each other’s throats. They hissed, showing off long fangs as animalistic instincts seemed to take over. Wrestling, they slammed each other back and forth, smashing walls, destroying furniture.
I’d never seen anything like it. They were terrifying, perfect examples of an apex predator.
I scrambled up, the wooden stake somehow still in my fist. I must’ve pulled it out of Sarah’s body, but I had no memory of it.
My eyes tracked the fight as Levi slammed Lars into the wall, knocking the cuckoo clock to the floor. It erupted in a jangling tune before stopping abruptly. Levi seemed to have the upper hand until Lars punched him in the stomach. I flinched, but to my surprise, it did nothing to deter him from choking the life out of Sarah’s henchman.
The look in Levi’s eyes as he squeezed and squeezed made me shiver with dread. Corded muscles stood out on his arms. His chest heaved as he strained to use every bit of force to subdue Lars. With his fangs unsheathed, he looked every bit the vampire depicted in books and movies.
I stared in awe and terror, unable to tear my eyes away from the destruction.
Lars gagged and clawed at Levi’s hands, his feet scrambling on the floor, but nothing he did could dislodge Levi’s hands from his throat. Would choking him be enough to end him?
A blur to my left made me turn in time to see Chloe finally join the fight.
“Look out!” I shouted, but it was too late.
She zoomed behind Levi and kicked, knocking his knees forward. He buckled, his hands dropping from Lars’s throat. As he fell, she gripped his shoulder and yanked down. Levi fell hard on his back as Chloe and Lars circled over him.
“No!” I shouted, darting forward, while at the