a claw, but a crow. The crow was Theodore’s totem animal, and this certainly had his fingerprints all over it.
Something bad was happening. Either the mist was becoming stronger and taking over the city on its own, or Theodore was strengthening it. I had a brief moment where I considered telling the driver to turn around and drive as far away from Tribane as possible.
The coward in me wanted to run, but the magic inside of me urged me to stand and fight. Tribane was where my friends were. It was where Ethan was. After the last two nights, I could no longer pretend that I wasn’t halfway in love with him. It was a sobering realisation, and one that made me shut my mouth and let the driver keep heading toward the city.
My crew of misfits might not be a match for Theodore, but we could damn well try our hardest to be a major bump in his road to tyranny.
Minutes later, the taxi stopped outside Finn’s house. As I emerged, a group of neighbours were shouting and acting rowdy. They cheered on two women who were beating the living hell out of each other in the middle of the road. A couple of teenage boys threw bricks at the houses, smashing in windows.
Things had taken a turn, and I could no longer afford to keep my powers hidden. Especially not since the teenagers were headed toward Finn’s house.
“Don’t even think about it,” I warned, eyeing the ringleader. He sneered, calling me a name that didn’t bear repeating. Well, I wasn’t having that.
I could almost visualise my magic shooting through my body as I swung both arms above my head, creating a stream of sparks, before throwing them at the teenagers. They screeched at the sight of my magic and backed off.
I didn’t intend to hurt them. I merely wanted to shock them out of their madness. I sensed they hadn’t been fully infected by the mist yet. They were just going a little nutty with it being so heavy in the atmosphere.
The ringleader was pissed though. He gripped the brick in his hand, lifting his arm to chuck it at me. Less than a second later, Ethan appeared beside me, and he must’ve looked scary because the teenager visibly paled, dropped the brick, and ran off with his friends.
“Thanks,” I breathed, turning to Ethan. “You showed up just in the nick of time.”
He bent to give me a quick kiss before taking my hand. “Come, things are bad. We must prepare for battle.”
“Battle?” my voice came out just slightly high-pitched.
“Yes. While you were seeing your father to the airport, Finn received reports of vampires coming over the river and attacking civilians. Apparently, the human population on the south side is going just as mad as those on this side. Whitfield has given his vampires free rein to murder as many humans as possible. I think he might be using this as a smokescreen so that he can advance on Pamphrock and take him out while the city is running amok.”
“That certainly sounds like Whitfield,” I agreed angrily as Ethan and I went into the house.
Everybody had gathered in the living room, where Gabriel was casting a spell over Finn and Alvie to prevent the mist from infecting them. I asked about Rita, but apparently, she was still locked tight inside her RV. Ethan and I went out to try and get her to open the doors, but this time all the curtains were pulled, so I couldn’t even see in.
Rita would have been the best person to have on our side right now, but there was no way I could force her to come out. I ran upstairs and put on my most comfortable jeans and my hardiest boots, before zipping myself into my camouflage green army jacket. I placed my razor in one pocket and a stake in the other. Closing my eyes, I felt my magic zinging through me, just waiting for me to call on it. Whatever was going to happen tonight, I was ready.
Finn locked up the house, and I helped him carry a mind-boggling array of weapons to the DOH van out front. We all hopped in the back, and Finn slid into the driver’s seat. Ira had changed into his dog form and was sitting on the passenger side.
I sat with Ethan on one side of me and Alvie on the other. Delilah, Gabriel, and Lucas were across from us. Ethan placed