“We need to split up,” Caden yelled, echoing my thoughts.
Mage gestured to Bishop and Fiona and pointed to the right. Caden and Amelie followed me as I headed along the left perimeter.
“See? We are going clubbing after all!” Amelie chirped as we wove through the edge of the crowd. I couldn’t help but smile.
The place reeked of sweat, booze, and vomit but no one seemed to care; all were too engrossed in bumping and turning into each other. As a human teenager growing up in nineteenth-century France, my nights had consisted of reading books by kerosene lamp and the occasional ball or late evening picnic—nothing like this. I’d quite happily kept Evangeline away from this scene, not wanting her exposed to deadly drugs. Ironic, really, given all the other deadly things she was now exposed to, thanks to me.
A young girl of no more than seventeen, dressed in a tight, microscopic white dress, suddenly flew out of the crowd to throw her arms around Caden. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid eyes on!” she shouted, her voice slurred.
Caden smiled politely while gently extricating himself from her arms. “I’m flattered, but I already have someone.”
Unwilling to take no for an answer, the girl leapt at him. I think she tried to lay a kiss on his mouth but, in her drunken state, missed and buried her face in his shoulder instead. A tiny hand reached out and grabbed a handful of the girl’s long, straight brown hair. “He said he’s taken. Back off!” Amelie yelled. With a flick of her delicate wrist, she sent the girl flying backward into the crowd; she took several revelers down like dominoes as she plowed into them.
“Come on!” I grabbed them both and pulled them ahead of me, hoping to get away before a fight broke out. Only ten feet away, we passed a group of young men leaning against the wall, and I sensed their despicable intentions as their eyes appraised Amelie and me. I recognized their type immediately—they would lure a woman into a quiet location to have their way with her. Normally, I’d respond by batting my eyes—I enjoyed baiting my meal. But not tonight. Tonight I needed to deal with five other vile creatures, and it wasn’t for pleasure. It was for survival.
Amelie read their lewd intentions as well and, unfortunately, she wasn’t as focused. Lunging at one of the men, she easily pinned him up against the wall and bared her teeth in a snarl. Caden yanked her off before she could take a chunk out of the guy’s neck; before anyone could see her eyes morph.
“Amelie!” I barked, pushing her forward. “We don’t have time for this! I’ll put you on a leash if you don’t behave.”
“Sorry,” she muttered with a sheepish smile, her irises quickly reverting to their girlish green. We continued along the perimeter of the room, Caden now with one hand firmly locked on his feisty sister’s shoulder.
My own eyes roamed the crowd, searching in vain for any sign of the mutants. Happily, there hadn’t been an attack yet. They were showing restraint. But I knew they were here. There was no way they could pass up a thriving scene like this.
We passed a young blonde man and my eyes locked with his as he attempted a covert look-over while taking a drink. It was enough for me to catch the small mark on his hand—a deformed cross. The Sentinel were here, too. They must be watching us. Too coincidental to be otherwise. Great. Well, as long as they remained watchful and nothing more, we would have no trouble with them tonight. I continued shifting through the crowd, marking the Sentinel’s location for future reference.
And then I spotted them—two people hunched over in the shadows of a dark corner, their black hoodies pulled up to conceal their faces. But their eyes couldn’t be hidden. Demonic white eyes peered out from the darkness, delightedly studying the crowds, scouting their next victims. Mutants. There were only two, though. Where were the other three? I grabbed Caden’s arm. “To your left. By the speakers.” Caden’s eyes quickly zoned in and his body jerked forward to attack. I squeezed his arm, stopping him. “If the others see us, they’ll escape. We need to find them all first.”
“I’ll watch from here,” Amelie offered, her eyes shifting over to the group of lewd guys by the wall.
“Amelie!” I warned sternly.
“I know, don’t kill them,” she drawled, rolling her eyes like a petulant teenager.
With that, Caden and I slid through the crowd toward the mutants, separating as we got closer and surveying the area around them for the others.
I was perhaps twenty feet away when the first waves of magic hit me. Someone was casting a spell. I searched the crowd for the source, and immediately locked eyes with Mage as she pushed her way toward me. Her panicked expression told me she could feel it too. “We have to get out of here,” I mouthed to her. She jerked her chin toward the nearest exit. I nodded, and turned to locate Caden and Amelie.