Taran wiped her muddy shoes on a flat rock. “So much for Misha’s reverse speed dial. Can we go now?”
Shayna bounced to my side. “Koda just texted back. They’ve been searching the last judge’s property in wolf form, so they haven’t had their cell phones on them. He’s worried and says to stay put. He’ll locate us through my phone.” Her ponytail swung happily as she shifted her weight from side to side. “He’s so sweet. But I can just text him and tell him we don’t need them.”
My tigress eyes locked onto the back of the estate. A wood door banged open and out ran a vampire…dressed in a Catholic schoolgirl uniform.
“Shayna…?”
“What, dude?”
My voice fell into a distressed whisper. “We need them…now.”
I barely heard the taps as Shayna’s fingers swept over her keyboard. Emme muffled a scream. Ana Clara’s long hair sailed behind her from the speed at which she ran. She tried to go through the hedge instead of around. Yellow-and-black magic sparked from the branches as she bounced off like she’d rammed a stone wall. Blood poured from her nose and from a thick gash on her head. She stumbled to her feet just as four severely infected vampires burst the hinges of the back door.
“Emme, grab her with your force!” I jumped up and down, waving my arms. “Here! Run here!”
Emme’s magic stirred. “I can’t. She’s too far. My power can’t reach her!”
We watched in horror as Ana Clara staggered into the wretched maze, the bloodlusters right behind her. “Left, goddamn it, go left!” Taran screamed. “Right. Now right!”
Ana Clara struggled even with Taran’s instructions. The first bloodluster approached, tracking her by blood. She drew closer, closer, Ana Clara screaming as she closed in.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Shayna’s arrows found the bloodluster’s head and chest. She exploded close enough to smear Ana Clara’s back with putrid green ash. Another bloodluster neared. Shayna followed with two more arrows. One pierced an eye, the other a shoulder, but it didn’t hinder him. He pushed on, his thirst propelling his legs faster.
He tackled Ana Clara and raised a claw in the air. Shayna nailed him with an arrow through his palm and a thicker one through his temple. The infection hadn’t advanced too far. His blood spilled red, distracting the other vampires. Ana Clara crawled away, sobbing as the two vamps feasted on the other. She rushed to her feet and sprinted.
And so did I.
Emme screamed. “Celia!”
I couldn’t watch any more. I leaped off the small cliff, landing in a shift, and surfaced as far as I could into the maze. “Ana Clara! Run to my voice!” I continued shifting. The magic prevented us from crashing through the wall of hedges, but it didn’t penetrate beneath the earth. Every time I emerged, I called to her. And every time her sobs grew louder. I surfaced once more, out of breath from shifting. My heart thundered against my rib cage as I searched along the endless labyrinth of green until I finally caught sight of her.
Ana Clara tore around a bend, crying, grunting, her arms pumping wildly as her bare feet dug into the muddy ground.
“Hurry, Ana Clara. Hurry!”
The hedges twitched and crackled. Black-and-yellow mist rose into the sky. I no longer felt the sting of dark magic prick against my skin. Oh, no. The barrier had fallen.
One of the bloodlusters crashed through the thick branches between me and Ana Clara. I shifted him through the ground and kicked his head from his shoulders. Another bloodluster broke through, then another, and another.
Shit.
All the air was squeezed from my lungs as my feet left the ground. Ana Clara and I flew through the air on the wobbly wings of Emme’s force. Four bloodlusters chased us below. My head jerked to find Emme. She and my sisters were only a quarter of the way in through the maze. We moved fast. But it wasn’t fast enough. Six more infected vampires crashed through the thick field of green, heading toward my sisters.
“Run. There’s more. Run!”
Ana Clara screamed as a Zhahara-size bloodluster leaped up and yanked her out of Emme’s force. She crashed with him on top. He tore into her like a piñata, spilling her insides. I jerked my head away when two more piled on top of her. She screamed. She screamed the whole time. Until the silence announced her end.
My sisters ran, Emme dragging me behind her like a kite.
But they were too slow. Taran turned and launched a stream of lightning. The vamps leaped out of the way…and onto my sisters.
CHAPTER 33
“No!” My roars were cut off by a sharp tightening around my throat. Something yanked me free from Emme’s force. I crashed hard on the ground, struggling to breathe.