Page 13 of Fae Divided
Chess’ black and white dance floor was smeared with varying shades of scarlet, the men and women slipping and falling on the slick cement in their haste to escape. The sour stink of fear was nauseating in its strength.
Witches with their hair and clothing covered in blackish-red splotches were pooling their limited offensive spells to protect the vulnerable humans. Dancers stuck dangling in their cages shouted to the defending Fae Touched below, alerting them to incoming vampires or guiding the Anwyll to the latest victim.
Sarah hurriedly swept the room that looked more like the set of a horror movie than an upscale nightclub, searching for the best way to help. A bolt of electricity and an answering unholy screech near the main entrance grabbed her attention.
Untouched were piled three deep in front of the exit, those nearest the closed double-doors screaming for someone to let them out while pressing frantically on the pushbars without result.
Someone had locked them in from the outside. Why would anyone do that?
If a single human died at the hand of an insane vampire, the consequences would be catastrophic for the entire Fae Touched species.
Heart pounding, Sarah ran for the exit and the pretty blond witch holding a broken chair leg that was covered in blood and crudely carved runes. The source of the magical blast.
The Anwyll must have activated her shielding ward when the balloons fell from the ceiling because except for her fingers and palms, she remained pristine. The splintered wood blazed white-hot, and a shot of blue energy punched into an advancing Dádhe. He staggered backward on another shrill cry of pain, the voltage hitting his chest dead-center. A second charred circle formed on his torn shirt. He grunted, shook his hands as though shaking off a numbing sting, and then came at the witch again.
Noah’s golden-brown wolf stood by the Anwyll’s side, baring his sharp teeth and swiping deadly claws at the determined vampire in warning. The starving Dádhe backed off temporarily, but more were closing in on the trapped humans and would outnumber the two young Fae Touched within minutes.
Sarah adopted a kickboxer stance several yards from her son and his fierce companion. She set her feet shoulder-width apart, her right leg a side-step behind her left, knees soft and hands raised high. Sarah might not be able to convert fully, but a mature she-wolf was inhumanly fast. And despite her present condition, she was far from weak. Her sire and Samuel had trained her to fight as a teenager. Her mate had taught her how to cheat.
Noah tipped his muzzle at her arrival. A loud, unhappy growl emerged from his throat.
“I’m staying,” she said firmly. “We have to protect these people, and as brave as she is, your friend is about spent.”
The female wasn’t old enough to acquire the rare ink and tattooed symbols used for offensive magic. Sarah was shocked an Anwyll barely beyond her teens knew the incantation for casting electricity at all, let alone had the ingenuity to combine nature, bone, blood, and her body to fuel it.
“My name is Scarlett,” she yelled over the pandemonium. Her focus remained on the red-eyed male who opened his mouth wide and hissed, fangs dripping saliva. “And you’re right. My magic is almost depleted.”
Noah’s gaze swung to Scarlett. A fine sheen of sweat beaded the witch’s forehead. Her grip tightened on the piece of marked wood; her teeth clenched in determination as the Dádhe crept closer. Her slender arms trembled with the effort to raise the makeshift conduit in anticipation of the impending attack.
Ruled by instinct, the vampire lunged into the gap separating Sarah from her son, moving with preternatural speed to snatch a sobbing Untouched woman by the hair. Noah clamped his teeth around the Dádhe’s wrist before he could pull away to feed, the vampire releasing the terrorized human with a shriek of rage.
But Noah didn’t let go, twisting the narrow bone in his mouth until it snapped. The trio of girls hiding behind Scarlett screamed as her son dragged the writhing male further outside their protective ring before letting him drop.
A pair of instinct-mad Dádhe thought to take advantage of the broken frontline, the female in the duo attempting to dart past Sarah to the cowering humans.
Extending her claws to their maximum length, Sarah swung at the Dádhe’s stomach. The rabid female hopped back at the last instant, avoiding being sliced by millimeters. Sarah lifted onto the ball of her left foot, rotated her hips, and kicked out with her right leg. Her shin connected hard with the side of the vampire’s chin, knocking the other female on her ass.
The vampire’s comrade charged. A feeble flash of electricity cold-cocked him in the face; Scarlett’s weak magical current enough to momentarily stop the male in his tracks.
Samuel appeared and barreled past Sarah, shoving his way through the Untouched to the blocked exit. She heard the groan of bending metal as her brother tried to force the padded steel open, but she kept her gaze on the fallen vampires who were healing inconveniently fast.
Tucker’s gray wolf followed her brother, leaping over a group of humans crouching behind her. Seconds later, Sarah’s charges were freed, the sound of the outside doors smacking the wall music to her ears.
The Untouched rushed into Chess’ foyer, and Sarah took her first real breath in what seemed like hours. The clean air made its way inside the club, washing away the stench of contaminated blood.
“What happened?” The Dádhe Sarah fought struggled to stand, her hand flying to a mouth without fangs as she turned in a slow circle. Tears welled in green eyes devoid of even a trace of vampire red at the club’s destruction.
Samuel barked instructions to open all the exits, calling for nearby clanmates and a witch covered in white tattoos to make sure every vampire stayed inside the building. Noah obeyed his Alpha’s orders, leaving Scarlett sitting alone on the floor with her head in her hands. The friends the Anwyll had defended with such ferocity and loyalty had fled with the other humans.
“Paul?” The dazed female vampire dropped to her knees next to her unconscious companion. The male groaned, eyelids fluttering. A half-healed scorch mark marred his forehead.
“He’s okay.” Sarah wrapped her arms around the sobbing Dádhe’s shaking shoulders as the howls of wolves resonated in the background. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Sarah wished she believed the lie.
Chapter 7
James clenched histeeth, curbing the visceral growl rumbling in his chest. He flexed his prickling fingers, claws aching for release. His gums throbbed.
