Page 103 of How to Stake a Vampire
I was beside her in an instant, my heart slamming against my ribs.
31
CONSECRATED GROUND
“I can’t see anything!”Didi’s hands moved frantically over bare stone as she and Gavin examined the cavern wall.
Bo whined with frustration and sniffed jerkily along the base of the wall. “There’s definitely something here.” He clawed at a thin crack.
Mindy dove headfirst into the wall.
Barney, Samuel, Gregory, and Finnic moved behind Ludvik and grabbed his arms, trapping him in place.
Ludvik’s expression turned ugly. “You have no idea what you’re doing!”
Mindy reappeared. “Found it!” She turned to Gavin, excitement lighting up her face. “Can you break the wall right here?!”
Gavin’s tail popped out. The dragon newt twisted and smashed the wall with it. Stone crumbled. Something small and dark became visible in the candlelight.
Bo squeezed his muzzle into the gap and snatched it up in his jaws.
It was a doll. An old-fashioned one with a porcelain face, a faded dress, and a missing arm. The kind of toy that would have been precious to a little girl centuries ago.
My blood chilled as I recalled the strange message we’d found scrawled in the hidden room in the Chamber of Commerce subbasement. My head snapped to the wraith.
Tears streamed down the vampire child’s face.
She had been trying to tell us how to free her all along.
Ludvik’s composed mask finally cracked. “No!”
He broke free of Ellie and the others’ holds, desperation giving his already inhuman speed a new edge.
My heart lurched. I leapt to stop him.
Bo!
The Husky flinched and looked at me, like he’d heard my wolf’s shout. My fangs sank into Ludvik’s shoulder with a vicious sound.
He shrugged himself free with a power that made my jaws ache.
Then the vampire was on Bo.
The Husky tried to dodge as Didi fired off magic and Gavin let loose a stream of fire to stop Ludvik.
The vampire evaded their attack.
His claws caught Bo across the side. The Husky yelped and went flying into the wall under the force of the strike, the doll still in his jaws.
There was a sharp crack. Bo dropped limply to the ground.
My pulse stuttered.
Mindy, Didi, and Gavin rushed to my dog’s side. Bo stayed still for a moment before slowly struggling to his feet. A whine left him as he favored his left side. He was hurt but alive.
That small mercy was the only thing that kept me from losing myself completely to the rage engulfing me. I shifted back to human form and let the fury guide me, just like the time at the hospital. Heat unlike anything I’d ever felt before flooded my veins. My flesh shifted. I felt my face change and my hair lengthen.
When the transformation finished, I stood in my humanized wolf form—taller than my normal height, white hair cascading down my back, and the power flowing through every muscle so fierce my bones fairly vibrated with it.
