Page 94 of Love Lives
The sense of hostile magic that suddenly flooded the room was so invasive that it threw Aldrich off. He got distracted. The fox used that opening to hurl him off her.
But she didn't bother with him after that. He was small fry compared to whatever had just come through the door.
The dragon had already let off on Talon and Crimson too. They were both bleeding, but Aldrich was pleased to see that their heads were still attached to their bodies and there were no stakes in their chests. Everything else would heal. Eventually.
Knowing that he had to act quickly, Aldrich picked up the fox's coat from the floor and fished the crystals out of it. He didn't have any use for them, but he sure as hell wasn't going to surrender them to the Keepers either. Remy wouldn't like that.
Once Aldrich's thoughts turned to Remy, his gaze went back in the direction of the living room. Was Remy still in there? They were sitting ducks in this house, and Vlad had just barged in.
That had been part of the plan, of course, but Aldrich was starting to think it had been a really, really stupid plan.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Vlad was here.I knew it before I even heard the sound of the front door opening, felt the way his magic stirred the air. He wasn't alone either. There were more vampires with him. I couldn't tell how many, but more than were currently in this house.
If my plan didn't work, we were all going to die here tonight.
I swallowed, taking stock of my siblings. There was no judgment from any of them, only grim and determined faces.
"We'll get through this," Collin murmured, although I wasn't sure if he was talking to his son or the rest of us.
I stood and went to the table, grabbing the marble. Aldrich had bought this time for me, and I had to use it wisely. It would take too long for me to actually experience whatever memories were trapped in the marble, but I had to trust that I already knew.
"We need to arm ourselves," Elle said from behind me.
Good idea. Everything the Keepers had taken from us, they'd put in a pile on the table, next to our phones. I'd had no eyes for any of it while I was focused on the marble, but now I grabbed a stake, a bottle of deodorant and a lighter.
None of it was going to be much use against a vampire like Vlad, but it was better than nothing.
Newly equipped, I sprinted out into the hallway. Just in time to spot a vampire lady going up the stairs. Shit. The stones were up there. If the vampires searched all the rooms...
I couldn't go after her, though, because her boss was of bigger concern. He was outside. I could see him through the open door, feel his magic sweeping in. Heartscales and Miko were going after him. I wasn't sure where the other Keeper was, didn't care either.
I glanced up the stairs once more, biting my lower lip. Where to go first? The stones needed to be protected, but Vlad... I clutched the brilliant red marble in my hand.
"Don't sweat it." That was Aldrich's voice. I whipped around to look at him, but he was already going up the stairs. "You stay down here," he said as he went. "Inside!"
I made myself nod, even though I already knew I wasn't going to do that. Not when I had the means to turn the tides of this war into our favor.
Possibly.
I went for the open door, my decision already made. Talon and Crimson had run out, and I followed after them. There were more vampires. At least six. I didn't recognize any of them, but then, I didn't really have eyes for them either.
Caspar pushed past me, and then, so did Elena and Luke, but my eyes didn't followthemeither.
All my attention was focused on Vlad.
He was battling Heartscales. The two of them facing off against each other at a distance, using magic that was nearly invisible to me except for stray, golden sparks emanating from Heartscales' hands. The Keeper snarled, and then he roared, but whatever he was shooting at the vampire didn't impress the vampire one bit. And then the Keeper’s form changed. He glowed so brightly that it was kind of painful to look right at him. He grew taller, bigger, his shape shifting and transforming until I was looking at... No, that couldn't be.
Was I really looking at a dragon?
Even as I was staring right at him, his red scales and his large wings, it was difficult for me to believe my eyes. It was as if something was whispering into my ear, telling me to avert my gaze, that there was nothing to see here. Magic. I forced myself to disregard it, and then I forced myself to move, because there was another vampire coming straight at me. A lanky, brown-haired one I had never seen before.
I tried to evade his attack, but I wasn't fast enough. His fingers dug into my wrist painfully. His fangs extended and his mouth moved toward my neck. And then he let out a pained yell as a knife buried itself in the back of his head.
"Get away from here," Talon told me.
I wanted to, I really did, but there was still something I needed to do. My eyes found Vlad again, and then my mouth went completely dry. I'd expected to see him still fighting with the dragon. In a way, he was... except it couldn't really be called fighting.
