A Tangle of Hearts (A Shade of Vampire #44)(5)

No other choice.

My breath grew short. The shape-shifters closed in on me. My hand went for my pocket, fingers clutching the final solution—the knife. The twine wrapped around the handle added friction to my tight grip as I drew the blade from my pocket.

The beasts hissed in my ears. I felt their hot breath mere yards from me. It was now or never. I dodged their clawed hands and wove frantically between them.

I couldn’t be still for even a split second. I ducked from side to side, blocking their hits and slashing at them with the knife. Dark brown blood seeped from their arms and chests.

The knife felt light in my hand, and my arm drew short arches around me. Down left, up right. Down right, up left. Repeated at different angles. Ducking faster and faster to keep myself out of the shape-shifters’ reach. I slit a neck and the creature fell back, clutching its throat.

I could do this. I could. But then my feet were swept from underneath me, and everything flickered into darkness.





Jovi





[Victoria & Bastien’s son]





Her left ankle was tangled with thick black vines beneath the water, while her other leg had been slashed at by the shape-shifter during her jump. She was in terrible pain, and I couldn’t leave her. Her right shoulder slumped, and she couldn’t move her right arm at all. She clung to me with the other. I dove, accidentally gulping mouthfuls of muddy water in my effort to set her free.

I pulled at the vine’s knots. One strand came loose from the tangle. I jerked at the rest of it, unraveling enough to free her.

When I looked up, I prayed to see Phoenix still standing. My chest constricted as I watched him fall.

“PHOENIX!” I yelled.

I shouted at the creatures, and so did the woman in my arms. We both seemed to know what we had to do to get Phoenix out of there—provided we survived.

The monsters fell back on their knees and knuckles, morphing down to their original figures of nearly-transparent skin and bony limbs. They poised to dive right into Phoenix’s chest, their claws and fangs ready to gore him to death.

I bellowed again and rushed through the water. My heart throbbed against my ribs, but adrenaline fueled my desperate attempt to reach them before they could kill Phoenix.

Water splashed behind me as the woman followed. It occurred to me to be impressed by her resilience and determination, but the thought passed. My friend was about to die.

The shape-shifters nudged each other furiously, as if arguing over who got to make the killing. Phoenix lay unconscious on the hard mound rising through the middle of the swamp.

I shouted again and again, trying to draw their attention away from him. “HEY! Fresh meat! Right here!”

“Hey! Hey! Yah!” the woman shouted behind me.

One of the creatures looked over its shoulder at us. The others continued to hiss and push at each other. I would have given anything to go wolf and rip them apart, one by one.

A dark shadow descended on the group. A mass of muscle and black wings rammed into the shape-shifters, throwing them out like pins in a bowling game. Field was a gift from the sky in that moment.

He punched left and right and kicked his way through the jumble of hairless beasts. They scratched and wailed as they were separated from their prey.

I froze in the water with the woman behind me and watched as Field tore through the shape-shifters. They were relentless in their attacks. Nevertheless, his wings and speed gave him the advantage.

I tugged at the woman, and we rushed back to the other edge of the water. I pulled myself up and dragged her with me.

I paused and saw Field take a few hits before he landed on top of Phoenix, grabbed him, and spread his wings out so violently that he knocked the shape-shifters backward. It gave him the short opening he needed to pull Phoenix out and fly back toward the mansion.

The woman crawled out of the swamp and tried to stand and run, but her leg gave out, and she collapsed. Blood pounded through my veins like rivers of fire, and I felt my pulse throbbing in my fingertips.

This was our chance.

I swept her up in my arms and ran as fast as I could. She struggled, but I held her tightly and kept sprinting toward the shimmer of the protective shield.

Behind us, the shape-shifters screamed and tumbled through the undergrowth, rushing after us. I heard their feet rustle over the grass and their howls of hunger and frustration.

Breath brushed over my calf as I ran, as one of them tried to take a bite out of me.

I sped up and passed through the shield.

Field glided a few yards from the ground and slammed into the mansion’s front door. It splintered on impact.

Leave it to Field to make a theatrical entrance.

I looked over my shoulder and saw the shape-shifters crashing against the protective shield, and I couldn’t help quietly sending out my gratitude to the Daughters of Eritopia for the shield. The creatures howled and kept trying to advance, but the Daughters’ magic zapped them backward.

My feet didn’t stop, but the adrenaline vanished. My knees gave out mid-run and I tripped. I saw the ground approach me with dangerous speed and spun a one-eighty to protect the woman from the fall.

I landed hard on my back and slid through the grass, not letting her go.

She whimpered in my arms, but I held on tightly.

My shoulder blades burned from the friction, and her weight pressed against my chest. My lungs felt empty, stuck to my ribs.