Aidan was pinned to the wall behind the bed with a stake through his shoulder. He was bleeding profusely, but at least it hadn’t pierced his heart. He was trapped, though, and weak. He hadn’t fed. Even I could see that. I had to get him free.

“Christa, stay back,” he choked.

Too late.

One of the Hel-Blar slammed into me. My forehead bounced off the wall. Pain clouded my vision for a moment. He forced my head to the side. I struggled but I couldn’t get loose. Aidan clawed at the stake, opening his wound. I smelled his blood in the air. The Hel-Blar laughed and then licked me. Thank God all my scratches had healed already. There was shouting behind me but all I really heard were those snapping jaws and clacking teeth. I tried to kick back but the angle was all wrong. He bent my neck farther, nails like claws.

I had a stake, and even though I couldn’t reach his heart, I could reach something. I jabbed blindly, as hard as I could. He snarled but didn’t let go. I jabbed again. I got him in the eye that time and he howled, jerking back. The stake was still stuck in his eye socket. I kicked him and he hit the floorboards. One of them broke under his weight. He stayed where he was, still howling.

“Get him free,” Saga ordered me, leaping over the ashes at her feet and the Hel-Blar I’d blinded. “I’ll help the others.”

I rushed to Aidan, pausing just as I reached for the stake. I gulped.

“Um, how do I do this?”

He grimaced, pale under the blue. “Just pull it out. Fast.”

“Oh God,” I said, curling my fingers around the stake and yanking. “Oh God. Oh God.”

There was resistance, a faint sucking sound, then it released suddenly. I stumbled back a few steps. Aidan grunted with pain, shoving the end of the blanket over the hole in his shoulder. His eyes veined red. “Goddamn it, that hurts.” He pushed away from the wall. “I woke up as that hunter was stabbing me. I managed to kick her off enough to change her aim.” He winced. “But not her training.”

His steps were deliberate, as if they hurt. He kept his shirt fisted over the gash as he moved away from the bed, abandoning the blanket. He stood over the hunter, his lips lifting off impressive fangs.

“Hey, guys?” Lucy yelled up to us. “We kind of need to get the hell out of here! Like, right now would be good!”

“What now?”

“The town’s about to burn to the ground,” she answered, as if that were normal. “There might be dynamite, too. We’re not sure.”

Aidan stepped over the hunter and staggered out to the landing and down the steps. “Christabel, come on.”

“We can’t just leave her here!”

“She tried to kill me.”

“We still can’t … oh, never mind.” I knew it was a lost cause, especially when he still had a huge hole through his shoulder. I reached down to help the sweating hunter up. She screamed when her leg moved. At least she’d managed to splint it with one of Saga’s swords while the rest of us were fighting for our lives. She was hard to maneuver, like a huge bag of wet sand. She kept shifting, her eyes darting around frantically. She struggled as if I were going to bite her.

“Quit doing that,” I muttered when she accidentally kneed me.

“I’ve got her.” Connor was on her other side, holding her up. He looked straight into her eyes, leaned close enough that even I could smell the warm licorice and soap smell of him, and said, “Stop struggling.”

She stopped.

“Okay, now that’s a trick I need to learn,” I said as we dragged her down the stairs. Quinn was waiting for us in the doorway.

“Move it—I can smell the diesel,” he said tightly. He looked at the woman, disgusted. “Hunter’s going to want to save her, too,” he muttered. He grabbed the hunter from us, hoisted her over his shoulder, and started to run.

The wind was as soft as water when I ran so fast the world was just a blur of colors and scents: mushrooms, dirt, smoke, blood, sweat, the tang of gasoline, and something else I couldn’t recognize. The others were waiting for us at the edge of the forest, bruised and exhausted. Hunter had a black eye. Quinn dumped the wounded hunter at her feet and then wrapped his arms around her.

There was a loud rumble, almost like a sharp inhale and then a loud exhale. A cloud of fire and smoke and debris fountained out of the ghost town. It rained embers and dust. Buildings fell in on themselves. A tree caught fire on the edge of town. The ground trembled under our feet. Pinecones and acorns rained down.

Saga watched, her pale face furious.

“What the hell are you doing here, anyway?” Aidan asked, leaning against a tree for support while the violent light touched us all. His chest was covered in blood and ashes.

“She’s saving you,” Lucy replied, pointing at me. “The rest of us are averting a vampire civil war. You know, the usual.”

Nicholas gave her his lopsided grin, turning away from watching the destruction of the town. “I hope that damn hunter plane blows up, too—”

“Behind you!” Lucy yelled. A Hel-Blar ran at him, maddened by the fire and the blood.

Nicholas dodged but he was slow, taken by surprise.

His brothers tried to get to him, but they were too far away.

“Down!” Lucy added, fumbling with her crossbow.

Nicholas dropped.

Lucy fired.

There was a moment of stunned silence as we wondered what would be faster, gravity or the momentum of that sharpened bolt.