Zev, find his sacrifice. Do it fast, all hell’s about to break loose. She needed help fast. No matter what happens, keep them off of us. Tatijana, Skyler, Ivory. I need you now. We’re in the battle of our lives. Xaviero and Xayvion will strike at us. We’re the only ones able to stop them. You have to protect us. We’ll need time to counter their spells.

The spell of the inverted pentagram had closed the clearing off from all help. She was certain no one could get in and no one could get out. The fog winding up the trees and into the sky, coming together in a dense bank above their heads, was all about preventing Carpathians from using storms, or taking to the skies.

The three brothers had a long time to perfect their ambush and they knew how each species fought. No doubt they had prepared for every eventuality. Zev had been correct in saying three days was too long to give the mages—not when they’d been preparing for centuries.

The fogbank crept out of the forest, surrounding the clearing like a great army. She could see eyes glowing, both red and yellow.

Hellhounds, Zev. He’s got hellhounds coming at us.

They emerged out of the fog. Snarling. Slobbering. Dripping great strings of venom from their muzzles. Lips were drawn back, revealing large razor-sharp teeth. Their heads were massive and many of them had two heads. One had three. Their bodies were the size of ponies, thick and roped with muscle. Black fur appeared spiked and bristling, as if one could get seriously wounded touching them. As they approached slowly, the ground beneath them blackened, the grass withering and curling under each step. Behind each of the hounds was a man, or rather a creature, half man, half wolf.

Sange rau. Branislava breathed the name into his mind.

This was the Lycans’ worst nightmare—an army of Sange rau—mixed bloods, faster, stronger and more intelligent than everyone else.

Take down the barriers he’s built, Zev said. Don’t think about anything else. We’re prepared for hellhounds. We knew he had an army of Sange rau.

His voice calmed her as it always did. He was matter-of-fact. There was no panic in him, no terror. She realized it was the trait that others relied on as well. Zev could truly face danger and not flinch. His mind was always working, always finding a way.

Someone screamed, a high-pitched voice of terror. Branislava swiveled around. The ground erupted, first with insects and right behind them, mutated red-striped toads with serrated teeth. Venom dripped down their chins. They snapped at the insects and as people shifted, the movement attracted their attention.

Toads began hopping onto the nearest warm body and injecting a paralyzing venom into their victim as quickly as possible. Each time a toad sank its teeth into its prey, it emitted a loud croak, calling to the others. More leapt at the hapless targets, attaching themselves on calves and thighs, ripping away clothing to reach the flesh beneath. The accumulated poison brought their quarry crashing to the ground fairly quickly.

The moment their prey went down, dozens leapt on them, swarming over the top of them like in some macabre horror movie. Blood ran into the ground beneath them, but most of the victims were so weighed down by the toads, she couldn’t see them, just the moving mounds of toads. To her shock, the toads appeared to be growing, or they were bloated from the repulsive feast.

Other Lycans tried to help their fallen friends, kicking at the slavering creatures and trying to yank up the paralyzed victims. Those injected with the toad venom could only stare up at their comrades, unable to move or talk or even scream as the toads began to devour them.

Tatijana, you have to take care of those toads, Zev commanded. Branka, get that barrier down and then get rid of the fog.

She wanted to hiss at him in anger. Did he think she was a miracle worker? All around her was complete chaos, Carpathians pouring hyssop oil over them, turning, taking careful aim and firing oil-dipped arrows at the hellhounds.

“Pack leaders, take your points and defend your positions,” Zev ordered as he ran.

Branislava saw him disappear behind the smoking pyre. The smoke was no longer white and clean-scented. More smoke rose toward the overhead bank of fog, rushing up to the sky to gather in one spot, staining the yellow-gray vapor a dark, malevolent shade of black. Flames licked at the wood and flowers, burning the first layer of the pyre and igniting the logs and branches holding the bodies of Arno and Arnau.

Her heart pounded at the thought of Zev so close to Xaviero. The mage was locked in a circle of protection and she didn’t yet know where his brother was. But if they were unlocking the gates of hell, he would be forming a triangle with his brother and the ceremonial pyre where their sacrifice would be—and Zev was running straight into their powerful web.

She forced herself to block out the screams and the fighting as well as the terrible baying and howls of the hounds. She couldn’t even look at the toads and their victims. Her job was to remove the five-pointed inverted pentagram. The massive zone the mages had created was the key to their power. Without it, they would be unable to open the gates and they couldn’t exchange spirits and bodies.

Can you get rid of them, Tatijana? The toads? Can you destroy them?

I can figure out the toads, Bronnie, Tatijana assured her. You just keep working on that.

Tatijana moved back-to-back with her sister. She closed her eyes for a moment. Around her the noise was hideous with the cries of the injured and the gasps of the dying. She could hear the breath rattling in their bodies, as she had when she was a child watching her father and uncles performing their experiments on living species. She had to force her mind back to the present, focusing on countering the deadly mutated toads.

She knew the toads were a distraction from Xaviero’s real plan. They needed dead bodies and chaos reigning. The more souls and spirits trapped within their web, the more power generated for the two High Mages to use. Still, the toads did their job, springing on legs and eventually pulling their prey down. They grew fatter and bloated, but still, they didn’t stop, although their size began to slow them down.

She stood in the middle of the clearing and, lifting her hands, she began to weave a pattern in the air. As she began, she felt tearing at her leg and then a slow burn that began to make its way up her leg, running from nerve to nerve.

Dimitri kicked at the frog, tearing it from her body. The hateful creature took a large chunk of skin with it as it went flying across the clearing.

Tatijana didn’t follow its path. The toads hopped close, ringing her. Targeting her. Dimitri, Skyler, Ivory and Razvan took up positions to protect her while she continued. Dimitri removed the poison from her body even as she worked.