Her voice was steady, pitched low, yet carrying through the clearing, the singsong notes adding to her power.

Creatures of earth,

Warped in design,

As your voices are raised,

Let earth take your bite.

The toads opened their mouths in protest. The serrated teeth fell to the ground with every note coming out of them. Each time they tried to call to the others to join them, more teeth spilled out. Venom ran freely into the soil.

That which is cold-blooded,

Dwelling beneath the soil,

I call to you, snake,

Come forth and clear this peril.

Snakes slithered from the holes in the ground where the toads had emerged and began hunting the vile, bloated creatures. The snakes were long, olive green, with yellow half-moons on either side of the neck. Dark bars ran along either side. The grass snake was considered by some to be a protector, not an aggressor. They struck fast. The toads were too bloated to move quickly, allowing the snakes to find them easily.

Tatijana heaved a sigh of relief and dropped her arms, grateful she had, at least, managed to cut down one threat. She heard Razvan grunt and looked up as a huge hound leapt on him, nearly crushing his chest, driving him over backward, taking him to the ground. Instantly wolves leapt from Ivory directly onto the massive beast, all soaked in hyssop oil, tearing at the hellhound’s underbelly, biting its legs and throat. They were fast, but the beast was faster, dropping Razvan and turning to clamp its giant maw around the male wolf.

Razvan rolled, coming up under the hellhound, his knife slitting the beast’s belly with the blade also soaked in the oil. The hound opened its teeth, allowing the wolf to drop to the ground. As Razvan rolled, more wolves leapt from his back to join the others tearing at the huge hound. The hyssop oil, more than the knife, the wolves or Razvan, began to take its toll on the hellish creature. It staggered as it tried to whip around, snapping in the air at the wolves.

Ivory took the blade of her knife, fiery hot, and pressed it into the teeth marks on Razvan, cauterizing the wound. He shot her an agonized glance and turned back to the hound lurching toward the wounded wolf, putting his body squarely between the hellhound and his wolf. Ivory fit an arrow into her crossbow, shooting the beast in the eye. She stepped closer as the slavering beast whirled around, snapping at the air, knocking into Razvan and sending his body tumbling into the fallen wolf. Ivory threw her knife, the one with the glowing red blade, and Razvan, from his position on the ground, slapped it against the bite on the wolf’s body.

Farkas, one of Ivory’s wolves, howled, adding his voice to the chaos of the terrible battle. Screams erupted near the ceremonial pyre. Tatijana swung her head to look. Xaviero held his arms wide and issued a command. Two Lycans walked in blind obedience into the leaping flames while a line formed behind them, its members waiting their turn.

Horror filled her. She felt Branislava reaching behind her and slowly closed her fingers around Tatijana’s hand. She glanced over her shoulder to see that they were ringed, not only by hellhounds, but behind them Sange rau. Four of them.

Behind the wall of hellhounds and Sange rau, a robed figure stepped out. He threw back his hood and smiled grotesquely. She found herself staring at Xayvion.

20

Branislava whipped around, gripping Tatijana’s hand. She barely allowed herself to see the hellhounds with their glowing eyes fixed on their small group, or the four Sange rau directly behind them. Her gaze was drawn straight to the flames shooting up to the sky.

Xaviero was collecting his souls, anguished beings unable to prevent themselves from obeying his command. He sent them to their slaughter, death by fire, a putrefying blend of incense he had mixed with poisonous tree branches hidden among the flowers and branches after the pyre had been built.

She was only partway through figuring out exactly what Xaviero had done to build his inverted pentagram. She couldn’t do that and save people, and right now, feeding people into his fire to claim their souls was far too much for her to bear.

Branka, I can’t stop them.

Zev came into view, rushing to shove the next two Lycans out of line. They went flying to the ground, landing a distance away, but both picked themselves up and simply went to the end of the line, falling into place in spite of Zev’s interference.

Help me, tell me what to do.

These were his friends, some he’d known from birth. There was no countering any of the intricate spells as easily as Tatijana had done away with the toads. Each spell was wrapped in a layer and had to be peeled back like an onion. How did one stop a master?

Dimitri, Fen, I have to get to the fire right now. They were her biggest hope. Fen was fighting his way back to Tatijana, Skyler, Ivory and her, knowing they had to be protected while they tried to deal with Xaviero’s hellish spells. She had to break free of the ring of hellhounds and Sange rau in order to aid those walking haplessly into the fire. I’ll try to clear a path, but it won’t last more than a few seconds.

Tatijana, Skyler and Ivory would have no choice but to counter Xayvion. He was obviously there to keep them busy and not allow them to interfere in any way with Xaviero and the ceremony he was conducting.

Branislava tried to drown out the sounds of the battle going on all around, the cries of the dying and horror-stricken as well as the sight of the hellhounds with their glowing eyes and slavering jaws. She couldn’t think about the Sange rau directly behind the massive beasts. They were tall, broad-shouldered and savage, nearly impossible to kill; she needed Dimitri and Fen to run interference if she was to have a chance of getting past them.

Mask my energy so they have no idea I’m shifting. It would be tricky. The Sange rau as well as the Lycans could feel energy coming toward them. They had to time it just right. The hellhounds were already closing in, forcing the ring smaller.

Now, Dimitri responded.

Branislava leapt into the air, over the hellhounds, almost directly in the path of one of the Sange rau, shifting into her dragon form. Branislava recognized Sandulf from Lyall’s memories. The Sange rau was far faster than she anticipated, leaping after her, shifting into half-wolf, half-man form and hooking the dragon’s belly with terrible claws, ripping to try to eviscerate the dragon.

Great drops of blood rained down on the hellhounds so that for a moment they paused in their attack on those gathered in the tight circle. They abandoned their stalking to leap into the air, trying to get to the dragon and help bring it down. The fresh blood maddened them so even the commands of Sandulf did no good.

Dimitri shifted into half-man, half-wolf, slamming into Sandulf clawing at the dragon, attempting to drag it to earth. They came together with bone-shaking force, so hard Dimitri knocked the mixed blood from the dragon, allowing her to rise just enough to escape the hellhounds’ attack. He landed on the back of one beast while Sandulf fell on the neck between the two giant heads of a two-headed hound.