Chapter Thirty

I wanted to mourn the other striga vie’s death. But then I remembered the look in Lissa’s eyes and the way she’d betrayed her own brother without even blinking. She had been a striga vie like me, but the vampire side had won.

Vanessa was smiling as she handed my drumstick back to her bodyguard. “Very handy,” she commented. “I didn’t even break a nail.”

Mason let out a cry of anguish. “You killed my sister.”

He broke free of his captors and rushed to Vanessa. He tried to take the tiara off her head, and it finally dropped to the ground.

I had to do something. Nobody had the skull tiara now, which meant nobody was controlling the feral vampires. As if awoken from a spell, they looked around with hungry eyes, searching for prey.

Vaughn and the other werewolves had passed out from the pain from the silver cuffs pressing against their flesh. They were in danger of being trampled.

Rose and Skyler both looked like they were going to faint.

“Vampires, do not move,” I commanded, using every bit of compulsion I could.

The younger, weaker vampires immediately stopped moving, but the older ones continued to fight. There were a lot of older feral vampires. I tried again. “Your queen commands you.”

I tried not to use my powers of compulsion too often, because it was a slippery slope. My witch side tapped into something that was part of nature, alive, fresh, and green. My vampire ability was icky and dark, like I was channeling the worst part of myself. The part that craved power. But this was an emergency. We wouldn’t get out of here alive unless I gained control.

Vanessa had taken my parasol and my drumstick, but her vampire henchman still had them. I’d finally worked free of the rope binding me, and I ran to him.

I grabbed my parasol and my drumstick. It made my skin crawl knowing where that drumstick had been; I’d bathe in hand sanitizer later, after we’d escaped this hellhole.

I whirled around, expecting an attack, but Vanessa didn’t move, just stared at me, the same little smile still on her face.

“You are going to fight me,” Vanessa said.

I could hear Travis snickering, but I couldn’t see him through the wall of bodyguards.

“I won’t,” I said. “If you fight me and win, you would be the new vampire queen.”

“Exactly,” she said. “You don’t have the ruby. I want something for all my trouble.”

“I’m not going to fight you,” I said. I didn’t want the money. I didn’t want the power, but I definitely didn’t want my mother to have it, either. I didn’t want to bring up the ruby. Did it really do anything, or was it just a red herring for Vanessa to get what she really wanted? Me dead and her in charge of my realm.

“Then your friends will die.”

That wasn’t going to happen. We were outnumbered and outmaneuvered, but I’d find a way to stop her.

I was immensely grateful that Thorn and Xavier were safe, and that hopefully Granny had gotten away.

When Vanessa lunged for me, I was ready. She wanted to hurt me, but I moved out of the way before her fist could connect with my ribs.

“Now we fight,” The Executioner said coldly. “To the death.”

Mason’s face was pale and his eyes were wild. “Get away from her, Tansy.”

I stared at her, horrified.

Mason hissed, “Vanessa, you’ve gone too far this time.” He turned to me. “Tansy, I know you’d never kill your mother.”

His back was to her so Vanessa couldn’t see his face. But I could.

“You’d kill your own daughter to become queen?” he hissed again.

My mother’s face was cold and merciless. “I’ll kill her without a second thought if you don’t give me what I want.”

His face flattened, morphing into something cold and reptilian. “There’s something you don’t know about me, Vanessa.”

“What’s that?” She sounded amused, not the least bit frightened, but I was starting to realize we were about to see the Serpent King.

Mason was shifting, his body growing scaly and dark. He grew and grew, taking up the space in the chamber.

An enormous pit viper reared up and struck, its fangs dripping venom. He took out two of my mother’s feral buddies and then two more.

Bigger than any snake in the mortal world, my father was a thing of myth and legend, something from the hidden world.

The vampires screamed in fear, pressing against the walls of the mine, scrambling on top of each other, clawing and punching to get out of the way.

But now the big snake focused on one person. He wrapped himself around Vanessa. She tried to bite him, but he just squeezed tighter. His fangs sank into Vanessa’s chest over and over again. She went limp, and then he must have struck the kill blow, because my mother turned to ash.

The tiara had been crushed underfoot. It was over.

Well. Except for the horde of undead ferals still thirsting for our blood.

My fangs came down, and I kneeled in front of Vaughn and tried to bite through the silver cuffs on his wrists as quickly as I could while Mason covered me. “Stay with me, Vaughn,” I said.

He began to rouse right away. Vaughn let out a grunt and then broke free of the cuffs that bound him. His wrists were bruised and bloody.

Vaughn was weak, but he managed to help Connor remove his cuffs. Then he did the same for Beckett and Lucas. The guys didn’t look in good shape, but Beckett gave me his usual cocky smile to let me know they were okay. I smiled back.

I searched the chamber for Skyler. She and my sister were on the other side of the chamber, surrounded by vamps. I began to fight my way to Skyler and my sister, drumstick in one hand and my parasol in the other. I was frantic, feeling like I was going to die from the bodies pressing down on me, smothering me.

I wanted to live, to lie on the beach with my friends on a lazy summer day, the sky bright blue and clear, the sun hot, and the ocean waves the soundtrack to the day.

Then a hand yanked Rose out of sight.

“Where did Rose go?” I shouted, but the feral vampires kept streaming, trying to escape.

“I don’t know,” Lucas said. His face flushed; his usual frown had turned into a snarl of rage. “But I’m going to find out.”

Lucas shifted, his bones popping and snapping, as he transformed into a huge golden-brown wolf, fangs bared. The wolf lunged at a feral vampire, nearly biting it in two, and then let out a long savage howl.

The walls were starting to shake.

“We have to get out of here,” Connor yelled.

“I’m going to find Rose,” Lucas shouted. I could barely hear him above the roar of the panic-stricken vamps.

“I’m going with you,” I said.

“Go with Vaughn,” he said. “I’ll find her. I promise.”

I looked around. I had to do something. If Rose had fallen, she would be trampled.

I whipped out my drumstick. “Stop!” I said, using every bit of vampire compulsion I had.

It was like they couldn’t even hear me. When one of them put her hands on Skyler, I staked the sucker without even blinking.

Lucas charged through the crowd, shouting for Rose.

Three of the older, trickier vampires moved toward Skyler and me. I handed Skyler my parasol and then whipped out my drumstick.

“I don’t think you want to do that,” I said.

“We’re hungry,” one of them said. “And you smell delicious.” She moved so quickly that one second, she was ten feet away, and the next, she was reaching for my throat.

I twisted the drumstick, but I got a lung, not the kill shot. I pulled out the drumstick and tried again, but the vampire already had hands wrapped around my neck, her teeth at my throat.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her until we were eye to eye. My fangs came down, and I bit the vein in her wrist. Vampire blood tasted putrid, like drinking black tar.

I spat it out and then struck again, and this time my aim was true. All that was left of her was a white substance the consistency of baby powder.

“Anyone else?” I asked.

The other two vampires scurried off.

Connor shifted back to his human form and immediately grabbed his jeans, which were a little worse for wear but hopefully would cover the important bits.

Now I just needed to contain whatever shit show Vanessa had been planning.

I was thankful that I’d spent the fall training with Thorn. I’d learned to run faster, hit harder, and more importantly, fight dirtier.

A sucker wrapped her arms around me and squeezed until all the air left my lungs and I was gasping and wheezing.

Travis opened his mouth and started to sing.

“Shut him up,” the tall feral snapped. One of the ferals stuffed his mouth with a dirty rag but left his hands free, which was a mistake because Travis immediately barbequed his captors using vampire fire.

The smell of roasting flesh mingled with the stench of unwashed bodies. The ferals, if possible, smelled even worse than vampires who dwelled above ground. The ferals were trying to avoid Travis’s vampire fire and Mason’s enraged snake, but they were being picked off one by one.

The smoke was filling my lungs, making it hard to breathe. We had to get out.

“Follow me!” I shouted.

Connor picked up Skyler and threw her over his shoulder. Skyler was a fast runner, but vampires were faster. Connor kept one hand on Skyler and used the other to punch a couple of vampires in the face. He didn’t even slow down.

Mason was still in his snake form, hissing and biting any feral that came anywhere near him. It was good to have him in our court.

Vaughn’s lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. There was a strange bang, and rocks rained down on our heads as we ran.

Connor immediately went full wolf. When a sucker got too close to Skyler, he used one long claw to stake the vampire.

I heard a familiar roar, and then Hecate leaped on a group of suckers. Her eyes glowed red, and the suckers shrieked in terror. I looked the other way as my pet hellcat ripped them to shreds.

My loyal hellcat had tracked me through the tunnels under Vegas to the feral vampires’ den.

And now she was tearing that den apart, using her tail and her powerful jaws to dispatch the vampires who were wild with panic, fear, and bloodlust.

Good kitty.

“Run!” I whispered. Vaughn was at the head of our group as we tried to quietly make our way out of the mine.

The tall vamp I’d seen before, my mother’s favorite, who was ordering the smaller and weaker ones around, stepped in front of us.

Before we could react, he took something shiny and stabbed Vaughn with it. He crumpled to the ground. Blood poured from his chest. No no no no NO…

The vampire grinned at me, but it was wiped off his face when he caught sight of Hecate. She didn’t make a sound as she moved closer to him.

“Get him, Hecate.” And she did.

I ignored them both as I rushed to Vaughn’s side. “Connor, he’s hurt.”

Connor transformed back to his human form and I looked away. Werewolves ended up naked a lot and I tried to give them a modicum of privacy.

“Skyler, I need to put you down, just for a second,” he said.

I handed her my drumstick. “Stake anyone who comes near us.”

My parasol had a sharp tip. Sharp enough to stab a few ferals before they took me out.

“We have to get him out of here,” I said. “Now.”

“Vaughn, listen to me,” Connor said. “You need to shift.”

“Can’t,” Vaughn gritted out. “Something is stopping me.”

Connor examined the wound on Vaughn’s chest. “There’s something in there, but I don’t want to pull it out.”

“Poison,” the vampire gloated.

Then Hecate bit off his head. My hellcat was ferocious when pissed off.

Connor picked up Vaughn and slung him over his shoulder. Vaughn groaned in pain.

“You watch Skyler’s back,” he told me.

“I always do,” I replied.

More feral vampires had spotted us, but Hecate growled at them. Every time one of them inched closer, my hellcat extended her claws and swatted them. She was keeping them at bay so we could escape.

Where was Rose? Lucas spotted her and with a roar, ran toward the spot where the vampires had Rose cornered.

One of the vampires was trying to drag Rose away, but she dug in her heels. Lucas’s enormous jaw latched onto the vampire’s throat. The sucker let go of Rose. The wolf tossed the vamp in the air and then caught him again, then shook him like a rag doll.

“We have to go,” Connor said. “Lucas will take care of your sister.”

My boyfriend was drowning in a river of blood. We had to get him to safety.

“Okay,” I said.

We moved forward in the tunnel. The smell was enough to turn my stomach, and I had to fight the nausea that welled up and threatened to choke me. I started to shake and I couldn’t stop.

“Tansy, we’re almost there,” Connor said. “Don’t fall apart now. Vaughn needs you.”

I took a deep breath. Vaughn needed me. I could hold it together for a few more minutes.

“Vanessa is gone, Tansy,” he said. “They’ll tear us apart if we don’t leave now.”

I stumbled and almost fell, but Skyler wrapped an arm around me and helped me walk. I wanted to protest, but I ached all over and I was so hungry I could barely stand.

“There are more coming,” Skyler said, looking behind us. “We have to get out of here or they’ll kill us all.”

Unable to help myself, I glanced back, too.

Travis Grando was in the middle of the horde. For a second, it looked like the suckers had overpowered him, but then there was a flash of fire and the smell of decaying flesh burning. Some of the vampires screamed, but a respectable number of them simply turned to ash. He did it repeatedly, but more suckers streamed out of the mine shaft. I could tell that his powers were weakening.

I tried to summon my own powers, but my magic was in hiding and these vampires weren’t listening to my commands.

I stopped moving, hoping they wouldn’t spot me, but it was too late. Then the abandoned mine was a mass of writhing, seething, starving vampires. I didn’t want to die here, in the dark, with grasping hands trying to pull me down so their sharp teeth could tear into my flesh.

“We’re nearly there!” Connor yelled, and I got a burst of energy. Even though it was still dark, it was getting lighter by the second. Connor was right. We were going to make it.

I saw Connor carry Vaughn out into the fresh air. Skyler and I were right behind them when there were a series of loud booms. Skyler propelled us through the opening right before the mine caved in.