Emma
We ran outside to total chaos. Vampires ran around everywhere fighting one another. Most of the people that had been in the meeting were fighting tooth and nail against what looked like a bunch of roided up football players. I was instantly aware of the fact that the big vampires, who hadn't been in the meeting, were the aggressors.
"Back inside!" Daniel shouted, whirling around, he yanked on the door, but nothing happened.
Beside us, a vampire hit the wall. He shook himself, looked at Daniel, and sneered, "Shifter!" Before launching himself at Daniel.
We gasped as they fought, taking a step back. But the fighting surrounded us. There was no safe place to go.
"Inch toward the truck!" Daniel shouted, breaking the vampire's arm as the big man wailed.
Inch toward the truck? Okay, got it. We can do that.
I turned away from him, trying to have faith that he could handle himself. If he thought he was okay fighting, I had to assume he knew what he was doing. So, instead, I stayed close to my friends, all of whom looked more than a little freaked out. But in front of us was a sea of warring vampires. And, I knew. We wouldn't be getting out of here safely, at least not without a little help from karma.
So, I let my magic flow. Karma. In all its glory.
The first man I Turned my magic on slipped, seemingly on nothing, and went flying across the floor before crashing into the side of the club. Another big guy sucker punched a woman. My mouth curled and I focused my powers on him. He shrieked, literally shrieked, and I realized that he'd peed himself. He looked down at himself, then went running out of the parking lot.
Another man was just running through the crowd, punching the older vampires left and right while laughing. A woman stepped into his path and hit him right back, knocking him down onto the pavement. He snarled and leapt to his feet, but I directed my magic at him.
A minute later, he began to vomit. And vomit. And vomit.
People cleared away from him, and I saw the woman look back at me with a smirk. She knew darn well what I’d done, while the big guy rushed off behind the building, where I was pretty sure he'd be puking until he was dry heaving.
But that's what you get when you act like a jerk!
In the midst of all the chaos, I caught sight of Jeffrey, one of the vampires Vance had me looking into at that dinner party. His voice rose above the rest.
“You’re all fools if you consider this idea,” he yelled, his face bright red as he screamed at the crowd.
Oh, boy. Was this idiot on the side of all the big guys? Did he really feel so passionately that vampires should be Turned younger that he'd start fighting like an animal in the middle of a parking lot?
Vampires, it seemed, were unexpected in many ways. Rather than just being blood-suckers, they seemed to have families, loyalty, and a desire for things to run smoothly among their people. And at the same time, just like humans, they had idiots among them that didn't seem to understand logic.
Was it because Jeffrey was young for a vampire? I wasn't sure. Maybe he was just a fool. I guess I could ask someone later.
My friends formed a tighter circle as the fighting continued. I inched them toward Daniel's truck, realizing that our group diving into this chaos was not a good idea. Not one bit. I should have asked Vance more questions. I should have made certain we were ready for anything and everything.
Beside me, Beth threw a bottle that shattered between two fighting vampires. Instantly, they both got a weird look on their faces and fell down, seemingly fast asleep. Carol was murmuring a spell I could barely make out on my other side, and suddenly, one of the giant vampire's pants fell down. He glanced down, and it was just enough time to give the guy he was fighting a chance to shove him down to the ground.
"Come on you freaking losers!" Jeffrey shouted. "We're bigger! We're stronger! Teach them a damn lesson!"
Unfortunately, the jerks that were attacking listened. They seemed to take this little fight of theirs to a whole new level, shouting and punching and shoving even harder than before. Vampires everywhere were hissing, flashing their fangs. One vampire leapt onto the back of one of the huge ones and tore into his throat. The big vampire reached behind him and threw the vampire off.
All around us, more fangs came out. More blood. It was like whatever rules of civility they were practicing a moment ago had gone out the window.
My heart raced. This was not good. Our truck seemed way too far away. Maybe we needed to take another route to get out of here. But everywhere I looked, there were more and more vampires. So, I guess, our only choice was to keep going.
A second later, several fighting vampires nearly plowed Carol, Beth, and me over. A shriek escaped my lips as I pulled my friends closer, hating myself for putting them in danger. Knowing I'd never forgive myself if they got hurt, even if they had made their own decisions about coming.
Suddenly, Daniel jumped in front of us and crowded us backward until we were pressed against the brick wall of the club. He stayed in front of us with his arms out while his head swiveled one way and another, trying to keep an eye out for all manner of vampires who might come near. And it was strange looking at him. Feeling like he was some powerful force charged with keeping us safe from anything and everything in this world.
I closed my eyes and focused my powers on him. He might have the strength to keep us safe, but karma would do its part in helping to protect this amazing man, this man who seemed time and time again willing to step in front of a train for me.
My magic moved out in a different way, and I felt it crackle along my skin for a moment, like electricity. Like I'd been struck by lightning. I was continually amazed by how little I'd figured out about my powers sometimes. No matter how I used it, it always felt different.
And I never knew what it would do.
“Enough of this,” Daniel growled, then stepped away from us. He yanked off his shirt and the next thing I knew, his pants and shoes went flying and fur erupted where skin had been only seconds before. Daniel was suddenly a massive grizzly bear, shifting from man to bear right in front of us.
And even though I knew he was a bear shifter, knowing it and seeing it were two entirely different things. Because my Daniel... he was huge. And dangerous looking. So dangerous looking that my knees actually shook. I’d only seen him shifted a few short times, so this was still so novel.
As if to drive home the point that he was a badass, he threw back his head and roared so loudly I imagined the ground shook beneath our feet. Or maybe it did.
All of the vampires froze and turned to look at the enormous grizzly bear with the same looks of horror that I was pretty sure was painted across my own face. Only, this angry bear wasn't coming for me.
If these vampires were smart, they'd start running the other way.
Daniel lunged forward and plowed straight into Jeffrey, knocking him to the ground and hovering over him. Hot, moist breath, I could imagine how it felt, erupted from Daniel’s maw as he roared into Jeffrey’s face. Spittle went flying, and a mouth filled with sharp teeth, big enough to tear off Jeffrey's head sat inches from his face.
My teeth were chattering. If this guy wasn't wetting himself, I'd be shocked.
The vampires scattered, a couple of them even screaming in terror. Trista backed away from Daniel and Jeffrey until she was nearly behind Carol, Beth, and me. There seemed to be a general sense of whatever we were fighting about was now way less important than not being eaten by a bear, a sentiment with which I whole-heartedly agreed.
"Talk to him," Deva whispered beside me. “Don’t let him go too far.”
"Me?" I asked, my voice coming out a shriek.
She rolled her eyes. "He's still Daniel."
"He'll know it's me?" I asked, somehow having a hard time picturing my gentle Daniel inside of that scary beast.
She gave me a hard look. "Of course he will! He's Daniel! Think about it!"
And, I did. Giant bear or giant man, this was my Daniel. My boyfriend. My lover. And, apparently, my pissed off protector. I had absolutely no reason to be scared of him, I just needed to treat him like human Daniel.
I could do that.
With a sigh, I walked forward and put my hand on Daniel’s big hairy shoulder, even though I was still trembling. “Hey, big guy. You got everyone’s attention now. You don’t have to eat Jeffrey.”
He glanced back at me, his green eyes looked eerie in the bear.
And, somehow, I knew what he was wondering. "None of us are hurt. They didn't hurt us. They didn't hurt me. Everything is okay."
After a long moment of him staring at me, Daniel lumbered backward and chuffed at me before sitting on his haunches. He looked at Jeffrey, then at me, then chuffed again. I crouched down beside the still cowering Jeffrey and sighed. “Jeffrey. You look like a football player. Do you know that?”
He nodded quickly, looking back and forth between me and Daniel. As I stared down at him, I let a little strand of my power fill him. I don't know why, but it was like some deep instinct was telling me. Telling me that my powers had a way to help this situation.
"I-I am a football player." Okay, yeah, I was kind of just asking to get him focused on me and not freaking out. I hadn't really been sure what he would say, but I was glad I guessed right.
“Jeffrey, your friends look like football players too.”
He kept nodding. “We are. We were. We played for the Mystic Hollow Wolves.”
And it all clicked! Daniel had told me about what he'd learned from the wolf pack. The way Bryan was kidnapped was similar to what football players did to new recruits. I hadn't even put two and two together when I was asking him about being a football player, but I guess in the back of my overwhelmed mind I'd already known the way these guys fought, and their sheer sizes, marked them as athletes.
It was all making sense. I hoped. This whole stupid situation.
I sighed, stood, and looked back at my girls. “Daniel told me that the way Bryan was kidnapped was the same way the football players around here mess with their new recruits. I wasn't sure if the two things were actually connected, because I wasn't sure how many vampire football players there were..."
Daniel lumbered to his feet and growled low in his throat at Jeffrey. I chuckled and looked around, noticing most of the people who had been out here fighting were long gone, including most of Jeffrey’s friends.
Figures.
"Now," I wiggled my finger. "You know who I am. You know what I can do. I could wiggle one little finger and have a tiny, but probably important part of your body, fall right off. Would you like that?"
"No!" He squeaked, grabbing his crotch.
"Or would you like to spend all of eternity bald?"
His eyes were wide. "Not my hair!"
"Or maybe just shrink you to the size of an ant and keep you in a jar," I tapped my chin like I was really thinking of what cruel thing I should do to him.
"What do you want?" He moaned helplessly. "I'll go. I won't bother you again."
I smirked unkindly at him. "You know what I want to know."
He stared at me in confusion.
"Where the hell is Bryan?" Carol shouted from behind me as Beth yanked her back.
He scrambled to his feet. “Okay. I did take Bryan. But it was just supposed to be a joke, just a good time! I never thought it'd get you all so riled up.”
Daniel growled again and took a few steps forward.
Jeffrey held up his hands, his voice so high it could've been a young girl's. "I'll give you whatever you want."
"You murdered Quillan and blamed Bryan for it!" Carol shouted, jabbing her finger toward him.
“I didn’t kill Quill, I swear. I really liked that guy. I’m sad as anyone he’s dead," he pleaded, and seemed convincing, but I didn’t believe him for a second.
My eyes narrowed, and I pointed a finger at him too.
He went absolutely white. "I swear it! And this thing with Bryan was just a joke. Cause he’s such a douchebag, you know?”
Carol strode forward and grabbed Jeffrey’s shirt in her hand, yanking the hulking guy down to her level. “Take me to him,” she said through her teeth. “Now.”
He looked at me and Daniel.
I smiled coldly. "You heard the lady."