Page 112 of The World Undone

A vampire snapped at my neck and I knocked him to the ground, only to get attacked by two more creatures I couldn’t identify.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Bishop holding Mavis, pulling him away from the onslaught, his skin caked in blood.

Mavis bit Bishop’s hand, but he didn’t let him go. Raw determination lined my cousin’s brows as he tried like hell to get Mavis back to safety.

Tex was preoccupied, locked in a fight with the werewolf I’d torn off him.

Two more demons were behind Bishop, preparing to attack.

Fuck.

This counted as an emergency.

I focused on my bond with Max, on conjuring her fire, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it to materialize. Was it because of whatever shit they had pumping in this room? The distance?

No. We’d been able to teleport.

Or was Max or someone else using it? Were they in as much danger right now as we were?

With a grunt, I knocked one of the demons back as I slid my blade into the chest of the other.

Not waiting for the others to react or respond, I ran back towards Bishop and Tex, trying like hell to get to them.

“Behind yo—” I screamed, the sound half grunt as a wolf knocked into me. I shoved him away and stood back up. “Drop Mavis, he can handle himself. Bishop, your six.”

Wade rematerialized in front of me, his eyes wide as he momentarily tried to decide who to help. He shoved a blade into a demon on his right, his face caked in sweat. “Took me a second to teleport. Someone else must have been.”

I tried to pull fire again, but couldn’t. “Can you access her hellfire?”

Wade reached Tex, dodged a blow from a vampire who was attacking the wolf. He shook his head. “I can’t.”

Fuck.

I shoved another demon away, but the crowd between me and Bishop was even thicker now.

I teleported to him, just as a vampire sank his fangs into Bishop’s neck.

He let Mavis’s thrashing body go at the shock of it, and I slammed my blade into the vamp’s back, between two ribs, with enough force to pierce his heart.

He collapsed, taking Bishop down with him.

“Get Tex and bring him here,” I yelled to Wade. They were about fifteen feet away, their fight taking them further and further from us. “We need to get the fuck out of here, now.”

Bishop stood, shaking his head. “We aren’t leaving Mavis here to die. That kid deserves better. We’re bringing him home with us.”

Before I could stop him, he took off after him.

“He’s feral, Bishop, you can’t get to him while he’s like that.” I tried to follow and froze.

Darkness swirled around the edges of my vision and a figure stood before me.

Unlike everyone else in the room, there wasn’t a speck of blood or gore on her. She had dark hair that fell across her face, and when her eyes met mine, I lost the ability to breathe.

A drude.

No.

I took a few steps back, tripped on a body, and completely ignored the jolt of another falling into me.

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