Page 114 of Fated Exile

Next I find myself surrounded on each side by two vaguely familiar vampires. They probably cheered Demitri on or something. I leap on one of them and grab at his neck, but get his shoulder instead. Jerking on that, I brace as I feel the second vampire go for me.

I expect to feel the rake of claws across my back. Or fangs digging into my leg. He should at least tear me open.

Instead there's just a long, shallow rip across my side, and I feel my fur get yanked out a little. That's weird. Spitting out the vampire arm, I go for the neck and kill the first one, then turn around for the second.

But that vampire is already gone, melting into the darkness.

I scan the town of Juniper for him, wanting to make sure he doesn't get past us, but there's no sign of the bloodsucker. It's like he ran away or something, though I don't know why.

There isn't time to analyze it. A female figure dressed in all white is standing behind the vampire army, her scent blowing towards us in the wind. I don't know if I could see her before, but I can now, and she makes my fur stand on end.

Delilah swivels to face her, throwing her head back to howl. Then she races towards the vampires standing between her and the woman, who must be Delphine, and I sense her call out to us for help.

She doesn't have to ask twice. I leap into the fray, severing limbs and chowing down on spines, enjoying the parting of vampire flesh in my teeth. Though it does taste nearly as bad as Kerry's cooking, there's something satisfying about it.

This time around, I'm getting to fight my own fights. No drugs, no Demetri in the stands, no shouted orders that fizzle in my veins. It's all me, and as it turns out, me like to bite things.

Get the one on the left.Finn sidles up to me as we plow through the vampires.I got the one on the right.

We go for them, and I expect to get a face full of claws, maybe some slashing and slicing. Instead they barely graze our fur and skin. I swear one of them plucks some of my hair out, and the one Finn bites just bites him back, then slips off and runs away.

I pursue them for a few steps, only to meet another bloodsucker. This one is easy to disembowel and rip apart. After the blood mist from his sudden death settles, I don't spot the vampires who attacked me and Finn.

You okay?I find him licking a bloodied spot on his paw, the wound oozing with vamp venom.That one got you pretty good.

I swear I think he sucked my blood out and held it in his mouth.Finn shakes it off, setting his paw down as the venom-laced wound closes.Let's keep at it. More are coming.

They are, pouring in from out of nowhere, appearing in clouds of inky black and coming for us. There's a frenzy to them, a kind of vacant light in their eyes. I keep looking for Ambrosia and the other vamps I know, but I don't find them. So I settle for tearing limbs from bodies and severing spines, making sure Delilah's path forward is clear.

I only wish I could stand beside her as she faces Delphine.

But I don't get the chance to, because each time I try to get closer to her, another vamp attacks.

Forty-Two

Delilah

This was stupid. I should've planned this better. Paid more attention to my lessons with Kerry, and spent less time prowling the woods looking for Delphine. Now I'm facing her, because the only other option was to stand around waiting for her attack to come to me.

I can't exactly turn around now, tuck tail, and go home.

If I do, she's going to stab me in the back.

Digging my paws into the ground, I feel for my connection to the land around us. It's sluggish and slow, the haze Delphine has put in the air drowning its strength and fury. So I wake it up, lending it my eyes just like I lent them to my mates and my pack, so they could see the vampires like Bastian can.

The land awakens, and I swear that I can feel its anger.

The ground beneath us trembles, and a tree off to the rightbendsat the trunk. Its branches swoop out and pummel several vampires before they can come for the guys. Then they swing around and pierce the vamps through the neck and back, turning two to dust.

I grin wolfishly and urge the land to keep going. Tingles race up and down my spine as the grass explodes beneath us, twisting around vampire ankles and tugging them beneath the earth. I tackle the three in front of me and decimate them, turning each into ash.

On and on we fight, and with each death I get one step closer to Delphine.

But the closer I get, the more my frustration grows. My blood grows hot and impatience sets my teeth on edge. The last few times the vampires have come for us, they've been strong and furious. They've raked claws down our flesh, thrown us fifty feet at a time, and used paralytic powder to kidnap me.

None of that is happening today. They're slow and almost docile, scratching and clawing, tugging at fur and running away. I can sense the same thing happening to all the guys, and my confusion grows.

I swear that one just gave me a tickle.Lance snarls, leaping on another vampire to kill it, before its replacement appears in a fog of smoky magic.I think they've taken a whole fistful of fur off me, yet somehow I'm still standing.

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