Page 9 of Witches Be Damned

“Don’t call on me again,” Hades warned, a green fog curling around his shoulders. “Or I’ll send you all to the Underworld and torture you for an eternity.”

A shiver tripped down my spine as the same magick encircled us, sucking us through time and space, ejecting us into the heart of the laboratory the vampires used as a hideout. Nothing moved, no flashing on the computer screens, no bubbling of chemicals on the Bunsen burner, no vampires snarling and leaping at us. Time appeared frozen.

“It worked,” Loco whispered. “Tor, I have no idea what just happened, or who that bozo was, but you’re a fucking genius.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Dad.” We weren’t out of the clear yet, and I got my gun ready for when time cranked back into action.

Knoxe waved a hand in front of a still vamp.

Serena didn’t waste time, stabbing the bastards in the armpits, getting them in their heart, killing them before they reanimated.

I inched deeper into the lab, searching for our girl.

Loco thumped me on the shoulder. “I’ll gladly give my life if my daughter lives.” He glanced at the sky. “You hear that, you rude, grumpy bozo?”

I clamped a hand over his mouth before he said something to offend Hades and cast us prematurely into the Underworld. When I let him go, he moved away and backed our leader up.

“She’s here!” Knoxe hurried over to two vampires at the back of the lab, looming over Supergal and Raze, who on their knees.

Fuck. Styx raised a gun at our brother’s forehead.

Knoxe snatched the gun from the vamp’s hand, grabbed his wrist, and snapped it back, making a loud crack. Then he blew a hole in the bastard’s stomach. Justice and revenge were about to be delivered at long last. Two years of fucking hell culminating in this moment.

Fingers on the soldier at his side jerked, telling me our gig was almost up, and time was about to kick in again. And when it did, we had the fight of our lives to save our girl.

CHAPTER 4 - ASTRA

One moment, I was crouched on my knees beside my wolf, a gun at his forehead, begging for my life to any deity within hearing range. The next, Styx hissed and snapped back, clutching his wrist, which was bent at an odd angle. The cold metal vanished from my wolf’s skull. Blood leaked from a wound in the vampire’s stomach.

Furious red eyes landed on a dark blur suddenly between us. The vampire lashed out and caught an assailant in a black suit, lifting them off the ground by the throat. Boots dangled in the air, kicking at anything they could strike to get released. Hands clawed at the vampire’s wrist, scratching wounds into the waxy gantii flesh. A bright orange ponytail swished from the frantic motions.

What the fuck was happening?

Commotion rang out all around me. Crashing benches, computers, chairs, smashing glass, all from some sort of struggle. Grunting humans. Hissing vampires. Weapons discharging. Someone screaming my name.

Shock from potentially meeting my maker slowed my mind almost to a halt, and it took me a good ten seconds to comprehend what the hell erupted around Raze and me.

My wolf groaned beside me, his sedative wearing off, body twitching, his brain spurred into action, his muscles prevented him from moving.

“Sunset!” the man kicking in front of me croaked.

Pieces snapped together with striking clarity. The who and what. Knoxe somehow found his way into the lab. By the smashing equipment, weapons firing, and grunting going off behind me, a war raged with the rest of my team. Tor, Loco, and Serena came to rescue me.

Oh, God.

Where was Pascal? Was he alive? The last time I saw him, he was bleeding out badly, and I didn’t know if they got to him on time. My heart shuddered at the thought of him not making it and never seeing him again.

“Knoxe?” I didn’t know how he ended up here and why Styx bled all over the floor.

“I got you, bossman!” Tor shouted, releasing laser blasts that hit Styx’s arm, burning a deep hole in his flesh.

Knoxe dropped from the vamp’s grasp and hit the floor, coughing and clutching his throat. My palms came up to brace the back of his legs as he wobbled on his feet.

A vampire soldier came out of nowhere and battered Tor aside, protecting his leader. My man slammed into the cages and went down, groaning.

“Tor!” I tried to scramble to his side when Knoxe caught the back of my uniform, holding me in place.

More vampires burst into the room, and my brain went haywire. If I didn’t do something, they were dead.

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