Page 59 of House of Vampires and Flame

I shot out of the door and left him on the floor.

15

I sprang out of the House of Vampires in a black mood, after I’d told Drusilla where she could find the wounded prince.

I didn’t know where to go.

As soon as Prince Louis recovered, or even before he came to, the vampires would hunt me down. Maybe it was best that I escaped the realm and returned to the human world. But I knew that Shriekers would be waiting for me outside. They were getting better and faster at tracking me, which showed how desperate my father was.

At least where I was, the Veil would still halt the majority of the Shrieker army. They couldn’t sense me unless they came through the Veil.

There was no place like Mist of Cinder. I felt like I belonged here with the wild magic. Its pulse ran through my veins. The realm nourished me, and I didn’t even need to eat magic.

I turned away from the direction of the Veil. I didn’t want to leave. I detoured to avoid my haunts, like the campus woods and Jubilee Haven, knowing the vampires would flood those areas to hunt me. I shot northeast toward the library, then cut through the broad terrain between the House of Chaos and the House of Shifters, heading west toward Underhill, where the temperamental wild magic dwelled and no supernaturals dared to enter, let alone venture deeper.

I stopped cold. The west entry of Underhill was blocked.

Two females in academy uniforms emerged from behind an ancient angel oak tree and stepped into my path. The taller one had broad shoulders like a dude. If she only showed me her rear, I’d mistake her for a dude, especially with her buzzed hair dyed silver. She also had a tiny pink diamond stud on her nose.

She crossed her muscled arms over her chest, her dark blue eyes regarding me and her long eyebrows quirking. I wasn’t what she expected.

She was a wolf. The shorter girl beside her was a honey badger. This one had honey-brown eyes, wide lips, and big boobs. Honey badgers were always vicious, but the wolf chick was the dominant one.

The House of Shifters had five tribes. Though bears and large cats like tigers and lions were more powerful, wolves dominated the house with their sheer numbers. And their prince was the largest wolf in the house.

I’d bumped into a small pack at the most inconvenient time, and I knew these two weren’t the only ones.

They should not be here. From what I’d heard, even the meanest shifters avoided this area and stuck to their neck of the woods on the other side of Underhill.

They were so quiet that I hadn’t registered their presence earlier, but then my senses had dulled after the vampire prince had taken too much blood from me. It was a wonder that I hadn’t fallen on my face yet. Sy was in no better shape. The juice she’d gotten from fucking the fae had been spent on getting me here.

I shrugged and turned away without a word, not planning to engage. I just didn’t have the energy for this shit, so I’d get the fuck out of here. The shifters could have this territory, but Underhill would bite their asses.

A panther slinked out from somewhere and blocked my path, its ink-black eyes fixing on me with cruel glee. It felt familiar, but I didn’t care to find out why.

Sy and I were in no shape to fight, even though we were pissed at the ambush. I’d set a rule that I wouldn’t take from this realm and drain it unless I was on the brink of death. I’d also learned not to say, “I want no trouble,” when facing bullies. You’d only invite more shit.

“What the fuck?” I said roughly. “This isn’t your shifter territory.” I nodded in the other direction. “Your house is that way. I already stepped back to let you pee to mark the tree, and you still got a mean, small-eyed panther to stall me? By the way, is it a boy or a girl?” I shrugged. “Well, don’t tell me. I don’t care. Just let me pass. If you fight me, you won’t like the outcome. I can assure you that it won’t be pretty. I might look small, but I’m vicious.”

The two girls laughed, and the panther peeled its lips back, not as amused as its pack members. The way it regarded me, it was marking me as a dish.

I bared my teeth. “I’m damn serious! I won’t issue a second warning. Most people don’t deserve a second chance. Better not to test me!”

“This is the notorious Little Bob? Seriously?” the honey badger said, and the wolf chick giggled more.

“Relax, Little Bob, we aren’t going to eat you,” the wolf said, flashing her white teeth as if that was friendly. “You know Bea, the witch from the House of Mages?”

“Yeah? You got beef with her?” I challenged, throwing my politeness out of the window, since no matter what I said or did, they wouldn’t leave me alone. “Come at me then! Pick on someone your own size, bitches!”

“Call us bitches again, boy, and I’ll knock out all your front teeth and you won’t ever get to kiss a girl,” the wolf said without heat.

The honey badger nodded. “The boy is all prickly, huffing and puffing like a chihuahua. It’s a wonder he lasted so long in the vampire house.”

They knew about me, but I knew nothing about them.

“Stop being annoying, Little Bob,” the wolf said, drawing a full circle without closing it in the air with her index finger; I missed out on the meaning. “Today is your lucky day. Bea said you’d be here, and I owe her a favor.”

Bea sent them? Had she seen this coming in her tealeaves?

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