Hanner’s head was bowed slightly as she held the knife in one hand, the other still resting on Danny’s head. And then, it occurred to me what she was doing.
She was scouting ahead, too. Or, rather, she was performing a sort of reverse surveillance. As Danny continued watching her, as blood dripped from his right hand, and as my sister continued weeping nearby, Hanner slowly raised her head and looked up...
And seemingly, directly at me.
She lifted her hand from Danny’s head and waggled her finger at me slowly. She was admonishing me, and I suspected I knew why. If she could see me as I could see her, she had seen Kingsley and Allison with me, as well. I hadn’t come alone, as I had been instructed.
And then she did the unthinkable.
She gave me a soulless smile—and plunged the knife deep into Danny’s chest.
Chapter Forty-two
I screamed and shot back into my body.
I was about to hurl myself down the hallway, as fast as I could, and into the caverns. In fact, it was only the hulking Kingsley in front of me who literally blocked my path that kept me from doing so.
“What happened?” Kingsley said, as I fought to get past him.
Allison answered for me, as all I could see was white-hot fury.
“Hanner stabbed Danny,” I heard her say. “I saw it, too.”
I was beyond thought or control. “I have to get to him. I have to get to him now!”
“We will, Sam.”
“Kingsley, it’s a trap,” said Allison. “There are others waiting for her. I saw them. In particular, the old vampire.”
“I’ll take care of him,” said Kingsley. “We do, after all, have some unfinished business.” He was, of course, referring of their epic battle last year under the dome, when the old vampire had bested him and escaped. Kingsley looked grimly from me to Allison. “You remember the plan?” he asked her.
“I’ll take care of the hunters,” said my friend, who suddenly didn’t seem very confident. She swallowed and I would have admired her bravery if I hadn’t known the clock was ticking on my ex-husband.
This wasn’t happening. I hadn’t just seen my ex-husband get stabbed in the chest. I hadn’t seen my sister with a bag over her head.
This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening.
No, no, no.
Kingsley gave me a final look, his handsome face full of determination and pity, and what happened next should have surprised me. Hell, it should have fascinated me. But it didn’t.
Before our very eyes, Kingsley transformed.
Back in the minivan, he had told us he would do this. This had been, in fact, his plan. The old vampire was too strong for him in his human form. But the fight would be even in his changeling form. His werewolf form. I had spoken against this, reminding him that he lost all control of himself during transformation, and what Kingsley said next surprised and thrilled me at the time. “No, Sam. I lose control when the moon is full. Not so much when I choose to transform.”
This had, of course, been news to me.
And now his transformation couldn’t happen fast enough. Kingsley tore off his shirt and hunched forward, away from us. I had a sense that he didn’t want us to see his face. He jerked and contorted and howled in what I assumed was agony. Allison slipped behind me, and I didn’t blame her. The man she had a crush on was metamorphosing before our eyes.
The change took only seconds, perhaps twenty seconds in all. All the while, I thought of Danny with a knife in his chest.
Nothing you can do about it, if you’re dead, I thought, which might have been my only rational thought during these moments. Yes, I knew we were walking into a trap. But they weren’t expecting a full-fledged werewolf to make an appearance, a werewolf who would take on their oldest and strongest vampire.
Now Kingsley dropped to his knees and arched his back and what I saw there surprised even me. Hair had sprouted almost instantly. Short, silver-brown, thick hair.
No, fur.
Yes, I had seen what Kingsley turned into each full moon. A true wolfman, hulking, bipedal, frightening. What was emerging now was something different. It was, in fact, an actual wolf.
Within moments, a massive, four-legged wolf was now standing before us in the tunnel, looking haggard and pissed off, his mane hair erect, his tail held high in aggressive position. It turned once, looked back at us with Kingsley’s same amber eyes, then it was off and running, faster than even I could run, which was pretty damn fast.
I was torn between running behind it and keeping Allison safe. Yes, I knew my friend had recently come into some powerful new skills—and could quite possibly take care of herself—but I couldn’t take that chance. Ultimately, I held back with Allison, not wanting to leave my friend behind in the tunnels. The wolf that was Kingsley charged ahead and was soon out of sight.
Chapter Forty-three
I paused just outside the cavern entrance.
While I waited for Allison to catch up, I listened to the horrific sounds echoing from within the big, underground room. I was tempted to dash into the cavern, but I didn’t. That was what they wanted. I was sure of it. For me to act recklessly, dangerously.
For me to die.
I held back, despite my natural instinct to rush forward and help. Kingsley had his hands full—or teeth full—in there. But he was a big boy. Or a big doggie. Instead, I closed my eyes and cast my thoughts forward a final time, into the cavern, and saw two people waiting not too far away. Whether they were vampires or not, I didn’t know—but one thing was for certain.
Each was holding a crossbow notched with a silver-tipped arrow.
Allison, breathing hard next to me, communicated with me silently: I see them, Sam. Let me take care of them. Go get Danny and your sister.
What do you mean?
Allison took point, stepping around me and into the cavern, holding her hands up before her.
* * *
She continued into the cavern in full witch mode, hands raised, palms out, like a battle was about to go down.
Her back was to me. I nearly ran to her, but waited, knowing what she was doing. She was clearing the way for me. I was expecting the worst. I was expecting a silver-tipped arrow to blossom in her chest.
But that didn’t happen.
Instead, as the vicious fighting sounds of the werewolf and the vampire grew even louder and fiercer, Allison stood at the cavern entrance, unscathed, hands still up. Her hands, I saw, were shaking.
“Now, Sam!” she said, turning her head slightly toward me. Her arms were shaking even harder.
I was instantly in the cavern—and saw the two men guards now pinned against the rock walls, their crossbows crushed at their feet, their faces and hands physically forced into the stone wall behind them. They couldn’t fight or struggle, or perhaps even breathe. They stood there, immobile, frozen, while Allison slowly walked forward, her hands still up and shaking even harder.