Ryland pulled the car to a curb and hit the brakes hard enough to send everyone flailing against their seatbelts. "We're here," he said.

No kidding!

Smith got out of the car quick as he could and stormed away, fists clenched. I couldn't blame him. His sister was a hot mess and brainwashed besides. On the other hand I knew why he still wanted to help her and protect her. She was his only family. It was the same reason I wanted my mom back and why I wanted to rescue my sister. They were my family and I had to do everything in my power to help them. Not that I was doing a great job of things right now.

Stacey pulled Felicia from the other side of the car, but I didn't think we had to worry about her running. The grief in her red eyes and slump in her shoulders spoke of defeat. But a tiny part of me understood why she'd turned vampire. If I had an older sibling who inherited all the family abilities and I had nothing, I'd probably be jealous too. And if some hot curvy vampire woman offered me supernatural strength and immortality, I'd probably take it.

I looked at the line of iron doors in the alleyway, trying to remember which one was Shelton's. They all looked the same. Then I noticed the column of smoke pouring from a building down the road. I saw several distant figures rush around a corner and head our way, running like their lives depended on it.

Chapter 19

"Is that Elyssa?" I asked, unable to make out who it was since my supernatural vision was still on the fritz.

"It's her and several others I don't recognize," Ryland said.

"Those are frickin' hellhounds," Smith said, gripping his wand. "Son of a—Felicia, get inside now!" He flicked the rod at one of the iron doors and it burst open with the loud ping of metal.

Ryland gripped my arm. "I have to help them, Justin. Will you be okay here?"

I felt absolutely useless, staring at the figures down the road. "Yeah."

"What do you want me to do?" Stacey asked as Ryland and Smith raced down the road.

I looked at Felicia who was huddled against the brick wall near the door her brother had opened. Dim sunshine filtered through the clouds and it seemed to be affecting her.

"Will you help them, Stacey? I think I can manage Felicia for now." Truth be told, I really didn't care if she ran away at this point. I had much larger fish to fry and the vampire chick wasn't on the list.

Stacey regarded the girl for a moment. "Do not trust her for one moment, Justin."

"I won't," I said as I peered down the road to see what the situation was.

She nodded and blurred away in a streak of blonde and pink. I clenched my fists though I hardly had the strength to call the act 'clenching'. The urge to hobble down the road as fast as I could was almost unbearable even though I'd only be a liability.

Elyssa. I wanted to make sure she was safe. I wasn't fit to wipe a hellhound's nose in my state.

"I know the feeling," Felicia said from the shade of the building. She didn't seem eager to enter the dilapidated old building Smith had opened for her and I didn't blame her, considering the rank odor drifting from inside.

"What feeling would that be?"

"Feeling useless."

"How do you know what I'm feeling?"

"Something's wrong with you or you'd have been the first one down there. And it's killing you that you can't help."

She might be a world-class bitch who'd almost murdered my girlfriend, but she wasn't stupid. "Yep. So if you're gonna run, you might as well do it now."

She squinted at the weak sunlight and shook her head. "I'm done with running."

I crossed my arms. "Twenty minutes ago you were ready to run to Maxi-poo."

"I love him. He's so amazing, you can't believe it."

"Are you sure he didn't brainwash you with his voice trick?"

"He would never do that," she said, anger rising in her voice.

"So run back to him. Skedaddle like a good dog. I'm sure Maxi will be happy to have you back." I shook my head and left her in the shade, hobbling down the road a bit for a clearer view of the battle. From what I could tell, Ryland and Stacey had shifted forms and were facing two of the hounds. Shelton and Smith were shooting the third one with what looked like crazy white beams of light while my dad unleashed a flurry of blows against a fourth. A woman with a mane of golden hair stood next to Elyssa. Between them lay a body, and it wasn't moving.

"Maximus was hired to kidnap you," Felicia said.

I spun. "What?"

"I overheard someone offering him money for your capture."

I walked over to her, wanting to grip her shirt and jerk her to her feet, but realized I was more likely to face plant on the filthy alley floor in my current state. "Who? Did you see them?"

"No. But that's why we were following the sorcerer. That's why we were ready for you."

"But you took my dad."

"Maximus didn't care who we caught. He wanted a spawn so he could increase the potency of his blood. He's obsessed with it."

"Obviously. Did the person who hired him say why they wanted me?" This struck me as odd considering my dad was the one with the death mark. Why would anyone want me?

"I have no idea."

The brick wall to our right exploded in a shower of red dust and fragments. Felicia shrieked. I stumbled back, barely catching myself against the wall before I fell down. Yellow eyes glowed in the dust and moved toward us as a rumbling growl gave me a pretty good idea what owned those eyes. A massive hellhound, black as night and scary as hell, emerged from the dust and stared straight at me. The thing was big as a mule and looked like something out of a dog catcher's worst nightmare. I couldn't run. I couldn't hide. The damned thing would just tear straight through the walls of the nearby buildings. When it growled, its black muzzle quivered and thick saliva drooled from black razor-sharp teeth. I thought a regular dog's breath stank. The humid rankness coming from this creature's mouth rivaled a rotten omelet stuffed with raw sewage.

"Leave him alone," Felicia said, jumping in front of me and holding her hands out to the sides as if flailing her arms would make her skinny little self look threatening.

"Don't get in its way," I said. "You won't even slow it down."

"I can deal," she said, a bit of snark entering her voice.

The clouds had further obscured the sun, but her skin was already turning pink.

"Why do you want me?" I asked the hellhound. "Tell me who sent you."

It didn't seem to understand a word I said, or else it was ignoring me. I was so sick of being chased. So damned tired of not knowing what was going on. And the worst part was they kept attacking the people I cared about!

The hellhound advanced. Felicia ran at it. Ebony canines snapped. She punched the hound right in the nose. It yelped. Growled. Lunged at her. She punched its nose again and it backed off, hackles bristling, massive head low, muscles coiled. A deep rumble in its throat vibrated the air.

"I used to be a dog-sitter," she said, not looking back at me. "Some of them were nasty aggressive and this was the best way to deal with them."

"Great. I guess you're the dog whisperer, vampire edition."

The hound lunged. She jumped back, but the sunlight slowed her reflexes. The creature batted her aside with a huge paw. She smacked against the iron door with a loud clang, knocking her senseless. The hound went for the kill, its savage teeth primed to rend Felicia to bits.

"No!" I screamed. Agony slammed twin spikes into my forehead. My skin seemed to swell. The beast inside me raged. "Don't harm her!" I shouted. Or I tried to shout those words. Instead, my voice came out deep and guttural and in a language I didn't recognize. Or did I?

The hound froze in place. Turned to me, its eyes full of understanding. Or maybe it was just hungry. It cocked its head to the side like a confused puppy and whined. I didn't have a clue what to do next. I tried to remember what I'd said and how I'd said it, but whatever brain cells I'd just used were back on vacation.

Then the massive hound perked up its ears and looked toward the hole it had smashed through the brick wall. It gave me another curious glance before vanishing into the rubble.

I ran to Felicia…well, sort of. I actually limped to her and eased myself to my knees by bracing an arm against the brick wall. She moaned. Her right arm was bent at a grotesque angle and the right side of her face was purple. A trickle of blackish blood dripped from her nose. I had no idea if she was going to die or heal. The sun managed to poke a ray through the cloud and touched her face. The skin pinked, turning to red within seconds.

Weak as I was, I knew I had to drag her into the hole left by the hound and get her out of the sun. Dragging my own body was hard enough, but I had to do this. I slid my arms under hers and pushed my feet against the pavement. We inched toward the hole. Her skin where the sun hit it was going from red to purple. I pulled off my shirt and covered her face. But I couldn't do anything about her bare legs or hands. I hoped the damage wasn't permanent.

Inch by bloody inch I dragged her into the shadows. Cold sweat drenched every pore and my breath came in shallow ragged pants. But she was in. She was safe. I heard shouts from outside and panic swelled like acid in my throat. Was Elyssa okay? I didn't know if any of my friends had been hurt and I couldn't move to check.

"Oh my god!" Stacey said from somewhere outside.

Rapid footsteps echoed off the alley walls and then the outlines of several people stood in the hole where the wall had once stood.

"I'm here," I croaked, barely able to form a syllable.

"Justin!" Elyssa was there, hands pressed to my face, lips kissing me. "What happened to him?" She pressed me to her soft chest. "Justin, talk to me. Are you okay?"

"I'll die a happy man if you keep my head right here," I said in a hoarse whisper. "This is heaven."

She laughed. "Playing injured just to get some TLC?"