I looked around, seeing the carnage for the first time. Six hyena things – crocotta, Chris had called them – lay dead upon the road. Even in death the creatures were terrifying. I had never seen or heard of anything like them.

Ten feet from the truck lay Nikolas’s black motorcycle on its side and looking like he would not be riding it out of here tonight. My gaze fell on Roland’s truck and I sucked in a sharp breath. The hood was buckled and scarred by long deep scratches and the mangled door lay on the ground. Metal stood up in jagged edges from the roof making it look like someone had taken a machete to it. It was almost inconceivable I had come out of that with nothing more than a few nasty scratches.

“Only someone with warrior blood could have survived that,” Nikolas said as if he’d heard my thoughts.

“I’m not a warrior.”

“So you keep telling me.” He walked away before I could think of a reply. I watched him go to his motorcycle and lift it upright. When he started it up, I thought he was leaving but he turned it off and put down the stand.

“Sara!” Roland yelled, running toward us and looking a lot better than I felt. He had scratches on his face and one of his sleeves looked torn and bloody, but otherwise he looked alright considering he had been engaged in mortal combat. I held up my hands to stop him from grabbing me in a hug and concern flooded his face. “Are you hurt?”

“Yes, but I’ll live.” I tried to sound flippant and failed miserably.

He ran a hand through his wet hair and let out a ragged breath. “I nearly lost it when I saw it attacking you.” He stared at the closest corpse. “I studied crocotta but I never thought I’d ever see them around here. Fuck! They were strong.” He looked at me then cast a sad glance at what was left of his truck. “You were incredible, fighting it off like that.”

“I wouldn’t have lasted much longer without you guys,” I told him. “Where is Peter, by the way? There is no way I’m going out there looking for him again.”

Roland laughed. “He went to find his clothes. There was no one home when he got there so he grabbed a lug wrench and headed back. He was coming up the road when he saw us getting attacked.”

I didn’t want to think of what would have happened if Peter, Nikolas and Chris hadn’t shown up when they did. “How did you know?” I asked Nikolas.

“One of our men called to tell me a crocotta had been seen in the Portland area,” Nikolas said. “I knew that they could track you even if the vampires could not.”

“But how did you know where we were?”

“I put a tracker on your friend’s truck at the pizza place a few days ago,” Chris replied smugly. At my look of disbelief he said, “You didn’t think I was going run around town all week looking for you, did you?”

Peter showed up then and his appearance distracted Roland from whatever angry remark he’d been about to make. “I think we got them all. No worries about one of them reporting back to whoever sent them.” He stared at the mutilated truck. “Damn! What the hell happened to the truck?”

Nikolas dug through one of the compartments on his bike. “You three are like a disaster magnet.” He stopped searching and came over to reach into his coat pocket and pull out a cell phone. “I’m going to call for a pickup,” he said to Chris.

Somehow I didn’t think he meant a pickup truck. “A pickup for what?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Not what, who. Look around. It’s not safe here for you.”

I moved closer to Roland. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Be reasonable, Sara. You need to be with people who can protect you.”

Roland put an arm around me. “We can protect her.”

“I can see that,” Nikolas retorted. “Why is it that both times she’s been attacked is when you’ve been ‘protecting’ her?”

“Listen I –”

“Are you implying something?” Roland shot back.

“Look around you.”

“No one could have expected a large pack of crocotta to show up like that. And you couldn’t have held off that many alone either.”

“No, but if she was with her own people she wouldn’t have to worry about that.”

“I’m not –”

“Her people? We’re her friends. We care for her more than a bunch of strangers.”

“They wouldn’t be strangers for long. And she can train to protect herself.”

“Stop it,” I yelled, finally getting their attention. “Stop talking about me like I’m not even here. I’m not leaving New Hastings, so drop it.” Every part of me was tired and I desperately wanted to sit down. But there was nowhere to sit except for the truck and I really didn’t want to go near it right now. I was eager to put as much distance as possible between me and this place.

“Sara, I think you should come home with us tonight,” Roland suggested.

“But you guys got them all.”

“Yes, but you’re covered in blood and your clothes are all ripped up. You don’t want Nate to see you like this.”

I looked down at my wet, bloody jeans. My coat was hidden by Nikolas’s but I knew it had been shredded by the crocotta. First vampires and now a bunch of mutant hyenas. At this rate I wouldn’t have any clothes left.

“You’re right,” I told him. “Nate can’t see this.”