Peter went to the truck and found his phone which had miraculously survived the carnage. He hit a number and said, “Dad, you won’t believe what just happened here.” He walked away with the phone to his ear.

Nikolas looked displeased but resigned with my refusal to leave. “Is there anyone around here who can clean this up before the locals see it?” he asked Roland. “If not, we’ll bring in someone.”

“Yeah, I’ll call someone.” Roland produced his own phone and made a call. A few minutes later he hung up. “My cousin Francis will be here in a few minutes with a crew to take care of this. We’ll take Sara to my house.”

“Chris and I will come with you to make sure there is no more trouble,” Nikolas said.

“There is no need for that,” Roland said. “She will be safe in the Knolls.”

There was a hard edge to Nikolas’s jaw that I was beginning to recognize. “Forgive me if I have my doubts. We will accompany you.”

I looked at Chris. Nikolas had ridden up on his bike but Chris had arrived on foot. “How did you get here so fast?” I asked him.

“My bike is half a mile down the road. When I heard the crocottas’ hunting calls I decided to come in on foot to surprise them.” He slanted a wry look at Nikolas. “I had no idea some people would come roaring in and making enough noise to wake the dead.”

I leaned against Roland for strength and gave Chris a tired smile. “Thank you.”

Chris inclined his head. “And I thought small town life was boring.”

Minutes later headlights glowed around the bend up ahead and a silver Hyundai appeared followed by a large Ford pickup. Roland’s cousin, Francis jumped out of the car and stared in awe at the scene before him. Older than Roland by four years, Francis had the same dark hair but a slightly leaner build than his younger cousin. Watching his face, I couldn’t tell if it was the six crocotta bodies, the mangled truck or the presence of two Mohiri warriors that stunned him the most. “Fuck,” was all he could say over and over as he walked over to the nearest crocotta corpse and took in the sheer size of the creature.

Someone whistled behind him and I saw two guys I didn’t know in their mid twenties. “You guys did this?” one of them asked Roland and Peter as if he could not believe what he was seeing.

“Yes, with help,” Peter said and I could hear a little swagger in his voice. Hell, he’d earned the right to brag after what he’d done tonight.

I saw Francis and the two other guys turn hostile stares on Nikolas and Chris. “What are they doing here?” one of the guys bit out.

“They helped us fight the crocotta,” Peter replied and I could tell that he was torn between gratitude to the Mohiri and the dislike that had been ingrained in him his whole life.

“If you guys don’t mind,” Nikolas cut in coldly. “Sara is hurt.”

“You’re hurt?” Francis asked as if seeing me there for the first time. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No hospital,” I stated firmly.

“Maybe you should go get checked out,” Roland suggested.

“She will be okay,” Chris said. “I gave her something to help with the pain and to speed healing.” At Roland’s look of doubt, he said. “Trust me. It is a very powerful medicine. The Mohiri have used it in battle for centuries. With her own accelerated healing, her injuries will go away in a few days.”

“Her accelerated healing?” Francis asked and Roland and I both answered at once. “It’s a long story.”

“Take my car,” Francis said handing his keys to Roland. “I’ll stay here with the boys to take care of this. We’ll need to call in a few more hands to get rid of all these.”

“Come on.” Roland helped me into the front seat of the car. Peter jumped in the back. I laid my head back against the head rest with a huge sigh, happy just to be off my feet and out of the rain. Roland handed me his cell phone to call Nate since I’d lost my own phone in the woods. His voice mail picked up and I left a message that I was going to stay at Roland’s tonight and I’d see him tomorrow. Nate would most likely be delighted that I was spending more time with Roland and Peter again.

The drive to Roland’s house took less than five minutes. Roland went around turning on lights and I sank onto the couch, careful not to hurt my back. But whatever Chris gave me had worked its magic and I could feel no pain. I closed my eyes and wrapped Nikolas’s jacket tighter around me, then I kicked off my shoes and curled up against the cushions. Roland’s old couch had never felt so comfortable.

I heard the front door open. In the kitchen, Roland and Peter talked in hushed voices with someone else but I was too tired to care. Someone laid a quilt over me and I mumbled a thank you without opening my eyes.

I dozed restlessly and awoke in the middle of the night to a darkened room. Fearful, I tried to sit up but my body was too tired and stiff to respond. I heard a faint rustle and looked across the room to see the outline of someone standing by the window.

“Nikolas?”

“Go back to sleep.”

I lay back and closed my eyes again until I heard him shift position. Suddenly, I was afraid he might go and leave me alone in the dark. “Don’t go,” I said in a small voice, too desperate to care how plaintive I sounded.

His tone was gentler when he answered. “I’m not going anywhere.”