Geoffrey ran up to me, carrying two swords, one of which he held out to me. “Can you fight?”

I held up my hands. “Not with that thing.”

“Sara, you stay with me.” Nikolas’s eyes were dark with worry. “Do not leave my sight.”

“She needs a weapon.”

Geoffrey had a long silver dagger in a sheath on his leg. I grabbed it just as a crash sounded from the den. At the same time, a window broke upstairs and another broke in the kitchen.

My heart pounded as I raced after Nikolas and Geoffrey to the den just as two male vampires flew through the broken window. Rain blew into the room and glass covered the couch where I’d been sleeping a few minutes before.

Nikolas was on the first vampire before he knew what was coming. His sword carried a ghostly gleam as it swung in an upward arc, eviscerating the vampire before it had time to attack. He brought the sword back down and sliced cleanly through the vampire’s neck.

Beside him, Geoffrey was still fighting his opponent when two more vampires leapt through the window. I watched helplessly as Nikolas glanced over his shoulder at me then moved to intercept the new vampires. I wanted to help him, but I was afraid to distract him by joining the fight. Instead, I backed out into the hallway to give him and Geoffrey room to fight without worrying about me getting caught in the fray.

From all over the house came shouts and screams and the sounds of battle. Over my head, heavy footsteps pounded, followed by loud thumps like something hitting a wall. A moment later, a vampire’s screech was abruptly cut short.

I heard Jordan yell and Chris swear as a door crashed open. Shouts and sounds of struggle filled the hallway, and I knew my friends were in trouble. I couldn’t just stand here while everyone else fought for their lives.

I met my first vampire in the hallway. He came up short as if he was surprised to see me, and then he smiled, revealing his long fangs. I could tell by the gleam in his eyes that he thought I was easy pickings. I dropped into a half crouch and smiled as I crooked my finger at him. Come and get me.

He didn’t say a word as he sped toward me. He was fast but not mature, and he had obviously never fought a warrior. He went for my throat. I dropped to one knee and brought the dagger up into his ribs. It wasn’t close enough to pierce his heart, but he screamed as the silver burned him. He flew over my head and crashed into the wall. Before he could recover, I was on him, shoving my blade home. His eyes grew wide with shock and his body went limp.

I jumped to my feet and gasped as pain lanced through my shoulder. I winced at the bloody tears in my shirt, and my first thought was I’d better cover them before Nikolas saw them. He was already going to be pissed that I’d left his sight. Shaking my head, I turned to the living room. We were in the middle of a battle for our lives, and I was worried about his feelings.

I pushed all thoughts of Nikolas aside as I ran into the living room. Three dead vampires lay on the floor, and two more vampires were trying to attack Jordan and Abigail. My eyes flew to the missing window, and I spotted movement outside. On the front lawn, Chris battled four vampires and they were gaining the upper hand. Apparently, they didn’t know the rules of fair play.

I vaulted through the window and landed three feet from the fight. Two of the vampires spun to face me, and Chris stared at me with a mixture of shock and worry. He opened his mouth to yell at me, but I was already moving. I dropped my dagger as I released my real weapon. In the words of my mentor: it was time to go all Fae on their demon asses.

“Get back, Chris!” I backed away from him as electricity crackled over my skin. I was pretty good at focusing my magic now, but I didn’t want to take the chance of him being caught up in it.

Instead of throwing my power at the vampires circling me, I raised my arms and threw it up into the air, calling to the magic in the water falling from the sky. Fat raindrops froze into thousands of sharp needles of ice that swirled around me to rip through the vampires’ clothes and skin. Screams tore from their throats, and they raised their arms to protect themselves.

“Sara!” Nikolas roared from somewhere in the house. His voice startled me, and I lost my concentration. Ice turned back to water.

The vampires turned their ravaged faces toward me, their mouths twisted into snarls. But turning water to ice was only one of the tricks I’d picked up in the last few months.

I feinted toward one of them, then dropped and kicked the legs out from under another. I landed in a puddle of water, which was exactly where I wanted to be. With one hand I grabbed the ankle of the downed vampire while my other hand flew up to meet the chest of another vampire as it pounced on me.

The blast lit up the lawn like lightning. Screams tore at my eardrums before the two vampires stiffened and collapsed on the grass in smoking heaps.

Above me, a sword flashed through the air and decapitated one of the two remaining vampires. The last one, sensing the battle was lost, turned to run, but Chris cut him down before he reached the edge of the lawn.

I sat up and rolled to my feet, ready to take on the next threat, but Chris and I were alone on the lawn. That was when it struck me that all I could hear was rain and thunder. Turning toward the house, I looked up at the window I’d come through and found Jordan and several of the other warriors staring at me like I was the main attraction at a circus sideshow.

“What the hell just happened?” someone asked.

Before anyone could answer, a furious male bellow came from inside the house. Seconds later, the people in the window parted as Nikolas leapt through it. His eyes swept over the bodies on the lawn as he strode toward me. I couldn’t tell how close he was to a rage, but something told me it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge.