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  The sheer violence of that made Briony gasp in apprehension as the ones she knew fought. Fallon had acquired a pair of swords from somewhere, and though he did not have training in their use, he stabbed and cut, moving constantly to avoid being caught up in a sword battle he could not win. Jake snapped at the hamstrings of vampires in his wolf form, then struck out at them as a vampire once more when they stumbled.

  As for Kevin, he fought with a level of strength and ferocity that the other wolves could not match. He shouldered vampires to the ground in his wolf form, tearing at them with teeth and claws. He leapt clear of their sword blows with ease, then darted back in to attack once more. At one point, with a vampire closing in on the wolf form of Josh, he charged into the side of the creature, knocking it off balance long enough for the werewolf king to attack.

  Yet there was one thing different about Kevin’s attacks on the vampires compared to the way they had been in Palisor. The vampires did not scream and pull back where he bit them here. They did not suffer as a poisonous reaction to each werewolf bite, took hold. The bites were cruel, and tore at their flesh to leave great, ragged wounds, but whatever had turned his bites into something potentially lethal for vampires was gone. Did it just work in Palisor, or was something else going on?

  There was no time to think about that. Despite all their efforts, the werewolves were losing. How long would it be until they were overwhelmed? Another minute? Two? Briony knew that however long it was, it was going to happen, however many vampires they killed. As if to emphasize the futility of it, the next vampire she swung her sword at dodged it easily, shoving Briony into a tree. Briony thudded against it with enough force to knock the breath from her body, and she saw the vampire start forward. It only got a couple of steps before Freya pushed past it, finishing off a werewolf with a sweep of her sword.

  “I have this one,” she said, and the other vampire did not argue. “Now, Princess, I did not finish teaching you your lesson.”

  Briony gripped her own blade tighter and lunged forward, clashing with Freya. Briony was fast now, and strong, and for a few seconds it looked like she was going to break through the vampire’s defenses. A few weeks of training with Aunt Sophie did not equal centuries of warfare though, as Briony found out when Freya started to attack in earnest.

  The vampire’s first couple of sword strokes were easy enough to parry, but on the third, she changed the angle of the cut mid-swing, bringing her sword up to slice a line of blood across Briony’s forearm. She attacked again, and again, each time finding a way to slip around Briony’s defenses to score another shallow cut on Briony. Freya was playing with her. For some reason, the thought that the vampire might be doing that while the werewolves fought and died around her made Briony furious. She charged forward, swinging her sword high and low in a rapid series of blows. She finally succeeded in thrusting it into Freya’s thigh, and the vampire let out a roar of pain.

  She also reacted. She dropped her sword and slammed a fist into Briony’s jaw, knocking her back against the tree once more. Then she reached down and pulled Briony’s sword from her side, tossing it away even as she drove forward into Briony, her speed and size not giving Briony the time she would have needed to get away.

  Briony fought back then, hitting out with her knees and elbows, but without a real weapon, she had no way to do genuine damage to a vampire. Freya made sounds of pain at some of her blows, but they did nothing to stop her from returning with attacks of her own. Those were vicious. Briony winced as punches and kicks struck her, then cried out as Freya slammed her whole body forward, pinning Briony to the tree. Briony tried to break clear, but the vampire’s hand went up to grab her by the throat, leaving Briony gasping for air.

  Freya reached her free hand down to run a finger along one of the wounds on Briony’s arms. She licked the resulting smear of blood like it was a blob of ice cream, showing her fangs. They were not the huge, sabre-tooth fangs of Marcus, but they were still formidable.

  “I can think of one easy way to make you more docile, hugtandalfer,” Freya snarled. “You’ll be less trouble when you’ve been drained a little.”

  She opened her mouth to bite down on Briony, and for a moment, it seemed that there was nothing Briony could do to prevent it. Trapped as she was, those fangs would definitely sink home. And moving… moving would only mean that she risked killing herself if the fangs tore through her veins completely.

  At that point a furred form slammed into the vampire, knocking her sideways long enough for Briony to throw herself clear. She came up to see the vampire and the werewolf locked in combat, and knew that she had to help. There was no way that fight would last long. Remembering the sword Freya had tossed aside, Briony lunged for it, standing up with the curved thing in her hand in the chaos of the battle.

  The werewolf was losing the battle now. Freya kicked it, and Briony knew she had to act. Stepping forward, she swung the blade as hard as she could at throat height. Freya turned as Briony swung, but she did not have time to do more than look surprised as her own sword took her head from her shoulders. Her body burst into flames even before she hit the ground.

  The werewolf she had been fighting transformed into a human once more, and Briony couldn’t help staring in shock. She had been expecting Brian or Josh, maybe one of the other male werewolves in the pack, not…

  “Carol?”

  “We’re even now,” Carol said, her eyes narrowing. She jabbed a finger at Briony. “You saved me when the vampires took me, and I’ve saved you, so we’re even. I don’t owe you anything anymore.”

  Briony nodded. She didn’t have time for Carol’s problems. Not when they were losing a fight against vampires like this.

  “Find Josh,” Briony ordered. “Tell him that we need to retreat.”

  “Tell him yourself,” Carol snapped.

  “Carol, the ambush is gone, and we can’t fight these vampires head on. We need to retreat.” Briony gestured to the fighting going on around them. The werewolves were losing. Anyone could see that.

  “Oh, all right,” Carol said, and disappeared into the fray in her wolf form again. After a moment or two, a howl went up. Wolves began to peel away from the fighting. For a second or two, Briony actually thought that she might end up abandoned, and Kevin seemed to think so too. He was over on the other side of the fight, struggling to get to her and failing. Fallon wasn’t nearby either. If Briony wasn’t careful, she would end up in the hands of the vampires, despite the efforts of the werewolves. She wondered if Carol knew that.

  Then there was a furred body beside her. A vampire rushed forward, thrusting a sword into it, but Briony slashed at it with her own blade as she leapt onto the creature’s back. Ignoring the obvious damage, the werewolf started to run.

  Chapter 8

  Briony clung to the werewolf beneath her as it ran. It wasn’t Kevin, Jake, Josh or Carol. Briony had seen their wolf forms not long before, and she knew what they looked like. This was a different wolf, but Briony didn’t care right then. She was just grateful for its assistance in getting away from the fight at the gate.

  Though they weren’t quite clear yet. A vampire reared up ahead of them, hefting an axe as if it meant to throw it at Briony. Clinging to the wolf as she was, there was no way that she could dodge without throwing herself from the creature’s back, and even with the changes that had come to her as a hugtandalf, that sounded incredibly dangerous. Already, they were traveling far too fast for Briony to come away from it unharmed.

  The wolf seemed to sense that, because at the moment when the vampire threw the axe, sending it tumbling end over end towards them, the creature leapt. It leapt straight at the vampire, not even trying to change course. The leap took them up, carrying Briony out of the path of the approaching axe, but the wolf was not so lucky. In fact, its leap put it right in the way of the approaching weapon.

  It’s using itself as a shield, Briony realized, the instant before the whirling axe struck the wolf. Briony felt the impact ev
en on the other side of the werewolf’s body, and she had to cling on tightly as the creature crashed into the vampire attacking it. The three of them went down in a tangle of limbs, but Briony recovered quicker than either of the others. She brought her sword up and then down, skewering the vampire through the heart as it clawed at its werewolf assailant. The creature let out a brief bellow of rage and pain before dying.

  The werewolf staggered back to its feet. The sword wound in its back still had not closed, and now there was an axe embedded in its front. Briony did not know if she should remove it or not. Wasn’t there a danger of the creature bleeding to death? Except that if she didn’t, then there was no chance of the werewolf’s own healing abilities being able to repair the damage.

  Knowing what she had to do, and knowing that with the vampires pursuing there was little time, Briony gripped the handle of the axe. She hauled on it with all her strength, and the wolf gave a yelp of pain as the weapon came free. Briony tossed it away, and when she turned back towards the werewolf, the creature had transformed into its human form.

  It was Brian.

  Josh’s brother sat there with his back against a tree, clutching the wound that dominated his chest. His face was a mask of pain.

  “I saved you,” he said.

  “I know,” Briony replied softly. “Thank you, Brian.”

  The werewolf’s eyes closed and Briony put a hand to his throat, searching for a pulse. There was one, but it was weak and irregular. Brian was not dead yet, but without help, he soon would be. Worse, they were still both far too close to the battle. At this rate, they risked being left behind by the other werewolves as they escaped, leaving them alone with the vampires.

  No sooner had Briony thought it then more vampires came into view. They advanced slowly, as though certain that their prey would not be able to get away. “What have we here?” one asked, moving out to stop Briony from running off into the woods.

  “I think it might be lunch,” another said.

  “Oh, I know it’s that,” the first one shot back. “The question is what are we going to do with it then.”

  “You heard Freya. Marcus wants it.”

  “So he does.” The vampire started for Briony and Briony stood, determined to fight back. She had the strength to fight vampires now, after all, even when she was outnumbered.

  It turned out that she did not need to though. Werewolves leapt at the vampires, and Kevin’s wolf form stopped in front of Briony.

  “We can’t leave Brian,” she insisted, but Kevin shoved against her until Briony had to either get on his back or be knocked over. It was only then that she saw Carol throwing Brian onto Josh’s back in turn. The werewolf girl glared at Briony in the second before Kevin started to run.

  Kevin ran with all the speed that his powerful form allowed, but he did not run in a straight line. That more than anything told Briony how much of a threat the vampires were. Kevin wove and doubled back through the woods, clearly making it as difficult as possible for the vampires to track him. The werewolves were genuinely frightened of the possibility that Marcus’ vampires might come after them.

  Because of the detours and switch backs, Kevin ran for longer than Briony had been expecting before they finally made it to the clear lawn and white-front façade of the werewolves’ forest home. There, Briony slid down gratefully from his back, letting Kevin transform back into his human shape. While he did so, Fallon came running from the werewolves’ house. It said a lot about the seriousness of the situation that he was willing to risk being there. Fallon hugged Briony without hesitation, though it made Briony a little uncomfortable to do it so soon after Kevin had brought her out of the battle.

  No, not Kevin, Brian. Brian had been the one to risk his life for her, and now Briony didn’t even know if Josh’s brother was still alive. Had he survived the journey back to the house? There didn’t seem to be any sign of him at the moment, so were Carol and the werewolf king still struggling to drag Brian back here? Where was everyone?

  Briony got an answer to that as, one by one, werewolves started to arrive at their home. Jake was one of the first to arrive, and Briony felt almost selfishly glad that her little brother was safe. He hugged her briefly before heading off to the back of the house to find something to eat. The tension with which Jake held her, clearly on edge, made it obvious how much the fight had taken out of him. He needed to eat to keep the joint hungers of his werewolf and vampire sides under control.

  Briony sat down on the porch to wait. Fallon drifted off somewhere into the edge of the woods, close enough that Briony knew he was there, but far enough away that it would not cause conflict with the returning wolves. Kevin briefly went inside, obviously as hungry as Jake was. Other werewolves filtered back one by one. There were pitifully few of them. It occurred to Briony then that every time she got involved with the werewolves, they ended up dying. It had been the same going up against Pietre’s vampires.

  “What are you thinking?” Kevin asked, coming to sit beside her.

  “I’m just thinking that maybe if I hadn’t shown up in Wicked, there might be a lot more werewolves here now.”

  Kevin shook his head. “You can’t really believe that.”

  “Can’t I?” Briony asked. “I was the one who asked the werewolves to help stand up to Pietre. I was the one who convinced them to help us get to the gate. I always come out of these things fine. It’s Josh’s people who always seem to suffer.”

  Kevin wrapped an arm around her. It was warm and comforting to simply sit there like that with him. “I think you’ve suffered plenty, Briony. Between your parents, what has happened to Jake, all the times you’ve almost been killed, and now King Waltham dying, you’ve suffered as much as anyone.”

  Briony shook her head. “Somehow, I don’t think Josh and Carol are going to see things that way if they lose another brother fighting the vampires.”

  Kevin shook his head. “Whatever they say, I’ll be here. And they would have been fighting the vampires whether you showed up in Wicked or not. The difference is that without you here, without you getting through to Palisor and everything else you’ve done, they wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

  “I’m not so sure that things are exactly easy for them now,” Briony pointed out. “Those vampires of Marcus’… I don’t know if the werewolves are going to be able to do anything to stop them. With Pietre’s at least there was some kind of balance of power between the wolves and the vampires. Even when we were in Palisor, your bite was able to kill them, but now…”

  “But now you aren’t sure if we can find a way to stop them,” Kevin finished for her. “We will, Briony. I’m sure of it. Remember, we don’t have to face them head on. We just need to find the scepter before them, and we’ll do that. You’ll do that.”

  Briony wished she had Kevin’s confidence. Right then, winning against the vampires seemed as far away as it had ever been. As for finding the scepter before Marcus, Briony was willing to bet that he wasn’t recovering from a battle but was searching as directly as he did everything else.

  Which just means we have to hurry, Briony told herself.

  She looked up at that moment to see the arrival of Josh and Carol. Briony had almost given up hope of their return. They were in human form, and they carried Brian’s bulkier frame between them with difficulty. Briony could still see the wounds on Brian’s torso, standing out as ragged red gashes against the skin. They should have closed by then, surely?

  “When our healing is overwhelmed, it can get so that nothing heals,” Kevin explained without being asked. “If Brian is like that, things are bad.”

  Briony nodded and rushed forward to help carry Brian into the house. Carol fixed her with a look that made Briony very glad she was fully occupied holding Brian up.

  “Keep away from him,” Carol snapped. “If he weren’t so infatuated with you, he wouldn’t have done something so stupid.”

  The worst part was that Carol had a point. Brian had made no secret of his
desire for Briony, and rebuffing him hadn’t seemed to change anything. If he hadn’t cared for her, he would never have put himself in such danger.

  Josh sighed. “Kevin, come here and help take Brian inside.”

  Kevin didn’t argue with the order, and Carol seemed a little happier at it. But then, it meant an opportunity to be close to Kevin. Brian wasn’t the only werewolf around there infatuated with someone. The two of them moved off, practically carrying Brian. Briony hoped that between them, they would be able to do something to help him.

  “Will he be all right?” Briony asked Josh as they carried his brother away.

  The werewolf king hesitated for a moment before replying. “I hope so. His wounds are serious though, so even if he lives, he’ll be out of the fight against the vampires for a while.”

  Briony nodded. She still didn’t feel anything romantic for Brian, but she found herself hoping that he would be safe. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not,” Josh said. “He saved you, and it’s obvious that you are important in this, Briony. Now though, I think we need to talk, don’t you?”

  Chapter 9

  They had been walking for what seemed like hours now, even though it was probably a lot less, and Maisy’s feet were starting to hurt. Only the constant threat of Marcus, just a little way behind her and Steve, kept her moving. It shouldn’t be far now to the Edge Inn, and if they were very lucky indeed, that would mean that they would be able to get help. Briony and Mrs. Edge might not be around, but Jake might be. Hopefully he would be enough, though Maisy didn’t dare think about it. Not with Marcus so close.

  “I am starting to grow impatient, human,” Marcus rumbled from behind her.

  “We should be almost there,” Maisy promised.