Eva?
The silver-misted vampire flashed wispy tentacles, a heavenly storm of violence. Without preamble, a million strands seemed to wrap around the last Guard’s neck, lifting him as high as a sacrifice before he could threaten Dawn anymore.
In the face of Eva’s power, the creature opened its mouth, not in fear, but in…loving awe.
Then, with powerful thrusts in every possible direction, Eva tore the lesser vampire apart, its body scattering, meat hitting tree trunks with vulgar splats.
“Mom?” Dawn cried. “Mom!”
She’d come back. Why? Who cared—she was here and she was helping them!
The little girl in her danced around, squealing.
But when Eva twirled toward Frank, pushing him from Breisi and tossing her to the dirt outside, Dawn’s little girl died.
“What’re you doing?” she screamed, looking to see that Breisi was okay. She was, already working frantically to unbind herself again.
Eva floated, wisps of sparkling glamour mingling in her silver death-angel form. “We’re going back now,” she said in a shudder-inducing tone.
Dawn opened her mouth to ask if Breisi was coming, too, but by then it was too late.
In all the excitement, nobody had seen what Cassie was up to: they hadn’t noticed that she’d tumbled off the camper during the commotion, that she’d somehow salvaged the camera—which had probably flown off the trailer’s platform during the fight.
Then—chest wound or not—she’d crawled from beneath the camper and over to Breisi, still intent on finishing her finale and becoming a star.
Frank was the first to see what was happening. “Breisi!”
Eva’s light illuminated it all: the camera’s passive gaze while it sat where Cassie had put it on its bent stand, the knife blade flashing as Cassie darted over to Breisi and pinned the still-bound victim to her back with one arm and a leg.
All Dawn could think to do was yell to the most powerful being in their midst—her mother, the woman who’d been perfect in Dawn’s dreams.
“Mom?!” she screamed.
She was begging, and when Eva’s form shifted, just like a bed of stars colliding into each other, Dawn knew her mother realized it: she knew how much Breisi meant to both Dawn and Frank, and it disturbed her.
I just want my family, the actress had told Dawn….
Eva loomed, refusing to engage.
On a choke of disbelief, Dawn started to get up, to go to Breisi herself. Frank frantically dug in his satchel for a weapon….
But Cassie’s knife was already slicing down, aimed at Breisi’s throat. The start of the Vampire Killer ritual. After that, she’d use her fake fangs to rip into Breisi’s neck…it all had to be played out for the camera….
Stop!
At Dawn’s mind-blasting rage, the cab of the trailer burst apart, wires sparking and buzzing. At the same time, in a boom of heat and speed, Eva tardily zoomed forward at Cassie, as if to put on a show of caring.
But the Vampire Killer had already lifted a blood-edged blade toward the lens, her fangs shining like white sacrificial knives as she assumed a profane swan-song pose for the camera.
Viciously, Eva stabbed Cassie with her multitude of tendrils, lifting the killer high above, then smashing her to the ground, reducing her to paste.
Vision blurred, Dawn sprinted forward, slicing past her mom to where Breisi lay jerking, bathed in Eva’s light.
There was…
Dawn couldn’t believe there was a wound. Flailing, she pressed her hands to it, tears and shock making it impossible to say anything. In her friend’s…her surrogate’s…eyes, Dawn saw utter confusion.
Where was Jonah? Breisi seemed to be asking. Wasn’t he supposed to save me?
Frank stumbled over, frantically trying to help Dawn staunch the bleeding.
“Oh, no…no…I couldn’t get a shot off in…” He burst into sobs, touching his girlfriend’s face. “Don’t die, don’t die….”
Breisi’s eyes got duller. Jonah?
Even though it wasn’t right to blame him—how could he have been here in time?—Dawn did. She blamed him for this. And Eva…goddamn her, Eva, most of all because she hadn’t stopped it.
Even worse, Dawn hadn’t been able to stop any of it, either.
In the near distance, the wail of a siren pierced her hearing, but she didn’t know what it meant. Didn’t know what any of it meant.
The lights in Breisi’s eyes dimmed as she jerked and stared at Dawn. Affection. Sisterhood. So many chances missed.
“Don’t go,” Frank yelled, “God, don’t go! I love you, Breisi—” He turned to Eva. “Save her, Eva! You can heal her!”
The sirens got louder.
Eva’s light was waning, her voice soft. “This injury would take a long time to heal—it’s so deep I don’t know if anyone but the Master could even help with it….”
Sirens…closer…
Frank raised his face, his eyes crazed. “Try!”