I sat curled up on the couch in St. Ailbe’s library into the wee hours. Muraco had gone on a hunt. Apparently he didn’t like sticking close to one place. He’d become a bit of a loner in the past century, as Mr. Dawson had put it.
Century. I laughed as I picked up the next book. Sometimes I wonder how much weirder life can get, and then it just gets weirder.
I’d taken to studying all the books on witchcraft that St. Ailbe’s had on hand. Luciana had kept us all ignorant of some things. She didn’t want us gaining too much power and fighting her. Now that I intended to fight her, I had to make up for lost time. Reading kept me busy and awake when all I wanted to do was sleep. Plus, the library had a fancy coffee machine. Caffeine was essential to my don’t-fall-asleep plan.
I stood up, stretching my tired muscles. Everyone else had gone to bed hours ago, but that was to be expected. I checked my watch. Three a.m. Only a few more hours until daylight. For some reason, it was easier to stay awake when it was light out.
I walked over to the shelves and scanned for anything that seemed interesting. My vision was getting blurry from lack of sleep, and I was starting to feel more than a little loopy. After so many hours awake, it was almost like I was living in a dream. I jumped up and down, trying to gain some energy. Maybe another cup of coffee would help, too.
I headed toward the machine, grabbed a fresh mug, and started pouring the thick brew.
A siren went off and I jumped, spilling some coffee on my hand.
I froze. For a second, I thought I’d fallen asleep, but the burn on my hand meant that I was awake.
Fire?
No. I didn’t smell any smoke.
Then panic gripped my chest. Luciana?
Samhain.
Oh, no. Not yet. It was too soon. We weren’t nearly ready.
I dashed to the door. The halls of the academic building were quiet, but the siren kept going. As soon as I stepped outside, the stench hit me.
Vampires.
It was an attack.
And all my potion vials were in my room where they did me absolutely no good.
So stupid.
The alarm shut off, leaving only the snarls and shrieks and chaos of the fight.
Wolves fought together, pressing back a swarm of vampires. Thirty or forty of them swarmed across the campus, attacking from every direction I could see, and their rotting meat stench made me clap a hand to my nose.
The wolves were winning. Killing them off one by one. Without any of my potions, I wasn’t much help against them, so I stayed back. I drew a few knots in the air. Spells of protection and stealth and agility. I pushed the magic out to cover the wolves as I watched, waiting for an opportunity to jump in where I wouldn’t be in the way.
Time seemed to slow as three figures dressed in white stepped off the path that led to the parking lot.
No way. They wouldn’t do this. Not on my watch.
I sprang into action. From this distance, I couldn’t see who they were, but it didn’t matter. I ran across the quad, drawing a knot of protection on my chest. A vampire moved toward me, then stopped as the protection hit home. I dodged the fighting wolves. I couldn’t fight the way they could. My getting involved that way wouldn’t do anyone any good. But the coven members that were starting toward the wolves—
Them, I could stop. I wouldn’t let them any closer to the wolves. Not while I had breath left to spell them with.
“Claudia,” Teresa’s voice rang out, but I didn’t stop. “Wait.”
Something grabbed my shirt, pulling me up short. I spun around. “What?”
“You don’t want to see this.”
I turned back around as I heard Raphael cry out. “Daniel!”
My blood ran cold. No. She wouldn’t do that. She couldn’t…
Raphael and the others ran outside, racing across to the figures in white.
“No. It’s not possible.” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Daniel was there. He was one of the people in white.
But he was dead.
Oh God. The only way to make the dead to walk again was to possess them with some nasty demons. Daniel was a monster now, but my brother hadn’t realized that yet.
I couldn’t stop it. I was too far away.
Raphael reached Daniel, and froze. Daniel’s shoulders were hunched over, making him seem smaller than usual. His usual spiked up hair was limp. He leaned toward Raphael and I knew something bad was about to happen unless I found a way to stop it.
I grabbed Teresa’s hand and pushed what little energy I had left into her, amplifying her werewolf abilities. “Run. Fast. Don’t let him kill my brother.”
In a flash, her aura brightened until it was like staring at the sun. Her form shimmered—clothes falling to the ground—as she changed to wolf while running across the grass. My eyes couldn’t keep up with her. One second she was in front of me, and the next she was gone. She jumped on Daniel, knocking him from Raphael, but it was too late. Raphael screamed, and I could almost feel Daniel’s teeth as they ripped into my brother’s arm.