“Ceasefire!” I yelled at our assailants, willing the siren to enter my voice.
One of them laughed in my face as she loaded and released another arrow. I jumped out of the way just as the arrow zipped by. Andre jerked my hand, and we began to run once more.
“That should’ve worked.”
“Earplugs, soulmate.”
Well, there went that advantage. As we ran, Andre’s hair lifted, and from the snappy static that was coming off of him, I didn’t think the wind that was causing it.
Andre was going into berserker mode.
Crap.
He still seemed to have some of his faculties with him, however, because I could hear Oliver murmuring directions to him and see him nod in response.
A minute later, we entered the clearing I’d woken up in, and Andre slowed to a stop. He set a bloody Oliver down, and I slid Leanne off my shoulders. She stumbled over to Oliver, and I could hear her quiet sobs.
Andre took in the felled trees. His nostrils flared, and I breathed in as well, not sure what I was scenting for. Beneath the smell of my friends, there was the stench of the damned … and me.
He straightened, his expression turning malevolent.
Going … going … gone.
Andre’s inner demons consumed him, just like that night at Bishopcourt. His hair lifted and his coat flapped in an invisible breeze. He dragged his attention from me to our pursuers just as they came into our line of sight. I could hear their footfalls and their easy breathing. They hadn’t seen us yet—not surprising considering that most supernaturals didn’t have night vision—but already they had their arrows notched into their bows, ready to aim and fire the moment they caught sight of us.
Now that I got a good look at them, I could see their wide shoulders and impressive height. The metallic armor they wore glinted in the moonlight. They moved lithely, their footfalls light against the ground.
They were beautiful, deadly, and even scarier than I had imagined.
The moment they noticed us their weapons went up.
Andre lifted his arms, and flames blossomed at his feet. A wall of fire roared to life in front of the four of us, arcing across the ground until it formed a protective circle.
Under normal circumstances, turning one’s back on approaching Amazons was probably a death sentence. But having a vampire king channel his unholy power to protect you afforded me certain luxuries … like temporarily leaving him to his own devices.
I made my way to my friends, who were huddled near the remains of the rose bush. Oliver’s usually coiffed ice blond hair was now matted with blood.
I crouched next to him so that I could brush his hair out of his face. As soon as my fingers touched his face, I felt his feverish skin. “You’re burning up.” My voice quivered.
He shivered. “Doesn’t help … that your boyfriend … lit the place … on fire.”
I smiled at the fairy’s attempt at humor.
“I can … get us out … of here,” Oliver rasped. “Get … Andre.”
I pressed my lips together and stood up. My eyes met Leanne’s. She’d been zoning out—which likely meant she was foreseeing something—but as soon as our gazes met, her attention refocused.
She nodded. “He’s going to be okay.”
I blew out a breath and made my way to my possessed boyfriend.
He stood at the edge of the circle, staring down the approaching Amazons.
As soon as they caught sight of me, one let loose an arrow.
Wrong move on her part.
Andre blurred, stepping in front of me and catching the arrow before it ever had the chance to land. He studied the arrow, and he seemed calm enough, but the fire pulsed, expanding with his growing anger.
He flipped the arrow in his hand, then threw it like a missile back at the shooter. The Amazon barely leapt out of the way in time.
The remaining women had their weapons raised, but they held them in check now that they knew their opponent far outgunned them.
Andre began walking towards the fire, his hair whipping about him.
I grabbed his arm. “Andre, no.”
He turned to me, his eyes unseeing. His fangs were down, and his lips twitched, like he was holding back a hiss.
“We need to go.”
His gaze moved back to the Amazons. “They need to die,” he said, his voice resonating. The fire pulsed outward.
Well damn.
“Maybe later, Andre.” I grabbed his hand.
“Not later,” he said, staring them down. “Now.”
At least I could reason with him.
Not.
Andre jerked his chin up and the bows the Amazons carried were yanked from their grip, as if by an invisible hand. And then that invisible hand crushed them. Wood splintered and metal crunched as the weapons splintered and broke.
These Amazons may be scary-ass women, but they were also smart ones. As soon as their bows were destroyed, they hauled butt out of there. I didn’t doubt they had other weapons—I could see one’s holstered knife as she tore away from us—but I’m sure they already figured that those too would get destroyed the moment they pulled them out.
And if metal could be pulverized that easily, human flesh—no matter how strong—would be putty at the hands of a deranged vampire king.
Andre strode towards the fire that ringed us in, looking like he had every intention of following them. He stepped into the fire, and without thinking, I lunged after him.
The flames licked up my body, and I screamed as they flayed open my exposed flesh.
A moment later, I heard a roar, and then I was scooped out of the fire and laid down on the ground, the flames creeping along my clothes smothered by the press of gentle hands.
Andre stared down at me with frightened eyes, and I could tell that whatever had possessed him now fled in the wake of my injury.
“Gabrielle,” he choked out, “are you alright?”
My skin still felt like it was burning, but I nodded. “Take me to Oliver.” He frowned but picked me up and brought me to my friends.