She snatched the skull from the ground where it had fallen and stuffed it back on her head. “I volunteered. This was a great honor.”
I pressed my lips together in frustration. What was it with people and noble sacrifices?
I suddenly became aware that I was surrounded by people with burning torches—people who appeared unhappy to see me.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said.
The young woman’s face hardened. “And I was thinking how I’d very much like to hurt you right now.”
The man in the golden cloak stepped closer to me. His eyes glinted with buried rage. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
It only took a moment to connect with my magic. I felt the familiar sensation of fitting a key into a lock and twisting until I felt that satisfying click. I let it rise to the surface but held it at bay, waiting to see whether it was necessary.
The man studied my face. “She has power,” he announced, keeping his gaze on me. “Perhaps this is fortuitous.” He removed the skull from the young woman’s head and placed it on mine.
Callan chose this moment to make his presence known. “Leave her be!” The vampire pushed his way through the crowd with his fangs on display. The sight of them sent a shiver spiraling through me.
“Callan, don’t.” The last thing I wanted was for him to launch himself into a violent frenzy.
The people raised their torches as though preparing to strike the vampire. I jumped in front of him and spread my arms wide.
“Trust me,” I warned. “You don’t want to do that. He’s more powerful than he looks.”
Callan looked at me with a pinched expression. “Hey!”
“We do not acknowledge vampire rule,” the cloaked man said. Murmurs of assent followed his declaration.
Callan retracted his fangs. “I’m not here to rule you.”
“You stole from the village of Mirth,” I said. I waved a hand toward the livestock and carriage. “You’ve taken food they desperately need.”
“For a greater purpose,” the cloaked man said.
I removed the skull from my head. “And what purpose is that?”
“Ushas,” the young woman replied. “We’re attempting to revive her through me.”
Callan shot me a quizzical look. “You’re the walking library. Who’s Ushas?”
Memories clicked into place as I remembered a story my mother told me.
“Goddess of the dawn,” I said. Like other groups I’d encountered, the Mierce were using an ancient ritual to try to bring back the sun. This time it was through channeling the goddess of the dawn.
The vampire required no further explanation.
“I can’t let you do this,” I said. “It won’t work and you’ll have murdered one of your own for nothing.” Another life wasted.
The cloaked man snatched the skull from my hands. “You know nothing.”
“I know enough to know this isn’t the way.”
The man held the skull to his chest and withdrew from the crowd. “Kill them.”
The metal points of spears sliced through the darkness.
I tipped back my head and groaned in exasperation. “Please don’t. We’re trying so hard to play nice.”
The circle tightened around us. I reached out with my mind to see if I could enlist help. The cow and pigs were useless.
I pressed outward and brushed against a collection of minds. The ponies. Individually a pony wasn’t much of a threat. A string of ponies, however…
I latched on to their minds and summoned them toward us. A tip of metal pierced the skin of my arm as the Mierce began their attack.
I released my axe and swung.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Callan hook an arm around one of their necks and use him as a human shield.
I returned my focus to the people around me. Despite their efforts to kill me, I didn’t want to hurt them if I could avoid it. I only wanted to return what was taken from Mirth.
I used the blunt end of my axe to subdue my attackers. A few well-placed hits and they were on the ground, unconscious.
But they kept coming.
Thunder rolled toward us and the ground trembled beneath our feet.
Finally.
I squinted through the darkness as the ponies arrived on the moor.
Not ponies.
Wild stallions.
They stampeded toward us, forcing the crowd to disperse. I dodged a spear as well as the pounding hooves. A few people failed to move in time and succumbed to the herd.
I whistled to get their attention. Twelve stallions came to a halt on my command.
The Mierce gaped at me.
“What power is this?” the cloaked man demanded.
“One you can only dream of,” I said.
His hand thrust forward and grabbed me by the throat. “Your sacrifice will bring Ushas to us.”
Blood spurted on my face and the man’s arm was on the ground, still wrapped in the sleeve of the golden cloak. The man screamed and fled.
Callan stood beside me and roared at the remaining Mierce. They huddled together and backed away from us.
“You will leave the village of Mirth in peace,” he said. “And you will forget this absurd ritual.”
He turned and stalked toward the jeep. I glanced at the arm on the ground, now resting in a pool of blood.
I hurried after Callan. “How are we going to get the livestock and the carriage back to Mirth?”
“You’ve got that neat animal trick. Tell them to follow us until we reach the village. Leave the carriage. They said it was no use to them anyway.”
I released my hold on the stallions and connected with the livestock to give them instructions. Although I couldn’t have a telepathic conversation, they’d get the gist of it. The pigs were smarter than the cow, but they were both easy to manipulate.
We drove without speaking until we reached the outskirts of Mirth.
Callan was first to break the silence. “I won’t apologize for the arm.”
“I won’t ask you to.”
He arched an eyebrow but said nothing.
“I get it. You were protecting me.”
“You gave them plenty of chances to be reasonable.”
“I did.” I paused. “You didn’t feed on his blood.”
He looked at me askance. “Would you rather I did?”
“No, but I noticed that before. When we fought in the city…I would’ve expected…” I trailed off, uncertain how to proceed.
His jaw tightened. “I’m not one of your animals, London. I find it best not to make assumptions about a species you’re not a member of.”
I turned back to the darkness of the window and fell silent. The vampire prince had no idea how wrong he was.
We stayed the night at Nina Stark’s house and she was so thrilled by the return of the livestock that she insisted on packing us sandwiches for the road the next morning. I told her I was a vegetarian so she didn’t waste their much-needed food on me. I’d been thankful that Mary’s earlier stew had been only root vegetables and green beans.
Callan refueled the jeep and we drove to the nearest highway.
“Back to Exeter?” he asked.
I nodded. “We have plenty of time to make the train.”
“How are you going to track the object in Britannia City?”
I watched the passing countryside. “Connect the dots of berserkers until it forms a complete picture.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
We’d almost made it to Exeter when we encountered a roadblock.