Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)

Everything went black.

I woke up when my face hit the ground. Dirt and leaves pushed into my mouth. I dug a clawed hand into the ground beneath me, finding it hard and cold but vibrating with strong earth energy. Beneath that was the hum of the evil that lived here. It taunted me, but its mocking call was drowned out by my own sense of self preservation.

Suddenly alert and ready to fight, I sat up to find that I was in the parking lot. The night had thinned with the coming dawn. I could feel it in my blood. Sunrise was close, a minute away at best.

Briggs stood in the doorway to the building, watching me with a grim expression. He shook his head and shrugged, as if I’d brought this on myself by refusing to be his weapon.

“It’s not too late to change your mind,” he said. “We can still work something out.”

Forced to choose between the FPA and the sun, I was tempted to take my chances with the sun. There wasn’t much time for me to argue with the puffed up Fed.

“You know Arys will kill you, right?” I got to my feet, holding tight to the earth’s energy. It was grounding, calming.

“Presuming he survives your final death. It’s possible.” Briggs nodded, having already made peace with the domino effect my death would cause.

The old haunted hospital was in a residential area. There were houses nearby. Even as fast as I could move, I knew there was no way I’d reach one in time and get safely inside. Briggs had timed this perfectly.

“So anyone who refuses to join you dies. Is that it?” Could that be why my sister held so tight to the belief that she was doing what was right. Because the alternative was death?

“Sacrificing one for the good of many isn’t a new concept. You’ve been given several chances to cooperate.” He was stiff, unfeeling. Like a monster that he himself had made.

“You know, Briggs, you’re just as inhuman as the rest of us. The difference is, you don’t have an excuse for your behavior.” My skin began to grow warm as the eastern sky blazed with pink and orange rays. My eyes began to burn, and panic gripped me.

Knowing it might be the last thing I ever did, I flung a shot of power at Briggs, seeking out his fragile human heart. He collapsed and clutched his chest. But he wasn’t stupid enough to be alone. The agents watching his back surged forward to drag him away before slamming the door.

It was desperate and made me feel foolish, but I tried the door anyway. It was locked, most likely heavily barred. There was another way into the building. I’d gotten in before. Twice.

I ran for the opposite end of the building but knew that I’d never make it in time. As fast as I was, I couldn’t outrun the sun. It broke over the horizon, and I began to burn.

I fell on my hands and knees, crying and praying, begging anyone who would listen. I couldn’t die this way. The evil entity within the building lurked close, taunting me. It had tasted my death once. Now it would have me again.

‘Arys, I’m sorry,’ I shouted inside my mind, shattering the door between us with my frantic cry. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’

I couldn’t form any other thought. Tears streamed down my face as I waited to burst into flames. The pain never started off small like a sunburn. It was immediate, scorching pain until I was consumed with the raw, burning sensation of fire licking my skin.

Arys was there inside my head, a helpless passenger as the sun roasted me. His panic echoed my own. I hoped it would be fast because it sure as hell wouldn’t be painless.

Instinct took over where rational thought ended. From within me came the guttural snarl of the wolf as it exploded forth. My hands became paws, my face a muzzle, and suddenly I was wolf.

And the sun no longer burned.

Chapter Twenty-Two

With my amulet still hanging safely around my furry neck, I shook off the tattered remains of my clothing and paused to glance around. Then I ran like hell before Briggs could see that I was alive and have someone sniper me from the roof.

With no destination in mind other than away, I ran for the closest hole in the fence and slipped through. Then I darted down the street. It was early, hopefully early enough that nobody would see an ash-blonde wolf running through the city.

‘Did that seriously just fucking happen?’ Arys’s voice was in my head, his presence strong.

A jolt of elation struck me. I’d shifted for the first time since I became a vampire without incident. My wolf had saved me from the sun. I didn’t know how it was possible, but I was overflowing with gratitude for such a blessing.

I shot past the little blue car before I realized it was Shaz’s Cobalt. He jumped out and shouted my name, bringing me to a halt. Had he been out here all night while I was inside? The amazingness that was Shaz would never cease to awe me.