A clawed hand swiped at me. I barely managed to duck.
Teeth snapped at me. Hissing and snarls filled my ears. I swung, but an elbow jabbed into my middle, and I lost what little air I’d managed to take in. I doubled over. Fingers tangled in my hair, and hello, joyride to the ground.
“Gavin.”
“Ali!” he shouted.
I kicked out, but two of the creatures managed to grab my ankles. I lashed out with my fists, but two others managed to grab my wrists. I bucked, but couldn’t free myself.
Don’t panic. Panic would prevent me from acting rationally. I could get out of this. I just had to... What?
“Ali!” another voice shouted.
Cole! Cole was here!
Cole, the light of my life.
Light. Yes.
“Light up, dang it,” I commanded my hands. I could do this. I would do this. I believed. “Now!”
As Gavin ripped a zombie off me, flames at last burst from the ends of my fingertips.
The zombies still holding me instantly turned to ash.
“Help the kid,” Gavin commanded, returning to finish off his own horde.
I looked over my shoulder—saw the creatures eating at Justin. Horrified, I scrambled over and performed an inelegant dance of touch and destroy, freeing him from grasping hands and too-sharp teeth.
Back on my feet, my arms glowing brightly, I ripped through the remaining zombies, touching this one, touching that one, destroying all. When the last one exploded into tiny pieces of ash, my knees collapsed, and I fell. On impact, the flames vanished, and my skin returned to normal.
Victory.
Face splattered with black goo, Gavin closed the distance and grinned at me. “Now that’s the kind of ability I can encourage.”
Cole misted through the car beside me and stopped short. Fear radiated from him. Violet eyes I’d missed with every fiber of my being scanned me, searching for injury. “Were you bitten?”
“No, I’m good. But Justin isn’t.”
He frowned. “Justin?”
“He took a bite meant for me.” I crawled to Justin’s side and felt for a pulse. The beat thumped so swiftly I couldn’t keep count. “He needs the antidote.”
“I’ll give him mine,” Cole said, bending down as he withdrew a syringe from his back pocket.
“Justin,” I said, patting his cheek. “We’re here. We’ll take care of you.”
His eyelids split apart. Rivers of red ran through his irises. I gasped. Surely he wasn’t... Couldn’t... Not that quickly.
His head whipped toward me—and he sank his teeth into my wrist.
He quickly released me to curl into a ball and vomit, but the damage was done. I screamed. It was like electric paddles had been strapped to my chest, jump-starting a second heart, making it beat for the first time, but never in rhythm with the other one.
Suddenly there were two Alis, and both were in pain.
One hated it. One liked it.
That one was hungry. So hungry.
Cole loomed over me, his features tortured with concern. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear him. My attention caught on the pulse at the base of his neck. Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Hypnotic.
Delicious.
Radiant light seeped through his pores. A light that didn’t hurt my gaze. A light that drew me, every part of me. I licked my lips. If I could just get past his skin, I could reach that light. I could touch it. Taste it.
Consume it.
Desperate, I grabbed him by the shoulders and tugged him down, baring my teeth. Just before I could bite into him, a fist slammed into my temple. From the corner of my eye, I saw Gavin, raising his arm to deliver another blow. Cole stopped him.
It was the last thing I saw before darkness swept over me.
Chapter 5
The King Takes the Pawn