He winged his way over the lawn filled with creatures that should have been gophers but had morphed into something altogether different. The mutations flung their bodies at the hunters, swarming up legs, hurtling themselves onto arms and backs. Biting ferociously. Their giant teeth tore large chunks of flesh out of the Carpathians while the birds circled and came back for a second assault. The timing was perfect, the mutated creatures keeping the Carpathians occupied with their terrible teeth while the birds regrouped and circled, darting in to try to tear the little ones from Danny’s hands. He had dropped to the ground, covering both little girls with his body. Genevieve covered him, adding a second layer of protection.

The mutated gophers bore through the ground to get at the children, forcing Danny and Genevieve to stand, each protecting a child, vulnerable now to the attack from the birds. Tariq and Gary laid double protection over all the humans, so that the birds battered at an invisible barrier and the mutated creatures threw themselves over and over at the shield.

Tariq used a torch, throwing flame across the lawn, incinerating as many of the gophers as possible. Most ducked into the holes and came up behind him. Gary caught them with his flamethrower. The ones he didn’t get went back into the holes, regrouping as the birds made a third attack.

Dragomir saw the ground moving, a solid green-brown carpet and realized it was the frogs. They hopped to the girls, covering them, weighing them down, taking them to the water’s edge. Amelia screamed and beat at them.

“Take my hand. Get my hand.” She reached frantically for her sister. Their fingertips touched, but Liv was pulled away from her.

The sheer numbers of frogs carried the smaller girl into the lake. Amelia threw herself into the lake, diving, coming up, looking around hysterically and diving again. Dragomir dove straight down into the water from above, right over the spot Liv had disappeared. He could see the girl being dragged, her little body thrashing as thousands of frogs of all shapes forced her body toward the floor of the lake.

Amelia dove under again and this time they met beneath the water, staring eye to eye. The frantic, desperate look slowly faded, replaced by silver eyes. Glowing silver eyes. Eyes filled with hatred and triumph. Amelia swam straight at him so fast her body was a blur in the water.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Valentin swimming at an angle to reach for Liv. The frogs used sticky hands, feet and tongues to hold Liv to the lake floor. As Valentin approached, large bullfrogs leapt on his back, impervious to his spells and waving hands. He kept swimming toward Liv. Fish surrounded Valentin, cutting him off from her. They darted in, huge mutations, teeth grabbing and pulling, in a feeding frenzy.

Dragomir timed Amelia’s attack, spinning to one side and clipping her hard as she rocketed past him. Vadim had shown his hand. He had to know Dragomir would recognize the girl was possessed. They’d stared at each other. He’d revealed himself to Dragomir. He planned to sacrifice Amelia to make his try at the children. That worried Dragomir. If Vadim was willing to lose his spy, he was planning something much bigger.

To his shock, he felt Emeline moving through his mind, searching for the way to undo his command to safeguard the house.

Stop. I cannot concentrate when I worry about you. The girl will die. He was trying to save the teen, mostly because Emeline cared for her but also because she belonged to Tariq. That and he wouldn’t allow the vampire to harm one more child if he could stop it.

He half expected Emeline to fight him, but she didn’t. He felt her there in his mind, watching, but she remained silent.

A large mutated fish hit him from behind just as Amelia’s body jerked to a halt and then was spun around. She came flying at him, this time with her body contorted, her face a mask of twisted hatred. He stared into Vadim’s eyes. They were silver rimmed with a red glow. The teen slashed at him with a knife she must have had hidden in her clothing. The blade slipped under his arm, the tip dragging a slice down his ribs as he wrapped her up, one hand catching her wrist to force her to drop the knife.

Her hand opened, and as the knife fell toward the lake floor, a fish caught it in its mouth and rocketed toward Dragomir, blade facing him. He had his hands full trying to subdue the teenager, their bodies turning one way and then the other. It was Emeline who hissed a warning.

At the last second, with her warning burning in his mind, Dragomir thrust the teen from him and turned to face the fish. The blade bit into him as he batted it aside with his forearm. Instantly he knew the edge had been treated with a concoction of Vadim’s.

Get out now, Emeline. I may have to kill her. Do you want to see that? Do you want me to live with the knowledge that you witnessed, even shared in a kill? She had to leave. To be safe. It wasn’t safe in his body with poison spreading. He spun to face Amelia, his heart heavy. He knew Vadim intended to kill her. If he thought Emeline was watching, he would do it in a sick, twisted way that hurt the teen as much as possible. Sívamet, you have to go. Please. The burn down his ribs increased until it was almost impossible to block the pain, but the one along his forearm was like a wrenching, excruciating hole that seemed to be spreading. He didn’t bother to look; it wouldn’t matter what he saw. He had to prevent Vadim from abandoning Amelia in the lake. To do that, all the vampire had to do was kill the teenager.

Dragomir could see Amelia had come to the realization that the vampire was in her, forcing her to do things to the people she loved. There was desperation behind the eyes Vadim had taken over. She tried to fight for supremacy, looking toward Liv, her little sister. Twice she turned toward the drowning child to try to get to her, and both times, Vadim forced her back to face Dragomir.

Liv and Amelia are the targets. He’s striking at the children, he told the hunters, even as he swam straight for the teenager. If he kills Amelia, his sliver will be impossible to find. He’ll attach to a fish, or a frog, and it will make its way back to him. How did he get in? Amelia didn’t let him in. She couldn’t, not with the safeguards we wove around her.

Ancients were everywhere, swimming to save Liv, sweeping the frogs and fish from Valentin, circling Amelia so she had no way to escape. Dragomir saw it in her eyes, that moment of realization that Vadim was going to kill her. That he would drown her before he would allow her out of the lake.

Save yourself, Dragomir. I want Amelia alive, I do, but I can feel the poison spreading through you. Get out now. Let the others save her. Get out of there.

His heart clenched hard in his chest. He knew what it cost Emeline to say that to him. She loved the children. She’d sacrificed her life for them, endured torture and continued to safeguard them. With all that, she’d chosen him, taking the chance that one of the other hunters might not reach Amelia if he abandoned his task.

There is no choice, Hän sívamak. I cannot allow this child to die. Please, wait for me and know that I put you above all others always. It wasn’t enough if it was a final good-bye, but he had to let her know how much she meant to him, how much her choice meant to him.

Amelia hurtled herself through the water, determined to gouge out his eyes. Dragomir caught her around the waist and kicked hard at the fish and frogs leaping onto his back to tear at his flesh. The water around him turned red. The mutations were after Amelia now, in earnest, trying to keep her from Dragomir. She fought the hunter, tearing at him with her fingernails, punching and kicking, frantic to get away. Then she went quiet, opened her mouth and gulped lake water. At the same time, she inhaled.

He gripped her hard around the waist and shot out of the lake up into the sky. He turned her upside down so the water was forced to drain out of her as he took her to the dock. The birds screamed when they saw him and circled around to begin the attack on him. He threw up a shield and started pumping her lungs and stomach to rid her of the water.

The moment it began to trickle out of her mouth, he turned her on her side. All the while, his hand was over her pulse, making certain she stayed alive and Vadim couldn’t escape. The birds went insane, screeching as they dive-bombed. Each vicious creature the master vampire created and manipulated turned its assault on Dragomir.

Dragomir knew they were too close to the lake. Too many of Vadim’s creatures surrounded him. If the vampire was successful in killing Amelia, his sliver could escape her body and had a very good chance of returning to him.