And then the vampire just froze, his eyes locked on my pale hair. It had mesmerized him, just like it did all vampires. He shared that trait with his brethren. I took advantage of his distracted state and slammed a punch into his head.

He withstood my hit. Damn. He wasn’t only stronger and faster than a standard vampire. He was more resilient too.

He struck back with a psychic blast. It smashed into me with the force of a train, flinging me across the dark alley. My back slammed against a building, bricks spilling down on me. I staggered to my feet, my bones creaking, my head pounding, the world spinning. I lifted my hand to the back of my head, and my fingers came back covered in my own hot blood.

The vampire was closing in on me. I swung again, but he was quicker. He caught my hand, and in a single swift movement, he snapped my wrist. Biting back the pain, I drew my knife with my other hand and stabbed the vampire in the side. He knocked me aside like I was a mosquito. And then he went after my companions. He didn’t even remove the knife I’d lodged in his side. It was like he didn’t feel it at all.

Alec fired the Hellfire again, and this time he didn’t miss. The vampire roared with pain, grabbing the gun out of Alec’s hand. He twisted it back on itself, then tossed the warped piece of metal to the ground. Alec glanced down at his mutilated gun, a look of total mortification on his face.

He drew another gun and fired. The mundane bullets tore through the vampire. One of those bullets hit the vampire square in the forehead. The shot should have killed him, but it didn’t. It didn’t even slow him down. Drake charged the vampire, tackling him. The vampire bucked, throwing him off his back.

I shot the vampire with a fireball. If he noticed, he didn’t show it. He continued to beat into my companions. Nothing hurt him. Nothing except the Hellfire bullets, I realized. Bullets that were made of dark magic. Dark magic hurt the vampire.

So I changed the tone of my fire, using my dark magic instead of the light. That the vampire noticed. He roared and spun around, charging at me. I created a whip of my own, made of dark fire. Everywhere it touched, it cut into the vampire’s skin.

But his wounds healed too fast, sealing right before my eyes. The vampire was too close. He was almost upon me. I continued to slash and burn, but he was closing in. I couldn’t hold him off much longer. I just couldn’t do damage fast enough. I snapped the whip, curling it around the vampire’s neck, pouring more dark magic into the spell. The vampire roared, swinging his arms widely. His fist slammed into me and threw me back.

I pushed myself off the ground, pulling a stake out of my leg. A wooden crate had broken apart when the vampire had thrown me onto it. I limped forward on my good leg, clutching my broken wrist. My companions weren’t faring any better. Drake was trying to pull a pole out of Alec’s torso. Ivy was trying to protect the witch.

I prepped my dark magic. Flames erupted on my unbroken hand. The vampire stalked forward, looking as good as new. There wasn’t a scratch on him.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I groaned.

The vampire was almost to me.

A growl shook the buildings, and a werewolf jumped out of the shadows. It looked ready for a fight. I was surrounded, trapped by a vampire on one side and a werewolf on the other. And it wasn’t just any werewolf. That werewolf was bigger than any I’d ever seen. It was the emperor of all werewolves. Its lips peeled back, revealing a mouth of sharp teeth.

But the werewolf didn’t attack me. It jumped over me, diving at the vampire, tackling it hard. Lightning sizzled on its fur, shocking the vampire. I cringed. The werewolf was infected too.

The vampire and werewolf were so busy fighting each other that they’d forgotten all about the rest of us. At least they weren’t friends. If they had been, my team wouldn’t have had a prayer of making it out of here alive.

The werewolf knocked the vampire aside, then it went for me. It froze, its eyes locked on my hair, mesmerized. Ok, that was weird. So far, only vampires had ever been mesmerized by my hair.

Speaking of vampires…

The vampire jumped up and attacked the dazzled werewolf. They rolled across the ground, ramming into a building. Bricks fell down and glass shattered.

I rushed over to Alec and Drake and, with my good hand, grabbed the pole jammed through Alec’s torso. I met his eyes. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

“You lying—”

I pulled out the pole. A roar erupted from his mouth. I quickly poured a healing solution over the wound. It sizzled and steam rose from it.

Alec roared even louder. “That felt like acid! What the hell is the matter with you, woman?!”

“That’s Lieutenant Woman to you, and you’re welcome. I just healed the gaping hole in your stomach.”

“You call that helping?” he growled. “I’d rather bleed to death.”

“Not in my truck, you don’t.” I helped him to his feet, then limped toward the truck. “Drake, help him in. Then get the car started.”

Drake was staring at Ivy, who was kneeling beside the witch, trying to keep her alive. The vampire and werewolf were fighting around them. The monsters had already nearly barreled them over twice.

I snapped my fingers in front of Drake’s eyes. “Snap out of it, Drake. You get Alec inside and start the truck. I’ll get Ivy and the witch.”

Drake nodded, his face half-apologetic, half-defiant. I zigzagged around the fighting vampire and werewolf, ignoring the throbbing pain in my leg.

“Grab the witch,” I told Ivy. “We’re getting out of here.”

While the two supernaturals were busy trying to kill each other, Ivy lifted the victim into her arms, and we ran back to the truck. Ivy carried the witch. I ran in front, keeping the path clear, which meant knocking the vampire or werewolf out of the way whenever either one got too close. They were so intent on killing each other, they didn’t even seem to notice.

We made it to the truck, and I slammed the door shut, shouting to Drake, “Drive! Now!”

As the truck sped off, tires screeching, I only hoped the vampire and werewolf kept fighting each other long enough for us to get away. As soon as one of them won the battle, the winner would come for my team. And I wasn’t sure our truck could outrun them.

16 Magic Evolution

The witch’s name was Charlotte. She told Ivy and Nerissa that as they wiped the blood off her body and assured her that she was going to be all right.

Harker stormed into Nerissa’s office. “Are you or are you not soldiers of the Legion of Angels, the gods’ army and upholder of the gods’ justice?” he demanded. He looked angry enough to demolish a few city blocks himself.

I stepped between him and my team. “We are.”

He spoke in a soft, harsh hiss. “Then why, in the name of everything that is holy, did you run from a werewolf and a vampire?”

“They weren’t just any vampire or werewolf,” I said patiently. “They were different.”

Behind me, Charlotte wept softly, as though she were reliving her nightmare in the alley.

“Different,” Harker said flatly, clearly unimpressed.

“Yes, different,” I told him. “They were mutated somehow. Like the water elemental this morning, their own powers were heightened. And they possessed the powers of many more supernaturals. They were like no vampire or werewolf I’ve ever seen before. Nothing hurt them. Nothing. Not even when Alec shot them in the head.”

“Decapitation?” he asked.

“I tried to decapitate the vampire, and it didn’t work. His neck was stronger than my weapon. Even when I poured magic across the blade, I couldn’t get it through fast enough. Just a few hours ago, Claudia killed the water elemental with decapitation. That is no longer a viable solution. This condition, or whatever it is, has evolved.”