The soft snick of the door opening might not have normally awoken Christine. But the soft noise sounded like a hammer being slammed against concrete to her sleeping ears.

She came awake slowly and squinted around at the dark living room. Dmetri’s heavy weight squished her down into the mattress, and her leg was asleep. Damn, she knew when she’d go to move the sucker would sting like a thousand needles stabbing her. But oh well, it was worth it to sleep in his arms again.

Grunting under his weight, she scooted into a sitting position to look around the living room. She’d thought she heard the door open and close but the door was closed, the room quiet, as it had been. Sighing, she lay back down and wrapped her arm around Dmetri’s back.

She was just about to close her eyes and go back to sleep when a shadow moved. It wasn’t the shadow of trees swaying outside, but a heavy shadow with mass, like a person.

Christine had only a moment for her muscles to tighten, when the shadow came and went, and then she was staring up into a nightmarish face.

“Dmetri!”

Her shout was too little too late. The glint of metal in Claude Phelan’s hand appeared too fast for her to say something, too fast for Dmetri to come awake and stop it. Claude lifted the knife and viciously slammed the dagger down. The blade slammed deep into Dmetri’s back, sending him awake with a roar of pain that left her shaking beneath him.

His wide, frantic eyes met hers and then he exploded from the couch, engaging Claude in a melee of blows, the silver blade still resting deep in his pale back. Red blood oozed out the side of it and down his back.

Claude skirted away from Dmetri with a laugh. Then he pulled another blade out, this one longer, sharper, meaner. He slashed with the blade but Dmetri jumped back, narrowly missing having his intestines spilled.

Christine jumped up, frantically searching the room for some kind of weapon. Without really thinking about it, she grabbed the remote control for her TV and threw it with all the strength she could muster. The plastic controller slammed into Claude’s nose, producing a satisfying stream of blood from his nostril.

He turned to her, the look he gave her was filled with so much malice, so much evil, it rooted her in place. He took a step towards her and Dmetri rammed his shoulder into his gut.

They both went flying to the floor hard enough to shake the ceiling.

She couldn’t just stand there. She darted into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. She started back for the living room only to stop. Her mind wasn’t working right, too much was going on.

Fear made her act slow, lethargic like she was sick. Really, she was just terrified. She ran back to her knife drawer and grabbed another wicked butcher’s knife, one for each hand.

She ran to the living room, and her heart sunk at what she saw. Claude stood over a grimacing Dmetri as he panted, and squirmed on the floor. A deep cut split his stomach in two, leaving a frightening amount of blood pouring out.

“Get out of here!” Dmetri roared.

Christine jumped at his shout. It took her all of five seconds to register his words in her jumbled mind and dart for the back door. She reached it and yanked on the door. The stupid thing was locked! She pulled up the metal hatch then reached down to kick the bat she kept pushed against the sliding door out of the way. She yanked open the door and was met with a burst of wind.

She took one step outside, a scream tearing from her throat, when brutal hands covered her mouth and yanked her back inside. She was thrown back, air rushed by her as she flew through the air, and then all air left her lungs in a harsh wheeze as her back slammed against the kitchen wall. She heard the dry wall split and crumble to the floor around her as she slowly slid to the ground. Her head felt heavy, her brain scrambled in her skull. The knives fell uselessly from her hands.

Heavy booted feet appeared before her. Slowly, she dragged her gaze up. It didn’t matter because he grabbed her by the throat, choking the life from her. She made a choked wheezing sound and clenched his strong wrist with both of her hands. Suddenly her butt was no longer on the ground as he lifted her up against the wall until they saw eye to eye.

His lips were crossed with a nasty snarl. “He’ll pay for his weakness for you.” The fingers around her throat tightened, squeezing the tendons and muscles until she felt her throat closing, collapsing. Wide-eyed, she could only stare at him as she furiously inhaled air through her nose. In, out. In, out. Just breathe.

A loud thump came from the living room and his eyes flashed. The hand at her throat released her and she slid into a clump on the floor. She sucked in ragged gulps of air over the burning pain in her throat but it actually hurt more to try to breathe. With trembling fingers, she reached for the butcher’s knife near her leg. But he grabbed her hand and walked into the living room, dragging her body with him.

Christine’s head lolled around as she tried to find Dmetri. He was gone! Joy coursed through her veins; he’d get help. He’d be okay. The grip around her hand tightened in anger. She heard the bones pop and snap as he broke her hands. She cried out a strangled sound, uselessly trying to tug her broken hand back.

“Come out Dmetri, or I’ll kill your woman.”

Tears fell from her eyes. There were no thoughts about staying strong and not crying. She just did.

If Claude’s goal was to give Dmetri an ultimatum in exchange for her, then he only gave him two seconds. Because two seconds later, he dragged her up against him by her broken hand.

He clenched her throat with his other, rendering her completely useless. He squeezed her tender throat and more tears streamed from her eyes.

“Please don’t,” she croaked.

His wild eyes like that of a crazed beast landed on hers. She wasn’t prepared for what he did next. She couldn’t have prepared even if he’d given her warning.

The attack came quick and brutal: he closed his arms around her, and then stabbed his sharp fangs into her neck. She cried out but the sound barely made it past her bruised throat.

Draining her. That’s what he was doing. Each hard suck stole more and more of her until her vision darkened. Her temples pounded until her head felt as if a balloon floated inside it. Her body grew heavy, muscles limp and relaxing not with the happy glow of satisfaction—but impending death.

He growled against her throat, shaking his head like a dog with a chew toy. Skin from her neck split, and warm blood trailed down her bare shoulders.

Dmetri. She opened her mouth to say his name one last time, but it came too suddenly.

Her eyes went black and her body slumped to the ground without a thought or care in the world.

Dmetri squared off against the two vampires, waiting for the right opportunity. His damn back and shoulder were injured from the fucking blade sticking out of him, and his head felt as if it’d been run over by a train. He had to hurry this up, had to get back to Christine. If Claude was in there with her... Christ, he’d never felt such fear. Claude had knocked his ass out. His ego would be sore for the next thousand years of his life—if he lived—but first he had to kill the thugs who’d been busily dragging his ass into the forest.

The vampire at his back launched forward. He grabbed the handle of the knife and yanked the blade out of Dmetri’s back. As he swung the blade back in a sharp arc meant to kill, Dmetri swung his arm out against the man’s bladed hand, sending the metal flying into the grass.

The two jumped on him at once, sending his ass slamming to the ground so hard his teeth chattered. Dmetri rammed his fist into the closest vamp’s mouth and heard the satisfying sound of teeth breaking.