The sedan careened down the forest road, barely staying on the dirt track. On his motorcycle, Asher raced ahead of us, keeping an eye to the sky.
“Anyone following?” Liam called from the driver’s seat, his damaged voice raspy.
I scanned the sky and forest, praying my vampire night vision meant I’d be able to see the shadowy forms of the rabids against the darkness. “I don’t think so.”
“What the hell just happened?” Mom demanded from the back seat, looking for all the world like she wished she had her service weapon with her—or any weapon, for that matter. Meanwhile, Dad kept glancing between the side window and the rear one, disbelief clear on his face.
I couldn’t blame them. Not that long ago, they’d probably thought vampires were the stuff of fantasy. But now I was one, my sister currently sitting sandwiched between them was half-angel, and we’d all just survived the sadistic queen Amalie returning and somehow transforming the entire staff of the vampire hospital into rabids—those deranged creatures who cared nothing for life or civilization, only their next meal. Even the kindly doctor who’d helped me after I was bitten had just tried to kill us all.
How did I even begin to give them a logical explanation for that? I’d just been trying to help my parents. Something had put them under a spell, making them think I killed Harper and then later turning them into human statues. The clinic had been our only option to help them.
And then all hell broke loose.
“Liam?” I said, hoping he’d have a better idea how to respond. The Sentinel was over eight hundred years old, after all. Surely, if anyone had an answer, it’d be him.
But he just shook his head. “That shouldn’t have been possible.”
Silence followed his words for a few moments.
“What now?” Harper asked.
I didn’t have an answer to that either. “Manor?”
Liam nodded.
“What manor?” my dad asked.
And there was another thing I didn’t know how to explain, considering it involved demons and magic and a house that could be any size or configuration it wanted.
“It’s this, um…” I chuckled, more desperation in the sound than anything, as I turned to face them from the front seat. “There’s this couple. They’re friendly”—Harper scoffed wryly, and I tried to ignore it—“and they’ll help us. They have a house that’s basically, um… well, it’s like a fortress. No one can get in. No one else even knows it’s there. They can help us stay safe.”
“No, we need to get back into town,” Mom said. “Head to the station. The police need to be warned—”
A protesting sound left Liam, and I shook my head. “Mom, the police can’t—”
“Oh, my God,” Harper gasped, staring at something past me.
