Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 339 Ava: Defend the Pack

Aurum's golden figure streaks through the wolves defending us, in an unerring line straight for the closest vampire.

Seconds later, there's a blood-curdling roar.

Stop standing around staring, Grimoire says, unaffected by the fear crawling through my skin. They need your help.

Tearing my eyes from Aurum/Lucas, I dash forward, my magic-crafted blade cool against my sweaty palm.

"What's next?" I ask, squeezing through a mass of fur and hot bodies. The noise is too loud to hear my own voice, but Grimoire picks up my words straight from my head.

Get closer. You'll hurt an innocent if you try to do anything here. You don't have the control yet.

Ducking under a wildly swinging arm, I come face to face with a stranger. Pale skin. Lips glistening red, cracking at the corners, where you can see pale flesh peeking out beneath the blood.

Fangs. Long fangs, far longer than I ever thought a vampire could have, and red eyes that lock onto mine with unerring accuracy.

Don't go straight for the head, Grimoire warns as I do just that.

My blade whistles through the air. It's a clumsy strike, born of fear and adrenaline rather than skill, and I'm too far in to abort.

A vice-like grip closes around my forearm. The vampire's strength is inhuman, and I'm yanked forward, losing my balance.

even if it's a little sluggish and unrefined. With a twist of my body I'd never be able to replicate again, I manage to wrench my arm free of the vampire's grasp. Moving with the momentum, I throw myself

various directions. Everyone's grabbing, snapping, clawing

don't hesitate. With both hands, I drive my

the blade. Grimoire's command rings clear in

inside me, channeling heat through my arms and into the blade. The effect is instantaneous. The vampire's body stiffens, then begins to glow from within. He tears away from me with an unholy shriek

in agony, wrenching himself away, even as my weapon tears through his flesh and bones, leaving me staggering as he frees himself. The wolves

as if the very fabric of reality is tearing apart around him. To my horror, I watch as the vampire's body begins to grow,

I can even think to run, the creature turns lunges at me with impossible

I obey without thinking, feeling claws whistle past my

moves as if possessed, following Grimoire's instructions to the letter. The vampire-thing lunges for me and I slam my hand against its face, feeling its fangs cut at my palm. A spurt of

back with another

hand, infuse it with ice. Strike

hand, willing it to frost over. There's no thinking left in my magic. It just does what I want, as if

Grimoire's presence inside my head. Maybe he's taken control of my body. It

sidestep its attack and slash across its torso. The blade leaves a trail of frost in its wake, slowing

Now for his head.

fully register. The strange vampire thing's head separates from its shoulders with a sickening squelch, its body still struggling against the

its form twisting and warping until it settles into a more recognizable shape—just another vampire, no longer the monstrous entity it had

nostrils, making me want to gag. But

The chaotic battlefield has frozen in

bodies litter the floor. And yet no vampires remain