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.

replicate again, I manage to wrench my arm free of the vampire's

too slow, dragged in various directions. Everyone's grabbing, snapping, clawing at him, even as he fights back. He has too many

hands, I drive my blade into

blade. Grimoire's command

reach for that well of power 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 that freezes the blood

agony, wrenching himself away, even as my weapon tears through his flesh and bones, leaving me staggering as he frees himself. The wolves in front of him dart back, likely afraid of the flames

before my eyes. Strange, inky clouds materialize around the vampire's form. They writhe and pulse, shot through with flashes of crimson lightning. It's as if the very fabric of reality is tearing apart around him. To my horror, I watch as the vampire's

to run, the creature turns lunges at

without thinking, feeling claws whistle past my ear. Get your hand on

body 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 flame erupts from my skin,

back with

hand, infuse it with ice.

magic. It just does what I want, as if the magic itself can

with an otherworldly calm. Maybe it's Grimoire's presence inside my head. Maybe he's taken control of my body. It doesn't really feel like me, and yet it's my body that's

a trail of frost in its wake, slowing

Now for his head.

a will of its own, the blade singing through the air before Grimoire's words fully register. The strange vampire thing's

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

nostrils, making me want to gag. But as I glance around, confusion replaces

chaotic battlefield has frozen in an

bodies litter the floor. And yet