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

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

With both hands, I drive my blade into his back,

the blade. Grimoire's command rings clear in the

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

leaving me staggering as he frees himself. The wolves in front of him dart back,

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

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

feeling claws whistle

The vampire-thing lunges for me and I slam my hand against its face, feeling

reels back

hand, infuse it with

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

time, filled 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

leaves a trail of frost in

Now for his head.

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

the creature topples, its form twisting and warping until it settles into a more recognizable shape—just another

making me want to gag. But as I glance

The chaotic battlefield has frozen

floor. And yet