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.

able to replicate again, I manage to wrench my arm free of the vampire's grasp. Moving with the momentum, I throw myself into an awkward roll. My shoulder hits the ground hard, but I manage to scrabble back to my feet, now behind the

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

drive my

to the blade. Grimoire's command

I 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

agony, wrenching himself away, even as my weapon tears through his flesh and bones, leaving me staggering as

unfolds 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

I can even think to run, the creature

voice cuts through my panic. I obey without thinking, feeling claws whistle

my hand against its face, feeling its fangs

reels back with another

infuse it with ice. Strike at

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

Maybe he's taken control of my body. It doesn't really feel like me, and yet it's my body that's moving, with a

blade leaves a trail of frost in its wake, slowing the monster's

Now for his head.

moves with a will of its own, the blade singing through the air before Grimoire's words fully register. The strange vampire thing's head separates from its shoulders with a sickening squelch, its body still struggling against

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

flesh-burned smoke fills my nostrils, making me want to gag. But as I

battlefield has frozen

floor. And