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.

takes over, 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 into an awkward roll. My

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

With both hands, I drive my blade into his

the blade. Grimoire's

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 in my

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

and pulse, shot through with flashes of crimson lightning. It's as if the very

think to run, the creature turns lunges at me

obey without thinking, feeling claws whistle past my ear. Get your hand on him. Any part of him. Channel

against its face, feeling its fangs cut at

back with another

it with ice.

left in my magic. It

charges again, but I'm ready this 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 body that's moving, with a

leaves a trail of frost in its wake, slowing the monster's movements as the ice slowly grows,

Now for his head.

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

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

ragged and harsh. Blood and acrid, flesh-burned smoke fills my nostrils, making me want to gag. But as I glance around, confusion replaces the adrenaline coursing through my

standing still. The chaotic battlefield has frozen

floor. And yet no