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.

brain can catch up. Instinct 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

directions. Everyone's grabbing, snapping, clawing at him, even as he

drive my blade into

to the blade. Grimoire's

heat through my arms and into the blade. The effect is instantaneous. The vampire's body stiffens, then begins to

even as my weapon tears through his flesh and bones, leaving me staggering as he frees himself. The wolves in front of him dart

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 body

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

obey without thinking, feeling claws whistle past

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, greedily reaching toward the strange

reels back with another

your left hand, infuse it with ice. Strike at its

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

head. Maybe he's taken

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

Now for his head.

fully register. The strange vampire thing's head separates from its shoulders

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

breath 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

standing still. The chaotic battlefield

many bodies litter the floor. And yet no vampires