“This ambush was a perfectly good tactical move you just shot to hell,” he growled. He glared at Kieran. “I expected better from you.”
Kieran’s eyes flashed, his rare temper sparking. “That woman you’re working with killed my father. And her accomplice tried to kill Hunter. Of the two of us, you’re the one who should be ashamed.”
“What the bloody hell are you talking about?” Grandpa frowned. “Dawn didn’t kill your father.”
“Dawn is Hope,” Kieran told him. He made sure his voice carried. “The same Hope who murdered my father, the leader of the Helios-Ra, and made it look like vampires. Sound familiar?”
“And she’s working with the Host,” I added. “Just like she worked with Lady Natasha.”
“Not true.” Grandpa looked shocked. “You have pheromone poisoning. You’re just kids. It hits you harder.”
“Grandpa, I saw the hit list,” Hunter said, disgusted. “How could you?”
He went gray under the red flush of his temper. “Hard choices, kitten.”
“Kieran was on that list,” she snapped. “Did you even look at it?”
He shook his head. “I was just a messenger,” he said, sounding old.
A Huntsman strode out of his hiding place, furious. “I don’t give a damn about your politics. All I care about is taking out that nest of monsters over there.” He leaned into Hunter aggressively. “Now shut the hell up or I will do it for you.”
Hunter’s grandpa rounded on him, shoving him hard. “Don’t you threaten her.”
And then there was no more time for talking.
There was no warning.
The clearing went from a field of snow to a battlefield. Arrows and stakes cut the night into cold, dangerous pieces. Vampires rushed out of the camp and hunters swarmed forward.
And we were caught in the middle, because we didn’t want to kill either side.
This wasn’t going to end well.
The sound boiled the air. It made me nauseated, and light-headed as it vibrated in my eardrums. The silky, sinister speed of angry vampires was like a hundred snakes slithering around me. I was in the fight before my brain caught up, my reflexes recognizing what my body needed to do.
Hunter used a hammer fist strike to knock a Huntsman off her feet as she shot past me. We both spent a good five minutes tripping and shoving hunters as they tried to join the battle. I felt like I was back on the playground. I grabbed a long branch, using it like a staff and jamming it at a Host vampire’s knees to knock him off course as well. Nicholas was back at my side, silent and serious.
It was already taking all of our combined strength to stay together. The world was a confusing mass of weapons, hisses, limbs flailing. I couldn’t even see Quinn in the melee, but I knew he had to be nearby since I could just make out the gleam of Hunter’s blond hair.
I whipped a stake at the vampire who darted at me, snarling. It wasn’t enough to dust her. She howled, plucking the wooden stake from her flesh. I’d hit the right target, but it hadn’t gone through her rib cage with enough force to pierce her heart. It snagged her shirt and she pulled it completely free before flinging it back at me. I ducked even as Nicholas slammed the stake out of its trajectory with the side of his hand. I still only narrowly avoided losing an eye.
The vampire hissed, bloodlust making her eyes red. She turned to the nearest human.
Hunter.
“Hunter, watch out!” I yelled, even as the vampire turned on her. Hunter kicked out, slamming her boot into the vampire’s stomach. It would have bought her a few seconds if Hunter hadn’t slipped on a patch of ice and crashed onto her tailbone. When the vampire laughed, Hunter staked her foot to the ground, pinning her there long enough for Jody, of all people, to stake her. I blinked at her, nonplussed. Had the whole school come down for extracurricular credit? She took off before we could thank her. Or wonder what side she was fighting for.
Quinn’s mad laugh cut off with a strangled growl. He was tossed off his feet, landing on his back and skidding in the snow beside Hunter. Judging by the bruises and bleeding cuts all over his chest and arms, he’d been trying to fight his way to her. Hunter rolled over, shooting the Host in the chest before he could lean down and snap Quinn’s neck. He crumbled to ash.
Quinn grinned at Hunter, his blue eyes burning. They kept their gazes locked as they both jumped up, weapons raised. Another vampire was on her, dagger in his hand. Quinn pushed her out of the way.
“Not her, Elijah,” Spencer added, knocking the dagger out of his hand at the same time. He caught it before it skewered her. “She’s on our side.” He helped Hunter up. “I thought I said don’t die.”
“This friendly fire’s a bitch,” Quinn added, flipping his hair off his face before jumping back into the fray.
“We need to get high up,” I said to Nicholas.
He nodded tersely. “Quinn, cover us.”
Hunter came with us, using a small crossbow she plucked out of a pile of ashes and medieval chainmail armor. A hunter fell across our path, gurgling blood. A red-tipped arrow stuck out of his stomach. I had no idea who was winning or if there would even be a winner. It was hard to think, hard to do anything but survive. If we didn’t get this sorted by sunrise, I couldn’t imagine the resulting massacre. There was already blood in the snow and fires burning up in the treetops. A tent on the other side of the tree line billowed thick gray smoke, choking us. I needed to get up onto a platform where I could use my bow.