He wrapped his arms around me. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this.”
“And if we don’t?” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
He leaned back, muscles tensing. “What are you saying?”
I closed my eyes. I shouldn’t have said that. “Nothing.”
“You’re lying again.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just in a mood. Let me go get changed. We don’t have much time.”
“Okay. But I’m coming with you.”
“Please.” I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. If this was it, if Mr. Hoel did manage to kill me, I wanted every second I had left to be spent with Dastien.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The night was quiet as I stood on the quad. No birds chirped. No cicadas sang. Not even a breeze to rustle the grass. My hands shook as I waited for the vampires to show. I took deep breaths, partly to calm myself, but also so I’d know when they were close. I’d smell them before I saw them.
Dastien had convinced me to take off my shoes. Apparently they were a bitch to rip through when shifting fully clothed. He didn’t try to make me shift, but he made it clear that I should if I needed to. He was hiding between the buildings. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was there in wolf form watching out for me.
I dug my toes into the cool, damp grass and reached into my pocket to palm one of the vials. I had thirty. Please let that be enough.
I sensed motion behind me and spun. The smell hit me. Death and decay. Old blood and rotted meat. I gagged as vampires swarmed the campus.
So much for the Cazadores keeping the flow down.
Wolves jumped from the forest to meet the vampires in a clash of fangs and fur.
The alarm sounded, the soft wail alerting the students we were under attack.
It didn’t take long for the seniors to swarm out of the buildings in wolf form. I focused on the figures in black floating toward me. Hair like straw. Faces rotted and disgusting.
The wolves bounded toward the vampires, but I waited where I stood. They’d be here soon.
I knew enough about witchcraft to know that I didn’t need to say the words aloud. As the first vampire approached, I threw the vial. In the name of Jesus Christ, I purify you.
Nothing happened. I froze. With or without my magic, the words should work. Should I shift?
“In the name of Jesus Christ, I purify you,” Claudia’s clear voice rang out beside me as she tossed another vial. Night turned to day as the potion exploded and the vampire burned to dust.
Thank God for cousins.
I let out a shaky breath and Claudia stepped in front of me. “Careful, prima. Your magic must be sealed.”
Magic shouldn’t factor into throwing potions, but I didn’t have time to figure out the problem.
Three vampires had Dastien pinned down and the wolves were being pushed back as more and more of them flooded the quad. The other brujos were throwing vials as fast as they could, but it wasn’t going to be enough.
“Cover me while I get the jars out,” I said to Claudia.
I slipped off my backpack and grabbed the jars. I’d been hoping I’d be able to fight at least a little, but not so much. I needed these jars gone. Now.
Another vampire flew at us, and Dastien finally burst free—he jumped on its back, snarling.
Where in the hell were Luciana and Mr. Hoel?
A voice cried out. “Kill the wolves!” I didn’t need to turn around to know who had arrived.
La Aquelarre.
They wore all white. Luciana was wearing one of her long skirts. Really impractical.
She paused her jog to the quad. Her face turned red as she stared at me.
One down. One to go.
As helpless as I was, I needed to wait a few more seconds. As soon as I spotted Mr. Hoel, I could destroy the jars.
Luciana threw a vial in my direction, but it fell way short of me and shattered against the ground, sending off a puff of fire and smoke.
“You don’t want to do this,” I shouted. “Turn back now.”
She laughed. “You’re weak. I have your power.”
“Do you?”
She raised her arms, and the scent of sulfur filled the quad. The ground rumbled.
She was calling something from below the earth. My pulse sped. This wasn’t what I’d seen in my dream. This was way, way worse. If she managed to summon something from hell…
I’d been to enough church masses to know we were all doomed.
“If you do this, there’s no going back. You’re damning yourself and every member of la Aquelarre along with you.”