Demon Moon

no one could protect you from the evil creatures stalking the night—
    No weapons.
    A gun wouldn’t have protected you if there had been two. You have to run—
    Powerful hands beneath her chin and across her mouth forced her head back; Colin’s features stared down at her, washed in the scarlet light of demon eyes. She wanted to snap her teeth at the demon. Bite his face off. Those beautiful gray eyes, corrupted by something evil and cold…
    They were still gray.
    “Let me go.” It was a growl, tearing from her throat.
    But that wasn’t her. That sound wasn’t anything human or vampire.
    “What sort of ungodly perversion are you?” The demon’s voice was filled with disgust…with horror. His hands tightened and shifted position, as if he was struggling to maintain his grip.
    Why bother? Even if she could run, she wouldn’t leave Colin here alone. She had nowhere safe to go.
    If it comes to that, and you can’t run—
    Oh, god. Yes, she did.
    —grab the pup—
    Not out, not away, but in.
    —and hold on to him—
    Her memory waited; she plunged, ripped through it. Found fangs and fur and claws. Gathered them up. Grasped them tight.
    —and he’ll run for you—
    And ran with them.

    Ariphale’s hands slipped from Colin’s shoulders, its frigid lips lifting from his skin; but even if Colin had had the strength to move, he wasn’t certain he could have.
    Nor was he certain who was the more astonished when Savi shape-shifted, and the slim woman became an enormous wolf: the nosferatu, who knew that nothing except Guardians, demons, and hellhounds could change their shapes; or the vampires watching, who’d been told nothing like a werewolf existed.
    Or Dalkiel, when she ripped his throat out.
    Clever Savitri. She’d always liked to bite.
    The nosferatu’s forearm around his neck strangled Colin’s triumphant laughter. But he still shook with it when she went after Dalkiel’s face, as the demon shrieked and rolled onto his hands and knees and tried to crawl away.
    His wings sprouted from his back; his talons scrabbled against the smooth surface of the dance floor. A sword appeared in his hand, but he’d no time to use it. She pounced on him, her massive forepaws pinning his wings down. Her jaws snapped on the back of his neck. Silenced his screams.
    She’d shown more mercy than Colin would have done.
    Sleek black fur rippled beneath the colored lights as she turned her head to look at him. Her psychic scent rose around her, luscious and fragrant. Hellfire burned from her eyes.
    Ariphale leapt into the air.
    “You should let me go,” Colin said. “She’s less likely to kill you if you are kind to me. Oh, that crossbow will simply not do at all.” It was absurd, how weak he was; but it took barely a kick to upset Ariphale’s aim, hovering as it was with a beautiful vampire crushed against its chest.
    The bolt passed several meters from Savi’s pointed ears. She paced below them, her muzzle tilted up, her crimson gaze fixed on Ariphale as he fluttered across the ceiling like a bald bat trapped in an attic.
    “She’s probably thinking of a way to form wings,” Colin told it. “You’d best release me.”
    But it wasn’t the threat of Savi flying that spurred the nosferatu to action; it was the sudden psychic presence of vampires, of humans—of Guardians—from outside the club, as the protective spell surrounding Polidori’s disappeared.
    Fia, Paul, and Darkwolf rushed onto the floor below.
    “Your idiot demon partner—” Colin struggled as the creature dove toward the suite. Savi raced along beneath them. “—used symbols activated by blood in a building full of vampires. Did you truly believe we wouldn’t sniff out the location—oh, bloody hell.”
    Of course the sodding nosferatu didn’t use a door; and reinforced as it was, the door might not have buckled under the force of Ariphale’s body slamming into it. The wall did, and they crashed into the suite in a shower of wood and insulation.
    The door rattled in its frame; the hinges squealed.
    Before Savi could hit it again, Ariphale triggered the spell. Her scent vanished.
    Colin rose to his knees, coughing to clear the plaster from his lungs. Epona sat on the sofa, her red-rimmed eyes wide with shock.
    Ariphale stood by the door, its hand covering the symbols protectively. Not so arrogant now; before Savi, it’d have never feared that two vampires might have the speed and power to get around a nosferatu and erase the