Chapter 19

"What do you think you're doing?" Courtney yelled, hovering in the doorway with Vycandor passed out in her arms.

"Helping you," I hissed.

"By burning the place to the ground?"

I glanced down at my hands still spewing fire like a blowtorch and shrugged. "At least it's better than playing whack-a-mole with a dance club full of boogie frights." I smiled to myself waiting for her to find the humor in our situation.

She didn't.

"Chaos, behind you!" Courtney screamed.

I spun around just in time to watch Chevauna rise to her feet through the wafting smoke, body hunched over and razor sharp claws splayed out in preparation to launch a last valiant attempt to protect her kind.

Chocolate brown eyes bloodied and bruised from me using her face as a punching bag, she snarled, "What are you?"

I puffed out my substantially meager chest compared to hers before replying, "I'm hell on earth, that's what I am. Now call off your damn freak show before I fry your ass and make you scream like a teenage girl at a One Direction concert."

With a feral growl, a pair of mountain lions moved to flank Chevauna protectively. Not that she needed any help. I turned up the heat in response, the flames shooting out of my hands changing from a bright orangery-red, to a greenish-blue, and then a white-hot wash of deep cobalt blue. Ears bent low, Chad and Miguel rocked back on their powerful hind quarters as if gathering themselves to pounce.

"Enough!" Raising a fist in the air, Chevauna's voice cut through the black smoke like a cleaver. "Let the fire starter go in peace. But, know this..." she warned. "You and I are not finished."

Backing stealthily toward the door, I smiled at the threat. "Sticks and stones you blood-sucking mutant freak."

Once outside, the cold blast of frigid night air came as a relief from the sweltering heat inside the club. Not that I minded standing too close to the fire, that is. But the mixture of animals caught in the middle of the blood war were starting to smell like my mom's pot roast.

I closed the heavy industrial door hard with a mental shove, concentrating a single yellowish flame using only the tip of my index finger to weld the thick metal together. It wouldn't hold for long. Just enough to give us a head start in case Chevauna changed her mind.

If what Jade had said was true, that shifters like her were attracted to violence, then Doctor Drool better hope he'd found a cure to stop the next wave of attacks. Otherwise, the revenging wasn't even close to being over.

"Ummm, Chaos?" Courtney whispered loud enough to get my attention. "We have another problem."

Extinguishing the flame, I turned around expecting to find Zeus, the bar's intimidating, over-sized bouncer. Instead, I found an army of shadowy figures positioned in the desolate parking lot like huge gargoyle statues, their triangular shaped bat wings slowly waving back and forth in the darkness like a silent threat.

From where I stood outside Nocturne's Oasis, I had a perfectly unobstructed view of Main Street. Ever so hesitantly I swung my gaze left then right, and my heart sank. The road was lined with even more of the creatures, stretching in both directions as far as the eye could see. Frozen in place, they appeared to be in some sort of semi-conscious state.

"Why don't they attack? What are they waiting for? " I whispered back. Not that I was complaining, of course.

Courtney's sad blue eyes filled with something close to fear. "The end is here. I thought we would have more time than this to prepare, but I guess I was wrong. The conclusion of the cross-dimensional battle for control over the earth has begun."

I didn't have to ask what she meant. The proverbial ticking time-bomb was about to explode in our faces. Any second now, the genetically programmed bio toxin preset by Serenity to simultaneously detonate across the entire globe was about to go BOOM and wake her sleeping army. Again.

Moving cautiously so as not to disturb the Angels of War before they became fully activated, I attempted to take Vycandor out of Courtney's arms. She resisted, shifting his full weight against her tiny frame with such force that his head snapped back - limbs flailed about in the air like a rag-doll.

"What is your problem?" I sputtered. "Be careful, you're hurting him."

"Since when do you care? You don't deserve him. You're in love with someone else, or did you conveniently forget that part?"

"That's not true, Courtney. I do care about him."

"You have a funny way of showing it," she insisted. "The only reason Vycandor is unable to tolerate the blood of another is, despite your best attempts to avoid it, he's formed a permanent blood bond with you. His body will continue to reject anyone's life force but yours, until he becomes immortal. So, like it or not, you better lose the attitude and unite your powers with him right now to save the earth before it's too late."

Shit.

If I did what she said, then I knew I could never find a way to spend an eternity with Thomas. I would be bound to Vycandor, and him to me. This time not just by blood, but physically as well as emotionally bound together. Forever.

I wasn't ready to give up hope, wasn't ready to break my promise to save my heart for Thomas. But deep down inside I knew I loved them both equally for different reasons.

How in the hell was I ever suppose to choose between them?

No. I shook my head with firm resolve. There simply had to be another way.

Folding my arms over my chest, I stubbornly lifted my chin. "If you don't like my attitude now, trust me, it only gets worse."