Alpha Divided (Alpha Girl Book 3) (28 page)

Raphael lifted one eyebrow at me. “You’re the one whose powers are in jars. I know you were waiting for me. If you’d left the compound right away, this wouldn’t have happened.”

I hoped I hadn’t made him feel guilty for anything. It wasn’t his fault. Not even a little bit. “Raphael,” I said his name firmly so that he’d know I was being totally serious. “I don’t blame you for what happened.” He pressed his lips together in a firm line. I wasn’t being nice. I really didn’t blame him at all. It hadn’t even entered my mind, but from the fierce look on Raphael’s face, I knew no amount of reassuring him would change his mind.

Claudia stepped next to her twin, leaning on him a little. “Our coven has gone bad. We know what might happen, and we’re going into this fight ready to do what needs to be done.”

Donovan grunted. “It’ll be harder than you think. You’ll be armed with the spells for the vampires. Focus on those. We’ll try and cover the witches as much as possible.”

“I think they’re aware how hard it will be to fight
la Aquelarre
,” Cosette said. “But the answer is the same. They know what they’re doing.”

“And you’ve permission to fight as well?” Donovan asked. “I don’t want the queen to come calling if you get hurt.”

“Yes. You’ll be safe. For now at least.” Cosette shook her head, sending her blonde curls bouncing with the movement. “The fey aren’t always the most reliable, but Luciana’s magic is bad business for all of us so they’ll support the fight. It’s too short notice to get help for tonight, though.”

“Of course,” Mr. Dawson said. “We just don’t want any trouble with your people. We’ve got enough on our hands already.”

“I’ll handle that.”

This was getting us nowhere, and I had one more question. “What about the rest of the students? Has anyone warned them?”

Mr. Dawson crossed his arms. “I called them into a meeting while you and Dastien snuck away. When the alarm sounds, any seniors who choose to do so will join the fight. I ordered the underclassmen to stay in the dorms no matter what. I don’t want the younger pups getting in over their heads.”

I didn’t make a comment about me being new to the whole Were thing, too. I might have been inexperienced, but I wasn’t backing down from this fight.

“So, where are we supposed to be? I assume we’re waiting outside to ambush them?” Adrian asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Dawson said. “The loyal pack members will be hidden in the forest surrounding campus. They’ll try to cut down the number of vampires that make it to the quad. As the fight progresses, they’ll either press in or move out to cover our backs as needed.”

I nodded. “This sounds like a solid plan.” Although only a million or so things could go wrong. “I’ll be in the center of the quad. As soon as I see both Luciana and Mr. Hoel, I’ll smash the jars. I don’t want either of them no-showing because I got my powers back too early. Which means I’ll be vulnerable for a time.”

“I’ve got your back. Always,” Dastien said, and I knew he was telling the truth.

“Luciana is too strong to fight while she has access to my powers. No one should approach her until the jars are broken.”

“What happens if you get caught up? If you can’t break the jars?” Meredith asked.

That would be bad fucking news. If I didn’t break the jars, they’d be using my powers to fight against us. Not even a little bit acceptable. “I have to break them.” I checked the clock. “They’ll be here in less than an hour. If we’re all set, then I’m going to go change into something with more pockets.” Last thing I needed was to run out potions mid-battle.

“I think we’ve covered everything,” Mr. Dawson said. “Everyone okay?”

There were a few yes’s and some nods. I took that as a sign that it was okay to go. I slipped the backpack with the jars over my shoulders and headed for the door. “Meet everyone on the quad.”

I caught Dastien’s gaze as I left and once again I felt sad. So sad. I had to make it through tonight, but if I didn’t, I needed to know that he’d be okay. I wasn’t so sure that was the case.

Dastien caught up with me in the hallway. “You were scared about something earlier, and just now, you looked at me and you felt sad. What aren’t you telling me?”

I kept walking. “I’m scared about fighting. That’s all it was and it’s totally natural.”

“No. That’s not what I felt from you a second ago. Fear. And resignation.” He grasped my hand, pulling me to a stop. “What do you know that you’re not sharing?”

I thought carefully about how to word it—I couldn’t give Dastien any information that would put him off his game tonight, and my potential death definitely fell in that category. “Look. I’ve seen what’s going to happen—or what might happen—and it’s bad. Really bad. I did my best to avoid all this, and it’s still coming anyway. So, yeah, I’m afraid, but resigned to the fact that it’s going to happen whether I want it to or not.” That was at least part of the truth, and giving him any more details wouldn’t help.

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.”

“Listen to her, Luciana,” Claudia said. “Think about what you’re doing. This is evil.”

Luciana didn’t even look at Claudia. She was too far gone. Magic flowed around her, like wind, raising her hair and making her skirts flow around her legs. But that wasn’t what had me scared. It was the look in her eyes. And the fact that they’d turned completely black. Not even a hint of white was left in them.

I had to stop her before she finished this spell.

A figure in white dashed toward us. I moved to meet him, but stopped just as he dashed between Luciana and me.

“Mother!” Daniel said as he ran in front of her. “Stop! You can’t do this. You’ll kill us all.” When she didn’t respond, he turned to us. “We have to stop her.”

When Daniel hadn’t shown up at St. Ailbe’s, I was worried I was wrong about him. It felt good to be right.

“Let’s knock her out,” I said. “If she won’t stop casting, then we just shut her up.”

Luciana’s lips moved rapidly as the wind grew around her. She raised her arms to the sky and a red light from the ground rose around her.

Daniel shook his head. “It’s too late. The spell she’s doing…it’s a chain reaction. Once it’s started…”

“So what do we do?” I shouted.

Enemy Weres streamed in from the parking lot, led by a certain wolf I remembered from my nightmares.

Now. I needed to smash the jars. They were both here, and if Luciana was using some of my power to call up whatever that was, then I needed to cut her off. Fast.

A vampire swiped at me, and I dodged out of the way and hit the ground rolling. The vampire lunged again, and I heard Claudia shout the incantation just before the vampire’s ashes rained down on me.

Shit. This was getting bad.

Before one more thing could go wrong, I threw the jars as hard as I could on the ground. Both jars bounced and started rolling away from me.

My heart dropped into my stomach. “No. Oh shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Claudia said.

“The jars.” I pointed at them as they rolled deep into the fight.

“Is that what I think that is?” Daniel asked.

“Yes.”

“I’ll get them,” Claudia said.

“No.” I grabbed her arm before she could go. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I’ll be okay.” She ran after the jars before I could stop her.

I didn’t have time to watch her. A mass of black fur headed my way and I took off running. I dodged around a tree, but it was still on me. I could hear it panting. I looked over my shoulder and it was already leaping into the air, teeth bared in a snarl.

I dropped flat on the ground, and the wolf soared overhead.

Before I could get up, a vampire was on me. I didn’t have time to think as anger heated my blood. I wasn’t going to get bit. Not again.

My hands partially shifted and I punched through its chest, ripping out the heart. It collapsed against me and I gagged from the vile stench. I pushed the body off and climbed to my feet, but I was covered in black vampire goo. The half-decayed heart still throbbed in my hand.

Thank God Meredith had been right. I was still a Were. Just not an alpha one.

I tossed the heart on top of the now-still vampire.

Daniel gagged, quickly covering his mouth with his hand. “That’s disgusting.”

“Understatement of the year.” I wiped the vampire goo on my pants and reached into my pocket with my clean hand, grabbing a vial. “Do you mind?” I asked as I held it out to him.

He took the vial and ignited the vampire. “You got any more?”

They weren’t doing me any good, so I unloaded my stash on him. “Be safe.”

Bright bursts of magic were flaring all around me as wolves and witches fought. I tried to find Claudia but it was chaos.

Where in the hell were my fucking jars?

I spotted Dastien’s gray and white fur. The battle had taken him farther away than I’d thought. If something happened, I wanted to be closer to him. I took a breath and started across the quad.

The earth rumbled again as Luciana’s chanting grew louder. I swayed on my feet, trying to stay upright, but something slammed into my side hard enough to break ribs. I hit the ground wheezing.

I couldn’t stop. I had to get it off me. I had to get to Luciana before she finished calling up that hellspawn.

Jaws snapped at my neck, but I managed to hold the mass jet-black fur off of me.

Oh shit. It was Mr. Hoel. It was happening.

I heard Dastien’s howl, and knew what was coming next.

I struggled to stop him, kicking at the mass of fur and muscle that pinned me to the ground, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe.

Mr. Hoel started to shift. It was disgusting. His face half wolf, half human. Grotesque.