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Their mistake. I can totally kick their asses, even without using my magic. In fact, it might even be more fun that way.

How far away are they?Bella asked me.

I can’t tell. But they’re close.

Bella’s nervous hands shook, and she almost dropped the small metal device she was tinkering with.

Steady there,I told her.

She forged her face into one of total determination.I don’t know how you do it, Leda. My whole body is shaking, and you’re as steady as a rock.She adjusted some wires on the device.Don’t you ever get scared?

Sure, all the time.

You don’t show it,she said, turning the device in her hand.

I handed her a smaller screwdriver.Because fear isn’t a particularly useful battle strategy.

She met my eyes.You’re more like Nero than you know.

Tell him that when we get home,I said as she made her final adjustments on the device. I grinned at her.He’ll like it.

I wish I could be like you, Bella sighed.But I’m not a fighter—well, except when I turn into ‘Cursed Bella’. Cursed Bella is a monster who’s not afraid of anything, and she would kill anyone, even her own family.

Don’t be so gloomy,I scolded her but kept on smiling.It’s bad for your complexion.

I think my complexion is the least of our worries, Leda.

“Surrender!” a man’s deep voice penetrated the fog, right on cue.

He was one of the vampires. But I still couldn’t see any of them.

“We know you’re nearby,” said another voice. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

“We can smell the witch’s fear, and it’s delicious!” added a third man. He sounded all too eager to eat my sister.

Over my dead body.

“Surrender now, and we’ll only bite a little!” the fourth vampire laughed, and the others joined in.

The fog amplified their voices. They seemed to be coming from all around us, echoing like a deranged pack of laughing hyenas.

Bombs away, Bella,I told her.

She tossed the device over the edge of the thick branch we were sitting on. The laughing turned into cursing, then howling.

And then silence descended on the jungle. It was so quiet, I could hear the soft sigh of dewdrops trickling off the leafy canopy over our heads.

Do you think they’re asleep?Bella asked me.

Perhaps. The device she’d dropped on them contained a sleeping potion potent enough to knock out even vampires. In theory.

But reality didn’t always live up to the hype of theory.

I don’t know.I’ll go check.I started to climb down the tree trunk. I paused just before my head disappeared below the branch Bella was sitting on.Stay here until I say it’s safe.

I dipped into the sea of smoke. The medley of garlic and onions was even stronger down here. My eyes started to water and so did my mouth. I continued to scale down the side of the enormous tree, nice and easy, slow and silent.

A gunshot tore through that silence. Followed by a feminine scream. And then I heard a body falling out of the tree.