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“Enre!” I cried out. I threw myself over him, desperate to staunch the blood, but I saw it would be to no avail. She had partially decapitated him and he was dead.

Adem fell to his knees beside me and let out an agonized cry.

“I can do nothing for him,” I wailed.

A noise drew our attention to Laura. She was gone. Then I heard a strange scuffling sound and looked up to see her scaling the side of the house.

“I must stop her!”

“Go,” Adem said, cradling Enre against his chest. He was weeping and the sight broke my heart.

I hurled myself after Laura and landed close to the house. Shards of glass fell from above. I saw her glance down at me before darting through the broken frame and into the house.

“Laura, no!”

A heavy curtain was drawn back over the ground window I stood beneath. I saw Sir Stephan’s expression of shock at my appearance for a mere second before we both heard Maria cry out, “Laura!”

“You brought her back?” he exclaimed. “You brought her back!”

“I must stop her!” I leaped onto the edge of the window sill. “Open the window! Quick!”

“Stephan! It’s Laura!” Maria’s voice rang out from upstairs.

Conflicting emotions fought in Sir Stephan’s eyes, then he said words that I never believed he would say. “Your invitation is rescinded. ”

“No!”

The curtain dropped into place as the ward took hold and plunged me into the snow. Scrambling to my feet, I rushed to the house and screamed Laura’s name. I could distinctly hear her parents welcoming her home and her own sweet voice answering them.

“Adem, I cannot enter! Adem!”

His dark form emerged from the misty darkness of the night. Blood covered him and his face was ghastly in its sorrow. Grabbing my hand, he dragged me along to the doors that opened into the garden. Picking up a stone vase, he beat it against the doors, trying to break them open.

“Laura!” I screamed. “Laura!”

My vampire senses are a blessing and curse. Tonight, they were a curse. I heard Laura’s own sweet voice say in the most chilling tone, “I have not come home to be with you, but to kill you. ”

“Adem,” I gasped. “Hurry!”

The heavy wood door began to splinter under his assault. I tried to help him, but the ward shoved me off my feet and into the snow.

As I stood up, I heard the screams begin.

“Adem!”

The door broke apart in pieces and Adem pried the remains from the frame. The wind and screams mingled together in a terrible chorus.

“Hurry,” I urged him.

With a nod, he plunged into the house.

Pacing back and forth, I listened as the shrieks above me died. Silence followed. A terrible silence that ate away at my senses and made me feel mad with dread. I stopped before the broken door and cried out for Adem.

There was no answer.

The hallway beyond the doorway remained empty, the flickering candles throwing grotesque shadows along the walls. I ventured a little closer and tentatively set my foot inside the house.

The ward was gone.