Page 133 of Blood as Sweet as Roses

“Whatare you doing down here?” she demands. “You need to go back to the holding floor, now!”

“I had to come find you!” I answer, grabbing her arm. “I saw on the monitor: the witches broke into the water park. That’s where they’re doing their witchy ritual-thing! If you find them, you can stop them!”

“The water park?” she says, brow furrowed.

“Yes, it’s just off the lobby!” I point toward the door. “They broke in through a glass window.”

“I’ll take care of it,” she responds, her face full of concern. “But before that, Paige, I’ve got to get you back to safety.”

“I can make it on my own. I know the way!”

“Absolutely not,” she says, in a voice I know I won’t be able to argue with. And the protective note in her voice makes my heart soar. Despite the danger unfolding around us, I feel safe with her by myside.

Before we can head back to the stairwell, Sabina appears like a ghost, her white fangs gleaming, a streak of blood across her cheek.

She eyes me sharply. “What are you doing down here? You have to get to safety,now.”

I’m surprised by the genuine note of worry in her voice.

Crimson growls at her. “I can protect Paige. Sabina, find Murad and go to the hotel’s water park. Paige saw the witches convening there. That’s where they’re working their magic.”

Sabina nods, although there’s still a line of concern between her brows. “Keep her safe, Crimson.”

“I will,” Crimson answers fiercely.

The other vampire gives me one last, lingering look, then disappears in a flash back into the mayhem surrounding us.

Crimson takes my hand. “Let’s be quick.”

She doesn’t need to tell me twice. I’m eager to get away from the lobby.

“It’s this way,” I say, as we hurry back the way I came. “Alin was fighting with a witch in the staircase.”

“Awitchmade it all the way onto the stairwell?” Crimson asks.

“I think it was a witch,” I reply. “She had a long cape, it was dark blue.”

“A longcape…?”

But she pauses, as we come upon the platform where Alin was fighting with the witch earlier. As we turn the corner, my heart freezes. Alin is lying in the corner, limp, in a pool of blood. From this angle, I can’t tell if he’s still animated, or if he’s been staked.

“Alin!” I shout, clutching my chest.

Crimson steps in front of me, stake in one fist, the other arm out around me. Her eyes dart around the stairwell. “That wasn’t a witch, Paige. Or at least, that wasn’tjusta witch.”

“What do you mean…”

A shadowy figure descends from the staircase above us, her eyes red and wide, long cape billowing around her. A scream catches in my throat as I watch the figure transform before my eyes. Her short curls grow into a thick, wavy brown mane. Her dark blue cape turns bright red, and her jewelry becomes gold. Her mouth widens into a horrible grin, marred by two long fangs.

“Evening, Oana,” Crimson says darkly.

“Hi, Crimson,” the vampire replies with a cheeky wink. “Soniceto see you again.”

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Crimson replies, venomously. “The pleasure of driving my stake through your unbeating heart, that is.”

Oana laughs, a tinkling, terrifying sound. I quiver behind Crimson, clutching a stake in my sweaty hand. Suddenly, it seems ridiculously inadequate. Oana hovers in the stairway, exuding power and strength. Her palms radiate with red light, the same colour that swirls behind her irises. What couldIdo, against a creature like that?

There’s a flash of light from her direction, and I brace myself against the concrete wall, expecting to be hit. But another, shimmering red wall of energy magic erects itself around me. I can’t see anything, but I can hear Oana’s evil chuckle.