Page 101 of How to Stake a Vampire

“How tedious.”

He moved faster than my eyes could track.

“Watch out!” Samuel shouted.

Gregory gasped when Ludvik appeared in front of him and backhanded him with enough force to send him flying into the cavern wall. Stone cracked from the impact.

Virgil blinked his eyes open on the altar. Confusion danced across his face as he tried to process what he was seeing. “Ellie, what are you doing here?!” His gaze found Gregory. Horror widened his eyes. “Father!” He struggled weakly against the chains binding him.

“He’s coming!” Finnic warned.

Ludvik moved like fog, striking Samuel and Barney before either could react. My wolf grunted as a blow landed on my flank and sent me crashing into the dwarves.

Ellie’s shriek of rage echoed through the cavern as she launched herself at Ludvik. The older vampire avoided her attack with inhuman grace and punched her in the face. Ellie staggered back a step, her head snapping sideways with a sickening sound.

She grabbed Ludvik’s wrist and turned to face him.

“This stops now, you monster,” she growled, her fangs gleaming in the gloom.

“Keep him pinned down!” Finnic shouted as he charged the vampire.

Ludvik wrenched himself free and was gone in the blink of an eye. The dwarf’s axe skimmed the space where his neck would have been. Finnic cursed as the momentum spun him around.

My heart pounded as we regrouped in the middle of the cavern, our gazes frantically scanning the shadows. The air shifted to our left. Barney stumbled, fresh wounds appearing on his leg and arm where Ludvik had attacked him. A flicker of pain echoed across the mate bond and had my head snapping around. The sight of the claw marks on Samuel’s shoulder made my wolf snarl with fury.

I’m okay!my alpha said, his fangs exposed and his hackles rising where he towered beside me.

“He’s too fast!” Gregory’s voice dissolved in a grunt of pain as he dropped to one knee, his hand rising to clamp the wound in his abdomen. The vampire’s blood splattered thickly to the ground, the scent flooding my wolf’s nostrils and causing Ellie to gnash her teeth.

Ludvik’s next invisible attack sent Finnic flying into a cluster of candles, scattering wax and flame. The dwarf swore and shook his head dazedly as he climbed to his feet. Leoric, Belinda, and Wildred rushed over and took up defensive positions around him.

“The wraith’s abilities!” Barney snapped. “He must be using them again!”

I looked around and spotted Bo, Didi, Gavin, and Mindy at the edge of the cavern. Just as we’d planned, they were searching the place for the wraith and the object Ludvik had used to bindher while we engaged the vampire, Melvina and Hilda assisting them.

“Mindy says she’s struggling to sense her,” Didi called out, magic crackling around her hands as she kept a lookout for Ludvik. “There’s too much interference!”

Barney’s eyes widened. “The music.”

We met his stunned gaze.

“That’s why he’s using the music. To mask the wraith’s presence!”

An unearthly wail erupted across the cavern, the sound coming from everywhere at once. Bo’s ears flattened. Our breath began to mist as the temperature in the cavern plummeted.

“There!” Ellie pointed.

A pale figure had materialized near the altar, translucent and with eyes full of pain and rage. My stomach lurched.

It was a little girl with a gaping hole in her chest where her heart should have been. She was hunched over and clawing at her head.

Fury burned through my veins.

Mindy flickered alarmingly, horror etched in every line of her face.

“A child,” she mumbled. “He bound achild?!”

The wraith turned toward us, mouth opening in another bone-chilling scream that sent the dwarves stumbling backward. I glimpsed fangs and a glint of crimson in her eyes.