Page 51 of Medium

“Vampires?” Holy shit. Everyone around me stopped talking. I spun in a circle, but I didn’t see any fog.

“Vampires. Cal couldn’t tell when, but he felt like it’ll be soon.” I was so thankful Cal’s geographical range for his visions had extended when he bonded with Greg.

“Got it. Call you in a few.”

Ms. Jackson was right next to me. “Keep Pia safe,” I told them. They nodded and loped over to stand by her side.

I put two fingers in my mouth and gave the loudest whistle I could. Most of the dryads stopped what they were doing and looked at me. “Everybody! A Seer had a vision that the vampires are coming here! Right now!”

I heard Shane cursing, and Manny asking questions. The dryads started milling about, and some of them ran for the trail to the main house. Shit.

“Stop where you are!” I was relieved to see them follow my directions. “The vampires attack from the forest. You can merge with a tree, but don’t walk through the woods in your humanoid form. That’s what the vampires want. Either keep to the middle of the clearing, or merge with a tree. If we stay in a group, we’ll be protected.”

Probably.

Ms. Jackson nudged Pia into the middle of the clearing, stopping when they were almost in the exact center. I followed with Shane, Rory, and Manny on my heels. Clementine and Levi kept pace with us.

“Clementine, is everyone accounted for? Nobody’s back in the camp or the main house?”

She shook her head. “They were all here.”

Thank fuck. Most of the dryads chose trees to step into. Only Clementine and her father joined us in the middle of the clearing.

“I want to see these bastards for myself,” Clementine hissed. She held a bread knife in her hand like a sword.

I wished I had a weapon, but at least I had my combat mode. I reached for my magic and felt the change come over me immediately. I hadn’t had to use combat mode very often, but I felt more capable, more in control now. I listened, but all I could hear were the sounds our group was making, plus the leaves moving in the wind, and the birds and insects.

We arranged ourselves in a circle with Pia and Ms. Jackson in the center. Pia and the other dryads sprouted thorns from their skin.

“Wow,” Manny said. “Seems like that’d be a pretty good defense against vampires. Why would they bother targeting you if you can do that?”

Levi grimaced. “Probably because they know the thorns disappear when we’re unconscious.”

Manny looked sorry he’d asked. “Oh. Got it.”

We all faced outward, scanning the trees for fog. Shane and I both had our hands up in loose fists. District Monitors were required to take hand-to-hand fighting lessons, and our combat mode made our reflexes super fast.

Manny held his phone out, either recording or ready to. “What are we talking about here? Are they like Dracula? Can they turn into bats?”

Shane shook his head. “No one’s seen them turn into bats. They can make fog somehow, and they have fangs.”

“And they can cut your magic off from other people, it sounds like,” Rory added. “Good thing I don’t have any connections.”

Shane snorted, and Ms. Jackson coughed. It sounded like a laugh.

I winced. “Sorry, Rory, but you do. You just can’t see them.”

The forest went silent. No bird sounds, nothing. Only the wind through the trees. I held my breath and scanned the edge of the clearing, searching for vampires.

Rory sucked in a breath. “The ghosts say there are eight of them.”

Fuck. We were sitting ducks.

Ms. Jackson crouched down and nudged Pia until she got on their back. Were they going to make a run for it? If anyone could make it through a forest full of vampires, it’d be them.

Instead Ms. Jackson walked several feet away from our group and...grew. They turned into their dragon form, and they moved so their legs were bracketing the six of us on the ground. They spread their wings and opened their mouth. Smoke came out along with a disturbing groaning sound. A dragon’s vocal cords must be harder to use than a tiger’s.

Clementine and Levi looked ready to pass out.