Page 51 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

“Get to the mics. Save them.” Please, please save my boyfriends.

“Zoey...”

“Take it and go,” I hissed.

“What are you two whispering about?” Elias asked.

“Nothing,” I said.

Elias shook his head and stepped around me.

God.

Emma backed up until her butt hit the side of the car.

Elias kept prowling toward her.

There was no way in hell I was letting him kill my best friend. I grabbed the front of his button down shirt and pulled him toward me instead.

“I’ve been dying for you to kiss me,” I said. I tried not to gag at the smell of blood all over his face.

He raised his eyebrow at me.

I tightened my hold on the front of his shirt. “I’ve been desperate for it,” I said, doing my best to put on a show just like I always did on MyFanatics. Run, Emma. Why the hell was she just standing there?! Girl, run!

But she didn’t move.

Gah!

Elias closed his eyes and lowered his bloody face to mine.

There was no way in hell I was going to kiss him. And not just because he was covered in blood. I was faithful to my boyfriends. Despite what Titan sometimes thought.

“Run!” I screamed and shoved Elias backward.

That seemed to wake Emma up. Her and Kebe both started running down the sidewalk. And so did I. I chased after them as fast as I could. When we reached the plush grass of the town square I was so relieved.

But then I heard the snarl that escaped Elias’ throat behind me. And it was way too close. I turned to look at him over my shoulder. He’d be on me in a second. I was never going to make it.

“Emma!” I screamed.

She turned to see me.

“Save my boyfriends!” I yelled and tossed the sistrum at Emma just as Elias tackled me into the grass.

My body slammed down hard. I could feel Elias’ fingers clawing at the fabric of my dress.

I ignored it and lifted my head to see Emma still sprinting.

There was so much blood everywhere that it must have been messing with the vampires’ keen senses.

Because Emma was able to run past the gazebo unscathed. She was going to make it.

“You dirty tease,” Elias said.

I screamed as he flipped me over and ripped my dress down the front, exposing my bra.

He’d never wanted to see me naked during our live sessions. I should have known he was some kind of deranged perverted stalker. Adding vampire to that was a very dangerous mix. I stared into his black eyes.

“All I’ve ever wanted was to have you in person,” he said.

I lifted my knee to hit him right in the junk, but he caught my knee before it even moved an inch. His stupid vampire reflexes.

“Zoey. Always one to play games. I know you want this too. You’ve been begging me ever since we first spoke.”

Not even a little, asshole .

He tore my dress the rest of the way off. “And I’m finally going to give you exactly what you want.”

I tried to wiggle away from him, but he grabbed my wrists in one hand, slamming them down above my head. His body pinned the rest of me down.

Stupid vampire strength!

“And then you’re going to give me what I need.” His eyes fell to my neck.

The saddest growl reached my ears.

I turned my head to see Otto trying to get to me. I could barely even make him out. Just his paw reaching out toward me across the town square. A vampire leaned over and bit into it.

No. I had no idea what happened when a werecat was bitten. But I knew it couldn’t possibly be good. Kebe was telling the truth about one thing. My boyfriends were going to die at the hands of these vampires.

I knew this was the end. For Otto. For me. For all of us. Tears started falling down my cheeks.

“Look at me.” Elias grabbed my chin and forced me to stare up at him.

I lifted my head and spit in his face.

He laughed. “I knew you’d be fiery in person.”

“Get the hell off of me!” I yelled and tried to move, but he was too strong.

“I’m trying to give you what you want.”

“I don’t want you!”

“You really are a tease.”

I wasn’t. I wanted nothing to do with Elias. All I wanted was my boyfriends. I wanted them to live. Even if I couldn’t .

Another growl made me turn my head the other way. I was pretty sure it was Bennett. He was collapsed on his side. The vampires feasting on his still form.

My bottom lip started trembling.

All I wanted to do was go to him. But I couldn’t move.

“Get off of me!” I screamed.

Elias’ fingers dug into my wrists. They felt like metal shackles.

“I was trying to be kind,” he said. “But if you’re not going to play nice, I’m just going to take what I want.” He started lowering his mouth to my neck.

I tried to move but it was impossible.

He kissed the side of my jaw and I turned my head, staring at Bennett’s werecat form. I love you. I love all of you.

I stared at Bennett as Elias’ lips brushed against the side of my neck.

I cringed, waiting to feel the bite. For his teeth to sink into my flesh, ending the life I knew. Possibly ending me completely.

But then Elias started gagging.

I turned to look up at him.

He was staring down at my neck in horror.

Had the cure actually worked? Was it just delayed?

But Elias’ eyes were still black as night. He went down to try and bite again, clearly still lusting for blood.

But the same thing happened when his teeth touched my flesh. He started gagging and pulled back. “What. Are. You. Wearing?” he gasped.

What? I reached up and touched my neck. My fingers collided with the necklace Huxley had given me. He told me it would ward off evil. He’d wanted to protect me from Callum. God, I was so glad this relic actually worked!

Elias kept choking.

This time when I lifted my knee, it collided hard with Elias’ junk because he was too busy dying or something.

He rolled over and groaned.

I pushed myself up off the grass. The sudden movement caused a few vampires to turn in my direction.

I could see Emma in the distance playing with the mic.

She’d figure it out at any moment. But I wasn’t sure my boyfriends had any moments left to spare.

And maybe I could draw the vampires’ attention away from them and toward me.

Maybe it would give them just enough time to be cured instead of dead.

I whistled. “Over here!” I waved my arms around in the air. “Look at me, you blood thirsty vampires!”

A few started running toward me.

“Come bite my neck! I want it!”

More started running in this directions.

And I realized I’d really misjudged how terrifying this would be. I started running. Which I think just made them want me more. I jumped over one of the knocked over ceremony chairs as I tried to get away from them.

But it was impossible. They were too fast.

One tackled me from the side, slamming me into the hard body of another. The first one tried to bite my neck and started gagging.

The second tried to do the same, with the same result .

But a third seemed to learn. She grabbed my wrist instead and pulled it to her mouth.

Yeah, I really hadn’t thought this through. And I hated that I recognized her. She was the sassy barista from the café. I hated that I was going to die because of her. I definitely shouldn’t have invited her to the wedding.

She opened her mouth and was just about the bite my wrist when I heard the metallic clanging of the sistrum.

It was even louder than I thought it would be.

The barista lifted her lips from my wrist which gave me the opportunity to kick her hard in the face.

She screamed in pain and fell backward.

I waited for all the vampires to start changing somehow. But more started running toward me instead.

Kebe really was full of shit! I was hoping that it was a volume issue. But the sistrum just wasn’t a cure. Baset was probably a wonderful, smart cat that was way smarter than Kebe’s preconceived notions.

But then the noise coming from the sistrum changed.

I turned to see that Kebe had grabbed the instrument from Emma.

And she was playing it in a way that actually sounded quite beautiful.

It wasn’t sporadic clanging like Emma or I had done.

She was actually playing a tune, swaying her hips to some song I didn’t know.

The screams echoing around the town square stopped. And soon all you could hear was the tune coming from the sistrum.

An eerie calm had descended all around us. The vampire closest to me blinked and his dark eyes grew a shade lighter. He blinked again and they turned blue. He looked around like he was confused. And then he made a disgusted face, probably because of the taste of blood on his lips.

Oh thank God. It’s working! It’s really working!

I looked around at the carnage. Everyone was standing or sitting still, in a complete daze. But all I was focused on was the five huge heaps of fur that weren’t moving. Why wasn’t the cure working on my boyfriends?!