The way parted in front of us like an ocean splitting down the middle. I hit the gas and we sped forward.

Ten minutes later, the stadium could be seen in the distance, lit up like a game was being held.

I grabbed the walkie-talkie from my waist and pressed the button. “Jensen, what’s going on?”

The static on the other end made my heart pick up speed. I spoke again. “Jensen, talk to me.”

The click came from the other end and I breathed a sigh of relief. Until he spoke. It wasn’t Jensen.

“Drakaina. Your minion is with me now. He and your brother for your life. Hurry, little monster, I’m losing patience,” Achilles said.

“Don’t hurt them! I’m coming.”

“Hurry, little snake. Hurry. I’ll give you ten minutes, not a single one more.” He whispered the last word, and the walkie-talkie went dead in my hand. I threw it to the floor, focusing on the anger that built in my belly.

“You aren’t really going to try to talk to him, are you?” Sandy asked from the backseat.

“Not anymore.” I bit the words out, my fangs lowering and my skin itching. Not a good sign. Not at all.

We reached the stadium with only minutes to spare. I kicked my door open and the hinge snapped off. I didn’t care. I fed the anger that burned, that made me forget everything I’d ever been taught. Remo stepped from the shadows. “Do you have a plan?”

The final pieces of what I saw happening if this went right came together in a flash, like the final ingredients to a masterpiece.

“Beth and Sandy will take you and Dahlia over the top right to Tad and Jensen. The rest of your vamps will be ready to help you out if necessary. As soon as you have them, I’ll deal with Achilles.”

Remo nodded. “You sure you can take him?”

“Right now? Yes.” My whole body shivered, and I snapped my head to the side. I flicked my tongue out, tasting the air.

Beth cleared her throat. “But we’ve never shifted into our other forms.”

“No time like the present.” I turned and put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re a nurse, right? Trained to save lives?”

The fear in her eyes faded, replaced by confidence. “Yes.”

“This is the same thing. You’ll be saving two lives. Just keep that in mind.”

She drew her tiny body up under my hand and gave a nod. She took two steps back and closed her eyes. Sandy looked at her, then followed suit. Mist curled around them from their feet, all the way to the top of their heads, covering them completely. As it blew away, two birds stood in their place, easily six feet tall. Their feathers were black and gold, and their beaks were wicked long with tiny teeth inside the edge of them.

“Your wings don’t look metallic, but the info said you can throw your feathers like daggers, so be careful,” I said.

They bobbed their heads and clacked their beaks in unison.

Without a word they launched into the air, their wings giving off a vibration that trembled over my skin, calling to my snake. Calling on me to shift. I clenched my hands, digging my nails into my palms.

“Are you okay?” Dahlia put a hand on my shoulder and I shook her off.

“Just go. Get them out.” I breathed the words out, knowing I didn’t have much longer before the shift took me whether I wanted it to or not. From the corner of my eye I saw Remo and Dahlia leap into the air and grab hold of Sandy’s and Beth’s claws.

The four of them swept upward, silent as they climbed high into the dark night. From the shadows of the building, twenty-five of Remo’s vampires ran toward the stadium, grinning like demons in the dark of the night.

I ran with them, the curl of the winter air on my skin cooling the need to shift. Movement helped keep it under control, apparently; would have been nice if Ernie had told me that.

The vamps stopped at the first door. Max was in the lead and he held up his hand, beckoning me forward. He pointed at a contraption woven around the handles.

“The doors are locked and linked to a trigger to explode if they’re tampered with.”

“Are you sure?”

“Used to be on the bomb squad. This is serious stuff; it’ll take out the support walls and crush anyone in the tunnels as they try to leave.”

We wouldn’t even be able to get the humans out then.

I looked up at the side of the stadium. “Can you climb?”

He chuckled. “Of course. Can you?”

“Anything you can do, I can do better,” I said.

With a grin he crouched, muscles bunching before he jumped, and the rest of the vampires followed his lead.

Just like that, it was a race with all of us leaping for handholds. A strange sense of nostalgia rolled over me, like we were kids on a playground. Maybe a rather large, deadly playground, but still the feeling was there. Like I’d shed all the rules and demands of being an adult, wife, or good girl.

I climbed as though I’d been doing it all my life: finding hand- and footholds with ease, leaping to the side where I had to, swinging off one hand even.

I couldn’t stop grinning. My brother’s life was in jeopardy, and for that matter so was mine. But I’d never felt so alive. Like I was finally a part of something that was important.

“I think she likes this.” Max spoke over my head, but I didn’t care.

He was right.

Another few seconds and we were at the top of the stadium, hanging on by our fingertips. They all looked to me like I knew what was supposed to happen next. I wished I’d watched more of the action movies Roger liked so much.