he raced to naomi and flung her over his shoulder. she landed stiffly, which made it hard. then he turned and grabbed danny by the arm. instead of lifting him, he dragged him behind. i fumbled for another spell, this time yellow. i fisted it right as tyler barreled back through the trees.

he tossed naomi at a stunned eamon, who caught her with ease. at the same time he let go of danny and dropped to the forest floor on his knees. the few of the devils that had clung to him fell off and seemed discombobulated, opening their red-stained maws, gasping for breath. none of them had bitten him. "why didn't they bite you?" i asked.

"i think they all had a taste of the spell, even if it wasn't a lot, and i think they're confused." he grabbed one off the ground where it had fallen. the thing tried to latch unsuccessfully on to his finger. its eyes blazed a feral orange and its skin was both scaled and leathery. tyler gave it a squeeze. its chest imploded and it went limp. before he could toss it back over the boundary line, it disappeared right out of his hand with a little pop.

"okay. that was strange." i took a step closer and one of the devils on the ground flew halfheartedly at me. it wobbled like it was drunk, but its intentions were clear-it wanted my flesh and blood. "oh, no you don't." it zoomed at me lopsided. i angled my arm back. when it was within a foot of me, i pounded my fist into it. it connected hard, and the thing exploded with a shriek and sailed outside of the boundary line and blinked out of existence.

tyler started picking up a few errant ones. "help me toss them out there." he gestured to the clearing. "you need to kill them first so they go away. then chuck them past the trees."

"wait," i said after he'd killed two and threw them back. "we should keep one."

he glanced at me with a question. "why would we keep one?"

"the ones that aren't frozen are dazed in here. look at that one." i pointed to one on the ground that wobbled in a circle. "we have to find a way to defeat them or we can't go any farther, so let's keep one."

tyler shrugged. "okay. fair enough."

"alive."

he grimaced. "how are we going to keep it from attacking us? what if it decides to wake up?"

"we can tie it down somehow. how about nailing it to a tree?"

"that might work."

"but we don't have a hammer, do we?"

tyler grinned. "i don't need one. i can pound anything into a tree with this." he lifted up his fist. "i'll find a sharp rock."

now that the devils were figured out, i knelt by danny's side. he was lying facedown, so i gently rolled him over. it wasn't easy because he was still frozen.

his face was almost unrecognizable.

pieces of his flesh were missing and his clothes were shredded and bloody. there were gashes all over his arms and legs shaped in small, angry circles. thank goodness the spell not only froze him-but knocked him out. he was a supe; he'd heal. i took his hand gently in mine.

eamon had laid naomi down a few feet away.

she was equally damaged. it was hard to look at her. the healing process would take time. i hoped it didn't hurt too much and that they both stayed unconscious throughout the process.

"they will not recover from this," eamon stated, his voice remorseful as he gazed down at his sister. "they have been too gravely injured."

i glanced sharply at him. "what did you say?"

eamon shook his head. "the wounds might close some, but they will never heal over completely. they will fester and bleed until the venom finally kills them."

"that can't be true. they're supernaturals." i ran a gaze over danny's body.

eamon was right; none of the wounds were closing.

"naomi will need the blood of an immortal for any chance of survival, and she cannot drink mine. we are too closely bonded. it will not give her the healing properties she needs. blood is her only chance, but even with it, she might not recover. camazotz venom is powerful."

"what about danny!" i cried. "how does he heal? he doesn't drink blood."

"i do not know."

tyler knelt down next to me. "nobody's feeding a vampire, jessica, so don't even think about it."

"tyler," i argued-it wasn't worth pretending he didn't know my thoughts exactly-"we have to be reasonable here. if we have a chance to save a life, we save one."

"jess," tyler said between clenched teeth, "our races don't mix. we've never mixed. naomi was ordered by her queen to do a job. it's not our problem if she dies. that's the risk her queen took-"

"i'll do it." danny's voice broke as he gasped for air. "give her my blood then. i've lost a hell of a lot of it, but if there's anything left, she is welcome to it."

10

my brother and i stared down at him, slack jawed. "danny, please don't be awake right now," i pleaded. "are you in pain?" i reached my hands out to touch his body, to console him, but pulled them back. i couldn't risk hurting him.

nothing was healing. the wounds were a festering mess.

tyler bent closer, his voice filled with pain. "danny, you don't know what you're saying. you're hallucinating. go back to sleep." he glanced at me. "we have to knock him out again. we can't let him suffer like this."

"no," danny breathed, his lips almost unmoving. "give her my... blood. now."

i turned to eamon. his face was grim. he didn't like the idea any better than i did. i smoothed his hair back carefully. "danny, you're too damaged and you've lost too much blood. i can't let you do it."

"she needs it."

i glanced at naomi. he was right. neither of them appeared able to survive this on their own. danny looked horrible, but naomi had been hit harder. she was smaller and had been out there longer. her body was mangled and shredded beyond recognition. "i can't argue with you there, buddy, but you can't be the one to do it," i said.

tyler glared at me. "don't even think about it, jess."

"why not?" i snapped. "the wolves will never accept me anyway. i've been an outcast since the day i was born." my body tensed with emotion. "why wouldn't i choose to save a life? it's the right thing to do!"

"because it's not the right thing to do!" tyler shouted, jumping to his feet. "we are sworn enemies of the vampires. if they had their way, they would've annihilated our race long ago. they've always wanted supreme power over all the sects. their queen will not expect you to save this girl!" he gestured angrily at naomi. "and the wolves will never accept it."

"what he says is correct," eamon interrupted.

i narrowed my eyes at them both. "i don't care what the queen expects-or doesn't-or anyone else for that matter. if i can save naomi, i'm going to do it. she's already proven herself loyal on this journey. and danny was willing to give it to her, even in the shape he's in." i indicated to his bleeding body. "there's no reason for me not to try." i yanked up my shirtsleeve to prove my point. i stared at my brother, both of our eyes sparking, each of us growling. "you can leave if you can't take it, but i'm not going to stand by and let her die when i have a chance to save her. and after i'm done, i'm saving danny, even if i have to give him a blood transfusion. do you hear me? neither of them is going to die if i can help it." my voice came out in a wash of power all on its own, my wolf chiming in with a ferocious snarl.

tyler took an inadvertent step back, frustration and anger creasing his brows. "if you think i'm going to stay here and see you sacrifice yourself to save a vamp, think again." he turned and stormed off into the forest. i knew he wouldn't go far. he wouldn't leave danny for very long.

once he was gone, i scooted next to naomi. she was so broken. i swallowed. "okay, what do i do?" i turned to eamon, who seemed as stunned as tyler that i was actually going to go through with it. "eamon." i snapped my fingers in front of his face. "let's get moving. what do i do now?'

eamon physically shook himself. "bring your wrist up to her mouth. i do not know if the venom has rendered her senses deadened or not, but once she has the taste of your blood on her lips, she should latch on by herself. when you feel she's taken enough, you will need to sever the contact by ripping your wrist away. she will not let go on her own. if you do not, she will drink you dry."

well... hmm.

i had a throwing knife sheathed on my waist. i drew it out and positioned it above my wrist. my wolf snarled a warning, making me falter for a moment. what? you don't want to save a life? you were behind me just a moment ago. she snapped her jaws twice, showing me a picture of wolves-only wolves-surrounding us. a life is a life, even an undead one. naomi was forced to help us by her queen and she doesn't deserve to end like this-i don't care if she's not our kind. she lifted her head once, brought it back down, and sat, resigned.

i exhaled the breath i'd held and sliced the knife cleanly across my wrist. blood flowed out in a rush, but i had to move quickly because it wouldn't run for long.

i angled my wrist down toward naomi's mangled lips, dripping blood onto them and into her mouth. she stirred after a moment, moaning faintly.

eamon's breath hitched as he watched my blood flow into his sister's mouth. vampires didn't need to breathe, but in order to talk they had to take in air. "i must leave now." he rose quickly. "thank you... for helping her. it is a debt we will repay as required by our laws, decided by our queen." he shot up into the air.

right then naomi latched on to my wrist. her sharp teeth punctured it deeply, hitting bone. "jesus!" i yelled, grabbing on to my forearm with my other hand to keep it in place, resisting the urge to pull back as she began sucking ravenously. my wolf let out a howl in my mind. it's okay. we'll pull back soon.