"No!" I'd never heard Dahlia sound so crazed, and for her, that's saying something. But it didn't register with me immediately. Not until Nathan was pulling on my elbow—how long had he been doing that?—urging me to my feet. When I didn't stand, he swept me up in his arms, cradling me to his chest, and charged through the window. A flash of light illuminated the study—probably a spell of Dahlia's intended for us—and then we were slipping down the lawn the way we had the night Nathan had lost Ziggy in the very room I'd just lost Cyrus.

The irony would have been more poignant if I hadn't been losing my mind to grief at an accelerated pace.

Once we were off the grounds and hidden for a moment, he slowed. I noted from a faraway place the blood streaming down his face from cuts left by the shattered window glass.

"Carrie, are you all right?" He shook me. "Carrie, say something. Say something!"

I turned my eyes to the sky. "I can't see the stars."

And then I couldn't say another word.

Chapter Twenty-Five
Bite

It only took a second for the kid to make up his mind. Max saw the decision-making process in slow motion: recognition, realization that the plan must be changed, new plan taking shape.

Ziggy lifted his arm as if he was going to drive the stake into Max's chest. Bella screamed. The kid spun and let the stake loose. It punctured the Oracle's chest, fast and clean, but she didn't burn.

She laughed. The laughter grew louder as the guards approached them, stakes drawn. Without hesitation, the kid slipped two from his sleeves straight into his hands, and let them fly in quick succession. This time, the strikes hit home. The vampires exploded into dust.

Ziggy turned to the Oracle. "Hold still, bitch, unless you want another abnormally large splinter."

"You think you can kill me?" The Oracle laughed again, twisting the stake free from her chest. "You think you can cause me pain? You have no idea of pain. No concept!"

"Oh, lady. You have it so fucking wrong." He reached into the back of his shirt and pulled out another stake twirling it in his hand as he raised his arm.

Max had worked with a lot of assassins in the past. The Movement had the most specialized hand-to-hand training program outside of the Israeli military. But Max had never seen reflexes like this, let alone spatial accuracy in the blink of an eye.

But the kid didn't get a chance to use his mad skills. Without warning, the Oracle burst into flames, from the feet up. Fire shot from her eyes and mouth, her fingers melted and flames licked up her arms from the stumps.

"Looks like the Soul Eater had the balls to do it, after all! This one is gonna be bad," Max called to Ziggy, dropping to cover Bella. "Grab something and hang on."