“Then stop believing we will be. Have a little faith, Bennett. Have faith in me, and in us, and…and in all of us. That bastard in there is not going to win because Ruby and Polly and Angelique and I all have faith in ourselves and in each other.” Lisa took Bennett’s hand. “The only question is, do you?”

Bennett looked into Lisa’s eyes and wondered how many times this woman would take her breath away. “Christ, I love you.”

“Good,” Lisa said, giving Bennett a quick peck on the cheek. “Now, let’s go kick some booty.”

***

Lisa had spoken the truth, and when Ruby, Polly, and Angelique followed Lisa and Bennett into the house, they did it confident they would prevail. A moment later, their faith wavered just a little.

Someone had removed not only all the furniture but the dead as well. The only signs of the murdered guardians and servants were the dried bloodstains on the floor. But it was the living that gave the women cause for concern.

With swords drawn, across the way were at least thirty vampires displaying fangs in their sneers. Their eyes were blazing blue, and with knuckles white as they gripped the hilts of their weapons, they breathed as one. Standing like statues, they were chillingly patient as they waited for the battle to begin.

“I don’t get it,” Polly whispered. “Why didn’t they come outside?”

“Not enough collars,” Bennett said quietly, her eyes traveling from one neck of her enemy to the next.

“What?”

“Only a few are wearing the blasted things, so those monsters outside would have come after them, too. They had to stay in here.”

“So, why aren’t they mov—”

The room suddenly erupted in war cries as Napoleon’s coven charged the women, and a few seconds later, the fight was on.

Divide and conquer was the name of the game, and while Bennett stood her ground, Polly and Angelique moved to her right while Lisa and Ruby covered her left.

Lisa’s first parry was almost her last. As Bennett had predicted, those inside Napoleon’s house were much stronger than those now in pieces on the front lawn. Having underestimated the power of her opponent, when Lisa blocked the man’s first strike, it sent her stumbling backward. It was yet another lesson, and Lisa learned it well. She righted herself, her eyes becoming azure lasers as she attacked the man with a ferocity he wasn’t expecting. Three strikes later, Lisa drove her sword into his heart, and he dissolved into dust in front of her eyes. “Okay, that was way cool,” she said before moving onto the next.