Dunham was a few feet away from me, pressing his left hand to his other shoulder and grimacing, blood seeping between his fingers. Dauda-dagr lay beside him where it had fallen, wisps of frost rising from it. With a concerted effort of will, I wriggled my bound arms over my hips, squirming until I was able to pull my legs through.

“Daisy!” Cody was covering the room, unable to pick out a clear target in the fighting. “You okay?”

“Yeah!” With my hands before me, I made an awkward dive for the dagger, the breath going out of my lungs as my belly hit the floor. I spat out a mouthful of blood, inching forward until the fingers of my right hand closed around the leather-wrapped hilt. Its bracing coolness had never felt sweeter.

Cody scanned the room. “Where’s Dunham’s gun?”

“On the bar.” Getting my legs back underneath me, I wedged the hilt between my knees and sawed at the rope around my wrists. Dauda-dagr’s blade parted the strands effortlessly. “Stefan?”

Stefan groaned . . . and did the impossible.

Reaching across with his uninjured left arm, he retrieved his sword, grabbing it by the blade and planting the hilt on the floor. Using the sword’s leverage, he rolled over, the edges of the blade slicing his palm as he heaved himself to his shattered knees and planted the sword’s tip against the center of his chest. His black hair hung around his face, and his breathing sounded labored but steady.

The sound I let out as Stefan lurched forward, using all his strength to impale himself on the blade, was somewhere between a gasp and a shriek. The one I emitted as the sword’s tip emerged from between his shoulder blades to tent the back of his leather vest was more of a whimper.

Once again, time . . . stuttered.

It was like watching the flickering images of an old black-and-white film. One instant Stefan knelt impaled; the next, he was on his feet, whole and uninjured, the sword in his right hand. Dead one instant, cast out of heaven and hell and back onto the mortal plane in the next. I’d seen it happen with Ray D, but this?

If I were the fainting type, now would definitely be the time. Instead, I severed the ropes around my ankles.

“Guard the women and keep watch over Dunham,” Stefan said to Cody, who nodded, phosphorescent green shimmering behind his eyes. “I will handle the others.”

Shrugging off the last of the ropes, I watched him exert his control over the remaining ghouls.

The only one who made a move to resist was Johnny, reaching to reload his shotgun. Stefan was on him in two swift steps, his sword held low, the tip of his blade hovering in the vicinity of Johnny’s belly.