“Pax!” Hope dropped the candy and reacted without thinking, rushing around the torn sofa to her friend. Her best friend.

Paelotin slammed the door shut, and she jumped, grasping Pax’s uninjured arm.

Pax shoved to his feet, his hands bleeding, his cheek already darkening with a bruise. “Hope. What the heck? You run from danger, not into it.” His smile showed bloody teeth and his pupils were dilated from being hit. He pushed her behind him and stood straighter than she’d ever seen him. “Hope is leaving. If you want to finish with me, that’s fine. But she needs to go first.”

When had Pax gotten so tall? He’d gone through a growth spurt when he’d turned thirteen, and now he had to be at least six feet tall and thin. The boyish chubbiness he’d always lamented was gone, leaving him gangly and wiry. No match for his father, who was at least eight inches and a hundred pounds or more bigger than Pax.

Her voice shook. “Come with me, Pax.” She’d known he didn’t like his dad, but he’d always said there was no physical hitting, and she’d never been allowed to just drop in before. He’d lied. “You can stay with me.” Her dad would never let Pax be hit like this.

“My boy stays here,” Paelotin snarled, his hands curling into beefy fists.

Hope’s legs shook.

Pax lifted his chin, even though blood was dripping from his neck to stain his T-shirt. “Hope? Take the back door and go home to your grandparents. Tell Cara and Talen that everything is fine here.” His voice cracked.

“No,” she whispered, her voice trembling. She moved over the broken glass around him and slid her hand into his, facing the threat. Her uncle Garrett had taught her always to face the threat. “I’m not leaving you.”

Pax’s hand tightened over hers.

Paelotin smiled and his eyes looked kind of funny. He burped. Was he drunk? How much did a vampire have to drink to actually get drunk? “Aren’t you the loyal little bitch?”

Her eyes widened and her stomach cramped. Nobody had ever called her anything like that. “Um.”

“And a prophet. A freaking lunatic prophet who’ll ruin us all.” He took a step toward them, and she gasped, tightening her grip on Pax’s hand. She should’ve run to get help. Now what were they going to do? “You’re more dangerous than any Kurjan enemy alive, and you have demon in you,” he slurred, kicking the broken table out of the way. “Maybe I should do what needs to be done.”

Pax shoved her behind him again. “Run, Hope. Now.”

Chapter 19

Chapter 19