The room was huge, with high vaulted ceilings and covered windows set into the walls. It was also full of vampires, a huge crowd of them, all chanting. They were so focused on the scene ahead of them that they didn’t see Elayn slip into the room and slide along the wall to get a better vantage point.

She saw Serana first, bound on her knees in the middle of a series of interlocking circles painted in red. Then she saw Harkon, hands pressed to the edge of the outermost circle. The room smelled like death, and when Elayn looked she could see the corpses of humans slain to make those bloody marks. There were yet more humans surrounding the space where the circles were, making a wall of kneeling bodies to keep any intruders back. This would not be easy. She would get one chance to disrupt the ritual, she would have to make it count.

So she went for the easiest target. Harkon couldn’t make a move to defend himself.

Elayn leaped on the shoulders of a vampire in front of her, knocking him down as she launched herself from there past the crowd. She broke through the ring of human slaves and bounded for the vampire lord. It was easy to sink her teeth into the back of his neck and shake him like a rabbit, breaking his neck. It wouldn’t kill him immediately, but it would certainly stop him from continuing the ritual.

In the span of a breath, three things happened. First, the vampires surrounding her hissed in collective outrage. Second, she snapped at the ropes around her mistress, freeing her. Third, a horrible screeching sound filled the room.

Then Harkon’s corpse exploded, and Elayn was knocked senseless.

Fire. The room was on fire. It was already so hot, and it had only barely begun to spread. The force of the ritual being disrupted had flung her and Elayn clear of the flames and by the door. The vampires, and the humans being used for the ritual, weren’t so lucky; they caught the full fury of the pyroclastic blast that followed.

“Elayn!” she shouted over the noise, crawling over to shake the unconscious, furry body of the woman she was quickly realizing she loved. “We’ve got to get moving!”

At first she got no response, then Elayn’s leg twitched, and her eyes opened. She jumped to her feet and shook herself mightily, then looked up at Serana with silver eyes that said she agreed.

They took off out the door, shutting it behind them, and already smoke was bleeding through the cracks between it and the wall. Down the halls they went, Elayn after Serana, their way clear of vampires who had all been attending the ritual. Then, when the door was in sight and the hall was beginning to fill with smoke, she skidded to a halt and felt Elayn collide with her.

“The humans,” she said frantically. “We have to get the humans out of here.”

Elayn sneezed and nodded and took off in another direction. She followed the scent of human to one of the serving stairwells that led to the kitchen. They were all there, gathered together by Tess who looked like she was hiding her fear well.

“What’s going on Lady Serana?” she demanded, as respectful as could be given the circumstances.

“My father is dead,” she said. Explanations could wait. “We need to get out of this castle.”

Smoke was starting to fill the air as she and Elayn led the humans out through the great hall where it all had begun. They ran out the huge door leading outside, through the field between them and the gate.

“Open it!” Serana shouted at the guard, who hurried to obey.

Past the gate, well into the forest beyond, Elayn started to relax, and she slowed to a stop, the humans following them following suit. They were near a brook, she could hear it burbling peacefully in the background, and it eased her further. She changed back, and when she was done shaking the magic from her limbs, she looked to Serana.

“What do we do now?”

She considered that. “Do you think that cabin you mentioned might have room for a few more people?”