Page 136 of Devoted

Someone ran past the arched opening leading down to the infirmary.

Not hurried—ran.

The flat-out sprint of a vampire fleeing from danger, feet barely touching the marble before they were gone, the sound swallowed up by the long corridor.

Danger practically pulsed through the air, and I glanced up at Dante.

His entire demeanor shifted into violence, big body bent into a crouch, braced for an attack. “Get behind me, Emberline. Until we know what’s happening.”

Before I could move, a second person flew past, little more than a streak of darkness. Running in the same direction. Not screaming—which was somehow worse—just the frantic slap slap slap of footsteps, here, then gone.

Dante moved me behind him with one arm, his grip steady and firm. For once, I didn’t resist. My instincts were going wild, hair standing on end, as though, on a physical level, I recognized the looming threat, but my mind was still catching up.

I pulled a blade from my boot—thank the gods I had one—falling into the same ready crouch as my husband.

Then something else came down the corridor.

The sound reached us first—that thin, rhythmic clicking I’d first heard echoing down a long, dark tunnel, the sound so deeply embedded in my nightmares I still heard it every time I closed my eyes. A black, jointed leg bent around the door frame, the hard-shelled body following, bobbing up and down with every multi-legged step.

Another Drax.

Inside the villa.

Somehow, the beast didn’t notice us, moving past the opening in three lurching, insectile steps, then vanished.

“Tell me,” I panted, fear clawing up my throat, “that wasn’t what I think it was?”

Somewhere deeper in the villa, something heavy crashed. Screams were followed by Gabriel’s hoarse shout, cut off too quickly.

“Dante.”

“I heard him.” He tightened his grip on my wrist. “Stay right behind me.”

We inched deeper into the building. To our left, black, oily tar streaked the glossy floor. Drops of blood led to our right. Dante followed the blood, the corridor lit by the reassuring glow of expensive glass sconces, but everything else felt wrong—the reek in the air, the way the shadows moved along the walls as if they’d come alive.

More screaming erupted behind us, frantic and hysterical.

“They’re inside,” I breathed. “How the fuck are they inside the wards?”

“I think…” Dante paused, carefully turning to look at me. “Blackwood has been inside since the beginning.” All the hairs on my body stood on end as realization hit me like a punch.

Through Luca. Ever since Blackwood put his magic inside my brother, he’d had eyes inside our safest place. Since then, our protections had meant nothing.

He’s been inside all along. Emilia’s voice in my head, from days ago, and Nico—we searched every inch of the villa and came up empty.

But they hadn’t searched everywhere.

Barricaded inside his room, Luca had met us at the door that day, convinced us he’d been sleeping. Horrified, I worked backward through what I suspected—he’d made the nests. He was a Summoner. The Drax were inside my brother’s room.

“Dante. They’re coming from Luca’s room.”

“Yeah, I just figured that out.”

We crept through the halls toward the infirmary. Toward Gabriel’s voice… toward my brother.

All around us the villa was alive with the sounds of fighting—screams and shrieks, the clicking of mandibles and skittering feet, heavy crashes and glass shattering. Gunfire ricocheted down the long hallways, echoing away into silence.

We followed the blood trail leading straight into Luca’s room, Dante’s fingers tightening over my wrist, my pulse thrumming frantically as he crossed the threshold, bringing me with him.