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reels on a slot machine. Although the gale-force winds instantly died away, she still held a fistful of crackling lightning.
    Freed from his trance, the dealer abruptly jerkedawake and fled into the darkness beyond the ring of lights surrounding the plaza. In the next moment the heavyset, bearded dealer seated on the bench jumped to his feet and pulled a compound crossbow out of his shopping bag.
    â€œVan Helsings!” Jules shouted in warning.
    â€œLilith! Look out!” Tanith screamed.
    As Lilith ran toward her friends, she looked over her shoulder just in time to see the vampire hunter fire his weapon at her. Instinctively she threw herself to one side at the last second, the arrow coming so close it grazed her rib as it flew by. Tanith wasn’t as lucky. She hit the ground like a dropped doll, the bolt from the crossbow jutting from her breast.
    Lilith fell to her knees beside her friend. “Get up, Tanith! You have to get up!”
    As the vampire hunter raised his weapon for a second shot, the New Blood flicked her wrist, tossing the lightning ball at him, then turned and fled, disappearing into the shadows without looking back.
    There was a horrific scream, followed by the smell of burning flesh and hair, as the fistful of lightning struck the vampire hunter square in the chest. He dropped his crossbow and fell to the ground in a twitching heap.
    Jules stood over Lilith as she knelt beside Tanith’s body, frantically scanning the area for signs of more Van Helsings. Although he had never gone up against them before, he knew the vampire hunters didn’t travelalone. Sure enough, he spotted three more, dressed like drug dealers, running toward them from the other side of the park, each armed with a crossbow.
    â€œIt’s an ambush!” Jules shouted as he yanked Lilith to her feet. “Forget about Tanith—she’s dead! We’ve got to get out of—!” Before he could finish his sentence, the closest of the advancing Van Helsings fired on him. The young vampire roared in pain and leaped at his attackers, fangs and claws bared.
    The Van Helsing instinctively fell back, screaming as a monster with the wings of a bat and the face of a man swooped toward him, an arrow in its thigh.
    Jules grabbed the vampire hunter’s crossbow with his clawlike feet, yanking it and its owner into the air.
    â€œShoot it!” the Van Helsing yelled as he struggled to free himself from Jules’s clutches. “Don’t worry about hitting me! Just shoot!”
    Jules banked sharply and let go of his unwilling passenger, sending the Van Helsing flying into a park bench. As the other vampire hunters hurried to their comrade’s aid, Jules soared into the night, leaving Lilith to escape the best she could.
    Â 
    â€œDamn it, the stormgatherer got away,” Drummer growled as he got to his feet.
    â€œAre you okay?”
    â€œI’ll live.” His right arm felt like it had been wrenched from its socket, and he was pretty sure he had at leastone cracked rib, but all things considered, he was in fairly decent shape. He waved the others away with a pained grimace. “Don’t worry about me—go see to Big Ike.”
    Rémy, the older of the two, hurried over to the big man’s body and checked his pulse. “He’s badly burned—especially his hands—but he’s still alive. Lucky for him he was wearing rubber-soled shoes.”
    â€œGet on the horn to removal,” Drummer grunted. “Tell them we have a man down.”
    â€œWhat about her?” Kevin pointed at the body of the vampiress sprawled across the pavement.
    â€œYou know the drill,” Drummer replied. “Suckers like to play possum. We have to make sure she’s dead.”
    â€œGotcha,” Kevin replied as he pulled his Ghurka knife from its sheath and cautiously nudged the body with his boot. “You know, I’ve never seen a sucker summon up a tornado