Asylum (Causal Enchantment #2)(48)

My own eyes roamed the crowd, searching in vain for any sign of the mutants. Happily, there hadn’t been an attack yet. They were showing restraint. But I knew they were here. There was no way they could pass up a thriving scene like this.

We passed a young blonde man and my eyes locked with his as he attempted a covert look-over while taking a drink. It was enough for me to catch the small mark on his hand—a deformed cross. The Sentinel were here, too. They must be watching us. Too coincidental to be otherwise. Great. Well, as long as they remained watchful and nothing more, we would have no trouble with them tonight. I continued shifting through the crowd, marking the Sentinel’s location for future reference.

And then I spotted them—two people hunched over in the shadows of a dark corner, their black hoodies pulled up to conceal their faces. But their eyes couldn’t be hidden. Demonic white eyes peered out from the darkness, delightedly studying the crowds, scouting their next victims. Mutants. There were only two, though. Where were the other three? I grabbed Caden’s arm. “To your left. By the speakers.” Caden’s eyes quickly zoned in and his body jerked forward to attack. I squeezed his arm, stopping him. “If the others see us, they’ll escape. We need to find them all first.”

“I’ll watch from here,” Amelie offered, her eyes shifting over to the group of lewd guys by the wall.

“Amelie!” I warned sternly.

“I know, don’t kill them,” she drawled, rolling her eyes like a petulant teenager.

With that, Caden and I slid through the crowd toward the mutants, separating as we got closer and surveying the area around them for the others.

I was perhaps twenty feet away when the first waves of magic hit me. Someone was casting a spell. I searched the crowd for the source, and immediately locked eyes with Mage as she pushed her way toward me. Her panicked expression told me she could feel it too. “We have to get out of here,” I mouthed to her. She jerked her chin toward the nearest exit. I nodded, and turned to locate Caden and Amelie.

I came face to face with cloudy irises. A man stood two feet away, average-looking and on the smaller side, staring at me with empty, dead eyes—not dazed as if compelled; dead.

I turned in a full circle, seeing the others closing in, encircling us—eight zombie-like men in total. I watched with odd fascination as three hands floated up to seize my shoulders and arm. The instant their fingers made contact, I felt it—magic, oozing out of them. No emotions. No intentions. Magic. They were under a witch spell. What kind, I had no idea. Something hypnotic and very powerful.

I reached up and picked off one of the hands, quickly scanning it for markings before I dropped it. No Sentinel cross. These were just plain old humans under the spell of a witch, obviously intent on getting to me. It had to be Ursula.

I twisted and shook my body to toss the other two hands off me. I began moving forward, trying to push through the circle. The man directly in front of me reached toward the back pocket of his jeans. His hand returned, brandishing a knife. I couldn’t help it, I laughed. What did that idiot Ursula think a knife would do?

I prepared for the zombie’s clumsy lunge, one I could easily outmaneuver. Only it didn’t come. Instead, he turned the blade toward his own wrist and slid it across his flesh. Just as Mage had done earlier. Blood immediately poured out—fresh human blood. Ursula’s trying to get me to attack, cause a scene, reveal myself for what I am. My control was too strong for that. But there were ten vampires in here who could not say the same.

“No!” I screamed, sensing someone rushing in from my left—Amelie, unprepared for the sudden rush of fresh blood. Caden was immediately behind her, and gripped her in a headlock to restrain her. Her arms flailed wildly, her clawed hands scratching the air as she screamed in frustration.

The crowd was moving back as people sensed the commotion, saw the man’s wrist, the blood. If we could just get out of here . . . The glint of a new blade caught the corner of my eye. I turned to see the other zombies brandishing knives as well. With quick, intentional movements, seven more wrists were opened. The overpowering scent of blood hit me like a blow to the face. And then a shrill scream cut through the deafening music.

On the other side of the zombie circle, Bishop was holding back an equally ferocious Fiona. By the pained expression on his face, he was fighting his own urge. He wouldn’t be able to hold himself off much longer. We had to contain this mess now.

And just like that, it was too late. Four mutants dove into the circle before me, the fresh blood luring them. They attacked the bleeding men like hungry wolves, tearing and slashing with their teeth and hands. Drunk and stoned patrons stampeded toward the various exits, crawling, pushing, and screaming the entire way. Most couldn’t know what was happening, what with the strobe lights still pulsating and the music still pounding, the effects challenging their eyes and ears. But their human instincts told them to run and so they ran. Pandemonium had officially broken out.

Mage stepped in behind two of the mutants, too distracted by their victims to notice her. Her hands reached toward their backs, and their bodies arched, then toppled to the ground, leaving Mage with fists full of bloody hearts. Quick and definitive. Purposeful, that was Mage. Throwing the mutant hearts to the ground by my feet, she swiftly dispatched the other two mutants, equally engrossed and oblivious to what was happening. She tossed their hearts to join the others then, looking up at me, mouthed the order, “Burn it all.”