Night Fever (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 3) by Audrey Claire Read Free Book Online Page A

to take in the scene around me. Violet had squeezed off a few shots into another ghoul, who was coming toward her. Her boyfriend also held his weapon in his hand.
    “What the hell is going on here?” he shouted and pulled the trigger a couple times. “They’re not staying down.”
    My distraction cost me when the ghoul I had been fighting landed on top of me, and I found myself pinned to the floor. He bit into my shoulder, and I howled in pain.
    “Get off her.” Violet’s boyfriend made his way around the ghoul attacking him to try to get to me. I threw a hand out to him as I reached over my shoulder to knot my fingers into the ghoul’s head.
    “Don’t come any closer,” I commanded him. “I’ll take care of myself.”
    The human didn’t know I was a vampire, and he couldn’t offer me more help than I could offer myself. I would have loved to have the luxury of waiting until he turned his head, but I might end up a chew toy. Not a cool prospect. I flattened both hands on the floor under me and shoved upward. The ghoul tumbled backward. I saw from the corner of my eyes that Violet’s beau was amazed at my strength, but I ignored him for now.
    Thrusting an elbow into the solar plexus of the ghoul, I stomped on his instep. The ghoul gave a short grunt, and I grabbed his head over my shoulder and gave it a sharp twist. He crumpled, and this time, he didn’t get up again.
    “Cam,” Violet cried out in alarm.
    So that was the boyfriend’s name. I finished with my issue just in time to see Violet about to wolf out because a ghoul had Cam by the throat. The creature had knocked the cop’s gun away and wiggled Cam as if he were a rag doll. I jumped ahead of Violet just as she reached the two and bumped her backward as I caught the ghoul with a hand across his forehead to keep him from biting.
    “Get a hold of yourself,” I whispered to Violet.
    Her growl was way more animalistic than the ghouls had been uttering. The ghoul strained my muscles to keep him held off. Cam fought with everything he had as well to get the fingers wrapped around his neck off. He gagged, fighting for a breath. I knew I had no choice but to use all of my strength right in front of him. Violet wavered between hating my guts and being a friend—in my mind—so if I let her boyfriend die without even trying to save him, that would be very bad. So, I dug deep.
    I held onto the ghoul and trapped his head in between my bicep and forearm. Good thing he was another short one like me. With the other hand I thrust against Cam’s chest. He flew ten feet across the floor and landed on his butt. When he went down, he slammed an arm against one of the seats and not the cushiony part. He toppled over facedown, but I heard him dragging in shallow breaths.
    I spun to face Violet and caught her snarling at me, teeth shifting to the wolf’s, and her eyes blazed yellow. That was all I needed, to deal with an angry werewolf while also fighting off ghouls. After I made short work of the ghoul, I moved away from Violet. Her anger unleashed on a few others, thank goodness.
    An eternity passed before the last ghoul dropped to my feet. Violet and I stood above the carnage, her panting, me not doing too good. Cam made a sound, and my head snapped on my neck toward him, similar to what had happened to the earlier ghoul when I hit him.
    “Get out,” Violet whispered in a gruff voice. She hadn’t shifted down to normal yet. “If you attack him, I’ll kill you.”
    The girl who had fainted started coming around as well and a few other humans. A couple had been killed. Blood lust made my throat and eyes burn. The girl reached tearfully toward me. I moved away from her so fast, taking up a spot in the far corner of the theatre. I watched as she swiveled her head this way and that looking for me, and I was sure she thought she imagined I had stood over her. The distance between us, however, wasn’t enough, especially not when she and the other humans made odd