Jerry throws a ball of yellow energy at my head. I duck and it slams into the wall behind me. The orb sizzles and pops before dissipating, leaving a black scorch mark on the peeling wallpaper.

  “Jerry, I’m gonna need you to calm down.” Grampire ducks as he screeches and throws a fireball her way. “A grown man throwing a tantrum over some flowers. Unbelievable.”

  “What do we do?!” I yell at Grampire. A cup whizzes by my head and I dodge, but a kitchen knife knicks my arm as it flies by.

  “Not die,” Grampire grunts. She doesn’t even look remotely worried, even as Jerry throws more energy at her rapid fire.

  “You come to my home,” Jerry rants, voice booming in the tiny room, flinging kitchenware and pens and books everywhere, “wake me up, and burn down my garden?!”

  “It was an accident,” I cry, but I’m winded when a book slams into my stomach and knocks me to the ground. I lie flat on my back, groaning.

  Grampire yanks me upright again by my shirt. “Any particular reason you’re not a wolf right now?”

  “This is my only pair of clothes,” I wheeze. “If I rip them, I’ll be wearing your bathrobe forever.”

  Grampire curses under her breath, but gives me the tire iron. “Take this and hit him when he’s not looking.”

  “But what about you?”

  Grampire grins. “Won’t need it.”

  I blink and Grampire streaks across the room toward the raging Wizard. He tries to shield himself by yanking his couch in front of him, but Grampire punches right through it. Wood and stained upholstery fly in chunks behind her. The Wizard screeches and leaps backward, into the living room.

  “And now you’re destroying my furniture?! You won’t live to see the sunrise.”

  The Wizard claps his hands together and the floorboards groan. I yelp when the floor comes alive and wood planks chomps onto my sneakers. Grampire growls in annoyance as the floor grabs her crocs. He reacts quickly and throws balls of light at Grampire. One hits her square in the chest, but she doesn’t flinch. She yanks her foot free and grits her teeth.

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  “And you ruined my shoes. Let’s call it even and relax.”

  “Never!” The Wizard casts another spell and the light comes barreling at me. I try to dodge, but my foot—oh shit, it’s gonna—

  The ball of light hits me, but unlike Grampire, I do flinch. It hurts. It feels like getting nailed by a speeding dodgeball made of lead. I’m flung backwards into the wall, the tire iron knocked from my hand.

  I stare at the ceiling, ears ringing. I might not have to worry about being cursed, or my family accepting me again. An old man in a shower curtain is gonna kill me.

  “Get up, Malia,” Grampire shouts over my newfound tinnitus. “You ain’t dead yet.”

  Yet is the operative word here. Still, I struggle upright as Grampire finally gets close enough to punch the Wizard. But when she swings, he dodges and scurries to the kitchen. Grampire groans and rubs her back. I gasp, the pace of the fight clicking into my brain. Grampire’s like a sledgehammer; extremely powerful, causes devastating damage, but she’s slow. And as the fight continues, she’s slowing down even more.

  “Enough! I’ve had enough!” The Wizard reaches into a cookie jar and withdraws a thin paring knife that’s tapered to a point.

  My body shivers in alarm and almost transforms without my permission. The scent of danger floods my nose, my heart beats raggedly against my ribs, and every hair on my body stands at attention.

  The knife is made of silver.

  Grampire moves away from the Wizard and backs up until she’s in front of me. She holds her right arm out. I almost give her the tire iron before I recognize the stance—she’s protecting me.

  “Malia, stay back.” Her voice has lost all the joking and nonchalance. It’s deep and serious. I look from her to the Wizard, my anxiety ramping up. One nick will make me sick for days, and if I’m stabbed, it’ll be fatal. But vampires are weak against silver too. She might not die right away, but it’ll hurt.

  “Grampire—”

  “Do what I say.” There’s no room for argument in her tone. I shut up and she cracks her knuckles. “I was gonna take it easy on you, Jerry, but now that you’ve pulled out the big guns, I guess I gotta too.”

  Grampire closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, they flash bright red. Intense fear fills me from my head to my toes, and she’s not even looking at me. The Wizard squeals in horror and his hands tremble so bad, the knife drops uselessly from his hands. Grampire springs into action as soon as it clanks on the ground. She rears back and punches the Wizard in the face. There’s so much force, his head whips backward and then up in half a second. I hear his nose break from feet away. The Wizard lets out one more cry and then slumps to the ground, bleeding from his nose and out cold.

  The enchanted items lose their yellow glow and crash to the floor. The door swings open with a rusty creak, allowing moonlight into the dark house. There’s a heavy silence while Grampire licks blood off her knuckles.

  “Disgusting,” she mutters, then wipes her hand on the Wizard’s cloak. She turns to me and smiles. Her gold fang glints in the moonlight. “Congrats on winning your first fight.”

  “Thanks,” I squeak, and then immediately throw up.

  Grampire sighs as I vomit up my stomach contents. “Clearly we’ve got a lot of work to do.”