“Calling out Havoc was the biggest mistake you ever made,” Kyler snarls as Billie helps Mitch to his feet, and the three of them gang up on me. I can take Billie. I can take Kyler. I think I can even take Mitch. But all of them at the same time? That’s a tall order. I’m a scrappy bitch, not some UFC champion.

“Bernadette!” I can hear Aaron calling to me through the pounding beat of the music, but I’m gritting my teeth too hard to respond. When I glance to my right, I can see him, on his knees, blood pooling on the floor. Danny and a few of the other clown-mask wearing guys are holding him down, forcing him to watch whatever the fuck Kyler, Mitch, and Billie have planned for me.

“Hold her down,” Billie commands as she straddles me, and I flail beneath her. Mitch is stepping on my left arm, crushing my wrist into the ground as Kyler keeps his tight grip on my hair. My scalp and arm are a mess of pain, but I’m not done fighting yet. I spit in Billie’s face as she accepts a pocketknife from Mitch.

She frowns at me and swipes her hand over those pretty features of hers, but she doesn’t move.

“Shouldn’t you be at home with your baby instead of out here causing trouble?” I snap. I’m not really into mom-shaming, but come on, Billie’s a shitty mom if she’d rather incite gang violence than spend Halloween with her kid.

“Don’t you even mention my goddamn kid,” she says, flicking open the knife and then grinning at me. “What should we cut off first? Your hair? Your nose? Or maybe your tits? Considering what your boys did to Donald, I think all three of those things would be more than fair.”

“What do you give a shit about Donald Asher?” I ask, but Billie just slams the tip of the knife into my arm, and a scream tears from my throat. Sharp, searing pain rackets up my arm and into my head, turning my skull into a mess of white-hot agony.

“I don’t. But fair’s fair. Clearly, Havoc has no boundaries, so why should we?” Billie pulls the knife from my arm and spins it around in her fingers. “And we’re not letting you hurt Kali. There’s not a soul at Prescott who doesn’t know you’re gunning for her.” She traces the tip of the knife against my lower lip. All I can hear is the pounding beat of my heart, and the rush of blood in my ears. If she mutilates me, do I really care? I’ve honestly never wanted to be pretty.

“Are you enjoying this, Aaron?” Mitch snarls, fresh blood staining the bandage on his shoulder. “I hope so. Because when Billie’s done, I’m going to let Logan and Danny have their way with your chick, right in front of you.”

Aaron tears his arms from the grips of the guys holding him and manages to slam his elbow into the crotch of one of them before three more guys pile on, crushing him to the floor.

“Oh,” Billie says, slicing a line from the corner of my eye to the edge of my mouth. Pain follows along in the wake of the blood, but I manage to keep myself stone-still, quiet, blank. I don’t waste energy on protesting; I look for an out or an escape or at least a way to inflict some serious damage. I figure if I go down, at least they hurt with me. “Aaron doesn’t like the idea of sharing. Funny that, considering you whore yourself out to all five Havoc Boys.”

“Doesn’t bother Mitch that Kali’s cheating on him with some douche from Oak Valley Prep, so I don’t see why you give a crap,” I blurt back, and Billie hits me as hard as she can in the face. I see stars, but all I have to do is keep them busy for a few. The other boys will be here; they’ll come. I fucking know it.

“We’re running out of time,” Kyler says, glancing over his shoulder, like he can feel the same energy that I feel. Havoc doesn’t play games. They don’t lose. They used to be my tormentors, but now they’re my dark angels. I turn my head and make eye contact with Aaron. He’s gone completely still, building up energy as he pants and bleeds, waiting for one last chance to break free.

His green-gold eyes meet mine, and I can see a million different truths just waiting there to be revealed. He didn’t want me in Havoc because he knew that, eventually, something like this would happen. In his own way, Aaron was trying to protect me.

“We should take these assholes with us and go,” Mitch adds, and Billie scowls.

“Why? Take them where? We’re in the middle of the fucking woods. And you said you had enough guys to deal with Havoc. Let’s bring the other four in here and they can all watch as you take turns on their girl.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Danny says, laughing. His eyes rake over me before he splits off from the group and disappears momentarily. Meanwhile, Billie continues playing with her knife, cutting open the front of my cheerleading costume with a laugh, exposing a large portion of my breasts.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Mitch says, swiping at the sweat on his face. “Let’s just kick the shit out of these two and call it a win. I don’t want to stick around here any longer than necessary.”

“Don’t be such a pussy,” Billie snaps as Danny comes back into the room and kicks one of the fog machines against the wall, shattering it into black plastic bits. “Well?” she asks, looking up at her boyfriend’s brother.

“There are a few people passed out in the foyer, but that’s it. Looks like our guys chased theirs into the woods.” Danny checks his phone, scrolling through messages. “Nate says they’ve lost most of them in the trees, and they’re heading back this way now.”

“Good,” Mitch says, pushing down a little harder on my arm. “What about Vic?”

“Dunno,” Danny says, tapping out a text message. He pauses a moment and then shakes his head. “We can’t find any of the Havoc Boys.” He glances over at Aaron and then grins. “Except for this one.”

“Get fucked,” Aaron growls out, and gets a right hook to the face from Timmy for the trouble.

“I still say we take them with us and get out of here while we have the upper-hand,” Mitch continues, just before the sound of breaking glass gives us all pause.

“What upper-hand?” Vic asks, appearing from the fog with his bat in hand. He swings it hard and hits Mitch in the thigh, drawing a scream from one of the Charter brothers while the other—Logan—launches himself at Victor. The two of them end up in a fight while I use the moment of surprise to throw a punch at Billie’s face.

She howls with pain as Oscar appears and grabs Kyler around the neck, putting him in a chokehold and yanking him back. There’s a momentary burst of pain before Kyler loses his grip on my hair, and I sit up, shoving Billie off of me. She sprawls to the floor as I crawl over her, hitting her in the face. Once, twice, three times. As she groans and tries to crawl away from me, I stand up and turn to help Aaron.

But Callum’s already there with his own baseball bat, hitting Danny in the shoulder before he goes for Timmy next. Hael is on the other side, taking care of two more of the clown-masked wearing idiots.

I stand there stone-still in the middle of the brawl, breathing hard, watching as the boys systematically take down their rivals—skeletons versus clowns. It’s a ghastly sight, the fog swirling around our feet, clown faces leering at us from the ceiling. I have to say, Stacey Langford is one crazy bitch to have set all of this up.

Aaron finally finds his feet, panting and covered in blood. Our eyes meet, and his go wide.

“Bernadette!” he shouts, and I turn just in time to see Danny Ensbrook lift a revolver up and point it at my face. His finger clenches on the trigger, and my heart stops in my chest.

Callum’s bat hits him hard in the side of the neck, knocking him over and sending the shot wide. Danny stumbles, falling hard to the ground, the nails from the bat raking through the side of his throat. And then there’s blood, so much fucking blood.

The fight doesn’t stop though, the remaining members of Mitch’s gang throwing themselves at Havoc in one, last frenzied attack. Even Billie gets back to her feet, coming at me again. You’d think she’d have enough sense to get the hell out of there, but she must really want to prove herself. She throws her body into me again, knife point forward, but I knock the thrust aside and then hit her right in the throat.

She stumbles back as several more skeletons appear from the fog, tying up the loose ends and quieting the last of the dissenters. A few of the clowns take off when they realize this is over, that they’ve lost, abandoning their comrades in a way that Havoc never would.

“Everybody out,” Oscar says, nodding at Mitch Charter, groaning and passed out on the floor by Vic’s feet. “And take everyone but Danny with you.”

The unnamed Havoc Boys scramble to follow Oscar’s orders, leaving us alone with Danny Ensbrook. It takes me a minute to figure out why he’d be the exception to the rule. But then I look down and notice that my sneakers are standing in a pool of ruby red.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Cal says, kneeling down and putting his hands on the side of Danny’s neck. “He’s bleeding everywhere; I think I hit an artery.”

“Femoral artery, more like,” Vic says as Oscar drops down next to Danny’s body.

“And Cal,” Oscar says, pulling his friend’s hand away from Danny’s neck. “He’s not bleeding anymore; the nails tore right through his neck.” Oscar looks at up at the leader of the Havoc Boys with an expression that says it’s already too late for Danny. “He’s dead,” Oscar confirms coolly, rising to his feet and giving Vic another look.

“Are you serious?” Hael asks, cursing under his breath as he moves over to stand beside the … body. I have to admit, my mind’s gone completely blank at that word. Dead. Danny is dead? Despite the guns and the bravado tonight, I don’t think anyone was supposed to die. If they were, Victor would’ve put a hole in Mitch Charter’s head.

“Unfortunately,” Oscar says on the end of a long sigh, staring down at Danny’s slumped form.

Callum stands up and stumbles against the wall, hands over his face. There’s fucking blood everywhere. The metallic smell of it is making me sick; I feel like I might throw up.