Deadly Alliances (Dark Shifter Academy #5)

Chapter 27 Caesar

The night was still around us, the only sound that of the fire crackling in the center of our camp. Sakura, who seemed unable to shake the cold despite the temperature control of our magical bubble, had pleaded for it. I had been concerned about light or smoke advertising our location, but Janette had insisted the magic would keep both contained.

Hunched on the log, I watched as the smoke wafted up from the flames only to disperse against the enchanted barrier as if against a glass dome. It reminded me of home. Even the light seemed unable to escape its confines, everything beyond our spelled circle was still shrouded in darkness as if we were under a spotlight.

I couldn’t help but marvel at it. The wonderful things witches could do with their magic. Our kind was foolish to hold such a strict prejudice against them. We should’ve allied ourselves with them centuries ago. Perhaps then we wouldn’t be in this war against the vampires now.

Weight settled on the log beside me, and I turned to see Private Peters smiling at me.

“You seem tense,” he said, his tone sympathetic. “Everything okay?”

I furrowed my brow in confusion. Of course, I was tense, and no, everything was not okay. We were camped outside a fortress full of blood-thirsty vampires awaiting some communication from my mate, who was trapped inside said fortress to rescue not only my soul brother but also three of my former students. Why wouldn’t I be tense? In fact, why was Peters so chill?

I offered him a flat smile and nodded. “Just hoping this mission goes well.”

“It’s a lot of pressure, being in command of such an important operation,” he said. “I can’t imagine what you must be feeling.”

I schooled my hostility. Maybe he really was just trying to offer some kind of support or encouragement.

I steepled my hands and rested my chin on my thumbs. “Yeah, it really is.”

“Let me help you with that.”

A pair of hands landed on my shoulders, thumbs kneading into the muscles, and I froze. Was this guy actually giving me a fucking massage? Slowly, I turned my head to look over my shoulder, and the look he gave me was far too heated, sending a chill down my spine.

Shrugging his hands off me, I scooted brashly away from him down the log. “Thanks, but I’m good.”

I glanced up at the other soldiers sitting around the fire to find them all watching us closely, caution blaring in their tense gazes. I felt the sudden urge to get up and sit somewhere else, but a sharp sting pierced into my lower back, and then—

Huh, what was I doing?...

A warm, soothing sort of haze fell over me, and my butt all but melted against the log. Damn, this was the most comfortable log in the entire world! I never wanted to leave it.

Gentle fingers pressed up the tight muscles along my spine, and it just felt so good. I hung my head and closed my eyes to bask in the pleasure.

“Ssssee, isn’t that nicccce?” Peters asked behind me, and I hadn’t realized before how melodious his voice was, how pleasant it was to listen to. I could listen to it forever.

“Mmm-hmm,” I hummed in contentment, my eyelids fluttering from his touch. “It’s nice.”

“You know, I bet if you shifted, I could work out even more of those kinkssss,” he murmured. “Ever had your wings massaged?”

No, I hadn’t, and that sounded delightful.

Slap! “What the hell is the matter with you!” Sakura snapped.

The haze that had clouded my thoughts and senses disappeared just as suddenly as it had come on, and I shook my head in confusion. I looked around to make some sense of what had happened.

Private Peters was lying on the ground, his gray naga tail extending from the base of his spine through his uniform and a bright red handprint on his left cheek. Sakura was standing over him, her face a mask of furious disapproval.

My eyes widened in horror as the realization of what just happened dawned on me, a grimace tugging on my facial muscles.

“Get up and go gather some more firewood,” Sakura ordered as Peters pushed against the ground with his palms.

Peters got to his feet and brushed himself off as he trudged to the edge of our camp with his tail literally between his legs.

“And put your fucking tail away!” Sakura shouted with her fists clenched at her sides.

“No means no, dude,” Private Hennessee called after him just before he passed through the soundproof barrier.

“What the actual fuck?!” I breathed, my eyes darting between the three soldiers who looked almost as disgusted as I felt.

Sakura folded her arms and angrily plopped down beside Hennessee. “Fucking pervert. I’m so tired of his shit.”

Hennessee put an arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm. “Apparently, he gets off on shifters. Gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘beastiality.’”

My grimace deepened, a shiver wracking my shoulders and back. “Why is he even still in the military?”

Hennessee and Sakura shared a look, but it was Gibson who answered. “He’s one of the most skilled nagas in the corp. He’s too good to let go, and too depraved not to keep. His… proclivity is the only reason he’s still just a private.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course, Dracul would want to keep him for his skill. When has anyone’s character or behavior ever mattered to him? But, on the other hand, it was probably far better he remained in the military’s hands rather than on the streets.

“Aaagh!” The high-pitched screech sliced through the seemingly peaceful night, echoing through the dark woods around us.

“What the hell was that?” Hennessee muttered as all of our heads jerked in the direction of the source.

I tapped into my gryphon, my eyesight honing and scanning the darkness past our camp. A shadow darted through the trees a hundred feet away, and not even my keen raptor vision could distinguish the blur.

“Vampires,” I breathed.

Another scream bounced off the canopy.

“They must’ve found Peters,” I said, bolting off the log.

“What’s going on?” Kai poked his head out of the tent.

“Peters went out for firewood. I think vampires found him,” I explained, watching the woods closely for any signs of him.

Kai rushed out of the tent. “We have to help him.”

I nodded, looking to the three soldiers for confirmation. All three pairs of eyes cast their gazes in a different direction, none of them making a move to that effect.

“What are you guys doing? You’re just going to let him get killed?” Kai’s surprised outrage was making his facial expressions very animated.

Hennessee shrugged and sheepishly looked up at us. “Honestly, why not?”

“Why not? Why not?” Kai began to pace inside the circle. “Because he’s part of your team! You don’t abandon your teammate to death!”

“The world might be better off,” Sakura muttered.

“Sakura Tekashi,” Kai scolded, and she shrank inwardly. “You’re better than that.”

Not that I had any sort of love for the creepy bastard, but letting him die at the hands of vampires went against everything I believed in. But I couldn’t do it alone. I didn’t know how many vampires were out there. Kai and I needed them.

I sighed. “If we don’t help him, they might torture our location out of him. We might as well fight them while we have the element of surprise on our side rather than wait here like sitting ducks.”

The three of them tipped their heads in consideration.

“Ugh, fine.” Gibson stood and shifted on the spot, his burly form growing even wider as a thick, brown coat sprouted to cover his entire body.

Sakura rose from the ground next, nine tails emerging from the bottom of her uniform and her face growing into a delicate foxy snout.

Hennessee rolled his eyes and reluctantly climbed to his feet to join the party.

“Kai?” Janette asked as she exited the tent. “What’s happening?”

He turned to her with what I assumed was his best attempt at a sexy grin. “We’re going to go kill some vampires.”

Then he explode-shifted into his formidable golden kitsune and leaped through the barrier, galloping into the woods on all fours.

I turned away from her flustered, open-mouthed smile and shifted into my gryphon, and the rest of us raced after Kai.

Like a dark storm, we charged through the forest, weaving through trees and bushes with claws, talons, and wings. Gibson quickly surpassed all of us, his massive footfalls shaking the ground as he barreled forward. The trees were too low and thick to allow flight, so Hennessee and I leaped from tree trunks, bouncing from one to the other to maintain a swift momentum.

Finally, we spilled into a clearing where Peters stood surrounded by five vampires. His reptilian face bared two long fangs, his bloodied body hunched in attack position, his tail poised upward and striking at the white-faced assailants as they feinted forward and backward.

Gibson pounced high, landing right on top of one of them and chomping his head clean off with his grisly maw. The vampires turned their attention to us, and the battle commenced.

A pale face and arms flashed toward me, and I reared up on my hind legs, waving my wings to send a targeted gust of wind that blew the vicious creature off his feet and slammed him into the trunk of a large oak. His marble body blasted the tree, sending splinters flying in all directions, but he quickly rebounded, landing on his feet like a jungle cat.

He shot toward me once more, his speed too quick for my vision to catch, and his fangs clamped onto my neck.

Bastard!

I reared my head, opened my beak wide, and chomped onto the back of his skull with all my might. His head was too hard to crush, but the pain of my assault caused him to shriek and release his teeth from their hold. I jerked him away with his head still firmly in my beak, whipping my neck from side to side to slam him into trees, the ground, other vampires—any solid object I could find.

The edge of my beak slipped under his chin and around his neck, so I pinned his body in my talons and yanked my head backward, rewarded with the most satisfying snap I’d ever heard. The metallic taste of his blood filled my mouth, and I chucked the severed head, shoving away the decapitated corpse.

I hacked and squawked, desperately trying to rid myself of the nasty taint, but spitting isn’t exactly easy when you don’t have lips.

In my distraction, a female vampire pounced onto my back, clawing my wings and trying to tear them off. I bucked and shrieked, but I couldn’t dislodge her. She climbed up my shoulders and stabbed her claws into either side of my neck, and then, she started to tug.

Her strength was too much for me, her bending and stretching my neck at an odd angle no matter how I pulled against her. I could feel my bones beginning to loosen, could feel my muscles tearing inch by inch as my throat tightened, narrowing my windpipe.

This would be the end. I couldn’t shake her, and I couldn’t match her strength.

I’m sorry, Shea.

A howl sounded behind me, and suddenly, the monster was ripped off of me. Snapping back like an overstretched spring, my head whipped forward, disorientation forcing me to collapse onto the snow. When I finally managed to turn my aching neck, I saw Kai pinning the female vampire against the tree, forcing currents of electricity into her.

Her body quaked and convulsed, her skin sizzling and blistering from the overwhelming heat his high-voltage generated inside of her. Finally, her eyeballs exploded from their sockets, splattering Kai’s foxy face with her blood. He blinked and reared, trying to shake the substance off, though it clung to his golden fur.

I guess I should count myself lucky. I only got it in the mouth, but he got it in the eye.

Now that the air no longer snapped with a static charge, the forest was silent around us, save for a soft, feminine weeping. I pushed myself off the snow and turned back to the clearing. The fighting had stopped. Mangled bodies and limbs scattered the ground, blood staining the snow a haunting red.

Peters was back in his human form, limping toward us. And off to the left, Hennessee’s dragon was going to the side of a human Sakura, who crouched over something, covering her face with her hands as she cried. But where was Gibson?

Oh…

Kai and I both shifted back as we slowly approached them. Gibson’s massive bear form lay limp in front of Sakura, his upper abdomen lanced with an odd and pronounced dip.

“She got him from behind and crushed his ribs,” Sakura whimpered. “I yanked her off, but it was too late. He was already dead.”

We all stood there for a long time, paying silent respects and goodbyes to our fallen comrade.

Were there more vampires out here? Would more come? It wasn’t safe to remain here much longer.

“Hennessee, help me carry him,” I said, angling around Gibson toward his feet. “We can’t leave him here, so we’re going to take him back to camp. There we can burn his remains.”

The red dragon nodded, going to Gibson’s head and scooping his claws under the ursa’s enormous arms.

In the end, it took all five of us to carry Gibson’s body back to camp. Hennessee blew a stream of his hottest fire to incinerate it while I did my best to cover our tracks with targeted flurries of wind.

I hoped Shea figured out her plan soon because the next scouting party would be bigger, and I didn’t think we could survive another attack.