Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
D eclan
I come to surrounded by a harsh, metallic scent. My head’s ringing, and my wolfhound is frantic.
I sit up, and the world tilts dangerously. I reach out to grab hold of something, and the metal surrounding me bites back.
“Careful. It’s silver,” Allison calls. She’s stuck in a cage a few meters away with Laurie. There’s a pile of white papers in her lap, and she seems to be reading.
Parker’s in another cage, his knees folded up, head in hands.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Parker raises his head. “Vampires. They said they’ve been chasing us since Tucson. They must have sent the men in the SUVs.”
“Why?”
“They think…they think we’re some sort of shifter black ops crew,” he says.
“What?”
“It’s all here. Instructions on how to ‘activate’ the hidden hypnosis signals.” Allison holds up the stack of papers when a dark wind blows in and appears as two vampires. One of them snatches the printouts from her hand.
Overhead, a lightbulb sputters on, casting a gloomy glow over us. I flinch. At least it's not the brutal fluorescent lights of Data X. Being back in a cage is hard enough.
Allison turns her head to me, so her lips are hidden. “Fiona?” She mouths.
I shrug. I can only hope Fiona got away.
Run far and fast, lass. Save yerself. I could whine like my wolfhound, losing Fiona, but it’s better that she leaves me behind. For many reasons.
“All right,” one vampire says in his creepy undead voice, “Now that you're all here, let’s begin.”
I don’t want to, but I make myself study our captors.
The vampires look very strange. Vampire fashion is always off, usually dated from the century they died and were turned. One’s in a dressing gown like Hugh Hefner and the other like the dad from That Seventies Show .
“It’s time, Jenkins. Look sharp.”
“Right, Charles. Start here, I should think.” They move to an open space in the middle of the dusty barn and stand at attention.
“Left leg,” Charles calls. “Left and left again.” They hop in unison with Charles calling instructions like we’re at the strangest square dance ever. I would laugh, but it’s absolutely horrifying.
They finish their choreography and stare at us.
“What was that?” I ask Allison and Parker out of the side of my mouth.
“It’s not working,” Jenkins says.
“Of course it’s nae working,” I say. “As much as we're enjoying Twit Walk: Vampire Edition, I’m nae sure what the feck ya doin’.”
“Initiating your kill mode. See here,” Charles points to the paper. “To the left, four times…”
“That’s not a trigger for kill mode,” Allison says. “That’s the Cuban Shuffle.”
“Nonsense,” Charles hisses and rounds on Jenkins. “You must have done it wrong.”
“I did not,” Jenkins protests. “You were too stiff. It’s the pelvic thrust.” He repeats the move, and I shudder. Getting kidnapped by vampires was bad enough, but vampires who insist on recreating Rocky Horror Picture Show in bad costumes is true hell.
“Stop that,” Charles snaps.
“Then give me the manual.” Jenkins rips the papers away from Charles.
“You rube!” Charles liberates a lace handkerchief from his pocket and whaps Jenkins across the cheek. “You don't need that, I’ve memorized it!”
They argue and tussle, repeating the steps of the ‘trigger’ dance over and over until Charles tosses the ‘manual’ to the ground. “This is useless.”
“I tried to tell ya that,” I say. “We’re nae what ya think we are.”
Jenkins hisses, and my wolfhound almost wets himself. But I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m already reliving my worst nightmare, and from the sour scent emanating from Parker, he is too.
“I mean look at us?” I wave a hand at myself. “Ya think out of all the shifters in all the world, someone chose to program the likes of us into killers? We can barely feed ourselves. On a good day. Right, Parker?”
There’s a pathetic whimper from the direction of Parker’s cage. I hate to drag my friend into this, but I have to make these vampires understand. And poor Laurie’s still passed out.
Some crack team we make. I can say with all conviction, “Tink about it. We’re the last shifters anyone would choose.”
“All the more reason you were chosen,” Charles says in his plummy British accent. Makes me want to give him a good kicking. “No one would suspect.”
“If ya believe that,” my laugh is empty. “Then yer just about the stupidest vampires we’ve ever met.”
Charles’ face contorts into the mask of a monster. “You better give us what we want, or else–”
There’s a bright flash of light beyond the doors, and a quiet boom shakes the barn.
Jenkins blurs to the door. “Charles, the hearse! It’s on fire!”
“Dash it all, I just got new rims.” The vampires disappear.
“Fiona.” Allison straightens.
“She’s here? She came back?” My voice is hoarse.
“Of course she did,” Allison looks at me like I’m being ridiculous. “She’d never abandon us.”
There’s a whine from Parker's animal. He’s losing it. “Parker, look at me.” I lean through the bars, wishing I could reach him. “We’re going to survive this. We did once, and we’ll do it again.” I rise, holding his eyes. “You’re my pack. My family. And I’ll defend ya to the death.”
There’s a pause, and Parker nods.
“‘Tat’s right. We’re not gonna die like rats in a trap.”
“Of course not.” Allison carefully moves Laurie, so she can stand. “I’m going to call in help.”
She raises her hands through the bars, and a few seconds later, a coyote howls.
“No offense, lass, but what good will ‘tat do?”
“The vampires were right about one thing. When you’re small and weak, no one suspects how quickly you can make them bleed.” The quiet Alpha power in her gaze makes the hair on the back of my neck rise. An herbal scent pours out of her, filling the room. Like a shot of apple brandy, it gives me strength.
“Damn, Allison, that’s badass,” a familiar voice mutters from above.
Bright red eyes beam down from the high barn window. Fiona drops to the floor and strides over to us, her hands wrapped in white bandages. “Quickly.”
I surge to my feet. “Ya have the key?”
She scoffs and holds up a long metal pin. “There’s not a lock that can keep me out.” And sure enough, she picks each lock, her hands protected from the silver by her hand wrappings. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“What about the vampires?” I ask.
“They’re trying to put out the fires I started. But the distraction won’t last long, so let’s hurry.”
Parker’s cage door swings open, but he still cringes in there.
“Come on,” I call, and he shakes his head. “I can’t. You go on.”
“We’re not leaving without ya.” I lean down and grab his shoulders, pulling him bodily out of the cage. Once he unfolds from his hunched position, a little more light comes back into his eyes. “We’re good. You made it.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet. The vampires–”
“We’ll figure something out.”
“Like what?”
“We’ll do what we do best. Cause mayhem and chaos, with a side of dynamite.”
Fiona snickers. “Sounds good to me.”
“Laurie,” Allison’s whispering. She crouches by the cage to shake him. “Laurie?”
Laurie sits up, narrowly missing banging his head on the bars. He’s awake but still dopey, blinking, out of it.
Allison turns to us, face stricken. “I can’t move him.”
Our chances of escaping are dropping by the second. There’s no way we’re leaving Laurie.
“Allison, can you shift?” Fiona suggests. “Fly him out? We can create a distraction long enough for you to get away.” She glances back at me, and I nod. Anything for Laurie.
“No.” Allison rises, squaring her shoulders. “You know what I say? Fuck these guys.”
Fiona gasps then laughs. “Damn, girl. I’ve never heard you cuss before.”
“I say we fight,” Allison continues, her sweet, melodic voice firm and unwavering. “Together we can take them.”
“We can?” I grimace.
“Yes, if we work together.” Allison bends down, tugging off her flowy skirt. “I’m done being prey.”
“Where are you going?” Fiona sounds alarmed.
Allison strips off her shirt and kicks off her shoes. “I called the coyotes. They’re peeing everywhere, obscuring our scent. She raises her arms, and an unearthly howl breaks out in the distance. It’s chilling, I’ll admit, but coyotes are nothing against vampires.
“Help is on the way to defeat the vampires,” Allison adds. “We just have to stall them.” She races out of the barn, large white feathers falling from her as she runs.
“Stall them? Until what, daybreak?”
Fiona shrugs.
“There’s no way we can do that. Is she daft? What’s she going on about?” I wonder.
Fiona shrugs. “No clue. You want to help her?”
“How?” Parker rasps. He still looks pale, but at least he’s upright.
“Do what we do best. Cause chaos and mayhem.”
I stare at the barn doors. Beyond them are two of the deadliest creatures on earth. Vampires. But in here are silver cages, so what do I have to lose? “Why not? It’ll be a grand last stand.”
Fiona just grins. “You wanted to know what my animal is?” She raises her brows and shrugs off her jacket, then peels off her crop top. Her scars glint silver in the moonlight.
I swallow hard, frozen in place for a new, more fun reason. “Aye.”
“Stick around and find out.” She winks and unbuttons her jeans, kicking them and her boots off before disappearing buck naked into the dark.
I race after her, but once I’m outside, she’s nowhere to be found.
I choke on the thick scent of burning rubber and coyote pee. To my left, the hearse is ablaze. The vampires blur around it, trying to figure out how to spray it down with a hose they must have found. I automatically back up and trip over something in the darkness. When I pick it up, I realize it’s not a stick. It’s Fiona’s shotgun.
I turn and slam it against Parker’s chest, holding it there until he shakes out of his trance and takes it.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” he shouts at me.
“Shoot something! Preferably the enemy.” I turn and trot away, trying to come up with a plan, muttering, “Just my luck to get shot in the back by me own matey–”
“I heard that!” Parker calls, and I grin to myself. I was hoping to snap him into the present.
“Let’s do this.” I trot towards the fiery shell of the hearse. I hope someone has a plan because I’m winging it.
Red eyes gleam behind the vampire's head. Fiona. I try to get a better look, but she’s deep in the shadows. I don’t know what she’s doing, but when the hose stops spraying water, and the vampires peer into the end, I get some idea.
Jenkins looks up from the hose and starts to turn in Fiona’s direction, and someone shouts “hey!”
The vampires turn my way, and I realize it was me. “Hey,” I try again, and it comes out a bit more squeaky this time. But I have to distract the vampires from Fiona. “Ya got to be the stupidest vampires we’ve ever met.” In for a penny, in for a pound.
The vampires’ hiss unhinged my spine.
“But,” I take a breath. “It’s time ya learned a lesson.”
“And what lesson is that?” Charles asks. Behind his head, the red eyes blink once.
“No one fucks with my family.”
Behind me, Parker racks the shotgun.
Jenkins and Charles share an evil laugh. “And what are you going to do? Fight us? You can barely walk in a straight line. Surrender now, and we’ll only throw you back in the cages.”
“Never,” I growl.
“Then you’ll all die here, alone,” Charles sniffs. “No one will know or care. No one will miss you. You’re not important. Not part of any pack.”
“You’re wrong,” I say. “We are a pack. A pack of weirdos is still a pack. We stand together.”
“Then you’ll die together.”
I want to take a step backward, but Parker’s right behind me now. His familiar scent, scared as it is, gives me strength. “Maybe. What matters is we have each other's back.”
“Kill them,” Charles says to Jenkins.
And whatever Fiona did to the hose, she undoes, making water gush out and spray the vampires.
“My dressing gown!” Charles cries.
“This is real suede!” Jenkins frantically tries to wipe the water off, and when it doesn’t work, he flashes his fangs in my direction. “You’ll pay for this.”
I’m gonna die anyway. Might as well go out swinging. “Yaaaahhh!!!” I yell and rush forward.
Parker
Charles blurs towards us, when a white shape drops from the sky. A giant dove dives and slashes the vampire with her claws, flying off as quickly as she came. Charles stops and screams, his face in his hands.
“My eye!”
“Fecking A,” whoops Declan. “Go Allison!” He races off into the night. I fire the shotgun to give coverage.
Jenkins snarls at me and blurs my way. I get a close up of fangs before claws hook into my jacket and carry me aloft. The surprise almost makes me drop the shotgun.
“Thanks for the rescue,” I call up to Allison, and she coos. “Can you get me on top of the barn?” She coos again and wings higher to drop me onto the roof. My boots shuffle on the metal, but my shifter reflexes kick in, and I’m able to balance on the apex and raise the gun. The vampires are blurring shapes, scurrying around, trying to find my friends. I fire in quick succession, taking the recoil into my shoulder, trying to distract the enemy.
A soft trill is my only warning before Allison descends again and lifts me off the roof. Her claws are sharp enough to pierce through my jacket, but she holds me gently. Below my dangling feet, Jenkins snarls up at me, his wet hair flying in the wind.
He almost got me. And when a vampire gets you, it’s all over. These ones are pretty inept, but they’re still vampires.
“I don’t think we can make it until daybreak,” I shout to Allison the dove. We’re fighting, but we’re not winning. I’m not sure if the odds were ever in our favor.
Allison coos back. I’m not sure what she’s telling me, but the sound is very soothing.
Down below, Charles is facing off with something in the shadows. Something hissing and spitting. Charles reaches for it, and yelps, cradling his hand to his chest. “Demon creature.” He backs away, and Declan blasts him with the hose.
In a blur, Charles has Declan off his feet and in a chokehold. Declan’s legs kick as the vampire’s hand tightens around his throat.
“No,” I cry. “Let him go.” I writhe, trying to get free of Allison’s grip. “Let me go, I have to save him!” But I don’t know how. No matter how close she gets me or how fast I run, I won’t make it in time. And how do I defeat a vampire?
Around us the coyotes howl. And a louder, deep howl slices through me. Louder than the coyotes, than the cooing murder dove, it raises the hair all over my body.
And from my throat breaks a loud, hyena cackle. A laugh I haven’t heard in a very long time.
My animal knows what’s up. And he’s excited and relieved.
“It’s all right, Parker,” a familiar voice calls up to me. “I got this.”
A tall, lean figure strides out of the shadows. The moonlight glints off long, silvery blond hair bound into a ponytail.
It’s Selene, consort, enforcer, warrior, and queen to the vampire king. She swings her ponytail out of the way and raises a sleek black crossbow, aiming it at Jenkins. “Step away from the Irishman and put your fangs up.”