18. Elias
ELIAS
T errance’s roar still rings in my ears when Dante slams his foot on the gas pedal, the tires screaming against wet asphalt. The engine growls, a guttural sound that vibrates through the vehicle as the building's lights blur behind us.
Gunfire cracks a heartbeat later, sharp and merciless.
Bullets slam into the rear panels, one ricocheting off the frame.
Briar jerks upright, tearing free of Callum’s lap and wedging herself between us.
I watch as she braces herself, eyes squeezed shut, every muscle straining like she’s waiting for the next round to punch through the glass and rip into us.
“Use the damn ring!” I bark, my voice cutting through the chaos.
Her eyes snap open, blazing with fury as she spits back, “What the fuck do you think I’m doing right now?”
The next spray of bullets slams into the rear window, causing it to fracture and stealing my focus from her.
“Window!” I snap at Callum while pulling my gun from its holster at my hip. “Return fire.”
He nods and rolls down his window, leaning out as I do the same. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Briar’s head lifting to look out the back window.
“Stay down,” I snap, my hand pressing her shoulder instinctively.
From the driver’s seat, Dante’s voice cuts over the roar of the engine, sharp but laced with a nervous edge. “Briar, now would be a really good time to use that ring before they have time to send patrols in cars after us!”
Headlights flare to life behind us, cutting through the dark of night as shots continue to hammer into the SUV’s armored exterior.
My gut drops even before Callum calls out, “Too late!”
Briar curses under her breath before shouting, “I’m trying! I’ve only ever done this once, and I don’t even know if it’s possible to do while moving!”
My stomach twists into knots at her admission. One SUV on us is bad enough, but if this goes on long enough, there’s no telling how many guards will be on our ass. We’re fucked unless she pulls off a miracle.
Briar lets out a feral growl, her fists balling against her thighs. “It won’t open!” she yells, voice ragged with frustration. “I don’t have enough space! We need to be on land and standing I think!”
My jaw clenches so hard my molars flare with pain.
“Brace!” Dante’s shout explodes from the front seat.
I whip around to face our front, my pulse slamming into my throat. Headlights blind me, an SUV barreling straight for us, guards leaning out of its windows with rifles trained our way.
“Down!” I roar as I grab Briar, forcing her low as my body covers hers.
Dante jerks the wheel, the tires shrieking as we swerve. My body slams into the door as the enemy vehicle whips past. Gunfire erupts in a deafening volley. Bullets hammer the side panels with metallic thuds, but the reinforced frame holds, not a single round punching through.
Callum pushes upright before I can stop him, teeth bared as he leans out the windowframe with his pistol raised. He fires into the dark, each shot cracking loud enough to split the night, until the volley of returned fire answers.
“Fuck!” Callum jerks back hard into the SUV. Blood runs down his arm in rivulets as he lets out a hiss. “They got me in the shoulder.”
My gut lurches. For a second, the world narrows to the sight of my brother gasping and his eyes squeezed shut tightly against the pain. The thin control I keep coiled around myself threatens to snap. He’s hit and she can’t get her ring to work. There’s no way out.
No. I can’t spiral. Not now.
I wrench my head around, forcing my eyes back to the threat at hand. Headlights blaze in the mirrors, three sets now–one closing fast behind, two more flanking us at angles. My hands flex on the grip of my pistol.
Tactical first. Emotions later. That’s the only way we live.
From the driver’s seat Dante snarls, his voice rough with determination. “I’m going to punch through the front gate and try to lose them outside of the compound!”
My stomach clenches as he floors it, the force slamming me against the second row seats. Behind us, headlights whip and flare as the pursuing vehicles adjust, their gunfire turning manic, desperate to bring us down before we reach the exit.
I grit my teeth as steel meets steel with a scream that splits my skull, the SUV lurching violently forward as I’m whipped against the back of the driver’s seat. Briar curses beside me and Callum grunts through his teeth as he clamps his free hand tighter to his bleeding shoulder.
The SUV bursts through in a shower of sparks and twisted hinges. Dante jerks the wheel hard, the tires fishtailing against slick pavement before catching again.
We’re through, but the wail of alarms and the hum of engines behind us say what I already know…We’re not free yet.
Callum drags himself upright with a ragged groan, his left hand still clamped to his shoulder, blood soaking through his shirt. He braces against the opposite door, teeth gritted, and forces his pistol out into the night to return fire.
I twist to lean out my window, my pulse pounding as I see three SUVs still locked on our tail, their beams cutting through the dark night, closing fast. My jaw clenches as I raise my pistol, line up the sight, and squeeze the trigger repeatedly.
The front windshield of the closer SUV bursts in a spiderweb of glass. The driver jerks the wheel, headlights veering sideways. Metal shrieks as he clips the second SUV too close to their side, the impact sending both vehicles swerving until they slam into each other hard and halt their movement.
“Nice shots,” Dante calls out. “One more to go.”
I exhale once, sharp through my nose, but it doesn’t ease the knot in my gut.
Minutes blur together as the open road stretches out before us and we head into the winding countryside. The alarms, the floodlights, and the steel walls all fade away, swallowed by the night. Out here, only the full moon hangs above us, silver and cold.
The engine’s hum is steady, Dante pushing it to stay at a reckless speed, but every time I glance back, the headlights trailing us burn brighter. Blinding white beams flood the rear window until I’m forced to squint through the flare, my eyes aching from the strain. They’re not giving up.
A ragged grunt cuts through the vehicle as Callum slumps against the door.
Before I can snap at him to stop moving, Briar’s voice slices through sharply. “Give me the fucking gun and switch spots with me.”
Her hand is already out, palm up, expecting him to do exactly that. His jaw tightens with pain before he opens his mouth to respond. “I can’t–”
The rest of his words are swallowed by a deafening explosion.
The SUV lurches violently from a blown rear tire, likely from the onslaught of bullets hammering it repeatedly.
“Fuck!” Dante snarls, fighting the wheel, but it’s no use, the momentum’s too much. We swerve at a high speed as metal screams against asphalt.
“Hold on!” I roar to Callum and snake my arm around Briar’s waist, pulling her to me. Her eyes flash wide, lips parting as I drag her against me tightly just as the SUV veers off the road.
We careen down the slope toward the forest and my eyes squeeze shut at the quickly approaching trees.
A second later we’re forced to a wrenching stop as metal gives way under the might of nature.
The impact is hard enough to steal my breath, but I’m shocked to not feel any pain. At that speed, I should be injured.
My arms are still wrapped around Briar, but I blink back the slight disorientation and find her legs braced hard against the floorboards, and her arms locked like steel with her hands flat against the roof.
It takes me a second to register what she did.
The strength in her frame kept both of us from being flung through glass and steel.
Instead of protecting her, I latched onto the only thing keeping me from being wrecked.
I jerk my gaze across the cab. Callum’s slumped sideways against the door, his head resting at an awful angle on the back of the passenger seat. It’s too dark to see the rise and fall of his chest.
“Callum.”
No response.
Panic claws at my throat, but I shove it down and snap my attention forward. “Dante!”
Nothing.
I glance over the shoulder of the seat and find Dante slumped over the steering wheel, motionless.
Did they take the fucking airbags out of this car when doing aftermarket changes?
My chest tightens until I can barely breathe. No. Not like this. Not here.
My hand’s already reaching for the door handle when Briar shoves against me, her eyes fierce, sharp as glass cutting through the haze.
“Give us cover fire as I get them out,” she snaps with no hesitation. “Those men are going to come down that hill any minute.”
For a second I almost bite back. I’m still not used to taking commands, least of all from her.
But there’s no time to argue as I push my door open just as the headlights peek over the edge of the road.
I crouch to hide my body behind the door, using the open window to peer over and fire off rounds as guards appear at the top of the ridge.
Through the chaos, I catch glimpses of Briar in motion. She could’ve been gone the second she touched the dirt outside this car. She could’ve left us all bleeding in this wreck and vanished into whatever safe place she swears exists.
But she doesn’t.
I risk taking a glance back as she hauls Callum out behind me with a speed that shouldn’t shock me, given her nature.
After she gently places him near the front fender that’s wrapped around the tree trunk, she’s back.
Her shoulders strain against the twisted door until she yanks it open and drags Dante free of the driver’s seat.
He groans once, low and broken, his head lolling as she hooks his arm over her shoulders and drops him next to Callum in the cover of the brush.
My gut twists, grudging respect threading with disbelief. She doesn’t run to save herself. She moves like a trained soldier, every motion efficient and decisive.
I stay crouched behind the open passenger-side door, pistol steady, squeezing off rounds into the night as my uncle’s men expose themselves, heading toward the slope.
For the first time, I don’t see Briar as a burden to have broken out. I see her as someone choosing to bleed beside us.
The soft recoil of my gun bites through my wrist with every shot until I quickly release the empty clip and drag a fresh one from my pants, slamming it home.
Briar drops down into the dirt beside my feet, her hair wild around her face, Callum’s pistol clutched tightly in her hand. She smells of smoke and blood, her eyes gleaming hard in the silver wash of moonlight.
For a breath, I just stare. She’s here at my side, weapon ready, like she belongs in this line of fire. She meets my look head-on, no fear to be found–just raw defiance.
I snort, sharp and derisive before I can stop myself. “Do you even know how to use that thing?”
Her lips twist into something between a laugh and a snarl, wild and fearless. “Watch me.”
She pops up next to me, firing around the edge of the door. She squeezes the trigger once, clean and precise. The bullet splits the night, and a guard crouching down near the edge of their front bumper falls toward the slope, sliding down it on his face.
I blink, stunned at her precision.
She turns her head just enough to throw me a feral grin. “Good enough for you?”
I grunt, the sound low in my throat as my chest tightens. “Yeah,” I mutter, eyes snapping back to the road, “lucky shot.”
The truth hums in the back of my mind, though. Her shot wasn’t luck. Not at that distance and in this light. The night is dark around us, but blinding where the enemy headlights flare. For me, for Callum, and for Dante, it’s guesswork through glare and dark.
For a moment, I actually managed to forget she’s a vampire, but this reminder slams home. Her vision cuts through the dark better than any of ours, and for the first time, I don’t see that as a threat. I see it as the only damn advantage we’ve got.
I snap my weapon up again, and fire off shots, careful to aim and not waste my last bullets. Beside me, Briar fires with sharp, steady bursts and our shots force the remaining guards to duck behind the SUV’s doors.
For a heartbeat, we’re holding them, but then I see it.
Light on the horizon, their beams carving the night. Reinforcements.
My stomach twists at the thought. The math is simple and brutal. Even if we drop the men in front of us with the remaining ammo we have, the next wave will swallow us whole.
We can’t outrun them. We can’t outlast them. Not all of us.
I exhale once and cut my eyes to her. She’s wild in the moonlight, hair plastered to her face, fangs just barely glinting as she reloads with practiced speed. Ready to fight to the last breath, same as me.
“Briar,” I call out, “use the ring. Take Callum and Dante and get out of here.” Her head snaps toward me, eyes wide, but I push on, the words rough in my throat as I force them out. “I’ll hold them. It’s the only way you all make it out. For once, don’t argue with me. Just do it.”
Her answer is immediate and sharp enough to cut through the gunfire pelting our door.
“No.”
Her eyes blaze as she jerks the pistol up and fires another round, dropping a guard mid-step. She doesn’t even look at me as she spits her next words.
“We may not be friends, Elias, but we’re on the same team right now, and I was trained to never leave a comrade behind.”
For a second, everything inside me stutters. I’ve been called a lot of things, but never a comrade.
The headlights are brighter now and the roar of more engines tear through the night. Death’s already racing down the road for us, but when I look at her, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with me, I see her conviction.
She’s standing here until the end.
My last shot cracks into the night, the bullet casing ejecting hot against my hand. As I squeeze again, nothing comes.
“Shit.” I slam the useless gun down against the doorframe. “I’m out.”
Without hesitation, Briar shoves Callum’s pistol into my palm, her fingers brushing mine only long enough to pass the weight across. “Keep shooting and cover me.”
I don’t have time to argue.
Her lips peel back, fangs flashing white under the moon. Her hair whips across her face in the wind, and then daggers suddenly burst into her hands. The blades gleam, their edges catching the glare of the headlights barreling down on us.
“Finally. I’ve missed you both,” she murmurs softly, almost reverent.
I should be terrified of the lethal vampire at my side, but what I feel instead is an undeniable burst of respect and admiration.
For her strength, her defiance, and the loyalty she’s showing us now when she owes us nothing.