Chapter Twenty-Six
ROUX
The nearest vampire brushed the snow from his shoulders and started toward us, following his nose.
Head that way, I told Gen. Over by those boulders.
She nodded and led the way slowly forward.
I stuck with her for a few steps, then split off to creep along a hollow. When I was twenty paces away, I called into Gen’s mind.
Now!
She threw a snowball at a tree, drawing their attention.
“Over there!” one of the vampires yelled, falling for our ruse.
I doubled back through the hollow, then tackled the nearest vampire.
The acrid taste of blood filled my mouth as I tore at his throat.
He slashed at my side with needle-sharp fingernails, then gradually went limp.
I hated for Gen to witness that gory a spectacle, but she, like I, had Claudette at the forefront of her mind.
Killing a vampire was no easy feat, but I was powered by twice my usual strength, and it was over in an instant. I raced away before the other two could reach me, zigzagging to throw them off. Then I rushed to my rendezvous point with Gen.
Four or five more steps uphill and a little farther left, Gen called urgently.
The vampires dropped back, mired in a snowdrift.
I crept onward, following the tingle of magic to slip into Gen’s shadow more gracefully than last time. Still, it was jarring, the way she and Danielle appeared directly in front of my nose.
I flashed Gen a wicked grin.
We make a good team, you and me.
Her eyes lit up, she hummed into my mind. We do.
Shouts broke out on the far side of the house, and I pictured Grepper arguing with Celeste and a group of angry vampires.
Move. Quickly! I urged Gen.
The remaining vampires hesitated, torn between us and helping their comrades with Grepper. But they plowed on a moment later, intent on tracking us down.
I’ll drop back here. Next rendezvous is that tree stump, I noted, coiling my muscles.
We kept up the guerrilla tactics, covering another hundred-plus meters of ground while looking for opportunities to kill our foes. Still, it was slow going, and I worried that “our” vampires might be joined by more from the main force at Grepper’s door.
Gen scowled. I hate to root for Grepper, but better him than the vampires.
She continued plucking shadows out of our surroundings and weaving them around us. An eternity later, we reached a steep, rocky area. Gen glanced back, then yelled, pushing Danielle to the ground.
“Get down!”
A massive shadow swept overhead. Flames crackled, illuminating the falling snow, and dragon roars exploded into my ears.
Where the hell are you? Marius thundered into my mind.
I caught a glimpse of his dark form sweeping over the trees before disappearing into the blizzard.
We’re just north of you, moving northeast, I reported, nudging Gen along.
Another burst of fire lit the sky as Mina followed him. Mental chaos ensued as her voice joined Marius’s and Gen’s in my mind.
Just keep distracting the vampires, I told Marius.
My pleasure, he rumbled, looping around for another pass.
He and Mina could barely fly in the snow, let alone target vampires under tree cover, but even random bursts of fire helped.
Keep moving, I urged Gen. Not far to go now.
I ambushed and killed another vampire, then ran back to rejoin her.
Run! Just run! I yelled when we reached the trail. It was snowed over, but we could move more quickly here.
The faster we moved, the harder it became for Gen to weave shadows, but Mina and Marius kept the last vampire at bay long enough for us to race toward the trailhead. I spotted Henrik and Bene there, urging us on. But the final vampire was closing in on us, fast.
“Keep going. Quickly!” Henrik ordered, passing me to attack the remaining vampire.
Bene waved us on weakly. “Yes — quickly would be good.”
A fierce fight broke out behind us. I spun to protect Gen. Snarls sounded, snow flew, and blood sprayed. Then a piercing cry broke the air, and the vampire fell, killed by Henrik.
A weight lifted from my heart. The vampires who’d murdered Claudette were dead.
Bene studied Danielle. “Who is this?”
“I’ll explain later,” Gen said, placing her father’s painting into the car, then helping Bene in.
I rubbed my muzzle in the snow, disgusted by the bloodstains. Revenge never tasted as good as one imagined.
“Roux, Henrik. Let’s go!” Gen yelled.
She jumped behind the wheel of the rental car I had driven up the mountain earlier, with a stunned Danielle in the front seat. Henrik “helped” me into the back seat, though he nearly slammed the door on my tail.
Watch it, I snarled.
He gave me that haughty, I’m surrounded by heathens look he did so well, then turned to follow us in the second car with Bene. We raced away just as more vampires appeared on the trail, but long sprays of dragon fire kept them at bay.
I shifted to human form and wrestled on the clothes I’d left behind earlier — no easy task with Gen racing around the tight hairpins in a blizzard. She beeped and swerved as we sped past the cars blocking Grepper’s driveway.
“Can you see what’s going on?” Gen asked as we raced by.
I squinted toward Grepper’s villa, spotting at least half a dozen vampires and a woman in a white fur coat who almost blended in with the snow.
“Celeste,” I muttered.
She was pleading with Grepper and the vampires. No one, it seemed, was happy with her.
At a curt gesture from Grepper, Celeste spun away, looking pale but defiant. She raised her hands, ordering the vampires aside in her usual regal manner. Clearly, she was looking to make a quick exit.
But the nearest vampire drew a knife, and her eyes went wide.
Blood splashed in a wide arc. Celeste buckled. The vampires went into a frenzy, sinking their fangs into her body before it even hit the ground.
That was all I saw before the snow closed in — that, and Grepper closing his door in disgust.
My stomach churned, but I didn’t have it in me to feel sorry.
“What’s going on?” Gen cried, not daring to look away from the treacherous road.
I gulped down the bile in my throat. “They got Celeste,” I said quietly. “The vampires, I mean.”
Gen’s mouth fell open, and her eyes darted to the rearview mirror, but she kept driving.
“Oh my God,” she murmured.
You make your bed, you lie in it, Bene rumbled in my mind, telling me he’d seen it too.
I touched Gen’s shoulder. “Right now, you have to focus on getting us out of here — all of us.” I indicated Danielle.
Her hands tightened around the steering wheel, and she nodded, though she looked sick.
I glanced back. From what I could tell, Henrik hadn’t so much as swerved at the gory sight. Either he truly despised Celeste, or he’d had his eyes glued to the road when it happened.
Luckily, I blocked his view, Bene murmured into my mind. Nothing worse than finding yourself in a car with a blood-thrilled vampire.
So, Bene had more sense than I thought.
Good move, I told him, surprised to be as relieved as I was.
Bene, Marius, Henrik, and I had been thrown together by fate, and we’d all counted down the time until we could be free of Gordon — and one another.
But we’d meshed into a surprisingly good team, and the thought of anyone getting hurt — or going their separate ways after our contract concluded — struck deeper into my heart than I thought it would.
Marius. Mina. Everything all right with you? I called into their minds.
Yes, but the sooner we all get out of this blizzard, the better, Marius replied.
Henrik stuck to our rear bumper all the way down the mountain, blinding us with his lights. Still, I appreciated the buffer he provided against any vampires who might pursue us. None did, thanks to Marius and Mina spraying fire over the road behind us.
The snow petered out as we drove, suggesting Grepper was the one driving it. Well, let him keep those vampires snowbound as long as possible. We were making tracks.
When we reached the outskirts of town, Marius and Mina peeled away to land at their starting point behind a barn.
We’ll rendezvous on the south end of the village in ten minutes, I told Marius. Henrik, Gen, Bene, and I will clear our things out of the hotel.
We’ll be there, he confirmed.
What about our passenger? Bene asked.
Leave that to me, Gen said, keeping her lips tightly pursed.
The only two hotels in town were the Hotel du Lac, where we’d stayed, and the Seeblick. Gen dropped Danielle off at the latter with firm orders.
“Like Grepper said, you’ll do as you’re told,” Gen barked.
“I’ll do as I’m told.” Danielle nodded, looking blank and hazy. Grepper’s spell was holding, it seemed.
“Go inside. Charge the room to Grepper. He’ll contact you in the morning,” Gen said.
He wouldn’t — not directly. But he would make arrangements, I was sure.
Arrangements, as in bumping her off? Gen asked, alarmed.
I shook my head. That will raise too many questions. He’ll get her safely off to some place far away. Probably wherever he met her with a big gap in her memory.
Gen grimaced, then nodded to Danielle. “Okay?”
“Okay.” Danielle moved robotically to the hotel door.
We waited until she stepped inside, then took off for our hotel.
Ten minutes later, the six of us were reunited and roaring down the road to Lucerne.
I sat beside Gen, who drove, while Bene stretched across the back seat, still recovering from the shock inflicted by Grepper’s magic. Mina, Marius, and Henrik followed in a second vehicle.
When we’d informed Mina and Marius of Celeste’s demise, their reactions had been predictably grim.
Celeste deserved the worst, and she got it, Marius had huffed.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree, Mina had said glumly.
No one would shed tears for Celeste, but the reality would take some time to really sink in.
“What do you think is happening back at Grepper’s now?” Gen asked, glancing over her shoulder.
I shrugged. “It looked to me like Grepper had the upper hand there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back in his study now, sipping brandy and admiring his Monet.”
Gen grimaced. “And…Celeste?”
It’s truly over for her, Bene snorted into my mind.
“The vampires will leave as soon as they…um…”
Drink their fill came to mind, but that was a little graphic.
“As soon as they finish with Celeste,” I finished. “They’ll dispose of the body — or leave that for Grepper.”
“Either way, the vampires will hit the road soon,” Bene warned.
Gen pressed down on the accelerator.
I reached across the seats to squeeze Gen’s hand, grazing her father’s painting in the process.
“We got what we came for,” I said. “That’s all that matters now. That, and getting home. We can figure out the rest there.”
I shot her a significant look, because that the rest meant a hell of a lot more than Grepper, Celeste, and the vampires. I meant us too.
Gen looked back again, then squeezed my hand.
“Home sounds good.”