Chapter 45
MADDOX
When I came to, there was still dust settling from the explosion and I could see Oscar about fifteen feet away.
He was beginning to sit up and was rubbing his head.
There was blood running down his face from a cut somewhere on his scalp.
We stood up at almost the same time. I knew he couldn’t hear shit either.
After an explosion like that anyone in this room would be lucky to be alive; let alone be able to hear.
I could feel the building groaning under its own weight and knew it was only going to be a matter of time before the whole building came down.
I noticed movement just beyond the rubble from the truck.
Armed men were rushing into the room as I readied myself to fight.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Oscar begin to shift.
In a matter of seconds there was an enormous wolf standing to my right with teeth bared.
Just as the two of us were set to take on what appeared to be an insurmountable attack, we heard a stampede of feet coming from the stairwell.
The noise garnered the attention of the armed men and Oscar, and I took full advantage of the distraction.
I seized the first man I came to by locking my hand around his throat while I grabbed his firearm with my other hand.
I hoisted him in the air and squeezed until I felt a pop.
I dropped him as I swung the rifle like a baseball bat at the next closest assailant’s head.
His body went limp and crumbled to the floor as I continued the swing and brought the gun up to take aim at anyone aiming for the stairwell with a firearm.
The large black wolf with golden eyes darted across and swiftly snatched the head from a man readying his rifle to take a shot at me.
I managed to neutralize three more before their attention was brought back to Oscar and myself.
Within seconds, we had cut their numbers in half.
They may have the numbers, but these vampires were untrained and young.
Not to mention stupid. No doubt, uneducated on who their targets truly were and the suicide mission they were currently entrenched in.
The door to the stairwell opened wide, allowing two more wolves to barrel into the lobby.
One was completely white with an amber-colored undercoat.
The other was a very deep, solid, red. I knew these cryptids; they were my friends, my allies, and fierce defenders.
The white wolf immediately flanked Oscar on his right-hand side; no doubt it was Lex.
She was smaller than most werewolves I knew—which was still huge in comparison to a normal wolf, but she was dangerous to say the least. Absolutely lethal would be more accurate.
No doubt she would defend her husband and her daughter with her life, if need be.
More men were rushing into the room; drawing my attention.
In doing so, it allowed me to realize that outside, they had teams scaling the building.
As I continued ticking off vampires, I noticed balls of light begin to bounce around the room, dropping anyone they touched.
They were only coming into contact with the enemies at our door.
I glanced to the left and saw Caspien; this was his weapon of choice, and it was impressive to bear witness to.
We continued to work together to subdue the wave of warriors trying to gain access to the rest of the compound.
Lex and Rye were working in unison to make sure no one was sneaking up on Oscar; snagging any enemy that dared to step forward, as he handled the vampires in front of him.
Within a few minutes we had the lobby cleared, and I hollered across the room to Oscar.
“They were scaling up the side of the building. They are trying to get in on the upper floors.” We both ran for the stairwell door. “Who is going to keep an eye out down here?”
“Go! The ladies and I have it covered,” Caspien shouted in response.
We entered the staircase and ran past the employees that Lex and Rye had gathered when the explosion happened.
We ran up the flights of stairs entering each floor.
There was no real way to tell which floor they entered through; most of the windows were broken during the explosion.
We got through four floors when it dawned on me to go to the sixth floor.
I was kicking myself for not realizing it sooner.
“Go to six—I bet they want Scott.”
We ran up the remaining two flights of stairs, and I edged the door open to survey the scene. I noticed men had just entered the room where Scott was being held. It had taken a while for them to get through the extra security measures we had implemented.
Opening the door the rest of the way, we tried to be as quiet as possible while we slowly approached the door.
The sound of breaking glass shattering rang through the air.
We ran the rest of the way and rushed through the door just in time to see a group of armed men rappelling back down the building.
One of them was carrying Scott on his back.
“Fuck!” I roared as I ran from the room; back down the stairs.
I threw the door open to the lobby and sprinted through the room and out through the gaping hole in the entrance.
Scott and his rescue team were already gone.
I hadn’t left the confines of the main building since the attack ensued and now that I had I could hear a commotion coming from the back of the property. I quickly ran back inside.
“Caspien, get the rest of the people from the stairway and get them outside. We need to get to the cabins; something is going on back there.”
The four of us ran out through the solarium back door and went through the path at inhuman speeds. When we came out on the other side of the tree line, I was reminded why shapeshifters were not to be toyed with.
Matt had already shifted into his core creature which proved to be the most lethal when going to combat.
He was an absolutely enormous blue and green fire-breathing dragon with claws that could rip you to shreds.
His wings were enormous and creating gusts of wind that were knocking vampires off their feet at regular intervals.
Heather was currently a large panther tearing into the belly of an enemy that had made the mistake of pointing his gun at her husband.
Shane wasn’t using his natural creature, which also happened to be a dragon. They were big enough that if they had both taken their forms at that moment, they would have collided. Shane was currently prowling around as a tiger, an idea I’m sure he garnered from his mother.
Taking stock of the situation, we got to work neutralizing the threat.
During the fighting there was a blind spot, and they saw it before us.
One of the men took their shot and hit Shane in his chest as he was tearing the throat out of another.
Heather heard his animalistic cry, and she was filled with a rage and ferocity only a parent could know.
The sound that erupted from her as she pounced sent chills up my spine.
I instantly began to take out anyone that was posing a threat to them, keeping them from harm as she tended to her son.
We continued to fight until every last one of them was lying dead on the ground.
Matthew immediately landed and shifted back to his human form, scrambling to his wife and son’s side.
He cradled his son in his arms, who had changed back when he was struck.
We gathered around watching as he picked him up and carried him into the nearest cabin.
I grabbed Oscar by the arm. “We have to get a clear route; I need to get to Joslyn. I need you to make sure everyone is safe.”
“Let’s get this done.”