Chapter 5 #2
He raises his hand, drool running down his chin, and I flinch, bracing for the pain. Before he can bring his hand down, he’s yanked backwards into darkness. The rock falls to the forest floor with a dull thud. The bare branches above me shudder as if a thousand birds took flight.
Two of the creatures look at each other, confused. Then they run at me, but he gets there first.
Hasan comes from the sky, landing right in front of me.
His large wings are open, acting as a shield.
I can’t see what’s going on, but I can hear the carnage.
Reaching up to my head, I carefully feel the wound.
It’s bleeding like crazy but doesn’t feel deep.
It’ll sting for a good while, that’s for sure, and I’m already pissed about the little bald spot this is going to create.
I don’t think I need stitches, but there’s a chance I have a concussion.
“Acelina.” Jacques’s voice rings out in the dark. His feet hit the earth and he folds his wings in, coming for me, holding out a hand. I shouldn’t trust him. I don’t know him. I don’t understand what he is. For all I know, he could have sent these creatures after me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Hasan lift one of them off the ground and snap its neck, twisting until he rips the head clean off.
He tosses it down and lurches forward, half running, half flying.
Thomas and Gilbert aren’t far, and I see flashes of their wings and claws through the trees. They’re fighting the creatures.
Killing them with ease.
They can do the same to me.
“Ace,” Jacques repeats, and I snap my attention back to him. I only have half a second to make a decision to trust him or not. I’m soaking wet—again—and bleeding from my head. I can’t keep sitting here on the forest ground if I want to live. Especially not when those things keep coming.
I take his hand. He pulls me to my feet, then wraps his arms around me, bringing me to his chest. His flesh is warm like mine but rough, almost calloused.
I guess that’s what happens when you spend a thousand years sitting out in the elements.
Gently, he presses his hand to the wound on my head, trying to stop the bleeding.
“You’re shivering again.”
“Yeah,” I say through chattering teeth. “It’s still cold and I fell in a creek.”
“Why did you do that?”
I narrow my eyes, not liking being patronized. If I wasn’t so fucking cold, I’d push him away. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I was trying to get away from those…those things.”
“Vampires.”
“Excuse me?”
“Those things. They’re vampires.” He looks down at me. “I’m guessing you’re not familiar with vampires, either.”
“Not in this sense.”
Jacques brings his hand back, wiping the blood on his pants.
I push away, looking around him, and see Hasan grab the remaining vampire, lifting him one-handed by the neck.
He looks more like a Greek god than a monster right now, with flexing muscles and powerful wings.
Blood’s spattered across his face, and his dark eyes are set.
He says something to the vampire, speaking an ancient language I don’t understand. The vampire responds with hisses, madly swinging his arms at Hasan. With a frown, Hasan grabs his head and twists.
Thomas and Gilbert appear from the trees, both smiling.
“That was fun,” Gilbert says.
“Too easy, though.” Thomas pushes his golden locks behind his ear. “I thought there’d be more.”
“There usually are.”
I step away from Jacques, glad to stand on my own but missing his body heat. I’m so incredibly tired of being wet and cold tonight. Bodies lie on the forest floor. What am I going to say to the crime scene investigators?
“Those things are vampires?” I ask in disbelief. “If you tell me they sparkle in the sun, I’m going to puke.”
“They die in sunlight,” Jacques says seriously. I don’t think he’d know sarcasm if it came up and bit him in the ass. He turns his attention back to me. “Are you ill?”
“No,” I say, though there’s a good chance I’ve gone insane. Gargoyles. Vampires. What’s next, fairies?
“Are they still eating bone?” Gilbert nudges a body with his foot.
“Yeah…how did you know?”
He looks at his fellow brothers. “When they’re first turned, blood isn’t enough. They eat the bone as well for the first few years. Once the transformation is complete, blood is all that’s needed to sustain them.”
The implications of his words hit me hard, and I’m dizzy all over again. “Something is out there turning people into vampires?”
“Yes.”
“Lovely.” I pull my hood up over my head, but all it does is dump wet leaves down my back.
“You need to warm yourself,” Hasan tells me gruffly. “Before you fall ill.”
Should I tell him it’s been proven cold doesn’t actually make you sick? The entire concept of medicine and disease will be foreign to them.
“I plan on taking a long, hot shower when I get—fuck. I need to get back to work.” I put my head in my hands. Don’t lose your shit, Ace. I rub my eyes and look back at the gargoyles. “How did you find me?”
Jacques looks at me as if it’s obvious. “You summoned us.”