Chapter 18 #2
We’d collect the relics and use them to keep the balance and keep the turned from ever taking over the planet and wiping out all humans.
The big question came from how we would handle working with the Brethren.
The more I worked with Leo and now with Petros as well, the more I understood that some of these vampires were just like us.
They wanted to live in peace and just have their needs met.
It wasn’t easy when we were their prey, but Leo clearly respected where he got that blood from.
For the most part, anyway. I grinned to myself as I thought about the first time he’d bitten me and taken some of my blood.
I hadn’t expected it or exactly consented to it.
All I had said was that I would go into the lounge with him and pretend to be his enthralled.
Something about the way he’d handled me had me wanting him badly. I’d even offered to let him feed again, multiple times. I could barely say no to him. That also worried me a little. Was I thinking objectively?
Naomi herself had encouraged me to go for it if he was serious, however.
And that finally made my mind up. I trusted her and her opinion.
If he was open to me running my own vampire-hunting team, I was willing to be his.
Then I would make sure the turned all feared me and my teams. I would make sure we were the thing vampires were scared of.
With that, I tried to relax a little. Already an hour or so had passed since we’d come back to the room, and I was certain that any vampires who were going to burst in on us would have done so already.
I could have cursed my thought as I heard the door to the room open, someone using a key despite the only two keys there should have been in the room already.
“Naomi,” I called as I got to my feet, pulling out my weapons. “Trouble.”
She was awake in an instant as I made my way to the end of the bed to get between her and danger.
Four vampires were coming barging into the room at least. I flung my dagger at the closest one, catching him in the throat.
It wouldn’t be enough to kill him, but Naomi shot the same one with her crossbow, the bolt going straight through the heart.
The vampire died instantly, falling to the floor. I reached for a stake as I backed up and tried to find my ring to make myself faster for a few seconds. Before I could put it on, even more vampires came in, a couple of whom I recognized from the lounge earlier in the night.
I paused, waiting to see if the vampires attacked as Naomi went even further back and reloaded her crossbow.
“You all better have a good reason for this,” I said, trying to buy us some time.
“’Cause I’m happy to keep killing and fighting, and I want to point out I killed Ludis and many other vampires single-handedly.
And I’m not alone tonight. If you keep coming, how many of you do you think will walk away alive? ”
This stopped the next vampire right where he was, only a couple of yards between us. I held his gaze, my stake in one hand. It was a bluff. Without my ring and my best weapons, I was vulnerable, but I wasn’t about to make that obvious. Killing one of them so fast had helped.
And I didn’t need to know what Naomi was doing behind me. She would have the crossbow aimed at someone’s heart and be ready to reload again.
I’d also spoken loudly enough that I hoped Petros would have heard me through the door. He hadn’t come inside to back us up, but he’d made it clear that he wouldn’t be helping us if we were overwhelmed. He wasn’t a fighter and this wasn’t his fight.
The vampires behind came into the room much slower, unable to get past the one who was right in front of me. There were another seven of them. It was definitely more of them than we could fight.
“The boss wants to have a word,” the vampire in front said, his Italian accent so thick I struggled to understand him. He had shoulder-length hair and glared at me. I doubted he appreciated us killing his mate.
Two behind him was the burly vampire who had kicked me out of the lounge.
I looked at him, stepping slightly to one side to see him better. “Same boss that didn’t want me in his lounge?”
“He knows who you are and what you’re doing here.” Mr Bouncer looked me over as if he couldn’t believe what I was capable of.
“All right then, I guess we’re going to have a chat. About time.” I smiled as if I was more than happy to walk into the lions’ den and then turned to Naomi. “Coming, darling?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she replied, a smile spreading across her face. “I enjoy you teaching this lot a lesson or two.”
With that I turned back to the vampires, made an exaggerated show of stashing my stake back where I’d had it strapped to my body and retrieving my blade from the dead vampire in front of me.
“Shall I let you deal with your friend here?” I asked, speaking loudly so Petros would hear again. “Or do I need to send this one to the deep blue myself?”
“I’ll do it,” the Italian vampire replied. Naomi stepped out of his way and even opened the veranda door for him. Petros wasn’t there and that gave me hope that he had already gone to Leo. The longer this took and the more we delayed, the faster Leo would be able to find and follow us.
Not feeling as afraid as I probably should, I let several of the vampires lead the way.
Mr Bouncer came the closest behind Naomi and me and she linked arms with me, acting as if we were just going for a stroll with our best friends.
She was following my lead and trusting that I could get her out of this.
All I could hope was that I wasn’t leading her to her death.