Chapter 20
Anais
I was still holding my dagger, I had my ring back, and this vampire was starting to get on my nerves. I also had all my team with me. I didn’t know where Leo was yet, but I suspected he was somewhere nearby.
It was good to know that some of the team were informed Naomi and I had been taken. There was no way Tess and Alan would know without Leo, and that meant Petros did as we’d hoped and could be trusted to at least take care of us that way.
We were still in a suite surrounded by vampires, however. Of the vampires who had brought Naomi and me here, all but one were still in the room with us, and there had been a couple more here with the guy in charge.
I didn’t know where the relic was or what the guy could do with it, but I knew that he was confident. Or trying to come across as confident.
“And now you go quiet,” the vampire said, leaning back against the sideboard and folding his arms across his chest. He was an average-looking person, apart from the more pale vampire skin, and the speed and strength.
“What more is there to say? I’m not going to kill you if I don’t have to.
But you won’t get away with it; you know that, right?
The Brethren won’t let this carry on. They’ll send their vampires to deal with you.
” I matched the gesture, but I kept my stake and dagger in hand, making sure both of them were pointed outward.
He shook his head. “What vampires? They don’t have the forces they once did. All their rules have dwindled their numbers in various ways. They don’t have the strength anymore, especially not this clan.”
“You wish that was true,” I replied, although there was no way I intended to explain myself. This wasn’t my secret to share. But the Brethren were certainly paying attention and they had sent someone.
The vampire shook his head, no longer amused or appearing as tolerant. If this was going to turn into a fight, I knew it would be soon.
“I’m growing bored with this now. Unless you’re going to tell me how you killed Ludis and what seems to make you so confident when surrounded by vampires.”
“Turned,” I said, almost interrupting the man.
He glared at me and I prepared for the inevitable fight.
I had my ring ready to put on and my weapons out.
Naomi had her crossbow loaded and Alan and Tess were already sort of lined up, ready to go into action as well.
They had more than two vampires to each of us, but I didn’t expect all of them to attack together.
The odds weren’t in our favor, but I hoped Leo and Petros were around as well, and I knew that some of these were freshly turned. If we took out the weaker vampires first, we might just survive. I got the impression that fighting would be the only way out of this anyway.
“What did you say?” the head vampire asked.
“Technically, you’re not a vampire. You’re only a turned. The Brethren are the only real vampires.”
“I think this conversation is over. You’re a mere human and it’s time you all learned your lesson. Men, take them to the dining room. We can feast later. I’ve got some work to do first.”
Before he had even finished speaking, I had slipped her ring on, thrown my dagger at one of the weaker-looking vampires and shifted my stake over to my dominant hand to use next.
Naomi reacted the quickest of everyone in the room, shooting a bolt at another stationary vampire.
At this range with this long to prepare, she didn’t miss the heart.
My blade was also true and the dagger silver-bladed.
Two of the vampires were dead before any of them could even obey the order they were given.
It was enough to yet again make the remaining vampires hesitate, which only bought Alan and Tess time to use their weapons.
Alan also had a crossbow, but his was a little less accurate and he missed the heart just enough to piss off the lounge bouncer.
Tess rushed to stand between Alan and Naomi and raised her silver-bladed sword.
I pulled out the dagger Alan had given me from the sheath and held it across me, ready to defend myself.
The turned in the room finally rushed us, and the battle started. They were still more hesitant, however, and with the ring, I could move far faster than the first one that came my way.
Holding back, the leader of this group remained out of the way, but I could tell he was watching us, probably noticing how I was moving faster than the rest of my team. I didn’t slow, knowing that this was a fight to the death for us either way.
If I didn’t kill these vampire quickly and even up the odds, my team wouldn’t survive. Knowing their lives were in my hands and they relied on me getting the job done gave me a focus I wasn’t sure I’d ever had in a fight before.
With everything that Leandro had taught me, the ring and my determination to protect my friends, I moved with a speed I’d never known possible.
After blocking one attack, grabbing the limb of the vampire and spinning him, I shoved him toward his boss and switched my focus to the next creature of the night.
They rushed at Naomi and me, trying to get around Tess, but her sword was silver and sharp and she reacted with precision, removing the arm from the vampire while I stabbed it with the dagger in my off hand.
At the same time, I threw my stake at the other one coming at me.
I got it in the heart, but it either didn’t drive deep enough or this one had some kind of special ability and it didn’t die.
It did slow it down, however, and make it gasp in shock.
Already we had brought the odds a lot more in our favor and done irreparable damage to several vampires.
The one I’d shoved at the leader didn’t come back to me, but the leader said something to him that I couldn’t hear.
The vampire ran off, leaving a gap between me and the leader.
I didn’t get to take advantage of it and try to close the distance to fight because one of the few female vampires in the room finally joined in the fight.
“I’m going to enjoy eating you,” she yelled as she rushed at me. I spun out of her way, grabbed her loose hair and yanked backwards. The force of my pull and her momentum landed her on her back.
In a practiced move, I dropped down after her, using all my weight to bring my dagger down over her neck. I severed her head, ending any attempt she would make to eat me.
Before I could rise again, another vampire grabbed me from behind, trying to get at my neck to bite it.
I lifted the dagger and drove it into their face.
It loosened their grip enough that I could grab one of their hands and yank it backward.
With the ring making me stronger and faster, I could just about get out of the vulnerable position.
Without a single weapon left, my dagger still in the vampire’s face, I scrambled back to my feet and toward my team. Alan was still protecting Naomi’s other side as best he could, no longer using his crossbow but his blades as well, dual-wielding for maximum ability to inflict damage.
Fighting turned like this involved two strategies. Try to go for the clean, instant kill by beheading, or wood or silver through the heart, or wear them down with a lot of smaller cuts. The latter had its risks, especially in a situation like this, but the turned were growing more wary.
We’d collectively killed enough of them that they couldn’t be sure they would survive this fight. Most vampires were actually cowards and were only as unafraid as they appeared because they believed that they were faster, stronger and smarter than their prey.
But most of the turned in this room were minions of other turned who had been made by other turned. There was little of the Brethren power in any of them. So with training, my own relic, and the right weapons, we had bridged the gap with many of them.
I didn’t know how powerful the leader was, however.
He wasn’t just holding back and watching anymore.
He had begun to make his way over to the veranda as if he planned to flee that way.
Although we knew his face and the suite he was using, I feared that he was going to try to make a run for it and take the relic with him.
We were due to make a port call in only a few hours, and anyone could get off the ship. If he suspected that we were going to take the relic away from him or were too powerful to stop, we would never see him again until it was too late.
But I also knew that I couldn’t rush after him when my team was in danger. This was Leo’s mission, and for some reason he wasn’t in this fight with us. If this vampire ran from the fight when Leo wasn’t here to stop him, then he would have to accept the consequences.
I focused my attention on my team, turning so we could get into a semi-circle now it was all too close-quarters to fight together and help make sure no one could get behind us.
Tess handed me another dagger, before she took up the position on my right. Naomi slipped into position on my left and Alan was on the other side of Tess, all of us now brandishing silver blades of various lengths and styles.
“This doesn’t have to be a slaughter,” I said, noticing the vampires beginning to look between each other. “You can all back away and leave and then we’ll do the same.”
It was the only sensible offer at this point. There were still slightly more of them than there were of us, but if even a few decided to leave...
“You’ll hold your ground and attack, like I told you to,” the vampire in charge said, clearly a lot more agitated.
Still, none of them moved. They weren’t attacking, but they weren’t leaving either.
“None of us even have a scratch,” I said. “Why don’t we go back to the discussion you were so bored of? I have some questions, and it’s better than any more of you dying.”
The vampire considered my response. I was still stalling for time, trying to figure out how to get my team out of this mess. I wasn’t sure we could fight this many vampires still, especially when there was a relic in play that could turn the tables at any point.
I also didn’t understand why the lead vampire was being so hesitant, unless the relic didn’t help much.
“I won’t tell you anything,” the vampire said. “I don’t need to.”
“Then why did you bring me here?” I asked. “What was that supposed to have achieved?”
The vampire narrowed his gaze and his brow furrowed. It was almost as if he didn’t know the answer to the question. More was going on here. I just couldn’t work out exactly what.
Knowing that the fight was over for the moment at least, I surreptitiously slipped my ring off again, keeping it in my hand right by my dagger grip so I could easily put it on again. Already I felt drained by it and knew that I would need to sleep for a while if we got out of this alive.
Getting out of this alive wouldn’t be easy, though, even if I could keep them talking in the hope that Leo would appear.
“Why are we here?” I asked again, knowing that the other vampires were also beginning to look toward their boss, wanting to know the answer. “Just to see if we can kill your kind? Look around you. That doesn’t seem like a good deal for all the other turned in this room.”
“Silence!” the vampire yelled, and I knew I was getting under his skin again. I was starting to suspect that he wasn’t the one in charge and the reason we’d not seen the relic was because it wasn’t here. But I couldn’t be sure, and I wasn’t about to get cocky.
“Are you going to shut us up?” Naomi asked, never one to back down from challenging an idiot when she saw one. She was reaching the same conclusion as I was.
Before he could reply, the suite door opened again and more vampires strode in, one surrounded by four more, almost as if he was being flanked. Now this vampire seemed to be more in charge, and immediately the one who had appeared to be before backed up even more and lowered his head.
“Oh, so this was the reason you were a mumbling idiot,” I said, smiling and adding as much of a mocking tone to my voice as I dared, now we were very outnumbered again. “You’re just another minion, not the person in charge at all.”
The newcomer raised an eyebrow and then looked around at all the vampire bodies. “We should clean this up. Dump them overboard before it’s too light out there.”
“Have fun with that,” I said. “I’d offer to help, but if your lap dog here hadn’t set the even lower minions on us when he couldn’t think of what to say, there wouldn’t be a mess to sort out.”
I was pissed. No one was taking us seriously and there was still something about this that felt off. I was about ready to just kill as many of them as I could and then search all the bodies for the relic.
No one responded to my words, the newcomer in charge barely glancing my way as the vampires were quick to gather up the dead bodies. Where we’d cut heads and limbs off there were several blood splatters and most of our blades were dripping. I didn’t do anything to stop them.
Until I had more of an idea what was going on, I wasn’t helping in any way. This was their problem.