Chapter 22
Anais
As the balcony door opened I heard noise from outside and frowned. If I’d not had a lot of different vampires in the room and I hadn’t been sizing up this newcomer to try to figure out if they were a big threat or not, I’d have gone toward it to see what the commotion out there was.
I feared that Leo was out there, or Petros, especially as neither had come in, but we’d already been in here long enough I wasn’t going to rely on anyone showing up to help us.
This was all on me and my team. We had to get out of here and get to a safe place.
From there we could figure out what to do next or if Leo had betrayed us.
The new vampire hadn’t been very helpful so far.
He hadn’t reacted to my mock, was ignoring me so far, and was simply encouraging everyone to clean up.
Now that the balcony door was open, I understood why he was so insistent.
The sun was coming up and it was going to be too bright for any vampires who couldn’t daywalk to even consider going out there very soon.
Already, I suspected it was going to make them feel uncomfortable.
“Well, unless you want to talk relics, I think it’s time we left and got some beauty sleep. Like you, we’ve been up all night.” I took a step toward the door, but Naomi shouted and it drew my attention back toward her.
Before anyone else could move, the wall seemed to ripple and yet another vampire came through it. He kept part of him within the rippling part of the wall, and another vampire came through, followed by Leo.
Leo rushed through, so quickly that he crashed into the back of the vampire that had come through behind him, who in turn knocked the first one over.
All three of them tumbled to the floor as a fourth tried to come through the wall and got stuck partway. He immediately began to yell and shout, wriggling in the wall as Leo scrambled to his feet.
Yet again, all hell seemed to break loose and Naomi took the opportunity to slash at one of the vampires near her.
Alan stepped toward the vampire Leo had sent sprawling and stabbed him in the back, straight through to his heart.
With the training and the number of vampires my team had gone after in the last few weeks, we had grown more efficient.
I didn’t get to go to Leo as several of the vampires close to me rushed toward me, but I had a dagger again and I slipped the ring on once more.
Using it for a second time so soon after the first was going to drain me, but right now, it was the only way to survive this fight.
I dodged the first vampire, but stuck my leg out so he also went sprawling and then stabbed at the second, coming in from the side.
My blade sliced up through his ribs, but I didn’t get the right angle to reach his heart. It slowed him down, however. No vampire liked to run onto a blade.
As he pulled back and twisted, my grip on my blade was tested, but I held firm and it came free, only adding to the creature’s discomfort.
Mostly, I’d only managed to puncture a lung he didn’t need, but I delivered a kick to the face that sent him backwards into the vampire who had acted like he was also in charge.
I rocked back, looking for the first vampire that had rushed me, finding him on his feet, but Tess already dealing with him. I considered helping her, but I was soon attacked again.
Concentrating on my own foe for a few more seconds, I parried, dodged, weaved, and looked for the right moment to end the monster. Although I got in several more cuts, they were all to the vampire’s arms and not anything important.
With every second that passed, I grew more and more frustrated. I should have been moving faster than the vampire and easily have the advantage, especially with these being weaker turned. This one was either stronger, my relic was growing too taxed, or they had a similar relic of their own.
Leo had told me the particular relic I wore couldn’t be used by vampires, but that didn’t mean there weren’t vampire equivalents.
I was sure at least one relic other than mine was present in the room.
Leo had come back into the room along with several other vampires through the wall in a very magical fashion.
While I fought, I tried to get a look at the fight happening by Leo, the Brethren vampire having literally torn the head off the vampire he fell onto before he got back up again. It had only added to the chaos, but now he appeared to be trying to fight with the vampire that had the relic.
The vampire fought with him, Leo’s punches and attempts to get some kind of grapple or grip on the vampire often resulting in Leo passing right through, but eventually some connected. It took the fight out of the vampire and he shouted and tried to call several of the other vampires to him.
It distracted the one I was fighting against and I took the opportunity. Once more I rammed my dagger into his torso, not missing the heart this time. He let out a strange sort of gurgled noise, before collapsing.
This seemed to enrage this relic-holding vampire and he came at me before I could recover. He grabbed me and knocked me off my feet. I smacked into one of the side units, catching my ribs. It knocked the wind out of me and if it didn’t break something, then it certainly bruised me.
I was unable to fight off the vampire easily, one arm pinned beneath me, my blade at too awkward an angle to even tilt to stab, and pain flaring through multiple parts of my torso.
He tried to go in for the bite, but I kept jabbing my one free hand at his face. His strength and ferocity kept him from being shoved too far away and panic began to set in.
Before I could fend him off, get my arm free, or be bitten, Leo loomed up behind, grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked up and backwards.
As soon as I was no longer trapped, I rolled away and back toward my team.
Pain coursed through me yet again, along with a tiredness that made it hard for me to get back to my feet.
The ring was taking too much of my strength.
Recognizing the warning sign, I considered slipping it off, but there were still enough vampires in the room that were against us that I didn’t feel I could even now.
The vampire with the obvious relic activated it and ran out toward the hallway.
It didn’t have to stop for anything, but it didn’t flee alone.
The remaining vampire that had pretended to be in charge also took off after it.
The vampire wasn’t fast enough, or didn’t dare to follow through objects, and had to open the suite door to get out and after his boss.
To my surprise, Petros came hurtling in the open door before it could close, yelling loudly enough that he distracted several of the remaining vampires.
Hoping this was a sign that Petros would help finish this fight and get us out of here, I turned to the nearest vampire and joined Tess in fighting it.
At the same time, I finally slipped the ring off. I couldn’t use it while I was this drained, and with the extra help and two vampires leaving, we now had the upper hand. Not that the vampires in the room knew it.
The moment the ring was off, my head swam and I had to pause, keeping back from the vampire Tess was fighting for a couple of seconds.
She was easily keeping it at bay, especially as it was wary of me and what I might do next.
If nothing else, I was keeping it more distracted so Tess could get each strike in.
Bit by bit she weakened it, cutting here and there, sometimes getting a stab in. As she managed to get another good jab in, catching the vampire in the arm, she almost overbalanced herself. It was a risky move anyway, but she’d taken it, wanting to get the damage in.
The vampire was about to grab her and bite into her neck when I lunged forward and sank my blade into its back, right where its heart was. It shuddered between us for a moment, dying and giving Tess the time she needed to get back stable and out of harm’s way.
Not long after that, several of the vampires left tried to disengage from us, one pushing past Petros and knocking him into the TV. It clattered and fell, letting out a massive crash as the screen shattered.
This was getting so violent that I didn’t doubt we would be drawing attention from the humans on the ship. The noise level alone, and people now rushing in and out of the suite. This was getting insane.
As I recovered a little from the initial dizzy rush of taking off the ring, I checked my team were all still okay. Alan had a cut down one arm and Naomi’s pants were torn across one leg, but they were otherwise going to be fine.
Leo’s arm appeared to be dislocated, but he was still fighting hard and was actually helping Naomi with what must have been a stronger turned than normal.
Tess came to my side. “Are you okay?” she asked as she looked over where I had smacked into the cabinet. She pressed down my rib cage to check my ribs and I winced and sucked in my breath.
“I will be,” I replied. “I think we need to try to get out of here though.”
“No argument from me,” Tess replied as she backed off, satisfied I would heal well enough and wasn’t in any immediate danger now. She headed toward the vampire Petros was fighting and I hurried over to Alan, wanting to back him up.
His vampire was weaker and Alan had been slicing with his sharp, well-balanced sword for some time.
The vampire didn’t seem to know when it was best to give up and stop fighting, leading to Alan focusing again and again on getting small cuts in, wearing the vampire down while staying out of bite reach.
While it wasn’t common to have to fight like this for long when we hunted on academy missions, it did happen sometimes.
Normally the academy sent a team against a single vampire, but we’d been finding ourselves up against pairs more often.
This was even worse, however. Fighting so many at once, even with allies like Leo and Petros, was extreme.
It was a testament to the precision, training and trust of my team that we’d made it this far with only a few injuries. Not that we were safe yet. There were still vampires in the room.
No sooner had I thought this than the door opened again and more vampires came running into the suite. I rushed Alan’s vampire, stabbing at it over and over again, knowing we needed to finish these off and then try to get out of here.
Leo must have had the same thought because he picked up his pace, finally overpowered his opponent and looked to the newcomers. They hesitated, but only until they saw Leo’s arm and its dislocated nature.
Naomi hurried toward him and the new vampires, making it clear Leo didn’t stand alone as I dodged the nearby vampire. It gave Alan an opening and he slashed, catching the vampire’s arm. It growled and whirled back to Alan.
Before I could try to stab it and keep it fighting both of us, Alan glanced at me and toward the door. “Go help them. I can finish this one.”
Although I worried he couldn’t, I knew we were going to have to get out of the suite. I rushed to Leo’s side just in time to stop two vampires from ganging up on him.
“We need to get your arm back in place,” I said as I stabbed at the far left vampire and made it reel back from him. He faced the middle one and Naomi harassed the third on the other side.
Petros was still battling another vampire, but they were more wary than the rest of the turned we were dealing with and the perfect combatant for Petros to be helping with.
I slashed and stabbed toward my enemy as I dodged attempts to get at me, but we’d moved to a more narrow section of the room and it wasn’t as easy to move or get away from it.
I was stuck and was quickly grabbed. Leo quickly pivoted to come to my aid again, but it was another reminder that this fight was too much.
We needed to get out of here.
Leo pushed back the vampires, but he hissed in pain as he did so. Thankfully Alan must have killed the vampire he was fighting because he came running over to join Leo and I and stood ready to fight. Right after, I grabbed Leo’s arm and yanked it back into place before he could stop me.
The vampire let out a growl of pain, but he looked at me with gratitude.
I’d never actually fixed a dislocated arm mid-battle before, but I’d seen my mother do it for my father once when she’d had no choice but to get it done quickly.
Leo would be in less pain and able to use his arm now, but it would still take time to recover.
With that sorted, he simply grabbed one of the vampires and threw them toward the veranda. “We’re getting out of here.”
I grinned, grateful to have him able to fight hard, but as he gestured for Petros to lead the way back out and ushered me and my team to go next, the vampire he’d thrown recovered. It rushed at him and stabbed him in the side with one of the daggers we’d left lying around.
Before Leo could respond, I lunged at the vampire and stabbed right back. Tess also stopped in her tracks and drove another blade in. As Leo recovered from the shock, he pulled the blade out of himself and finished the vampire off, now it was pinned on two daggers.
Its head rolled onto the floor, only adding to the mess.
“Now we really need to get out of here,” I said, deciding that I was taking the rear now. I pushed Leo toward the door and Tess grabbed his arm, understanding my tone. I wasn’t leaving this room until I knew everyone else was out and safe.
I turned my back to my team so I could keep the last few vampires at bay, but the fight had gone out of them. All of them were injured and there was devastation all around them. They wanted to let us go as much as we wanted to be out of here.