His outright refusal angered her. She wanted to be useful, to be part of the fight to bring Roken home. “Then go stand outside their door and demand Roken back.” She had to do something to help. “In exchange for me.”
“No.” Yet again Seb dismissed her idea offhand. This time he didn't even look at her.
“Yes,” she demanded. “It is the only way they won't be expecting you. Get Roken back, then you'll have four of you. You can feed well, find your friends and attack when you are ready. You know I’m right.” She looked them in the eyes, and she knew they had listened. They had each looked sullen and down all day, but now they were more so.
Seb opened the front door and stepped out into the evening air, waiting for the others. The air smelt of blood and defeat, and for the first time in his long life, he was going to wage war for a reason other than himself. It was a bittersweet moment. They would go. They would fight. They would die if they had to. But it wasn’t only Heather they were willing to live and die for. She had simply reminded them they were willing to die for each other, for their family. Each of the three men were willing to die to bring Roken home, and facing death and accepting it gave new confidence to their stride as they left the protective bubble of their home.
They covered the distance far quicker than they expected, but the four were weary from their long walk. Some of their initial enthusiasm had been lost, especially when Arlo’s scent led him around trees and under bushes. Finally, they stood outside the industrial estate looking in through the imposing, chain link fencing. The abandoned buildings looked exactly that—abandoned. But there was a strong smell of vampires inside.
“Don't underestimate this place,” Seb warned. “It is not as run down as it looks.”
Oscar turned his attention away as a small man started walking over. His cautious walk betrayed his fear long before his scent was close enough. This man was under the impression he could well be walking to his death, but he walked toward them anyway. Whatever faced him if he disobeyed would be far worse than death.
“Let me say it! Please, let me say it!” Arlo begged, trying to keep his eyes from the rabbits to his left.
“Go on, then.” Seb sighed with a humorous chuckle.
Heather just looked at Oscar with a blank expression, so he explained softly, “He wants to say, ‘take us to your leader’.”
There was a humour to the comment that was totally inappropriate for the situation, and rather than laugh, Heather’s eyes filled with tears. She was terrified, and Oscar couldn’t blame her given the trade they were suggesting. He took her hand in his and squeezed. He may have only known her for a few days, but the idea of losing her scared him. He wanted her, needed her. And if he had to share her to get that, so be it.
“Come this way,” the timid man called as soon as he was close. “David will see you.”
“Damn it!” Arlo cursed as his phrase went unspoken.
Oscar squeezed Heather's hand tight as they entered the estate. It was a very built up area with big warehouses and office blocks filling much of the available space. An ambush would be easily achieved, and the four of them would stand very little chance. Heather gripped his hand too, the only sign of weakness in the brave face she put on, the small smile she flicked him. He had too much to tell her, too many ‘I love you’s left unsaid. But not now. Any such sentiment now would break her resolve. ‘I love you,’ would have to wait.
The timid man opened a warehouse door and waited for the four to walk inside, but it wasn't a warehouse on the inside. It was more like an open plan living room, and very comfortably furnished.
“Recognise anything?” Oscar whispered to the woman on his arm, and she shook her head in response.
“Good afternoon.” The dark-haired vampire who had identified himself as David earlier walked forward. His arms were open warmly, but there was a nervousness to his grin that made them all wary. “So glad you took the time to come to me, saves me worrying about how to transport your shifter friend home.”
This man was too keen, and Seb didn't like it one bit. David wasn't alone in the room, and each of the vampires with him had a worried look. There was no way they thought two vampires and a shifter were that big a threat. Something was wrong.
“We’ll make the exchange, Heather for Roken.” Seb’s eyes darted around the room defensively as he began the negotiation.
“Yes, lovely Rhea. Heather… Whatever.” David held his hand out towards Heather, expecting her to just walk over to him without sight nor sound of Roken. That was never going to happen, and Oscar clung tightly to her hand. He wasn't going to let her go.
“Come my dear,” David urged, beckoning her to him like he had somewhere better to be. “Let them take their friend home.”
Arlo puzzled over the man. His eyes were wide and his gaze erratic. He was sweating profusely, and he smelled of fear. The vampire knew something they didn’t, and it was becoming clear he didn't want to be there. If Heather didn't join him soon, there was a chance he would abandon her. Then Arlo inhaled and a new smell hit his nose. Phosphorus. He had smelt that before, the only time he had seen Roken in his beast form. “Seb...”
“He shifted, didn't he,” Seb muttered.
It was more of a statement than a question, and Seb tried to hide the tremble in his knees. They had been talking about the shifters’ beasts being more active with Heather around, but Roken hadn't shown any signs of shifting. In the end, it hadn't been Heather that brought his sleeping beast back to life, but having his head smashed in and being kidnapped by the one thing Roken’s beast hated above all else. Vampires.
There was a blood-curdling screech, and everyone in the room ducked instinctively, even Heather who had no idea what they'd woken up.
“Sounds like a dinosaur,” Heather whispered to Oscar.
“Close enough,” he replied, hoping she would never see Roken's beast form, because if she saw him, he saw her, and very few people he saw lived to tell the tale.
With the roar she assumed was Roken, everything in the room changed. Heather clung to Oscar's hand, but instead of the strength and comfort she felt before, his grip felt nervous, almost too tight though his fingers were restless. Everyone was scared, which made her scared without even knowing why. It was something about Roken, she knew, but that didn’t make any sense. He was so meek and submissive, and he was hurt too.
“Remember, he doesn't see like we do,” Seb called, his words were directed at Oscar and Arlo.
“Heather, we need to get out of here.” Oscar held both her hands tightly while he gave his instructions. “We're going to run straight past him and hope, in the chaos, we can slip out. If you hear a click, there will be fire. If you hear a fizz, there will be acid. I'm telling you this so you know how terrible it will be. You just run. Keep running. Don't stop. Don't turn around. Don't look back.”
Heather nodded, but she knew what that really meant. Roken would let her pass. He was only interested in vampires. It meant Oscar didn't think he would be with her when she reached the other side.
“I will protect you,” he promised, and she hugged him tight, like she never wanted to let him go. “Let's go.”
She wasn't sure who had given the order, but instantly, Arlo and two others shifted into their beast forms. Arlo wasn't the only wolf. The others were a black panther and a very sleek grey wolf. Seb stood next to David, an uneasy alliance brought about by the theory of ‘safety in numbers.’
Oscar pulled her back. They were going to creep out separately, amidst the confusion, but the door opened, and Heather choked on the sudden smell of phosphorus that entered the room. She had thought they were exaggerating about the expected chaos. But that was not the case. The deserted area was full of vampires, all running towards a crashing sound, and a great plume of fire exploded through the side of one building, the flames so hot they burnt green at the edge. The dark sky glowed red with fire, and the screams… The screams were like nothing she’d ever heard before. They were not the scr
eams of frightened men. They were the screams of the dying. Those who were caught in an agonising and unavoidable death.
Heather couldn't move. Her throat was dry, and she couldn't get enough air in no matter how she tried. Oscar was pulling her arm but there was no way she could handle the sights that went with those sounds.
“We have to go now!” Oscar called, his voice barely audible above the noise. “Just focus on the fence and run!” He pulled her arm again, and this time she managed a step. Now she was running full pelt, faster than she had ever run before thanks to Oscar pulling her along. She was outside, but she couldn't look. She mustn't look. Whatever she did, she wouldn't look.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
T he world always felt different to Arlo in his wolf form. His senses were louder, his instincts stronger. They were telling him to run away, very fast and very, very far, but that wasn't going to happen. He was going to face Roken and distract him long enough for Heather to get away. He would do anything to make sure Heather got away.
The industrial estate was so different to how they had found it, not ten minutes before. There were vampires everywhere, most running towards Roken, ready to fight. The sky was dark with smoke, and small fires clung to anything flammable in the area. Then Arlo saw Roken, stepping through a thick patch of smoke.
He remembered the first time he had set his eyes on the dragon, when it had flown down at a terrifying speed into the battlefield. This time he was stomping forward on four solid legs as his head swivelled around on a snake-like neck, finding each target in his path. There seemed to be a break, where everyone who had turned on the beast had died, and everyone who fled had got away, but it wasn’t over. Even now, Arlo could hear the click of machine guns.
He had seen vampires attack Roken with guns before. They would have no luck against his thick, red skin, but that didn’t stop these vampires from trying. As if he knew of a weakness in his eyes, Roken’s wings curled forward to protect his face. Even the thin membrane between the bone frame of his wings was tougher than the bullets fired at him, and the dragon was as impervious to attack now as he had been during the war.
He was smaller than Arlo remembered, barley twice his human size, but the dragon was the most dangerous creature known to the darkling world. With his thick skin and agile body, the vampires’ attacks only angered the reptile and drew his attention to them. His teeth and claws had no such issue with the vampires, crushing and ripping into them with ease. Arlo knew better than to attack the dragon. His only goal was to get Heather out safely. Arlo turned away from Roken and continued running.
Roken’s saliva was a flammable acid, and he sprayed the corrosive liquid at three vampires ahead of him. Instantly they screamed in agony as the acid burned their skin away. Roken turned and inhaled to spray again, but this time it came with a click, a little spark made from running his forked tongue against the roof of his mouth. The spark ignited the acid, and it burst out of his mouth as an explosion of orange flame. Arlo skidded to a halt as the heat of the flame died just ahead of him. He quickly looked around for Heather. Oscar had pulled her to a stop, with his body covering hers, protecting her from the flames.
Three vampires closed in on the unarmed pair. Knowing Oscar couldn't fight them off and get Heather out, Arlo sprang forward. Growling and snarling drew their attention to his attack and distracted the three from Oscar. The first vampire crunched in Arlo's jaws, and the second recoiled from Arlo's claws. But the third vampire managed to slice his knives across Arlo's flanks.
Arlo howled as pain paralysed his chest. He landed heavily and his left leg collapsed under him. Arlo whimpered as the vampire stood over him and raised the knives. His legs wouldn't lift him. He couldn't move. He was defenceless.
Walking towards the dragon had Seb’s heart racing in a way he had forgotten over the last century. He was oblivious to everything but the dragon that had consumed so many years of his life. There was nothing but Roken and him, not even his friends. He left them to escape alone as the sight and smell of the dragon awoke a part of him that had been buried as long as the beast had. He had hunted Roken for so long it had become a game. There were so many times Roken could have killed him but spared him, and Seb could only hope the dragon still remembered that.
He didn't stop walking until he was right in front of the beast. “Oy!” He flicked Roken on the nose. “You're making a mess.” It was a stupid thing to say to the dragon, but what else could he say? “We've come to save you.” The sound of a dragon laughing was amusing and yet terrifying at the same time, but it meant Roken understood him.
Roken lifted his large front paw then used one claw to flick Seb out of his way. As Seb fell back, Roken turned on David and cut through his abdomen in one slice. It took a few moments for David to bleed out as he lay gasping and sputtering by Seb's side.
Seb eyed the spilled blood as it trickled away from the man they came to fight. He had fed from Roken two times in as many days, the blood shouldn’t have distracted him as much as it was. But he wanted blood, needed it. The smell of vampire and shifter blood filled the air, stronger even than the smell of fire and burning flesh. It was too much for him.
Suddenly he heard a single word above all else. Heather’s voice was louder than the commotion, clearer than the bloodlust.
“Seb!”
Blood and battle forgotten, he scrambled to his feet and was running towards her before he even saw why. Oscar was fighting a vampire, holding the man by his forearms to keep the knives he was holding from taking his head off. Heather was crouched on the ground, huddled over Arlo, who lay still in his wolf form. The strong smell of shifter blood assaulted Seb again. Arlo’s blood. And Seb growled as he ran full pelt into the attacking vampire, knocking him to the ground.
Seb dropped to Arlo’s side as Oscar claimed the knives from the vampire’s grip and sunk his teeth into the dying man's throat. He could tell it was serious. He could smell how much blood Arlo had lost, but Oscar was so thirsty he couldn’t stop until he had drunk the vampire dry.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Arlo was dying. The two long slashes on his flank were wide and deep, and Heather’s hands were covered with his blood from trying to slow the flow. Trying and failing. Each time she tried to close together one cut, the other opened more. Heather knew there was nothing she could do, so she covered his thick, hairy body with hers, trying to hold him together with the weight of her body, and sobbed into his fur.
Seb and Oscar joined her as soon as the last vampire was dead, but Heather could see it in their eyes—there was nothing they could do. They both tried though, pressing their hands across the wounds, trying to stem the blood flow. Arlo whined at the pain it caused, and it did nothing for the bleeding, yet both men continued. They needed to tell themselves they had tried.
Just as she thought things couldn't get any worse than losing her lover, Heather looked up to see a large red head above Seb and Oscar. Roken looked her square in the eyes, and Seb and Oscar froze as Roken’s head appeared between theirs. The dragon's lips curled, revealing the jagged row of acid stained fangs inside.
Heather held her breath wondering what manner of death he saw fit for her. A quick bite, and her head would be gone. Instant and painless, that was probably the best option. Roken's tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth. She'd been told that meant fire. Heather swallowed with a degree of difficulty. Being burned alive didn’t seem like a pleasant way to go. Those agonising moments would feel like a lifetime. Not that Arlo bleeding to death seemed any nicer, but there was something about burning alive that chilled her to the core.
“Please don't kill them,” she begged. He made another clicking sound and a hiss, and Heather closed her eyes and hugged Arlo tight as she awaited their fate. No acid came. No fire came. Just a few strange gurgling noises.
“He's trying to talk!” Seb said, half curious and half amused.
Roken tried talking again, but all he managed were gurgles and throaty whines. In frustrati
on, he padded from one great foot to another, then huffed a plume of smoke through his nostrils.
“It's ok, Roken.” Heather stood up and stroked her hand down his face, marvelling at the beast before her. She was surprised at how cool and soft his impenetrable scales felt under her hand.
His forked tongue slid out and licked Arlo's blood from where her hand touched him. Roken tried to speak again with no more success, and he shook his head in frustration.
“You do what you need to do. We still love you. You are still welcome home when you are ready,” Heather said, a bit impressed with herself. Her voice had sounded a hell of a lot more confident than she felt.
Roken forced his body between the two vampires and then flicked his wings open, knocking them away. The words he spoke were aimed at Arlo, but they were unintelligible croaks and sounded almost painful to make. It wouldn't have made any difference to Arlo, too pained to listen, but to Roken, the words were important, and Heather suspected they were words of goodbye.
Roken made a click, a hiss and a fizz, then he gurgled, and a few drops of acid fell from between his teeth. Heather just watched, frowning, until Roken licked Arlo. Heather jumped to her feet and threw her arms around Roken’s neck. She pushed him back with everything she had, but the dragon didn’t budge. She felt a vibration in his throat, and then there was nothing but the smell of burning flesh and the screams of a dying shifter. Two things that would haunt her remaining years.
She pushed him, hit him, screamed his name and how much she hated him. It made no difference, and she began to wonder the unthinkable. Would the dragon eat him?
Heather couldn't take any more and collapsed into the dragon's tough hide. She didn't want his comfort, but his clawed hand pressed against her shoulders anyway. Then he moved back and pulled away from her. Roken's head nuzzled against her, attempting an apology, and he blinked a tear away.
Broken Dreams (Broken Promises Book 1) Page 16
