“Thanks,” Dylan said and looked at Karma. “Now we know.”
“Yes, now we know,” she replied just as Dylan’s phone let out a loud ring.
Chapter Thirty
“Hey, little brother,” Dylan answered with a grin.
“Dylan, there are vampire surrounding the house. At least fifty of them,” Jackson said, and Dylan could hear the fear in his voice.
“Are you in the saferoom?” He asked and motioned for everyone in the room to be quiet.
“Yes, and I know they can’t get in, but they can destroy the house from the outside.”
“I’m not concerned about the house, I’m concerned about you. Keep inside that safe room, no matter what. They could burn the house down around it and still not get to you. We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Dylan assured him. “And keep an eye on the cameras. I’ll call you back when we’re close.”
Before he ended the call, Karma and Nevaeh were out the door and running for the stairs. Dylan slid his phone back in his pocket and was out the door right behind them.
Moving as fast as they could, they gathered their weapons and were loaded into the vans and SUV’s within minutes.
“If anything happens to Jackson, I will never rest until every fucking vampire there is hunted down and killed,” Dylan said as Karma drove toward their Victorian style home just outside of Richmond Virginia.
“Nothing is going to happen to him as long as he stays in the saferoom. They could blow the damn house up, and he would still be fine. Remember, we designed that saferoom to repel vampire,” Karma told him, and he settled a bit at her words.
“Silver embossed steel,” Harrison said at the looks of confusion on the faces of the two VEB agents with them. “Took us four months to find what we needed and took another six weeks for the room to be built, but it’s as vampire proof as we could get it.”
“You know silver won’t kill a vampire, right?” Agent Martin asked as the sirens of the SUV’s blared around them.
“Yes, but it weakens them,” Karma answered as she took a turn as fast as she dared without flipping the SUV. “It also burns like hell fire when it gets in their blood stream.”
“Interesting,” Agent Jensen said as they flew down the highway. “How far is your home from here?”
“About two and a half hours, normally,” Karma answered and pressed the gas once she hit a straight stretch.
“Under an hour with Karma driving,” Harrison replied and chuckled a little.
“And it would be faster if she were on a motorcycle,” Nevaeh said and grinned.
“Damnit, why didn’t we grab the bikes?” Karma said and growled at herself a little.
“Because there are over fifty vampire there and you knew, at least subconsciously, that you couldn’t take them all,” Harrison answered and Karma growled again.
“I’d die trying,” she replied, and Harrison knew she would, in fact, die to protect Jackson.
“Umm, did you ever stop to consider this could be a trap?” Jensen asked, and Karma glanced over her shoulder at him.
“Yes,” she replied and pressed the gas a little harder. “But it doesn’t matter. Jackson is our family, so it doesn’t matter. There could be five hundred, or a thousand, vampire waiting for us, and I would still go in with the full knowledge that it’s my life or his.”
“Okay,” Jensen said and shrugged.
“You may not understand it, but both Dylan and I were born into this life and have no choice in being who, and what, we are, but Jackson is very innocent, and this life was forced on him when I walked into their lives. I am directly responsible for every bit of danger he has been put into this past year and if anything happens to him, I will spend a very long existence never forgiving myself,” Karma said and sighed. “I can’t have another person I love killed because of me.”
“You know that’s complete bullshit, right?” Dylan said and rolled his eyes. “You have been a target since you were born. As for Jackson, I’m the reason he’s been in danger. You sailed into our lives, but you wanted to sail right back out again, and I wouldn’t let you.”
“Neither of you are to blame. The person to blame for this is Crompton. He found out about Jackson and is trying to use him as a pawn in his demented game of chess,” Nevaeh told them and sighed. “We will get to him in time and he will be okay. My Huntresses will die trying to protect him.”
“Oh shit!” Karma yelled and slammed on the breaks. “Hang on.”
They all looked up and saw traffic stopped ahead of them just as Karma drove the SUV onto the grassy median and punched the gas again.
“Gotta love a woman who drives like a badass,” Harrison said and chuckled when Karma growled at him.
After passing an accident, she steered the SUV back onto the road and floored it again.
In half an hour, they were on the outskirts of Richmond and Karma killed her sirens. “Radio the others to kill their sirens, too. We don’t want them knowing we’re here until the last possible second,” she said, and Dylan radioed everyone to follow Karma’s lead.
Two miles from their property, Karma pulled into a parking lot and shut off the engine.
Hopping out, she went to the back and pulled out her weapon’s bag.
“We will go on foot from here. Harrison, you and Nevaeh lead a group around and approach from the East. Dylan and I will lead a group from the West. Fan out, but stay in pairs, at least. We need to be as fast and as silent as possible,” Karma directed them, and everyone nodded. “Baxter, divide your agents into two groups and let’s go.”
Within two minutes they were divided into groups and were headed in opposite directions.
“Think she’ll be okay?” Nevaeh asked Harrison as they made their way around town at full speed.
“As long as Jackson’s okay, she will be fine,” he responded and came to a stop at the edge of the woods. “We need complete silence from here on in.”
Everyone nodded their understanding as they followed Harrison and Nevaeh into what was surely a well laid trap.
A few minutes later, Harrison held up his hand, stopping the group when he spotted a small group of lookouts a couple hundred yards away. Using hand signals, he directed half his group to move forward, and the other half to fan out and double back behind the lookouts.
Within seconds, the lookouts were dead, and the group was moving forward again.
“Harrison,” Nevaeh said almost silently. When he looked at her, she nodded toward the house and he saw what caught her attention.
Several vampire were on the roof of the house, watching the direction Karma and her team were coming from, but not paying attention to the rear of the house, where they were.
Grinning, he motioned for his group to spread out and take out as many as they could without alerting the others.
Silently, they moved forward and took out several vampire on the ground before any of the ones on the roof noticed them.
Once they were spotted, the fight was on.
Turning quickly at the sound of footsteps, Harrison saw Karma and Dylan fighting four vampire and smiled when he saw two fall within seconds.
“Everyone okay?” Karma shouted. Her question was answered with a series of grunts and growls as they all fought with everything they had.
“There are more on the roof,” Harrison shouted and Karma grinned.
“Let’s go,” she shouted and started climbing the large oak at the back of the house. Once on the roof, her and Harrison grinned at the six vampire up there and charged.
“Fuck!” One of them shouted and scurried to the other side, only to be greeted by Nevaeh and Dylan.
“Well, hello there,” Nevaeh greeted him before sliding her scimitar between his ribs and piercing his heart. “And goodbye.”
“Nice,” Dylan said with a grin as he engaged another in hand to hand for a moment before staking him and tossing him from the roof.
Within moments the roof was clear, and they jumped back down into th
e heart of the battle.
“Incoming,” Harrison shouted as a horde of vampire emerged from the tree line and joined in the fight.
“Fuck,” Karma said as she stabbed another and turned to see the new vampire join them. “Keep alert, everyone. There could be more.”
Taking out the two he was fighting, Harrison darted over to help Baxter and Jensen with the eight who had surrounded them.
“You two need my help, or you got this?” He asked and grinned when Baxter growled softly. “Guess you need my help.”
Staking two as they lunged at him, Harrison grinned and ripped the head off a third before he could sink his fangs into Baxter’s back.
“Thanks,” Baxter called over his shoulder as he staked the one he was fighting and ripped one off Jensen before he could be bitten. “Do they think their fangs will hurt us or something?”
“No idea, but they have zero training and are all very new,” Karma shouted as she took out two more.
“And they’re all pretty stupid,” Nevaeh added as she leaped on the back of one and used him as a jumping post to stake two more, before staking him and grinning. “I seriously love this vampire speed and agility.”
“And I seriously love you,” Harrison said and looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. “Watch your back.”
She turned and saw three large vampire trying to sneak up on her. “Now boys, trying to sneak up on a lady isn’t very gentlemanly,” she berated and took advantage of their moment of confusion to stake two of them.
Karma got the third with her Sai and cursed loudly.
“Stupid son of a bitch! That’s another fucking Sai!”
“We can make more, babe,” Dylan shouted and grinned as he watched her pull a large knife from her boot and slice off the head of the vampire who broke her Sai. “That’s my girl.”
“Remind me not to break her Sai,” Baxter said as he stopped to watch her for a moment. “She is definitely fierce.”
“And stunning when pissed,” Martin added and grinned at Dylan’s low growl. “And one hundred percent taken, we know.”
“Fuck, this is going to be a bitch to clean up,” Karma commented and looked at Dylan. “Think it would be easier to just move?”
“Are there any left?” Nevaeh asked as she walked up behind them.
“Looks like Jensen just took out the last one,” Baxter said and looked around. “We need to check to see if we have any agents mixed in with the dead, but I think that’s it.”
“Two took off into the trees, but we got them before they made it too far,” another agent said and looked around.
“I’m going to check on Jackson,” Karma said and paused to look at Harrison. “Will I need to be invited into my own home?”
His laugh rang out and he shook his head, unable to speak through the laughter.
“Burn in hell, Harrison,” she tossed over her shoulder before entering the key code and opening the front door.
Walking through the house and straight down the steps to the saferoom, Karma didn’t pause until she reached the door and waited for Dylan.
“Let’s let Jackson know he’s safe,” Dylan said and pulled his phone from his pocket.
“Dylan?” Jackson answered on the first ring.
“Yep, it’s safe, little brother,” Dylan told him and grinned.
“Thank God,” he said in relief.
“We’re opening the saferoom door. Don’t let the Huntresses stake us,” Karma said loud enough for Jackson to hear her and he chuckled in response.
“You’re safe,” he replied, and Karma entered the code to open the door.
“We’re all safe,” she said as she stepped inside and hugged him hard.
“For the moment, anyway,” Harrison said from behind them. “We found this on a tree outside.”
He held up a picture, and Nevaeh’s blood ran cold.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Analia,” Nevaeh said quietly as she pulled the picture from Harrison’s hands.
“Who is it?” Jackson asked as he stepped forward.
“My daughter,” she answered and looked at the picture again. Analia was strapped to a chair, in what looked like a warehouse, and was covered in bite marks in different stages of healing.
“Are those bite marks?” Delanie asked and frowned.
“Yes, and it looks like either Crompton, or another vampire has been feeding off her,” Harrison said, and Nevaeh snapped her head up at him.
“Why would he feed off her?” Karma asked.
“To become stronger, or to create a blood link,” Harrison answered, and Karma shook her head in confusion.
“If they aren’t lifemates under the copula, wouldn’t his bites turn her?” Dylan asked before Karma could.
“Not if he made her drink his blood, too,” Harrison explained. “She may not even know she’s consumed his blood. If she’s been drinking his blood to survive the past decade, she may have grown accustomed to it and not realize it’s vampire blood.”
“You think he created a blood link with her,” Karma said almost silently.
“Yes,” Harrison answered and looked at Nevaeh.
“Wait a sec, a blood link?” Gina asked, confusion thick in her voice.
“Yes,” Nevaeh answered. “A blood link is an unbreakable link between two vampire which binds their lives. If one dies, so does the other.”
“If we kill Crompton, Analia will die too,” Karma finished for her.
“Then we can’t kill Crompton until we find out if there is a link,” Dylan said, matter-of-factly.
“How can we find out?” Nevaeh asked, clinging to any possible hope she could.
“The Senate should be able to help us,” Karma answered and grabbed her hand. “Come on, we can call them and either have them come here, or meet us in Boston. We have a vampire to catch.”
“I just need a few minutes,” Nevaeh responded and sat on one of the couches.
Karma motioned for everyone to clear the room as Harrison sat beside Nevaeh.
“Nevaeh,” he said quietly and waited.
“I just found her and may lose her again, forever this time,” she told him, not looking up from the picture in her hands.
“Look at me,” he urged. When she looked at him, her emerald colored eyes were shadowed with sadness and it was all he could do not to sweep her into his arms and carry her away from everything that caused her pain.
“We will find her, and we will figure this out,” he told her. “And, I meant what I said earlier. I love you, Nevaeh, more than I have ever loved anyone is my long existence. You, Nevaeh, granddaughter of the last Amazonian queen and leader of the Huntresses, have captured my heart, and enthralled my mind.”
“You’re crazy,” she told him and chuckled through her tears.
“I am,” he agreed. “I’m crazy about you.”
“When Analia was born I was certain I could never love another as much as I loved her, but after meeting you, I discovered I was wrong. I was instantly infatuated, and as we got to know one another, that infatuation grew into so much more. I love you, too, Harrison.”
“Now that we’ve established that, let’s call the Senate and see what, if anything, can be done to save your daughter.”
“Okay,” she said softly and let him pull her to her feet.
As they walked out of the house, hand in hand, they looked at the group stacking vampire bodies in the yard and sighed.
“I think Karma may have been right. It may be easier to just move,” Harrison said, and the sound of laughter surrounded them.
****
“Analia, your Mother should have your picture by now and, if I had to guess, be on her way here,” Crompton said to her nearly lifeless body. His venom slowly eating away at her human DNA. He’d been biting her several times a day for the past two days, being careful not to swallow any of her blood.
“Fuck you,” she said breathlessly.
“Oh, but you’ve done that already, in more ways than one
,” he replied and grinned. “Did you really think you wouldn’t be caught? Did you seriously think I wasn’t having you followed when you weren’t with me?”
“They will kill you,” she breathed out as another wave of pain washed over her.
“Not if I kill them first,” he replied and grinned. “You see, I have something they want, and they have something I want. Do you think your Mother will trade one Halfling for another?”
“No,” Analia said quietly, the pain getting to be too much to bear.
“I think you’re wrong. I think she will do whatever she has to in order to save her precious daughter,” he hissed and chuckled. “I remember the night I took you. I knocked the Huntress watching over you out, and took you right out from under their noses. At first, I was trying to get your Mother, so I could finish what I’d started years before when I led a band of rogues into the Amazonian village and slaughtered her family, but then I found you and knew I could make her, eventually, come to me. That changed when I met back up with a vampire I changed many years ago named Vincent. He was a very evil man, but he had something I wanted as well. He had a daughter, a Halfling like yourself, and I discovered she was the one we’d heard about for centuries.”
“Karma,” Analia said and frowned.
“Yes, Karma, the one your Mother trained and molded into the young woman you were supposed to be. I want her, I want her as my mate, and I will be willing to trade you for her,” he explained and cackled. “If you survive, that is.”
When she slumped over in her chair, he knew she’d passed out again and he frowned.
“Guess this will have to wait until you wake up again,” he said to her limp form. “Sleep well, Analia, for soon everything will change.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“What can you tell us?” Nevaeh asked as they walked into the hotel they’d be staying at while in Boston.
“Let me see the picture?” Eduardo said and held out his hand. Taking it from Nevaeh, they all looked at it and frowned.
“It looks like he’s biting her to transfer his venom, not to exchange blood,” Ramsey said and looked at Nevaeh. “I think he’s trying to slowly kill her.”
Nevaeh's Secret (Vampire Huntress Saga Book 2) Page 15
