I stood up and held my hand to him. “Why don’t we join Eddie, then?”
“Not a bad idea.” Maciah looked to Zeke. “Figure out a new schedule that will include our guests,” Maciah said to him, which I took to mean: “Keep talking about all the help we’re not actually going to have so that our message is heard.”
Zeke nodded. “You got it.”
“Have fun!” Rachel called out as we headed toward the door.
I turned back around to find her snuggled with Zeke while Nikki and Bennett were still speaking softly only to each other. All of them were happy, and I hated that—possibly in a matter of hours—all of what they’d fought so hard for could be taken away.
We had to make sure that didn’t happen. No matter the cost.
Our watch with Eddie went on for five hours. We not only stayed on the property, but we also checked on the wolves in the forest and then the streets beyond the house to make sure vampires weren’t camping out close by.
Eddie was his normal helpful self, never asking questions, only doing what he was asked to do. Regardless, Maciah and I kept up conversations about what was discussed in the house as well.
Knowing I was fully capable of getting the truth, yet hadn’t, made my skin crawl in anticipation. If Viktor didn’t act tonight, then I was going to ask Maciah to reconsider letting me get the information.
We weren’t going to be prepared for Viktor if he had too much time to plan his fight against us. Everyone who was coming to help was already there, and we needed this to be done with, no matter how things ended.
“I sent Eddie into the house to get Jazz, Nick, and Gabe for the next watch,” Maciah said to me as he reappeared from doing another run around the property.
“You don’t want a pair of us with them?” I asked.
“I thought about that, but let’s see what happens,” he said.
Something about that didn’t sit right with me. “Are you sure?”
Maciah glanced around, checking to see if we were still alone at the end of the driveway. “What are you thinking?”
“That we’ve built up this big plan in hopes that Viktor heads our way tonight. We don’t know who to trust outside the six of us. Leaving someone who could be working against us with our vampires who don’t know any better might just get more of our nest killed.”
Whoever the traitor was, they could start trying to lessen our nest whenever they wanted, and leaving four potential suspects alone didn’t bode well for our situation. We could easily end up three vampires less right before being attacked without notice.
Maciah mulled over my words and nodded. “I’ll send Nikki and Bennett with Jazz and Gabe. Eddie volunteered to keep watch, so there will be five of them, which is good since it will be dark out soon.”
“Thank you,” I said, grateful he took my concerns seriously instead of believing he knew what was best.
We headed inside, and Maciah went to find Nikki and Bennett while I chose to go to our room. I was dressed in jeans and a black tank top with boots. Technically, I didn’t need anything else, but my back felt naked and that was something I wanted to rectify.
I went into the closet and pulled out my crossbow. I hadn’t used it since the fight with Silas, but I decided this wasn’t the time to be without my favorite weapon.
Sliding the bow over my back, I reached lower into the bag with stakes and found my leg straps. They secured around both of my thighs, and I filled the slots with eight stakes before adding a few more to each of my boots.
My crossbow was already holding four stake-arrows. Between those and the rest, I hoped I had more than enough.
Maciah came back into the room and grinned at me while holding up the bag Beatrix gave us. “I see we were thinking the same thing,” he said.
“Unsurprising.” I walked toward him and grabbed the bag we’d been keeping in the safe. My outfit didn’t have loose pockets. I considered changing, but Maciah picked up two of the bottles, tucking one into each side of my bra.
“Those should hold just fine there. Just don’t let anyone punch you and break them,” he said, then started pulling them back out. “On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t carry any.”
I snatched them back. “I’ll be fine. I probably won’t even need them.”
The abilities I’d inherited from my father and his brothers were fueling my confidence. So long as Viktor didn’t show up with a hundred well-trained vampires, the only thing I was concerned with was how soon the fight was going to start.
Viktor had made it clear when he found us at Beatrix’s house that he wanted me as his prize—sick bastard. I just didn’t know if I was a prize to be kept or murdered. If we lost, my vote was for the latter, but if the dark magic he was mixed up with wasn’t immune to my mind control, then there wasn’t a chance in hell of us losing.
Maciah’s hands brushed over my arms. “I hate seeing you like this.”
“It’s better than seeing me turn to ash,” I countered, making him wince.
“You know what I mean.”
I did, but I had no desire to get mushy with him before this fight. That wasn’t how we did things, and I wasn’t changing that today. We could have all of the “I love you” moments after we’d won.
And if that didn’t happen, I had no regrets. I knew how Maciah felt and trusted he knew the same of me.
We didn’t need words or moments of validation for our feelings. Our actions, standing by each other’s sides, and fighting for the same thing were what mattered most.
Everything else was just white noise.
CHAPTER 21
Midnight was almost upon us, and the longer we had to pretend we weren’t hoping for a fight that night, the harder it became.
Bennett’s vampire friends were in place. Sam and her wolves were ready. The rest of us were equally prepared for Viktor’s arrival.
Maciah and I were back on guard duty, but instead of having one or two of the potential traitors with us, we had Rachel and Zeke, so that the others didn’t stumble upon all of our new guests.
The four of us headed into the forest only to have Sam meet us at the tree line, and she wasn’t alone. There was an older gentleman with her, putting off all the alpha vibes.
He had fine wrinkles at the side of his eyes with short dark-auburn hair and light-green eyes. His shoulders were broad with defined muscles made apparent by his form-fitting black t-shirt. Basically, for an older dude, he was hot.
“Maciah.” The alpha nodded curtly.
“Holden.” Maciah was just as terse as the shifter.
“Wolf courtesy. I couldn’t be in Holden’s territory without letting him know. Roman would have thrown a fit and I don’t have the patience for that,” Sam added dryly.
“It’s not a problem for me,” Maciah said, then glanced back at Holden. “Are you here to check in, or to help?”
“Maybe both. I haven’t decided yet,” the alpha answered.
I could sense another dozen shifters in the trees and picked up on several sets of piercing eyes staring at us from the shadows.
“Well, as long as you’re not here to be in our way, then you’re welcome to do whatever you feel is necessary,” I said, hoping to move past the brashness of Maciah and Holden.
Alpha men. Pains in the ass.
Sam smirked. “Cait was right about you.”
“Good to know,” I replied with my own grin.
Maciah’s phone dinged with a message, and the air around him chilled instantly. “Viktor’s on his way.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Zeke and Rachel. They went a mile out. They’re racing back from another direction.”
“Now is your time to decide what you’re doing, Alpha.” Then, I nodded at Sam. “Be safe,” I said before grabbing Maciah’s hand and blurring back toward our house. We didn’t have time to see what Holden’s answer was. He and his wolves would either be around or they wouldn’t be. Simple as that.
Bennett and Nikki
met us out front. “There’s no sign of Jazz and Eddie, but Gabe and Nick are down the street setting traps for the incoming vehicles,” Bennett said.
“How many vehicles?” I asked.
“At least seven.” As he answered me, an explosion sounded from down the street. “Maybe less now, but that doesn’t mean less vampires.”
I pulled my crossbow over my head and double-checked my stakes were ready.
“Too bad you don’t have another one of those. We could pick them off from a distance,” Nikki said.
“That’s exactly why I’ve always used this baby,” I replied, holding it at my side and patting both sides of my chest. The two potions from Beatrix’s were still there: stun and bomb. I planned to use the first one on Viktor before attempting to screw with his head. If that didn’t work, then I’d try to blow him up before sending an arrow through his chest.
Those were the best scenarios I could come up with inside my head. The likelihood of them happening were…slim to none.
Headlights appeared down the road, but that wasn’t all. Vampires, and not our own, were racing toward us. Our time of waiting was up.
Bennett whistled, the sound sharp and high-pitched, then added, “All of the vampires that came to help are wearing dark-blue shirts. Try not to kill any of them.”
The consistent shirt color was a great idea, because I wasn’t going to be asking questions before using my crossbow, which I was going to do immediately.
I tucked the stock into my shoulder and took a deep breath as I aimed for the incoming vampires. They were still a good distance out, but I could make a shot from over one-hundred yards with my bow.
Another breath out and I pulled the trigger once, re-aimed and pulled again. The first target went down, but I missed the second and zeroed in on targets three and four. Both of them went down with ease before I pulled my crossbow down and reloaded more stakes.
“What do we want to do about Eddie and Jazz?” I asked when I finished my task. As much as I assumed we should kill them the moment we saw them, I wasn’t their nest leader. This was Maciah’s call.
“Depends on if they’re trying to kill us. Do whatever you have to do,” Maciah answered gruffly.
Five vehicles stopped just fifty yards from where we stood, making me think the first small wave of vampires had been from the SUVs that had blown up. Viktor was the first to get out, and his red eyes landed on me immediately.
A smile grew on his face. “Ah, Amersyn. We finally meet.” He wasn’t near me, but my ears picked up on his words with no problem.
I held my crossbow up and pulled the trigger again. He was five feet to the left by the time my stake pierced the car door.
“That was uncalled for.” Viktor lowered his gaze at me, then snapped his fingers.
Within seconds, there were thirty more of his vampires on the street. Not ideal, but less than there could have been. From the east, Bennett’s friends began to appear, and in the distance, wolves howled. We weren’t going to be as outnumbered as I originally worried about.
An odd look passed over Viktor’s face, but it was gone before I could decipher it, and so was he.
“Where did he go?” Zeke snarled, holding Rachel closer to him.
“Not something we can worry about at the moment,” Maciah said, then gave my hand a tight squeeze. “Let’s finish this.”
I nodded, and we raced toward the horde of vampires headed our way. This was it. There was no more waiting. Our plan had worked, and it was time for us to end the nightmare we’d been forced into.
Rachel threw one of Beatrix’s vials at the first row of vampires, and I sent a wave of my mind control out. I’d never tried to control so many of them, and had no idea what was going to happen, but I went for it anyway.
Smoke covered six of them, stunning them just as it was supposed to, and I forced them to sleep. The opposing vampires dropped to the ground in the next second, but another group jumped right over them with guns in their hands.
“Spread out!” Maciah shouted.
I went with him to the right, but we weren’t quick enough. A bullet landed in my thigh, burning my muscles. “What the hell is that?” I screeched, trying to dig the slug out while running to avoid being hit again.
Maciah snarled and reached back to pick me up. “The same bullets that Silas’s vampires used against us.”
With Maciah holding me, I got the bullet out of my thigh and there was instant relief as my body began to heal itself.
Maciah slowed enough that I hopped out of his arms and was running beside him a minute later. We circled around behind Viktor’s vampires, still not seeing where he went. A few of them caught sight of us and sped in our direction.
I urged my power to knock them out before they could get too close, but as I sensed the vampire’s minds, a dark layer mixed with my own energy.
My mind recoiled from the thick, drowning magic. I had no idea what it was, but I had a feeling it was Viktor interfering with my abilities using the dark magic that Dante had mentioned to us.
Good thing for me, I didn’t intend to rely solely on those powers.
Maciah and I leapt into the air at the same time and met the opposing vampires in the middle. I’d already grabbed a stake and struck one before my feet were back on the ground. I kicked his deteriorating body away and snatched another weapon from my thigh as I ducked and twisted out of a vampire’s reach.
A head rolled in my path before turning into a puff of ash and I smirked. Maciah enjoyed ripping bloodsucker heads off more than the normal person. That maybe should have bothered me at least a little, but it didn’t in the slightest.
Two vampires collided with me, one on each side, but I only had one stake in my hand. I stabbed one, missing his heart and sinking the tip into his ribs while my fist gripped the second one’s chest.
The dark energy I’d felt previously wasn’t present, and I quickly flattened my palm, sending a wave of magic into him. His red eyes glazed over just before his legs gave out.
I didn’t have time to see what happened next as I caught sight of my own stake coming at me. The other vampire had ripped the weapon from his side, attempting to kill me with it. Not that I’d actually die, given I was an original heir, but I didn’t imagine I’d heal as quickly as normal if metal penetrated my heart.
Maciah was there in the next instance, his hand slamming into the vampire’s arm, then shoving him back a dozen or so feet before the stake could get anywhere near me.
I quickly brought my crossbow up and had a stake aimed for the vampire within the next second, but he was smart and took off in a blur to our left.
“You good?” Maciah asked.
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
We continued on to see the wolves had arrived. They joined in with the blue-shirt vampires that Bennett invited, and the fight was relatively even. That was a relief I hadn’t been expecting so early in the fight, but I knew that could change in the next moment. Especially as I caught a flash of red hair on our right.
“Jazz,” I sneered.
Maciah saw him, too, and we took off to track the vampire down. Except when we got closer, it wasn’t Jazz running on his own. Eddie was forcefully pulling him along.
Maciah’s steps faltered for the briefest of seconds. “Eddie?”
Even though we’d known any of the other vampires could be the one giving Viktor information about us, Eddie had been the one least suspected. He’d always acted loyal, but maybe that should have been the reason we looked closest at him.
Though, it was too late to think about that.
As Maciah’s speed got faster, mine began to slow. I reached a hand out to grab him, but my arm felt like lead, and I could barely lift any part of my body as I began lowering to the ground without meaning to.
Eddie stopped then, holding a wide-eyed Jazz in front of him as a shield. “Come any closer and you’ll lose another member of your nest,” Eddie sneered.
Maciah finally realized I wasn’t movin
g on my own and he blurred back to me, ignoring Eddie’s threat.
“I knew you were too weak to lead our nest to greatness when you let a hunter into our home. You could kill me right now, but you’ll always choose her. So, instead of being on the losing team, I made my own choice,” Eddie said, squeezing tighter around Jazz’s neck.
“Get him before he disappears,” I demanded to Maciah.
“I’m not leaving you here. I don’t care what he does.”
Sam’s tan wolf came speeding toward us. “I’m not alone. Now, go,” I insisted.
Maciah was once again torn, but before he had to decide, Bennett and Nikki appeared.
“I’ve got him,” Bennett snarled.
“So pathetic,” Eddie snarled, but Maciah wasn’t paying him any attention, which seemed to further irritate the traitorous vampire. Eddie shook Jazz in the air as Jazz did his best to loosen Eddie’s grip on him.
Once Maciah had me in his grasp, he finally turned to Eddie. “You haven’t been paying attention to what I’ve been trying to do inside our nest if you think I’m pathetic.”
Eddie squeezed Jazz’s neck tighter until the vampire’s eyes bulged. “You can’t fool me anymore, Maciah.” With those last words, Eddie twisted, and the snap of Jazz’s bones echoed around us as he was tossed to the ground.
Bennett was gone in a blink, following Eddie deeper into the forest. Nikki was right behind them, circling wider and hoping to cut off Eddie from wherever he was running to.
“Are you okay?” Maciah asked me.
My body felt weighed down, but I was fighting back. “I just need another minute. Go check on Jazz.”
“A broken neck thankfully won’t kill him. Jazz should be okay within the half-hour once he’s healed on his own,” Maciah said, holding me up, then looked down at Sam’s wolf. “Are your wolves good?”
She nodded and either snarled or grinned. It was hard to tell.
“We need to find Viktor,” Maciah said to her, and she closed her eyes, inhaling deeply.
I pointed to the tree line. “There’s Eddie.”
Vampire Vow (Scorned by Blood Book 3) Page 14
