I couldn’t see the people below for the way Horus had my head twisted, my only view being his arm around my neck and the dark horizon beyond. I couldn’t help but wish for a miracle, knowing that I’d need one to get out of this predicament alive.
“Oh I will solve this all right, by doing what I should’ve done a long time ago.” Horus turned into my ear, his icy breath fanning the side of my face. “Remember what I said to you, baby vampire? That I would eventually see you dead? Well, the time has come and you will now meet your end.”
I felt the prick of the needle and cried out as it slowly sank in, shooting fire into my flesh. My body instantly sagged in Horus’ arms, suddenly feeling like I’d become very ill, my limbs growing heavy and mind hazy.
“Bring out the gallows!” Horus belted, and I swallowed hard at his words, thinking I might have misjudged my captor. Maybe he didn’t care what happened to Cloe after all and would do anything to see me die, even if it meant risking her life in the process. Actually, I was becoming more and more certain of the notion with every passing second.
Horus shifted slightly to where I could now see a group of vampires below wheeling out the large wooden contraption from the side of the watchtower. The noose swayed in the breeze from the vertical beam it was attached to, and I instantly knew the threat the device posed to me. Horus had wanted me executed by means of hanging and sun ever since the night I arrived. Yet I couldn’t help but be slightly confused, because the sun was hours away from rising and I was pretty certain a vampire could not die from a mere noose around the neck.
My thoughts were interrupted when Horus placed one foot off the edge of the watchtower as if he were about to walk us off the end of a plank into the ocean. He paused for a moment, teetering on the edge, and I could feel my rapid pulse drumming in my ears. Without warning, he stepped forward and we began plummeting downward, the ground and the gallows rushing up to meet us. Yet, just when I thought we would be crushed by the impact, Horus stopped us mere inches from the wooden floor, hovering as if by magic. He gently lowered us, our feet touching the platform, and I panted, my breath pumping quickly in and out of my lungs.
“Make another move, and I will kill your creation.” It was Guy’s voice and my eyes quickly found him still holding Cloe in his arms, his gun pressing into her skull. But despite his dominant position, he looked anything but confident. Fear radiated from his eyes as he glanced between me and Horus, and I couldn’t help but think this might be the last I saw of my captain.
“I told you Stone, I am not worried about that rat. On the contrary, it is you who should be worried for your precious baby vampire.”
Faster than a bullet, Horus lashed the noose tight around my neck, and I looked down to see myself standing in the middle of a trap door. I brought my fingers to the noose, but for being so weak, could merely claw at it, my clumsy fingers betraying me. Horus tugged the rope, tightening it even further, and I struggled to swallow past the restraint. He nonchalantly leaned up against a support beam and laid his hand on the trap door’s lever, a round device that looked like a wooden steering wheel. He flashed a smile out to the small crowd. “I’ve given her a concentrated dose of the suppressant and she will die just like a human, right here, with only three turns of the wheel.”
I released a quivering breath, gazing around at my companions, my lips trembling with fear. Orie, Cloe, Guy, and the humans were all still stuck in compromising positions. Even Pandora, who was free from anyone’s grasp, made no move, afraid for what would happen if she did.
Horus stood up straight and wrapped his long, thin fingers around the circular lever. “And you all will have the pleasure of watching the Newborn die a slow and painful death. One.”
He turned the wheel once. A groaning sound emanated from the contraption.
I looked at Guy through blurry eyes to see his finger trembling on the trigger. I hoped he wouldn’t kill Cloe, knowing she was my friend, and I gazed at him with pleading eyes.
“Two.” Again, Horus turned the wheel, the trap door shaking beneath my weight as if only being held closed by a thread.
Pandora shot forward, but in a blur, three of Horus’ vampires had her restrained. She growled from within their grasp, her red hair flying wildly as she thrashed.
Horus shook his head like a scolding father. “Now, Pandora. You know better than to go up against me. I will deal with you later after all this is done with.” He gestured with his chin to the three vampires holding her. “Get her out of my sight.”
One of the males reared back a hand and punched her straight through the jaw, hard. Her head fell to the side and she blinked as though stunned. The three dragged her away into the darkness.
“Now where were we?” Horus asked the rhetorical question only to be responded by silence. The entire desert fell quiet as though waiting with baited breath like the rest of us. I could see Horus smile over at me, but would not give him the satisfaction of acknowledging him. Instead, I gazed at Guy, the only person I had left to live for, borrowing his strength for my own.
“Oh, yes,” Horus said, in mock realization, his voice echoing through the chill atmosphere. “Lest I forget. Three.” Horus began to turn the wheel, the rotation causing the trap door beneath me to shiver, creak, and slowly lower. The strain on my neck had me standing on my toes and my face bulged with the compression of the rope.
Suddenly, the oxygen around us seemed to leave the air, and the next series of events which took place happened so fast, I hardly had time to comprehend them.
Before Horus could fully activate the lever, a gust of wind blasted through the scene accompanied by a blur of colors. My hair whipped in front of my face and once it fell away, I saw a face I’d never imagined to see standing on the platform directly in front of us.
“Wilson,” I went to say, but was unable due to the restriction of my throat. I stared at my friend who was supposed to be dead, images of his house exploding quickly flashing to mind. His dark eyes glowered at Horus, his bolo tie swinging in the breeze.
“De LeBlanc,” Horus breathed with his hands on the wheel, his face draining of color. I got the sudden feeling that Horus, like me, assumed he was dead, yet probably for different reasons than my own. “But… but you’re…”
“Dead?” Wilson smirked, looking nothing like a corpse, but rather very much alive. Alive and pissed off. “No, Horus, I’m here in the flesh. And this…” Wilson raised a fist, rearing back his arm. “Is for Nora.”
No sooner had the words left his lips did his fist meet Horus’ face in a crack that resembled a clap of thunder, his enemy’s body flying from the platform to the ground below. With Horus’ hands no longer on the lever, the trap door beneath me began to buckle, my feet sinking another inch into the square hole. I choked and sputtered, grabbing at the rope around my neck, my eyes tearing from the strain. Wilson grabbed the wheel and spun it in the opposite direction, rising me up to relieve the tension. But he quickly became distracted by Horus bolting to his feet below. My now miraculously-alive mentor flew from the gallows and landed on the ground in a resounding boom, squaring off with his opponent.
Wilson stared at Horus, and Horus stared at Wilson, like they were the only two beings in existence, tension hanging thick in the silent air. Just when I was sure the staring contest would last as long as an extra inning baseball game, Wilson’s jaw twitched, indicating his rage.
With that, and almost faster than my eyes could see, the two vampires rose from the ground and clashed together in mid-air, the crowd around them quickly backing away to avoid the collision.
Punches were thrown and the sounds of skin cracking against skin echoed from the fight, the two vampires hanging aloft in the air. Horus drifted backward and spun, planting a roundhouse kick to Wilson’s middle, sending him hurling to the ground. But my mentor quickly recovered and Horus dropped to the dirt facing him in a stand-off position. They circled each other with fisted hands, their sharp fangs extended, ready to draw blood. I couldn’t h
elp but worry that Horus might just be stronger than Wilson.
My musings were interrupted when Horus’ eyes flashed, signaling his attack. He flew at Wilson in a streak of black, but just as he reached his adversary, Wilson grabbed him by the shirt and flung him overhead to land on the ground behind him. It was Horus’ turn to shoot to his feet, the two facing off yet again.
The fight seemed to go on forever in a blur of arms and legs, attacks and thwarts, until suddenly Wilson slammed Horus to the ground, pinning him beneath his body. My heart rate quickened as he withdrew a wooden dagger and with hatred in his eyes, reared back his arm, ready to spear Horus’ heart. With the rope around my neck now relaxed, I panted, glancing between the two vampires in suspense.
Wilson growled, a primal sound, and was about to strike when Natalia came from nowhere, knocking him from his predominant position.
Now free, Horus flew to his feet, his maniacal gaze scanning the surrounding vampires. He screamed out in a hair-raising pitch. “What are you fools waiting for? Get them!”
That’s when pandemonium struck. With a snap of his fingers, Horus’ vampires split into two groups, rushing Wilson, and then Guy, who still held Cloe at gunpoint. A vampire wearing a red coat ripped Cloe away and threw her against the gates, her body slumping to the ground limply. The humans, who were now unguarded screamed and ran for the van.
And like a bolt of lightning, Guy averted the vampires’ attacks and flashed to Wilson, joining him in the fight. Despite the chaos and, what’s more, the damned rope that was still around my neck, my heart warmed at seeing the odd couple reunited. Guy and Wilson stood back to back, fighting against the vampires, fangs bared and bullets flying.
Though clearly well-trained fighters and better than most of Horus’ lackeys, Guy and Wilson were still highly outnumbered, and being pushed closer together as the group closed in around them. Just when I thought we’d lost the fight, and it was pointless in even trying, Wilson whistled between his teeth, the high-pitch of it echoing throughout the desert.
I scrunched my brows, wondering what or who he was calling and glanced around to see nothing. But only moments later, dozens of faces began to emerge from the darkness, and I knew in an instant that Wilson had lots of friends.
Werewolves, witches, and vampires flew into the fight, taking up arms against the Tombstone vampires. Sounds of combat erupted all around and I spun my head not knowing which way to look.
Suddenly, my focus was diverted when I heard a low and feral hiss, and I knew in an instant Horus was coming for me. I turned to see him atop the platform, his eyes like pools of black nothingness as he targeted in on me. His fangs descended and I braced myself for his attack, but Pandora materialized before him, obviously having gotten away from her captors. He exploded with fury at the obstacle.
“Get out of my way traitor! Unless you’d like to die first.”
Pandora put her hands on her hips and flipped her red hair. “I’ve seen death, Horus, and I’m not afraid. I’m especially not afraid of a pale, self-indulgent ass like yourself.”
Horus flew at her, the two engaging in hand-to-hand combat just in front of me, and I stumbled backward as much as was possible to avoid their brawling. I frantically searched the scene for Cloe and saw her lying slumped to the ground against the wall, knocked senseless. I knew she still had the suppressant in her system and wasn’t healing fast enough to fight. I frantically tried to loosen the rope around my neck but was interrupted when Natalia landed before me, her Victorian dress ripped and hanging off one shoulder. Her usually perfect hair hung ragged and her gaze flared as she eyed the lever. Great, just the vampire I wanted to see.
With a flick of her wrists, she spun the wooden wheel, and flashed me a smile. Not a second later I plummeted through the hole in the floor, the air leaving my lungs in a gasp.
The noose yanked my head back as I hit the bottom of my fall, bright-white light flashing before my eyes, and I was sure my neck had broken and I was dead. But after a moment, my vision cleared and I realized that I was still alive— albeit, hanging to death and being strangled by the noose, but currently still alive.
I grasped at the rope, choking and kicking, my legs dangling at least three feet from the ground. I frantically scanned the myriad of fights surrounding me, begging someone to cut me down. Horus and Pandora’s bodies dropped from the platform above, landing to roll across the ground in front of me. My mind began to grow hazy and I saw spots before my eyes as I watched them, my lungs burning with the need to breathe. In that moment and, since being turned into a vampire, I’d never felt so human before, the suppressant traveling my veins acting as an antibiotic to my supernatural abilities. If I wasn’t released soon, and I mean in like three seconds, I would surely perish just as my human body had the first time I died.
As if on cue I heard a gnawing sound, like metal against fiber, and my body fell to the ground, my knees buckling beneath me. I breathed in sharply, sucking in huge lungful’s of air, as I felt the rope around my neck being loosened and pulled free from my head. I glanced up and, like a veil being lifted from my eyes, saw Guy standing there with a knife in his hand and relieved expression on his face. He pulled me to my feet and I fell into his arms, bringing up a hand to rub the sore ring around my neck.
“Hurry to the van,” he said. “And lock yourself inside with the humans.”
Yet before I could agree and get myself to safety, Guy’s body was ripped away by a hefty-sized vampire and they toppled away together. My mind spun in dizzy circles, not knowing which way to look. Werewolves and witches fought vampires, vampires fought vampires, and Guy and his opponent fought like a well-oiled fighting machine. I could tell that Guy was right, and with my blood in his body, he was almost as strong as the vampires, yet more skilled from his years of training. He slit the throat of his attacker and spun to meet another one behind him. The second one never knew what hit him; a silver bullet to the brain. I marveled at the way Guy’s muscles moved with grace, his body sculpted like that of an Olympian.
And then our eyes met, and for one long moment he and I just looked at each other, wondering if this would be our last fight together.
By the expression on his face, he was just as confident of the outcome as I was, and when I say confident, I mean… completely unsure. But if this was indeed my last night alive, I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory with Guy by my side.
Simultaneously, we took a step toward each other, but Guy’s eyes widened, landing just behind me. Through the chaos and screaming I watched his lips move slowly, his face draining of color. His words took a moment to catch up to his lips.
“Ruby! Behind you!”
I turned on my heels, only to be slammed by Horus’ body, his death-breath in my face. Even though I’d fallen to the ground and my world spun, I found Guy amidst the chaos. Because of his warning to me, he’d lost focus and was now being mauled by a group of vampires, unable to help me.
Suddenly, my head snapped to the side, a reaction to Horus punching me straight through the jaw. Stars flashed before my eyes and my face throbbed, yet I quickly came to and slashed my claws across Horus’ face, his blood dripping back onto me from the scratches. I struggled beneath him, against his strength, watching the wounds I’d inflicted on him disappearing like they’d never even been there. I wasn’t sure what Guy and Wilson had said about me was true, that I was stronger than Horus, but because of the suppressant there’d be no way for me to find out now. I was hardly able to hold my own as it was.
Regardless, my vampire instincts flared and my fangs shot out, white-hot anger funneling through me like a cyclone. But despite my rage, I struggled still, unable to move my arms and legs for being pinned beneath him. Without warning, Horus jammed a knee into my gut, knocking me breathless yet again.
I needed to channel myself, to hone my strength like Wilson had taught me, maybe then I could somehow rise above the suppressant’s hold. Yet I had trouble clearing my mind, for every time I did, another knock woul
d assault my body. Horus was faster than I’d imagined and his blows struck me like a steel weapon. His fist met my nose with a resounding snap and I cried out in pain as he then sank his fangs into my neck. Stinging fire emitted from our point of contact and I felt the blood leaving my body quickly. Even if I was able to channel my strength at that point, my body was weakening by the second, being drained by Horus.
Through foggy vision, I saw a form standing over Horus, and suddenly knew it was Cloe. She held a plank of wood in her hands, lifting it above her head. In one swift motion, she swung, cracking the back of Horus’ skull. His head snapped to the side, but only enough to stun him. His grip loosened on me just enough that I was able to scramble out from beneath him. I staggered back, feeling the blood trickling down my neck from the bite wound.
Cloe’s eyes widened as another vampire attacked her, throwing her to the side. Her plank of wood dropped to the ground and splintered.
Horus got to his feet, shaking off the blow as though merely annoyed. His inky gaze caught mine and he stalked forward. I stumbled back, nearly tripping over my own feet. I eyed the wood behind Horus, wishing I could reach it and stab it through his heart, but he closed in on me, trapping me in the corner where the watchtower met the gates.
My body trembled and my breath rasped. I could feel the hope I’d had of escaping draining from me with every passing moment, leaving fear and despair in its wake. Just when I thought I was done for, Guy called out to me, his voice rising above the screams.
“Ruby!” I lifted my lashes to see a glittering stream of beads fly through the air, the wooden cross from the rosary spinning toward me. I ignored the fact that Horus rushed at me, only mere inches from contact. Instead, I focused on the necklace as it flew. But it was so high and I wasn’t sure I could reach it. I stretched my arm up anyway, and by some miracle the tip of my finger caught the chain, stopping its forward motion.
Broken Souls Page 25
