by Bonnie Dee
Valarian leaped to his feet and spun around. The smell of scorched carpet fibers made his nostrils flare. He’d caught a glimpse of the woman going up in flames, but hadn’t seen exactly what happened. More licks of flame were spreading across the carpet and climbing up one of the armchairs.
His gaze zeroed in on Akila lying beneath a vampire who was crouched over her, biting her neck. Fear and rage rocketed through him. He couldn’t lose her. She was young and precious and alive and didn’t deserve any of this horror. If he’d never located her, she’d be living an uneventful human life. This was all his fault. He’d be the death of her as he had of the one other woman he’d ever loved.
With a roar, Valarian rushed toward the feeding vampire and his helpless prey. He grabbed hold of the back of the man’s jacket and yanked him off her. The vampire lashed out with one foot, kicking Valarian in the leg while twisting free of his grip. Valarian reached out for him again, but the man was gone in a streak of blue, fleeing the room where the odds were clearly no longer in his favor.
Valarian bent over Akila, reaching out to cover the puncture wounds at the crook of her neck and shoulder from which blood oozed. The smell combined with the rush from fighting and the great expense of energy made him salivate, starved for sustenance. He swallowed and pulled away.
Akila’s eyes were wide and dilated. “Jacob,” she croaked. “Help…”
Valarian glanced toward Jacob, who was getting severely thrashed, and hurried to help him. He seized the other vampire and jerked him away from his thrall. Then, letting the bloodlust that filled him take control, he pulled the man close, opened his mouth wide and ripped into his jugular. It wasn’t the nectar of human blood, not even close, but for the moment the hot blood assuaged his need.
Jacob dragged himself upright, cradling one of his arms close to his chest, and staggered over to Akila, who’d also risen to her feet. For a moment, they clung together like a pair of drunken comrades after a night on the town.
Valarian forced himself to stop drinking and drop his kill to the floor. “You both all right? There’ll be more coming. Let’s go.” He grabbed Akila’s hand, slid a supporting arm around Jacob’s back and guided them both to the door.
They weren’t free yet, but for a moment Valarian allowed himself to feel the warmth of relief. The two people he cared for were safe in the shelter of his arms.
Jacob checked the hallway before leading the way toward the door through which they’d entered the building. His broken arm throbbed with every jarring footstep and nausea churned his gut. He blinked away the darkness edging his vision and focused on remaining conscious as he aimed for the exit. He wasn’t surprised to hear distant shouts followed by the high-pitched shriek of an alarm announcing that the vampire hideaway had been breached.
The condition he was in, they couldn’t afford another fight. Get Akila out. That was all that mattered, all he should concentrate on, but the image of a cellar full of prisoners awaiting execution wouldn’t leave him. They’d be slaughtered with no one to help them. Family members would wonder where their loved ones had disappeared to, imagine them murdered by serial killers, and they’d be right.
Jacob skirted the bodies he and Valarian had left sprawled near the entry. He stopped at the door as Valarian came up beside him. “You go on. There are people being held here. I have to get them out.”
Valarian frowned. “This is no time for heroics, Jacob. The important thing is getting Akila to safety. We can’t save anyone else.”
Despite the number of enemies he and Valarian had eliminated, Jacob knew the odds were against him, especially with his injured arm. But he couldn’t let it go. “I won’t leave them.”
“Neither will I,” Akila declared. “You saw what they did to that man in there. He was in pieces.”
“As we’ll be if we don’t get out of here.”
“So go,” Jacob said. “Get Akila someplace safe and then come back for me and the prisoners.”
Valarian glowered. “There’s no time to argue. I’m not leaving you here. Maybe later we can come back with more firepower, but for now you must do as I say.”
Years of obedience to his master’s will nearly brought a yes to his lips, but Jacob stared him in the eyes and answered, “No.”
“Listen, Valarian,” Akila interrupted. “It’s supposedly our destiny to save people. Well, this is the beginning of it. Here’s our first chance to make a difference. And it’s not like we’re completely helpless. We have weapons, and did you see me incinerate that vampire? I have some sort of power now, although it seems to be a little hit-or-miss. We have to do this.”
She gazed at Valarian with an earnestness that made Jacob’s heart swell. He hadn’t meant for her to help. He wanted her out of here, but she was stalwart and it was clear she wouldn’t budge.
“You’re right about one thing, though,” Akila added. “There’s no time to stand here arguing.”
Valarian huffed an annoyed breath. “Very well. Anyway, they’ll be swarming the perimeter looking for us. Perhaps it’s safer to stay hidden in the building for a bit until the search net spreads wider and then slip away. Where are the prisoners kept?”
“The basement.” Jacob wasn’t certain in what direction the entrance to the subterranean chambers lay, but he took a chance on the access being near the kitchen and headed that way.
They walked with hands linked, keeping Akila between them, sliding like shadows from room to room and freezing whenever the sounds of searchers came close.
Based on the thermal scans they’d counted before entering the building, Jacob figured there were about a dozen vampires left—hardly a full army, but far too many for him and Valarian to take on if they could manage to avoid them. At least the pain in his arm was easing as the bones began the slow process of knitting back together. There were some perks to being a vampire’s thrall, and super-healing was foremost among them.
They reached a kitchen large enough to serve the expansive dining area. A faint whiff of blood and rotting flesh lingered in the room. Perhaps once long ago this lodge had been a place for human guests, and banquets had been produced in this kitchen. But the stove and ovens had probably remained fairly unused since vampires took possession of the building. Valarian’s predilection for cooking with vegetables was rare. Most vampires preferred a raw diet and bloodier fare.
Jacob’s guess about the cellar proved correct. One door led to a large pantry with very little stocked on its shelves, another opened to reveal a flight of stairs going down into darkness.
Valarian stayed in the kitchen to keep a lookout while Jacob and Akila descended the steps. Jacob went first, not really expecting to encounter any enemies in this storage area, but wanting to keep Akila safely behind him just in case.
The ripe odor of human bodies reached him before he turned the corner and viewed the dimly lit cellar containing eight-by-eight cages and several terrified people. There were perhaps twenty cages, although Jacob didn’t bother to count them, but only four prisoners held in them—a young man, two teenage girls and a little boy. There was a vampire adage: “the younger the grape, the sweeter the juice”. Most vampires avoided the blood of the elderly, which was thin and not as rich in the nutrients they craved.
Akila immediately rushed to assure the prisoners they weren’t being selected as an aperitif. She reached through the bars to hold the hand of the boy, whose blank stare suggested he was in shock. “It’s all right. We’ll get you out of here. What’s your name?”
“Brian,” the kid whispered, his eyes focusing on Akila at last.
“Listen, Brian, you have to be really brave right now, okay? Keep it together. Be a superhero.”
The boy nodded.
Jacob found a ring of keys hanging on the wall and began to unlock the cells. After he’d released the man—Ali—Jacob gave him the gun he’d taken from one of the guards. “Aim for their heads. That’s the only way to stop them.”
“Are they really…vampires?” The
girl with the streaky blonde and brown hair, who introduced herself as Amber, stumbled over the word. “Or just role-playing sickos?”
“They’re real,” Akila said. “And there are a lot. We may have to fight our way out. Grab a knife when we go through the kitchen.”
Jacob led the way back upstairs where Valarian waited for them in the deserted kitchen. He scanned the bedraggled group. “That’s all of them?”
“There was a guy called Roger,” the auburn-haired girl said. “They took him.”
“He’s dead,” Akila told her.
“All right.” Valarian took command. “Stick together. Somebody carry the boy, because we’re going to be moving fast.”
Ali hoisted the kid onto one hip. The girls hovered close to Akila and the cluster of humans followed Valarian’s lead while Jacob protected their rear. They retraced their steps toward their point of entry, but the way was no longer clear.
They came around a corner to discover an armed guard. He spotted them and took aim. Valarian sped toward him, intending to kill him silently before he called attention to them, but Ali was faster. Still holding Brian in one arm, the young man aimed the gun Jacob had given him at the guard’s head and released a barrage of gunfire that resounded through the room.
“Die, motherfucker!” he bellowed as the guard collapsed to the floor.
Scheize. Jacob cursed himself for arming Ali. The gunfire would draw their enemies. But there was no time to pause. They rushed on toward the exit.
When they reached the door, no one was guarding it, but Jacob was certain their enemies were patrolling the grounds outside and watching every exit. And even if they made it past them, they had to pass through the booby-trapped woods again before reaching their vehicle. Their situation was precarious.
“We need a distraction, something to draw attention elsewhere,” Valarian said.
“I bought a few grenades from Leah too.” Jacob fished one from his pants pocket. “In case we needed them.”
“Perfect. Why didn’t you say you had them earlier? Might’ve been good to create a distraction coming in.”
Jacob didn’t respond. They’d decided on covert elimination and the grenades hadn’t applied until now. “I’ll set it off. You lead them out.”
“No. I will,” Ali spoke up. “You guys seem to know your way. You’ll be better at fighting your way through. Let me do this.” He held out his hand to Jacob.
Jacob exchanged a glance with Valarian and received an almost imperceptible nod. He handed over the grenade. “You know how to use it?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen movies.”
“Move toward the front of the house, pull the pin and throw it, then try to catch up with us. The woods are booby-trapped, so if you end up in them alone, be careful.”
“Got it.” The young man headed off without looking back.
“Good luck, Ali,” Amber called softly after him.
Akila took charge of Brian, squatting before the little boy and whispering to him to calm him down while they waited for the explosion that would signal their escape. Jacob watched Akila and thought of the child that grew in her now. She would be a good mother, lively and fun if not always patient.
And he would be a father—he and Valarian, who had an unexpected warmth about him that children responded to, on the rare occasions he had reason to encounter children. Jacob hoped he’d be a good father, affectionate and kind rather than distant and aloof as his own vater had been. He wanted to see the child they’d made together and prayed that all of them would make it through this ordeal alive.
Chapter Eighteen
Akila felt like a freshly charged battery. Somehow her terror had turned into an almost giddy excitement like a cocaine high. She could do no wrong. She would not fail. She was a superwoman.
The mounting feeling had begun after Valarian had pulled the vampire off her and killed him. Jacob had held her close and for a brief moment, Valarian had placed his arms around both of them and they had been three once more. She’d felt a subtle but very real shift of power from their bodies into hers, as if she was the vampire siphoning off their energy. That energy mixed with the adrenaline coursing through her in a heady cocktail as they ran toward freedom and then saved the prisoners. Now she felt ready to do battle, an Amazon warrior woman—or perhaps the daughter of Ra—jazzed and raring to go.
The exploding grenade sent a shock wave through the building that made the floor quake beneath their feet. Akila lifted Brian in her arms and prepared to run. Valarian waited only a few seconds before throwing open the door and charging into the darkness.
It took a moment for Akila’s eyes to adjust to the black night in the forest. She made out the dim figures of guards or lodge guests running toward the blast.
She hiked Brian’s heavy body up her hip and raced with the others toward the trees, but it was too much to hope they’d escape completely unnoticed. A staccato burst of gunfire crackled through the night, the sound echoing off the trees. The girl running beside Akila dropped like a stone, but Akila couldn’t stop to help her. She had to get the kid to safety. Behind her, Jacob fired at the gunmen with another weapon from his seemingly endless arsenal.
The leafy shapes of trees and bushes were dark forms in an indigo night. Akila ran faster, her legs pumping and Brian’s arms chokingly tight around her neck, his weight throwing her off balance. She saw everything in flashes: Valarian’s broad-shouldered silhouette in front of her, a glimmer of color from Amber’s streaky hair—and several figures looming out of the darkness in front of them.
She dug in her heels, stopping her forward momentum. Amber screamed as she barreled right into one of the vampires and he caught and lifted her off her feet.
Akila reacted without thinking. She tore Brian’s arms from around her neck and practically threw him to the ground, then she held her hands before her and let the charge of power that had been sparking inside her come rolling out in a wave. She felt herself glowing with light and heat. Energy crackled from her fingertips and illuminated the night as it beamed through the air and zapped the vampire before her.
He ignited all at once, bellowing in pain as he became a column of fire. Amber screamed when he dropped her and she rolled on the ground to put out the flames that singed her hair.
Akila didn’t pause, but turned the force of her godhead on the next vampire and the next, setting them both alight as well as the foliage around them. Valarian had to jump out of the way to avoid her death-dealing rays.
The power was captivating, thrilling and almost out of her control, waves surging through her like a flamethrower. She spun around, searching for another enemy at which to direct the heat, and very nearly sent a blast at Valarian.
The chaos of battle erupted around her. Jacob and Valarian fought hand-to-hand with attacking vampires. Ali burst from the building, firing his gun until the clip was empty. Amber grabbed Brian and hurried him to the shelter of the trees.
Glimpsing their enemies in brief flashes of light, Akila couldn’t count their numbers. Perhaps it was only a dozen as Jacob had suggested, but it seemed like many more. She sent out her death ray at a few more of them before the power waned, seeping away like a receding tide.
“Come on.” Valarian grabbed her arm and nearly pulled her off her feet as he dragged her toward the woods. Jacob lobbed another grenade at the remaining vampires before turning to run after them. The resulting explosion shook the ground. A blast of hot air pushed against Akila’s back as she ran.
Since there was no longer any reason to sneak through the trees and risk tripping a land mine, Valarian led them to the path. As her legs pumped in an effort to keep up with him, Akila inhaled ragged breaths, her chest aching from the exertion. She glanced back to make sure the others were still with them. Jacob was herding the people they’d rescued before him, all except the redheaded girl, whose name Akila had never caught.
She and Valarian were first to reach a parking lot of vehicles. He stopped by a Range Rover, tried to
open it, triggering the alarm, and then drove his fist through the window, easily shattering the heavy-duty glass. He reached in to open the door and leaned inside to pull wires down from beneath the dashboard. By the time the engine ignited, the others had caught up with them.
“You drive,” he ordered Ali. “Our car’s parked near the road. You can drop us off there and follow us to the highway. But first, Jacob, give me a grenade if you have any left. I’ll make sure we’re not followed.”
Everyone but Valarian piled into the Rover, and Ali drove out of the clearing, bumping along the rutted track, away from the blast zone.
Akila stared out the back window, waiting for another explosion. Would Valarian be all right? When the gas tanks on those vehicles blew, the fireball was going to be huge.
A second later, a thundering boom resounded and a bright orange glow lit the sky, silhouetting the trees. The rising cloud of black smoke was lit eerily from beneath.
“Stop the car.” Akila pounded on the back of the driver’s seat. “Wait for him.”
Ali put on the brakes and they all stared at the hellfire spreading through the woods.
“Hey, man, this is gonna turn into a forest fire. We’ve gotta go.” Ali took his foot off the brake and the Rover inched forward.
“Wait,” Jacob snapped. “He’ll be here. He always makes it through everything.”
Akila held her breath, her chest tight with apprehension and her eyes fixed on the road behind them. Fire could kill vampires, and an explosion like that, if Valarian hadn’t gotten away quick enough… Images of the vampires she herself had set on fire tonight flashed through her mind. To lose Valarian would be…well, it was simply unthinkable and so she refused to consider it.
Suddenly the door of the Rover was pulled open. Both Amber and Akila shrieked in surprise. Valarian vaulted into the backseat beside them, smelling of smoke and scorched earth. Relief cut the cords of tension binding her heart and soared through her. Safe. He was safe and alive.
