by Amie Gibbons
“Then give me back the shotgun. I won’t sit here useless, sir.”
He sighed and handed over the shotgun, and grabbed the small AR with the suppressor Jet had left leaning against the wall.
“Sir?” I asked as he grabbed a box of ammo.
“I’m a better shot than you are,” he said. “And rifle rounds are less likely to ricochet than pistol ones.”
Really?
“Also more likely to get through armor,” Grant said as he loaded rounds into the magazine with expert flicks of his thumb.
Armor?
“They came ready for battle,” he said like he could hear me. “Anyone serious will be wearing armor.”
I opened my mouth to say I was pretty sure she wasn’t when Carvi said, “She’ll have a shield. I could feel it.”
“Will anything penetrate that?” Grant asked.
“A rifle or shotgun round straight on should break it, or give her one hell of a kick,” Carvi said. “Aquila, any magic?”
“Fuck,” my vamp said. “I can try a defense spell. I’ve gotten them to work before.”
The windows shattered in as one and this time I did scream.
Quil said something harsh in Italian and started muttering under his breath.
Magic built up in the air, makin’ it crackle.
“Front line!” Grant yelled, hittin’ a knee and bringing up the rifle. Jet did the same as Dan and I raised our shotguns.
Somehow the feds ended up being the ones with the main defensive weapons.
Huh.
Almost like we worked it out that way.
Nothin’ happened and the room held its breath.
Then something dropped down into the well around the underground window and hopped in, too fast for us to shoot as he pushed the metal shelving down.
It crashed with a horrible echoing noise and I was just grateful the guys grabbed empty shelves for the defense so we didn’t have glass shatterin’ everywhere.
“Zombie!” Carvi yelled, up and armed with a giant hunting knife in each hand. They must’ve come from the bottom of the safe. “Headshots.”
I pumped as the zombie ran around the shelving, almost vamp fast, and shot him as he zoomed for us.
His head exploded in a brilliant spray and the shotgun kicked me back and made me stumble as my shoulder exploded in blunt pain.
Shotgun recoil, right.
It’d been awhile since I shot anything besides my carry pistols.
Smoke from the shotgun made my eyes water.
Three more jumped down.
“Is there a fucking cemetery near here?” Jet yelled as Dan pumped, taking out the first one to get through the window.
Another set broke through the other window and downed that set of shelves as easily as the vamps had moved them.
We kept shootin’.
If this went on much longer, we’d suffocate from the gun smoke.
At least now the windows were open, letting in sweet Southern summer air.
“I don’t know,” Carvi said. “Could be teleporting them here. Stephanie, you and me on the right. Feds, take the left. Do not shoot us.”
He and Stephanie rushed forward in their vamp way, takin’ on the way too fast zombies hand to hand with their big knives, slicing through limbs and necks as we kept our shots on the ones pourin’ through the other window.
Distraction?
Had to be.
I whirled towards the door in the opposite direction from my time so I wouldn’t cover them with my gun, just in time to smack someone across the face.
He growled and I didn’t need light to know it was Truck.
It smelled like him.
“Truck at door!” I yelled, stumblin’ back and getting the gun up.
He disappeared.
I tensed, circling as the guys turned their heads between the window and door.
“Bridges, Kowalski, stay on window,” Grant said, fallin’ back to back with me.
“I’m not good enough for the spell to help,” Quil said, appearing next to me. “I’ve got you, sweets.”
“Weapon?” I asked.
“No.” He rushed to the safe as I held my gun out. Didn’t have to see to know Grant had his up and ready too.
Quil appeared next to me, something glinting in the dim light comin’ in from the moon outside.
He chuckled as I gasped, realizin’ what it was.
He was holding a thick machete in his head.
I giggled, choking on the shotgun smoke and coughing.
Quil joined our back to back as we waited behind the guys shooting. The shotgun puffs stopped and I knew it was Dan reloading.
How many zombies could they throw at us?
A shape appeared in front of me, so fast I didn’t register it before it grabbed the shotgun and yanked, pulling it outta my hands.
“Ahhhhh!” I screamed, running and tackling the bastard.
I rolled off him before he could get it into his head to teleport us outta there, pulling the shotgun back.
He disappeared.
“Jet!” I yelled, runnin’ back to put my back against the guys’ again.
“Yeah girl?”
“Take the shotgun.” I shoved it out and dark hands took it. “I’m the weakest, he won’t be able to pull a gun from you guys as easily. Look out for him popping up.”
That left the rest of the guns though.
Truck could use them as easy as us technically.
“By the safe,” Grant said as Jet handed over his rifle.
I put Jet’s rifle with the line of guns up against the safe and stood in front of them and the pile on the floor.
Grant and Quil took up position next to me, arms pressed close.
If Truck got me outta here and told his partner, everyone else was as good as dead.
Even if the explosion didn’t kill them since they’d be under it, the concussion and resulting shrapnel would do some serious damage.
The guys shot in turns, taking out zombies at a good clip. When one stopped to reload, the other took up shooting, and then they switched places.
The vamps worked through the zombies, a good match for the other walking undead.
Smoke filled the air so thick that I couldn’t even see the arms pressing in next to me anymore and my lungs burned.
We couldn’t keep this up for another ten or so minutes until the cavalry arrived.
The air blowing through the windows said otherwise though.
It might not be comfortable, but we wouldn’t suffocate.
A zombie ran in with something in its hand.
The thing glowed.
The world exploded.
The brilliant flash of light killed my eyes.
Light grenade or a light spell, didn’t much matter which.
Everyone screamed and I crashed to my knees, squeezin’ my eyes tight and clasping hands over them.
Arms grabbed me and pulled me up.
No!
The brilliant light faded but the floor ran away under me and I didn’t have to know magic to know Truck had me.
He said something I couldn’t hear through the confusion as hard dirt solidified under my bare feet.
The air was clear as I took a deep breath.
I twisted and tossed Truck over my shoulder.
I heard something buzz and a female voice asked through a crackle, “You got her, Truck?”
No, if he said yes, she’d blow up my friends.
I couldn’t see anything through the lights bursting in my eyes but I could still hear.
And I could still smell.
I rushed Truck, the reek of sweaty, pissed human clear against the night, and kicked at his head.
He shouted and caught my foot, pullin’ me down.
I shot a hand out, catching him on something and he yelled.
The crackling cut off.
Maybe that meant she hung up. She wouldn’t risk blowing the place up with the client inside, no matter how much she disliked
him, right?
Something smashed into my face and pain exploded through my head.
And I’d thought it’d hurt like hell when he hit me before.
“You shouldn’t have left your gun,” Truck growled.
Hands grabbed me and hauled me to my feet and I pushed him back.
Wait, my face didn’t hurt that much after the initial burst.
Oh duh, Carvi! He’d given me his blood.
I was healing and definitely faster and stronger.
No wonder I could smell so well.
Movement whooshed and I ducked under the arm without seeing it.
I had vamp blood in me.
And I still had Grant’s knife.
This asshole was going down.
I ducked again and Truck roared in frustration, swinging again, and danced away from him, pullin’ the knife.
It fit well enough in my hand, though it was definitely meant for a bigger one, and had good balance.
How many people had tried to kidnap me this week?
Three people, if I counted Carvi, four different times.
Everyone just wanted a piece of the psychic.
I growled as the crackling came again and ran at Truck, way faster than I should’ve been.
Thank you, Carvi.
Truck dodged to the side and I followed him.
“How are you doing this?” he screamed.
I chuckled, smellin’ fear on the air.
I wanted blood.
I feinted to the right and he jerked left. I corrected, slamming the blade straight into his belly.
He screamed and swung at me.
I turned and took the hit on my left arm, yanking my knife out and stabbin’ straight through his neck.
He gurgled.
“Tell the demon who’s gonna eat your soul, I say hi,” I said, yankin’ the knife back out and switching it to the side to slice through the carotid on the side of his neck.
Blood spurted to the side.
And Truck fell.
It was over.
Sounds of the battle thundered behind me and I turned, running back for the house through the woods I still couldn’t see.
No, it wasn’t.
Not till we took out his hired gun.
I raised my nose to the wind and smelled something delicate to the right.
She wasn’t going anywhere near the house. She wasn’t stupid. That was Truck’s job. Hers was just to provide the magic and keep everyone else occupied while he got me out.
Then she’d blow up the house.
Not an option.
I smelled vampire and humans coming out and I breathed a sigh of relief.
They’d done what Grant had said.
They ran like hell once I was out.
“Left of the house!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, trusting everyone in my party was smart enough to be out by now. “Truck’s dead.”
The delicate smell changed.
Anger, maybe?
She suddenly appeared further to the right, probably out by the road.
I smelled metal.
And I knew, without vision or visions, that she was making a run for it. Truck being dead meant she wasn’t getting paid and the job was over.
“We can’t let her leave!” I shouted.
“Oh, I got this,” Stephanie said.
I couldn’t hear her move but I sensed it as leaves rustled with the wind she left by speeding past them.
An explosion rocked the road a moment later.
“Dammit!” Stephanie shouted from somewhere off to the side.
My eyes were still dancing with the lights.
Why weren’t others…?
They were! That’s why my team wasn’t trying to take the fleeing assassin out, they were as blind as me.
“Where’s the RPG?” Grant shouted. “Quil, Carvi, can you see it?”
“Yeah,” Quil said.
“Get me to it.”
I felt motion somewhere in front of me as my vamp buzzed by.
A moment later Quil asked, “Do you know how to disarm it?”
“I’m not going to disarm it,” Grant said.
The air popped.
And the hiss pop sang out.
The explosion was so loud it made my ears ring and the ground shake. I reached out and someone caught my arm and waist, holding me up.
Carvi.
It smelled like him.
“Thanks, Carvi,” I said.
“Happy to, lea,” he said.
“Did he get her?”
Carvi laughed. “Oh yeah. That man’s got some power.”
“Huh?”
“He shot and directed it. Stephanie’s blast took out her shield so Grant just had to get it there.”
I sighed and felt Quil zoom up.
“Hey.” I held my arms out and my vamp scooped me up in a tight hug.
“You smell so good,” I said, holding him tight.
“How about me, lea?” Carvi asked.
“Don’t you need to be goin’?” I asked as I turned, leaning against my vampire.
“Not till tomorrow, no flights this late anyway. We can head back to Nashville, but first, someone owes me blood.”
I would’ve traded myself to save Grant this time in a heartbeat. He’d never been bit. He didn’t know what he was getting himself in to.
“One moment,” Grant said. “Got to call this in.”
He called and told the agents we needed investigation and clean up, not backup, not anymore, and that the search for Truck was off.
The director was pissed from what I caught of his side of the conversation with her, she’d wanted Truck alive, but oh well.
Grant and Carvi went off behind the house while the vamps cleaned up what they could.
I sat on the porch with Jet and Dan, all us humans still blinking starbursts outta our eyes.
“I’m so tired,” I said to the guys.
“Right there with ya, girl,” Jet said, slinging an arm around my shoulders and almost hitting me in the head.
“And you didn’t have to deal with your parents the past two days,” Dan said.
“I had to deal with a serial killer who feeds his victims’ souls to demons,” I said, sticking my tongue out in his general direction. I think he was on the porch swing. “Oh yeah! What happened to my parents? I saw them get arrested.”
Jet snorted. “Your mom is feisty. The director got all up on how Truck was the priority and your mom snapped, just out of the blue decked her. Your dad jumped in to try telling the guys to cool it, she’d been through a lot and then, well, he just got charming, and they arrested him too.”
“Yeah, usually Daddy’s pretty cool, but you lay hands on Mama and yeah, that gets his dander up,” I said. “Are they okay?”
“Oh yeah,” Dan said, “just an assault on a federal officer charge.”
My jaw dropped. The director wouldn’t actually leave that?
“No,” Jet said. “Don’t worry, the director’s letting it drop, just wanted to scare your parents. They should be out now.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Positive. After what you’ve been through, the director’s scared you’ll quit.”
“Hmmmm.” I wiggled my shoulders. “I like that.”
Dan snorted.
I blinked and realized I could see fuzzy shapes.
“My eyesight’s comin’ back,” I said.
“Really?” Jet asked. “Mine isn’t.”
“Vamp blood gave me a boost,” I said. “Gave me a hand up against Truck, that’s for sure.”
“Good,” Grant said.
“Sir?” I asked, sniffing the air.
“Can you smell us?” Carvi said, laughing.
“Yeah,” I said, “your blood did a number on my senses. Thank God cuz I needed it to beat Truck since I couldn’t see. You okay, sir?”
“Yeah,” he said.
But something in his voice said he did not like being fed upon.
I
was pretty sure I smelled arousal.
“Carvi,” I growled, staring at the fuzzy shapes.
“What?” he asked, voice oh so innocent.
“You know what. I can smell that.”
He laughed.
“Grant, it was truly a pleasure,” he said.
I’m kinda surprised Grant didn’t draw his gun and shoot Carvi on principle.
“And Ariana,” Carvi said, “here’s a little food for thought. Even with my blood in you, you shouldn’t be able to smell us like that.”
He walked up to us and I crossed my arms, but got up and outta the way.
It was his blood that saved the night, after all.
He walked by and into the house, probably to help the other vamps clean up the place as much as they could.
Carvi came out with Quil and Stephanie a minute later.
“I called people to come in and clean,” he said. “Left some money and I’ll call my tenants. Let’s blow this pop stand.”
“A vamp says blow this pop stand?” Dan asked.
I don’t know why, but Jet, Grant, and I all burst out in big belly laughs. Maybe we needed to release the tension.
“Let’s get you home,” Grant said, rubbing my arm as soon as the laughs quelled.
“Seconded,” Quil said, kissing my cheek and takin’ my hand.
Chapter twenty-one
“I got the potato salad and champagne,” I said, setting the big bowl on the picnic table.
The sun was just about near setting, which was good cuz the July heat had all of us meltin’, even in our light summer clothes.
The guys were in shorts, Jet’s with a preppy polo and Dan’s and Ben’s with Ts. Grant was in his usual slacks, but they were light brown and a very light material, and he even had on a light T-shirt.
Kat, Cora and I were all in sundresses and sandals.
“That’s an interesting combo,” Dan said, grabbing the champagne, eyes flying wide. “Whoa, Ariana! Flash the money around much?”
“Huh?” I asked.
“This is a nice bottle. Gift from the parents for surviving a serial killer?”
“Oh! No.” Though they did take me shopping, out to eat a few times, and to the spa before they headed home yesterday. “It was, um, delivered to me on Friday.”
“From who?”
I grinned. “It didn’t say, but I have a pretty good guess.”
The note on the bottle had said, “Consider this a down payment on a private concert in my home, lea.”
