Scions: Resurrection

by Patrice Michelle

  She wished Jachin was conscious. He would get them to safety. Unfortunately, he was vulnerable during this attack…and vulnerable wasn’t a word she’d ever thought she’d associate with the determined vampire.

  A sudden deafening boom rocked the ground underneath the truck. The driver yelled and gripped the wheel tighter, jerking the truck to avoid a boulder that had fallen in the road.

  Ariel screamed as a second explosion lifted the vehicle on its two left wheels and toppled the cargo truck on its side.

  Chapter 7

  T he impact tossed Ariel against the driver, cracking the side of her head hard against his. As the truck skidded along the road, splitting pain radiated from her left cheekbone. She screamed until her throat burned.

  Sparks flew toward the cracked windshield. She plugged her fingers in her ears against the horrific sound of metal riding against asphalt as best as she could with the damned handcuffs’ limitations.

  Once the truck came to a shuddering stop, Ariel knew she had precious little time. Whoever was shooting at them would probably come looking to see if there were any survivors and finish her off.

  The thought made her stomach churn.

  She refused to sit there like a caged animal. Pushing on the driver’s shoulder, she turned to speak to him. Blood seeped from his mouth, and his head was tilted toward the window, eyes closed. No breath lifted his chest.

  Casting her gaze to her right, she looked to see if the other man had survived the crash. His waist was trapped by the passenger door’s weight, his upper body hung upside down against the seat, his head toward her.

  She swallowed the need to hurl at the sight of blood coating the bench seat behind his head. He stared with sightless eyes, a bullet hole marring the center of his forehead. Dark, wet streaks slid down the slick fake leather surface toward her. She cringed and pressed herself even harder against the driver under her shoulder to avoid the blood.

  Ariel closed her eyes at the picture of death sandwiching her. She willed her stomach to behave. She didn’t have time to be sick right now. Unfortunately, as soon as her sight was cut off, her sense of smell took over.

  Blood’s metallic scent floated in the air, making her head reel. But when the strong stench of gasoline overrode the smell of blood, she quickly opened her eyes and shook her head. Get a grip, girl. You need to get the hell out of here.

  She stared at the spider cracks across the windshield and cast her gaze frantically throughout the truck’s cab, looking for something to knock the safety glass out. The driver’s gun was on the floor underneath his legs. Straining against his unmoving body, she leaned down and retrieved the rifle.

  After she checked to see that the safety mechanism was on, Ariel rammed the butt of the gun into the windshield as hard as she could.

  The sound might draw attention, but with gasoline spreading, she could only worry about one threat to her life at a time. When her pants and the right side of her body began to feel damp, she glanced down to see red blood wicking up the back of her stained and torn shirt.

  The need to retch was so strong she swallowed several times to keep her food down. Adrenaline pumped through her veins and she hit the glass with even more force, snarling, “Come on, you freakin’ glass.”

  Time ticked past, and she’d started sliding along the slippery, blood-coated seat when finally the window began to splinter even more.

  “Yes!” She breathed out a sigh of relief. One more big impact should do it. Setting the gun to the side, Ariel held on to a cloth strap hanging down from the truck’s ceiling and kicked at the glass with all her might. When her feet busted through, she quickly pulled them in and hammered her heels at another area, trying to widen the hole enough so she could squeeze out.

  Once the opening was large enough for her body, she lifted the gun and set it on one side of the glass to protect her body while she crawled through.

  Heart thumping as her feet hit the ground, she stooped and grabbed the gun. She hoped Jachin had somehow survived the wreck. Why she cared, she didn’t know. Maybe it was because he’d been knocked out and unable to defend himself.

  Shattered glass crunched underneath her shoes as she made her way toward the back of the truck, sweat trickling to the small of her back. The moment she tried to come around the rear of the truck, a whizzing sound zoomed past her. The bullet barely missed her head.

  Ariel bit back a scream. She stumbled back and fell, landing behind the safety of the vehicle.

  Ariel.

  She heard Jachin’s voice over the unrelenting fear pounding in her head.

  Bolstered by the knowledge he had survived, she crawled on her hands and knees. Dragging the gun beside her, she ignored the sharp sting of pain shooting through her wounded right hand. She’d cut it climbing out the window.

  The camouflage canvas cover had pulled away from the back left side of the truck, enough to shield her from someone watching above. Peering past the thick material, Ariel saw Jachin hanging from a pole. His arms were pulled behind him, rock-hard biceps straining under his weight.

  Dried bloody claw marks lined his right shoulder while his muscular chest heaved and his defined abs sucked inward. His booted feet were braced on the upturned floor of the truck in an apparent effort to give his arms some respite from his full weight.

  She could tell gravity made his current awkward position very painful. Three men lay unconscious on the bottom of the vehicle. Weapons and other artillery spilled from the broken military trunks scattered around them.

  Jachin’s grimace briefly changed to relief when he saw her. “I need your help.”

  She scrambled underneath the flap and stepped around the debris and the unconscious men to reach his side. “What can I do?”

  His pained gaze slid to the gun in her hand. “Do you know how to use that?”

  She shook her head and held up the gun to slide back the safety. “All I know is that it’s a pulser type. I saw the man using it.”

  “That should work.” Jachin took two deep breaths, closed his eyes briefly against the stress engulfing his body, then met her gaze. “Just aim for the chain connecting the handcuffs.”

  “What if it goes straight through the metal pipe and hits your arm on the other side?” she asked, not at all confident in her shooting skills on such a small target.

  “At this point, I don’t give a shit,” he gritted out.

  Ariel eyed the metal pole he strained against for a second. Instead of trying to aim for the chains holding the cuffs together, she had another idea. Setting the butt of the gun against her shoulder, she held on to the weapon as best she could with the handcuffs hindering her movement. “This feels awkward,” she said as she aimed at the pole.

  “Hold it as steady as you can,” he rasped.

  Her stomach knotted with fear that she’d grossly miss. “Keep your head down.”

  “No problem,” he replied in a sarcastic tone.

  Resisting the urge to wince, she pulled the trigger. The gun whined through the three bursts, but once the pipe glowed red, slashed with laser lines, she figured she’d finally weakened it enough for a vampire to do the rest. “While the metal is soft, use the cuffs to try to slice the rest of the way through the pipe.”

  Unfortunately, she’d also burned a baseball-size hole through the canvas behind him with that last wild pulser burst. Sunlight poured in, making him growl in pain as it beamed across his shoulder.

  His shoulder singeing from the sunlight, Jachin jerked his body to the side to avoid the scalding light as he hitched his feet higher to gain leverage. Using his thigh muscles, he pushed his body upward and yanked hard with the cuff’s chain until the chain cut all the way through the pipe. He fell to the floor and instantly rolled over one of the unconscious men in order to get away from the sun.

  Ariel stepped over the prone man he’d just steamrolled and waited for Jachin to stand. When he held his hands out behind him, she made sure no one was in the pulser gun’s blast path and fired,
hoping like hell she didn’t shoot his wrist by accident. She blew out a breath of relief when the blast quickly broke the chain holding his handcuffs together.

  As soon as he was free, Jachin grabbed her shoulders. “I smell your blood. Where are you injured?” he asked, sliding his hands down her arms, checking for wounds.

  Ariel was surprised at the way his touch affected her. Among all this death and imminent danger, she realized with distinct clarity how much she wanted his comfort and protective touch.

  No. She craved it.

  “I’m fine,” she insisted, frightened by her realization. How could she possibly want a vampire? The mere thought betrayed her family. Turning away, her gaze landed on the man who had spoken to her about Jachin. The Garotters had called him Landon. A huge bruise spread across his jaw and blood gushed from a gaping gash on the side of his head.

  The amount of blood he was losing made her wince. He probably wouldn’t survive. Her heart lurched and a lump formed in her throat. He’d seemed different from the Garotters, more…sympathetic.

  “We need to get out of here. Whoever attacked us is still out there waiting.” As soon as she spoke, another boom rocked the ground and the truck underneath them.

  Jachin gripped her shoulders so she wouldn’t fall to the floor. When the explosion stopped and the truck stilled, a cold expression crossed his face. “Like me, my brethren are trapped by the sunlight. They can only shoot at us from a protected area.”

  “You’re sure it’s the Sanguinas?”

  He gave her a grim look. “I can sense them.”

  Feeling trapped, Ariel glanced around the truck. There had to be a way to get them out of the line of fire without exposing Jachin to the sun.

  She bit her lip as she scanned every inch of the truck. When an idea came to her, she handed Jachin the gun and held out her hands for him to take care of her handcuffs. “I have a plan.”

  He shot the chain apart. “What’s your idea?”

  Ariel rolled her shoulders, relieved to have her freedom of movement back. “Move to the front of the truck.”

  His jaw ticced and his gaze questioned her. After several long seconds he gave her a curt nod and moved to the front of the truck, only stopping long enough to retrieve his backpack and hitch it over his shoulder.

  Ariel took the few steps to the back of the truck and began tugging on the metal clips holding the canvas that served as a door to the top and sides of the truck.

  Within thirty seconds she had the makeshift door pulled free. Stepping over scattered weapons and three unconscious men, she headed toward the front of the truck.

  As she approached, Jachin squinted at the strong indirect sunlight that poured into the truck from the exposed back.

  She stopped in front of him and met his curious gaze. “The gunfire is coming from the mountainside above us. This canvas can provide the cover you need to get to the side of the mountain. We should be shielded from their gunfire there. Once we’re there, we can follow the mountainside to the Jeep that slammed into it. The vehicle wrecked right before the truck turned over, so it can’t be more than a half mile back. I’m hoping we can get it started again.”

  “Not bad,” he mumbled as she threw the cover over his head.

  For a pathetic, weak-willed human, she mentally finished for him. Her lips curved upward at his compliment. It sounded so…grudging.

  “How do you propose to get us out of here without becoming Swiss cheese?” he challenged, his voice muffled underneath the tarp.

  She tugged the tarp into place, making sure Jachin’s exposed skin all the way down to his hands was completely covered. “On a wing and a prayer.”

  “Wonderful. A half-baked plan,” he replied, his tone full of sarcasm.

  Reaching under the cover, she retrieved the gun from him. “Watch it, vamp, or one swift tug on this tarp while we’re out there and you’ll be beyond half-baked, swiftly changing to well-done.”

  “That mouth is going to be the death of you,” he shot back at the same time his hand skated out. His fingers laced with hers and he pulled their locked hands underneath the tarp.

  When his lips met her knuckles, butterflies scattered in her stomach.

  “Lead the way, Rambo.”

  At his vote of confidence, Ariel squeezed his hand and began to tug him toward the end of the truck. She’d only taken a few steps when he pulled her up short.

  She glanced over her shoulder to see Jachin lean down and grab hold of Landon’s wrist. “He’s not going to make it.” She slid her gaze to Landon’s mortal wound. The gaping hole in his head had closed considerably. Instead of a gushing valley of blood, only a single streaming trickle slid down his temple. “I don’t believe it—” she started to say, her eyes going wide.

  “Let’s go,” Jachin cut her off, his cold, harsh tone back.

  Jachin dragged Landon’s unconscious body behind him like a dead man to the edge of the truck. Ariel took a deep breath and stepped out of the back of the truck, firing off several pulse bursts toward the cliffs above them.

  “I’ll follow the sound of your steps. Keep firing and run,” Jachin barked.

  Ariel didn’t have to be told twice. As she bolted toward the safety of the mountain, Jachin and Landon by her side, gunfire was returned from the hidden vampire snipers.

  The asphalt behind her took the brunt of the bullets. Each time another bullet whizzed past and slammed into the road, her heart died a little, then rejoiced with a rapid thump.

  Her lungs burned by the time she reached the cliff’s shelter. She leaned against the rocks to give her shaking thighs a break as she took deep breaths.

  When Jachin tugged the unconscious man hard against the wall and she heard a groan, Ariel stared at Landon, amazed at his rapid healing ability. “What is he? Some kind of special vampire who can withstand sunlight?” she asked as she squatted next to Landon and stared at his head wound. It was almost completely closed.

  A defiant snort erupted from Landon. His groggy gaze locked with hers. “Bite your tongue, woman.”

  “We need to keep moving.” Jachin said in a terse tone.

  She started to stand, when Landon encircled her wrist in a tight grip. “You don’t have to go.” His voice crackled with pain, but she saw the sheer determination in his expression as he shifted his gaze to Jachin.

  “Yes, I do.” She tried to pull away, but his fingers cinched harder around her wrist, making the handcuff dig into her skin.

  He frowned at the metal ring underneath his fingers.

  “The Garotters,” she answered the question in his eyes.

  “Have an agenda all their own.” Jachin finished as he squatted down and lifted the tarp. His face shaded, he met Landon’s gaze.

  The man nodded in an unspoken agreement with Jachin. “Did any survive?”

  Jachin gave him a curt nod. “The two I sent to sleep are both alive.”

  Firm resolve filled Landon’s expression. He sat up against the boulder behind him. “Good. They’ll assume you escaped and took Ariel. I’ll retrieve the men. Maybe saving their lives will give me an in with the Garotters and a chance to find out what this new regime is all about.”

  Jachin’s gaze narrowed in suspicion. “Give me your cell number. I want to know what you find out.”

  Landon stared at Jachin for a second before he rattled off his number. When he finished, his gaze slid over Jachin and Ariel. “You both need rest. I don’t live with the general pack but on the eastern corner. Follow the stream and you’ll find my home.”

  “We’ll manage,” Jachin said in a cool tone.

  Landon’s gaze landed on Jachin’s burned hand holding the tarp’s edge up. “You saved my life at great pain to yourself.”

  Ariel gasped at the vicious red-and-black burns bubbling along Jachin’s left forearm. His arm had been exposed to sunlight while he’d pulled Landon to the side of the road. She’d been so focused on getting to safety she’d blocked everything else out.

  Now the
smell of burned, festering flesh swirled around them, making her stomach cramp. She choked down the bile that rose in her throat and looked at Jachin. “He’s offering shelter from the sun. Whatever your differences, don’t be a fool. Take it.”

  When Jachin gave a stiff nod, Ariel let out a sigh of relief and stood. “We need to get to the Jeep and try to get it started.”

  Once Jachin lowered the flap, he joined her. They both moved to stand against the mountain’s wall. As they started to follow along the wall’s path, Landon called out, “My house key is under the mat.”

  Ariel paused, glancing back at him in disbelief. “That’s so cliché—”

  “That it works,” he cut in with a wolfish smile.

  Shaking her head at his male logic, Ariel continued walking along the wall. She slid around sharp, jutting rocks and avoided prickly shrubs, all the while talking Jachin through the obstacles in his path.

  Her heart pumped harder when the wrecked vehicle came into view. Two Garotters were slumped over in the front seats. “There it is. The soldiers might be dead. They aren’t moving.”

  “They’re dead. I can’t hear heartbeats,” Jachin replied in a calm tone.

  Ariel stepped away from the rock wall to head toward her goal, but Jachin grabbed her arm. He hissed in pain at the cost to his skin. Unforgiving sunlight singed it further. “If they shot at the Jeep, you might still be in their range.”

  As he pulled his arm back under the tarp, she acknowledged his point. “What do you suggest?”

  “The vehicle veered toward the mountain, so we may still be sheltered by it. Are there any overhangs above us?”

  Ariel pushed away from the mountain wall and leaned out to cast her gaze upward. Scanning the area that led toward the vehicle, she said, “Yes, there’s a slight overhang, but it cuts short a good twenty feet before the Jeep.”

  “Let’s follow the wall as long as we can, then we’ll make a dash for the vehicle.”

  Ariel jerked her attention to his tarp-covered head. “You can’t go. You have to stay out of the sunlight. I’ll drive the car to you.”