She put a hand on each of our backs and ushered us onto the opposite sidewalk. I could feel how tense Violet was, and figured she was keeping a close eye out for Eli. She had to know what he looked like; I’m sure almost every vampire or werewolf that knew about the Arena Wars did. Violet was two hundred and thirty-seven years old, and I just hoped that she didn’t get hurt protecting us. She was a skilled hunter, but nothing could change the fact that Eli was old, experienced, and ruthless.
I couldn’t help looking over my shoulder every few steps just to make sure that Eli wasn’t somehow following us. When Violet’s apartment building came up on the corner, I almost cheered. Violet ushered us both inside and up to her room, before shutting and locking the door behind her. “We’re in trouble,” she said.
“Yeah, we are,” Quinten said angrily. “Eli is out there on the streets somewhere, probably stalking us so he can try and kill us, and Alanna can’t risk shifting or she could hurt the baby. She can’t protect herself, and I’m going to be no match for him in a fight.”
“Not to mention that Roger might be on his way here right now. We never did figure out whether or not Roger and Eli were working together. I mean, the Seekers finding us was a bit much to be a coincidence I think,” I said, looking between them. “We considered the possibility of the two of them teaming up to get their revenge.”
“Well, in any case, I’ll fight with you when the time comes,” Violet says with a hard look in her eyes. “For you and for my Peter. If I have a chance to stop Roger, or even Eli, I’ll take it. Those monsters need their comeuppance; I just hope I’m the one to give it to them.”
“I just hope this all ends soon,” I said, rubbing my arms. “I’m not sure how much more of this I can take. I’m always looking over my shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I’m jumping at shadows. Living like this is not healthy, for us or our baby.”
My hand drifted down to my stomach, and I sighed. Even though I was carrying at almost two months, I hadn’t gained more than about three pounds, and other than slightly snugger jeans, I didn’t look or feel pregnant. There was no baby bump yet, but I still felt the need to protect my baby any way I could.
I wouldn’t let Roger or Eli hurt me or my family anymore.
“Hopefully everything will work out in the end, and you’ll be able to go back home. Of course, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for the Council to find out about your baby.”
“What Council?” Quinten asked, frowning. “Two of the Council leaders are already dead. If this pace keeps up, the rest of them will be gone long before our baby is born.” He looked at Violet. “Do you know what happens after a Council member dies? Do they hold an emergency election, or do they just work with fewer people?”
“Hmm. I think they hold a meeting to decide what to do. They might even bring in previous Council members that have stepped down after their term ended; I’m not really sure though. Hopefully everyone will be worrying more about the Council members than about you.”
“Somehow I doubt we’ll get any peace and quiet outta this,” Quinten said. “After being publicly disgraced and humiliated, I doubt Roger’s going to stop coming after us just because the Council is suffering. Hell, he’s probably the one that killed them. And Eli doesn’t really need an excuse to come after us other than good old fashioned revenge.”
I sighed. “I’m more worried about Eli right now than Roger. Roger is crazy, but he’s smart enough to still worry about his reputation; that’s why he’s offering a secret bounty on us, instead of openly attacking us. Eli doesn’t have to worry about that. He can just come after us with everything he has.”
“Our lives would be so much better right now if Ray hadn’t missed Eli’s heart.”
“You know that’s my fault, right? I started to cry, and Ray got distracted by me,” I said. “The only reason Ray managed to hurt Eli was because he was devastated over the loss of his mate, which made him careless. If it had happened any other way, Ray would have been killed, and I would have grown up alone.”
He sighed. “It wasn’t your fault. You were just a little girl, one that Eli and his mate shouldn’t have been hunting in the first place, and you’d just seen a woman staked to death. That would have freaked out any little kid, Alanna. In fact, it would have probably been worse if you didn’t cry, because that would mean something was wrong with you.”
“Quinten, considering we’re still alive, I think we’ve had pretty good luck so far.” He snorted, and I ignored him. “I mean, yeah, we’ve been in a lot of pain, and we’ve suffered quite a bit, but we’re still here, in one piece, and we’re together. That’s what’s important right now.”
“I guess you could be right,” he said, sounding entirely unconvinced. “But I’ll still be happy when it can just be the two of us again.”
“Three,” I said, smiling. “It’ll never be just the two of us again, Quinten. We’re going to be parents soon, no matter how much you may wish that wasn’t true.”
“I know. Believe me; I can’t forget it.”
His eyes drifted down to my flat stomach and, even though I knew he didn’t particularly want this baby, I thought I saw a flicker of joy. Neither of us had really talked about having children, but deep down I’d known he wanted them…some day. Just because it was happening sooner than planned, and at a really bad time, was no reason to be unhappy about it. We could still make the most out of this situation.
I looked at Quinten and smiled. All we had to do was stick together, and trust that everything would work out for us in the end. The good guys always won, and the bad guys always got what was coming to them in the end. We just had to keep our heads up, and everything would be alright.
A few apartments down, a woman began to scream. The three of us stared at the door as if we could look through it, waiting for something to happen. When the second, third, and fourth person began to scream, we knew something was seriously wrong.
It took a minute for the screams to make sense and, when they finally did, I almost fainted.
“The building’s on fire!”
Chapter Fifteen
Violet sprung into action, disappearing down the hall and into her bedroom. I could hear her throwing things around, probably attempting to pack, and Quinten followed suit. He ducked back into the room we’d been sharing, and he came back out with our envelope of money.
There was no telling when we’d need it.
“Violet come on!” Quinten shouted. “The place is on fire!”
Already smoke filled the hallways, and it began to seep in under the front door, filling the room with a thick, musky smell. I coughed, covered my nose with the collar of my shirt, and closed my eyes to keep the smoke out.
“Violet!” Quinten roared.
She appeared from her bedroom, carrying a large duffel bag that was overflowing with her possessions. I saw the edge of a golden picture frame, and a man’s watch peeking out from under the flap, and instantly figured that they were Peter’s before he was killed.
Of course she won’t leave his things behind, I thought to myself. I would never leave anything of Quinten’s behind if that was all I had to remember him by. It would be like losing him a second time, and God knows it was probably hard enough for her the first time.
Violet rushed past us, and ripped her front door open. It slammed against the wall, leaving a doorknob shaped dent in the wall, but it didn’t look like she cared. She turned to us. “Alright, let’s get out of here. Make sure to stay close to me and Quinten, Alanna. This fire can’t be a coincidence, since we just ran into Eli.”
I hadn’t even thought of that yet, but she was definitely right. Eli could be trying to force us out into the open so he could attack, but he’d be mad to do it in view of the police department, the fire department, and the news reporters.
Maybe that’s what he’s aiming for. What if he’s trying to expose vampires? He could be the one behind the Council member murders!
I had a lot to think abo
ut later, but for now I had to focus on getting me and my baby out of the apartment in one piece. Right now, that trumped everything else. I couldn’t worry about the other residents in the apartment building, or about Violet, or even about Quinten. I had to trust that they could take care of themselves…my baby couldn’t.
Quinten grabbed my hand and dragged me out into the hallway, which was filled with smoke and screaming people. Women scurried around, calling out for children lost in the smoke, and I felt a moment of hesitation. Shouldn’t we do everything in our power to help anyone we could?
I can’t be the cause of another child’s death, just because they had the misfortune of sharing an apartment building with Violet. I have to do what I can to help.
“Don’t even think about it Alanna!” Quinten snapped, pulling me closer. He wrapped his arm around my waist, refusing to let me out of his sight as he jogged after Violet. “You can’t help them without putting yourself or our baby at risk. This smoke isn’t good for him.”
Him? Since when is this baby anything other than a monster to him?
Quinten pulled me through the halls to the stairs, and I tried not to bump into anyone. All the residents were panicking, and I didn’t blame them. Violet’s apartment was a few floors up, and the floor above us had been almost entirely engulfed in flames. I couldn’t take the time to stop and think about the poor women and children caught up there.
I just couldn’t.
The walls of the building quickly caught fire, and the heat they gave off was nearly unbearable. I had to shove my free hand into my pocket, and pull down the sleeves of my sweater to avoid getting burns on my arms. It didn’t help that throngs of people were smashed together on the stairs, all clamoring for the escapes.
Parents got separated from their children, Violet got separated from us, and I got separated from Quinten. One moment he was there, pulling me forward, and the next, I was ripped away from him and lying face-down on the ground. People stepped around me, over me, and on me, all just trying to get to freedom.
One woman crushed my hand, and I tried my hardest to shield myself from further injury. I could hear Quinten screaming my name, but it sounded like it was getting farther and farther away, and that worried me. How strong did someone have to be to keep Quinten from getting back to me? Whoever was doing it certainly wasn’t human.
That meant that Eli probably had help, and right now those people were inside the apartment, trying to either kill me or drag me out for Eli to play with. I couldn’t let that happen, and I wouldn’t, not as long as I was still breathing.
The flow of bodies lessened, until I was alone on the floor of the hallway. I could hear Quinten still yelling my name, and I peeked up through the gap in my arms, and frowned. Standing two doors down from me was a man dressed all in black, from the hat on his head, the gloves on his hands, and the boots on his feet.
There was a red gas can in his hands, and he grinned. “Man, this place is ancient; it went up like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “It sucks for the people on the top two floors. I’m pretty sure most of them didn’t make it out. Oh well. Less humans to get in my way.”
I forced myself to my feet and I took a defensive crouch in the hall. My hands curled into fists, and I felt my entire body tense up in preparation for the fight to come. He sniffed with disdain, and cocked his head to one side. “You don’t actually think you can fight me, do you?”
“You don’t actually think I’m just going to lie down and take it, do you?”
He dropped the gas can, threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, I’m gonna enjoy this.”
He threw himself at me so fast I never saw it coming. One moment he was standing in the doorway, and the next he was tightening his hand around my throat. He lifted me off the ground and slammed me against the wall. My skull cracked, my vision blurred, and when it refocused, he was peering directly into my eyes.
His fangs were inches from my throat, and I wouldn’t let them get any closer.
I brought my knee up directly into his groin, and his grip loosened just enough for me to squirm my way free. I dropped to the floor, and threw my entire weight into a tackle that knocked him off his feet and onto his back. I wasn’t sure how fighting would affect the baby, but I knew that if I died, he’d die for sure.
I brought my hand down on his nose, smashing it into pieces. There was a split second where nothing happened, before it started gushing blood. He coughed twice, and I grabbed a fistful of his shirt, and slammed my head down into his. His eyes went unfocused, and I backhanded him across the face. He spit up a mouthful of blood, and I jumped to my feet and raced down the hall.
The building was still on fire, and the smoke from the fire two floors up had wafted down the stairs, and it filled the hallway. I coughed, and stopped to cover my mouth and nose with my shirt again. Smoke inhalation probably wasn’t great for me at the moment.
When I reached the next flight of stairs, I heard the sounds of fighting, and then Quinten’s familiar grunt of pain. I took the steps two at a time, trying not to think about the vampire one floor up that was most likely already on his feet and racing after me. If he was smart, he’d find a window and flee that way instead of coming back for round two.
When I reached the bottom step, I saw Quinten fighting two vampires dressed in a similar fashion as the one upstairs. Without hesitation, I threw myself at the nearest of the two, slamming my fist into his stomach so hard he doubled over wheezing. I brought my foot up and kicked him in the face, breaking his nose. His eyes started to water and he dropped the knife in his hand, giving me a chance to look at Quinten.
He was bleeding from a cut to his right bicep and another on his thigh, but he was otherwise unharmed. I turned back to the vampire in front of me just in time to receive a wild haymaker to the jaw, which sent me sprawling to the floor.
I brought my leg up and swung it out, before slamming it into his left knee. His kneecap shattered and he screamed in pain, before dropping to the floor of the hallway. That’ll take a moment or two to heal, I thought to myself. But he’d be back up on his feet soon enough and I didn’t want to give him that chance.
I picked up the dropped knife and, dodging his flailing arms, pierced his chest with the tip. His heart burst with a wet sounding pop, and his entire body took on a grayish tinge to it as all the blood drained from his body. He shriveled up like a prune, and then slumped to his back and stopped moving.
Quinten was still fighting the other vampire and, to make things easier on him, I yanked the knife from the corpse of the vampire I’d just killed and threw it. The point missed his heart, but buried itself in the right side of his chest. He sucked in a breath, and looked down at the knife protruding from his chest, almost like it was a reflex or something. In that moment, Quinten slipped behind him and twisted his neck.
It snapped, and he slumped to the ground. I didn’t think he’d get back up but, just to be sure, Quinten took the knife and pierced his heart, like I’d done just a moment before. For a second, he just watched the body of the vampire that had just tried to kill him, and I had to put my hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
“We have to go! This place is still burning,” I said, looking up and down the halls.
The hallway we were in was almost entirely shrouded in black smoke, and it was impossible to see the stairs down to the next level. Quinten took my hand though, and led me through the hallway, somehow more sure of his steps than I was. I trusted him completely, and just closed my eyes and let him lead the way.
The smoke on the second floor wasn’t nearly as bad, and I was able to actually see. Violet was there, sinking her fangs into the throat of some poor vampire that was stupid enough to challenge her. Then, she produced a titanium stake, and stabbed him through the heart. From nearly fifty feet away, I could still hear his heart burst, and I looked away so I wouldn’t see him convulse and shrivel up like a raisin.
Violet ripped the stake from his chest and turned to face us.
Blood was spattered down the front of chin and neck, but miraculously none of it had gotten on her clothing. She wiped her face clean, and then licked the blood from her fingers. I tried not to shudder.
“Alright, let’s go,” she said, nodding to the stairs.
I could hear firefighters and the sound of water pounding the building. It wouldn’t be too good for the firemen to find us just standing around with a bunch of dead bodies so Quinten took my hand and dragged me down the stairs. I managed to stay close this time and, when we burst from the front door of the apartment building, we got several incredulous stares from people watching the building burn.
A firefighter grabbed my arm and steered me away from the building and to the back of an open ambulance. Before I could even protest, he placed an oxygen mask over my face, and left me to help someone else.
All around me, I could hear the sounds of wailing parents, crying couples, and screaming children. One woman was busy fighting two firemen that were trying to keep her from running back into the burning building for her daughter, who was being babysat by an elderly woman on the top floor.
Neither of them made it out.
The elderly woman had six children in her apartment, and all six of them, if they were lucky, died of smoke inhalation instead of the actual fire. Other than the woman and those six children, five other people hadn’t made it out, bringing the body count up to twelve.
If you didn’t count the three vampires that were dead for sure, and the one that started the fire. I really hoped he hadn’t made it out, since he’d caused so much pain and destruction. While I sat there breathing into an oxygen mask to help clear my lungs, Quinten was dragged away by a firefighter.
He struggled, but I shook my head. “It’s alright, just go. I’m not going anywhere.”
Quinten looked at the EMT in the back of the ambulance. “My girlfriend is pregnant. Take good care of her.”
Arena Wars Trilogy Page 34
