"You'll have to do better than that. You should have spent more time on your training and less time cuddling to your new boyfriend."
He was already gone, lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce. Since I still couldn't pin point his location I shouted my retort. "How's Ryanne?" His answer was a palm in the middle of my back. I stumbled forward, coming down hard on my right knee. "Son of a bitch." I slammed a fist on the mat.
Aidan snatched me by the hair, snapping my head back. He licked his lips, fangs slightly extended. "She's a delight." He shoved my head forward, letting go of my hair.
His tone didn't match his eyes but I wasn't backing off now. Brushing myself off, I stood. My blood had been replaced with piss and vinegar and it pumped hard through my veins, my temper well out of control. "Don't you mean delicious?" That earned me another shot from the shadows, this time behind the knee. My legs buckled and I went down again.
"What's the matter with you? Concentrate. What we practiced in Cross Bath, Maurin. Come on," Mason shouted from the sideline. He still didn't know exactly what happened last night but he pieced it together. "He's using your anger against you. Clouding your perception with emotion."
“No shit. Tell me something I don’t know.” For the third time I picked myself up off the mat, determined to put Aidan flat on his back. With a deep, cleansing breath I pushed away the hurt and anger.
Reeling in my temper was harder and taking longer than I thought. Aidan didn't wait for me to finish composing myself. He came at me from the left but this time I felt him before he touched me. Barely, but still it was an improvement. I spun to my right, his hand grazing my shoulder. He was relentless but each time I improved, gaining enough distance to defend myself. When I felt him come from behind I threw an out elbow, ramming him in the solar plexus.
His grunt of pain was the best praise I'd had all day. This time I even felt him move away. He displaced air the same way I moved in the between. Once I knew what I was feeling for, it was easier to follow him. I closed my eyes and waited for the disruption in the atmosphere.
My left hand shot out, connecting with a hard throat chop. If I had to guess by the gurgling sounds coming from him I might have crushed his wind pipe with that hit. Not that it would slow him down since vampires didn't need to breathe.
"It's training remember? Stop trying to break my fecking bones." His wind pipe was apparently fine even though his voice sounded like he had been gargling with razor blades. With a parting shot - a hard shove on the shoulder - he was in the shadows again.
Mason watched me intently, analyzing my every move targeting my weaknesses. I felt his eyes on me. I turned to face him. There was a subtle change in his expression.
I was surprised by the realization that I had paid enough attention to Mason to pick up on those little differences. Even without the minute increase in the angle of his eyebrows or the single twitch in the corner of his right eye, I would have felt Aidan move. The moment he was close enough I positioned myself, throwing him down with a technique I had learned in Aikido a couple of years ago.
I sent him ass over tea kettle, slamming him down on his back. Wasting no time, I pounced on his chest, pinning him with all my weight. I pretended to stake him and declared myself the winner.
He grabbed my wrists, pulling me close so our faces were inches apart. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did I have to hear it from him?"
"What are you talking about?" I had a sinking feeling I knew the answer.
"Don't play coy with me. Your father and I had a little heart to heart last night."
"Arawn told you about my blood," I said, barely a whisper. Last night suddenly made sense.
"I don't know what pissed me off more, that I heard it from him and not you, or that he's right. Your blood isn't the only thing that calls to me but I can't separate thirst from desire with you. Even if you could share me with another it wouldn't be enough. I would always crave more of you."
So Arawn had been there. Mason wasted a trip going to talk to my father because Arawn already knew. He had been watching us from the moment we got back from the bar. He had been there waiting for the right moment to talk to Aidan.
His injury provided the perfect opportunity. Arawn probably made it back in time to meet with Mason. And then Ryanne provided Aidan the perfect opportunity to irrevocably end things when she stopped in to check on him.
I wrenched my hands free. Pissed at my father for telling him before I had the chance, pissed at Aidan for choosing to end things the way he did, I used his chest as a spring board and stood up. The more I thought about it the more pissed off I got. I was furious they both knew me well enough to know things wouldn't have, couldn't have, happened any other way.
And I was really fucking pissed that out of all the mean things I could say, should say, because he deserved them, I wanted to say I'm sorry. Instead I turned my back on him and walked out.
Mason found me a few minutes later in the kitchen, water bottle in one hand and a pack of pepperoni slices in the other, raiding his fridge. "Make it to go. I just got word the vamps from the bar were Caligula's. The local Regulator is making a move on the remaining hive. If they know where their sire is hiding, I don't want local authorities killing everyone before we can find out."
Music to my ears. Finally we were mobilizing, going on the offense. I was so fucking ready to kill something.
21
Mason was reevaluating who was a bigger threat to getting information out of the vampires, me or the local Regulator, as he followed me to the H2. I was definitely throwing off a kill first ask questions later vibe with my sword strapped to my back, silver daggers on my wrists and stakes tucked into my belt. All the gear I wore would make for an uncomfortable ride but I wasn't walking into a vampire lair without being armed to the teeth. These assholes already tried to kill me once, I didn't plan on giving them a second chance.
Mason turned off the headlights and slowed to a crawl as we approached the location of the hive. People moved in the shadows as he backed us into an alleyway across the street. Tensions ran high when we met up with the team the European Council had put in place.
The one in charge was a witch and a powerful one at that if she was able to rise through the ranks of a cleaning crew to become Regulator. Her team was compiled of two more witches and three weres- all of them in black camo and heavily armed. I was surprised and to be honest, a little relieved, to discover there wasn't a vampire among the local team.
Never having worked with them before, their lack of fangs was reassuring. I had been contemplating the possibility we were walking into a trap. If a vampire was on the team I'd be worried they were compromised. Brief introductions were made. Mason tacked on my title of Regulator for the eastern United States which earned me a respectful nod from the team.
Sinead, the Regulator, filled us in on the situation inside the ramshackle house which sat in a rundown part of town. Most of the houses at this end of the street were connected, slightly wider and shorter than the townhouses back home. The hive house sat at the end of the dead end street with a high brick wall surrounding the back and right side of the unkempt yard. The tall, crumbling bricks made it difficult to gain entry from the back door unnoticed.
If we breached it would have to be through the front, costing us the element of surprise. I could already tell she was not a fan of any plan that involved going through the front door.
Her intel said at least a dozen vampires had been seen coming and going since sunset. Best they could tell, the vampires inside the hive were mobilized, gearing up for something big.
Seven were confirmed inside by the dark blue spots on infrared. The other five left an hour ago, with a tail. All of them, her tracker included, were unaccounted for. It was a gamble. Did we go in now, try to take out the vamps inside, possibly leaving ourselves open to an attack from the missing vamps or wait until they rejoined the party and move in then?
"We could be waiting until sunrise." I may have mentioned bef
ore that I have zero patience when it comes to waiting. I'd never make it on a stake out. Ha, we were all watching a house full of vampires I guess this was the ultimate stake out.
"It would make our job easier if the sun was up," Sinead said.
"They won't be able to answer questions if they're dead. I need the location of their sire."
"Look, Mason, we brought you in as a courtesy. And frankly speaking, with a hive this large we could use the backup. But this isn't the first time they've attacked like they did last night and I'm fresh out of warnings. We're not here for reconnaissance. My orders are to take them out. You want to snatch and grab one of the vamps after they go down when the sun comes up I'll turn a blind eye but you're on your own with disposal."
As much as I liked Sinead's no nonsense attitude her plan sucked big time. I'm talking golf ball through a garden hose sucked. I didn't get dressed for the ball only to have someone tell me I wasn't allowed to dance. I pulled the Retaliator from its sheath and stepped out from behind Mason.
"I don't have time to wait for the rest of them to finish snacking on your tracker and come back home. There is a psycho bitch running around with a stock pile of my blood contaminating the between. The vampires inside that dilapidated house have information that could put me one step closer to stopping her. We're moving in. You want to sit outside and keep watch fine but you're on your own with the clean up. And just so you know, things tend to get messy when I'm around."
"Yeah, I got that from your mess at the bar."
"Oh that wasn't me, that was all them," I said pointing across the street. "My mess involves a lot more blood."
"This is who you were passed over for? You're joking." She looked at Aidan while throwing her thumb in my direction.
"She did take down an Afrit and a rogue high priestess about six months ago."
"Don't forget the An Chap Bain and the goddess I beheaded last year." Bolstered by my past exploits I was feeling pretty bad ass at the moment and ready to take charge. There was one five foot eight, blue eyed, spiky blond haired obstacle in my way.
"You're not risking my team just so you can ask a couple questions. They're armed, heavily, which is insult to fucking injury in my opinion since vamps don't need guns. The vampires in there don't just feed, they torture their victims. Exsanguination has been the most common cause of death, they pump the victims full of anticoagulants before the bodies are inflicted with multiple bite wounds. They’re also fond of cat o' nine tails and other weird shit that's left a couple bodies looking like they were run through a meat grinder."
"Apples don't fall far from the tree." Mason was right. There wouldn't be a vampire left alive if we hadn't moved in. The killers in that house crossed a line, becoming the monsters depicted in horror movies. Deemed unfit for cohabitation with other species by the EC, the only outcome was the death penalty. I looked at Mason and then Aidan. We were in agreement. We were going in. "Caligula and Bathory are rebuilding his line, making more vampires in his image. We can't let that happen."
"I have my orders, they don't involve Caligula or Bathory. We wait until sunrise."
I lost precious moonlight getting into this pissing contest with her. "You can wait until sunrise after you set up a perimeter. You might want to get out your phone and google those two vampires. I think you'll be seeing things our way before you get to the part about their undeath."
Mason took over from there, being a part of the Hunt meant being a strategist. He knew what positions to put Sinead's team in that would give us the best tactical advantage should things go bad once we were inside.
Before everyone could move into position a black cargo van with tinted windows pulled up to the house. The missing vampires got out to unload their cargo.
One of them opened the rear doors, after pulling a key from his pocket he unlocked a thick chain from the floor of the van. Another moved in, grabbing the chain and dragging it behind him. We all watched in horror as people in shackles started falling out. Most of them looked like they had been scrapped up off the streets, vagrants that wouldn't be missed but three or four of them were clean cut, probably at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"They're bringing back dinner." Aidan's voice dripped with disdain. As a strong supporter of cohabitation before the shift, he had helped more than one vampire meet their true death over the centuries. It's how he ended up working for the Council in the first place. He abhorred this behavior, spent his life ensuring vampires lived in accordance with the jus sanguinis inter gentes. He had been the one to bring in Caligula before, been hunting Bathory for months. He was more than ready to go in.
"That's Conall" Sinead pointed to a guy with a wiry frame, matted brown hair and a seeping cut on his temple.
"Your tracker?" I had a feeling she would see things my way - now that one of her teammates was on the menu.
"Who's the red head? I've seen her before. Isn't she one of yours, Mason?"
We all focused on the woman Sinead pointed to. The familiar shock of red hair covered most of Ryanne's face but I saw the bruises and swelling. Her head hung low as she was dragged behind the other people, who looked less like dinner and more like bait.
"There's a very real possibility that we're walking into a trap." Just as I suspected Sinead was on board with storming the hive.
"It changes nothing. We're going in." Aidan stepped out of the alley. I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back into the cover of darkness provided by the surrounding buildings.
"Nobody said differently and it's more than a possibility. It is a trap. So before we go all gangbusters and kick in the front door we need to revamp our plan."
One of the weres snickered at my choice of words while Aidan and I stared each other down. He finally backed down, leaning against the brick wall with his anger focused back where it should be - on the vampires in that house.
"When did you become the voice of reason?" Aidan watched the front door close behind the last of the hostages.
"I thought since you decided to play me in this little drama that left the role of brooding conservative vampire for me." Seeing Ryanne beaten and shackled had Aidan riled up and me left wondering if he liked her more than he let on. Not that I cared. "So how are we doing this?"
"Follow me."
Sinead crept out of the alley, staying low to the ground and hugging the walls. When she was close enough to the house she tossed two grenades through the front windows shattering the glass. We heard commotion inside as the vampires scurried to take cover from the explosion. There was a loud bang followed by a blinding flash of light.
"Move!" With that one command her team fell into position on the front steps, kicking down the door and splitting off into smaller groups once they breached the door.
"Flash bangs?" I seriously needed to add those to my arsenal.
"Made them myself. They give off low grade UV, not enough to kill them but it'll give one hell of a sunburn."
Aidan's shouts from inside the house had Sinead and me hitting the floor as we got in the door. Conry had taken point so I threw as much of myself as I could on top of him, taking him down with me. In the initial rush someone tripped a Bouncing Betty.
I watched helplessly from the floor as silver shrapnel ripped through the room and the three werewolves. Aidan managed to dive behind a couch, narrowly missing the worst of the blast of metal that could have killed him. I stood slowly, carefully, in case there was trip wire or another makeshift landmine somewhere. The Bouncing Betty had certainly leveled the playing field. The half dozen vampires Sinead managed to scorch and stun were already getting up while we were down three werewolves - half her team obliterated. The couch couldn't have provided much cover against the shrapnel. I was about to call out to him when he grabbed the back of the shredded cushions and hauled himself up. He took a few hits in the shoulder and a few looked like they grazed his cheek but it could have been worse. Much worse. Bits of wolf and man covered everything and everyone.
Mason
scraped blood and tissue out of his eyes in time to see the vampire at his feet come around. He pulled a stake from his belt and drove it through the shoulder, using the momentum to force him down and pin him to the floor. "Stay there, I'll be right back."
That was our cue. We only needed one vampire alive to question. If he didn't have the answers we needed there were more waiting in the basement. I pulled the Retaliator from its sheath and made short work of decapitating the vampire closest to me. Her head hit the floor, rolling to Conry who huffed at it before pushing it away to lunge at another vampire charging towards us.
His teeth clamped down around the vampire's throat, shaking back and forth like he had a squeaky toy until he ripped the throat out. Sinead finished the vampire off with a stake in the heart.
We moved, slashing, tearing, staking our way through the room until only the vampire Mason trapped and the one being roasted from the inside out by a witch were left. The cooked vamp made an audible pop as his skin split, spilling blood and useless organs on the floor. The heart still beat, hopelessly pumping blood to a body that couldn't be repaired.
Looking at the disfigured, gooey vamp I couldn't help but think of Mercy Brown. A woman who was the object of a vampire's obsession, driven crazy by it in the undeath she never wanted, trapped in suspended state - like this vampire- until the Council took pity on her.
Even now after meeting the sun all those years ago she still couldn't rest. He wouldn't let her memory die. I would kill him, satisfied that not only would I rid the world of a madman but when I drove my sword through his chest he wouldn't see me. In his twisted mind he'd be looking at Mercy.
Aidan and Sinead took off, scanning the rest of the first floor for hostages. I knew they found them and a few vampires when I heard fighting, screams and a bang loud enough to temporarily deafen any norms in the house - percussion grenades. Sinead must have been in the IRA. She was seriously into explosives.
"If you don't cooperate and tell me what I need to know I'll let the little witch over there boil you up, from the inside out." Mason jerked the vampire's head in the direction of the soupy vampire remains and the witch, who wiggled her fingers and said boo.
Blood Bath, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series Book 4) Page 20
