“Totally,” I answered. “Let’s do this.”
Gavin simply nodded and we stepped down off the bus into the street.
The others were descending, and Alice had parked the Escalade behind the second bus. I watched Alice get out from behind the wheel. The harsh summer sun beat down on us brutally, but it glinted off her hair when she reached up and re-did her ponytail. Oscar stepped down from the passenger side and gazed over the top of the SUV to where she stood. He stared at her for less than a minute while she finished with her hair. She was oblivious to the look, but I saw it and it made me happy that she had someone who loved her. Well, someone who loved her and didn’t want to drink her blood.
Suddenly, her head snapped toward him and she realized he had been staring at her. She flashed him a playful smile and slid her short swords into the sheaths crossed at her back.
Focus, Chloe, focus.
“I guess I’ll try and get them to come out … let them know what we’re doing here.”
“Good idea,” Luke agreed. I glanced over at Drew and he nodded agreement as well.
“All right.” I made sure my bow was in a good position. “Here goes nothing.” I jogged away from the buses until I had a good distance between myself and them. Then, I sprinted back toward the first bus, pushing off when I knew the time was right. I leapt up into the air, hoping I had gauged the distance correctly. I brought my feet up and tucked them under me until I was directly above the roof of the bus.
I landed on one knee with the other bent in front of me. Thank God I made that landing; it would have totally sucked if I had overshot it or not gotten close enough. I stood and turned a circle. Hiding behind the corners of buildings and behind cars, I could see curious eyes peering out at me, wondering why we were here.
“Don’t be afraid. We are friends,” I shouted, hopefully loud enough for them all to hear. “We are here to help you. If you want help, we can take you to a safe place where the vampires can’t go.”
Nothing. Silence.
The eyes were still staring at me. The ones that I couldn’t actually see, I could feel. The group all stared up at me, every one of them squinting against the sun and smiling up with reassurance. “Um … Do you see us here?” I swept my hand across the general area of where the group stood. “We are Hunters. We know how to kill the vampires, and we know how to stay safe. You have to trust me, but if you are going to come with us you have to choose to do so now so we can get you out of here before nightfall.”
Again, I moved my gaze across the cluttered streets. Why didn’t any of them come out? It never really occurred to me that we would have to talk the survivors into joining us. I assumed that they would be so thankful that they would all run on to the buses.
Then, I finally saw a man step out from behind a truck. He wore jeans and a dirty beige T-shirt. His hair was dark brown but had a bit of gray streaked throughout it. He looked exhausted and malnourished. “You can really take us to a place where the vampires can’t go?” He shaded his eyes and looked up me.
“Yes, we can,” I called down to him.
“Then I want to go, my … my family needs safety.”
“You and your family are more than welcome to come with us. Get them and get on the bus.”
Luke approached the man and appeared to be talking to him. I turned on my super hearing and heard Luke telling him that we didn’t have time for them to go back to their home for personal items.
“I’m sorry, but there simply isn’t time to wait. You will be provided necessities when you arrive,” Luke tried to reassure the man.
The guy appeared to weigh the options between going to a safe place with none of their personal items and facing off with vampires every night. Should be no contest there, right?
Finally, he turned and waved back in the direction of where he had originally come from. “Come on, Amber.” Not long after, a blonde woman dressed in jeans and a light blue button up shirt emerged from behind the truck. She held a baby girl in her arms. I couldn’t tell how old she was, but definitely less than a year. Another little girl was clinging to Amber’s leg. The little girl had blonde curls like her mother, and appeared to be about five years old. Not that I knew all that much about children or how old they looked.
Luke beckoned to them. “Come on, no need to be scared. None of us will hurt you, it’s our job to protect you.”
Gavin stepped up next to Luke. “Which is why we want you to come with us. It’s much safer where you will be going.”
Amber’s husband peeled the little girl off of her mother’s leg and lifted her into his arms. He stared into his wife’s eyes, “Let’s go, honey. We have to.” He used his free hand to gently touch his smaller daughter’s head and his eyes flicked to the little girl he held. Amber seemed to understand what he was trying to say and nodded that she understood.
“All right,” she whispered. She quickly strode over to the open door of the bus and stepped inside. Her husband followed right behind her.
I let out a breath I didn’t even realize that I’d been holding as soon as they were safely on the bus. After a couple of deep, cleansing breaths, I called out again, “Will anyone else join us today? I don’t know if or when we will be able to come back again, so please, if you seek safety then come with us.”
I waited.
The group waited.
Eventually, they began to withdraw from their hiding places and come to us. Once several survivors had joined us, and I was fairly sure I wouldn’t have to stand on the bus and do anymore pleading with them, I hopped down. I joined the others and helped greet the survivors, who apparently needed reassurance before they got their butts on the bus.
The main reason we were trying to greet each one before they got on the bus was to check for tattoos. We had to make sure that we weren’t putting someone loyal to the Vampire Council on a bus that would take them right into Arcadia Falls.
We filled one bus and drove to another neighborhood. Once there, we had to go through pretty much the same process of convincing them that we were not going to hurt them and that we wanted to help them.
We had the first half of the second bus filled when our luck ran out on us. I heard the cars coming and hollered to the group, “Someone’s coming!”
The police cars appeared at every intersection, effectively blocking us from escape. The policemen who got out were dressed in the usual uniforms of the local law enforcement, but we all knew they were not on our side.
Crap, crap, crap.
I looked over at the rest of the group, discovering they were drawing their weapons. The survivors who weren’t on the buses ran off to hide, knowing that their lives were at stake by these people who had pledged themselves to the Vampire Council.
“Surrender your weapons,” a male voice demanded from a loud speaker on one of the cars. “Set them on the ground and put your hands in the air.”
Yeah, like that was going to happen. Wait, on second thought, I had weapons they didn’t know about.
I caught Gavin’s eye and locked gazes before very deliberately setting my gun on the ground. He seemed to understand the silent message and also put his gun on the ground in front of him. Next, I looked to Alice. She had already seen the exchange between Gavin and I, so she followed suit, already knowing what my plan was.
They were coming, and fast. I could hear the screams from the frightened survivors on the buses already. They knew who these people were; they were one of the only reasons they were afraid to go out while it was daylight.
The “police” had their guns drawn and were running toward us. “On the ground! Everyone on the ground,” one of them yelled.
Good. We needed them close to us.
Suddenly … a fire hydrant blew. Water sprayed up about fifty feet into the air. The law enforcement officer who was next to it jumped in shock and popped off a shot when his finger involuntarily pulled the trigger.
While they were still recovering from the first hydrant and trying to avoid
being soaked, another one made a loud popping noise and exploded like the first one.
During this time, Gavin and I ran forward while Alice slid back, taking the rest of the group with her to the buses. They lined up along the side of the large yellow vehicles and Alice worked her magic.
A sheen of sparkle slid around them, and then up and over the buses. Her magical shield would protect the others while Gavin and I did the fighting. There were six pledged policemen; if we could take on groups of vampires, then we could do this.
The only problem was that they weren’t vampires.
These were people. They had pledged to the Vampire Council to stay alive, and they would kill us if they had to. Then, the people who had gotten on the buses would either be killed or taken prisoner. So, that only left us one choice.
Gavin used his power to push the water down on the policemen. Reaching over, I grabbed my gun with one hand and holstered it, then reached for my bow. Lightning fast, I notched an arrow. Aim and fire. I could not let myself think about the fact that these were people. I just couldn’t. I hit the first one in the heart.
And then the second in the stomach.
That’s when the bullets started flying. I ran to one side and Gavin ran to the other. These guys were horrible shots. Gavin and I knew we had a much better chance of not getting hit if we kept moving. Still targets were a lot easier to hit.
I put my bow back over my shoulders and ran into the fray, letting the fire swirl within my body. The warmth spread quickly until the tiny flames appeared at my fingertips. The police seemed really shocked that I had ran right in front of them. I was so close they couldn’t even get a bead on me. All five of them were concentrating on me, so they forgot Gavin had run off the other way. I let the fire fly.
My arms spread out wide like I was going to fly away and I released a stream of fire, then spun like a wannabe ballerina. Even though they were soaked to the skin from the hydrants, there was no avoiding the pain of my fire. I knew it was doing the job when the screams began.
They ran in circles, flailing their arms as they tried to escape the burn of my flames. I just kept spinning, hoping Gavin would do what I thought he was going to do.
Bang!
Yes, he was on it.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
And just like that. They were all down.
Well … they were all down, but they weren’t all dead. I reined in the fire and pulled out my gun. I could hear painful moaning of the injured policemen and knew that we couldn’t leave them there alive.
Suck it up, I told myself. You can do this. You have to do this.
The four policemen who had just been shot lay sprawled on the pavement. Water rained down upon them in giant, fat drops, pooling in large puddles around their bodies as it mixed with their blood.
I marched forward with determination. Gavin appeared beside me, both of us soaked from the hydrant water. My hair was heavy and my clothes stuck to my body in a very uncomfortable way.
“You don’t have to do this,” he whispered.
“Yes I do.”
“We could leave them … or I could do it. It doesn’t have to be you.”
I shook my head and blew some of the water off of my lips. “I can do it.”
I could have easily passed this off to him, but the whole saving the survivors thing was my idea and I had to be the one.
There were two who were still alive. One of them was on his hands and knees trying to crawl away. The gunshot wound in his lower back was exposed, bleeding profusely as he inched through the water and away from the other bodies.
Just do it.
I lifted my gun and fired. It was a rare thing that I missed, and this time wasn’t any different. I had aimed for the head and that is where the bullet made its home. His arms and legs went out from underneath him and his body hit the pavement.
Tears escaped from the corners of my eyes. I was grateful that the water from the hydrants was still going because it masked my weakness.
The other officer lay on his back shivering with pain and fear. He turned his head and watched me come toward him, his hand covering his chest where Gavin had shot him. Blood seeped out of the wound and through his fingers. His eyes widened when I got a little closer and he could focus on me.
I averted my eyes to avoid looking into his. I concentrated on his tattoo instead. Everyone pledged to the Vampire Council had a small dragon tattooed on their right cheek. When they first started the tattoos, I had wondered why they chose that particular symbol for their people. After researching, I’d discovered that the dragon was a symbol of strength, courage, and immortality.
“Please,” he breathed out so quietly that I could barely hear him. “Please … do it.”
I felt Gavin’s hand on my shoulder and my vision blurred with more tears as I aimed for the head again.
Bang!
It was over.
Not wanting to look at the bodies even one more second, I turned away and sloshed through the water, back to where the group was waiting by the buses. Drew hurried over to me, and after taking one look at my face he pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me.
“Are you all right?” he whispered against my ear.
I was afraid to speak. I didn’t want to break down in front of a whole bus full of survivors and my friends. So I just shook my head, hoping he would understand.
“Come on.” He pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. “We have to get out of here. More might be coming.”
I nodded and followed him to the bus. Everyone was already seated and ready to leave. They had gotten some more of the survivors to come out while we had the policemen busy and almost filled the bus.
It was later than we thought it would be, so we hauled butt back to Arcadia Falls. During the drive I tried to forget about what had happened. I had killed people … not vampires. I just never thought that would happen to me.
Gavin kept looking over at me like he wanted to come over and comfort me or something. I avoided his inquiring gaze and leaned back in the seat with my eyes closed. Pretending it never happened was probably best. I had to act normal, be strong, and get on with our mission.
When we parked at the gate, I ignored the fact that Gavin was sitting right there and gave Drew a quick kiss on the lips. “See you soon,” I told him.
I turned to Gavin and saw hurt swimming around in his green eyes. “Hurry back,” I said flatly, and stepped down off the bus. Zander got off his bus, too; we had to trade places with Alice and Oscar since we couldn’t get past the barrier.
“How are you guys going to get back up to the gate?” I asked Oscar as I opened the passenger door to the Escalade.
“Luke will probably bring us in his car. We’re going to leave the buses here.”
“Good. I just wanted to make sure that you are going to be able to get back up to the gate without having to walk the whole way.”
He nodded. “We will be fine.”
“Hurry,” I told him. “We need to get back before dark.”
I worried a lot about leaving the house unattended. During the day it should be fine, but it was late afternoon, so every hour brought us closer to darkness and death.
He patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll be quick.” With that, he took off to join the others. The gate rolled open and the buses passed through the invisible shield that protected the community, but kept me out. Once they were safely through, the gate closed and the buses disappeared from sight.
I hopped up into the passenger seat of the Escalade and leaned back on to the soft leather seat. Man, it felt wrong sitting on the leather with my wet clothes.
“What’s the matter?” Zander asked from his seat behind the wheel.
I stared at the gate which locked me out of the world of Hunters. “A bunch of stuff. You know one of them. It’s the same problem you have, only you don’t really care.”
He shrugged. “I don’t really have a reason to care.”
I understood that.
“But I do. I didn’t live here very long, but it’s home to me. The house we live in now, it’s just a place to be, not a home.”
He turned the key and the Escalade came to life, idling with a steady purr. “I get that,” he told me. “Alice will fix it. After all this is over.”
At least I could take solace in the fact that that dumb barrier would save some lives.
Zander moved the Escalade off to the side of the road by the gatehouse so that we could wait for the rest of the group without sitting in the middle of the road. Once we were parked, he cut the engine again and spent the remainder of the wait in silence.
The time passed quickly … too quickly. It was absolutely agonizing watching the sun get further and further down in the sky and hoping they would show up any moment. The most dangerous part of the mission was over, but I didn’t want to leave the house alone.
“Knock it off, Chloe.”
I looked over and Zander had an annoyed expression on his face. “The house will be fine. We are only going to be there one more night anyway. Aren’t we leaving for New Orleans in the morning?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know.” My reasoning didn’t make sense. The damn vampires would probably break into the place while we were in New Orleans, but my hopes about finding the head of the bloodlines remained. If we could kill them, there wouldn’t be any vampires left when we returned to the house.
“Here they come!” Zander pointed.
My head snapped up. Through the windshield I saw Luke’s car speeding up the road leading to the gate.
“Thank God,” I muttered as Zander started the engine.
~~***~~
The first thing we did back at the house was clear the place to make sure it was, indeed, free of the enemy. Then, I hurried upstairs to change out of my wet clothes. Oscar loaned Gavin some things to wear since he was also soaked from the hydrant water.
After that, it was our own sort of chaos that ensued. There was a rather heated argument about Anthony. Drew and I had to go tell him that we were leaving, but no one in the group wanted to travel with him. So, long story short, he was going to have to meet us there.
Vampire Apocalypse (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #3) Page 7
