Deadly Encounters (Raina Kirkland Book 4)

by Diana Graves

  “Alistair!” I yelled as I rounded the corner and found him surrounded. He was completely nude and covered in blue flames. The zombies were being incinerated within feet of approaching him, yet more and more came. He was safe so long as he continued to push his fire out, but how long could he keep that up? “Alistair!” I yelled again. “Run!”

  He looked back at me from where he was crouched on the floor, burning down the wooden doors and scorching the brick floor and walls. “Seal the doors!” he yelled back.

  “Come on, run!” I waved him my way, but he shook his head. He meant for me to seal the doors with him on the wrong side! No way! “I’m not leaving you here to die!”

  “I can’t hold them off for much longer!” he screamed with effort. “You have to shut the doors and keep those people safe, Raina!”

  Tears fell down my cheeks. I couldn’t leave him. I’d lost too many people already, I was not going to lose him, too. I ran down the hall straight at him. Within feet my clothes singed off, they went up in smoke and ash and danced off my body leaving me nude. I grabbed him with my right arm around his waist and pushed a wide spray of white fire out with my left arm, burning away the glove that had been concealing Raphael’s light. Alistair’s flame died down as I backed down the hall with him in my arm and my flame keeping the zombies at bay as they poured, rotting, bloody and bloated, through the splintered hole they’d made in the wooden door.

  As we stumbled through the doorway and into Adia’s room, I held back my flame while Bridgette grabbed the brick facing and closed it before slamming the thick metal door closed. I left Alistair and pushed Bridgette out of the way as she was locking the door.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Sorry,” I said with my eyes on the door. From this side I heard and felt the zombies thump against the wall, trying to find the door. It was only a matter of time before they banged their bodies against the wall hard enough and long enough that the brick crumbed and the metal door would be exposed. Digging deep down, I gathered all the strength I had to create enough friction to melt the thick door shut, to buy us more time. Time for what, I didn’t know.

  “Stand back!” I yelled to everyone still in Adia’s room before I unleashed the gold flame, a flame hot enough to melt iron. The fire smothered the door, turning it a glowing red, and shot back a good two feet. It didn’t take long and when it was done I collapsed on the floor near Alistair as the door cooled and hardened.

  “What good was that?” Bridgette asked hotly. “Those things can break through anything!”

  “It will buy us time,” said Nick as he came in from the dungeon.

  “Time for what, to just stand here waiting to be killed?” a guard asked.

  “No,” said Alistair, still lying where I left him. Why was he just lying there? “Everyone needs to get into the other room. I will remain here and seal the arched door from this side. I’ll fight off the zombies if they come through this door.”

  “You know I’m not leaving you here,” I said.

  “We can’t melt the door from the other side. We would compromise the lead lining. This side of the door is steel, I can melt it closed on my own.”

  Everyone still in Adia’s room left, closing the doors behind them. I tried to see my babies in the large crowd as the doors closed, but I couldn’t find them, and I knew I’d never see them again. My mind was screaming with grief, but I couldn’t give into it. I closed my eyes tight and shoved the pain deep down so I could press on.

  It was just me and Nick standing by Alistair now, and he was still just lying there. Something was wrong with him.

  “You’ve been hurt?”

  He sighed out a shaky breath and lifted his arm where it had been pressed firmly against his rib cage. There was a huge bite of flesh missing, bone and lung. Fuck!

  “What did that?” Nick asked as he kneeled down to Alistair.

  “Zombie big foot,” Alistair said with some dark blood filling his mouth and trickling down his chin. “Got in close and took a bite out of me while I was trying to save a kid. The kid didn’t make it,” he said and he hissed out his pain as he tried to sit up.

  “Why isn’t it healing?” I asked. “You should be healing.”

  “I can’t,” Alistair said.

  “Will you be a zombie soon?” Nick asked with a guarded look.

  “No, he won’t. He drank my blood a long time ago. We have the same strand of vampirism,” I told Nick, before looking back down at Alistair. “You should be healing.”

  “Yes, but I haven’t fed in nights. I don’t have enough blood in me to heal even minor wounds, let alone this.”

  Nick bit down on his forearm until dark blood streaked down and dripped from his elbow and onto the floor. “Easy fix,” Nick said with a bloody mouth. “I’ve had plenty.” He lowered his arm to the other man, and Alistair didn’t argue. He sealed his lips over the wound, closed his eyes and drank. Nick flexed his arm to help the flow of blood.

  Alistair let go of Nick’s arm. “I wouldn’t dare take more from you, Nicholas.”

  Alistair grabbed his side and clenched his teeth with a growl. “My side is on fire!” he roared.

  Standing over him, I offered him my leg. “Drink,” I said, and he wrapped his arms around my thigh and sank his teeth into my femoral artery. I gasped at the pain and let out a low breath when I felt him feeding.

  While he drank I kept an eyes on his side. I would not let him pull away from me until I saw improvement. But I closed my eyes when the pain was becoming too much.

  “It’s working,” I heard Nick say.

  Alistair let go of me with a scream. I looked down and I could visibly see the bone and flesh healing, stitching itself back together. How painful growing bones and lungs must be for the waking person? Damn painful.

  OUR LAST HOPE

  ONCE ALISTAIR WAS whole, we sealed the large arched doorway together. Then we searched Adia’s room for clothes. I ended up in brown slacks that fit oddly, tall black boots, a bra that made my breasts far too pointy, and a white blouse that only looked half decent if I left it halfway unbuttoned…not that fashion was of the utmost importance, I just wouldn’t be caught dead in most of the dresses Adia had in her wardrobe. Alistair found some men’s clothing, most likely left behind by barguests since every piece of it was black. He was left in tight black pants, a black dress shirt and black boots. Nick got a bit jealous, him still wearing his dirty old jeans and bloody tank top and all, so he put on a form-fitting black undershirt with long sleeves and a black top hat. He left on his old ripped jeans. His mad red hair peeked out of the top hat, and Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter came to mind. I actually smirked.

  “What is it?” Alistair asked.

  “Nothing,” I said with a shake of my head. “Just feeling a bit like Alice in Wonderland.”

  “If only it was that easy to get the hell out of here, huh?” Nick remarked.

  “You can teleport your way out of here whenever you want,” said Alistair. “Hell, you could walk right out the door with your ability to go about unnoticed.”

  “And miss all the fun?” he joked.

  Alistair blew a raspberry. “I’m not having fun. Ninety percent of my collective is dead or a zombie. The whole state is in ruin, never mind our city and we’re about to be fried by nukes.”

  The boys were talking back and forth, but something was bothering me. There was something I was missing or forgetting, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what I’d forgotten…It was something I’d heard, something someone told me that made me think there must be a way out of here. I just had to think things through.

  “The door was locked from the inside,” I said to myself, just thinking out loud. “It was locked from the inside, which means someone was inside here the last time it was occupied and they never left?”

  “What are you going on about?” Alistair asked me.

  “The door was locked from the inside,” I said louder. I started walking around the room, starin
g at the walls. “Meaning that the last time it was shut, someone was in here. You said the last two stories were completely seals all the way around in lead, right?”

  “That’s what the blue-prints say. It’s labeled as a bomb shelter.”

  “No way out of there then,” I said, and I was looking up at one of the curtains that was closed. Out of six stained glass pieces of art with red curtains, the one I was standing in front of was the only one that was closed.

  “What are you getting at?”

  “Adia said that she took a secret passage to a safe place when the military came to cleanse Mort Villa.” I pulled back the curtains fast and was left staring at a small round door in the wall.

  “You found the rabbit hole,” Nick said with a hand on my shoulder.

  “I have,” but I wasn’t happy about it. “What good is it? We’re all going to die anyway. Up there, down here.”

  “The three of us are going to die,” said Alistair.

  “Way to cheer her up,” Nick commented.

  Alistair waved his comment away. “We are going to die, the three of us, but once those zombies break through that door we will hold them off long enough for the nukes to be launched, because we have to. Because those people’s lives depend on us.”

  I turned my back on the boys because I could feel the hopelessness seeping into my heart and I didn’t want them to see me breaking down. I couldn’t help but see the whole scenario playing out, and not in our favor.

  “Let’s say it works out just as you hope. In an hour or so the zombies break through that door and we hold them off just long enough for nukes to wipe us all out. Those people in there, my children, they’ll still be alive, but for how long, Alistair? They have no food and no water. How long do you think the government will wait before they send anybody into Washington to look for survivors? Do you think they’ll even look down here?”

  I was still facing away from them, so I couldn’t see the irritation on Alistair’s face, but I could hear it in his voice.

  “I’ve thought of that. When Fillips said they were going to launch nuclear warheads at Washington, that lead-lined room was the first thing that came to mind. Right then and there I knew exactly what I was going to do. I told her as much and she said she’d pass it on. Do you really think I’d drag everyone down here to die?!”

  I turned then, just as angry. “I know what you told her, remember? Everyone down here knows, but how can we be sure anybody will listen to Fillips, or act on her words? What if they can’t or won’t send anybody here, Alistair? I don’t want my children to die like that.” I was crying, but I brushed away the tears before they could fall down my face. I hated those tears because they were so damn useless.

  “They’re not going to die, Raina!” he yelled at me.

  “Hey, I don’t mean to step all over your lover’s quarrel, but if we are all about to die, I’d rather it be in better company,” Nick said, and he physically stepped between us.

  Alistair just stepped back and sat heavily on Adia’s large bed in a cloud of dust.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled before turning back around, and staring at the useless door. I was rubbing my hands together. The only gloves Adia had were stiff old leather things. I sighed and rolled my eyes at myself. Was it really so important that I hide the light in my hand, that I should be uncomfortable in my last moments on Earth? I pealed the gloves off and let the bright light show.

  “What good is holding the demon in your hand going to do?” Nick asked as he stepped up from behind me. “Could he really fuck up your life any more than it already is right now?”

  A curt laugh sprang from my lips. “If anything, he’d want to save me. I’m supposed to be some kind of big deal. They’ve got big plans for me,” I said with dead eyes on the ground.

  “Who’s they?” Alistair asked from the bed.

  “I don’t know all of their names…Some gods and angels I suppose,” I said with a shrug. “They’re the reason I am the way I am. They killed me as an infant only so they could insert themselves into my life, change things around and manipulate my family. Playing with our emotions in order to influence our decisions, putting us all in the right place at the right time.”

  “And the final outcome?” Nick asked.

  “I’m supposed to kill Apollo,” I almost laughed. “The god, the very god that started all of this.”

  Alistair stood quietly and walked to me, looking straight ahead with the most curious and serious face I’d ever seen on him.

  “What is it?” I asked him, but he walked past me and put his hand on the little round door in the wall.

  “Adia worshipped Apollo. She worked for him. Who do you think she’d run to if she needed help?” he asked.

  “You think that tunnel leads to Apollo?” Nick asked.

  “His temple, yes. It’s not far from here.” Alistair looked back at me.

  “The right place at the right time,” Nick nodded.

  “You think we’re down here, in this very room right here, right now because some angels and gods put us here?” I asked them hotly. I didn’t like the idea of that at all.

  “Didn’t they?” asked Alistair. “Nick’s dreams, him bringing you back at just the right time, his unique and very useful talents.”

  “And why exactly did Damon refuse to live in your old house?” Nick chimed in. “Whatever the reason, he lived here, so you had to come here when you woke. Here, where there was a lead-lined bomb shelter.”

  “And where did Damon get the idea of the party that would put everyone you ever loved in one place?” Alistair asked.

  “Damon was so adamant about the party happening,” I quietly admitted.

  “Raina,” Alistair said. “You have to walk through that door.”

  “And do what exactly?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but you have to try.”

  “Why, because some aliens want me to kill one of their own kind. The damage is done. Washington is doomed.”

  “And once Washington is a radioactive hole in the ground, do you think Apollo will stop? Do you think anybody will be able to stop him from infecting another area, another country; England perhaps, or Germany, maybe Japan will be next? If you don’t stop him now, the world will suffer,” Nick said.

  “And how exactly am I supposed to kill a fucking god, Nicholas? I’m just me! I’m just your little sister…”

  He grabbed my left hand and held it tight. “Maybe he knows how. He’s with you for a reason. Take him up there with you. End this.”

  “We’ll do our part down here,” Alistair said with a hand on Nick’s shoulder.

  I looked back at the arched entryway. The last thing I wanted was to leave my kids again. If they were going to die, I wanted to be there with them in their last moments. I couldn’t stand the idea of them in there, just waiting for death, but if they had any chance of living, any chance at all, it was me taking a leap of faith into the unknown. A shiver ran up my spine and left goose bumps on my flesh.

  “You keep my kids safe,” I said.

  “We will,” Alistair said.

  I looked at him with tears in my eyes. Would I ever see him again? I didn’t think so. I hugged him and looked at Nick before grabbing him and forcing him into our embrace as well. I held them both a good while before finally letting go.

  “I love you,” Alistair said, and he held my right hand up to his lips and kissed it before he leaned forward and kissed my lips.

  “I love you, too sis,” Nick said, and he gave me a second hug.

  “I love you, both of you.” I looked at them a moment longer. “If you can help it, don’t die.”

  “That would be nice,” Nick said with a teary smile.

  There was nothing more to say. They were right. It had to stop here, and Apollo’s death was the only thing to make sure it did. Only, I didn’t know how I was going to kill him. I had to trust Raphael of all creatures.

  Nick opened the door and I braced myself to climb up into the
dark concrete tunnel.

  “Finally,” Raphael spat, and I paused only for moment before climbing in.

  APOLLO

  THE NARROW TUNNEL was many miles long, but I crawled through it with the speed of a vampire. Raphael’s light helped me navigate through the pitch blank twisting passage, but when I reached the other end of it, I found a wall instead of a door. Dirty and frustrated from the journey I sat down and growled out loud.

  “Fuck!”

  “Kick it,” said Raphael. “It’s just mortar and rock, kick the fucking thing down.”

  “Okay,” I said, licking my lips with determination.

  I positioned myself facing the wall with my feet against the rock. I recoiled my legs and then, with all my strength, I kicked out. It took two kicks to bring it down, and daylight splashed into the tunnel. I retreated back a few feet as soon as it touched me.

  “Shit!” I breathed through clenched teeth, but I moved forward in spite of the pain. My skin sizzled as I peered out and found the source of the light. There was a huge hole in the side of the building leading out to a quiet snowy parking lot. The city beyond was just as equally quiet. Tall empty buildings, smoke in the distance. It was a morbid thought, but I wondered how many bodies lay hidden under that thick blanket of snow.

  As best I could tell, the room was likely someone’s office. There was a desk and a swivel chair laying on its side, some papers and books on the floor. I jumped down from the tunnel and ran straight for the door, which thankfully led into a wide dark hallway.

  “The nave is to your right,” Raphael spoke.

  “Nave?”

  “The worship area, the part with the altar and aisles and dancing girls.”

  “Got it.”

  I took the first door to my right, and it did indeed open to a huge stage with theater seating and tall two story columns, adorned with long gold curtains that spilled out over the floor. Holes in the ceiling let beams of light shine through, and snow fell lightly to the ground. Paintings and sculptures of Apollo were placed everywhere. Toward the front of the stage was a circular hearth still burning strong.