Into Death's Arms

by Mary Milligan

  Tameron shrugged enigmatically. He was wearing the casual disconcern he always wore for the media. He liked being mysterious. I could feel his joy cascading down my skin. One of Kinsley’s boys stepped forward. “They brought us another female. I truly enjoyed gutting the last.” He licked his claws. Donovan shot from our ranks like a train. He took down the Shifter so swiftly most of us hadn’t seen him move.

  The other Shifters shied away as he rose from the raw meat that was left of the Shifters body and hissed. “Anyone else have anything to say about my God-damned mate?” Some of the gulping was audible. Not that I blamed them, he’d hit bragging boy so hard and so fast he had left body parts spread between where he’d hit and where they’d landed. I felt kind of sick and I have a strong stomach.

  Kinsley didn’t shy like the others had. “I didn’t expect you Caden I only expected the pretty little AoD. I do have to say Caden she is a lovely little thing.” He licked his lips like he was thinking about sex. Eww, he was trying to rile my dad. Too bad, he didn’t know the AoD that well.

  Donovan had his head down and was stalking toward Kinsley. “Donovan not yet,” I said softly. Kinsley started to snort, but his eyes opened wide when Donovan looked over at me and nodded once, and then stepped back.

  “Well I didn’t expect that either.” The werewolf admitted. “You sharing with your human friend AoD,” he asked me smiling snidely.

  Dayton growled low in his throat. The sound seemed to carry through the night.

  Kinsley raised an eyebrow then raised his head and took in a deep drag of air through his nose. He was scenting us. “Aw Reece, how truly amusing, your daughter and the leader of the Vampires, you must be so proud.” He barked out a laugh.

  The other Shifters were taking this down time to move slowly in on us. Like we didn’t know what they were up to. Come on we were professionals here. One got a little too close sneaking in behind me.

  Thanks to Dayton and the power we shared between us, I could sense his movements. I pulled my Sig from my hip and shot him in the face without looking back at him. He howled, covered his face with his hands, fell to the ground. “Stupid,” I sighed. This time I’d remembered my silver bullets. He wasn’t going to be healing that up real quickly.

  I was getting really tired of this posturing crap. “Yeah, I’m fucking the Vamp whatever, where is my brother?” I shook my gun at Kinsley. I wanted them to be sure they understood I was willing to kill their King to get my brother back. More importantly, I wanted them to understand I was willing to die to get him back.

  Kinsley’s eyebrows shot up. It seemed to be my day for shocking the Shadow-born. Dayton chuckled. “You have such a way with words my sweet. Give us back the boy and we will walk away. Donovan has had his revenge. We are mostly satisfied.” He put his hands up in a peaceful gesture but I could feel the power rolling off him. His eyes were neon, his glow had moved from white to a bright yellow. He was mentally manipulating somebody. Judging by the amount of Shifters, who were now looking at Kinsley like he was the antichrist for bringing not only the Ao but the Vampire in on them like this, it was several some ones. Damn he was powerful and wasn’t that just sexy.

  Another Shifter one I didn’t know stepped around the fire. “If we give you the lion you’ll leave just like that,” he asked. He was a little taller than Kinsley but not built like him. He was more wiry not all bulging muscle and steroid use. His hair was different it kind of started out black at the roots and grew into blond. It looked a lot like a lion’s mane. It was pretty although I’m sure the man wouldn’t appreciate my saying so.

  Kinsley’s lips peeled back from his elongated canines, after seeing Dayton fangs I couldn’t really call them fangs anymore. “Shut up, Lowell,” he barked. Yeah, I was thinking he didn’t like Lowell much which was making me like him quite a bit besides he was offering to give me my brother back. Lowell was a wolf name. I wondered what exactly he was hiding beneath his human form.

  Lowell lowered his head aggressively but answered, “Yes sire.” Even though he’d backed off, he was eyeballing Kinsley like he was considering the merits of going for the King’s back. A man the size of a mountain put a hand on his shoulder. I was guessing he was a werebear. He shook his head and Lowell nodded. They stepped back into a group.

  My father moved forward. “Where is the boy?” Boy, hunh, I didn’t laugh but I wanted to. Laith was like two hundred years old but to my dad and Dayton, he was still a boy.

  Kinsley black eyes went wild and he snapped, “He’s my son! What I do with him is none of your God damned business AoD,” he screamed. Foam actually flicked from his mouth, icky. His hair flared around him. His nose and teeth started to elongate. He had shifting issues when he was angry and boy was he angry my father seemed to bring that out in him.

  My father smiled his green eyes lit up. “He is my AoLi’s son that makes him mine as well.” I smiled at his statement knowing it was going to piss off the werewolf even more. My father wanted a fight. He liked nothing better than a good fight. He was poking the bear, er wolf, whatever. Kinsley roared and leapt at him. My father was braced waiting. Other Shifters lurched into action at the same time.

  Donovan who’d been just waiting turned and ripped into a Shifter who’d been standing nearby but had moved away from him when he’d torn the other Shifter into big messy chunks. The wolf had seen him coming and shifted into mid-form half human, half wolf. This was the critter that had started millions of crazy myths over the years and Donovan tore him to pieces like it was nothing, scary damn Vampire. How had I ever gotten the drop on him before? I just didn’t know.

  Dayton pulled me briefly into his arms and kissed me hard. Then he stepped back his fangs elongating, his eyes glowing neon. I was glad he was a Vampire as well as an AoLi it was hard for an AoLi to kill, not so much for a Vampire, I didn’t want him hurt. He stalked off tracking one of the Shifters who was beginning to shift. I watching him go. He was all predator and it made me tingle from head to toe watching him.

  A werewolf in mid-form lifted his lips at me in a snarl and beckoned to me with one large clawed finger. He was looking so sure of himself. I so wanted to knock that smug look off his face. So, I shot him. Yeah, I know it wasn’t sporting but it was fun. I shot him in the chest because he was still a good hundred feet from me, which was too far to hit something as small as his head. He roared and sprang toward me. One hundred feet might be too far to hit him with a bullet but he leapt it like it was nothing. He knocked me to the ground, I immediately rolled and was up and shot him in the chest again. He roared and swiped me with his claws. I had already learned the two tricky things about fighting with Shifters were, one stay out from under them, and two stay out of the way of their claws, do those two things and you’re good. I stayed away from his claws. He snapped his head forward and sank his to sharp teeth into my left shoulder. Damn that hurt. Stupid Shifters all teeth and claws, I shot him a third time. This time I was close enough I got his heart. He fell back and didn’t get back up.

  Another wolf was on me in a second. He backhanded me so hard I flew back a couple of feet and landed on my ass. That was going to leave a mark. I hopped back up. My shoulder hurt, my face hurt, I was getting pissed. I was glowing brightly. I pulled the gladius from my back. Shooting them was taking too long. I braced waiting for him to come at me. He was smarter than a lot of the Shifters I’d fought he didn’t just jump at me. He moved around me looking for an opening. I was breathing hard.

  I could feel the wind brushing against my skin. The air smelled of smoke and blood. The Shifters brown hair blew around him. He didn’t break eye contact. Then he dove toward my feet. Four massive claws tore at the back of my leg. I crumpled. Crap!

  I rolled trying to get away from him but he had been expecting me to fall so he was on me in no time. His claws dug into my thighs as he pulled me closer to him. The dirt dug into my back as I was dragged closer to the mass of claws and fangs. I was swinging my sword at him but he was too close I couldn’t ge
t the angle right. He rose above me mouth open wide ready to bite. I put up my arm trying to block him from my throat. Sure, I’d bleed a bit but it wouldn’t have killed me.

  White hands closed around his head and turned it swiftly. He fell away from me. Dayton was standing above me. “Do try not to get killed, my sweet, I have waited entirely too long to have you, I don’t want to lose you now.” he held out his hand. He was bleeding from several locations too.

  I let him pull me to my feet. “You have a lot of room to talk,” I snorted. I was hopping on one foot, as the other leg wasn’t working anymore. He kissed me, crushing my body to his own. Heat speared me. Not the normal kind of heat I got from him although it was a divine kiss. No, it was an overwhelming warmth like I had a fever. I felt the wound on my leg close up. Sneaky Vamp he was healing me. “Thank you,” I whispered.

  He smiled at me. “Always,” he brushed the hair from my face. We turned back toward the fire. More Shifters were moving toward us. The lion who’d nearly killed me in Dayton’s building was standing not too far off.

  He leapt upon me. This time I rolled with him, I didn’t want him on top of me again. It hadn’t worked out so well for me the last time. I came up on top thank God and I hadn’t lost my grip on the Sig, bonus! I leveled it at his head but he managed to knock my hand away and the shot went wide. He held my wrist with bone crushing force. “Last time I wasn’t trying to kill you Ao this time you aren’t going to be so lucky,” he snarled.

  I leaned down so our faces were almost touching, obscuring his view of my left hand. “It’s AoD,” I jerked back and plunged my silver blade into his chest. His eyes went wide but the big ass lion didn’t die. He shifted to his mid-form, crap they healed when they shifted I watched while the wound closed around the knife protruding from his chest. Blood still traveled down his chest but the flow had definitely slowed. I jerked the knife out and stabbed again but he caught it with his off hand. Now he was squeezing the hell out of both of my wrists I screamed but I wasn’t going down easy this time. I slammed my forehead into the bridge of his nose. Dogs noses are sensitive it stands to reason a were-critters nose would be sensitive too. He yowled in pain. Yeah, that noise cats make when their fighting outside your house late at night, that would be the sound that came from his mouth. He bucked me off his body. I landed on my rump but I was okay with that because my gun hand was free. I pointed at his chest and pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession. He stood, looked down at his chest in surprise and slumped back to his knees. I didn’t get to see him actually eat dirt because I was jumped by another damn Shifter.

  This one was a wolf he’d already taken his mid-form. His big hairy hands slashed out toward me. I was still on my butt. I laid down and pointed my gun at him. I could only get his big meaty arm but hey bullets in the arm don’t kill but I bet they still hurt like all get out. Oh, and blood loss when it’s your enemy is always a good thing. He took the bullet in his right arm and swung away from me giving me time to get up off the ground. He was standing less than a foot from me. Spittle slid from his canines, eww. He was circling me trying to decide how best to attack me. I snorted and brought up my Sig again, “You’re making it too easy.” I said as I pulled the trigger again. Silver plus bullet makes a big mess when it comes to Shifters he fell to the earth twitching. I looked around.

  My father was battling it out with Kinsley. They were both bleeding but neither of them had done any major damage yet.

  Dayton slid his sword into the belly of a Shifter whose eyes had gone very round. Dayton had blood on his mouth and seemed to be smiling. My mind hissed Vampire, but a minute ago I’d been laughing at the carnage who was I to judge.

  Donovan tore a swath through the resisting Shifters it was a gruesome sight to behold. I was glad the night I’d broken his kneecaps he hadn’t been expecting me to fight. He could have killed me easy, he must not have wanted to. A bear lunged up behind him and I shot it without even thinking. I saved Donovan’s life, damn I’d come far. The bear staggered but got back to its feet. I was running toward it and pulling my gladius from its sheath in the same moment. Bad thing about guns eventually they run out of bullets and you had to reload.

  He lumbered after Donovan but I let out a roar that had him turning toward me. I leapt into the air and brought the blade down with a force that would have cleaved a normal man in half. Unfortunately, bears are the toughest of the Shadow-born the blade sank into his shoulder but got lodged in his sternum.

  He wasn’t going to live long with a wound like that but he didn’t have to live long to tear me apart. He grabbed for me with his claws I was just a bit more spry than him, as I didn’t have an ancient sword sticking out of my chest. I dodged but didn’t let go of my blade. I was going to need it. He swung again just as I managed to jerk my sword free of his body. The sudden release made me fall back just a little his claws tipped my left arm, leaving behind small bloody scratches.

  He on the other hand was bleeding profusely. “Just die already!” I yelled at him as he swung his arms again. I was expecting it and crouched down. I twisted to the right and punched the sword into his left armpit. It slid in smooth. He took one shuddering breath and fell. Claws sank into my lower back. Holy hell that hurt, then the Shifter proceeded to lift me off the ground with the same claw. I heard a crunch and for a moment was worried he’d broken something so badly I’d gone into shock but I dropped to the ground. I turned to see what had just happened.

  Donovan dropped the Shifters body to the ground then spit a chunk of meat onto the corpse. The Shifters neck had been torn from him. I gulped, yep, could have killed me easy. He held out his hand to help me up. I took it. “Thanks,” he said and was moving away again stalking some other Shifter. Bodies were strewn about us.

  I took another moment to look around. I was worried; I had too much to lose on this field. Kinsley had shifted; my father glowed like I’d never seen before. His back was to me so I couldn’t see if he’d taken much damage or not but I did see a black form moving toward him. Silver claws were raised into the air. I bowled the Dream-walker over. He struggled to get upright, as I climbed up his body. I had dropped my sword when I hit him. I pulled out one of my knives and was deciding where to stab him when I realized he wasn’t fighting back. His eyes weren’t scared or pissed like any of the others they were relieved.

  Yeah, I’d be damned if I was going to be his savior. He’d killed my mother whether he’d wanted to or not. He’d done the deed. I just sat on him. He was weak from being a prisoner for so long. It was easy to overpower him. “Where is Laith?” I asked him. Completely aware of the fact that I looked like death itself at that moment.

  “Other side of the fire,” he gasped out. That whole relieved look was gone. “You’re not going to finish me,” he asked roughly.

  “No, you’ll suffer more living than you would dead.” I hissed. I grabbed his hair. “Up we go.” I said as I lurched to my feet dragging him behind me. He stood but couldn’t get completely upright, as I was a lot shorter than he was. I dragged him toward the bonfire. From what I know about Dream-walkers, they are the most sensitive to light so it was a spiteful thing to do. That’s okay I was feeling pretty spiteful.

  We got about three feet from the fire when another wolf was jumping at me. God I should have reloaded my gun. I spun so he slammed into Nikissos. They both grunted and tumbled to the ground. I let go of the Dream-walker so I wouldn’t be pulled to the ground yet again. I’d spent enough time in the dirt tonight as it was. The Shifter tried to get to his feet. I raised my sword but before I could strike the Shifters, mouth fell open. Silver tipped claws emerged from the Shifters chest. It was my turn to be surprised.

  “Duck,” Nikissos mouthed from behind the Shifter. As he’d just killed one of my enemies I decided to listening to him might be a good plan. I fell to my knees. Large tawny covered arms flew over my head just where my torso had been moments before. Lions blah, I spun on my left knee and plunged my sword into his belly. He looked down
with a rather surprised look on his face.

  I rose pulling the blade along with me. “I… really… don’t… like… lions! You guys are always trying to tear me up.” I punctuated each word with a yank of the blade as I tried to drag it through his breastbone. I actually disliked bears more as my big brother was a lion. That meant there was at least one lion I really liked. Besides, bears were harder to kill. His blood was racing down the edge of the blade.

  He gurgled and went limp. Hmm, this was getting easier. I grabbed Nikissos by his hair again and started to move forward. I know it seems really ungrateful of me but, so what, the man wore a collar around his neck that made him obey Kinsley’s every word I didn’t want him deciding to attack me when I wasn’t ready.

  We rounded the fire and I forgot all about holding him. Laith was kneeling on the ground. He had been tied to a ‘T’ shaped piece of wood. His face was bruised and bloody. His chest was bare and he’d been beaten across the chest with a whip. Two other men were tied in similar positions not far from him. All three men had a tattoo of the Leo astrological symbol on their left shoulder blades. I wonder what they’d done to get the same punishment. I continued to drag the Dream-walker by all that red and silver hair.

  A wolf stood guard over them. His eyes widened at the sight of me. From this angle, we couldn’t see what was going on where Kinsley and my father were. He backed up. Lowell and his buddies stood within view but didn’t move to either help or hinder us. They were waiting to see if my father killed Kinsley or not. They risked punishment for not assisting the others but maybe they were powerful enough that they weren’t to terribly worried about it. I was sure they had more to gain than to lose when my father won.

  I moved to Laith. Glaring at the wolf who’d been standing over them I made a threatening move with my sword he backed up even farther. Laith’s eyes were open but he didn’t see anything before him. I growled angrily. “Laith,” I whispered as I knelt before him, dragging Nikissos with me. Laith’s head jerked toward the sound of my voice.