Deliverance

by Adrienne Monson

  Everyone was sporting wounds of some kind, except for Liam. Leisha was relieved to see that besides ripped clothes and a few scrapes and bruises, he came out of the explosion unscathed.

  They were forty feet from the side of the crumbling building when two vampires came at them from the left, swords already scything through the air. Rinwa blocked the first sword, but the second vampire thrust his weapon through her gut.

  “Rinwa!” Leisha gasped as she clutched Liam to her side and held her gun up, ready to fire at the attackers. Tafari was there first, however, and decapitated the one who’d stabbed their daughter with his short sword. Another vampire used his leg to trip Tafari, his sword raised to impale the dark-skinned immortal as soon as he would hit the dirt. Rinwa was there before the blade could nick Tafari. She fought the assassin as though she had no injury whatsoever and cut off his head as Tafari was getting up from his fall.

  Leisha could hear steel clashing against steel and realized it wasn’t coming from the direction of where Rinwa and Tafari were fighting with the vampire. It was behind her. Leisha turned to see Nikita fighting two vampires at the same time. His arms thrusting out in opposite directions to block their onslaught. The assassins had the same stoic expressions Nikita usually wore, as if being sent out to kill was no different than reading the news over breakfast. Samantha was limping toward Leisha, her head constantly turning back to check on Nikita.

  “There are twenty more headed this way,” Liam said beside her.

  Swallowing, Leisha nodded. She had to get Liam and Samantha into the building and put together a strategy to escape the coming vampires.

  Her eyes darted about and she kept her gun hand up and ready as she led the two toward the building. There weren’t any doors that she could see, but there were a lot of boarded windows. Handing Samantha her gun, she rushed over and grunted as she pried the boards off the nearest window.

  A sudden yell from behind startled Leisha, and she spun with one of the broken boards in her hands to use as a club or stake. It was Liam. He’d stopped a vampire from sneaking up on them. The boy’s claws were buried deep in the assassin’s torso, and Liam viciously threw his arms apart, ripping the vampire almost completely in half, blood and tissue spraying out in a chunky mist.

  The vampire didn’t have a chance to call out or even grunt before he died. His body fell to the cold ground in a loud heap. Liam quickly picked up the fallen man’s sword and tossed it to Leisha. She dropped the board to catch the blade.

  Without saying a word, she motioned for Samantha to come closer. Then she linked her fingers together so that her friend could step onto them and climb through the window. Once she was on the other side, Leisha gestured to Liam, who lightly jumped up and went straight through the opening.

  Footsteps sounded over broken branches and Leisha turned in time to deflect the sword from a vampire trying to decapitate her. She countered with a hasty slash at his chest, but her enemy jumped back and quickly lunged for her eye. Leisha brought up her sword, just barely blocking the thrust and getting grazed by her temple. She stayed in front of the window to keep him from getting through, but it was difficult. The vampire’s attacks were quick and precise, and he was light on his feet. Leisha could easily see the techniques Nikita often employed shining through this assassin and she mentally groaned. If I didn’t have extra help from Tafari’s blood, I might already be dead.

  Ducking another thrust, she suddenly crouched down and launched herself forward like a human cannonball, smashing her shoulder into her opponent’s stomach, knocking the vampire off his feet. When she jumped up to attack, he was already back on his feet as well, his weapon ready to defend. Suddenly, a blade erupted from his neck. The vampire’s eyes widened and blood trickled out of his mouth. Then the blade withdrew and swiped left to right, decapitating the assassin and making his head fly in a bloody arc before thudding to the ground.

  Nikita stood behind the body as it fell forward, his face not nearly as impassive as the assassins hunting them. Leisha realized that Nikita falling in love with Samantha had made him more human. “Let’s get inside.” He motioned behind him, and Tafari and Rinwa ran out from behind some bushes and practically dove through the window.

  “These guys are faster than any other vampires I’ve fought,” Leisha muttered as the two of them followed the immortals.

  “I’m good at what I do,” Nikita said as Leisha dropped onto a dusty floor. He dropped beside her an instant later. “And I trained them to be the best, honing their natural combative skills to be ultimate killing machines.”

  “Great,” Rinwa said. The wound in her stomach gaped, but it was no longer gushing blood. She turned to Samantha. “What do you see in this guy?”

  There was no time for a response. Leisha’s newly healed ears detected vampires surrounding the building. “They’re coming in,” she warned the others. “We need a plan.”

  They moved as one group to the center of the massive place. It was one large room, with the upper floor winding around the walls like a balcony. Old, rusted equipment was scattered everywhere, hinting at once having been a production site. Leisha surmised that the place was a factory of some kind. She wasn’t sure what had been manufactured here, but the number of assembly lines told her that it had employed a good number of people. She smelled lead in the peeling paint, which meant it was probably over twenty years old and lacking modern safety standards.

  The sound of wood splintering and metal creaking told her they were out of time. She counted fifteen vampires coming in from all four sides. At least she and the others had reduced the number of assassins before entering the building.

  “Well,” Rinwa said, holding a sword in each hand. “What’s the big secret that makes these guys different from the other vampires?” She threw Nikita an accusing glare.

  Nikita glanced at heavy chains hanging from the ceiling and then at one of the pieces of heavy machinery. “For one thing, they only drink immortal blood.”

  Leisha’s eyes widened in surprise. “I thought I was the one to figure out immortal blood gave vampires an energy boost.”

  He shrugged. “I discovered it a while back, but kept it to myself.”

  Before anyone could say another word, four vampires came at them from the front, and four more from either side. Tafari and Rinwa fought the ones in front, Leisha battled the ones on her side and Nikita took the rest. A brunette vampire threw a Chinese star and it cut deep into her shoulder. Leisha cried out at the pain. “Seriously?” She ignored the metal star and kicked the other woman’s knee hard, hearing bones snap and crunch while blocking the blade of another assailant.

  Suddenly, the opponent she was blocking was tossed into the air, hitting the heavy chains before falling back to the ground. Liam clawed and bit through the neck of the one she’d kicked. Leisha was ready when the female vampire landed, creating a cloud of dust around her broken body. Leisha made a lightning-quick cut and decapitated her before she could heal.

  “Thanks, Liam,” she said as she checked on the others fighting. “But I want you to stay back as much as you can,” she instructed. “It doesn’t matter what happens to the rest of us. The most important thing is to keep you safe.”

  He shook his head and opened his mouth to reply, but more vampires came at them, cutting off any rebuttal. The newest attackers didn’t come right at them like the other ones had. Instead, the three vampires walked calmly in their direction with their weapons pointed at the floor. Leisha thought their eyes looked empty and lifeless as they stared at Liam.

  Her son ran at Leisha and grabbed her as he jumped away. “Bombs!” he yelled out to the others.

  As they flew in the air, Leisha saw Nikita duck a blade and turn to Samantha before grabbing her and jumping in the same direction. She didn’t see what happened to Tafari and Rinwa before the bomb detonated, hurling large chunks of debris, metal, and smoke in every direction.


  Leisha and Liam landed on the upstairs balcony in a painful heap. Her breath wheezed out of her lungs as fire singed her hair and clothes. There was no time to feel the pain, however, since some assassins were already on the second level and had stabbed Liam in the back before he could move.

  “No!” she cried out at the same time her son grunted, blood spurting out of his mouth. He turned and roared as his claws dug into the vampire’s thigh and chest. Liam picked the man up and threw his body down into the fire below.

  Leisha hurried to her son and pulled out the blade as quickly as she could. Nikita fought off the other two while she checked Liam over. His lungs had been punctured and he wheezed painfully, but he batted her away. “I’ll heal, Leisha. Don’t worry.” Salty tears streaked through spots of soot scattered over his face.

  Resisting the urge to coddle her son, she huffed out a breath. “Like that’s possible.” She grabbed Samantha, who was coughing raggedly from the smoke, and dragged her over to a window where the girl could get more air. It was hard to see anything through the clouds of black and gray smoke in the building.

  Glancing outside, Leisha noted that there were a few cars in the overgrown parking lot. “They must belong to the vampires,” she said to Samantha. “If you get the chance, go with Liam to one of those cars and get the hell out of here.”

  Samantha glanced in the direction she’d pointed and nodded as she coughed some more.

  Leisha bashed the glassless window frame out and gestured for Liam to help Samantha figure out a way down. Running over to Nikita, she helped him finish off the two vampires in no time and they threw their bodies over the railing.

  “Tafari? Rinwa?” she called out. Tension bubbled in her belly with worry. She didn’t care if the vampires heard her since they knew where she was anyway, and Leisha had to know if her family was safe.

  “What?” It was Rinwa, sounding irritated. Leisha could also hear flesh on flesh and scuffling. Clearly they were alive, but still fighting off more attackers.

  Leisha breathed out a sigh and hoped that Tafari was simply too busy fighting to answer. There were no more vampires coming at them and she looked at Nikita, who was watching through the window as Liam and Samantha crawled down the side of the building. “We need to help Tafari.”

  Nikita turned to her and nodded grimly.

  Together, they moved to the railing and looked down. Leisha still couldn’t see anything through all the smoke, but knew that Tafari and Rinwa were directly below. She and Nikita jumped down and hurtled into the acrid smoke. It burned her eyes and she blinked the bloody tears away to see. They didn’t land on any flames, but the fire was licking closer.

  She spotted Rinwa and Tafari against the wall, each with two swords and fighting a losing battle against eight vampires. Leisha and Nikita quickly engaged the vampires closest to them, giving the immortals a chance to cut their way out of the corner. Tafari and Rinwa killed four, leaving four more for her and Nikita. As Leisha fought off two at the same time, she yelled to her family. “Help the others get to a car and get away. We’ll find you.”

  They nodded and ran to a back exit where the doors were already hanging open.

  The vampire on her right was attacking with a gusto Leisha could barely defend. The assassin yelled every time he attacked with his sword. The vampire on her left didn’t fight with blades. Instead, this guy’s choice of weapons were spiked whips. The vampire struck out and the whip wrapped around Leisha’s thighs, the points puncturing any flesh they touched. Leisha managed to stay upright, but the unexpected tug loosened her grip on one of her swords. The vampire on her right exploited the opportunity and hit the weapon out of her hand. He nodded to his companion and ran out the door.

  Leisha opened her mouth to warn her family, but the remaining vampire released the whips around her legs and struck at her face. Leisha was better prepared this time and jumped out of the way. The whip nicked her shoulder. Just as Leisha stood from her jump, the other whip cracked against her side, knocking her over.

  Dirt and smoke choked Leisha as she hit the ground. Before she could move, one of the spiked whips wound around her neck. The small metal blades pierced her windpipe and barely avoided pricking an artery. Panic began creeping in at the edges of her mind, threatening to disrupt her concentration, but Leisha tamped it down. She had to stay in control if she was going to win this. I can’t retaliate like I normally would. He’s expecting that. What’s the last thing I would do in a fight? The answer was simple. Leisha slumped to the ground, allowing the whip to dig further into her flesh. She didn’t move as the vampire approached slowly. He obviously was expecting her to surprise him with some kind of attack. She didn’t move when he knelt by her head. Didn’t resist when he grabbed a fistful of her hair to pull her head up. As their eyes met, she grabbed the whip hanging limp at his side. The spikes cut into her fingers, but she kept her grip firm and flipped a loop of the whip around his neck. The vampire’s eyes widened and he tried to grab the whip out of her hand, but with the length already coiled around his neck, he only drove the spikes deeper into his own throat. Leisha jumped up and pulled the other whip out of his hand. She unwound it from herself while stomping hard on her attacker’s neck. He went limp on the floor and she bent over and twisted his head off for good measure.

  Thanks to the punctures in her throat, Leisha didn’t breathe or talk as she glanced up. Nikita fought a vampire assassin in her peripheral vision. It looked as if he might not win that battle, but a far more desperate struggle drew her attention through the doors to the parking lot.

  Two vampires attacking her family. Samantha and Liam were huddled in a car and it looked like the engine was on. Tafari fought hard, but the vampire attacking him clearly had the advantage. Hoping Nikita could take care of himself, Leisha ran to help. Rinwa came at her opponent hard, a smug look on her face. Picking up fallen chains on her way, Leisha threw one at the back of the head of the vampire Rinwa was fighting and kept going toward Tafari. She used the chain as a whip and hit the vampire’s groin. He huffed out painfully, but didn’t even hunch over. Do all of Nikita’s assassins have jock straps too? However, the blow was enough of a distraction for Tafari to thrust his sword through the vampire’s neck and decapitate him. The vampire fell to the gravel with a loud crunch. Leisha could barely smell his blood over the burning stench of wood, stone, and flesh.

  Tafari breathed hard as he pulled Leisha to his side. As one, they turned to see Rinwa standing with her hands on her hips.

  “I had him without your help,” Rinwa said, exasperation ringing her words. “I’m practically invincible to these so-called ninja assassins.”

  Mirth and amusement bubbled up, but Leisha didn’t try to argue with Rinwa. “I need to see if Nikita’s all right,” she said, her voice rasping horribly through her mangled throat. “You guys get in the car and be ready.” Leisha pulled away from her husband. It looked like he was about to argue when a strange gurgling sound filled the air.

  Brows drawn together, Leisha looked at Rinwa. Her eyes were so wide it looked like they’d pop out any second. The immortal had dropped her sword and her hands were out to the side as if she didn’t know what to do with them. That was when Leisha saw the blood bubbling from her daughter’s lips. Then, time slowed as her head came off her neck completely. Rinwa’s blonde hair flew out in brilliant strands around her face as her head fell to the ground. Dirt blew out around her daughter’s face and the cascading hair slowly landed all around it. A moment later, Rinwa’s body landed next to her head.

  Staring at her daughter’s broken body, Leisha barely registered the vampire standing there, Rinwa’s blood dripping off the tip of his blade one slow drop at a time. Everything stopped and Leisha was paralyzed, unable to think past the shock of what just transpired. A vampire had somehow managed to sneak up on her daughter and cut her head off. This isn’t happening. Rinwa’s a fighter, a survivor. She’s going to be fine
. She has to be.

  Tafari’s pain-filled cry broke her from her stupor. Leisha saw the vampire charging toward the car where Liam was and something inside of her screamed to save her other child. Choking on bloody tears, she lunged at him with nothing but her bare hands.

  The assassin gave her a haughty glance and held his sword up to strike at her, but Nikita suddenly filled the space between them and scissored the vampire in half with two swords.

  With the danger gone, Leisha glanced back down at Rinwa. The blood was no longer gushing from her neck and was slowing to a small trickle. She couldn’t bring herself to seek out her daughter’s head. It was as if there’d be accusation in Rinwa’s dead eyes if Leisha looked into them. Hands were suddenly on her shoulders, but she couldn’t stop staring at the blood. It had stopped trickling. No more blood oozing. No more heart beats. No more Rinwa.

  Nikita slapped Leisha in the face. She realized he’d been shaking her and yelling, but she hadn’t responded. Blinking, she forced herself to look at her friend. Nikita spoke with urgency. “There’s ten more coming. Focus on the moment so you can save the rest of your family.”

  Swallowing down bile, Leisha pushed aside her emotions with more effort than she’d ever experienced. Push it away. You can feel everything later, when Liam is safe.

  Clearing her throat, she looked down at her husband. He was crying openly over Rinwa’s body, his back shaking with grief. She wanted to go to him and cry over her daughter whom she’d never gotten to know well enough. She wanted to share in the grief, but it wasn’t an option at the moment.

  Instead, she blinked her tears back so she could see and picked up her husband. “Go with them. Keep them safe.” Her words were choked and barely above a whisper, but it was enough for Tafari to register.