Riding Rifts (Vampire's Elixir Series Book 2)

by Pippa Amberwine

  I hoped Frankie would be a calming influence on Kam. I didn’t really want him to leap the fence and start shooting the place up.

  “While we wait for them to get back, I have an idea that might save some time.” Jevyn pushed himself up and moved back toward the shallow bank of the ditch. “If you two ladies would keep your eyes forward for a few moments, please.”

  As soon as he said that, I knew what he was going to do. I glanced over at Penny who was just in the process of turning her head for a peek. I rewarded that with a nudge of my elbow to the ribs. She shrugged, grinned, and then muttered, “Well you can’t blame a girl for looking, Katie.”

  “Okay.” Jevyn’s deeper dragon voice washed over us. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  Then, with a rush of downdraft, he was gone.

  “Where’d he go?” said Penny, looking around the dark, night sky.

  “Invisible,” I said.

  “Cool,” Penny said and then looked behind her. “Maybe we should go hide his clothes. Not that you haven’t seen everything already.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Aww, c’mon, Katie. You’ve been gone for hours at a time with him and overnight the last time. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what you’ve been doing, and I can always tell just by looking at a face, and your face says you are into Jevyn in a big way. Really big, huh?” She returned my nudge, and I was just glad she couldn’t see me blushing.

  “Maybe,” I managed to get out.

  “Maybe, my ass.”

  “I prefer to keep some things on a need-to-know basis, and right now, you don’t need to know.”

  “Lucky bitch,” Penny said with good-natured envy. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen anyone I’d—”

  “Okay, okay, I get the message. I promise not to flaunt it in front of you while you’re in such a frustrated state.”

  “Thank you.”

  Everything around us was quiet again while we waited.

  “You will find someone, Penny. You know that, right? Things will get better, and there will be more time for that sort of thing. The world’s not always going to be like this.”

  “I wish I had your confidence, Katie. All I see down the line is me ending up like some dried-up old maid.”

  I didn’t know how to argue with that. Fortunately, the sound of wings beating the air engulfed us, and Jevyn landed safely behind us. In a few moments, he was dressed and lying down beside me again. I leaned into him, feeling his comforting body warmth through my clothes.

  “Okay,” he said, slightly breathless. “The main gate is guarded like we said. There’s another gate at the back that’s guarded the same, so no way in that way either. None of the guard towers are manned.”

  “None of them?” Penny asked, shaking her head. “They are slacking off with their security there.”

  “Maybe not,” Jevyn said. “The main building has a post at each corner. Nothing big, just enough for a couple of guards. No one is up there right now, but I guess they would quickly be occupied if there was any kind of attack. Nasty-looking weapons up there too. Big machine guns, automatic rifles, and I think I saw a grenade launcher at each corner. We would never have spotted them from down here, but they would cause a lot of damage if they get the right people up there.”

  “Good work, Jevyn,” Penny said.

  A low whistle off to the right indicated that Frankie and Kam were back.

  “You guys see anything?” I asked.

  Frankie shook his head. “Not a great deal. We walked all the way around the fence about halfway, keeping out of sight of course, but apart from the watch towers, nothing. Not much sign of activity or guards for that matter.”

  I looked at Kam, who had come out full Rambo with two automatic weapons, one over each shoulder, and a belt with grenades and flashbangs. He looked like he was itching to start a war all on his own.

  “The roof has machine gun nests on each corner.” I pointed up vaguely.

  “How do we know that?” Kam asked, looking up at the building.

  “I did a fly-over,” Jevyn said.

  Kam smiled, a wide grin showing off his teeth. “Hey, good thinking, Jevyn. Hope you ladies got a good eyeful.”

  Frankie laughed until I caught his eye with a glare. Then he stopped and looked away.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s get out of here and see if we can come up with a plan.”

  We all backed away, down into the ditch so we could move without being seen.

  ***

  WE SAT IN the minibus, trying to agree on an approach.

  “I think we just go straight in, through the front gate, find everyone who is in there and get the dragons out.” That was Kam’s suggestion. Head on, never mind the casualties. It sounded like a terrible idea to me.

  “What about the guys on the roof? As soon as we’re in, they’ll open up on us for sure. We wouldn’t stand a chance,” I said.

  “True.” Jevyn nodded. “How about this for an idea? If we can recruit a couple of Nindock’s guys to come with us, Kam and I and the other two could fly in, wait for whoever is going in at the gate to kick up a stink, and take out the four guys on the roof when they head up there. Then, we can work our way down through the building while the rest of you guys work up from the bottom. How does that sound?”

  “Maybe, but it sounds like the people at the gate are going to have a battle,” I said.

  Jevyn rubbed his hand over his chin. I could hear the scratch of fingers on stubble. While I waited for an answer, I wiped away condensation from the windshield with my jacket sleeve so I could see, a bit at least, outside.

  “Okay. You guys at the main gate should distract the guards there. The four of us on the roof will stop the guys up there, and then two of us can start searching while the other two then fly down to help you guys from the inside. Between us, we should be able to take ‘em all out,” Jevyn said.

  I thought about it for a moment or two. The stash of weapons Nindock had delivered was huge, so we had no issues from that point of view. We could afford a shootout at the main gate from a weapons standpoint. It sounded logical to me, and I asked everyone else what they thought. The plan got the thumbs up.

  “Let’s do it,” I said, turning on the engine. “Tomorrow, we go to war.”

  Kam didn’t stop giggling all the way back to Nindock’s town. I just hoped he didn’t lose all control and abandon our plan.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Jevyn

  Next to the minibus outside Chemosys

  Near Boise, Idaho

  “PLEASE BE CAREFUL up there,” Katie said to me as we packed up and doublechecked all our gear just outside the minibus and a mile from the front gates of the Chemosys complex.

  “I will. I promise. You be careful on the ground too. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.” I turned around at a noise to see Kam sticking two fingers down his throat. I ignored him.

  Katie leaned up, gently brushing her lips against mine.

  I could feel her shivering slightly, but I didn’t want to make her any more nervous than she already was by mentioning it, instead I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight for a minute.

  “Come on you two,” Nindock said. When we ran through the plan last night, I’d been taken aback when he volunteered to come with us and take out the men on the roof. I’d known him all my life, and he’d never struck me as the heroic type, but when I managed to corner him, he surprised me again.

  “I feel responsible, Jevyn. Those people were under my protection, and it’s down to me that they’re in that building. I want to be there when we get them out.”

  This was something entirely new for me, Nindock taking on real responsibility. Maybe the town he had set up had more chance of surviving once all the rifts were closed than I’d thought just a few short days ago.

  I nodded my acquiescence. It wouldn’t behoove me to say no if the man was willing to show he had grown up a little. I did worry that maybe we were going with
too many generals and not enough soldiers, but as I looked over to him, I could see he was ready to go, already in his dragon form as was Rinfell, the other dragon who had volunteered to come once Kam had a word with him.

  Rinfell looked terrified, even in his dragon form, while Kam had yet to change but was bouncing on his toes, stretching, and generally looking like he was off to the gym for a workout or to pound the streets for a run.

  “You’d better change,” Katie said to me as she pulled away, peering up into my eyes, looking at the same time scared and the most determined I’d ever seen her.

  I went behind the bus and tried to get as out of sight of everyone as I could before I stripped off and changed, but I still heard a wolf whistle from Penny inside the van. I knew it was all in jest, but I hoped Katie wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

  Kam had stripped off and changed without bothering to step away, so the four of us were ready to fly. I picked up the gun and my bag of clothes I was taking with me in my mouth and turned to look at Katie.

  “Be safe,” she said quietly.

  “You too,” I tried to say, although I wasn’t entirely sure how it sounded with my mouth full.

  “Let’s go,” Kam said and took off into the night sky, followed by Nindock and Rinfell, and then I turned and, without looking back, took off to follow them. The next time I would see Katie would be when we got them in through the main gate, or when it was all over. In the meantime, I had to try to put her out of my mind. That was no easy task.

  The four of us reached the top of the building and, in a few strong flaps, took one circle around and then gently landed on the roof to avoid attracting any attention. Even so, the strength of our wings disturbed loose gravel and leaves, sending them skittering across the roof and over the edge of the building.

  Once we had reached the roof and changed back into our regular clothes, we ran to take up position by the door that lead below. The plan was to grab each of the men when they got up here. What their fate would be, I didn’t really know, but the scent of bloodlust filled the air around me, most of it coming from Kam. No surprise there.

  I had resigned myself to the fact that I was unlikely to get through this without killing at least once human.

  I hadn’t purposely been avoiding the act, but it was going to be a first for me, and I still wasn’t sure how I would react to that.

  ***

  Katie

  I WATCHED JEVYN and the others fly off with immense trepidation, not just for them, but for the rest of us left behind to assault the front gate. We as a group had done plenty of fighting in the last year, only stopping from attacking SCAR patrols and Gregori Industries’ assets when we ran out of weapons and ammunition and couldn’t find any more. I just hoped the tactics we had used with relative success; none of us had died after all, served us as well that night.

  “Let’s get moving,” I yelled. The only person who wasn’t there was Derek. Despite his skill in shoot-em-up computer games—he’d assured us he was one of the best—it was decided that it didn’t make up for a complete lack of experience in any kind of live-fire fight. That was scary in the extreme, and it always amazed me that between us we had the courage to put ourselves in danger without turning into complete nervous wrecks. Maybe that would come later in life.

  By the time we had loaded up and gotten on our way, I guessed the four dragons would be in place, so I was determined to head straight into the fray. A frisson of fear tingled my spine as we waited on Nova to drive us into position. The plan was to drive into the cover of the last of the trucks that had been set out to protect the gates and then open up on the guards.

  As we pulled into the access road, I could just see the tops of the gates ahead. Nova killed the headlights as he slowed to wind his way past the protective dumped trucks. It was a good defensive tactic, and I hoped the mental note I made to suggest doing the same at Nindock’s place survived the night with me.

  As we swung into the last turn before getting behind the last truck, the guards at the gate opened up, lighting up the night with short bursts of automatic fire. Nova hit the gas and swung the minibus behind the truck with just a couple of side windows shot out. I did a quick headcount as we all piled off the bus. Five of us, plus Nova when he climbed out the driver’s door. Everybody was okay, although Marty had a cut just below his eye, which I guessed must have come from some broken glass. He wiped the blood away with his sleeve and took up his position at one end of the truck.

  Nova ran away to the other end, Sparks and Penny slipped underneath, using the heavy wheels as cover, and I gave Frankie a boost to climb up on top. Then, I joined Sparks and Penny underneath.

  Nova let out a sharp whistle, and the six of us opened up. Short, three-shot bursts to try and preserve our ammo. At this stage, we were more of a distraction than a serious attempt to get the men on the gate out of the way, but I saw one of them take a hit, blood spraying out behind him and his dead body toppling to the ground.

  I took a second to try and count the gun flashes but frantically pulled my head back when a bullet sparked off the metal of the truck body just a few inches from my face. I’d counted at least five. From where I was crouching, I leaned around and let off another quick burst, hearing somebody scream out as I dodged back under cover.

  I had no idea who had hit him, but what worried me was the group of about ten men who had emerged from the main building locked and loaded. That was unexpected, and if we weren’t careful, we were going to get pinned down where we were.

  We needed the guys from up top, but there was no sign. I leaned around and emptied my magazine into the men on the way toward us. That sent them diving for cover, and again I had no clue if I hit anyone.

  I leaned back around behind the wheel, took off the magazine, and pushed a fresh one into place, all the while wondering what was keeping Jevyn and Kam up top.

  ***

  Jevyn

  WHAT THE HELL was keeping them? The sound of gunfire had been coming from the direction of the front gate for what felt like hours, but nobody had showed up on the roof.

  Kam leaned over and whispered that he would go down and take a look around, but just as he stepped out into the doorway, the door flew open.

  Four very surprised men and a very wide-open dragon stood staring at each other.

  Time seemed to go so slowly then, but eventually, one of the men reached for a side arm. Kam hadn’t even unslung his weapon. It all happened so quickly—and yet so slowly.

  Before the man could straighten his arm, Kam took a huge breath and then blew out a massive spout of flame that completely engulfed the four men facing him. I had never seen any dragon do that in human form before. It was like a circus fire-eater on steroids.

  The screams of the men as they tumbled back through the door were the really shocking part, but the sound of more gunfire from below shook me out of the shock.

  I raced across the roof to the corner nearest the front gates, while Nindock headed for the corner by the back gate. I grabbed a magazine and slammed it into the heavy machine gun. Then I braced my feet against the low wall and fired.

  The bullets fell like molten hail on the large group of people who had run out of the building, and with a lurching feeling in my gut, I saw them being hit. Not just hit, but bowled over and, on one or two, parts of their bodies flying off in different directions from the rest of them.

  I heard Kam’s voice close by my ear over the sound of my gun, and then Nindock’s opening up.

  “We have a problem,” he yelled.

  “What?” I shouted back and stopped firing.

  He pointed over his shoulder at the fire raging in the doorway that was our way down into the building.

  “There seems to be a fire,” he said by way of the understatement of the year.

  Not only was there a fire there, but it seemed to be spreading down into the rest of the building. We had no way down the stairs, and no way of knowing how high we were going to have to climb up the build
ing to find the dragons stuck inside and get them out again.

  On the ground, there were probably five times the number of guards we had expected, and even with heavy weapons up top showering them with lead, there were still going to be a whole load of more people to get past than we had been expecting.

  It was time to release our secret weapon on Chemosys, and I didn’t mean firing the pistol I had tucked in my waistband.

  I turned and rammed in another magazine and took sight. People were moving around, running from place to place, trying to get into cover.

  “You and Rinfell get down there, Kam. Give me a minute to unload this on them and then go. Got it?”

  I turned around to get his agreement to see him changed into dragon form and leaping into the air off the edge of the building.

  I shook my head, turned back, sighted, and unleashed hell on the people down below.

  ***

  Katie

  “WE MIGHT HAVE a problem, Katie,” Sparks said from her spot curled up behind a wheel.

  “What is it?”

  “The building’s on fire. See, right at the top? Looks like the roof.”

  “The roof?”

  Jevyn. I prayed to the gods I didn’t believe in that Jevyn was okay. Having someone up there on the roof shooting on the crowd of guards beyond the gate filled me with hope, but it was plain to see that getting down from the roof was going to be a priority soon enough. I just hoped that the dragons held captive inside weren’t on the top floor, or it might be too late by the time we got up there.

  I leaned around my wheel and tried to aim my burst a little better. The window of the guardhouse was blown out, so I aimed at the thin wall below where the windows had once been. The bullets shredded the thin wood, shooting scraps and splinters into the air. All the firing from this side of the gatehouse stopped.

  Suddenly, Nova ran in a crouch for the gates. Then, a shape stood up in the gatehouse and raised his gun, but a sound of shots from my other side rang out just before Marty lumbered across the ground toward Nova.