by Jamie Davis
“Whisper when you answer me. Where is the hunter woman?”
The vampire tried to twist his head in Dean’s grasp but his struggles were weak, and Dean maintained his grip. Despite the resistance, an answer was forced from the vampire’s lips.
“Sh-she’s in the basement.”
“Is anyone down there with her right now?”
Again, Dean could sense resistance. This vampire was older than the other vampire was, more established in his control. He realized this would never work against James or Artur. They were far to powerful for him to use this power against.
“Th-the master was down there, but he retired an hour ago to his chambers to share a meal with Mistress Felicity.”
Dean wondered if that was the same Felicity as the health department nurse who had gone missing weeks before. He thought for a moment before continuing. He needed an easy way in and out of the house that avoided any other vampires or servants inside.
“Is there an outside entrance to the basement?”
“Y-y-yes.”
Dean was taking a chance that his commands would hold long enough for him to get to Jaz and bring her back out the way he came in. He could already feel his resources weakening, his control over the vampire slipping. He drew up all his will and directed it at the vampire for one last push.
“Good, you’re going to lead me there. If anyone approaches us, you’ll tell them you’re on an errand for the Master. Once we are at that entrance, you will stop anyone from following me. Do you understand.”
The vampire resisted longer this time, but after a moment of struggling, Dean heard a murmured “Yes.”
This was the moment of truth. Once he let go, the direct control would be gone. Dean let go and stood up in one motion, reaching up for the katana’s hilt, ready to defend himself if he needed to. The vampire stood up and, without hesitation, began walking towards the back of the house.
Dean had to jog a little to catch up to the vampire who had taken off at a purposeful marching step. Dean could see a shadowed alcove in the wall at the back of the home. That must be the basement entrance. The vampire was making a beeline for it.
He was only twenty yards away from the entrance when the two figures across the back yard called a greeting to his guide.
“Gary, where are you going and who is that guy behind you?”
Gary didn’t answer or even turn to acknowledge their query. Damn, Dean thought, the vampire was following his commands to the letter, but the problem was he couldn’t deviate from them, and Dean couldn’t tell him to answer them either without reconnecting with him. He doubted he had the power reserves left to make that work anyway.
“Gary, you alright? You’re acting strange,” the second voice called out.
Dean tried to use his will remotely to get the vampire to move faster. It didn’t work. He maintained his purposeful stride towards the alcove. Ten yards now and Dean could make out the door set in the masonry of the foundation. He decided it was now or never. He hoped that door was unlocked.
As the pair of voices shouted for Dean and his guide to stop, he darted past the vampire ahead of him and ran for the basement door. He reached it as he saw the pair at the back of the yard start running in his direction. Grabbing the doorknob, Dean felt the latch open as he turned it and he pushed the door open, rushing inside. He slammed the door shut behind him and searched for a way to secure if from the inside. He was rewarded when he saw the outline of a sliding deadbolt lock set into the door. He reached up and slid the bolt home into a slot cut in the foundation from the inside. The door was a steel exterior door. It should hold them for a short time if his guide failed to stop them from following him as ordered. Dean turned and pulled out his flashlight in the darkened basement. It was time to look for Jaz.
Chapter 24
Brynne silently urged Rudy to drive the SUV faster as they sped through the night. She knew Dean well enough to know he’d try and bull his way into rescue Jaz without a real plan. He was running on little sleep and wasn’t making good decisions. It was a recipe for disaster.
Rudy was in contact with the pack member following Dean via a radio and wireless earpiece in his ear. With her enhanced senses, she could sense the buzz of occasional updates coming into the pack leader while he drove. She couldn’t make out what was said, but that didn’t matter. Rudy was passing the updates along to the rest of the passengers in the SUV as he got them.
“He’s stopped at the Old Heritage mansion on the edge of town, and he’s poking around to try and find a way inside. My guy is watching him from a distance and says he’s pacing along the front of the main fence.”
“How far out are we?” Brynne asked. She looked around to get her bearings but had trouble figuring how long it would take them to get there.
Rudy turned off the next exit from the interstate as he answered her.
“I’d say ten minutes, maybe a little less.”
“Brynne, don’t worry,” James consoled her. “He’ll realize he needs help and call us or call the authorities.”
“No, James, he won’t. I know him. He’s going to try and be the hero and go in to rescue her on his own because, like you said, Artur probably told him to come alone.” She thought for a moment before continuing.
“What about that trick he tried on the prisoner? Could that be used again against Artur or his minions?” Brynne hoped the answer was yes. She had not realized her former probie had any special powers at all. They were going to have a long discussion when all of this was done.
James shook his head in answer to her questions. “I don’t know, Brynne. It’s not something I’ve ever seen a human, even a Wiccan or other magic user use before. I don’t know where he discovered how to do that.”
“Most powers like that are finite. He’s used it once already in the last twenty-four hours,” Celeste chimed in. “He needs to rest. He can’t be at full strength after being up all night and working all day today.”
“My thoughts exactly, Celeste,” Brynne agreed. “He needs us to get there before he brings things to a head with Artur.”
Rudy held up a hand and pressed his hand to his ear for a moment.
“Damn, he’s found a way inside, and he’s approaching the main house,” the werewolf reported. “He has no idea who or what is waiting inside. What is he thinking?”
“He’s not thinking. As Celeste said, he’s tired and running on instinct alone,” Brynne replied.
Rudy relayed another message to them.
“My guy has lost sight of Dean. He’s gone around the back of the house. I told him to wait until we got there. It’s not too much further.”
Brynne looked ahead as Rudy sped through the dark, residential streets. She hoped they were in time.
Dean heard a commotion start up behind him outside the entrance as he started searching his way through the basement’s many rooms. He was in some sort of storage area filled with broken furniture and various tools for use around the grounds. Using his flashlight, he found the door out and entered a long, carpeted hallway with many doors branching off of it. The far end of the hall opened up into a larger area, but he couldn’t see too far there using just the beam of his flashlight. He started trying the doors to either side as he worked his way down the hall. The rooms were small bedrooms or offices, and most were filled with assorted junk discarded and stored down here from the rest of the house.
He was halfway down the hall when he heard banging on the door to the main storeroom behind him from the outside. Attackers must have overcome his vampire guarding the door, or the effects of Dean’s control had worn off. Either way, he wasn’t going back out that way. He needed to pick up the pace of his search, or he’d never make it out of this basement alive.
He decided to take a chance and called out once to see if Jaz answered him.
“Jaz, where are you?”
Dean heard her voice faintly from the open area at the far end of the hall. He rushed down the hallway into a large open
room. He shined his light around the room looking for Jaz. He found her; hands tied wide to the front of a built-in wet bar in the corner. She shied away from the blinding light of his flashlight. He shifted the beam to one side as he ran over to her.
“Dean, you are a sight for sore eyes. I thought I was going to have to rescue myself.”
“Not hardly,” Dean said. “I came for you as soon as I found out you were here.”
Jaz looked past him, searching the hallway behind him for a moment.
“Where’s the rest of the team?”
“Uh, well…”
“Oh, my God. You idiot. Dean, you didn’t come here by yourself did you?” Jaz asked in shock while Dean struggled to loosen the knots.
“I couldn’t wait for help. Artur contacted me and warned me to come alone without any police or other assistance. He threatened to kill you otherwise.”
“Of course he told you to come alone. Now he’s going to try and kill both of us.” Jaz tried to pull at her bonds, hoping the cuts she’d been able to make in the ropes had weakened them enough to break.
“Stop struggling. You’re making the knots tighter, Jaz.”
“Dean, you’ve got my sword. Use the blade to cut the knots. We have to get out of here. Artur has to know you’re coming. He’ll be down here to check on me soon.”
“Oh, yeah,” Dean said. He couldn’t believe he didn’t think of that, but he’d forgotten about the blade across his back. He was so tired he wasn’t thinking clearly. He reached up to draw the blade just as the lights in the basement room switched on. Dean spun around and saw Artur standing on the stairs.
“Well, well, well,” the vampire lord said as he lifted a scabbarded sword he carried as if to invite Dean to keep drawing the katana blade. “I see you got my invitation to come and pay me a visit. How very rude of you to sneak in the back way, though.”
Brynne jumped out of the back of the SUV as soon as Rudy screeched to a stop outside the main gate. A dark-haired man stood by another black SUV nearby. He must be Rudy’s pack mate who’d been following Dean. She joined James, Celeste, and Rudy in front of the SUV to get the latest report. The security agent pointed to the big house on the other side of the fence.
“I heard shouting coming from the back of the house but that has stopped now, and it’s been pretty silent for the last few minutes.”
“Good work, Ricky,” Rudy said. “Stay here and direct the teams that are coming soon to surround the house and be ready to come in if we call them. Stop anyone trying to leave and detain them.”
“Got it, boss.”
Rudy turned to James. I think we should head inside. We can leave Brynne and Celeste here with Ricky.”
“No way,” Brynne answered. “You need our help, too. You can’t go in there alone, just the two of you. Celeste and I are coming with you.”
James started to protest, but he must have seen the dangerous glint in Brynne’s eyes. He sighed and nodded.
“You can come with us, but you’re going to stay close to Celeste and listen to what she says, alright?”
“Agreed,” Brynne said. She understood the need for a chain of command here. She also knew they had to hurry and get inside. Arguing out here wasn’t going to solve anything and would only delay the help that Dean was going to need. She hoped they weren’t already too late.
James and Rudy led the way, easily leaping over the fence. Brynne followed Celeste, marveling at the powerful strength in her vampire muscles propelling her up and over the fence with a single bound. She landed on the balls of her feet and took off at a jog after the other three Unusuals. They covered the ground between the street and the main house in a few seconds and stood outside the front door. James looked to Rudy. Brynne was shocked to see a partially shifted wolf form standing where Rudy had been standing. His fingers had sprouted talons, and his face was slightly elongated as his upper and lower jaws now featured long sharp canines.
Rudy gave a grunting growl and hurled his shoulder against the double doors in the front of the mansion. The wooden doors burst inward in a shower of splinters. She heard a howl of rage and sounds of fighting on the other side. Brynne followed James and Celeste inside after the werewolf to find a semi-circular array of people squared off facing them. Two were already pinned to the floor beneath Rudy’s massive taloned hands. There were about ten others scattered about the entry hallway and on the broad staircase leading upward. James stepped forward.
“I’m James Lee. I’m the Lord of this region. I promise each of you fair treatment and safe passage if you let us pass now.”
Brynne could feel the power of James’ ancient vampire power washing over all the other vamps in the room. The offer hung in the air between the two groups for a few tense moments frozen in time. Then a brunette woman standing on the stairs behind the others spoke. Brynne recognized her as Felicity Richards, the missing public health nurse. It was obvious she had been turned into a vampire.
“The master said he was not to be disturbed. We outnumber them, you fools. Kill them. Now.”
Rudy growled once and slashed at the two vampires he had pinned to the floor as Artur’s other minions rushed the small group of rescuers. Then all sense of time disappeared for Brynne as the entry hall devolved into a massive melee for life or death. She stepped up next to Celeste and began fighting for her life as the other vampires closed on her. She wondered where Dean and Jaz were and if they were too late to save them as she dodged the first of her attackers and kicked out at another with a wicked roundhouse that knocked the vampire back into a wall with backbreaking force. Then she had no time to think as the rest of their attackers closed in.
Chapter 25
Dean backed away from Jaz and extended the blade of her Japanese style sword out, pointing it at Artur. The vampire lord stepped down the last step into the room and slid his own blade from the scabbard. The sword was different, looking more like a sword he might see in a movie about the Three Musketeers than Jaz’s Japanese katana. He had no doubts about Artur’s ability to use it compared to his non-existent skill, though.
“I won’t let you kill her, Artur. Not now, not ever,” Dean said through gritted teeth. He knew it was mostly bluster, but he felt like he had to say something.
“Dean, don’t,” Jaz warned. “He’s a master swordsman. Finish cutting me free before it’s too late.”
“Oh, it’s already too late Miss Errington. I don’t think your friend here can finish cutting your bonds before I run him through. He’s been a thorn in my side for too long as it is and I want him stopped as much as I want you dead. It’s time I put you both in your place.”
Dean knew Jaz was right. He didn’t stand a chance against this guy. He wasn’t sure he had an alternative, though. He’d managed to free one of her hands and was working on the other one when Artur arrived. She was tugging at the knots with her free hand but wouldn’t get free anytime soon. Dean knew his only chance was to slow the vampire down enough that she could free herself. Then she might have a half a chance.
A wolf’s howl from somewhere in the house above them stopped all for a moment. There were sounds of a struggle coming from upstairs. Dean knew what he had to do.
“You may be a master swordsman, Artur, but I’m going to do my best to stand in your way. That howl means my friends are here. It’s only a matter of time before James comes down here and finishes you off himself. I only have to slow you down.”
“Boy, you are less than a flea to me. An inconsequential fool who won’t slow me for even an instant. Now, out of my way.” Artur advanced on him with a flurry of sword jabs and slashes.
Somehow Dean knocked them away from him as he backpedaled across the room to get some space between himself and the deadly blade. He stopped backing up at one point and slid to the side. He had to keep himself between the vampire lord and Jaz. That limited how far he could back up. As soon as Dean stopped backing up, Artur had him where he wanted. With two well-placed thrusts, the vampire slashed open deep
wounds in both Dean’s thighs causing him to fall to his knees.
Dean almost dropped the katana because of the pain. He could see the blood pumping from one of the wounds. Artur’s blade had at least nicked the femoral artery there. If he didn’t do something in the next few minutes, he was going to bleed out. He knew he only had a moment before he’d start to lose consciousness. In a last, desperate action, Dean leaned backward and pushed himself off with his injured legs to try and reach Jaz. He smiled as she reached out and grabbed the katana from his outstretched hand. Dean’s last conscious thought was how glad he was to have given her a fighting chance.
Brynne spared a glance at her companions as she threw the woman she was fighting over her shoulder and into the stairs. She heard a satisfying snap as her opponent landed. James and Rudy were a whirlwind of teeth and talons as they waded through the opponents who faced them on the main floor below. She and Celeste had taken on the group coming down the stairs. Celeste led the way. She had produced two wicked-looking knives from somewhere, and she had been putting them to good use as the two of them fought their way upward. Brynne followed and tried to watch her friend’s back with her more limited skills. She’d been practicing kickboxing in the gym for a long time, but it was entirely different in a practical application.
It helped that their opponents weren’t very competent fighters either. Most were just launching themselves in a sort of whole-body assault on the intruders. If they had charged en-masse, it might have worked, but they came in piecemeal in groups of two or three at a time. Soon she and Celeste had reached the top of the stairs and were fighting their way towards a rapidly retreating Felicity. She was backing away now, looking from side-to-side for some avenue of escape.
Celeste finished off the final vampire between her and Felicity and pointed a bloody knife blade in her direction.
“I’ll let you live if you tell us where Dean and Jaz are right now.”