“Yep,” I said, “but tell me whenever you see the lights of Governors Island, okay?”
I turned my attention back toward my rifle and the police boat behind us. They had recovered a little bit of the ground that they lost when I killed their pilot, but now both cops started to raise their handguns toward me, and that included the cop who had taken the wheel.
Since there were only two of them to keep an eye on now, I felt confident that I could use my vamp speed to duck and avoid their bullets as soon as they pulled the triggers. So while they adjusted their guns to get a good shot, I aimed the barrel of my rifle at the bloodsucker at the wheel.
At the last second, the pilot grinned and then swiveled his gun to point at Brianna.
“Down!” I shouted.
The blonde didn’t even hesitate. Instead, she just dropped to the floor right before the vamps both opened fire on the Summer Breeze again. Even as she covered her head with her arms, Brianna managed to crawl forward to put pressure on the throttle, so we didn’t lose any of our speed.
This time, I didn’t wait for the cops to reload. I was so pissed that they had almost shot Brianna that instead, I just fired the last two rounds in my rifle at the pilot. Both bullets missed him, but it did at least distract both fuckers long enough that they ducked down to try to regroup.
“Found it,” Neko called out. “Here, Sam, catch!”
As I spun around to face the pink-haired girl, she slid the flare gun toward me across the floor of the boat. Once I grabbed the flare gun, I slung my rifle over one shoulder just to make sure that it didn’t fall out of the boat, and then I aimed the flare gun at the pilot of the police boat.
Since I was still at the back of the boat, I took one quick glance over my shoulder and saw Governors Island up ahead. I wasn’t surprised that Brianna couldn’t see it yet, but I was glad to know that we were so close. Otherwise, my plan to take out the police boat wasn’t going to work.
“Okay, Brianna,” I said as I steadied my aim on the pilot. “On my count, take the wheel again and make her go as fast as she can. Three… two… now!”
At the exact moment the blonde jumped to her feet, I shot my flare gun directly at the pilot. A burst of bright red fire exploded through the darkness and then buried itself dead center in the pilot’s throat, so the flesh started to drip around it like a melted crayon.
It was bright enough and close enough that the other vamp had to shield his eyes for a second, and that was all the time it took for us to zip away from him and graze along the shore of Governors Island.
“Take her around the back of the island and then just stop as soon as we’re out of their sight,” I told Brianna.
“You got it, Captain,” the blonde replied.
As we passed Governors Island on the left, I reloaded my rifle and chambered a round. I was pretty sure that the flare gun had taken out the new vamp pilot, but it was possible that he had already healed, so I wanted to be ready to shoot both remaining cops if I needed to.
But the flare had thrown them off enough that we were able to zip around to the back of the island, and then Brianna slowed us down until we were completely quiet in the dark water. The waves rocked us back and forth, but a little bit of drift was nothing compared to the motion of the moving boat, so I already felt more confident about my ability to aim my rifle.
While Neko made her way over to stand beside Brianna at the wheel, I knelt down at the back of the boat and propped the rifle up against my shoulder again. I would only have a couple seconds to shoot both vamps before they spotted us, but they wouldn’t have expected me to stop, so I felt like my chances were pretty good.
Almost half a minute passed before the police boat came into sight.
When it finally did, I saw that both vamps were still upright, but the pilot looked like someone had taken a blowtorch to his throat, and it hadn’t completely healed over yet. But that meant that he was still more vulnerable than the other cop, so I let my rifle sights drift over to him, and then I fired.
The bullet exploded through the vamp’s neck, and as his head started to topple on top of his torso, I went ahead and fired a follow-up round at the same spot. When it ripped into his flesh, his head just rocked back and then fell right the fuck off his body.
“That’ll work,” I muttered, and then I shifted my sights over to the last remaining vamp.
He had already spotted me, but as the headless vamp’s body collapsed, he had to step over him and take the wheel. Of course, that put him perfectly in my rifle sights, so even as he raised his handgun with one arm, I squeezed the trigger to take him out first.
The fanged fucker managed to get one shot off at the same time I did, so as soon as I pulled my trigger, I jumped up to shield both girls from his shot. I felt the bullet graze along the side of my ribs, but even though it burned like hell, I saw the vamp stagger backward with his hands on his throat.
I forced the rifle up to my shoulder again, and as my body throbbed where the bullet had torn off the top layer of my skin and muscle, I fired again.
This shot went straight through the asshole’s brain.
His head burst apart in a spray of moldy brains. As his limp body slumped against the wheel, it jerked the wheel to the left, so the police boat started to veer toward us.
“Get us out of here, Bree!” I growled through clenched teeth.
The blonde swimsuit model immediately pushed down on the throttle and steered us away from the island. Just as the police boat really started to bear down on us, she slipped around it and just continued south down the river.
The vamp boat crashed behind us a few seconds later, and the metal scraped against the railing all along the edge of the island. But we were already far away, and we were steadily moving even farther. As Brianna continued to drive us south, I raised my fingers to the graze wound on my ribs, but it had already started to heal over.
After we had continued down the river for a minute, I finally felt like we might be safe, so I turned toward both girls at the wheel.
“You can slow down,” I told Brianna. “We’re about to turn around.”
The blonde lifted her foot off the throttle, so we started to decelerate and drift along the waves.
“Everybody okay?” I asked.
“You took a bullet for us,” Neko said and bit her lip. “We should be asking you if you’re okay.”
“Well, it helps that I have super-fast healing abilities,” I said, “and that’s because of your blood, so thank you.”
“I can’t believe you just totally took out a whole boat full of cops!” Brianna gasped. “It was, like… I don’t know, like a TV show or something!”
“Thanks,” I laughed. “Why don’t you go ahead and start to turn us around? I’ll take over in just a minute.”
I reloaded both my Daniel Defense and my Mark 23 just in case we ran into any more trouble, and once I had slung the rifle across my back and slid the .45 back into its holster, I joined the girls at the steering wheel and took over for Brianna.
I guided us back around Governors Island, and as I started to bring us back toward Pier 5, I saw a glimmer of daylight along the eastern horizon. It looked like we were going to make it back to the parking garage just as the sun rose, and it was a good thing, too, since I would just as soon not be caught out on the open water in the daylight.
The pier lights were on as we approached it, so I slowed down and drew a little closer. When we were close enough that both girls could see the details of the docks clearly, I stepped back from the wheel.
“You want to take us the rest of the way?” I asked the blonde. “It’ll be a hell of a lot faster than if I try to dock us.”
“Sure!” Brianna smiled and took the wheel.
She guided us into the empty dock like an expert, so only a few minutes later, we had tied the Summer Breeze back into its place along the pier, so it looked like nothing had ever happened.
After we were docked, I took the key out of the ignition a
nd started to slip it into my pocket, but then I shrugged. I wasn’t going to use the boat myself, but that didn’t mean that somebody else couldn’t use it. Maybe the boat owner was still human, and they would eventually make it back to the pier and then try to use the river to escape.
Somehow, I doubted it, but I still rested the key on the dashboard of the boat before I grabbed my baseball bat and then climbed out onto the dock.
After I helped both girls out of the boat, I felt my legs wobble a little bit now that we were back on land, and Neko started to sag against me. I knew both girls must’ve been exhausted and starving, so I slipped one arm around the pink-haired girl’s waist and supported her as we started to walk back down the pier.
Brianna seemed unbothered by the transition from water to land, so she moved around to her friend’s other side and took Neko’s arm as a little extra support.
“I’m not broken, you know,” the petite Japanese girl sighed. “I’m just fucking hungry, that’s all.”
“We’ll get you some food, I promise,” I said. “Let’s just get inside the parking garage first, okay?”
At least the pier still seemed deserted. Of course, it hadn’t really been that long since I left the parking garage, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise that it hadn’t been overrun by vamps in the last few hours. But even though I hadn’t been gone that long, I felt like it had been days, not just hours, and I wondered if the girls in the truck felt the same way.
As soon as I thought about the girls in the truck, I realized that I should text them that I was back, so they wouldn’t be surprised when I opened the back of the truck in just a few minutes. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, typed a quick text out on Nat’s phone to my own phone, and then hit send.
Since I didn’t need to give her any specific information, I didn’t use the texting code that we had come up with. Instead, I just texted almost back, and once I hit send, I waited for Natalie to reply.
But no reply came through.
I sent the message again, but there was still no reply, and immediately, I felt my heart start to hammer inside my chest. Of course, the phone might just be on silent in the back of the truck, and Nat just hadn’t seen my message yet, but I couldn’t stop the feeling of panic that shivered up the length of my spine.
I decided to try to call her instead, but the call didn’t go through. It just rang once and then said the number was unavailable. I tried one more time, but when I got the same answer, I just slid the phone back into my pocket and focused on keeping my hands steady.
“What’s wrong?” Brianna asked.
“Hopefully, nothing,” I muttered. “But we better move a little faster.”
We walked as quickly as we could along the pier, but when Neko began to move a little slower, I started to get nervous that we would be out in the open too long. So I just handed my Louisville slugger to Brianna, picked the petite Japanese girl up in my arms, and carried her forward toward the pier office.
“You okay?” I smiled at the pink-haired girl.
“Yeah,” Neko sighed. “I just really want a cheeseburger.”
“Well, I don’t know that I can give you that,” I said, “but I’m pretty sure we can find some other food for you. And for you, too, Brianna.”
“Oh, thank god,” the blonde sighed loudly. “I’m so hungry.”
“Hey, cool it on the heavy sighs,” Neko groaned and then leaned her head against my chest. “We’re not free from the vamps yet.”
“But we will be one day,” I said. “But, yeah, maybe let’s just cool it on the noise until we get back to my truck.”
Brianna acted like she zipped her lips together and then threw the key away, and I just rolled my eyes but laughed. After we passed the marina office, we continued along the sidewalk, and every few dozen steps, I paused to listen for any signs of life around us.
After we turned the corner, we started down the sidewalk that led to the parking garage. I stopped just long enough to take a deep inhale, but when I didn’t smell any signs of vamps or humans, we continued forward.
I shifted my gaze between the street around us and the two girls, but they both seemed like they were hanging in there. Brianna opened her mouth every few seconds, but every time, she seemed to remember that she was supposed to be quiet, so she just shut her mouth again. Neko’s head rested a little more comfortably against my chest every few paces, but she stayed awake and alert, so she would be fine once she was able to eat something.
When we made it to the entrance of the parking garage, I quickly stepped around the entry bar and glanced around. I moved forward and saw that the cones that blocked off the second level were still in place, but just as I was about to go toward them, I realized that something had changed since the last time I was here.
One of the cars on the first level was missing.
And that meant someone else had been in the parking garage while I was gone.
Chapter 17
Immediately, I pulled out my Mark 23, stepped in front of Brianna, and backed her up against one of the concrete garage pillars. I planned to get out of there as soon as possible, so if I had to use my gun, then I would.
Brianna started to ask a question, but I just put my finger to my lips and shook my head. I looked around the parking garage again, but I couldn’t smell or see anything out of place. There was only the missing car, but that was enough to make all the alarm bells go off in my head.
As soon as I was sure that no one was on this first level with us, I turned to Brianna.
“Stay right behind me,” I hissed.
The blonde nodded and bit her lip.
“Neko, can you hold onto my back?” I demanded. “Just for a second, so I have both hands free.”
“You got it,” the pink-haired girl murmured.
I shifted Neko to my back, so her arms clung around my neck and her legs wrapped around my waist to keep her in place. Once she was securely on my back, I nodded to her blonde friend and then dashed toward the second level of the parking garage.
I didn’t run quite as fast as I could have, since that would have left Brianna far behind me in the dust, but in only a few seconds, I sprinted up and around the corner, saw the armored truck, and realized that it still looked untouched.
“Okay, you two stay right here,” I whispered to the girls, “just in case.”
I helped Neko slide off my back, and she leaned against her friend beside one of the concrete pillars. There were only half a dozen paces between me and the truck, but if any vamps were inside, that should give me just enough time to shoot them before they could jump out and attack Brianna or Neko.
But if there were vamps inside, that would mean…
I tightened my grip around my pistol and shook my head. I couldn’t believe that anything had happened to the girls while I left them alone. We had taken every precaution, and the air still smelled like diesel, so if I couldn’t catch their scent, surely no other vamps had been able to, either.
Still, with every step I took toward my armored truck, I felt my heart pound a little harder inside my rib cage until my whole skeleton seemed to rattle. It was one thing to leave the girls alone in their barricaded apartment, but it was different to leave them alone in the truck-- even if it was armored, and even if they were armed.
I still hadn’t gotten a reply message from Natalie, and I was sure that she had been checking the phone every two seconds for any word from me. I could only think of one real reason that she might not have texted or called back, and it wasn’t good.
Three steps left, and then I would know if Natalie and the other girls were still alive.
A sick feeling tightened my stomach into knots, but I pushed forward and just took another inhale. I still didn’t smell anything off, but I suddenly doubted all of my own senses.
I just kept seeing flashes of Natalie’s throat ripped open, or of Catherine’s long legs torn off her body. And even though I tried to just focus on the silence of the parking garage around
me, I couldn’t help but imagine that I heard Erika and Lily screaming for help, while I had still been too far away to hear them.
One step left.
I moved forward and reached my free hand out toward the handle of the truck’s back door, but I had to clench and relax my fist twice to stop it from shaking. After I exhaled again, I knocked quickly four times, followed by two longer knocks.
Then with my heart in my throat, I opened the door.
All four girls inside looked up at me first in relief, and then with complete joy.
“Sam!” Natalie set her rifle down and scrambled toward me over the luggage.
I slipped my pistol back into its holster just before my girlfriend launched herself out of the truck, wrapped her arms around me, and buried her face in my chest.
I breathed in the sweet scent of her hair and just pulled her close enough to me that I could feel her heart beat against my own. As a wave of relief swept over me, my pulse started to slow down, and I realized that it felt like I had been holding my breath for the last twelve hours.
The girls were safe. That was all that mattered.
I could feel the rest of the girls as they climbed out of the truck to join us, but at first, I just stayed exactly where I was with Natalie. I knew that I would have to tell her what happened to her brother in just a few moments, and I didn’t know how exactly she would react to that, but since I knew there was a chance that she might see me differently after this, I just wanted to hold her for as long as I could.
Finally, Natalie was the first to pull away from me, and she immediately placed her hands on my cheeks and went up on her tiptoes to kiss me. There were tears in her bright blue eyes, but they hadn’t made it past her thick eyelashes yet, so she just smiled up at me through her tears.
“I knew you would make it back,” my girlfriend said. “I’ve never been so happy to see you, Sam.”
“Why didn’t you reply to my texts, Nat?” I asked. “I was so worried when I didn’t hear back from you.”
“Your-- what text?” Natalie reached into her pocket for my phone.
Conquering A Bloodthirsty Earth (Book 3): Vampire Lord 3 Page 24