I caught Gavin’s eye and locked gazes before very deliberately setting my gun on the ground. He seemed to understand the silent message and also put his gun on the ground in front of him. Next, I looked to Alice. She had already seen the exchange between Gavin and I, so she followed suit, already knowing what my plan was.
They were coming, and fast. I could hear the screams from the frightened survivors on the buses already. They knew who these people were; they were one of the only reasons they were afraid to go out while it was daylight.
The “police” had their guns drawn and were running toward us. “On the ground! Everyone on the ground,” one of them yelled.
Good. We needed them close to us.
Suddenly ... a fire hydrant blew. Water sprayed up about fifty feet into the air. The law enforcement officer who was next to it jumped in shock and popped off a shot when his finger involuntarily pulled the trigger.
While they were still recovering from the first hydrant and trying to avoid being soaked, another one made a loud popping noise and exploded like the first one.
During this time, Gavin and I ran forward while Alice slid back, taking the rest of the group with her to the buses. They lined up along the side of the large yellow vehicles and Alice worked her magic.
A sheen of sparkle slid around them, and then up and over the buses. Her magical shield would protect the others while Gavin and I did the fighting. There were six pledged policemen; if we could take on groups of vampires, then we could do this.
The only problem was that they weren’t vampires.
These were people. They had pledged to the Vampire Council to stay alive, and they would kill us if they had to. Then, the people who had gotten on the buses would either be killed or taken prisoner. So, that only left us one choice.
Gavin used his power to push the water down on the policemen. Reaching over, I grabbed my gun with one hand and holstered it, then reached for my bow. Lightning fast, I notched an arrow. Aim and fire. I could not let myself think about the fact that these were people. I just couldn’t. I hit the first one in the heart.
And then the second in the stomach.
That’s when the bullets started flying. I ran to one side and Gavin ran to the other. These guys were horrible shots. Gavin and I knew we had a much better chance of not getting hit if we kept moving. Still targets were a lot easier to hit.
I put my bow back over my shoulders and ran into the fray, letting the fire swirl within my body. The warmth spread quickly until the tiny flames appeared at my fingertips. The police seemed really shocked that I had ran right in front of them. I was so close they couldn’t even get a bead on me. All five of them were concentrating on me, so they forgot Gavin had run off the other way. I let the fire fly.
My arms spread out wide like I was going to fly away and I released a stream of fire, then spun like a wannabe ballerina. Even though they were soaked to the skin from the hydrants, there was no avoiding the pain of my fire. I knew it was doing the job when the screams began.
They ran in circles, flailing their arms as they tried to escape the burn of my flames. I just kept spinning, hoping Gavin would do what I thought he was going to do.
Bang!
Yes, he was on it.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
And just like that. They were all down.
Well ... they were all down, but they weren’t all dead. I reined in the fire and pulled out my gun. I could hear painful moaning of the injured policemen and knew that we couldn’t leave them there alive.
Suck it up, I told myself. You can do this. You have to do this.
The four policemen who had just been shot lay sprawled on the pavement. Water rained down upon them in giant, fat drops, pooling in large puddles around their bodies as it mixed with their blood.
I marched forward with determination. Gavin appeared beside me, both of us soaked from the hydrant water. My hair was heavy and my clothes stuck to my body in a very uncomfortable way.
“You don’t have to do this,” he whispered.
“Yes I do.”
“We could leave them ... or I could do it. It doesn’t have to be you.”
I shook my head and blew some of the water off of my lips. “I can do it.”
I could have easily passed this off to him, but the whole saving the survivors thing was my idea and I had to be the one.
There were two who were still alive. One of them was on his hands and knees trying to crawl away. The gunshot wound in his lower back was exposed, bleeding profusely as he inched through the water and away from the other bodies.
Just do it.
I lifted my gun and fired. It was a rare thing that I missed, and this time wasn’t any different. I had aimed for the head and that is where the bullet made its home. His arms and legs went out from underneath him and his body hit the pavement.
Tears escaped from the corners of my eyes. I was grateful that the water from the hydrants was still going because it masked my weakness.
The other officer lay on his back shivering with pain and fear. He turned his head and watched me come toward him, his hand covering his chest where Gavin had shot him. Blood seeped out of the wound and through his fingers. His eyes widened when I got a little closer and he could focus on me.
I averted my eyes to avoid looking into his. I concentrated on his tattoo instead. Everyone pledged to the Vampire Council had a small dragon tattooed on their right cheek. When they first started the tattoos, I had wondered why they chose that particular symbol for their people. After researching, I’d discovered that the dragon was a symbol of strength, courage, and immortality.
“Please,” he breathed out so quietly that I could barely hear him. “Please ... do it.”
I felt Gavin’s hand on my shoulder and my vision blurred with more tears as I aimed for the head again.
Bang!
It was over.
Not wanting to look at the bodies even one more second, I turned away and sloshed through the water, back to where the group was waiting by the buses. Drew hurried over to me, and after taking one look at my face he pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me.
“Are you all right?” he whispered against my ear.
I was afraid to speak. I didn’t want to break down in front of a whole bus full of survivors and my friends. So I just shook my head, hoping he would understand.
“Come on.” He pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. “We have to get out of here. More might be coming.”
I nodded and followed him to the bus. Everyone was already seated and ready to leave. They had gotten some more of the survivors to come out while we had the policemen busy and almost filled the bus.
It was later than we thought it would be, so we hauled butt back to Arcadia Falls. During the drive I tried to forget about what had happened. I had killed people ... not vampires. I just never thought that would happen to me.
Gavin kept looking over at me like he wanted to come over and comfort me or something. I avoided his inquiring gaze and leaned back in the seat with my eyes closed. Pretending it never happened was probably best. I had to act normal, be strong, and get on with our mission.
When we parked at the gate, I ignored the fact that Gavin was sitting right there and gave Drew a quick kiss on the lips. “See you soon,” I told him.
I turned to Gavin and saw hurt swimming around in his green eyes. “Hurry back,” I said flatly, and stepped down off the bus. Zander got off his bus, too; we had to trade places with Alice and Oscar since we couldn’t get past the barrier.
“How are you guys going to get back up to the gate?” I asked Oscar as I opened the passenger door to the Escalade.
“Luke will probably bring us in his car. We’re going to leave the buses here.”
“Good. I just wanted to make sure that you are going to be able to get back up to the gate without having to walk the whole way.”
He nodded. “We will be fine.”
“Hurry,” I told him. “We need to
get back before dark.”
I worried a lot about leaving the house unattended. During the day it should be fine, but it was late afternoon, so every hour brought us closer to darkness and death.
He patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll be quick.” With that, he took off to join the others. The gate rolled open and the buses passed through the invisible shield that protected the community, but kept me out. Once they were safely through, the gate closed and the buses disappeared from sight.
I hopped up into the passenger seat of the Escalade and leaned back on to the soft leather seat. Man, it felt wrong sitting on the leather with my wet clothes.
“What’s the matter?” Zander asked from his seat behind the wheel.
I stared at the gate which locked me out of the world of Hunters. “A bunch of stuff. You know one of them. It’s the same problem you have, only you don’t really care.”
He shrugged. “I don’t really have a reason to care.”
I understood that. “But I do. I didn’t live here very long, but it’s home to me. The house we live in now, it’s just a place to be, not a home.”
He turned the key and the Escalade came to life, idling with a steady purr. “I get that,” he told me. “Alice will fix it. After all this is over.”
At least I could take solace in the fact that that dumb barrier would save some lives.
Zander moved the Escalade off to the side of the road by the gatehouse so that we could wait for the rest of the group without sitting in the middle of the road. Once we were parked, he cut the engine again and spent the remainder of the wait in silence.
The time passed quickly ... too quickly. It was absolutely agonizing watching the sun get further and further down in the sky and hoping they would show up any moment. The most dangerous part of the mission was over, but I didn’t want to leave the house alone.
“Knock it off, Chloe.”
I looked over and Zander had an annoyed expression on his face. “The house will be fine. We are only going to be there one more night anyway. Aren’t we leaving for New Orleans in the morning?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know.” My reasoning didn’t make sense. The damn vampires would probably break into the place while we were in New Orleans, but my hopes about finding the head of the bloodlines remained. If we could kill them, there wouldn’t be any vampires left when we returned to the house.
“Here they come!” Zander pointed.
My head snapped up. Through the windshield I saw Luke’s car speeding up the road leading to the gate.
“Thank God,” I muttered as Zander started the engine.
~~~***~~~
The first thing we did back at the house was clear the place to make sure it was, indeed, free of the enemy. Then, I hurried upstairs to change out of my wet clothes. Oscar loaned Gavin some things to wear since he was also soaked from the hydrant water.
After that, it was our own sort of chaos that ensued. There was a rather heated argument about Anthony. Drew and I had to go tell him that we were leaving, but no one in the group wanted to travel with him. So, long story short, he was going to have to meet us there.
Zander seemed to think that we shouldn’t even tell him we were leaving. “The dude is ancient, he should be smart enough to figure out that if he hasn’t seen you for a few days, you probably left without him.”
“I agree with Zander.” Christina propped her feet up on the coffee table to adjust one of her boot buckles.
“Of course you agree with him,” I shot back at her.
Luke sat at the table with his gun taken apart and spread out in front of him for cleaning. He looked up with a glint of remorse in his eyes. “As much as I’d like to disagree, he does have a point. Why should we send you into a dangerous situation if we don’t have to?”
Drew shook his head. “No, we have to go tell him. We want to be able to trust him ... well trust him as much as we can. But for us to do that we have to prove that we are trustworthy. Why should he do anything for us if we are going to go behind his back as soon as he gives us information we could use.”
Luke didn’t look convinced.
“Look,” I sat down in a chair across from him and looked him in the eye, “I don’t really want to go out into the city tonight, either. I don’t want to tell Anthony that we are leaving, but we have to. This is a risk we are going to have to take. We know nothing about the other original vampires and he is the only one who can help us find them.”
He still didn’t seem very happy about it, but he conceded. “Fine. You guys can go tell him that we are going there,” he pointed his finger at us, “but do not tell him when we are leaving. We can meet him there in a few days. That gives us lead time.”
“Deal.” I jumped up from my seat and went around to give Luke a hug. Surprised, he returned the embrace.
“Why are you so excited about this guy?” Christina asked from across the room where she was reapplying a coat of pink nail polish. I guess she had her priorities when it came to getting ready to head out for a battle.
“I’m not. I just have a feeling about this. I don’t trust the guy at all, but I can feel it in my bones that this is the answer.”
She nodded, still concentrating on her nails. “We have never done this before ... joined forces with a vampire, I mean. It doesn’t feel right to me.”
“I get that,” I agreed. “I don’t think we are joining forces, exactly,”
She capped her nail polish and blew on her fingertips. “Oh, we are. We have to have a certain amount of trust to work with—”
Oscar interrupted, “No, we have to tolerate him. You are all trained to kill the likes of him. One vampire doesn’t stand a chance against us, even if he is thousands of years old.”
Everyone agreed with that, at least.
Luke began putting his gun back together. “So, we leave at first light. Drew, Chloe, you guys go ahead and drive into the city, but come right back to get your things packed and rest up.”
Drew, who had been quiet the whole time, nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Anxious to get it over with and actually be on our way to New Orleans, I grabbed my holster and strapped it on. “We’re leaving right now.” I put all of my weapons on as fast as I could, grabbed my bow, and headed for the door. “Come on, Drew.”
He was doing the same thing I had done; getting all of his weapons placed where they felt best and were the easiest for him to get to. “I’m coming, calm down.”
I really wasn’t trying to be a pain, but we had to hurry and get back to pack our things if we were going to leave at first light. Gavin, who had been quiet most of the day, wandered over to entryway where I waited for Drew. “Be careful,” he told me.
I grinned, trying to look normal. “This is nothing. Just like any other night, so no need to be worried.”
He didn’t return the smile; his face remained serious. “I haven’t met this guy, but I don’t like him. Don’t forget that he’s a vampire.”
“I don’t know why you all act like he’s my new BFF or something. I’m doing a job and I’m taking a lead to help end this crap. I’m just doing what needs to be done.”
He leaned against the wall. Stray locks of dark brown hair fell down into his eyes. I fought the urge to reach out and brush them away. He smirked like he knew what I was thinking. “We know what you’re doing, but lately you have been doing things without really thinking them through and that’s dangerous.” He paused. “Plus, with what just happened today, you might be distracted.”
“I’m fine.”
“I hope so.” He pushed off the wall.
Drew appeared beside me. “You ready?”
I nodded, moving my gaze between Gavin and Drew. “Just waiting for you.”
Gavin gave Drew that head nod that silently said ‘Good luck, but I’m still not speaking to you’ and strode back into the living room.
~~~***~~~
We took the Escalade instead of Drew’s loud ass truck. It was already dark, which ma
de our entrance into the city far more dangerous than coming in before nightfall when we could hide out and wait.
“So,” he broke the silence about halfway into the city, “are you going to talk about what happened today?”
I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “No.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Boy, I was saying that a lot today. Unfortunately, I really wasn’t fine. I just hoped I would be.
“Well,” he took his eyes off the road to glance at me, “I’m here for you. I’m not going to make you talk about it, but I’m always here for you to confide in or whatever it is that you need.”
Damn the tears. I felt the trickle on my cheek and wiped it away, then reached out and set my hand on his leg. “I know you are.” After that he didn’t say anything and we rode the rest of the way in silence.
We went directly to bakery and parked out front. I hopped out as soon as the truck came to a stop. Both of my guns were drawn and my fingers were twitching to shoot something. Drew was out of the truck almost immediately after me, taking the other side of the truck.
“I’m gonna jump,” I whispered to Drew and looked up at the balcony to let him know what I was thinking.
He glanced at the balcony and then back at me, his eyes wide with fear. A quick shake of his head told me he didn’t want me to do it.
“It’s faster that way, and safer,” I insisted. “We don’t have to clear the bakery, the stairwell, and the apartment.”
“No.” His voice was firm and took on that ‘I’m the leader here’ tone.
“Drew—”
“I said no.”
Suddenly, another voice joined our whispering. “Would it be helpful if I came to you?”
Both Drew and I swung around and aimed at the source of the voice near the back of the truck. Anthony Christos stood there, dressed in blue jeans this time instead of black ones. He had on a maroon button up shirt that looked really nice against his skin and his lips were turned up in a smirk.
“Anthony!” I hissed. “You are seriously trying to get yourself shot.”
“I was not concerned about that,” he responded.
Drew rolled his eyes at Anthony’s blatant dismissal of his safety. “Obviously.”
The Arcadia Falls Chronicles: Omnibus (Books 1-6) Page 22