Ethan and Ian were dispatching the last of their vampires. Both of them resembled some of the paintings of Satan he’d seen over the years. Their skin was mottled red and black in color, their shoulders heaving as blood dripped from their lips, but they were still in control of themselves as they wiped the blood from their mouths.
Stefan yanked a stake from the back of another. He rested his hands on his thighs as he turned to stare at them. “I’m going in,” Brian said.
Nothing was going to stop him from going after Abby now. He still didn’t sense any distress from her, but he wasn’t going to take any chances, not after what had just occurred. He’d only taken one step when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He almost ignored it, but this was Abby’s only way of communicating with him right now. If it was her and he ignored her message…
He pulled his phone free to see Abby’s message. “Who is it?” Ian demanded, his skin already returning to its tanned hue when he stepped beside Brian.
Brian held the phone toward him as he studied the warehouse. What if he went in there and got her hurt?
* * *
Abby pushed her battered sister behind her as Aiden stepped before them both. “Twins,” one of the vampires murmured and had the nerve to lick his lips.
David moved toward the woman they’d freed when she released a low whimper. The boy scuttled through the shadows behind Aiden and further past her and Vicky. Abby had no idea what was going on here, but she’d never been more terrified in her life. She could actually taste the sour fear radiating from the chained and battered vampires surrounding them.
Sweat beaded across her brow and slid down her back, sticking her sweater to her flesh. Her heart beat so fast, she was certain she would have had a heart attack if she’d been human. Her gaze slid to the boarded over windows. From the outside, it looked as if they were covered by wood, but she now realized the windows were covered by a sheet of steel. There would be no busting out the boards and leaping from the windows. More vampires came up the stairs and fanned out behind the first one.
“What do we do?” Vicky whispered.
“We fight through them,” Aiden replied. “It’s the only option we have.”
It wasn’t the greatest of options, considering most of their allies were chained to the walls. The woman was too weak to fight and the boy and Vicky both looked like they were going to drop at any second. However, fighting against them was far better than being chained to a wall too, something she knew these vamps had every intention of doing if they got their hands on them.
“Take them alive, until we know if they’re pure or not,” the ugly, lead vamp instructed.
Abby slid her hand into her coat and pulled out a stake. She would fight to the death before she ever let them slap those chains around her. Brian. Her text to him may have bought her some time, but if she didn’t leave this building soon, he would come in after her. When he did, they’d kill him, just like she believed they’d kill David if they realized he wasn’t a pureblood. Her heart turned over at the thought, and her hand tightened around the stake as she shifted her stance.
She couldn’t let them take any more of the people she loved. Aiden tugged his crossbow free and pointed it at the first vampire. “You think you’re going to kill me with that?” the vamp inquired.
“No, I think I’m going to kill you with my bare hands. This is to give you a little tickle,” Aiden replied.
Abby gulped. Before she knew what was happening, Aiden fired the crossbow and leapt forward. She wasn’t a fighter, had always been more of a ‘stick her nose in a book’ kind of girl. Now she wished she’d paid a little more attention to Stefan when he’d been trying to teach them self-defense.
Aiden smashed his shoulder into the first vamp, driving the bolt from his crossbow deeper into the man’s arm. David rushed in behind him, his fists flying as he pummeled one of the vampires before another kicked his legs out from under him. One of the vampires punched Aiden in the face, causing blood to spill from his broken nose. The sight of that blood caused fury to burst hotly through Abby.
No one hurt her siblings, and these bastards had chained Vicky to a wall and done God only knew what to her, and now they’d caused Aiden to bleed. Without thinking, she leapt onto the back of the first, ugly vamp Aiden had been fighting. Going on instinct alone, she yanked his head back and sank her fangs into his throat. Hot blood rushed into her mouth, but unlike Brian’s blood, this guy tasted horribly bitter.
Pulling her head back, she spat out the offensive blood. The vamp reached behind him and landed a blow against the side of her cheek. Stars burst before her eyes, and her hands slipped on his shoulders. Aiden swung his arm out and slammed his stake deep into the vampire’s heart. With his other hand, he grabbed Abby’s arm and yanked her away from the vamp crumbling beneath her.
The fall of their leader didn’t deter the other vampires as they slashed their way forward. David jumped out of the way in time to avoid a blow that would have eviscerated him. Aiden spun her to the side when someone swung a stake at her. The stake that would have plunged into the center of her chest embedded in his upper shoulder.
Aiden grunted and threw his other arm back, seizing the vamp by the throat and heaving him across the room. The vampire crashed into the wall, shaking the building on its foundation with enough force that Abby worried it might collapse when dust and debris rained down on them from the rafters. David edged toward them to press his back against hers.
Abby adjusted her hold on the stake as the remaining fourteen vamps encircled them. They barely flicked a glance at the three who had been freed from the wall and Abby understood why. The beaten-down, freed vampires would be easy enough for them to recapture and would offer little fight now.
Chum in the water. That’s what they were and these bastards were the sharks circling them.
“At least the girl is pure,” one of them said and flicked his fingers at Abby.
“Make that two,” Aiden stated, drawing the vampire’s attention to him.
Aiden smiled back at him and gave a ‘come on’ wiggle of his fingers. Abby gulped again. She knew her brothers could be a little crazy, but she was beginning to think Aiden might be certifiable.
The vampire grinned back at him. “I’m going to enjoy chaining you down.”
“If you bring a whip, I might enjoy it too,” Aiden shot back.
Yep, he’s insane.
David moved to position himself so he was in front of the freed woman too. Through the wall of vamps, she caught a glimpse of Vicky leading the young boy toward the door. The vampires encircling them had left the exit exposed, but there was no way Abby, David and Aiden were going to make it through them and to that door with the woman.
Abby hoped her sister followed the boy out of here and didn’t look back, but Vicky pushed the boy toward the stairs and spun back into the room. She kept her chain in hand, silencing it as she circled behind the vamps.
Run, Vicky, she inwardly pleaded. There was no reason for all of them to be trapped here, and if Vicky got to Brian and the others, she could tell them what was going on so they could bring back help.
As one, and without any indication it would happen, the vampires pounced on them. Abby swung out wildly, hoping to connect with a punch against one of these monsters as they grabbed at her. She bit her lip to keep from crying out when a hand wrapped into her hair and jerked her forward.
Torn off her feet, her legs kicked in the air as she fought to land a blow against the monster holding her. It was impossible as he held her in the air before him to avoid her kicks. Her hair had to give out eventually, didn’t it? But no, it remained attached to her skull. Pain radiated out from her roots and tears involuntarily burned her eyes as the man carried her from the center of the fray.
“Abby!” Aiden bellowed.
He leapt toward her, but four vampires fell on him, pushing him back as they landed blow after punishing blow on him. Agony exploded through her head when some of her hair gave
way. She lashed out and finally succeeded in kicking her attacker dead center in the crotch.
He grunted and bent over to grasp himself, but he didn’t release his hold on her. Vicky ran forward. Swinging her chain out, she smashed it against the man’s shins. He grunted from the force of the impact and staggered to the side, but when Vicky swung at him again, he caught the chain and dragged her against him.
“Bitch!” he spat before bashing his hand against the side of Vicky’s head.
“No!” Abby screamed when her sister crumpled to the ground.
Her kicking and punching intensified, but the man held her away from him, shaking her head back and forth like a rag doll. The bellow that ripped through the air shook the building and caused the man holding her to stop his incessant shaking. Abby tried to get her bearings, but she didn’t have enough time before a blur crashed into the man’s side.
She and the vampire were thrown back from the force of the impact. The man tumbled to the ground, slamming Abby down with him. The snap of her rib and its sharp edge digging into her right side caused her to cry out. She attempted to roll away, but the bastard still had her hair wrapped around his hand.
She grabbed hold of his hand to try to free his hold on her as the sound of fists hitting flesh filled her ears. A bone cracked loudly. She had no idea which bone it was, but it caused the man’s hand to tighten its hold in her hair. She would gladly rip all of her hair out if it meant being free of him as he jerked with each blow he received and yanked on her as he tried to fend off his attacker. She hadn’t seen him yet, but she knew it had to be Brian pulverizing this bastard.
Pulling her head down, she winced and bit on her lip as more of her hair gave way, but she was finally able to free herself from his punishing hold. Rolling to the side, she leapt to her feet and stumbled back. She whimpered when the movement caused her broken rib to dig into her again.
Disbelief filled her when her gaze fell upon Brian on top of the vamp. Blood coated him from head to toe. She realized most of it hadn’t been from the man he was beating. The man’s face now resembled ground beef, but there was far too much blood on Brian for it to have come from this one guy.
So much blood caked his hair that she could no longer tell what color it was. Red obscured his features and turned his clothes maroon. Berserkers would have run screaming from him, she realized as he punched his hand through the man’s chest and tore his heart free. All she wanted was to run to him.
He tossed the still-beating organ aside with a flick of his wrist. His head rose, and his eyes burned ruby fire from his blood-streaked face as they ran over her. Abby didn’t care that he was covered in blood and appeared on the verge of losing complete control; she ran forward and flung herself at him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her close against his chest.
“Abby,” he breathed in her ear, his blood-coated hands smoothing the hair back from her face.
He jerked suddenly to the side, pulling her beneath him as he rolled rapidly across the floor. Behind them, the entire building quaked as something crashed into the floor. Brian came up against the wall, his hand clasping her head as she looked back at the vampire who had torn a beam from the ceiling and smashed it down where they’d just been.
She gawked at the splintered hole in the floor the beam had created. It seemed the vampires no longer cared about keeping any of them alive, but had decided to do anything necessary to keep witnesses from leaving this place. Brian kept her against him as he leapt to his feet. Behind the vampire who had broken the floor, Ethan rose up. His skin was a mottled red and black color as he broke the vamp’s neck.
She glimpsed Ian and Stefan behind him. All of them were caked in blood too, but they were nowhere near as bad as Brian was. She took a step forward, but Brian pushed her back as two more vampires lunged at them. Abby tugged her remaining stake free and stepped to the side as one of the vamps landed a staggering blow against the side of Brian’s face.
Her fury over seeing Aiden bleed was nothing compared to the wrath engulfing her at seeing Brian’s blood. A scream tore from her as she swung her arm out, driving the stake into the neck of the one who had hit Brian. The vamp’s hands flew to the wound in a useless attempt to staunch the blood flow. Abby yanked the stake free of his neck when he stepped back to reveal his chest.
Blood sprayed from his neck as Abby swung the stake forward, plunging it into the man’s heart. The other vampire crumpled at Brian’s feet, another stake protruding from where Brian had speared him in the chest. Abby heaved in gulping breaths of air as the last vampire in the room fell before David.
Brian spun toward her, his eyes crazed as they ran over her. His fingers traced her face, as he seemed to be reassuring himself she was still here.
“I’m fine,” she murmured.
“You’re bruised,” he said as his hand stilled on her cheek.
“It will fade, the hair will grow back, and my rib is already healing,” she told him with a smile. “Really, I’m fine.”
Some of the tension finally eased from his face as he cradled her cheek in his palm. A smile curved his mouth as his eyes ran over her blood-splattered frame. His fingers wound into her hair, but when she winced from the soreness of her scalp, he moved his hand down to her nape. Bending his head to hers, his lips brushed tantalizingly over her mouth in a teasing caress that left her yearning for more when he pulled away.
Brian inhaled her sweet scent. The warmth of her body and her bright aura soothed some of the murderous impulses still beating against him. He’d been out of control as he’d carved his way through this warehouse, convinced he was going to lose her, as he’d lost Vivian. Then he’d seen that vampire with his hands on her, abusing her, and he’d lost all sense of reason. He’d been enraged and broken after losing his family, but he’d never been as out of control as he’d been tonight.
“It was too close,” he murmured against her lips as he resisted his growing impulse to claim her. Not now, not here. Not like this!
With those words lodged in his mind, he forced himself to move away from her a little. There were few regrets in his lengthy life, but taking her now, in this place, feeling as volatile as he did, would be near the top of the list. It would sit right alongside of not being able to save his family. He gazed down at her as she watched him, so unaware of the urges pulsing through him, so innocent and trusting of him. He wouldn’t do anything to risk that trust.
The blood caked on him had rubbed off against the front of her clothes, her cheeks, and mouth. He reached up to wipe it away but pulled his hands away when another drop of blood fell from his fingertips. “I’ve tainted you,” he murmured.
“Don’t,” she said when she sensed the distance swelling up within him again. “I am well aware of who and what you are, Brian. I always have been. You can’t change it, and I don’t want you to. There’s a fair amount of blood staining my hands right now too, and I am just as capable of violence as you are.”
Abby didn’t wait to hear what else he had to say; she rested her hand against his cheek and rose on her toes to press a tender kiss against his lips. Although she would have preferred to be in his arms, she turned away before he could come up with some protest that would have her contemplating hitting him.
Ian was kneeling at Vicky’s side when Abby walked over to join him. “Is she okay?” Abby demanded as she took in her sister’s unconscious form.
Ian brushed Vicky’s dirt-streaked, stringy hair away from her face to reveal the purple bruises on her skin. His fingers shook as he answered. “She will be.”
“What is this place?” Ethan asked.
“We can figure that out later,” Aiden replied. “For now, we have to free the rest of these vamps, take care of any survivors or witnesses, and get out of here.”
Abby wasn’t going to argue with him. She rested her fingers briefly against Vicky’s cheek before rising to her feet and hurrying to help the others tear the rest of the chains from the walls.
Chapt
er Twenty-Three
Abby stirred, her head coming up when a small whimper woke her from sleep. She’d been fighting to stay awake for the past twelve hours, but at some point, she’d lost the battle and begun to doze. Another whimper drew her eyes to Vicky lying on the massive bed. Abby had cleaned her up the best she could with a washcloth and water as her sister remained unconscious, but her hair was still dirty, and there would be no scrubbing away the faint scent of garbage emanating from her sister’s skin.
“What happened to you?” Abby whispered when Vicky stilled again. Leaning forward, she brushed her sister’s hair back from her forehead.
The door to the room creaked open, and Brian stepped inside. He’d scrubbed the blood from himself shortly after they’d arrived at the training facility where Aiden was staying. He was paler than normal, and the stubble lining his face was thicker than she’d ever seen it before. The haggard air surrounding him caused a twinge in her heart. She supposed they were all haggard and beaten though; trying to clean up the mess at the warehouse had drained them all.
She’d seen a lot more of what Brian was capable of when they’d reentered the bottom floor of the warehouse. There had been dead vampires and body parts everywhere she’d looked in the warehouse. She understood now the vast quantity of blood coating him and suspected that more of the massacred vampires had fallen at his hand than at any of the others.
The humans had all still been trapped in the warehouse either by the lack of blood in their bodies, their extreme inebriation, or the massive beam that one of her own had thrown in front of the door to keep them from fleeing.
It had taken nearly an hour to change the memories of all the humans. Any surviving vampires had been slaughtered while she remained in the hallway with Vicky’s still form in her lap and the other prisoners huddling around her as screams resonated through the hall. Those battered vampires had shaken against her, their whimpers causing grief to rise in her chest as she tried to block out the screams of the dying. She’d felt no sympathy for the vampires who were killed, but she wanted it over. They had to get the prisoners away from whatever torment they’d been forced to endure.
The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5 Page 134