Lorenzo swallowed, seeing the blazing fury in her bottomless black eyes. "Just you and Kelly, that I know of."
"Someone has to stand up to him. We're here. He's here. I'm juiced to the max. I'll never be more ready."
"We're ready if you are," Lorenzo said, relaying memories of past battles with some of the vampires below.
Sabine shifted in her bulletproof vest and long coat, making sure she could move easily. The coat hid her two guns – the latest ones taken off Gus and Tony. She looked around and surveyed her people, seeing determination in their eyes.
"You're actually planning on using those huge-ass Desert Eagles?" Trent asked from behind her, surprising her.
Sabine faced him and smiled. "Jealous?"
Trent laughed. "They're too big for you. You should try a nine-mil. Or one of those little girl guns."
Sabine shrugged, glad for a way to annoy him. "They're loaded with silver. The vampire who killed me is standing down there on the other side of that bridge. I'm thinking big-ass silver bullets might help him explain himself."
Trent looked down at the assembled vampires. From their vantage point, they could see a good deal of the opposite shore, and it seemed like there were vampires everywhere. Thirty vampires stood near the bridge, and more in the shadows beyond. Sabine and her vampires numbered eight. "I'm not sure I like the odds, if you're taking them head-on."
"We're not fighting them all," Sabine said, shaking her head. "We can always wait them out behind the ward. They'll have to leave by dawn. But then they might hunt us down tomorrow night. Or the night after. We'd have to be on our guard for the rest of our lives. As long as they're here, I can use the opportunity to challenge Neville. Maybe I can end this."
Lorenzo spoke up. "Neville is not likely to take you on alone. He'll sacrifice his followers before facing any real threat. You may need help."
"I'm going with you," Trent said, pulling the pistol from his holster and working the slide to chamber a bullet.
"Me too," Charlie said, as a few more of the other werewolves approached, checking their weapons: Justin, Esmerelda's grandson, Trent's father Jeff, and Justin's father Sean.
"I thought you guys used up all your silver ammo," Sabine said.
"We did," Trent replied. "Lead might not kill those vamps, but it might distract them."
Val joined the group, glaring at the vampires. "We planning an attack here?"
"We'll start with a chat, and see what happens," Sabine said, turning and heading down towards the bridge.
As they approached the bridge, Sabine took stock of the vampires on the opposite shore. Their numbers swelled as she walked, apparently sensing that this was where a confrontation would occur. She counted more than fifty now. Half of the city's vampires. She could sense motion around the lake, and guessed that more were coming.
Neville stood taller than the vampires around him, and his shoulder-length blond hair didn't have a strand out of place. He had a slight scruff, and a lopsided grin that flashed a fang. His dark brown eyes held menace and he tapped the hilt of a gilded medieval longsword, sheathed at his waist.
Sabine and the others stopped at the ward.
Neville surveyed them and addressed Lorenzo. "Di Gastini. Your House was exiled from this city. You're in violation of a Council Order."
Sabine stepped in front of Lorenzo. "You don't remember me, Neville?"
Neville's eyes never left Lorenzo. "Teach your bitch protocols, Lorenzo. Only Masters can address the Council."
Lorenzo stood there, eying the vampires in the gathering. "She is the new Mistress of our House."
Neville laughed. "Is she now?"
Sabine stepped forward, entering the ward at the center of the bridge. She walked through it, coming out the other side. She felt the others at her back. As they came free of the ward, she could sense the tension in the auras of the vampires around them. They stared dumbstruck that vampires had crossed the ward. She looked them in the eyes, and each could see hers.
Sabine could sense a growing fear among the assembled vampires. She stopped at the end of the bridge, listening to the voices from her Family about the tactical advantage of the choke-point; they'd be just like the 300 Spartans versus the Persian army.
That didn't end well for the Spartans, Sabine thought.
Lorenzo smiled at her and shrugged. It's as good a night as any to die.
Neville's aura bathed them all like a turbulent sea. The extent of it shocked Sabine, even though it didn't feel like he was focusing it. She watched Neville's eyes as he met her gaze, a brief moment of surprise flashing across his face before he schooled his expression.
"Hi everyone," Sabine said, addressing the group. "My name is Sabine Christiansen, and Neville here turned me against my will, then abandoned me. I believe that's punishable by death."
The tension in the auras of the vampires ratcheted up a notch.
"You have no aura. You're lying," One of the men standing beside Neville said.
Sabine reached out with her power, until hers roiled against all the fifty or so auras in the group. As they gasped, she poured a trickle more into the man who had spoken.
His guard came up, and he fought her. He sent out as much power as he could manage.
Sabine gauged him to be a few hundred years old, roughly Lorenzo's age. Sabine doubled the trickle of power she was sending at him, and then doubled it again.
He staggered slightly before his mind gave in to her, and she held him still.
She read his thoughts and his memories, witnessing all of his three hundred and fifty years of life. A lot of it involved doing horrific things for Neville, his Master. His name was Darby, and he had participated in both resurrection ceremonies. She saw in his thoughts all the faces and roles of the other participants, which Sabine matched to the half-dozen men standing closest to Neville.
Sabine read Darby's thoughts about Neville: his motivations, desires, and pet peeves. Neville loved power, and was stingy with it. He never used a blood bond because it was too intimate and would mean sharing his power. He reasoned that nobody but another Council member would be able to overcome his power bonds anyway.
Sabine smiled at how that hadn't exactly worked out for Neville, and kept reading. Neville loved killing things. He loved to watch the life drain out of formerly happy people. He didn't tolerate betrayal. He had killed several of his underlings over the years for even the hint of betrayal. One last thing she saw, that sickened her to the core, was that Darby had enjoyed his part in raping Regina and Michaela. That condemned him in her eyes.
"Darby here will bear witness to your crimes," Sabine said, watching as many of the vampires looked to Darby.
Darby nodded, as Sabine sent the command to do so.
Neville's aura flared, and he stared at Darby. He tried to enter Darby's mind, but Sabine was able to block him out. Neville's jaw tightened in rage, and Sabine sent Darby the command to glare back at Neville.
Neville drew his sword. In a lightning move, he sliced off Darby's head. He moved so fast, Sabine could have missed it if she had blinked.
Darby's head toppled off his body as the whole mess collapsed onto the ground.
"Saladin is a witness too," Sabine said, pointing to another man. Saladin had also attacked Regina and Michaela.
The vampire called Saladin barely had time to raise his arms in denial before his head toppled to the ground.
"Orpheus will back up my claim," Sabine said, sending a wave of power at the other vampire she'd seen in Darby's memories.
Orpheus barely got out an "I-" before Neville struck and he fell beside the others.
Sabine smiled, drawing her sword. "Thanks Neville! You're saving me a lot of work."
Neville sent out a blast of power at Sabine and her group. She responded by bolstering the vampires with more of her energy, but then the wave dissipated. She sensed with relief that all of her vampires were still with her, even Shelby.
Neville glared at her. "You have no wi
tnesses to corroborate your accusation, and I am the Representative of the Council. For bringing false witness against a Council Member, I sentence you to death."
The sound of movement, and a vague sense of something being wrong behind Sabine brought her attention around.
Justin, Sean, Jeff and Charlie all had blank looks in their eyes. Trent's eyes blinked, his mouth stuck in a snarl as he fought the hold. They all had their guns up and ready to fire.
Aimed at her.
CHAPTER 23
Sabine threw all her power at the werewolves. The burst of energy sent them flying back through the ward, but two managed to get off a shot under Neville's command. She barely managed to dodge by diving to the side.
Sabine heard the clang of metal and Lorenzo's cry behind her as she rolled on the ground and got back on her feet. She turned to see Lorenzo and Ernesto trading sword blows with Neville, who had attacked when her back was turned.
Everywhere Sabine looked, vampires were drawing their swords and charging toward the fight. Their numbers wouldn't give them a huge advantage at the choke point of the bridge, but Sabine's Family didn't have any cover. In the confined space where blades met blades, the odds would be roughly even. Claudia, Deirdre and Ethan took up flanking positions at the mouth of the bridge, as Melina drew her pistols and started shooting.
The werewolves started shooting too.
Sabine spun and ducked, thinking they might be firing at her, but then she saw them.
Trent smiled at her from the other side of the ward, where he and the others had landed. Several vampires were hit, but soon realized that the bullets weren't silver.
Sabine turned again, just in time to see Neville slice off Ernesto's arm at the elbow.
Ernesto fell back, cradling the stump that had previously been his sword arm. Lorenzo redoubled his fight, but that only appeared to amuse Neville. The older vampire moved to press his advantage just before several bullets struck him in the chest and face.
"Take that, dirt-bag!" Trent yelled, firing again.
Neville did his best to dodge the bullets, but the hail of lead forced him to fall back with a few serious wounds.
Lorenzo took the opportunity to grab Ernesto's fallen sword arm and retreat to help his friend.
As Neville forced the bullets out of his body, Sabine lashed out at him with all her power.
He pushed back.
For a second, she thought she might overpower him right then. His counterattack staggered her. She felt the weight of power built over centuries. She faltered, but held him back. Her willpower crashed against his. Their energies leveled into a stalemate.
As her power drained, Sabine weakened.
Neville didn't. Instead he smiled. "Foolish whelp. I'm almost a thousand years old. You don't have the reserves of a great Master such as myself."
Wave after wave of power hit her, causing her to drop her sword and hold her temples to focus. She barely noticed when Claudia ran past her, retreating behind the ward.
The others started to run away too, leaving her alone against Neville. His people surrounded him, watching as she weakened even more.
How could she have imagined beating Neville? He still had seventeen vampire followers with him. She had hinged everything on the hope that her power would be enough. If she could reach out with it and touch the whole city, it should have been enough.
How could he be more powerful than that?
She knew he wasn't. But his power never dwindled. Where her power seemed to rise and fall with no reserve, his was steady; like a river flowing from a huge lake. In that moment, she understood why older vampires won battles. All they had to do was wait until the younger vampire ran out of energy.
Then it would all be over.
Sabine heard the desperation in her people's thoughts. She fell to her knees from fatigue as she saw Neville step closer. His onslaught was relentless. She saw the evil grin on his face, and felt hopelessness smash into her like a brick wall.
I know what to do. Claudia's thought came through like the blaring of a foghorn in the mist.
As Neville raised his sword over Sabine's head for a killing blow, energy flowed into her. Her vision cleared. The force of Neville's assault shuddered as she forced it back. She dove to the side as his sword came down. Her hand closed on the grip of her own sword where it had fallen, and she brought the blade up to strike at Neville's legs.
Sabine felt another flood of power as Neville jumped back to avoid her sword. She rolled to her feet and faced him as he charged and slashed.
Their blades sang against each other again and again, Sabine defending herself and trying to spot a weakness.
Then another flood of power hit her.
She staggered and too narrowly avoided another attack from Neville. But he was moving slower. Sabine felt her mind slip into overload as her eyes refocused on a thousand things at once, and suddenly the world stood still as another burst of power flowed through her.
She was able to read the thoughts of all her people again, and knew in that instant what they'd done.
While all the attention had been focused on her, they had slipped back behind the ward with the werewolves. Claudia had convinced the werewolves to help by allowing themselves to be bitten. She and Ernesto and Melina and Shelby had bitten into the werewolves, who had each willingly given them an arm. The vampires stood just outside the ward feeding on the werewolves who were just barely inside it.
Neville sliced at her from the side in slow motion. She ducked under his sword, drawing her blade across his stomach as she passed him. Her cut went deeper than she intended, slicing halfway through him.
He tried to spin and react, but his muscles weren't able to obey. Instead, his intestines started to spill from the gaping wound.
Sabine brought the razor-sharp blade of her sword down on Neville's sword arm, hacking it off at the shoulder.
Two of his men charged in, and she danced easily between their slowly swinging blades. The power flowing through her gave her an insight into their minds; the one to her left was called Merrick, and he was as evil as evil could be. The one to her right was called Logan, and he was a very reluctant follower of Neville's, who harbored almost no hope for himself.
Sabine sliced off Merrick's head as she sent a jolt of energy into Logan, bonding him with her power and freeing him from the power bond that Neville had placed on him.
As Logan staggered forward, Neville fell to the ground and ignored his spilling entrails to send a wave of power at Logan to reestablish control over him again.
Neville's aura radiated shock as his attempt failed.
Three more men came at Sabine, and she read them as she dodged their swords. She sliced off the head of another thoroughly evil vampire. The other two hadn't done anything horrible. Like Logan, they had been forced to serve. Their names were Dominic and Salvatore, and she freed them from Neville with a jolt of power.
Sabine read the rest of Neville's vampires and sent out enough power to break their bonds as well.
The vampires that weren't part of Neville's entourage stayed back. The audience had swelled to nearly every vampire in the city.
Sabine turned and walked over to where Neville was kneeling on the ground, trying to reattach his arm. The men who had been his followers stood and watched, unsure what to do with a new leader.
She knocked the loose arm out of his hand with her sword and stood over him. "Neville Harcourt, I bear witness against you. I have stripped you of your followers and by the laws of your own people, I sentence you to death."
"Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?" he spat, blood in his mouth as he tried to hold his intestines in with his remaining arm.
"I'm Karma," Sabine said, surveying the crowd of gathered vampires with her glowing black eyes. "And I can be a bitch sometimes."
Neville coughed out a laugh, as Sabine's Family stepped forward and joined her.
Claudia's eyes filled with tears, and Sabine could feel the combinatio
n of pain and triumph filling the woman. Claudia relived her hope that she'd one day witness an end to the vampire that had killed her husband and wrought terror on her and others for centuries.
"Claudia, do you want to do the honors?" Sabine asked.
Claudia faced Sabine, a look of conflicted emotions swimming in her eyes. She took a deep breath and gripped her sword tighter, her jaw setting. She nodded.
"You can't kill me! I'm a member of the Council," Neville shouted, glaring up at them.
"Not anymore," Claudia said, raising her sword. "This is for my husband, you piece of shit."
Her sword sliced across his neck, and Neville's head rolled away.
Sabine took a breath, basking in the moment. Regina, Michaela, everyone Sabine had bitten, Claudia's husband, and Kelly the new Damphir had all been avenged. Every bad thing in the last year could now be forgotten. This should make it all right.
But it didn't. Instead of feeling complete, she felt hollow. What would she do now?
Live, came the answer from her Family.
Over a hundred vampires stared at Sabine's Family. For a good two minutes, nobody moved or said a thing as the reality of what they had done sank in.
Then a few vampires approached. One here, another there. Sabine counted four women and seven men coming toward them. They didn't have weapons drawn, so she carefully wiped the blade of her sword on Neville's pants and sheathed it at her back.
The auras coming off the eleven were solid. They were all Masters. Each carried himself or herself with bearing and purpose. They wore dark clothes, preferring leather, silk, wool, and lace in varying old styles. One of the women looked east Indian, one looked Mediterranean, and the other two looked northern European. Two of the men looked Hispanic, one looked like he was of African descent, one was Asian, and the rest looked European.
Two of them looked familiar: Pierce Carmichael, Lorenzo's old friend; and the vampire from the alley, Henry Bondurant.
The eleven vampires stopped a discrete twenty feet from Neville's corpse, which made hissing and gurgling noises as it rapidly decomposed.
The tall statuesque blonde woman among the eleven vampires cleared her throat. She glanced over at the Chinese man, and after receiving a nod from him, spoke. "My name is Brenna, and we are the Masters of the City."
Reborn to Bite (Vampire Shadows Book 1) Page 29