Vincent!
And if he was on top of the vehicle behind them, she could only guess the weight on top of their car was her father.
They’d come for her!
The car was still moving, sliding across the road in an uncontrollable spin. Elizabeth screamed as she caught sight of someone in the road, directly in the path of the moving vehicle. The young woman’s hair flowed out behind her in the wind.
Iona!
For the briefest of moments, Elizabeth wondered if what she was seeing was real or another apparition, a figment of her imagination, but she didn’t have any time to give the possibility any more consideration.
The sorceress remained unflinching as the car mowed down on her. Elizabeth felt sure it would hit her. Iona held her ground, her hand stretched out, the palm directed toward them. The car seemed to hit some kind of wall and spun away, snapping Elizabeth’s head back on her shoulders. It crashed into a fence surrounding the small patch of wasteland and came to a sudden stop. She had the briefest of moments to catch her breath, her whole body trembling, but then the car behind smashed into them, throwing her forward. This time, Ryan didn’t have time to save her. Her face hit the back of the seat in front and something deep inside her head crunched. She tasted blood in the back of her throat, a bloom of pain spreading from the center of her face, right through her head.
Dazed, she sat back up, blinking against the stars in front of her eyes. Her head seemed to spin in a slow circle, though she felt sure she sat still.
Beside her, the door was yanked open, a fresh gust of freezing wind smacking her in the face like a bucket of cold water. She gasped and blinked, her vision starting to return. A blob filled the open doorway, yet she couldn’t make out who or what it was.
“Elizabeth!”
She’d recognize her mom’s voice anywhere, the sound lifting her heart. The shape was blurry in front of her and she reached up and wiped her eyes. She pulled her hand away to find her vision had cleared a little. Blood smeared the back of her hand from where she must have wiped the substance out of her eyes.
My nose must be pretty banged up.
The thought seemed distant, unattached to her somehow. Arms reached in and started to pull her from the car. Automatically, she fought back at them.
“Elizabeth, stop it!” her mom’s voice said.
Elizabeth blinked again and realized who had hold of her. “Mom?”
Why hadn’t she remembered that? She’d known her mom was there. My dad, Vincent and Iona are here too, she reminded herself. The shock of the crash and hitting her face seemed to have gotten all her wires tangled.
She took her mother’s hand, and as she did so, the driver’s door wrenched open and Sebastian’s face appeared in the gap. Conner was simultaneously trying to fumble with his seatbelt while he lunged for something in the glove compartment. He managed to pop the compartment open, but didn’t get any further. Without even glancing back at Elizabeth, Sebastian grabbed Conner and tore him from the vehicle, the seatbelt snapping with a riiiip. Conner yelled in fear and pain as he was dragged out into the storm by the furious vampire.
Still sitting in the passenger seat, Orla put a hand out in front of her, palm facing Sebastian and yelled a number of words Elizabeth didn’t understand. As though repelled by invisible hands, Sebastian was flung from Conner, landing on the edge of the road. He snarled and leaped back to his feet in a blur, but when he launched again, he hit a barrier none of them could see.
Iona came striding down the road toward them, her hair tearing from her face as though she stood in a wind tunnel.
“It’s an anti-vampire spell,” she yelled. “I need to undo it.” Before she got the chance, shapes of darkness flooded toward them from all direction, some scampering and climbing, dropping from the overpass, others walking upright with smooth, ghost-like movements.
Iona stared around, her eyes wide. “Oh, no.” She ducked her head, her lips moving as she muttered words, her hands held out either side of her. When she lifted her head once again, the demons had stopped moving any closer, but stood their ground. Some gibbered and snarled while others watched silently through their blood red eyes.
Vincent had so far been more successful. He held Liam by the throat in one hand, Mary in the other. Orla turned to him, lifted her other hand and repeated the words she’d spoken before. With a roar, he was forced away from them, his hands springing from around their necks like a vise snapping open. He skidded backward, his heels dragging against the ground before he sprawled on the asphalt.
Elizabeth felt herself being hurried away from the chaos, her mother’s arms wrapped around her body. They couldn’t get far, the ring of demons surrounding them preventing them from escaping. Elizabeth didn’t want to get any closer to the terrifying creatures, but her mom must have decided Conner and his people presented them with the most danger.
Suddenly, a low rumble, like a giant train approaching from the distance, started beneath their feet. The sound grew louder.
“What the hell is—” Serenity started to say.
The ground began to move beneath Elizabeth’s feet, rocking back and forth as if she was standing on moving plates.
“Earthquake!” someone yelled, though Elizabeth was unsure who.
They were reduced to trying to keep their balance as best they could. The car creaked, the shriek of bending and shearing metal coming from all around them. Debris appeared to drop from the sky, concrete shattering on the road. The sound of earth cracking came from deep beneath their feet and Elizabeth lost her balance, falling to the ground and pulling her mother down with her. The two clutched at each other, unable to do anything except pray the ground wouldn’t open up beneath them.
Chapter Eighteen
Sebastian rose to a crouch, finding his balance despite the whole world seeming to shudder around him. He glanced over his shoulder to where Serenity held Elizabeth, huddled together on the ground. Blood smeared their daughter’s face, right below her nose and across her upper lip. Where she must have gotten hurt when the car crashed into the fence, he assumed. The sight created a cauldron of anger bubbling up inside his chest. She and Serenity wore matching expressions, their identical dark eyes wide with fear and confusion as they clutched each other. There was nowhere for them to run.
He wanted to go to them, to offer them comfort, but he needed to get this thing finished. From above their heads, the storm attacked them, and beneath their feet, the ground bucked and shook. Surrounding them, the circle of demons seemed unfazed by the shaking earth, though Iona’s spell still held them back.
Sebastian wondered how long her strengths would last. He felt sure Conner had some connection to the demons surrounding them now. If he was able to kill him, he had a feeling the demons would vanish as well.
The earth trembling must have caused Conner’s witch to lose focus on her spell. He’d come across such a spell before—or at least something similar—all those years ago in the desert, but for now, he sensed the invisible structure in the atmosphere that prevented his reaching Conner and his clan loosen. While he didn’t want to harm a woman, she was clearly the strongest of the group and he needed to stop the magic preventing him from reaching the man who had taken Elizabeth. It might be the only chance he’d get.
He centered his strength and energy at his core. He fixed his gaze on the woman and sprang, surging through the air, once again going in for the attack.
He landed on top of the skinny witch, knocking her to the ground with ease. He reached out and locked his hand around her throat. She twisted her head from one side to the other, not only trying to get away from him, but to prevent herself from drowning in the torrential rain falling from the sky.
A woman … He didn’t want to hurt a woman.
She took advantage of his hesitation.
The witch lifted her clenched fist. “Exardescet sicut sol!” she screamed, though her words were strangled by his fingers still locked around her throat. Then she opened her han
d.
A light burst from it, as though she held a ball of fire in her palm. Burn like the sun. Sebastian roared in pain. The side of his face closest to the light began to smolder and crinkle. Even the cool rain belting against his skin did nothing to soothe the burning. His grip around her throat loosened.
The woman hawked as if clearing her throat and spat in his face. The glob of mucus hit the cheek that wasn’t burning and he yelled in fury, lifting his free hand to wipe the spit away.
The witch wrenched herself away from his grip and started to scrabble backward, unable to get to her feet because of the shaking earth. “You’ll never beat me,” she screeched back at him, madness in her eyes. “I’ll kill you and your little bitch child!”
That did it.
Ignoring the searing pain in his face, he leaped at her. She turned to try to get to her feet and run, but he grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her back toward him. She clawed at the ground, her nails splitting and tearing, leaving bloodied streaks on the asphalt.
Sebastian knelt over her and, learning from his mistake, didn’t hesitate.
The ground continued its tremors, and he used all of his balance to stay upright and hold the woman down. His eyes burning, his fangs exposed, he ducked down until his lips met with warm flesh. He didn’t act with the gentle elegance of feeding. Instead, he sank his fangs deep into her jugular and yanked his head back, tearing out her throat.
The woman’s eyes went wide for the briefest of moments and he realized the way her body shuddered and jerked beneath him no longer had anything to do with the earthquake. Blood spurted into the air and splattered on the sidewalk, only to be washed away within seconds. Her eyes softened, her head falling to one side. She was gone.
He lifted his head, his sharp eyes searching out Conner, who appeared to have crawled back inside his vehicle. He almost wanted to laugh. If the man thought a simple car would protect him, he was going to be sorry. Sebastian’s fury at what these people were putting his family through made him want to slaughter each and every one of them. His bloodlust had also taken hold, the metallic tang and heat of the witch’s blood filling his mouth.
Close by, Vincent jumped back to his feet and launched himself again at the man who had been driving the other car. The small chain link fence the cars had careened into had been warped further by the earth tremors, the short metal posts spat from the ground. Seeing the blur of Vincent coming, the man scrabbled behind him, reaching for something.
Sebastian saw it all happening as if in slow motion. Vincent was unable to change his trajectory, his body weight and gravity propelling him forward. Sebastian opened his mouth to yell a warning, but he was too late.
As the younger vampire flew through the air, the man lifted the metal post from the broken fence and thrust it forward. Vincent’s expression changed as he realized what was about to happen, his snarl morphing into an open-mouthed ‘O’ of shock. But the vampire could do nothing to change direction, heading directly to land on top of what he’d thought would be his victim.
The man held the post strong even as the vampire’s huge body dropping toward him must have blocked his vision, and he drove the post deep into Vincent’s chest, right into the point above his heart. Sebastian looked on in dismay as the piece of metal, coated in blood, protruded from Vincent’s back, right between his shoulder blades.
“Vincent!” Serenity’s scream echoed through the night.
The big vampire turned his face in the direction of Serenity’s cry. He reached toward her, as if silently begging for either help or comfort. What looked like threads of black fungi rapidly spread across his porcelain skin. Then he crumbled to black dust, the metal post that had been protruding from his body falling to the ground with a clang. The substance quickly washed away in a sluice of dirt by the rain and water that flowed down the street.
“No!” Serenity cried, her voice breaking in a sob.
Sebastian roared at the swirling storm above their heads. As much as he hadn’t been a fan of Vincent’s, he never wanted them to lose one of their own. And that was what Vincent had become, he realized. A part of their family in a strange way. The other vampire had watched over Serenity and Elizabeth when he’d been unable to.
Sebastian didn’t have time to offer Serenity condolences for her loss. He turned his head to survey the rest of the scene around him. With the attention diverted from him, Conner had taken the opportunity to climb from the car. Sebastian saw the thing clutched in his grip, the reason, he now understood, Conner had wanted to get back in the vehicle. His eyes darted back to where Elizabeth and Serenity still held each other on the ground, Serenity crying into Elizabeth’s hair. He had little fear for himself, but the gun Conner now held could end his family’s lives.
“Don’t move, vampire!” Conner shouted, keeping the gun trained on Serenity and Elizabeth. He edged toward them, the rain plastering his red hair to his forehead. Serenity lifted her face from Elizabeth, her cheeks streaked with tears that the rain quickly rinsed away. She caught sight of the gun and gasped, clutching her daughter closer.
Sebastian hesitated, weighing his options. The man who had killed Vincent must have thought his luck was in, for he snatched up the metal post and ran at Sebastian with a primal yell. The man had no way of knowing that Sebastian was two hundred years older than Vincent. Sebastian spun on his heels to meet him and snatched the post from his hands as easily as if he were taking a stick from a child. He threw the post away and reached out, grabbed the man’s neck and hurled him to the ground. The man stared up at him, finally recognizing Sebastian’s superior strength, and scrambled to his feet before turning and running to the big Lincoln Conner had been driving.
The woman he’d been in the car with screamed like a warrior, loud and shrill, before running forward and snatching up the post Sebastian had thrown away. Sebastian growled in fury. He didn’t need this right now, not when Conner had used the distraction to slip past him and reach Serenity and Elizabeth. With ease, he swung his fist, catching the woman under the jaw, her head snapping back. The post glanced painlessly off his shoulder and the woman fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Dad!” Elizabeth screamed.
Conner grabbed Elizabeth by the arm and hauled her to her feet. He held the barrel of the gun to Serenity’s head, knowing neither of them would risk the other by trying to get away.
“Get in the car,” he told them, dragging them toward the vehicle. Its rear end was crumpled, but otherwise the car was still drivable.
Both dark sets of eyes were focused on Sebastian’s face, begging him for help. The sight tore his heart in two.
Could he risk trying to snatch them away? He was fast, but was he faster than a bullet? He glanced over to Iona who stood with both hands outstretched, still battling the wall of darkness surrounding them. He could just make out a blue light emitting from her palms—a protective spell, he realized, to keep away the demons. He would be getting no help from that direction; she clearly had her hands full.
The boy, Ryan, stood by the car, looking out of his depth, as though he wanted to run, but didn’t know in which direction to head. Could I get to Ryan? Sebastian wondered. Perhaps he could hold the boy hostage in return before Conner got the chance to shoot. Would the threat of his son’s death be enough to stop him? Somehow, Sebastian doubted it. Even if it was, Conner held two versus his one. He might easily kill one of them in return—Serenity, he suspected—and still manage to leave with Elizabeth.
Sebastian growled in frustration, clenching his fists tight by his side.
Conner pushed Serenity and Elizabeth into the back of the car where the other man already sat, and then climbed into the driver’s seat. Ryan shot Sebastian a look he didn’t quite understand, before running around the vehicle to climb in the passenger side.
He couldn’t let them leave like this. Couldn’t let Conner drive off with his family to take them to their deaths!
With a yell of fury, he centered his strength and leapt for
the car. The muzzle of the gun flashed, heat and light blasting in his vision. A fist seemed to punch him from the air, white hot agony blooming in his chest and stomach. He hit the ground with a crash, skidding across the asphalt on his back.
I’ve been shot. The son of a bitch shot me.
Sebastian lifted his head to see the Lincoln swing around, water and mud spraying up from beneath its wheels. But Conner wasn’t done.
Iona was still struggling to hold off the wave of demons, the strain showing on her face. She was standing just beneath where the small overpass crossed overhead. Conner leaned out of the open car window, pointed a finger at the concrete and shouted something.
A shower of sparks exploded above them as a fork of lightning fractured the sky. A deep tearing sound came, much like the one right before the earthquake, only this time from above.
With a screech of tires, Conner pulled away, taking Serenity and Elizabeth with him in the car. The surrounding demons parted like an ocean to allow them to pass.
Sebastian clutched the holes in his chest and stomach, the blood flow and pain already starting to subside as his body began to heal itself, but he didn’t have time to think about his own injuries. The deep tearing sound increased above Iona’s head, but she seemed so involved in the spell currently holding the demons back that she hadn’t noticed something was wrong.
He glanced at the car now speeding away and staggered to his feet. He tried to put on a burst of speed, but while he was injured, his body wouldn’t comply, needing to put all of his energy into healing the wounds. The cracking sound came again and a line in the concrete appeared and grew, snaking its way through the overpass right above the sorceress’ head.
“Iona!” he yelled, unable to run to her. “Look out.”
His voice seemed to bring her around and she glanced toward him. The moment she did so, she lost control of the demons. They streamed past in a river of darkness, running over him and through him like ghosts. He lifted his arms to defend himself, but as quickly as they’d arrived, they vanished. He felt as though he’d just walked through a cold fog, the sensation clinging to his skin like grease, making him want to scrub himself clean. A torrent of demons followed the vehicle containing Elizabeth and Serenity.
Endless Page 16