Blade of Darkness

by Dianne Duvall

  She smiled up at Aidan. “That is so cool!” She also was American by the sound of it. Then she saw Ethan and Dana. “Oh shit. What’s wrong?”

  “Arm up,” Aidan told her. “Vampires will attack any minute.”

  The woman blurred. When she stilled, she bore as many weapons as the men.

  Aidan crossed to Dana and touched her arm. “Dana, this is Ethan and Heather. I trust them absolutely.”

  Both nodded and said, “Hi, Dana.”

  Aidan turned away so he could strap on more weapons. “Tell them what you saw in your vision, sweetheart.”

  Dana glanced at the others. “I went downstairs. Vampires attacked, crashing through the door and the bay window. They tackled me and bit my neck and wrists.”

  Ethan swore.

  “I yelled for Aidan. He appeared and started fighting them. The ones who were biting me tore open my neck and wrists.”

  More curses.

  “Aidan knelt over me and started healing my wounds. A vampire came up behind him. I tried to warn him but couldn’t. Then the vampire swung a machete and decapitated him.”

  Aidan spun around to look at her. “What?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “You didn’t let me finish earlier.”

  Heather swung her swords with a flourish, anger sparking in her pretty features as her eyes began to glow with amber light. “Well, that’s sure as hell not going to happen.”

  “You’re damned right it isn’t,” Ethan seconded.

  “No, it isn’t,” Aidan added and headed for the hallway. “Heather, you stay with Dana and keep her safe. Ethan, you’re with me.”

  Dana stared at him. “What?”

  Heather turned to Ethan. Rising onto her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands still clutching weapons, and pressed her lips to his.

  Ethan closed his arms around her and deepened the kiss.

  Glass shattered downstairs.

  The kiss ended. “Be careful,” they said simultaneously.

  Then Ethan and Aidan blurred and disappeared down the hallway.

  Heather glanced around. “Is there a room up here that doesn’t have any windows?”

  “Yes,” Dana said numbly. “The bathroom.”

  Heather motioned to the doorway. “Let’s go.”

  Thuds and crashes sounded downstairs as Dana led the immortal woman to the bathroom and ducked inside.

  Heather nodded. “This’ll do.” She stationed herself in the doorway, facing outward.

  Dana’s nerves jangled as she listened to the sounds of violence below.

  “I know you’re scared, Dana,” Heather said over her shoulder. “I sure as hell was the first time I encountered vampires and immortals a year ago. But don’t worry. We’ve got this.”

  “Upstairs!” a male bellowed outside.

  More glass shattered, this time on the second floor.

  Heather stepped out into the hallway, then left Dana’s line of sight.

  Blades clashed with metallic shicks and tings. Thuds sounded. Grunts of pain and curses filled the air, all masculine.

  Dana cautiously approached the doorway and peered out.

  Heather fought two vampires that had apparently crashed through Dana’s bedroom window.

  Had they jumped that high? Could vampires do that?

  Yes, Aidan said in her head. Stay vigilant. More intend to follow those. If they overwhelm Heather, call or think my name.

  Okay. As Dana watched, three more vampires entered the hallway from the guest bedroom beyond Heather and the vampires she fought.

  Two of the newcomers were blond. One was brunet. The first two had eyes that glowed a vibrant blue. The eyes of the third glowed silver. All flashed fangs and grinned with glee when they saw their friends fighting a woman.

  Raising her 9mm before they could do that blurry-fast-motion thing, Dana fired multiple shots, hoping Heather wouldn’t inadvertently jump in front of the bullets. The first blond vampire’s head snapped back as a hole appeared between his eyebrows. The second blond’s head did the same. Neither went down though. So as their brunet friend gaped at them, she shot both in the head again.

  The arteries, Aidan said in her head. Hit the major arteries.

  Oh. She fired again and thought she managed to hit the first two in the carotid arteries, because they collapsed.

  Their friend turned a look of outrage on her and roared as he streaked toward her in a blur.

  Panic flaring, she fired at what she thought was his chest.

  One of the vampires Heather fought grunted as he leapt away and inadvertently took the bullet.

  Dana fired again. And again.

  The brunet vampire racing toward her stumbled, slowing enough for her to see him better. As he leapt past Heather and her foes, his eyes still on Dana, Heather spun and swung her sword. The vampire’s body dropped to the floor as his head flew through the hair and landed at Dana’s feet.

  Dana jumped away from it as it rolled past, then looked up in time to see Heather step back as the two vampires she fought dropped, lifeless, to the ground.

  Heather grinned at Dana, her face splattered with blood. “Excellent shooting.”

  More vampires exited Dana’s bedroom as two more raced out of the guest bedroom.

  “Really?” Heather said, the word rife with exasperation. She nodded to Dana. “You get the two at the end of the hallway. I’ll take these clowns.”

  Dana raised her 9mm but hesitated as Heather and the vampires she fought leapt into preternatural motion.

  All were a blur. What if she hit Heather by mistake?

  I’ll keep to the right, Heather told her telepathically.

  Surprised by the woman’s voice in her head, Dana moved to the left and started firing.

  She ran out of bullets before she could drop the vampires.

  Ducking back into the bathroom, she ejected the empty magazine and slammed the full one home. Backing away, she advanced the first bullet into the chamber and aimed at the doorway.

  A blur filled it and solidified into the form of a vampire.

  Dana fired three times, hitting him in the head, the carotid, and his chest, inches away from his heart.

  Eyes widening, the vampire raised a hand to the blood gushing from his neck and staggered backward.

  Another vampire filled the doorway.

  This one didn’t slow until Dana shot him four times in the chest. He was only a few feet away when she shot him in the head and the neck. And he still reached for her, spewing curses and blood as he dropped to his knees, then finally pitched forward.

  Her heart slammed against her rib cage.

  That had been close.

  Aidan spoke in her head. I wouldn’t have let him reach you, sweetheart.

  The vampire on the floor breathed his last breath.

  You just concentrate on what you’re doing down there, Dana thought back to Aidan, and make sure your head stays on your shoulders.

  Dana inched past the dead vampire.

  The flesh of the vampire’s exposed arm began to shrivel up as though he were being mummified.

  Creepy.

  More grunts and thuds filled the hallway.

  “Okay,” Heather growled, “now you’re starting to piss me off.”

  Dana saw the tranq gun Aidan had given her on the counter beside the sink. She had been so rattled earlier that she didn’t even remember placing it there.

  Grabbing it, she tucked it in the waistband of her shorts and poked her head out into the hallway.

  Heather was surrounded by vampires.

  Don’t do it, Aidan said.

  Ignoring him, Dana yelled, “Hey, numbnuts!”

  The blur of motion ceased.

  Half a dozen vampires stopped battling Heather and looked at Dana.

  Heather laughed. “Looks like they all answer to that. Next time see if they’ll answer to dumbass.” Swinging her short swords, she opened the arteries of the two vampires closest to her.

  T
wo of the remaining vampires darted in Dana’s direction.

  Ducking back into the bathroom, she backed toward the far wall and aimed her 9mm at the doorway.

  As soon as it darkened, she fired three bullets. The first vampire stopped, grimacing in pain as he pressed a hand to the holes in his chest. Dana fired again and ended up hitting the vampire behind him as the first dodged to the side.

  Both snarled in anger.

  Dana fired multiple times until a click warned her she’d emptied her last magazine, but she’d hit enough arteries for the first vampire to drop.

  The second vampire kept coming, stumbling over the bodies of his friends.

  Oh crap.

  Aidan appeared behind the vampire, yanked the man’s head back, and slit his throat. “Call me if you need me, damn it,” he grumbled, then vanished again.

  Dana pulled the tranq gun. She didn’t even bother to leave the bathroom this time. When Heather’s grunts and curses reached her ears, Dana just yelled, “Hey, dumbass! In here!”

  Sure enough, a vampire filled the doorway. “You’re the human,” he sneered. “This is gonna be fun.”

  Dana fired the tranq gun.

  The vamp looked down at the dart sticking out of his chest and started to smile. Then his knees buckled. A look of surprise crossed his face as his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor atop his friends.

  A blurred form appeared in the doorway.

  Dana fired again.

  Heather ducked the dart, then stilled and held up her weapons. “It’s okay. It’s just me.” Remaining in the doorway, she looked this way and that. “I think that’s all of them up here.”

  By the sound of things, Aidan and Ethan had nearly defeated the vampires below. At least Dana hoped that was what the dwindling noise indicated.

  Heather casually leaned one shoulder against the doorframe. Her clothing was torn in several places, revealing jagged wounds. She had a nasty gash on one arm. Her face, neck, and pale arms were splotched and smeared with blood. “So,” she said, giving Dana a friendly smile, “you like Aidan?”

  Dana stared at her. Really? There are three dead vampires shriveling up at my feet. A fourth is passed out on top of them. A dozen or so more are lying dead in the hallway. I’m still breathing hard and trying to get my hands to stop shaking. And she wants to engage in a little girl talk?

  Aidan appeared in the hallway just behind Heather and frowned down at the female immortal. “Don’t be impertinent.”

  Grinning unrepentantly, she looked beyond him as Ethan appeared. “All done?”

  Ethan nodded. “You okay? Any wounds?”

  Heather wrinkled her nose. “A few. They hurt like hell, but I’m trying to be tough like you guys and not let it show.”

  Ethan frowned. “It isn’t that we’re tough, honey. We’ve just had more time to get used to it.”

  Aidan raked his gaze over Dana. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  He looked as though he would’ve hugged her if his clothes weren’t saturated with blood.

  “Are you okay?” she countered.

  He nodded and turned to Heather. “Where are you injured?”

  Setting her weapons on the counter beside the sink, she pulled her right sleeve up over her shoulder to expose the deep gash in her arm.

  Aidan added his slick weapons to the countertop, then curled his hands around Heather’s biceps.

  As Dana watched, the wound on Heather’s arm closed and healed.

  Aidan did the same with additional wounds on her side, then on the back of her thigh. “Ethan?” he said when he was finished.

  Ethan shook his head. “I’m good.”

  “You’re favoring your right side and your breath is short.”

  “It’s just some broken ribs. I’ll be fine.”

  “No,” Aidan said. “I owe you.” Grabbing Ethan by the left shoulder, he held him still and rested a hand on Ethan’s right side.

  After a minute, Ethan drew in a deep breath. The tension in his face eased. “Thank you.”

  Aidan nodded, then healed a deep slash in Ethan’s back. Another on his arm.

  Dana watched it all in awe as her hands finally stopped shaking.

  Aidan frowned and nudged Ethan’s chin up. Yet another slash scored his jawline. “What did he do, try to decapitate you and miss?”

  Ethan laughed. “I think so.”

  Shaking his head, Aidan covered Ethan’s jaw with one hand.

  Seconds later, a deep cut opened along Aidan’s jawline.

  Dana gasped and took a step forward.

  Ethan swore and slapped Aidan’s hand away. “You didn’t tell me you were low on—”

  Aidan shot Ethan a quelling look.

  “Energy,” Ethan finished with a glance at Dana. “You didn’t tell me you were low on energy.”

  But Dana was pretty sure he had intended to say blood. “Aidan?” she asked, picking her way over the vampires’ bodies. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” he said with a faint smile.

  Clearly he wasn’t fine. But she forgave him the lie. He was trying to ease her fears.

  Heather offered Dana a hand to steady her as she stepped over the splayed legs of the vampires. “Immortals like Aidan heal others by taking the wounds into their own bodies, which heal at an amazingly accelerated rate. When Aidan is at full strength and does that, he heals so swiftly that the wounds don’t have time to afflict him. But when he pushes himself and his gift too far, whatever wound he’s attempting to heal on the other person will open on his own body.”

  Dana stared up at him. Aidan had healed her hand earlier by taking the wound into himself? She had caused him physical pain?

  Aidan glared at Heather. “Why did you tell her that? Now she won’t want me to heal her if she’s injured.”

  Heather shrugged. “Well, that’s kind of a good thing, right? I mean, if she cares about you enough that she doesn’t want to cause you pain, then maybe she’ll be able to get past all of this.” She motioned to the corpses and the blood-splattered walls and floor.

  Aidan sighed.

  Ethan sent him a look of sympathy. “Been a hell of a night, hasn’t it?”

  He nodded.

  Heather squeezed Dana’s hand. “Why don’t we go sit in your bedroom for a bit and catch our breath while the boys clean up this mess?”

  Dana nodded but pulled her hand from Heather’s as they came abreast of Aidan. Wrapping her arms around him, she hugged him tight.

  “Dana,” he protested, holding his arms away from her.

  “I don’t care about the blood,” she mumbled into his cold, damp shirt, fighting tears all of a sudden.

  Her visions had always come true before. And Aidan had been decapitated in the last one. Seeing that cut open along his jawline had reminded her that he could’ve died tonight, that he would’ve died if—

  “It’s okay.” Aidan closed his arms around her and rested his chin on her hair. “I’m okay, Dana. We both are.”

  She nodded, probably smearing blood all over her face, but she didn’t care. She had come very close to losing him tonight.

  “And I you,” he murmured, his voice hoarse.

  Aidan gave Dana a last squeeze, then gently set her away from him.

  Her hazel eyes held tears when she raised them to meet his.

  How he loved her. He had been reading her thoughts ever since the battle had begun. And when she had recalled her vision just now, she hadn’t been relieved upon realizing she had survived the battle herself. She had been relieved that he had survived, that he had not been decapitated, that he hadn’t been taken from her.

  He looked to Heather. He didn’t know what Heather saw in his face. But she nodded. Moving forward, she wrapped an arm around Dana’s shoulders.

  “Did I mention that the vampires all responded to dumbass, too?” she asked conversationally.

  “No.”

  “Every single one of them,” Heather told her
as she guided her out of the bathroom.

  “Next time I’ll have to try knucklehead,” Dana joked wearily.

  Heather gave her shoulders a squeeze and lowered her voice. “I know this is a lot to take in, Dana. I just learned about all this myself last year and totally freaked when I found out.”

  “You did?” Dana asked.

  Heather nodded. “But immortals are good guys. And Aidan is one of the best. He wouldn’t hesitate to give his life to protect his brethren. And he wouldn’t hesitate to give his life to protect you.”

  Dana motioned to the carnage marring her hallway. “Is that a possibility? I mean, does this sort of thing happen often?”

  “No, of course not,” Heather countered, then winced. “Well… Okay. I don’t want to lie to you. It’s been happening more than usual in recent years. There’s kind of been a lot going on in the Immortal Guardians’ world lately. Mercenaries trying to create a race of supersoldiers. Gershom’s evil ass sending vampires to attack military bases. And—”

  “Heather.” Ethan interrupted his wife. “I don’t think you’re helping, honey.”

  She grimaced. “Well, I’m trying. I love Aidan. He’s been good to us. And I like Dana.”

  “You just met me,” Dana pointed out.

  “Yes, but you’re smart.”

  She raised a brow. “And you know that because…?”

  Heather grinned. “Because you care about Aidan. And you’re brave, too. When all hell broke loose, you didn’t scream and pee your pants or curl up in a ball and whimper.”

  Dana’s lips twitched. “Or run two steps, then trip and fall down like women do in horror movies?”

  Heather laughed. “Exactly. Instead, you kicked ass and took names.”

  Dana smiled. “Those names being numbnuts and dumbass?”

  Aidan laughed, as did the others.

  The two women entered Dana’s bedroom.

  “Wow,” Heather said. “Vampires sure can make a mess, can’t they?”

  “Yes,” Dana agreed morosely.

  “Don’t worry. It’ll all be as good as new soon.”

  “I can’t stop shaking,” Dana confessed in a hushed voice.

  “That’s normal,” Heather assured her. “I used to shake after every battle when I first started hunting vampires, but I eventually got used to it. When I saw how close a vamp had come to cutting Ethan’s throat though…”