“She's a good girl.”
I turn and find Evan walking beside me, his face grim, his eyes narrow as he looks at me.
“I know,” I reply.
“Do you?”
I nod. “Yes. I do,” I say. “The most amazing woman I've ever met.”
“She's had a hard life,” he says. “She deserves to be treated with respect.”
“Should be easy to do,” I say. “I've got nothing but respect for her.”
Evan eyes me up and down again, his face going from openly hostile to – well – less hostile.
“You remember that,” he says. “Cos, if I ever hear of you mistreating her, I'll gut you myself.”
“Don't worry. If I ever mistreat her,” I say. “I'll gut myself.”
Evan chuckles low and shakes his head. “How did that ever happen anyway?” he asks. “A wolf and a bear. Could you have two people any more opposite than you two?”
I shrug. “You might be surprised,” I say. “We're not as different as you might think.”
“Kindred spirits,” he says.
I nod. “Yeah, something like that.”
~ooo000ooo~
We arrive at the mouth of the cave and all take a knee outside, our weapons at the ready. Exchanging glances with our team, I give them all the signal to move in. We enter the tunnel in twos – one walking along each wall of the cave, moving as quickly and quietly as we can.
The stench of the vampires is unbelievably cloying and I have to fight to keep from coughing or gagging. A quick look around tells me that everybody else is having the same problem. But we've got to fight through it.
The gentle slope down leads us deep into the heart of the cave and we finally come to the mouth of the cavern. Todd and Evan take a peek inside and when they look back at us, their faces are pale and their eyes are wide. I look over the edge and see the vampires all huddled together, a mass of pale flesh. It could just be a trick of the eye, but it looks to me like there's even more on the floor of the cavern than the last time I was here.
I look at Todd and motion for he and Dom to watch our backs. I put my finger to my lips, trying to tell them that they need to be silent. He nods as if he understands and the two men turn and trot a few yards back up the cave tunnel.
Neesa gives me an uneasy glance as I kneel down and put the pack on the ground before me. I hand her the remote and then slip the bomb out of the pack, setting it down as gently as I can. Evan and his man are watching the mouth of the cavern, their faces tight and their bodies tense.
I punch in the code to activate the bomb and a green light comes on, indicating that it's armed. Grabbing the rope we'd attached to the bomb, I pick it up and set it on the edge of the cavern mouth. I see a few of the vampires stirring and I freeze for a moment. The sound of their collective breathing – even and steady – echoes around the cavern.
I lower the bomb down to the ledge that sits a couple of feet below the cave mouth. It hits the rock with a sharp ping and I stop, everybody looks to me and I'm holding my breath. Nothing stirs and the vampires, deep in slumber, apparently don't notice. I feel the sweat on my brow and rolling down my back as I settle the bomb down on the ledge. It's secure.
I nod to everybody and we turn to go just as the sound of that high-pitched keening echoes around the cavern, freezing the blood in my veins. I turn back to see several of the vampires in that mass of flesh standing up, staring straight at us.
“Shit,” I yell. “Everybody run. Run now!”
Todd and Dom rush back and stand at the mouth of the cavern, immediately firing their weapons. The rattling of automatic gunfire echoes off of the stone walls, mixing with the nightmarish screams of the vampires, creating a cacophony that sounds like it's coming straight from the bowels of Hell.
“Silver bullets,” Todd yells to be heard over the din. “It'll slow 'em down. Now, go.”
I give him a clap on the back and the rest of us turn and sprint down the tunnel. Ahead of us though, half a dozen vampires drop down form a hole in the ceiling in the tunnel, blocking our way. Neesa and I draw our swords as the vampires advance on us.
Evan and his man start firing bolt after bolt from their crossbows, catching the vampires and knocking them down. But they get up again and come after them, their screeching burrowing into my ears. I step forward and thrust the point of my blade into the throat of the vampire nearest to me. It coughs and spits, a wet gurgling sound, but backs up, pulling itself off my blade. The creature looks at me and hisses, its face a mask of absolute hatred. I swing my sword in a murderous arc, taking the vampire's head clean off its body.
I turn just in time to see Neesa moving and spinning gracefully, her arms and steel nothing more than a blur. I see a grin on her face as her blade slices through the neck of a vampire, separating head from body. She lunges forward, kicking the headless corpse into the creature rushing toward her. The vampire trips over the body and stumbles forward. Neesa nimbly steps to the side and slashes with her slender, curved blade. The cut is clean – the head rolls from the body and the vampire doesn't get up again.
I turn to see that Evan's man is dead, his eyes open wide and a gaping wound in his neck. The blood pooling on the ground around him is thick and dark. One of the vampires is kneeling over the pool of blood, licking it up. It turns to me – its face, smeared with blood and gore, a visage of horror – hissing a challenge. I close the distance between us quickly and take its head off with the swing of my blade.
Evan is battling two of the creatures – and seems to be losing. Before I can move to him though, Neesa is there. She spins, her arms and legs lashing out, knocking the vampires off of him. She steps forward and with a graceful spin, slashes through the neck of the first vampire. I move toward the second and bring my blade down, feeling it as it bites through the flesh of the creature. It looks at me, its eyes wide and opens its mouth to scream. I kick the head and it rolls off to the side of the tunnel harmlessly.
Neesa is helping Evan to his feet when I realize that something is missing – the sound of gunfire. Spinning, I turn to see that Todd and Dom have been swarmed by the vampires. All I can see is a mound of pale flesh pulsing and writhing as they feed on the two men.
“We have to go,” I say. “We have to go now.”
The three of us turn and run, the sound of the vampire's keening following us up the tunnel. I hope that as long as there is still blood to be had, they'll stay with the bodies.
“Neesa, the remote,” I say.
I turn to her and see her eyes grow wide. She stops suddenly and turns back. Skidding to a halt, I move back to her, my sword at the ready.
“What is it?” I ask.
She's busy patting down her pockets, growing more frantic by the second.
“The remote,” she says. “I lost it. In the fight, I must have dropped it.”
“Shit,” I say.
At the mouth of the cavern, I see the vampires turn almost as one to look at us. The sound of their chittering and keening fills the air with a malevolent sound that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
“We have to find it,” I say. “We have to end this.”
“I'll cover you,” she says.
“No,” I snap. “You get out of here now.”
“You can't take them all on yourself,” she says.
“That's suicide, man,” Evan adds.
“You two go,” I say. “Somebody needs to get back to Asher. Maybe Riley can get another remote or figure out another way to detonate it.”
“I'm not leaving you,” Neesa says.
I turn to her and give her a gentle smile. “Yes, you are,” I say. “I will not have you die here. Just know that I love you.”
I nod to Evan who grabs her from behind. He wraps her up tight and drags her, kicking and screaming toward the mouth of the cave – out into the dying sunlight outside. I turn back to see the mass of vampires at the mouth of the cavern. Looking at me. Waiting for me to make a move.
; “Well, this was a great idea,” I mutter to myself.
Gripping my sword, I walk back down the tunnel, my eyes scanning the ground for the remote. Neesa's voice, yelling and screaming fills my ears, drowning out the sound of the vampires. But then as one, they start to move. They rush down the tunnel toward me, their mouths open wide, their fangs ready to taste my blood.
I'm not going to make it easy on them though.
The tunnel isn't overly wide, which limits the effectiveness of their numbers. But still, there's a lot of them. I start to hack and slash, my blade slicing through flesh. Heads and limbs go flying and the smell of blood is overpoweringly thick in the air. I wade through the vampires, feeling their hands pulling at me.
I spin in a circle, keeping my blade at shoulder level, and decapitate half a dozen of them in one go around. The rest of the pack backs up a bit, all staring at me with hatred on their faces, with hunger in their eyes. But they maintain the circle around me, none of them daring to step forward to taste my steel.
“You learn quickly,” I say, my breathing a little ragged.
I turn in a circle, my blade still pointed at them, threatening them with the same fate as their friends if they dare step toward me. All the while, I'm scanning the ground. We're in the area where we were first attacked, which means that the remote should be somewhere around here. But all I can see are long, pale legs and the feet of the vampires.
“Son of a bitch,” I growl. “Where the hell is it?”
I keep turning in a circle, at a standoff with the vampires – for the moment. I know it won't last long though. Eventually, one of them is going to work up the balls to come charging in. And when one does, the others will quickly follow. And if that happens, I'm going to meet the same fate as Todd and Dom – buried under a mass of pale flesh who is feeding on my blood and body.
I'm frustrated and about to start trying to hack my way out of the cave when I spot it. Next to the tunnel wall behind the vampires – a green light. The remote. It's there. I have to act quickly to get to it and hope that luck is on my side.
With a scream, I step forward and start slicing my way through the vampires. Their angry keening starts again and I feel the crush of bodies all around me. I make it to the wall of the cave and scoop up the remote. I'm well inside the blast radius so I can't detonate it now. But this also might be my best chance to end this once and for all.
I scream when a pair of fangs sinks into my arm. I feel my blood flowing down my arm and feel the suction of the vampire's mouth. The scent of my blood sends the others into a frenzy as their keening grows louder and the crush of bodies presses closer to me. The only bit of luck on my side is that there are so many pressing against me, no single one of them is able to get to me.
I hit the vampire on my arm with the hilt of my sword as hard as I can. I hear the crack of bone beneath the silver hilt and the vampire staggers back a few steps. I renew my attack, swinging my blade as hard as I can, lopping off as many heads as I can.
But there's too many of them. My energy is flagging and I'm weakening. I can't win this fight. And for the first time in my life, I realize that I'm staring death in the face. But rather than fear it, I welcome it. At least I know that I can die having tasted true happiness – true love – at least once in my existence. Neesa changed my entire world and for that, I'm thankful.
Although I'd obviously like to spend the rest of my days with her, just that small taste of happiness and contentment is enough. It's going to have to be because I'm not going to get anymore.
I drop my sword and press the button on the remote as the crush of bodies finally overwhelms me. I feel teeth sinking into my flesh, feel my blood flowing, smell the stink of the vampires as the swarm me. I cry out as I feel skin being stripped from my body. I'm completely covered in vampires, their weight pressing down on me and I think that I may die of suffocation before the fire gets to me.
And then I hear my salvation. There's a loud whooshing sound and I feel the heat coming up the tunnel. The last thing I hear are the agonized screams of the vampires – and then the world fades to black.
Chapter Twenty
The first thing I'm aware of is the feel of sunlight on my skin. I open my eyes and it’s blindingly bright. The second thing I'm aware of is the pain radiating from every inch of my body. Moving even a finger is an exercise in excruciating agony.
I'm dead. I remember the tunnel. Remember the vampires. Remember detonating the bomb. I'm dead. But if I'm dead, why am I in such agony?
And then Neesa's face fills my field of vision. She looks down at me, her eyes filled with tears, but a smile upon her lips – her beautiful, full lips. I remember what it was like to feel them pressed to mine. Remember the taste of her. Remember the scent of her.
One of her tears falls onto my cheek and I feel it splash upon my skin.
“But, I'm dead,” I say in a hoarse, creaking voice I barely recognize.
My throat is dry and like everything else on my body, agonizingly painful.
“Don't speak,” she says, though her voice sounds like it's a million miles away. “You need time to heal. To recover.”
“B – but I'm dead,” I whisper – not that it helps the pain any.
Neesa shakes her head. “You're not,” she cries, the tears rolling fast and free down her cheeks. “You're alive. You're alive, Jackson.”
I lean my head back and groan as a wave of agony washes over me, pulling me down into its darkened depths again.
~ooo000ooo~
I open my eyes and the first thing I'm aware of is the darkness pressing against the windows. I see the slender sickle of moon hanging high in the velvety folds of darkened sky outside. The second thing I'm aware of is that my pain is greatly reduced. I can turn my head and move my fingers without feeling like I want to die.
Neesa's face hovers in my field of vision. Her smile is wider and there are fewer tears, but her eyes still glimmer with them.
“W – what happened?” I ask. “I'm supposed to be dead.”
“But you're not,” Neesa replies, her voice sounds closer this time, though it sounds as if I'm hearing her voice from underwater. “You do need your rest though.”
I struggle to sit up, but a bolt of pain lances through me. My head spins and a wave of nausea grips me. I manage to fight it off, but it leaves me weak and out of breath. I lean back and try to fight off the darkness that's creeping in at the edges of my vision.
But it's too strong. And I'm too weak. It overpowers me and pulls me under once more.
~ooo000ooo~
I open my eyes and the first thing I'm aware of is that it's raining outside. The sky is slate gray and fat drops roll down the windows. Lightning behind the clouds lights them up and soon after, the rumble of thunder rolls across the sky. The second thing I'm aware of is that I feel no pain. None, whatsoever.
I sit up in bed and find Neesa sitting in a chair against the wall reading a book. She looks up and drops the book. It hits the floor with a clatter and a rustle of pages. She gets up and practically runs to the side of the bed. She looks down at me, her eyes fill with tears and she pulls my hand to her lips, placing soft but fervent kisses upon it.
“How do you feel?” she asks.
“Confused.”
She nods and laughs. “I'm sure.”
Neesa grabs a glass of water from the table next to the bed and holds the straw to my lips. I take some in, relishing the feel of the cool water in my mouth. It feels so amazing that I almost orgasm as it slides down my throat. I take a couple of long drinks of water before she sets the glass back down.
“Not too much yet,” she says.
I look around and see that I'm in a hospital room. Sort of. I have a feeling that I know where I am. It's a clinic we often use to rehab from injuries that can't really be explained to the police. It's run by Dr. Patterson – another ally of ours. But how I got here still remains a mystery to me.
“I set off the bomb,” I say. “I'm supposed to b
e dead.”
“But you're not,” Neesa says again.
“Turns out, the vampires helped you live,” says a voice from the doorway.
I look up to see Luca leaning against the frame, his hands in his pockets, a smile that looks more relieved than happy on his face.
“Good to see you back among the living, brother,” Luca says.
“Thanks,” I say. “But, I still don't understand how I'm here.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Neesa asks. “Back to normal?”
I shrug. “Pretty close to it,” I say. “I don't hurt anywhere and –”
“Good,” she says.
Neesa reaches back and punches me in the shoulder. Hard. Her face isn't playful at all – it transforms into the face of one pissed off woman.
“You asshole,” she seethes. “What in the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed.”
“Should have been killed,” Luca says. “You should punch him again for that.”
Neesa punches me again. Even harder this time. I grunt and try to shy away from her.
“Not helping, Luca,” I say.
“Sorry, was I supposed to be?” he asks.
Neesa goes on a tirade about how stupid what I did was. That it was irresponsible. She rails on me for a good ten minutes about anything and everything that pops into her mind. If Luca hadn't put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, she probably would have gotten around to blaming me for the Kennedy assassination and the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.
“I think you made your point, Neesa,” he says and chuckles.
“I better have,” she says, her eyes narrowed. “Because if you ever pull something like that again, I swear to God, I'll have you brought back to life so I can kill you myself.”
“And if anybody can pull that off,” Luca says, “I'd put my money on her. This is one fierce woman.”
I look at her and can't keep the smile from my lips. “She is definitely fierce,” I say. “How long have I been here, anyway?”
“A month,” Neesa seethes. “And you're lucky you healed that quickly. Dr. Patterson says it's nothing short of a miracle.”
Mated to a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 3) Page 13