by D. N. Hoxa
I couldn’t help myself any longer. I raised my head and tried to look around. I saw nothing—at first. Then, the face of a woman appeared right in front of mine. I almost screamed.
She had large black eyes and short blonde hair. She wore leather from head to toe and her long fingernails were painted bright red. I only saw that because she put one finger in front of her lips to tell me to shut the hell up before sound even left my lips. Then, she reached for my hands and cut the rope around my wrists in one swift movement.
That’s when it hit me. She was one of Finn’s agents. Clara Summers was her name, but I’d had no idea she was a vampire and I hadn’t really had time to ask.
When I was finally free, she pulled me up to my feet by my hands and waved for me to follow her. I was burning to look around and try to make out where we were, but there was no time. All that mattered now was that I’d been followed. I wasn’t alone and everything hadn’t gone to waste.
Running in the dark was trickier than it sounds. I had no idea what I was going to step on next, and the pressure to keep as silent as possible didn’t help. When my feet hit asphalt, I ran faster, right behind Clara, who was running at normal speed for my benefit. Another two minutes and she stopped dead in her tracks. I almost bumped into her back.
“Wayne!” someone whispered.
I recognized Bender’s voice, and my heart almost knocked itself out of my chest. He was hiding behind a branchless tree, waving for me to go to him. Clara had already disappeared, probably behind the many trees around us. I ran over to Bender with my heart in my throat. He slammed my back against the tree trunk as soon as he could reach me, then looked back to see if someone had followed us.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “Where the hell are we?”
“Staten Island,” he whispered.
“Is everybody here?”
“Right behind us,” Bender said. “We’re going in right away. Are you okay to fight?”
“Absolutely.” The headache was still there, but it was perfectly manageable. The fighting was going to take my mind off it, anyway. “Have you checked the perimeter? What are we looking at?”
I stepped away from the tree and looked at where I’d come from. Across the street there was a large empty field with a single building in the middle. No light anywhere near it. That’s where I’d been.
“There’s not much we can see, but it’s only a matter of time before they figure out you’re gone.”
Bender was right. The element of surprise was priceless, and we didn’t have the luxury of wasting it.
“Let’s go,” I breathed and took out my gun and one of my knives. Adrenaline warmed my body to the bone, and I couldn’t wait to start fighting already. Whoever those beasts were, after tonight, they would be no longer.
I took a step forward and held my breath. The rest followed. All of them followed, and only after I heard their footsteps did I realize just how many they were. It gave me a much needed courage boost, and after that first step, I began to run. It sounded like the whole world was behind me, and in that moment, it dawned on me just how much all the covens together could do. All the difference they could make. If I got out of this alive, I was going to have to make sure that the leaders understood this.
Before I knew it, we were right in front of the building. Only then could we make out all the vampires blending into the dark walls like freaking chameleons—all thirty-two of them. Not the best case, but still doable. The witches—and Clara the vampire—were right behind me, weapons drawn and magic ready. We were going to end this, now.
“Wayne,” Bender whispered. “Holy shit, Wayne.” He sounded terrified.
“What?” I hissed. Couldn’t he see the vampires in front of us, teeth sharp and weapons ready, just waiting for us to make a move?
“It’s Trevor,” he said. “I just got his text. He decoded the ritual.”
My whole body froze. The way he said it, it just couldn’t be good, could it? I looked at his face, just to make sure, and when I found him paler than the moon, my fear intensified.
“It’s Hedge magic, Wayne. The beasts are Hedge witches.”
The world stopped for a very long second, and when it started to spin again, it made me want to throw my guts out.
Hedge witches. The words echoed in my head, chasing every other thought away from my mind. Hedge witches, as in Night witches. Hedge witches, as in the most powerful witches to have ever existed.
But Hedge witches were extinct, were they not? The whole world said it. The whole world believed it. Nobody had seen one alive in decades. Half of me wanted to believe that. It wanted me to believe that Ammic had gotten the ritual all wrong. There were no Hedge witches, period.
But the other half of me had finally made sense of the mystery. Witches strong enough to hide from the world for years. Strong enough to kill pack wolves and get away with it. Strong enough to create the perfect disguise.
Strong enough to kill with a single blast of magic.
Of course. Of course they were Hedge witches, and of course, they worked with vampires, the only other paranormals that belonged to the night. And we were in their territory, at the time they were the strongest. No, scratch that, at the time they were invincible.
“We need to go back.” My voice broke, the fear coming in waves off it. “We need to go back!” I shouted at the top of my voice because the vampires would be able to hear me even if I whispered. “Retreat, now!”
My voice echoed in the night. All those people were going to die if we stayed. I didn’t care if we failed. We were no match for the witches behind those vampires.
Bender seemed to agree. He was right behind me when I turned around to where we came from. I was going to run as fast as my legs would let me, and we weren’t going to stop until we were far, far away from that place.
Except, before I could even take the first step, I saw them. I saw the vampires waiting. All twenty of them had been right behind us the whole damn time. They’d circled us, and there was no way to go but through them.
That wouldn’t have been a problem, if they didn’t have friends on the other side of us, too. I called up my shield because my body could already feel it. We weren’t going anywhere without a fight.
“Shit.” The word left my mouth just as the first gun fired, tearing the air and the silence, until it landed on my shield.
From then on, chaos erupted. Before I knew it, there was a vampire in front of me, and my bullet barely caught it, right in the mouth. Another hissed at me, showing me all of its sharp teeth. I tried to aim my gun at his head, but he pushed my arm away too fast. I sent my beads to his eyes with my mind, and the second they won me was enough for my knife to slide right under his chin. He froze. A second later, my second bullet was in his brain.
I only had a split second to look at Bender and the rest of the witches I could see. Vampires were all over them, and vampires were all over me, too. One in front and the other right behind.
My eyes burned from not daring to blink for too long. Those fuckers moved too fast, and I couldn’t afford to lose sight of them for as long as I could keep this up. As I fought them both at the same time, adrenaline returned, and my blood caught fire. My magic burned brightly inside me, demanding to be used, but there were too many people there. Even though they were fighting, at least one of them would see me, and I didn’t want to fight these nasty vampires only to end up in prison in the morning—or worse.
No, I had to resist the urge and use my body, just like I always had—and my beads. Whenever I could use my fingers to direct them, it was almost like I was in the fairy realm again with Julian. They were that strong. Unfortunately, when I ran out of bullets, I only had my knives to rely on, and the vampires didn’t exactly give me a chance to stretch my fingers often. So I kept on fighting with what I had.
I got bitten in both my arms and one sucker got me on the back of my neck while I was trying to kill his friend in front of me. His teeth
stung like hell, but the real pain wouldn’t register just yet, so I took advantage of that, went down to my knees and spun around with my arms outstretched and my knives in my hand. I caught both of their thighs and cut them deep enough so that they hissed and jumped back.
Coming up, I buried one knife in one chest—I couldn’t tell which was which anymore—and I left it there before I set my beads for the other’s Adam’s apple. That shit had to really hurt, and I confirmed it when the vampire stepped back and gave me enough time to grab another knife from my hip belt, then stab him in the neck, once, twice, grab him by his blonde hair, and bury my knife right through his temple.
The other was still behind me, and he’d gotten the knife I left in his chest out. He charged me with it, and my cheek stung like I’d been burned by the sun. With my arms in front of me, I walked backwards, careful not to trip and fall over the dead bodies. The vampire sliced me with my own knife so many times, I didn’t even feel the stinging any longer.
Since I wasn’t using my hands just now, I straightened my left fingers and sent my beads flying to his face. The second the stinging stopped, I lowered my arms and with my fingers only, I pulled my beads back and pushed them forward so fast, my fingers were going to start cramping if I kept it up any longer. By the time I pulled them back, the vampire’s face was a mess of flesh and blood. He was on his knees, hands on his ruined face, just waiting for me to end him. I did so, gladly.
“Wayne, we need to get inside,” Bender called from my side, then he continued to chant again. He rarely used his body or the daggers with silver blades that he carried with him. Instead, he relied on his magic, and his spells worked wonders.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” I hissed as the next vampire came after me. I no longer dared to look at the others from fear I might see too many dead witch bodies.
“They’re not going to let us go!” Bender shouted, then chanted another spell while I finished the vampire in front of me. “We need to finish this, once and for all.”
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, he was right. These vampires weren’t going to let us go, and even if we somehow managed to kill them all, the Hedge witches would stop us. No, we were already in the middle of the storm. We might as well take the worst it had to offer and deal with it the best we could.
“Follow me,” Bender said. He put his daggers in his holster. He then turned towards the building.
It made me sick to my stomach to leave the rest of the people who’d come there to help us alone, but the sooner we ended those witches, the sooner all the fighting would be over.
There was no doubt that a part of me really hated myself. As I ran after Bender, eyes on all sides because I knew other vampires would be there waiting for us, this ugly voice in my head kept telling me that I couldn’t end those witches, just like that. Instead, it insisted, those witches were going to end me. I tried not to listen to it, I really did, but when four vampires jumped in front of us right in front of the double doors of the building, I felt discouraged.
Still, I fought alongside Bender, and it was nice to see that we made a good team in combat, too. My shield protected us from the bullets flying at us. His spells kept the vampires busy for seconds at a time—more than enough opportunities for me to bury my knives in their heads—forehead, temples, back of neck, it was all the same. They all ended up dead.
Since the doors were closed and we had no time to check if they were locked, I ran at them with my full speed and jumped and kicked them with both my feet.
Not locked. The doors slammed back against the walls inside and without hesitation, Bender and I ran in.
The sound of battle coming from outside followed us, even though the inside was silent. A wide, round room with a very high ceiling was in front of us. Some sort of a machine started from the left and in the middle of the room, it curved and continued all the way to the end. It had lots of pipes and lots of dust on it, too. I had no idea what it was, but this must have been a factory of some sorts.
Bender looked at me, probably to see if I had any clue where to go next, but I just shrugged. There were no vampires to lead the way so we went the only way we could go: forward.
Our steps echoed in the high ceiling. Our guns were raised, and we were ready for whoever was going to pop in front of us. My shield was up, my beads buzzing in front of me, and I could practically hear the spell Bender had ready at the tip of his tongue.
The smell of deadness filled the air, and at some point, I had to breathe in through my mouth before I vomited my guts out. Just how many vampires lived in there?
Never mind. I didn’t really want to know.
When we finally made it to the end of the room, we saw the large double doors that looked like they didn’t belong in that old building. Two lamps were mounted on the walls around them. We also saw the five vampires standing in front of them, smiling with their teeth sharp and eyes mad. Shivers washed over my back. One of them was the guy I’d met at Bender’s house in Bloomsburg, the one I’d given the ring to.
“Try to get through the doors as fast as you can,” Bender whispered, though I didn’t know why he bothered. The bloodsuckers could hear the wild beating of our hearts, too.
I didn’t reply. I just sent my beads forward to my friend, and I began to run.
The vampire was in front of me before I’d even taken the second step. He wrapped one hand around my neck and the other around my wrist. With my free hand, I grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, then pushed my head forward as hard as I could. My forehead slammed into his nose. Bone broke. With a hiss, the vampire let me go. I aimed my gun at his face, but he pushed my arm to the side, then blocked my other arm with the knife in it. His hits were strong as steel, and though I couldn’t feel the pain caused by all those other vampires I’d already killed, they’d weakened me. Or, my vampire friend here was much stronger than his peers.
Either way, we danced and fought, and hurt each other until we drew blood. Bender fought the other four single-handedly with his daggers drawn and his spells in his breath. They were weaker, I figured; otherwise they’d have gotten to him already. I couldn’t give him a hand for a single second because my vampire was keeping me pretty fucking busy. I think one of my teeth broke when his fist connected with my jaw, and I actually saw stars. Not my best moment.
Pissed off, I threw the gun to the floor and straightened my fingers. My beads stopped moving in response, and when the vampire’s foot hit me in the gut, I flew back and landed on my ass. But I didn’t lose my focus. With my fingers, I shot the beads forward, two aiming for his eyes, and three for his balls.
Yes, I said balls. Try getting a beating from this guy and see if you’d hesitate. I know I didn’t, and I’m happy to report that it was a damn smart move. It got the guy off me for three whole seconds. In those seconds, I jumped to my feet and ran forward. I kicked him in the jaw to return the favor, then buried my knife in his gut, right under his rib cage. I left it there and took another one from my belt. While he tried to push my beads away, I stabbed him more than ten times. He threw punch after punch, but since his eyes were closed, he only caught my face twice. Since my first move had been so brilliant, I kicked him with all my strength between the legs. He crouched. My knife reached his brain through the top of his head. Bye, bye, vampire friend.
A look at Bender said he was doing just fine. Two vampires were already on the floor, deader than they’d been just minutes ago. Without another thought, I spared my legs this time and pushed the double doors open. They were very heavy. My triceps burned like hell by the time I got them open just enough to squeeze my thin frame in.
On the other side, death called my name as six green-eyed faces decorated with wide, evil grins became the center of my attention.
Twenty four
There were no windows there. That was the first thing I noticed. The second thing was that the room seemed to have been carved inside a large white stone and a lot of its surface was covered in black velve
t. The ceiling, too. Velvet hung from it like curtains, except the gravity was all wrong. The stone floor was set with twelve different animal furs, and on the largest piece, right in the middle of the room, sat a man and a woman. Around them, above a large step, sat two more women and two more men. To my right was some sort of a closet, except it wasn’t. A closer look at it made me think of a morgue. Six cabinets with glass doors went deep inside the wall, and I could see pillows in there. Pillows. Did those witches really sleep in there?
And as if that wasn’t freaky enough, to my left, there were the four missing Green witches sitting on nice leather armchairs, and around them, floating on air, were four swords. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’d read about those. Yord Guardians were weapons you spelled to fight and guard whatever you wanted. They were invincible, obviously. Who were you going to kill—a sword? Only, when I read about them, I also read that the spell hadn’t been seen in centuries and half the witch historians believed it to be a myth.
Shivers washed over my back. Those swords were like a slap to my face. A hello-wake-the-hell-up-and-see-what-you’re-up-against slap.
“Winter Wayne,” the man sitting on the fur said.
A lump formed in my throat when I met his eyes. Though all of their eyes were bright green, I recognized his. He was the beast I’d caught. I was willing to bet my life on it.
“I knew you were trouble from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“You ugly little thing,” one of the women sitting behind him said. “Didn’t your momma ever tell you not to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong?”
“Just give her a second to breathe,” another man said. “It’s pretty obvious she’s impressed. Let her soak it all in before she dies.”
The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Reality bitch-slapped the hell out of me, again. I was all alone in a room full of Hedge witches. I was going to die.