4 Vamp Versus Vamp

by Christin Lovell

  Another heartbeat began to echo in the dark space, followed by another. I pressed my back to Kellan’s, searching the room, but no one else was in there, which meant it was their hearts that’d begun beating again slowly.

  “How did you do it?”

  “A window will never separate me from my target,” my grandfather stated. He stood tall, his arms folded behind his back; his arrogance was palpable.

  “Your hearts. You stopped them from beating, at least temporarily.” That also explained why I didn’t hear anything at my house.

  He chuckled. “We all have our secret weapons, Alexa.”

  “I suggest you leave at once,” Mr. Hartford said. He stepped forward, officially joining the front line.

  Cesar laughed boisterously. “Or what? You don’t think I have your home surrounded? See, it’s much easier for a vampeen to slip in amongst the thread of human heartbeats in a residential area. My men are out there. Likewise, I’ve instructed them to bomb this home if I don’t walk out in — ” He lifted his left hand, sliding back the cuff of his shirt to reveal his watch. “Oh, my. It seems I have less than three minutes to meet my men with Alexa. So, what do you say, granddaughter?”

  Serum flooded my mouth. The room felt claustrophobic under the mounting tension from every angle.

  “Don’t!” Kellan’s single cry hit me hard. I closed my eyes to the pain, the emotional cry in his sharp command.

  We both knew there was only one way for this to end, though. I had to go. If I didn’t go, they all died. Even if I refused, we had about two minutes to fight off these men, grab Mel, and get out. Then we would be attacked from who knew how many angles by who knew how many vampeens outside. We were likely outnumbered.

  “You’re bluffing,” Kalel snarled.

  “Perhaps.”

  I screamed when my grandfather had Kalel at gunpoint faster than the speed of light. “Stop!” My veins lit up in a flash, illuminating the space.

  I heard Gabi gasp behind me. I knew Jack would be in front of her, ever her protector, by now.

  “Don’t, Leka.” Kalel breathed heavily as he glared into my grandfather’s eyes. Cesar had the barrel of the gun pressed to Kalel’s head at an angle.

  My heart beat erratically. Sweat began to dot my brow as I gazed helplessly at them. “I’ll go. Put the gun away.”

  He immediately tucked the weapon into the waist of his pants. “I knew you would see things my way.” He smiled sweetly. My stomach churned with disgust. I couldn’t believe I was related to him. “Let’s go.”

  The men dropped the casket. Kellan and Craig caught it before it could hit the concrete floor. Mr. Hartford was right behind them. They quickly set Mel carefully on the ground.

  I met Kellan’s gaze. His nostrils flared, and his muscles bunched beneath the fabric of his clothes. “I will get you back. I swear.”

  “I know.” I felt peace descend upon me. I believed in Kellan. I believed in my friends as much as they believed in me. I was going to be alright. Slowly my flesh returned to its normal hue, no longer a blue map of my bloodline. Cesar roughly gripped my upper arm and jerked me towards the stairs. We ascended in a hurry, his two men behind us to prevent any attack efforts. “I love you.” Cesar pushed me outside into the cool morning air. The sun was just beginning to peek its head over the horizon, meaning it was about 6 a.m.

  KELLAN

  Damn it! I can’t believe I lost her again! This was war. Cesar wanted to play hardball; I was going to play even harder.

  “Claire, call Auggy and have him get a team of vampeen soldiers out here. I need vampeens to infiltrate Cesar’s camp. Kalel, call Kai and get him to send a team of weapons experts. I want freaking black op–ready vamps to swarm his place once the vampeens get us in. Jack, I need your computer skills. Lexi should have her cell phone on her — see if you can hack into the tracker inside. It’s set up through the vamp army.”

  “No problem.” Jack raced upstairs to get his computer. Kalel and Claire followed him, phones already placed to their ears.

  “Gabi, you stay here with Steven and Craig. Guard Mel. I don’t think he’ll come back since he got what he wanted, but you never know.”

  “We’ve got it covered,” Steven assured me. The heat in his eyes said he was ready to battle anyone who came at his daughter again.

  “Fudgin’ fish sticks!” Craig roared. “My girl is safe, yours isn’t, mate. Stop piddlin’ and let’s crack some donkeys.” He met my gaze; determination blazed from his stance. He was going with me; I wasn’t going to be able to talk him out of it.

  “I’ll call for army backup,” Steven said.

  “I’ll call Art to send a few of the Bladangs’ vamp guard over to sweep the area and hang out,” Gabi added. “We’ll be covered here, Kellan. Just go get her back. Your best shot at doing that is in transit, not on his territory.”

  I nodded. She was right. We had to act fast.

  LEXI

  “Where are we going?” I tried to stall, allowing him to drag me to the car. My lack of cooperation was nothing against his strength, though.

  “You won’t slow me down,” he stated confidently.

  The two men behind us separated and raced around towards the back of the house as we approached a black town car. The windows were nearly as dark as the paint. The back door opened before Cesar could reach for the handle. He shoved me inside ahead of him.

  My body was rammed into a hard surface. I looked up, only to find an angry vampeen sneering down at me. His blond hair was shaved in a crew cut, reminiscent of the military, reminiscent of Auggy. His muscles rivaled a professional bodybuilder. Every vein stood out, every muscle clearly defined beneath his skin.

  I gulped as I sat down beside him. Facing forward, I couldn’t see anything. A window separated us from the drive; clearly it had been spray-painted black, for even I, as a vamp, couldn’t see through it. This wasn’t good. They were blinding me.

  I shoved my hand in my pocket and removed the battery from my phone. The battery had my tracking device on it.

  No sooner had I done it that he looked at me pointedly. “Phone.”

  “But — ”

  “Phone! You think I’m stupid? You think I don’t know your hand is in your pocket dialing them already so they can trace the call and find you?”

  I swallowed hard, fidgeting to replace the back of the phone so he wouldn’t be onto me. I’d just snapped it in place when the large guy beside me yanked my hand out of my pocket. I held tightly to the Blackberry. The buff male easily snatched it from my grip, though. He promptly passed it to Cesar, who tossed it out the car before he shut the back door.

  “Go,” he instructed the driver. I felt the car jerk into motion.

  My gut tightened. I prayed that the tracker worked. I studied my grandfather on one side of me and the bodyguard on the other side of me. They were the opposite of each other in girth, yet I knew my grandfather probably outranked him in physical threat. The size of a vampire was an illusion. Whether they were fat or thin, short or tall, they were typically equally matched in strength and speed, grace and agility.

  I focused on breathing steadily as the car traveled. No one spoke. My grandfather and his sidekick didn’t even flinch. I was beginning to wonder if they’d turned into statues the way they sat forward without moving. I was the only one fidgeting in the back seat.

  My mind began to wander the longer we sat there. I couldn’t even begin to fathom where they were taking me. He’d somehow dragged Kellan and Craig to another state and had begun torturing them in the time it took me and Mel to grab a bite to eat after school.

  “What do you plan to do with me?”

  His lips lifted in the corners; his eyes sparkled with mischief and amusement. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Why are you so dedicated to your father, but not to your own children?”

  He spun on me. I immediately pressed into my neighbor’s solid arm to create a space between us as my chest constricted. The soli
d mask of anger on his face sent a chill down my spine. “You can either sit in silence, or I can make you silent.” His eyes grew dark as he spoke.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I situated myself to face forward before I opened them again. I didn’t know what I expected. Perhaps I was still hopeful to establish some sort of connection with him; maybe I thought I’d be able to appeal to him on some level. All I knew was the longer I sat there, the tighter my chest seemed to grow and the smaller my hope seemed to get.

  A male voice came in over a speaker. “Boss, we have company.”

  My grandfather pressed something and the window dropped, revealing we were on a long stretch of highway surrounded by trees.

  KELLAN

  “Sam, Ash, Johnson, and Ridge, I want you four in the trees now,” I ordered into the handheld radio. These were the men Kai had deployed from our area to meet up with us.

  “We’re on it,” Johnson answered.

  “Kalel, I need you to get closer. Auggy’s men are coming by air, so it’s up to us on the ground.” The vamp immediately sped up. We’d rushed to his vehicle the moment we thought the coast was clear.

  My phone rang. The caller I.D. revealed it was Jack. “What do you have for me?”

  “There’s roadwork about ten miles ahead on the highway. If you’re going to do something, now is the time.”

  “Got it. Just stay behind us and cover our rear.”

  “Will do.”

  I shoved my phone in my pocket. “You ready for this?” I asked Kalel.

  The glare in his eyes said he was if the snarl on his face didn’t. “I’ve been ready,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “Claire, where’s air support?” I called into the radio.

  “A couple miles back. Make your move now, and they’ll be there in time to back you up.”

  “Thanks.” I looked to the forest. “Johnson, Ash, Sam, Ridge, if any of you have a clear shot, take it!” I shoved the radio into one of the console’s cubbies.

  I reached into the back seat of the SUV and grabbed the M16. I quickly had it locked and loaded.

  “Aim for the car, not the windows. They’re likely to be bulletproof anyway. Plus, we don’t know where Leka is in the car. Stay away from the trunk, too,” Kalel advised.

  “I’m one step ahead of you. I’m going to aim for their tires. How close can you get me?”

  “Safely? A couple hundred yards.”

  “Let’s hope all the training pays off, then.”

  Kalel sped up. He studied his phone briefly, watching the tracker moving up ahead of us on the map on his screen. “We’re closing in quickly.” We both scanned the horizon ahead. The only car in sight was a black Lincoln town car. “That’s got to be our mark.”

  I slid the passenger seat as far back as it’d go. Kalel lowered the window for me. I braced myself as I aimed the M16 through the opening at the car up ahead. In the distance I heard several aircraft getting closer.

  I fired the first round, but the bullets began bouncing. “There’s too much distance and unpredictability. The farther away we are, the more uncontrollable my shots are going to be. With our men in the perimeter, I don’t want to chance it.” I tossed the gun into the back and reached for the Walther P99 in the glove compartment. “I’ll need you to get as close as possible.”

  “Be careful. We’re not fully protected with the window down.”

  “Noted.”

  Fear drove me. I didn’t know what the bastard had done to her or what he planned to do if we didn’t get Lexi while we had the chance. She’d gone with Cesar, counting on me to save her before he did anything to her. It was the first time she’d put her full faith in me, and I’d be damned if I let her down.

  We both watched as a mechanical shooter with a circle of bullets dropped down from behind the bumper. Kalel quickly switched lanes, creeping up on the left side of the town car, just in time to avoid the shots fired. I checked behind us to find that Jack had followed us, probably picking up on the threat. I had to give the vamp props. He’d been more help than anyone. After finding Lexi’s cell phone outside, I panicked, but he’d assured us the tracker would be on the battery since it’d need a power source. He immediately cracked into the army’s database and tracked her to I-26 heading west.

  Kalel had called Kai, who located a few of his men in the area while Claire got Auggy on the phone and delivered the news. He promptly ordered air support.

  “You need to take your shot. We’re getting closer to the construction zone,” Kalel warned. He sped up, closing the gap between us and the Lincoln.

  LEXI

  “I knew we should have driven the Lamborghini,” Cesar huffed. “Did Oswald install the specs I requested on this car yet?”

  “No, sir. You told him to do the Rover first, remember, sir?” the driver replied.

  “Just drive!” my grandfather yelled.

  I was giddy inside. I was elated to know they were near, yet fear knotted my stomach as to how they were going to get to me.

  “Ross, open the back window so Greg can open fire on them.”

  The bulky vamp beside me pulled out a gun from his back. He slid through the window; using the car as a shield, he aimed over the roof of the car and fired shots. My heart jumped at every round.

  A minute later he returned to his seat and mumbled something in a foreign language. My grandfather barked something in return, but I couldn’t understand. The driver tossed a gun back at Greg. He caught the weapon and moved back to his shooting perch. Each gunshot that flew through the air twisted my gut tighter. I was waiting for a crash, waiting for any sound that indicated he’d connected with something or someone.

  My eyes shot open at the sound of bullets being returned; pride surged, knowing they were fighting for me. I jumped as a pellet hit the roof of the car, bouncing off the metal frame.

  My grandfather began screaming in the foreign language again. The driver’s voice escalated in return, though it didn’t hold the same growl Cesar’s did.

  I screamed as bullets began pounding the roof from overhead. I bent my head, wrapping my arms around it, though I knew that wouldn’t do much to protect me from any rogue shots that made it through the car’s armor.

  “You!” My grandfather yanked me by my hair. “Out!”

  “Out?” I squeaked.

  He tossed open his door, immediately pulling me in front of him. I grabbed the door, trying to stabilize myself. He pushed me forward, trying to expel me from the car. My heart pounded in my chest. Serum inundated my mouth to the point where I choked, forced to spit it out on cement that was merely a blur.

  I saw Kellan in the black SUV. One eye was on me, the other watching the car for any sudden moves. He said something to Kalel, but between the gust of the wind, given our speed, and my pulse pounding in my ear, I couldn’t hear. Looking up, I saw two fighter jets in the air hovering above us. That was who had shot at the car.

  “I said out!” I felt three shoes splinter into my back, sending me flying onto the pavement.

  Pain shot through me; my skin burned as I slid along the road, the cement slicing through my clothes. It happened so fast. I felt the sting of hitting the highway, felt the blood already slicking my body at the same time two sets of brakes squealed. I felt a burst of wind as Kalel barely avoided hitting me, followed by Jack.

  Common sense had me rolling onto the grass between the road and the woods running parallel to it. I groaned. Every move jostled me, sent a new ache through my battered limbs. I closed my eyes as I came to my knees. Before I could fully extend my arms to push up, he was there.

  “Don’t move,” he ordered. Kellan gently rolled me onto my back. He ripped his shirt off over his head, mindless about exposing himself. He began dabbing at my cuts.

  I smiled up at him perched over me. “Is this my Jacob moment?”

  His emerald eyes glittered in the sun, his muscles gleaming under its bright rays. “At least I know you’re thinking straight.”

&
nbsp; Kalel broke into my line of vision. “Auggy has a copter landing on the highway in two minutes to take her back to base.”

  Craig came into my peripheral vision. I was shocked to see him here instead of with Mel.

  “Dollop of a doozy swack you took there, love.” Craig frowned, assessing me with the rest of them.

  Jack approached, a leather bag in hand. He bent down on one knee beside me. Jerking the bag open, he poured alcohol on some gauze and pressed it to my skin.

  I winced, scrunching my face at the pain. “I’m a vampeen, but I’m still vulnerable to the sting of that crap,” I grumbled.

  Jack acknowledged my whine with a jut of his chin, as if to challenge me to fight him off.

  “Glad to know you’re okay,” Kalel chuckled.

  “Of course I’m okay. It wasn’t fun, but I survived.” I knew I would be sore for a couple hours at least. Thankfully I’d fed recently, so I’d heal well.

  Kellan caressed my cheek. “Don’t scare me like that again.”

  “You? Me.” I ground my teeth as Jack moved onto a new scrape, the burn of the alcohol in a new area jolting me. I immediately flinched at the pain as I jerked away from him. He loyally followed, never losing contact with my skin. “Must you be such a good medic?”

  “Just let him work.” Kellan scowled as he looked me up and down, studying every rip of my clothing and visible piece of skin. He faced Kalel. “We’re going after him. Maybe not today, but we will get him.”

  “You have my word.” Kalel dipped his head once.

  It was logical for Kellan to want to avenge the harm my grandfather had done to me, but if he did it anytime soon, it would be a reactive attack, which often meant it would be a sloppy retaliation that would put his life in greater danger. I would have to talk to Kalel about it later.

  Wind whipped at us as a helicopter approached the ground.

  “I’ll meet you at headquarters,” Kalel said. “Be safe, Leka.” He gently squeezed my thigh before standing and returning to the SUV.

  “I’m going back to the house to check on the others.” Jack passed a newly doused piece of gauze to Kellan. “You staying with them or coming with me?” he asked Craig.