Valerie caught my eye as I looked around. She rolled hers then nodded at the four poster bed with a pink comforter.
I’d been expecting someone younger, but the girl lying unconscious looked the same age as us. Her blonde hair fanned out across the pillow. Two swords were mounted and crossed above the headboard. They looked odd against the pink wall.
Valerie went to the head of the bed. I tried not to get annoyed at her defiance of my plan—I’d told her to get the girl’s legs. Even in a situation like this, Valerie felt the need to be stubborn. There wasn’t any time to worry about it. It didn’t matter anyway.
I grabbed her legs and we pulled her off the bed. The girl had on a pair of pink cotton shorts and a white tank top. We’d almost reached the door when a gunshot ripped through the house.
Valerie dropped Giselle. I wasn’t able to do much good holding on to her legs. The girl’s head hit the floor. At least she landed on the carpet.
Valerie and I looked at each other.
The shot was followed by yelling. No one was dead. Yet.
“We have to get out of here,” Valerie said. Before I could open my mouth she added, “Now.”
I looked down. “We have to help them first.”
“Are you insane? If we waste any more time none of us are making it out of here. Do you think Jared’s just going to let us go back home now that we know his little secret?”
“He doesn’t know we know.”
Valerie made no move to take the girl’s arms. Instead, she took a step toward me. “You saw the way he manhandled me earlier. I don’t think he ever had any intention of bringing us back alive. He’ll probably tell Melcher we died in combat. He’s going to kill us and drink from us. Well, me anyway. He won’t be able to drink from you, but he sure as hell isn’t going to leave a witness standing around. You know I’m right. He’s been watching us like a wolf watches mice from the moment we left town. Melcher will have no reason to doubt his story.”
“We can’t just leave them.”
Valerie took a step toward the door. “Fine, it’s your funeral. I’m out of here.”
Before she could take another step, a second shot rang out. This one wasn’t followed by angry shouts. It wasn’t followed by anything but silence. I dropped Giselle’s legs. From the look on Valerie’s face, I’d say her heart momentarily stopped, too.
There was no way to know who the last vamp standing was. Either way we were in deep shit. If Andre had offed Jared, he’d have no problem taking care of the human sidekicks. He might even drink from us. If we were lucky he’d go for me first…before he shot us both, hacked up the pieces, and tossed them in the bay.
Seriously, how could Valerie read shit like that for entertainment?
I looked at Valerie’s coat pocket. The one with the gun. She shook her head. I didn’t know whether that meant she didn’t have the gun, didn’t know how to use it, or didn’t want to use it.
There was no time to get the girl out, but I couldn’t leave her helpless on the floor in case Jared was the victor of the fight below. I squatted, grabbed her ankles, and dragged her toward the bathroom.
Valerie didn’t assist, but thankfully she didn’t flee either.
I pulled Giselle into the bathroom, leaving her on the floor. I didn’t have the strength to get her inside the bathtub. I looked at the inner doorknob. Sure enough, there was a push down lock on the brass knob for securing the room from the inside. I pressed it down.
As I moved back into the bedroom, I began pulling the bathroom door closed behind me.
“Someone’s coming up the stairs,” Valerie said, her words ending in a low hiss.
I stopped and listened for footsteps. I heard Jared’s voice instead. “Oh girls, where are you?”
I looked at Valerie. She put two fingers to her lips. Quiet? No shit! What did she think I was going to do? Call out, “In here?”
Jared would see us in the hallway if we tried to make a run for the sliding door.
Slowly, we backed up toward the bathroom. Our quiet steps were followed by louder ones as Jared stomped his way up the stairs. He entered the first room. “And where has Etienne gone to?” His voice had an unsettling way of carrying through the walls.
There was a metal scraping sound as Jared yanked back the shower curtain in the bathroom down the hall.
“Nice try, girls,” he said.
The following gun blast shook the walls. My eardrums rang in protest. I thought I saw Giselle twitch on the floor, but it must have been my eyes playing tricks on me. Valerie and I were in the bathroom with her in a flash. Valerie slammed the door shut behind us and leaned her body up against it.
“It’s locked,” I said.
Jared rammed against the other side. Valerie shrieked, jumped away from the door, and grabbed me. I screamed. She let go. The ramming noise stopped. “Come on girls, I know you have Giselle in there. Open up and I’ll finish the job.”
For one sick moment I considered tossing the girl out. Maybe Valerie was wrong. Maybe if we went along with the plan Jared would spare us. I looked around the bathroom. No windows. No way out.
“What’s with the gun?” Valerie called back. I had to give her points for asking in a steady voice.
“Andre pulled it on me. Damn fool. Half the homes on the hill probably heard which is why we need to stop wasting time.” The last three words were spoken with more menace than the beginning of Jared’s sentence. “Open the door.”
I looked at Valerie. She looked at the door. “No.”
“Open the door now, Red. You do not want to get on my bad side.”
I didn’t doubt that for a second after witnessing how ruthlessly he’d snapped his ex-wife’s neck, but Valerie hadn’t heard the conversation below.
“Do you think I’m stupid? I know what will happen if I open this door.”
Jared didn’t respond. I couldn’t make out any movement or breathing on the other side of the door. I tried to listen, but all the keeping quiet had frayed my last nerve. My breath came out ragged. I tried to still it, but I couldn’t.
“You had your chance,” Jared said calmly.
I heard a brusque movement in the room then silence.
“I think he left,” Valerie whispered.
“Probably to get an ax,” I whispered back.
“Then we should make a run for it now.”
My body tensed. “No way! What if he’s waiting in the hall?”
Valerie chewed on her lower lip. I looked at the girl lying at our feet. Sorry, G, I tried. At least her death would be painless and terror free.
“Hey,” Valerie whispered. She reached into one of her coat pockets and pulled out the brown bottle. “I still have half a bottle.” She pulled a pink washcloth off a stack of folded towels on a metal rack above the toilet. Valerie handed the cloth and bottle to me.
I took them in my hands. “What am I supposed to do with these?”
Valerie pulled her revolver out of her pocket. “I’ll hold him at gunpoint while you chloroform him.”
If I weren’t freaked out of my mind I would have laughed at her insanity. “No way!”
“Shh!” Valerie hissed louder than I’d spoken. She held up her left hand and we listened as Jared returned.
Something banged against the door. Valerie and I screamed. Jared whacked the door again.
Oh God, it was The Shining. Unfortunately, I actually had been present the day Mrs. Campbell played the Jack Nicolson horror film in class. The movie might be dated, but it had still freaked me out, especially the part where Jack’s wife locked herself in the bathroom, screaming as Jack hacked it down with an ax.
I could just hear him breaking a hole through the door and announcing, “Heeere’s Jared,” all creepy and crazy-eyed.
He hit the door again.
And again.
Valerie pulled out her revolver, drew back the hammer, and aimed it at the door. She nodded at me once.
My heart froze in my chest. I’d battled baddi
es and fought for my life, but this I couldn’t do. I shook my head.
Valerie shot me a stern glare. It was sort of comforting to see her give one of her normal bitchy looks.
Jared beat at the door without pause. Each blow made a sickening crack. The wood splintered at eye level, but he hadn’t broken through.
Valerie gave me another look, full of unspoken orders. She gazed pointedly at the spot beside the door.
Fuck! One way or another we were going to have to fight for our lives. I moved beside the door, jumping slightly when Jared smashed against it. I looked at Valerie. She looked at my hands. I unscrewed the bottle of chloroform and dumped the remaining contents onto the pink washcloth.
“All right!” Valerie yelled. “We’ll come out but first you have to promise you’ll calm down.”
Jared whacked the door in answer.
A look came over Valerie’s face, anger replacing fear. She placed her left foot in front of the right and held the gun steady.
I wished whatever calmness had come over her would rub off on me a little. Sheer terror coursed through my bones. At that point, I didn’t even care about looking like a scaredy-cat in front of Valerie.
Jared continued hacking at the door.
The wood splintered around the hole he made when he broke through. We caught a glimpse of his weapon. At least it was an aluminum bat, not an ax or sword. That also meant he didn’t have the gun in his hand.
Jared whacked at the hole several more times then reached through. I screamed when his arm shot inside the bathroom and grabbed the doorknob. The lock clicked open when he turned the handle. He yanked his arm back and threw open the door.
I froze.
Valerie didn’t.
She fired her pistol without a second thought.
Jared’s murderous look turned to one that seemed perplexed. He took a step back and dropped the bat. He looked down. Valerie had gotten him just below his shoulder blade. Blood stained through his t-shirt.
I felt almost as shocked as Jared. It wasn’t enough to put him down though. He bent to pick the bat up.
Scared or not, I knew it was my one and only chance. I leapt forward, pivoting around him, and grabbed his head in my hands as I shoved the washcloth over his mouth.
Please work. Please pass out, I chanted in my head. My mind played back images of Jared snapping Henriette’s neck.
Jared grabbed my arm. It was the same grip he had on me in the totem park earlier. This time he meant to break it. I felt it in his bone-crushing grip. I pressed the washcloth against Jared’s face with everything I had.
14
Getaway
Just as my bones felt ready to snap, Jared’s grip relaxed and he fell face first onto the carpet.
A sob I’d been holding back gurgled up my throat. I stood up and jumped back as though Jared might revive himself instantly and come after me, but he lay motionless on the ground.
I caught Valerie’s movement as she stepped slowly out of the bathroom. She had both hands wrapped around her gun. She kept it aimed at Jared.
“Do you still have your knife?” Valerie asked, never taking her eyes off of him.
“Yes,” I answered slowly, not sure what she was getting at.
“Finish him off.”
My jaw dropped. “He’s our team leader.”
“He tried to kill us.”
And he killed Henriette, Andre, and Etienne without pause. But I wasn’t about to stick a knife in him. “It’s Melcher’s call,” I said.
“Screw Melcher! If you won’t do it, I will.” Valerie leveled her gun at Jared’s head. Her anger took me aback.
“Leave it for Melcher,” I said. “We’ve been through enough this evening, and we have to get out of here. I’m surprised we haven’t heard sirens yet.”
That got Valerie’s attention. She hesitated a moment then pocketed her gun. I thought the situation was diffused, but then Valerie began kicking Jared and screaming, “You fucking son of a bitch!”
“Val!” I yelled.
She stopped and looked at me.
“We need to get the girl in the car.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“What if he wakes up before her?”
Valerie grabbed the bat beside Jared, took it inside the bathroom and tossed it beside Giselle’s unconscious body. The aluminum clanged against the tile floor. “There,” she said. “If she wakes up first then she can finish him off for us.”
“We’re not leaving without her.”
“Well, we need to go,” she said.
“Then grab her fucking ankles.” Cussing seemed to get Valerie’s attention. She scowled at me, but at least she obeyed and grabbed Giselle’s legs while I went for her arms.
We didn’t talk after that. We carried the body successfully down the hall and stairs, setting her down for a moment on the second floor, then brought her down the last set of stairs leading into the garage.
We stopped and set the girl down while I opened the door to the garage. At least she was skinny.
There were four vehicles inside the garage. I looked at the SUV wistfully.
“Which one?” Valerie asked.
“The Mini.”
“Fucking A.”
“Yep,” I replied, feeling the first hint of a grin since the whole ordeal began.
I unlocked the Mini and pulled the passenger’s seat up as far as it would go. While I did so, I heard a loud slap. I twisted my head around in time to see Valerie pulling her hand away from the girl’s face. “Valerie, what the hell?”
Valerie shrugged. “Worth a try. It would be a lot easier if she could get inside herself.”
I sighed. “Let’s just get her in the car and get out of here.”
I took Giselle’s shoulders again and backed my way into the Mini, taking her with me. Valerie held her legs while I did all the lifting and pulling.
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to bring her,” she said when I let out a groan.
The Mini was too short to lay the girl across the backseat. I did what I could, bending her legs to make her fit. Once her feet were clear of the door, I scooted back the way I’d come in, bumping my head on the roof before making it out. I stepped out of the car and moved the passenger seat back into sitting position. As I did so, I got a glimpse inside the front of the vehicle. “Shit!”
“What now?” Valerie asked.
I pulled my head out of the car and looked back at her. “It’s a stick shift.”
Valerie held out her hand. “Give me the keys.”
I handed them over and climbed into the passenger’s seat as she made her way to the driver’s side. I clicked the garage door opener attached to the visor inside the car. The door groaned as it lifted.
Valerie started the car. She grabbed the stick and rammed it into first gear. We jerked out of the garage. She pulled the stick back and the car jerked again. I didn’t care so long as she didn’t kill the engine. We careened down the hill, passing our rental car parked at the vacant house.
“We have to get off this island,” Valerie said.
“Agreed.”
“Do you think Jared left the plane tickets in his room?”
“It’s possible.”
“Okay.” Valerie sounded more assured. She stayed the course, backtracking to the hotel. It didn’t take long being trapped on a small island and all.
Valerie parked in the far corner of the lot, leaving the keys in the ignition.
I looked back at the girl. She was still unconscious. “What about her?”
“She didn’t see our faces. She’ll wake up wondering what the hell happened, drive home, and have to deal with finding out her vampire family is dead.” Valerie didn’t sound particularly sympathetic. “She should be grateful she’s alive, but somehow I doubt she’ll appreciate that fact.”
In my opinion, family was family whether they were vampires or humans. This loss wouldn’t come easy. It might be worse. This girl had spent generations with her fam
ily. Then to lose every single one of them suddenly…. Then again, I had my own problems to deal with and Valerie was right—she was lucky to be alive.
Valerie got out of the car first. Before I slipped out, I pressed the self-lock button on the Mini’s key fob, securing Giselle inside the car.
Valerie and I walked up to the hotel in silence. A middle-aged man wearing a pair of black framed glasses stood at the front counter, tapping at the computer in the deserted lobby. “Leave this to me,” Valerie said. “I’ll get Jared’s spare key and meet you back at our room.”
I nodded once. We split apart.
I quickened my pace in the hall, wanting only to get to the room and feel safe, but once I reached it, I wanted to grab my things as fast as I could and get the hell out of there. Jared knew where our room was. This was the least safe place in all of Sitka.
Most of my things were still in my duffel bag. I tossed in the items that weren’t. That completed, I went into the bathroom.
Valerie had her shit all over the countertop: hair dryer, big round brush, hairspray, lipstick, mascara, toothpaste and toothbrush.
I looked up, staring into the mirror. My face seemed paler than usual. Although I didn’t have any open wounds to clean this time, I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water over my face. Rubbing my skin dry with the hand towel reminded me of how I’d chloroformed Jared.
And Valerie had shot him.
If he ever caught up to us, we were dead. Not undead. Dead. Goodbye cruel life!
Maybe I should have let Valerie kill him. It’s not the kind of decision I had wanted to make with only seconds to spare. We needed to get back to Anchorage, and we needed to tell Melcher what happened.
I froze and stared into the mirror, locking eyes with myself. I had big pupils. People were always telling me they made my eyes look black the way they practically covered my irises. I looked into those black spots and tried to control the tremble that had started in my legs.
Jared was a rogue agent now. A rogue vampire agent! He knew our operations. He knew our names. No matter where we went, he knew where to find us. Melcher would expect us to finish him off. He was a threat to us all.
Northern Bites (Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter, Vol. 2) Page 13