The Blood In Between (The Safe Haven Trilogy Book 3)

by Randall G Ailes

  Belladonna regarded Beatrice, nodding several times while screwing one eye closed. “I will personally throw your ashes into the wind.”

  She tried not to show surprise or concern when Beatrice faded away before her.

  Outside the hut, archers aimed with flaming arrows. Belladonna twisted out of the way, and the ramshackle building that held vampires crouched inside, burst into wild flame.

  54

  Don Lucido flew to the scene where Ferdinand had broken through a wall into a courtyard, and from there he broke into the house after crossing to it. The occupants of the home fled when the giant appeared. Flames were towering from houses nearby. There were five or six members of the house of Del Rio strewn like dolls on the floor. Ferdinand had several arrows in him, everyone seemed to have been struck. Santos lay propped against a wall, two arrows lodged in his chest. Elena’s face was tear-tracked, an arrow through her arm and in her back. The others were moaning or not moving. This was not the strongest scene of vampire life.

  Ferdinand opened his arms, hands were palms-out, his expression tried to express humor at their situation but particularly his, as if to say, “Yes, that is why I am stuck full of arrows. I’m a big target.”

  “You were supposed to wait for me.” Don Lucido scolded.

  Ferdinand sighed and nodded sadly in agreement.

  Don Lucido continued. “It’s getting brighter, my friend. Let’s find a place to sleep. You didn’t happen to tear Milan in half did you?”

  Ferdinand shook his head “no.”

  “Maybe the steeds will do it.” Don Lucido joked.

  The fire was raging hotter and spreading faster. A dozen homes were engulfed, maybe more. Don Lucido bent to help carry the vampires peppered with arrows or lying motionless but a movement caught his eye and as he scanned the trail of pulverized walls and demolished houses. Few of the older feral children, appearing more wolf than fox came through the broken wall. These looked older, muscular and more formidable. When the vampires were discovered, a series of eerie barks and howls arose in a clamor. “Ai! Ai! Aieeeee! Arooo!”

  They were all excited and charged ahead like a pack of hounds, pulling up out of reach but exploding in noise after treeing the animal of their pursuit. This outcry would not go unnoticed.

  The vampires were fatigued after escaping a house fire, literally digging tunnels by hand and paying the price for a well laid out ambush. And now lumbering up, these abominations of Belladonna’s. These wild, simple, child-like, and animal-like creatures had been hunting them, or happened on the vampires by accident. There were seven of them and sometimes their expressions were quite human, yet in other instances, their look was unnervingly expressionless, but you knew you were being measured.

  The vampires withdrew further into the home they had broken into. The wolf-faced children remained warily outside, wanting to chase after them but so far, able to hold themselves back. They continued their cries which mounted a bit after their quarry went out of sight.

  Don Lucido brought his group to the front and they stepped out quietly. “Let’s get down to the docks. I haven’t seen it, but Charlotte tells me there is a shipwreck in the bottom of the harbor. She discovered it when she and Michael escaped from The Four Strong Winds. Michael swam to shore but Charlotte needed to hide from the sun. She went to deeper waters and found it. There will be no archers there, none of the widow’s children. The city will be in panic from the fire. It’s not likely that too many would spy us as we slipped into hiding.”

  He picked up a rock near the entry and hurled it inside. It clunked around, and a new bout of yipping and barking came as a response. “That will keep them concentrated at the back. Let’s go.”

  They pulled away from the house and went out into the street.

  “We’ll have to travel there on foot, otherwise we will have to leave the ones who aren’t awake.”

  Ferdinand, Santos and Elena helped to carry those who couldn’t travel, and moved as steadily as they could toward the harbor.

  “Don’t call thee ‘orses, Lucido. I have no friendsheep weeth them. Let theem stomp and bite somewhere else.” Elena said. “I would rather suffer the archers.”

  --------

  Arrows flew to random targets, and the one-time potter’s shack took to flame. More arrows were re-fitted to the string, lest there would come a charge from the burning building or a desperate try for escape. The group outside stood nearly in a half circle, watching the fire build and the ramshackle building become engulfed. Suddenly there was a bright flash from inside the hut, and a sudden whoosh of wind and smoke puffed out the entry. The explosion was so forceful that several were taken to their knees or they fell down completely, except Bevin and Jennifer, who stood unaffected except for being a bit windblown.

  Belladonna studied the shack that had, seconds earlier, been a flame but now just smoldered like a snuffed-out candle. She called to the vampires, who were standing with the archers, bows drawn, awaiting a target. “Join me, vampires. The witch will be weak from working her spell. No more escapes. Let’s take them while they’re still rattled.”

  Moving briskly to the entry, they stepped inside. Through smoky spirals, Belladonna could see Beatrice limping down the steps toward the room below. To call after her would give warning of their pursuit. Belladonna reached deeply into a pocket and withdrew a small bottle, and carried it in her hand as her vampires scouted the room. Everyone was of the same mind. The ones who were crouching down below should not be given the chance to make preparations. They moved quickly but quietly to strike the death blow they had sought for so long.

  Beatrice was weary, not quite the warrior we had seen going up the steps. Charlotte and I advanced toward her, but with a quick facial expression she let us know that was a bad idea. So we pressed ourselves once again to the earthen walls. About the same time that Beatrice reached the floor the legs of others appeared on the steps. Charlotte moved to give warning and I did as well, both of us calling out to her.

  Belladonna wasted no time in stealing up from behind and splashed the bottle’s contents upon her. Beatrice cried out in pain and turned to see where that pain had come from.

  “No-o-o-o-o!” We both screamed in alarm.

  Belladonna gave us a cursory glance, and so did Bevin and Jennifer as they were descending behind the widow. Belladonna focused again on Beatrice who stood there shaking. “Where’s the help you can summon, vampire witch? Where is the magic of the old ways…pretend ways? Your time is done here, Beatrice. You’re threat is done. Your interference is done. Now you will just melt away to triviality but you won’t notice. You’ve really been trivial for a long time.”

  Beatrice began to dwindle, becoming smaller, and melting away like a ball of ice thrown into a fire. We couldn’t help ourselves, and moved closer to our diminishing friend…so much more than friend. I reached to help her but Charlotte batted my hand away. It was difficult watching Beatrice reduced, warping and melting away…and then she broke into a thousand pieces like a mirror with shards falling to the floor.

  Belladonna wasn’t reassured by this. This was unexpected. She stood at the bottom of the stairs with others coming down. They were a few steps away, and yet someone stepped from behind her and took a piece from the floor. Confused, Belladonna turned to find Beatrice holding the shard she had picked up. The vampire witch turned the piece in her hand as if curiously examining the reflection but in the process she turned it edge-wise with the point toward Belladonna, and then Beatrice, with her palm open steadily slid the shard into Belladonna’s heart. The widow drew a sharp intake of breath which was followed by a shiver. She was shocked by the turn of events that had led to now.

  “…But I have immunity from such things.” Belladonna was having trouble catching up.

  “I hope you’re right. It’s magic of the old ways.”

  Beatrice moved from the steps while having this conversation. She would not have her back to those descending behind her.

  Bellad
onna was dwindling. “I’ll be back. I know how to….”

  “If only you didn’t have to fight against the Lorn inside you….” Beatrice sighed in feigned concern. “It’s hard to muster all your strength when someone continually feeds from it.”

  The widow dwindled until she was nothing. Outside, a chorus of howls sprang up from her children, mournfully and eerily.

  “My, my, that was a surprise.” Jennifer said, stepping away from the stairs. “I always knew you were stronger, Beatrice, but you seem a bit winded.”

  Bevin stepped next to Jennifer who continued. “Belladonna was only a witch. You are so much more.”

  They were positioning for an attack. Jennifer kept talking. “And Charlotte, I see you have changed your loyalties again.”

  “No, I’m still true to myself” Charlotte retorted.

  Jennifer didn’t miss a beat. “So typical of you, and so true. I’ll bet you’d leave your own baby to die if it meant you could save your own life.”

  “Leave her alone.” I interrupted. Beatrice had spoken when I had, saying the same words at the same time.

  “Oh?” Jennifer cruelly laughed as she regarded us both. “Touched a sore subject, did we?”

  Bevin spoke now. “Let’s see, we have a new vampire among us but he stumbles over his own feet…still learning to walk. We have a bride of the vampire Desmondo, but she has no loyalties but to herself and a vampire witch who is impressive with her battles but is now battle-weary. This doesn’t amount to much strength. We are wasting time if we mean to put an end to this.”

  They studied me briefly and I knew I was about to be pounced upon but when they took a step toward me they immediately stepped back. I prepared for the conflict but their attention was no longer on me. Something feline stalked in the shadows behind me and met their bewildered stares with two yellow-green cat eyes.

  “How do you manage to be this shadow cat in the dark, Veria?” Jennifer said, trying to sound unimpressed.

  “It helps to have a beating heart, Jennifer. So, that means you’ll never be able to see what it’s like.” Veria stepped up beside me but kept her attention on the two vampires by the steps. “I thought I had seen the last of both of you. How disappointing.”

  I heard sounds on the main floor, but soon after, I felt myself being pulled from the room by something that felt like I’d walked into a spider web, yet I could not see it. What I could see is that it appeared that I was suspended over a canyon at great height. As soon as I realized I had been waylaid, I put up a struggle for release. There was resistance to my rebellion, and a struggle began which made me shake and lurch as I dangled there until something let go and I dropped. I was afraid I would fall to my death and crash upon the ground but my drop never seemed to end. At first things were rushing past me faster than I could focus but I found that only things near me were whizzing by in a blur so fast I couldn’t recognize anything. I could focus, better if I peered further off, so as things approached they were easier to follow. Eventually, I seemed be able to slow my fall, or maybe I slowed everything that had been rapidly passing by. As this occurred, things began to appear as bubbles floating by like after diving into water, the ones wiggling to the surface after a dive comes to a stop. I remembered my lessons from don Lucido, Beatrice and Veria, in how to find my way through the river of dreams and memories. I saw a bubble showing a field where Bevin and Jennifer were waiting to ensnare me. They had drawn me to this place once before. It had nearly been the death of me but Veria had guided me away from them and back to her. I would not go to this place now. They were trying to divide and conquer us. I chose another bubble that reflected all of us collected in the lower level of the potter’s hut. It seemed to be hanging there in front of me and I breathed it in.

  I felt like I was jumping back into myself, and when I looked through my eyes again I saw fangs bared, clawed fingers extended and opponents circling each other. I also saw relief in the eyes of Veria, Beatrice and Charlotte that I had returned. I wasted no time and roared, jumping into the middle of the fray. I forcefully shoved people apart and shouted. “There will be no fighting between us today.”

  Bevin laughed. “You are going to die today, you whelp.”

  “I’ll tell you what, Bevin. Why don’t you go up to the top of these steps and take a look around. Your archers have sent fiery arrows inside to light it once again. This was no accident. It was meant to burn you down, too. You’ve given your army not only the means to end us, you’ve given them the means to end yourselves as well. It might have been given to men, but a darker enemy was watching and if they can’t make you dance to their tune, they will just remove you all together. This can’t be a surprise.

  I’ll bet you’ve always made sure that there was a vampire standing among the archers as insurance against the arrows being aimed at you. You’ve always had, as a rule, not to have all of you clustered at one place, at one time. You’ve made a mistake. You followed Belladonna in here and that left all the archers together with no one minding their intentions. There’s not a vampire out there with them to give them cause to think.”

  Beatrice, Charlotte and Veria stood from their crouches and shifted their eyes toward me.

  I continued. “Believe me or not but I’m not sure I’d walk back out of this poor shack the way you walked in. Out there now are archers with arrows fit and aimed at the entry, set to take down anything that takes flight. So even if you tore us apart in here, when you walked out victoriously, you would step into a storm of arrows and none of them sent by accident. I should have said nothing and just watched you die.

  And what are you fighting for, your own death? Out there are 2songs…Lorn. They are the enemy not those of your own kind. You’ve been on guard against them whenever you have been around Milan or the widow, never letting yourself be cornered or even touched. Milan isn’t in control, the Lorn are, and you have been serving them. This will end with them calling a tune and you dancing to it or it will end in your death. Right here, right now you are free of them. The only one down here with a Lorn in control is the widow. And if we handle her carefully it will stay that way. You are free. They would love it if we killed each other. They want to run us, but if that can’t happen they want us out of the way. If you have even considered changing sides, this is your last chance to do it. We are a powerful lot here if we all work together, but time is running out. We can dig our way out like we did earlier at my home, but if this be our course then we must move now or fire will rain down upon us. Remember what happened the last time you were in a situation like this?”

  Jennifer moved to where Charlotte and I had stood looking outside through the cracks and seen the arrival of the feral children and the archers. She peered out, then turned and said. “It’s true. They are waiting with sharp eyes and arrows.” Stepping back slowly, though the time was urgent, she approached us slowly in contemplation. Jennifer regarded Bevin on one side and then turned to us on the other saying. “We will work together.”

  Everyone looked to me for further instruction.

  “We will dig toward the waiting archers and come out behind the wall in back of them.” I said. “They won’t expect this. They would look for a shorter tunnel for escape, but we are no longer running. We have always been the hunters.”

  As I’d seen the diggers do when escaping my house, Bevin and I worked side by side. We used our extraordinary strength and hard sharp claws to gauge and pick and scoop the earth, and push it back behind us. At the slightest indication of fatigue someone else would step in, and we would move to the back placing the dirt behind us and pressing it into a wall that guarded our flank. It was unspoken between Veria, Beatrice and I that one of us would be at the rear watching our backs during this sudden and untested truce. In truth, I was the most easily winded, the one who had to rest first, but I was getting better…and stronger.

  Though we heard the thunder as the shack fell into where we had just been standing, we dug the tunnel with impressive speed. Our hearin
g could pick up the cheers from those above ground when the building’s collapse occurred. They were still raising a ruckus as we crawled into the yard on the other side of the wall behind them. I pushed through first in case we had made mistakes with our digging, or if there was someone stationed further back from the rest with a bow and arrow handy. In truth, I wanted someone above to assure no double crossings, just as we had someone bringing up the rear. We were teamed with Bevin and Jennifer after all.

  55

  Our surprise attack took an unexpected turn, when the rumble of hooves could be heard on approach. It sent the now orphaned children of Belladonna’s on a mad run down the streets and MacQueen and his soldiers did not hold their ranks but leapt for walls, trees and roofs for what they hoped would be safety. One or two even ran with the children. They were dispersed, and truth be known, I’m not entirely sure that the makers of those thunderous hoof beats were the wild horses. It could have been horses belonging to some livery set loose to take their own chances with the city’s fire. I don’t know because we were carefully hidden behind a wall at the time, but the effect was the same. When we were able to see what was happening, the horses had galloped off out of sight.

  Beatrice turned to Bevin and Jennifer and pointed a finger. “Now, this is it for you two. Leave the city. Don’t tell Milan you’re leaving, just go and go far. None of us want to see you for a long, long time. If we do or hear of an association with Milan or his like, we will end you in the most painful ways we can think of, and I know a few. Many would kill you both right now. I’m going to face some angry heat when they find I released you. Don’t make me regret this. Fly now and keep low to the ground. The sun is breaking the horizon. They dwindled to nearly nothing and flew like bats over the wall and were gone.”

  “Beatrice, why did you set them free?” Veria was furious.