by Kim Faulks
“A word of warning. When the rest of my family comes, they’ll come hard and to the end. Don’t be in their way. We’re not the Guardians you remember,” I whispered. “We’ve learned to hate.”
Ezre stepped off the curb, raising his head to scent hot, sulphur choked air, and somewhere in the distance a howl tore free. “RyKor’s locked onto the scent.”
I surged forward, meeting their stride as we left the Merc behind. They needed the hot wind in their faces, needed the feel of the ground under their feet. Needed to be close to their true nature.
“He’s got her.” Stone pushed off into a jog, and then quickly picked up pace.
I drove my boots into the pavement and lunged into a jog as we raced along the empty street.
“She’s heading for the people…” Stone snarled. “Goddamnit. She’s trying to hide her damn scent.”
I sucked in a hard breath and forced my strides to lengthen. Muscles tightened, burning with the effort. I pumped my arms and tried to match their pace as the two Hellhounds widened the distance with each fluid stride.
They turned on a dime, tearing along a side street. I shoved out a hand and pushed against the wall as I hit the corner and kept on going. My lungs burned as I sucked in the hot air. My throat clenched, stomach tightened as we shoved free of the street.
Ezre tore ahead, sidestepping three humans standing on the corner of the abandoned street. Wind whipped their hair as he raced past, followed by Stone.
She turned her head at the last minute catching my gaze, and for a second all I could see was the female Hellhound I tried to save… “Get inside,” I snarled. “Lock your damn doors and stay there!”
I couldn’t help them. Couldn’t save them. Not from the evil of this world—not even from me. A woman’s scream tore from somewhere closer. Ezre wrenched his head toward the sound, and Stone followed.
They slowed, turned, and lunged in front of a yellow taxi as they raced across the intersection.
“Hey!” The driver called out of his open window. “I’m driving here!”
But the two cursed were trapped in the hunt, locked onto their prey. There was no breaking their focus, not even for self-preservation.
The burn in my lungs faded as the woman’s scream came again…so damn close now. Ezre disappeared, Stone a heartbeat later. My boots hit ruptured bitumen. Pain tore along my shin as I raced along the alley after them.
“She’s close,” Stone growled over his shoulder, and slowed as we broke free from the alley into the busy city street.
A small crowd gathered to stare at something on the ground. Shop lights lit up their faces. But it was the panicked human that drew their gazes. She paced, eyes wide, throwing her hands into the air as she screamed. “She just ate him. How does that happen? Someone tell me! How does that happen?”
Stone winced at the sound as the two Hellhounds slowed.
“Someone talk to me!” The human roared.
Ezre was there first, grasping people and shoving as he cleared a path to what lay on the sidewalk. “Get out of the goddamn way!”
I caught a glimpse. It was enough to slow my stride. Enough to steal a breath.
It was a male. That was all I was sure of. Hellhound or Human, it was far too late to tell. I swallowed hard, now it was nothing more than a dried husk of a male…
Ezre bent, touched the shoulder, flakes of the shell flaked off to catch the breeze.
“Don’t you touch him! Don’t you dare touch my husband!” The distraught woman screamed as his flesh disappeared with a gust of the wind. “She ate him! She did that to my Welly.”
“Ate him?” Stone snarled and stared at the body. “She needs his energy.” He stared into the crowd, searching for not just the scent on the breeze. “She needs form. That means she’s corporeal…at least for the moment.”
I stared at the husk of the male and tried to think. “That’s what she looked like when they found her.”
Stone jerked his gaze toward me. “Soul extinguished, that happens when one energy is consumed or sent elsewhere.”
I winced, here one minute and then poof. “Like a damn succubus?”
“A primitive form of one, yes,” Stone muttered. “So that means, your brother’s mate is far more dangerous than she understands. She either did that herself, or she was being used.”
Didn’t leave a whole lot to work with, did it? Either way the Vampire was uncontrollable and dangerous. “Can you still track her?”
“The change of energy will make it hard, but I can track her,” Ezre growled and turned his head to see a male carve through the crowd.
Women stared, stunned.
Males stumbled out of his way as the massive male headed toward us.
“RyKor,” Stone growled. “You pick it up.”
“For about three miles, and then it was gone.” The male glanced my way and lifted his head. Steel gray eyes stared into mine. Long ash brown hair danced and slapped his shoulders. His thick beard was beaded into two points at the base of his chin. But it was the tattoos that captured me. They peeked out from the collar of his shirt to strangle his throat. “Guardian,” he growled. “Your kin better get here fast.”
A nerve twitched at the corner of my eye. “Why?”
“‘Cause the Mage wasn’t all I found. Newborn Vampires…and there’s a lot of them.”
“A lot? How many? Tens, hundreds?”
Fear shook his voice as he answered. “Thousands.”
16
Amaris
The Jeep braked hard and pulled over to the side of the road.
“You sure you want to do this alone?” Parry murmured, finally voicing the words that stuck in his craw.
“I’m sure.” I slammed the door and moved to the rear. “They’ll be expecting you from the front. Won’t even see me coming.”
Gasoline sloshed against the sides of the container as I dragged it from the vehicle. They wanted to taint the place with their fucking touch, then I’d clean house the only way I knew…with fire. I shoved the door closed and waited for the car to pull away.
Changing plans at the last minute was dangerous. But so was a single attack from the front. A tremble raced, stoking flames of rage. I nodded to my men as they followed Parry.
The old man didn’t approve, and it wasn’t as though this was the first damn time—but it still stung. He didn’t understand, not the blood in my veins and not the responsibility that came with that blood.
Bless you…bless you, Amaris. May the Mother keep you safe.
Thank you. That was what they were saying. Thank you for keeping us safe.
My throat thickened as the last four-wheel drive passed.
I’d not lose one more life. Not one more of my men.
Not one of my sisters…not now…or ever.
The Guardian’s face filled my mind as I gripped the gasoline and crossed the street. My chest tightened and butterflies took flight. No…I didn’t have time…not for him, and not for the damn rush of—I winced, fighting the damn word.
Lust. The word filled my mind. Just lust. Just sex. You’ve had that before, right?
I swallowed hard and skirted an overflowing industrial bin. The heady stench carried, mingling with the sulphur smog.
I tried to focus on that, tried to focus on anything but that quiet voice in my mind that whispered—not just lust, Amaris. Not just lust. My body tightened with the thought.
No matter how much I wanted to deny that voice. There was no mistaking the fact the Guardian set me on fire. I sucked in a breath and stared at the wall. Power raced, pulsing from the sigil carved across my heart. Light bloomed from the blade at my waist.
In and out, right? I ground my jaw and lifted my fingers. Amber and orange danced from the flames at the tips. They wanted to take what was mine.
They wanted to hurt.
I took a step into the brick wall and slipped into the light.
Let’s see them hurt now.
Easy now.
I
pulled back on the power, leaving the light to bleed into the dark of the courtyard. Purpose hummed through my veins as I turned to the closed door of the workshop. The scuff of a shoe echoed inside. There were no windows, no way to tell where the hell they were.
“Hurry,” came the growl from inside. “Get this into the car. They’ll be here soon.”
I moved closer and reached for the handle. The rattle of a chain echoed, something hit the steel garage door.
My damn pulse was all I could hear as I eased down on the handle and cracked the door open. There was no rush. No cracks of gunfire. There was nothing but silence. I gripped the fuel and pushed the door open wider. The door to Motor’s apartment was open, faded yellow light spilled into the workshop.
But the weak hue didn’t get far, reaching across the doorway to succumb to the shadows. Heavy boots hit the ground farther inside. Through the gloom I caught the outline of a male as he scanned the front of the building and the alley for movement.
The deafening boom of my heart filled my ears and I stepped inside and eased the door shut behind me. One strike, one second was all it’d take. I scanned the dark, counting Blaze’s goons…
One…two…three…
Three? Is that all? A chill raced under the roar in my ears. That’s not right…I clenched the gasoline as black on black shifted.
“Surprise,” a woman murmured as a blade came to life in front of me.
But it wasn’t my blade.
It wasn’t anything I’d seen before.
Steel shimmered hungry and blue. The hilt crusted with sapphires sparkled even in the night. A chill danced across my skin, stealing my warmth…stealing everything as that voice came once more. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
Shadows shifted as the glacial blade burned brighter. Something jerked and shuddered, steps scraped against the filthy oil-stained concrete.
A woman…my mind wanted to make the connection, to place the voice with the body. Long blonde hair was parted in the middle to stick against her sickly, sweat-soaked skin. Green eyes sparkled as thick, bloodless lips curled. “Ah, Amaris,” she whispered and moved closer. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“I know you?” My grip on the gasoline slipped.
“No. But I know all about you.” Her lips curled, revealing blood-smeared fangs. “Your father was so very proud. Even in Hell he still screamed your name.”
I shook my head. One step and I hit the closed door. My throat closed as a feral sound slithered into the air at my right, and out of the dark they came…
Beasts with inky eyes. Not women…not men… One hissed, revealing needle-fine fangs. Vampire…Lowest Kynd…Bastian called them.
I tore my gaze from this thing to find Motor’s open door.
“I hope you like the gift they left for you,” the bitch snarled as the Vampires moved to flank me on all sides. “I was told it’d have the most impact.”
Rage swallowed fear and fire met ice. My hands shook as the bitter truth took hold. This was all for me…Motor…
Nailed to the floor, half shifted into his hound. It was all for me.
Did he know? In the moment of his death…did he know he died because of me?
My throat tightened. Panicked thoughts took hold.
I mapped the movement from my hand to the gasoline container. I wouldn’t make it. My heels kicked the door as they closed in. There was only one way out of here. I unfurled trembling fingers, and my hold slipped.
The plastic tank hit the ground with a heavy thud, and then toppled on its side. It didn’t matter as I stared at the blade of ice and steel. I opened myself to the heat.
Flames breathed to life from the tips of my fingers. My heart sped. Yellow turned amber, with dancing midnight bellies.
“Now,” the bitch growled.
Movement came from my right as outside the night erupted with the sound of gunfire. The bloodsuckers lunged. Two hit me from both sides as flames swallowed my hand and ran along my arm.
I opened myself up to the power of my hound.
And she answered the call.
Fangs sank deep. One in my side, one in my arm as hungry flames raced toward the ground. My knee buckled with the weight. I hit the concrete floor hard. Agony raced along my knee. But my hound held on. Her claws sank deeper, fangs bit harder, molding bones into the blazing inferno I was born to be.
I punched and stumbled as beneath me the gasoline tank exploded.
Vampires screamed, falling to scurry backwards. Flames engulfed my side sending a fireball into the garage. And from the middle stood the mortal with the icy blade.
One of the Vampires turned and hissed with mindless rage, knocking another into the goon’s path. The newborn hit the blue blade and then stilled.
One blink and the beast was gone, floating to the ground in a puff of ash.
I shoved against the floor to stare through the flare as the others scurried out of the human’s path. My hips snapped, twisting, angling up to force me to the floor.
Burn motherfuckers…burn. The sweet sound of their shrieks filled my ears.
But there were more, slinking out of the shadows to close in. Giving the human and his icy blade a wide berth.
I had nothing. No fuel. No plans. Nothing except my Hound. Fur moved to the surface, swallowing skin as the bloodsucker lunged over the flames and into the air.
The beast hit me hard, landing on my back. Nails turned into claws and slipped against the concrete.
My arms buckled. I hit the ground, face smashed, breathing in the filth and the dust as more joined in.
“Get her arms,” the bitch commanded.
Their nails cut, clawing for a hold as I kicked and thrashed. They dragged my arms against the ground. I was hit, punched, and rolled onto my back. I drove a paw forward, and kicked, but they were too heavy…and too many.
And from the corner of my eye that icy dagger came closer.
Darkness blurred as another smacked my chest. Nails clawed. The sting cruel across my cheek. A scream tore free, half howl as my bones snapped, molding into paws, and outside the roar of gunfire exploded.
I could hear them out there…fighting a battle they’d never win…
For it was a battle I’d already lost.
“In her heart,” the bitch screamed.
I tried to fight, tried to find the power as more came to weigh down my arms…
“Can’t…can’t do this…” The human backed away, eyes filled with terror. “I didn’t sign up for this. No way…no fucking way.”
“You will do this!” the bitch screamed and then stilled.
Her chest rose with a heavy breath. I knew cruelty. I knew evil. Knew it by the hole it left in a family…
But I’d never seen true evil.
Not like her.
Her lips curled as she turned to the knife-wielding goon. “You’re going to do as I say, or you’ll be dead so fast you won’t hear the blade hit the ground. Do you understand me?”
The blade trembled as the goon nodded.
“Now, only a human can wield the damn thing, and that human is you. So grip the handle and drive it into her fucking heart.”
A snarl radiated from my chest as I lifted my head from the ground. I couldn’t move, couldn’t escape as they yanked my paws above my head. My hips howled, tendons tightened to breaking point as my feet were crushed against the concrete.
I shook my head as he neared with careful steps. “Don’t,” the low snarl slipped free. “Don’t do this.”
His panicked gaze found mine. Throat muscles worked as he swallowed. The blade brightened, casting cool blue against his face. A white wind reached out, gnawing skin and bone with the touch of snow and ice.
I shuddered as the Vampire moved aside, leaving a path.
“Don’t! Don’t do this!” I struggled, kicking, thrashing as panic grew. “They’ll kill you when you’re done. You know that, right?”
He stilled, and then wrenched his gaze toward the woman. “Is that
the truth? You’ll kill me?”
I wrenched my head higher, fighting against their hold. “You’re not leaving this garage alive. So, do you want to die as a human, or become one of them?”
“In the heart.” The bitch stepped closer, and lifted her hand. Darkness swirled around the room. “Now.”
The goon’s hair tousled with a breeze that hadn’t been there before. His gaze narrowed for a second, before the crease between his eyes smoothed. Panic dulled as the wind whipped inside the garage.
“That’s the way,” she murmured. “Now in the heart, as hard as you can.”
He took a step closer, drawn by something I couldn’t see. Fear raged to surface as he dragged the blade over his head. “No!” I drove my foot through the air and thrashed. “Get off me!”
A howl ripped from my lips.
Fight…fight.
Tendons strained until joints popped. I wrenched until something cracked under their weight. The sting of fangs came again, stabbing and cruel.
They bit.
They clawed.
Jagged breaths tore from my chest. My arms stilled, hips gave into the weight and the agony. Something snapped, and then crunched. Pain beat me into submission. Couldn’t move…couldn’t fight…not anymore.
“No, please…”
Tears blurred those foreboding eyes as the Vampires held me down.
I tried to breathe. Tried to hold on, and under the panic came the faces of those I loved. Kalliste’s rusted red hair scattered in a gust of wind. Deep red lips curled, lifting at one corner as she held out her hand.
And it was like the past melted away and we were together once more.
Amaris, she whispered. Let me go…it’s okay…just let me go.
Terror plunged deep as the guard tightened his grip on the hilt and drove the knife down.
Oryn’s eyes filled me, blazing with fire as I jolted with the impact.
The memory trembled.
No…stay with me… I held on as frost-fire cleaved through the sigil of my line.
With the terror came the burn.
But it wasn’t fire and flames.
It was bitter and cold. It was ruthless with teeth and claws. A sound punctured the air, fierce and painful, and as that unmerciful sound split my thoughts the sound of gunfire echoed through the night.