Raymond spit at the ground and another rumble echoed through the air. Anson stared at Raymond, a challenge sitting firmly on his face. Before I could even react, Raymond spun, his vampire speed turning him almost into a blur. At the same time the mallet connected with my skull, a small pop-pop-pop reverberated around the room. My attacker roared, wheeling away from me and toward the back wall.
I turned my head in the neck clamp as well as I could to follow his movements. He collapsed against a cabinet, snapping the door in half and knocking it askew. His hands pressed tightly to his chest and blood dripped through his fingers. I'd been shot before and that was not the reaction I had. Most vampires could fight through the pain of a small wound when their life has been threatened.
"What did you do to him?" I asked Anson as he walked past.
"Special bullets. They open when they leave the barrel of the gun, forming a star so that they rip through their targets. A lot harder to heal quickly. Perfect for vampires."
He knelt in front of Raymond, his weapon still trained on the stunned man.
"You..." Raymond's voice was rough with pain and blood was dripping from his lips. "You shot me. You shot me."
Anson gave him a pleasant smile. "I only wish I had done it sooner."
The red-headed vampire leaned down to check the wounds, keeping his gun trained on his former master. As he pulled Raymond's hand away, I heard a muffled thump and a groan. Anson stood up and staggered away. He hit the back wall, gripping his side, and sank to the ground. A hole in his stomach glowed eerily.
"Anson!" I'm pretty sure I screamed like a little girl before I began pulling at my restraints like a rabid dog. "Anson!"
Anson's head rolled slightly and he met my eyes. His lips began to move, but no audible words came out, then he slipped to his side and lay still even as the wound began to bubble.
A half cough-half laugh told me that Raymond was still alive. I turned to look at him as he shoved himself into a standing position. He was pulling the bullets from his chest and it looked extremely painful. Each came away with flesh attached to at least some of the spokes and blood poured from him. As the last one clanked to the ground, he heaved away from the broken cabinet and stumbled to my chair.
"Jane, darling Jane." Blood and spittle spattered across my face as he spoke and his eyes were red and glazed when I looked at them. I swallowed hard and tried to turn away. He laughed a little before falling on the floor. I could see a pool of blood forming around him as he pulled himself across the tiles toward Father Bellini.
"No!" I screamed and began thrashing in the chair, trying to free myself for one last desperate attempt at saving my friend.
Another laugh was replaced with a hacking cough as Raymond rolled onto his side to look at me. "I do not understand your attachment to humans, Jane. They are food, nothing more. And right now, this one looks very tasty."
I screamed again, long and loud, forcing Raymond to cover his ears with his bloody hands. My voice broke before I ran out of breath and I could scream no longer. Raymond gave me a sly smile and gripped Father Bellini's hair with one hand. He tilted Joe's head back, exposing the pale neck of his victim. I screamed again, but my throat was raw and it came out raspy and quiet. Tears rolled down my cheeks as Raymond's teeth descended and headed for my mentor's neck. They pierced the skin, drawing blood. I sobbed, unable to do a thing but watch.
A vicious roar sounded in the room and suddenly Raymond was flying through the air. He crashed into the back wall and a crack blossomed on the hard stone. Felipe stalked after him, covered in blood and full of animal rage. Raymond tried to stand, but an invisible fist smashed into his face. His nose broke, along with his cheekbones, and his head thudded back into the wall. Felipe took the man's face in one hand and beat his head into the little hole that had already been created.
By the time he was done, Raymond's head was nothing more than a mess of flesh, splintered bones, and brain pulp. The body slumped to the floor, twitching in death. Felipe leapt to Father Bellini's side. He pressed his hands to the neck wound, trying to stop the flow of blood.
"No, no, please no," he kept whispering as he worked. "No, please."
I held my breath and clenched my teeth to keep from going into hysterics as I watched Felipe bite his own wrist and drip it into Bellini's mouth. Time ticked by and Felipe nearly drained himself in the process. Finally, he sank to the floor, leaning against my legs for support.
"Is he..." I couldn't bear to finish the question. Inside, my heart felt like it would simply shrivel up from pain.
Felipe said nothing and refused to meet my eyes. He stood and took hold of the arm of my chair. With great effort, he snapped the wood in two, freeing my wrist. He repeated the process for my other arm, my neck, and both legs, then he lifted me up into his arms. When he finally looked at me, his face was streaked red with tears and his eyes were blood-red.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his skin before resting my head on his shoulder. With one last glance at Father Bellini, he walked out of the room, leading me past several broken bodies and numerous guards from the local sanctuary. We emerged through a heavy door into the night sky. A cool breeze was blowing and it danced across my bruised skin. It felt wonderful and I closed my eyes to enjoy it.
"Felipe! Felipe! Oh my God, you got her." Donna was running up from behind, dirty and disheveled as if she'd been fighting recently. "Where's Father Bellini?"
Felipe kept his back to her and I could feel a tremor run through his body. I turned to my friend and shook my head.
She had to take several breaths before she could even speak. "He's..." That was all she managed before she collapsed to the ground, her body wracked with sobs.
Annie ran to her, wrapping her arms around the broken woman. She joined her in her tears, though Annie's were more silent and less bloody.
"Where is he?" Jax stood beside Felipe, arms crossed tight over his stomach, his own tears clear, though no less bitter.
"Downstairs, all the way. Last room on the right."
Jax nodded at Felipe's directions and went to retrieve the priest's still form. When he returned, Annie coaxed Donna up from the ground, and we all piled into an SUV. Bellini was laid tenderly in the back and his body was covered by a sheet. We returned to the sanctuary where he had been staying for my wedding, placing his body at the altar of the church like a sacrifice to the Lord.
Chapter 9
For the next three days, I mourned, answered questions about my kidnap and rescue, and generally just existed in a plane of numb confusion. We held a small ceremony for Father Bellini, led by Ronin, before his body was shipped back to Rome for a proper burial. Felipe asked me if I wanted to go, but I just shook my head. I didn't want to go through that. It was hard enough dealing with his loss without the added torture of going through a second funeral.
I was sitting next to Felipe in the common room of the sanctuary the night after Bellini's body left, staring at the wall behind a TV that hadn't changed channels in hours. Jax and Annie sat in a similar state on the opposite couch with the others arrayed in various dejected positions around the room. Only Donna was missing.
A banging door drew us all out of our stupor. "Come on, then. We have to finish this."
I looked up. Donna was setting my massive four-foot wedding cake on the table in the corner of the room. How it survived the craziness of my reception, I have no idea.
"What do you mean?" I asked her, not really wanting to move anywhere or do anything that required physical effort.
"You still need to cut the cake, silly. You were interrupted last time, remember?"
I shook my head and went back to staring at the television. "I'm not really in the mood for that. I don't think it's the best time."
Donna stalked over to the TV and snapped it off. The others started to look up, their mindless entertainment gone. I stood and faced her.
"Donna, it's not right. We can't be celebrating while... while..." I presse
d my lips together and blinked back the tears that were starting to form.
Donna raised her head and put her hands on my shoulders. "Jane, I know. I know how you feel. I understand. But I can tell you from experience that moping around will help nothing. It only makes you feel worse about something you can't change. Besides, do you think Joe would want you to spend your life miserable on his account?" She turned to look at the rest of the group. "No, he wouldn't. He would tell you guys to get up off your butts and go do something. He would want you out there fighting and making the world a better place. That is what he would want."
Jax stood up and ambled over to the table. He looked at the huge construction, then looked at me and shrugged. "I like cake."
I laughed. "Alright, fine. We'll cut the cake."
Felipe gave me a weak smile as we sliced into it and stuffed huge slices into each other's mouths. The moment broke the depressed mood that had been hanging over all of us, and we spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about the great things Father Bellini had done while we stuffed ourselves with overpriced wedding cake.
***
The next morning, Felipe dragged the whole team into the office of the sanctuary's leader. The man was in the middle of planning an attack on a werewolf base nearby and was quite perturbed at the disturbance.
"We have to go after them." Felipe leaned forward, placing his hands on the man's desk as he spoke with an intensity I rarely saw.
"I have already told you, Felipe. It is done. We have teams out taking care of the scattered youngsters, but we are not going to waste our best team on rounding up a disjointed band of rogue vampires."
I looked between them. "What are you talking about?"
The man looked at me, annoyed. "Raymond's second escaped the attack. But he is weak and doesn't have the wherewithal to stage any attacks on his own. Right now, he just is not that important."
"Wait, what? I thought Anson was his second."
Felipe shook his head. "No, Anson was just his bodyguard. His second escaped through a tunnel that he then sealed from the other side. We couldn't get to him and we have no idea where it led. He went alone, as far as we can tell, but he needs to be captured or destroyed, and soon."
The fierce expression on Felipe's face was almost scary, but I agreed with him wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, our new leader didn't see it the same way. "I said no. Now get out of my office so I can plan your next move."
The discussion was done and he would listen to nothing else any of us had to say. We retreated back to the common room, which Felipe locked once we were all in.
"We can't just let him go and do the same thing he did before." Benton was livid, pacing in a short circle.
Others were heatedly saying similar things and the anger in the room was palpable.
"I agree." We all quieted and looked to our true leader. "Which is why we are going to do something, whether they like it or not."
Jax plopped into a chair. "We can't do anything without their approval or we'll be labeled rogues."
Felipe's face hardened and he straightened his shoulders. "I know."
Jax made to protest, but closed his mouth, a thoughtful look on his face.
Felipe continued, "I understand if anyone doesn't want to come. It's a huge risk and we'll always be on the run. But I'm not going to sit by and watch the world fall apart. Bellini was one of the few people able to keep the sanctuaries together. With his death, the focus is going to shift. We'll be hunting werewolves who have done nothing wrong or relegated to goblin duty. I'm not going to do that."
Silence sat heavily in the air for a long time before I had the courage to even move. I didn't trust myself to speak, so I just walked up to stand next to Felipe and took his hand. Benton was beside me in a second, followed quickly by Jax. Nathan was next, muttering something about how he never did like living in a sanctuary anyway.
Ronin stood where he was, eyes on Felipe. Felipe nodded at him. "I understand. Please just give us time to get out and away before you say anything."
The tension grew as Ronin remained silent. His gaze shifted to the rest of us slowly, taking stock of each and every one of us. After an eternity, he drew a deep breath and nodded.
"No. Father Bellini would never forgive me for sending you out into the world to your deaths without God's guidance."
A grin broke across Felipe's face and he embraced Ronin tightly. "Thank you, brother."
Then he pulled away and looked to the rest of us, his classic smirk settled calmly on his face. "Ready to go change the world?"
Other Books By This Author
Battle of Black River
Blood of the Dragon
Winds from the North
Vampire Assassin (Jane #1)
New Blood (Jane #2)
Blood & Tears (Jane #3)
Redemption (Jane #4)
Til Death (Jane #5)
About the Author
Samantha Warren is a fantasy and science fiction author who spends her days immersed in dragons, space ships, and vampires. With her pet dragon, Anethesis, she ventured to the ends of the universe, but the cost of space travel cut into her sock fetish fund, so she sold her ship and returned home. When she isn’t writing, she’s milking cows or trying to feed them Pop-Tarts. She spends a lot of time in her weed patch (aka: garden), watching any show featuring Gordon Ramsay, or posting random things on her blog.
Interested in contacting Samantha?
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @_SamanthaWarren
Blog: http://www.samantha-warren.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorSamanthaWarren
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Til Death (Jane #5) Page 5