by Lynn Rush
“Dagger,” Jake said. His shoulders slumped when nothing landed in his open hand. He closed his eyes, and a second later, the weapon plopped onto his palm.
“Nice.”
“Only took two tries. Okay, so tell me, how’d you get these weapons?”
Emma traversed the rocky floor of the roof to the edge and propped her foot up on the short brick wall around the top. Late afternoon sun spilled over the deserted campus. Must have been the weekend to head home for family visits. Plus, there was an away football game. Good, because she had a bad feeling. The intensity with which Greg spoke about hell coming, she knew it to be true. The less people around the better.
No wonder she’d landed at this college and stayed in the dorms so long. Things were clicking into place more than she could have ever imagined.
“Em?”
“Oh. Sorry. I stumbled into a little nest of Vamps.” She rested her elbow on her knee and held the crossbow up for a closer look. “Second Hunt, really. Three Vamps there, one munching on a victim, and I tackled him. We rammed into a wall. This dagger was on display. I grabbed and stabbed. He was dust.”
“Until you got these how’d you kill them?”
Emma laughed. “Stabbed them with other things, but they didn’t turn to dust like this dude did. I must have hit the few I’d encountered in pretty good spots, though, because they looked dead enough. Didn’t realize it hadn’t truly kill them until I saw the a Vamp I’d stabbed at that house.”
“Same Vamp was there?”
“Yeah. Well, Gabriel hadn’t quite found out what it was that killed them yet. But when this one turned to dust, we knew.” Emma tilted the crossbow to reveal the bottom of the handle. “It had my mark on the weapon. So, once I got through dusting them, I searched the entire house, found the crossbow.”
Jake stood beside her, foot up on the ledge, and leaned forward, like her. Their shoulders touched, and she leaned to the side. “Crossbow home.”
“So, you figured out it kills them.”
“Yep. Like I said. We were winging it. Only movie and book myths to help us along, and reality is a little different. But we learned quick. Okay, try again. Call the crossbow.”
He handed her the dagger and said, “Crossbow.”
It landed on his open palm.
“Send it home.” She stood, her heart pounded as she prepped to test him.
The weapon vanished from his hand.
“Try it while distracted.”
“What do you—”
She lunged, reaching for his throat. Her hand found purchase, and she squeezed. They landed on the gravel, the wind knocked from her lungs, and they rolled.
“Think it if you can’t say it,” Emma yelled and squeezed harder. “Hurry. Air’s running out.”
Two more revolutions, and he landed on top of her, dagger raised and poised to slam home in her chest. She held his throat still, keeping him at arms length. “You did it.”
He dropped the weapon to the ground, and she loosened her hold. In the next breath, his mouth formed over hers. She cinched her legs around his waist and gripped him in a crushing hug.
He was strong. Smart. Fast. They might have a chance against Rosa and Marek.
Maybe.
It was time to go find out.
Well, in a little while.
THIRTY SEVEN
“Why are we at the library if we’re hunting?” Jake whispered in Emma’s ear as they approached the stairs to the massive building.
“Gotta start somewhere, right? Cynthia’s folk’s house came up empty. If it’s even her folk’s house, now that I think about it. No sign of anyone being there since the party.” Emma stopped and stood straight. “Jake. It’s your birthday today.”
He laughed. “Yeah. Where’s my cake?”
“If we live through the night, I’ll give you something sweet.”
“Deal.” He stood beside her. “So, why are we here again?”
“It’s almost eleven. Nothing at that dumb house but that nasty concrete slab thing. Not a hint of where they might be. Library’s open until midnight. Let’s go search through the history of the campus. Maybe we’ll find out where this so called ‘holy spot’ is.”
“And then what? If we do find something, do we go storm the castle? Just me and you? I don’t know about that, Em.”
Okay, the idea sounded good in her head. But hearing him say it out loud made it sound not so smart.
Before she could retract her stupid idea, her phone rang Ava’s song.
“What’s up, Ava? Greg okay?”
“He’s fine. Brought him to his room a couple of hours ago. Where are you?” Ava asked.
“With Jake on campus. Just…doing some studying. Everything okay?”
“He calmed down after your visit, thankfully. I came to the room to get cleaned up a little bit, but now I’m headed back.” A car door clicked open and keys jingled. “The Frat house is a tomb, though. You guys want to come over?”
“Sounds good. You and Greg hole up there, we’ll be to you in a little while. ‘K?”
“Sure. I’m headed over there now.” A loud clank rattled Emma’s ear as if Ava’s phone had fallen to the ground, and she screamed. “No. Wait. Em—”
The phone went dead.
An ache laced through Emma’s chest, and her lungs froze. “Ava?” Emma looked at the phone. It flashed Call Ended. “No!”
“What is it?”
“Jake, hurry.” Emma hurdled the remaining stairs from the Library. “Shit. They got Ava. Parking lot.”
Jake bolted ahead of Emma down the sidewalk. They followed the darkened path past The Church and slowed as they neared the lot.
“Ava?” Emma yelled. “Ava?”
Her voice ricocheted off the dark night shrouding them.
“She always parks on the last row, away from the other cars.” Emma pointed. Ava’s black sports car sat, door ajar and dome light on.
But no Ava. “Oh, God, Jake. They got her. They—”
Jake’s arm lit up like a bright orange Christmas tree. “Okay. This isn’t good.”
Emma’s wrist flared. It even forwent the precursor tingle.
Definitely not a good sign.
She turned a three-sixty but saw nothing other than a scarcely filled parking lot and trees fencing in the back and east sides. Open campus and the road on the remaining two sides.
“Follow the glow.” She shook out her hand and held it up. The light pulsed as she faced Ava’s car. Two steps closer, and the pulse continued. “This way.”
Emma took off toward the trail from the back corner of the lot. It led off campus. They had to have taken Ava that direction considering her wrist pulsed and Jake’s arm could light a whole city for a week for how bright it was glowing.
“You’re going to have to wear long sleeves from now on,” she said, scanning the darkness surrounding them.
“Comes in handy now, though.” He held up his arm and pointed to a light. “Bulb’s out.”
Darkness swallowed up each end of the path. “Seems they’re all out.”
“On purpose.” Jake snagged her hand and led. “Dagger.”
“Crossbow.”
Weapons in hand, they moved forward. Emma picked up her pace. Please let Ava be okay. She’d never forgive herself if something happened to her best friend.
The glow increased as they approached the end of the trail. “We’re near your house.”
“Left is mine, but right is the Frat house.”
Realization smacked Emma over the head like a baseball bat. “The Frat house. Of course. Remember how Cynthia knew that place? The stairwell leading up the back to Greg’s room.” Where Emma and Jake had their first kiss. “But it’s off campus.”
“Boundary lines change over time. Look how close to campus we are. Maybe it was technically part of the land once.”
“True.”
“One way to find out.” Jake stood tall and held up his arm. “Let’s go.”
T
HIRTY EIGHT
The discomfort in Jake’s arm intensified. Emma had to be right about where Rosa and Marek were. Made sense the way Cynthia and Dylan knew their way around that house.
But a Frat house? How’d they pull something like that off? It wasn’t like there was a Frat of Vamps. Emma’s wrist would have been glowing from day one.
He glanced over his shoulder as they hugged the shadows the trees across the street offered. Her violet eyes scanned everything. She squeezed his hand and nodded as if she knew he’d looked at her.
She didn’t miss much. Hopefully, Jake was strong enough to help her. She needed him now more than anything. He would not allow her to lose another person she loved to the Vamps. She’d almost lost Jake hours earlier.
“Okay, last house on the corner. See it?”
Emma slowed at the last of the trees. “Darn it. No more cover. Open fields are not a Hunter’s friend. Feel like scaling some fences?”
Jake followed her line of sight. Three houses leading to the Frat house stood dark. A brick and concrete fence at least five feet high hemmed in the back yard of the first one.
“Where the hell is everyone?” Emma whispered. “It’s Saturday night. There should be a party in at least one of these houses.”
“Away game? Partying there?”
“Doubtful, but let’s go with it.” She stood tall. “That arm’s going to give you away for sure, though.”
“My house is down a few blocks I could run and grab something.”
She led him deeper into the shadows. “Can you try and call something from your closet to wear?”
He closed his eyes, and a few seconds later a long sleeved, black shirt landed in his hand.
“Nice.” Emma kissed his cheek. “Hurry up.”
He tossed his t-shirt off and threaded the dark, long-sleeved shirt over his head. A dim glow radiated through the fabric pores, but it was much more concealed than before.
“Clear.” She sprinted across the street.
Within minutes, they both scaled the fence and crept beneath the patio ceiling of the first house. A quick look through the picture window showed emptiness. Not even furniture. Abandoned house, maybe. So close to the campus?
Something didn’t settle right with Jake’s stomach. Emma jumped and pulled herself onto the top of the wall to the next fence. She waved him up and pointed to the right.
A dog lay on a square of concrete outside the entrance to a miniature replica of the house. Border Collie, maybe.
“At least it’s sleeping,” Emma whispered.
Hopefully it stayed that way. Jake jumped down, keeping his focus on the dog.
Emma moved across the concrete patio surrounding a pool and waved him to follow. The dim lights shimmered, and had his arm not been glowing like a lamp, and they weren’t going to face his Vamp parents, it would have been really romantic. He’d love to go swimming, mess around, and not worry about what was happening.
Something slapped, like two magnets coming together, and a growl ripped through the air.
“Oh, shit.” Emma yanked him forward. “Doggie door.”
Woof. That bark didn’t come from the sleeping dog, but it sure woke him up. Jake turned in time to see another dog, three times the size of the one sleeping, charging, teeth bared, hackles up.
Doberman.
“Jump,” Emma yelled.
Emma released her grip on him and lunged. Jake followed suit and landed atop the wall, out of reach of the menacing creatures. The dogs barking echoed off the surrounding houses. “So much for the stealth approach.”
Emma laughed. “Come on before someone sees us.”
She jumped down, and they made it to the last wall separating them from the Frat house without incident. The dogs next door offered a few more random barks, but they must have gotten bored since it went quiet.
“What’s the plan?” Jake asked.
“See the last door there, beneath the porch?” She pointed. “It’s dark.”
“Got it.”
“Let’s start there. Bottom up.”
They scaled the wall and crept past the pool to the door. Nothing stirred. Not even a breeze. The only scent he detected was Emma’s melon shampoo. She leaned forward and pressed her ear to the glass, then jostled the handle.
She squatted down and peeked in. “Can you bring that bright light arm of yours—oh crap, it’s covered.”
“I think it’s safe to let a little light through.” He rolled up the sleeve to his elbow and squatted beside Emma. A bedroom. One window covered by a dark sheet. Queen bed in the middle and one end table with a lamp on top.
Emma crept in. “Door,” she whispered and pointed ahead of them.
She pulled at it but it didn’t open.
“Locked?”
Emma tweaked the handle. It opened and pings of metal clanked on the hardwood floor as the lock shattered. “Not for us.”
Jake trotted through the doorway, his arm illuminating their way like a torch. A short, dim hallway lay before them. They stood close to the walls, glancing both directions.
“Let’s go,” she said as she waved him to follow.
She must be in her Hunter mode. Controlled, focused. He watched from behind as her head turned side-to-side, analyzing every angle. The crossbow armed and ready.
They reached another hallway. To the left and right showed darkness, save two wall sconces. Emma held her hand out to stop him, and raised her weapon. As if she heard something, she cocked her head. Jake held his breath and checked behind them. He didn’t hear anything other than his heart hammering his rib cage.
Suddenly, she grabbed his hand and yanked him down as she clicked off a bolt into the darkness to their left. For a brief second, two red orbs appeared, followed by a muffled scream, then silence.
“I’m guessin’ we go left,” Emma whispered.
Jake hadn’t heard nor seen the creature. What good would he be to Emma? So new to Hunting and with so much at stake.
Faith, Jake. The voice filled his head and calmed his raging pulse. Much better than Rosa or Marek’s voice in his head.
“Yes,” he answered out loud.
“What?”
“Nothing. Let’s go.” Jake rose to his feet. Determination filled his every nerve fiber.
He took to Emma’s side, and they hugged the wall as they crept into the darkness. With his heightened sight, he made out three closed doors lining the hallway.
He tried the first knob. Locked. Second was, too. He tried the last one, and it gave.
“Wait, this one’s open,” Jake said. She stood beside him as he turned the knob.
He reached inside and palmed the wall, searching for a light. Finally, he found one and clicked the switch.
Nothing.
“Use your arm.”
Jake led, his glowing arm illuminating the darkness enough to see a figure lying on the floor, motionless.
“Ava!” Emma gasped as she rushed passed him.
THIRTY NINE
Emma’s heart dropped when she saw her friend on the ground. She moved toward Ava, but a Vamp crashed into her side, knocking her over and the air from her lungs. Her crossbow clanked off to the side, disappearing into the shadows.
“Emma,” Jake yelled.
She planted an elbow into her attacker’s gut as they hit the floor. He flipped, landing her on her back, him on top. Not a good position.
A dagger cracked through the Vamp’s chest, and a layer of dust swept over Emma. She rolled to the side in time to see Jake tackled from behind. The momentum tossed him forward, almost on top of Emma.
She rolled to her left and leapt to her feet.
“Dagger,” she said.
The Vamp pinned Jake on his stomach in the middle of the room. Ava lay unconscious mere feet from them. Turning her focus back to Jake, Emma went behind the creature, and snaked her arm around his neck, weaseling the tip of the dagger in below her arm.
“Now, I can dust you, or you can get up off my frien
d there and tell me what’s going on.” She squeezed his neck. “Your choice, buddy.”
The creature thrashed. She jabbed the blade into his neck and dragged the Vamp to the side, keeping him on his knees so she could tower over him.
“No, no. Don’t.” The creature raised his hands.
“Talk.” She held firm while Jake got to his feet. “Jake, check Ava.” Oh, God, please let her be okay.
He scurried around them and darted toward their friend. Keeping her grasp tight on the creature, she turned toward Ava.
“What do they want her for?” Emma asked.
Jake laid his hand on Ava’s bloody neck. “She’s bit. But she has a pulse.”
Her body stirred.
Emma’s pulse spiked, with hope and anger. Ava was alive. Bitten, but alive.
Emma clamped on the creature’s neck again. “Talk or you’re dust.”
“Let me go, first,” the Vamp said.
“So not going to happen,” she said, as she loosened her grip a fraction. Jake snatched the crossbow from the floor and aimed it at the Vamp. “Talk.”
“I don’t know anything. They told me to grab her and you’d come,” the creature gasped.
“Like I believe you don’t know anything.” Emma shoved the knife deeper into its neck. She drew a steady stream of blood that time.
“Wait. Wait. Wait,” he said.
“Ava, can you hear me?” Jake gripped her shoulder.
Ava opened her eyes and moaned. “What the hell?”
“What’d you do to her?”
“I got hungry waiting for you to come, had a snack.”
She moved the knife to his chest. “I’m getting tired of waiting to hear what you know.” She dug the blade deeper, slicing through the dark, cotton shirt.
“They can’t have you two roaming around. Since he didn’t join them, he has to die. And now they know about you, so you have to die, too. You can’t stop them. This is the holy land. They’re too strong.”
“I didn’t join them,” Jake said, kneeling next to Ava. “So they aren’t too strong.”
Ava sat up and held her neck, scared eyes darting from Jake to Emma and the creature.