Crossfire (Book Two of the Darkride Chronicles)

by Laura Bradley Rede

  For a second, I see a look of relief cross the hunters face. Then I turn to the enluzantes and say, “Five.”

  They fall on him like a pack of dogs, knocking him off me. I roll out from under the swirling mass and rush to Ander. He’s starting to stir.

  “He’s waking up!” I beam at her in relief, but Naomi doesn’t look happy.

  “That’s not a good thing, Cicely. He’s injured. He’ll want to wolf out and I’m too exhausted to charm him down. Ander’s going to come to in the middle of a fight, and we don’t know what side he’ll be on.”

  I look at my enluzantes, busy feeding on the Hunter. What if Ander wolfs and takes them out? What if I can’t keep them from turning on him? “I have to tell them to go. Emmie, you go, too. Back to the van—”

  “No!” Emmie cries. “We need them! And we have to stay. There’s a whole mess of thralls being held captive and we have to get them out of here!”

  “Emmie,” I say, “we can’t—”

  “They’re in the East wing,” Emmie says. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “Wait!” I call out. “Where are you going!”

  “To get Luke!” Emmie smiles back at me as she heads for the door. “I’m the one with the key!” She waves the gun in good-bye and sprints out into the night.

  “Great,” I say.

  Five picks up the Hunter’s abandoned gun and heads for the opposite door, into the house.

  “Where are you going?” I demand.

  “To take out whoever I can while they’re still sleeping. And to get out of here before hurricane Ander hits land.”

  Which is right about now. Ander opens his eyes, but the look in them is more wolf than human. His breathing comes hard. His teeth are already lengthening.

  “Go,” Naomi shouts. “Run!”

  “No!” I reach instinctively for Ander’s hand. I already thought I lost him once tonight. I can’t stand to lose him again.

  But he’s already losing himself. “Please,” he growls through gritted teeth, “I don’t want to bite you.”

  “No,” Naomi says. “Bite me.”

  Chapter 33: Ander

  “What?” I’m so shocked, I almost snap back to my human mind. Almost.

  “If you bite me,” Naomi says quickly, “I’ll be a werewolf. I’ll be your pack. I won’t change until the full moon, so I won’t be a danger to anyone. You’ll be in control of your changes again, and you’ll heal faster if you can wolf out.”

  “No,” I say. “I won’t do it.”

  “The Hunters are coming, Ander. If you don’t, you’ll wolf. You’ll kill us.”

  “I swore I wouldn’t.” It hurts to talk. My voice is sandpaper on stone. “D.J. asked me to bite him and I refused.”

  “D.J. wanted to be a better hunter. He wanted it out of hate. I want it out of—”

  “Don’t say it!” I roar at her. I can’t let her say love. “I heard what you told my mother, but I won’t let you sacrifice yourself because you’re in love with me.”

  “Because what?” Cicely says.

  “Naomi,” I say. “I love you, but I’m not in love with you.”

  “I know,” she says. “You’re in love with Cicely.” Her gray eyes fill with tears. “I’m not in love with you either, no matter how much I might want to be. I’m still in love with Jonah. I want to be with him.”

  “Be with him?” I stare at her, horrified. “If you’re asking me to kill you—”

  “He isn’t dead. I never said he died. It’s a long—”

  There’s no time for long stories. There’s an explosion of noise in the next room as the Hunters—how many? Two? Three?—come downstairs to find vampires in their living room. A loud crash. Hissing. I can hear D.J.’s voice above the din. Cicely turns to the door, her face pained. “I have to go help them.”

  I hate to let her walk into that chaos, but she’s no safer here right now.

  And I don’t want her to see what I’m about to do.

  “Go,” I say.

  She does, looking back at me once, then rushing for the door at vampire speed. I turn to Naomi. “I can’t let you do this for me.”

  “Then do it for them,” she says. “Do it for me.”

  I don’t have a choice.

  And so I do the thing I said I wouldn’t do. I try to be gentle, but I have to act fast. I push Naomi’s long red hair aside, pull down the neck of her t-shirt to bare her shoulder. She tips her head to the side, squeezing her eyes shut in anticipation of the pain.

  I bite her. My long canine’s sink deep into her shoulder. She screams.

  And she should scream, because the moment I taste blood, I start to turn in earnest, my body expanding and twisting. My scream joins hers and for a horrible moment I think I will loose it completely and rip Naomi to shreds.

  “Ander!” she yells. “Stop!”

  The alpha status kicks in. A sudden calm sweeps over me as I bring myself under control, my body shifting back into human form in one swift motion. “It’s okay,” I breathe. “I’m fine.”

  “It’s not okay,” Five says from the doorway. “They’ve called for reinforcements. There’s three trucks of Hunters coming in the front gate. We’re surrounded.”

  I get to my feet. My injured shoulder protests every movement, but I’m standing. We have to stop the Hunters before they reach the house. I head for the door, turning to tell Naomi to follow me.

  But I don’t have to. My pack is already at my side.

  Chapter 34: Emmie

  I race towards the low stone building, the skeleton key swinging back and forth on its chain as I run. I saw the Hunters drag Luke this way earlier, so I’m betting this is the “kennels” where they keep the captive vamps. The winter wind is freezing on my bare legs, but the gun is still warm in my hand. I keep it ready, just in case someone is guarding the door, but there’s no one in sight. If there was anyone, they must have left their post to join the fight I can hear raging back at the house. Now, there’s only the locked door to keep me out, and that clicks open at the turn of the key.

  I step back as the smell hits me: piss and damp and decay. It’s horrible to me, but I can only imagine what torture it’s gotta be for the vampires. I force myself to step inside, where narrow stone stairs lead down into the dark. Brown water drips from the ceiling and sweats through the cracks of the gray stone walls. It’s a wonder anything survives down here, I think.

  And it’s clear some things don’t. There’s a lump of clothing on the floor of the first cell I pass. It isn’t moving and hasn’t for some time, from the smell of it. The stench of death is everywhere.

  But signs of life are, too. Flies swarm. Mice skitter across my path. Spider webs shudder as I press past them, and it’s all I can do to not fire the gun at the spiders, because, Lord, I hate those things! But I have to pay attention to the bigger things squirming to life in the darkened cells. The vampire prisoners are waking up and, if I can smell them, they can certainly smell me. All down the row of cages, bright vampire eyes stare at me from the shadows. The half-burnt arm of an enluzante reaches between the bars, brushing the hem of my nightgown as I pass, leaving a long streak of black.

  I step into the center of the aisle, trying to stay out of reach, and walk with my head held high. Just like walkin’ into a bar, I tell myself, confidence counts. They’re only vampires.

  And not even strong vampires. I force myself to look into the cages as I pass, and the creatures who look back at me aren’t powerful monsters. An old man watches me from hollow eyes. His fangs are out, but they’re blunted, filed down to stubs. He’s so thin I can see every bone in his hand as he grabs the bars and shakes them.

  The girl in the cage beside him doesn’t bother to come to the bars. She huddles in the darkest corner of the cage, and I can barely see her because she’s covered in black ash. It takes me a moment to realize the ash used to be her cellmate. I look up at the ceiling, where a small trap door sits, waiting to be opened to let in the sunlight whenever the hunt
ers want her to die. She’s bleeding from a cut on her forehead, the black vampire blood making a single slick track through the ash like a tear.

  Tears well in my own eyes, too. Michael lived in this place. So did Five. So have countless other vampires not so different from Cicely or my dad or any of my friends at the bar. Not so different from Luke.

  I have to find him. On one side, a vampire leaps at the bars like an animal, desperate to get at me. From the other, a voice is calling me by someone else’s name. I hurry between them, whispering Luke’s name just as loud as I dare, suddenly panicked he might not be here. Did they take him somewhere else? Could the werewolves have already killed him? My heart is racing. My friends came here to save me. If anything happens to any of them, I will never forgive myself.

  In the last cell, I find him. First I want to cry with relief, and then I want to just cry because, oh, he doesn’t look good. He’s lying unconscious on the cold stone floor, his usually perfect clothes caked with blood and dirt, his dark curls in a tangle. There’s a long cut running down one side of his sculpted cheek and the backs of his hands are a bloody mess. I can tell he’s alive, thank God, but only because I can see his ragged breathing. I’ve often thought Luke seemed full of himself, like he thought he was above the rest of us, but now, to see that proud man brought so low… It pains me just to look at him.

  I’ve got to get him out of here as fast as I can. “Luke,” I whisper. “Wake up!”

  Chapter 35: Luke

  A soft voice cuts through my fevered dream. “Luke!”

  “Emmie?” I manage to pry one eye open. It isn’t easy. The cut on my face stings when I move and I can taste my own blood in my mouth.

  But even with my vision blurring, I can tell Emmie really is here. In fact, I could tell even if I were blind. I can smell her sweet scent, even through the stench of the cages. I hadn’t realized how familiar it was.

  Or how tempting.

  “Emmie.” My voice comes out as a dull rasp. “You shouldn’t be here. It isn’t safe.”

  “Don’t be silly. I had to come for you.” She shifts the gun in her hand—since when does Emmie have a gun?—and unloops a chain from around her neck.

  I manage to sit up, although the room spins. “Where are the others? Where’s Cicely?”

  “I left them at the house. They were in a mess, Luke, but we can’t leave until we get the thralls free. There’s a bunch of them locked in the East wing and we’ve gotta get them out.” There’s a key on the chain. She fits it into the lock on the cage door and starts to turn it.

  “Wait!”

  She pauses. “What?”

  “Leave it shut.”

  “What? No, Luke we have to—”

  “Leave it!”

  Emmie takes a step back. “Why?”

  I take a deep breath. It sends pain shooting through me. “If you were to open that now, I would bite you.”

  “Well, where are my manners! Of course you should bite me. You need your strength.” She goes back to the lock.

  “I’m hurt,” I say. “I wouldn’t be able to stop. You have to go.”

  “Now why would I go?” She pushes up the white sleeve of her nightgown. I can see the smooth underside of her wrist. My fangs shift into place. It hurts, but it also feels unspeakably good. I stand and take a step towards her on shaky legs. The scent of her has revived me. I feel lit up with the promise of blood.

  But I shouldn’t. “I’ll take too much.”

  She smiles. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s big old bars between us. I can get away if I need to.”

  No, I think, I’m not sure you could. But the moment to protest is past. Emmie angles her hand between the tight bars, the cold iron grazing her skin. I take her hand in mine, bending it back. Her pulse quickens, the sound of it joining the pounding in my head. My whole body aches with a new kind of pain, the exquisite pain of wanting her.

  But I don’t want to go too far. I watch her carefully as I lower my mouth to her wrist. Her skin is soft like the skin of a peach. Her pulse thrums against my lips. Her fingers tremble, but not with fear. Her eyes meet mine, bold. Keeping my eyes locked with hers, I bite.

  My fangs sink deep into her soft flesh, and I am rewarded with a rush of blood. I hear her sharp intake of breath, see her eyes shut, her head tip back. She moans softly as her blood fills my mouth, seeming to fill all of me with warmth and energy. I can feel it restoring me already. I suck hungrily, drawing more and more of her into me as her breathing turns fast and hard. A trickle of blood escapes me, running down her open palm. I entwine my fingers with hers and trap it. I should pull away, but I don’t want to. Emmie clearly doesn’t either. She takes a step closer, her full breasts pressed between the iron bars. Her free hand plays up the back of my neck, her fingers twining in my hair, holding me in place. She would give herself to me completely if she could, and I would gladly take her.

  But she needs her strength, too. It’s no good to make me strong if it makes her weak. With all my effort, I pry myself away.

  Emmie groans in protest. I watch her breath rise and fall, her throat exposed. All around us, vampires claw at their cages, desperate to get to her, and I know exactly how they feel. I want sink my teeth into the soft flesh of her throat, but I can’t. Instead I thrust my arm between the bars, pulling her tight against them and kiss her soft pink lips, the hard bars pressed between us.

  Emmie kisses me back and I can tell the hunger goes both ways. I grasp the bars, dizzy with the blood rush and something more.

  Reluctantly, I pull away.

  Emmie opens her eyes, her gaze full of wonder. Her smile is shy. “Feel better?”

  I smile back at her. “Much better. Thank you.”

  Her smile widens. “Me, too. But we’ve got to go find the others.” She grasps the key, still in the lock. “Luke Marianez, are you ready to be set free?”

  “Yes,” I say. “I am.”

  The key turns. The lock clicks and Emmie swings the door wide. I step out beside her, the taste of her still on my lips.

  I can already feel my wounds beginning to heal.

  Chapter 36: Emmie

  I pick up the gun and we rush for the door, Luke leading, me right behind him, but I only make it a few feet before something snags my nightgown. I stop short and turn to see the girl covered with ash, the one who had been cowering in the dark. She’s made it as far as the bars of her cage, though she’s still on her hands and knees. She looks up at me with haunted eyes. “Please.”

  Luke stops at the bottom of the stairs, realizing I’m not with him. “Emmie?”

  “I’m here.” I look down at the woman, then around at all the other vampires. The smell of blood has woken them. They huddle near the doors of their cages. The few who are well enough pace restlessly.

  Luke takes a few steps back towards me. “Emmie, we have to go.”

  He’s right, of course. We have to get to the thralls and set them free. We have to find our friends. They need us.

  But these people need us, too.

  Luke must see the look on my face. His eyebrows go up. “Oh, no. No, no, muñeca. They are half starved and crazy.”

  “They’re half starved and weak. How much threat can they be?”

  Luke glares around him. “A few still have strength.”

  “So,” I say, “then they’ll help us take out the Hunters! Safety in numbers.”

  He shakes his head in disbelief. “Only you would decide freeing wild vampires is the safe plan.” But there’s affection in his voice, and it gives me hope.

  So I press it. “They’ll probably just high tail it out of here. Lord knows I would!”

  “But what about the thralls?”

  “We’re going to the thralls now. We’ll protect them!”

  He sighs. “Emmie, you have to leave them.”

  But I can’t leave them. I mean, I can, of course, but I have a feeling they would stay with me, lodged in my heart like that splinter of cross Cicely carries in h
ers.

  I look Luke in the eye. “Please.”

  He presses his lips together, frustrated, and I know he wants to say no.

  But instead he holds out his hand. “Give me the key.”

  “What? No!”

  “Yes. It’s much too dangerous to let you do it. They’ll come after you. Give me the key, and you go on ahead. Once you have a good head start, I’ll open the cages, starting with those too weak to run. And if any of them step out of line,” he adds, loudly enough for all to hear, “I won’t hesitate to kill them. It’s join us or run. When I’ve set them free, I’ll catch up with you.”

  I can tell it pains him to say it, and it pains me to hear it, too. I don’t want to split up again. I’m afraid to leave Luke behind.

  But now his mind is made up. “The llave, por favor.”

  It strikes me how much Luke has changed. A month ago, he wouldn’t have cared. Now, here he is, ready to risk himself for a bunch of undead. I lay the key in his hand. My fingers brush against his, and I’m suddenly aware there are no bars between us now.

  But there is also no time. I reach up and touch his cheek, where his cut has already healed. “Come soon.”

  “I’ll find you,” he says. “Now go!”

  I turn and run. But at the top of the stairs, I hesitate. Will Luke make good on his word? Or did he only promise to reassure me, so I’d leave?

  Then I hear the key click in the first lock and, in spite of my fear, I smile. For someone, a door is opening now. A new life starts tonight.

  Chapter 37: Cicely

  “Go!” Ander shouts at me across the chaos. The Hunter’s backup has arrived and the front courtyard is a battlefield, a swirling insanity of Hunters and vampires and wolves.

  “I’m not leaving you!” I shout back. I’ve already come so close to losing Ander tonight, and I’m not going to risk it again.