Rule 9 Academy Series Boxset: Books 3-5 Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy (Rule 9 Academy Box Sets (3 Book Series) 2)

by Elizabeth Rain

  “There are intruders in the cabin, I locked two in the basement and cold-cocked another. But we have to go,” she hissed.

  Jerry shook his head, trying to think and moving way too slow for Kimmy. With a panicked sigh of frustration, she snatched his hand and pulled him towards the door. Together they stepped over the fallen figure in the doorway. Kimmy’s back heel cleared him as he reached a clawed hand up and snagged her ankle. Kimmy stared down into glowing red eyes and pearly fangs peaking from underneath his snarl.

  With a growl of her own, Kimmy hefted the paperweight still clutched in one hand. “Get your filthy claws off me!” she ground out and bashed him in the head one more time, flinging the bloody glass aside in disgust as he slumped once more.

  Together Jerry Waverly ran into the night with Kimmy herding him from behind.

  Several hundred yards up the trail Kimmy’s ears picked up the sound of the basement door splintering in two under the force of the two vampires she’d locked in. “Faster Jerry, we aren’t out of this yet. They’ll follow and if they catch us we’ll lose badly. Vampires are quicker and stronger than either of us. We have to reach the farm before they pick up the trail and catch us.

  Panting ahead of her, imagining what that would mean, Jerry broke into a full on sprint. The dark wooded paths posed no problem for a vampire, or a terrified werewolf. But Jerry was human and ran along the trail with blind eyes. Behind him, Kimmy pushed him harder, swearing over every stump that caught his toe and every branch that tore at his face and clothes and made him cry out, showcasing their position to the vampires racing up the path behind them. Kimmy didn’t have to look back to know the vamps were gaining fast. She bared her teeth and growled in frustration.

  They broke into the Tuttle yard, bare feet ahead of the vamps, seconds ahead of the excited snarls that closed the gap too fast. By the time she reached the bottom steps, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. But it paid off. As the pursuing vamps scrambled to a stop at the edge of the grass, the lights on the porch flared bright and the Major himself stepped onto the porch brandishing a cross-bow. Karen was right behind him. Like her brother Thomas, she was an up-and-coming star with the bolos; her hands a whirling blur as the spiked ends picked up speed.

  Kimmy and Jerry never slowed as they bounded up the porch steps and through the door.

  From the edge of the light cast on the wide yard, three sets of gleaming eyes and flashing fangs chattering in agitation, not daring to come closer. Kimmy noted that the vamp whose skull she’d bashed in appeared to have made a full recovery. Blood suckers were hard to kill.

  Jerry and the Tuttles held their eyes for the space of several charged moments before they turned as a unit and disappeared back the way they’d come.

  “I think the rest of us better get back inside and lock up. Just in case they are out there waiting, I think you will both be bunking in with us the rest of the night.”

  Nobody argued.

  #

  They stood in the doorway the following morning and gaped in horror at the destruction.

  Jerry stared, his jaw cheeks ruddy with anger. Obviously, their late night visitors hadn’t been happy when they left them. They’d returned to the cabin and though the upstairs was a simple pass of upended furniture and strewn belongings, it was the basement lab that had drawn the brunt force of their rage. It lay in ruins, no beaker nor microscope, nor cupboard untouched.

  “Damn them. What is it with everyone wanting to destroy my lab?”

  The Major sighed. “Gettin’ too clever for your own good Doc. They know what you’re capable of doing. Makes you dangerous to them.”

  “So, what now? The antidote is gone. So is everything we used to create it.”

  Karen moved about the lab, trying in vain to find something that had survived. A beaker, a box of empty slides… not much else formed the pitiable pile of lab equipment that wasn’t in ruins.

  “I’ll tell you what you do, Jerry,” the Major continued, “You come back to the house and set back up in the secret room in the barn. Thomas no longer needs it. When he returns, he should be safe to come back to the main house again. We have some lab supplies there that might work in a pinch.”

  Jerry looked around at the destruction and gave a heavy sigh. “I supposed I should be grateful. We can repair this. At least this time they didn’t burn it to the ground. But the time… all wasted and nothing to show for it now.”

  “The important thing is that both you and Kimmy are safe. But I wouldn’t bet against them returning to finish the job. You’re safer on the farm. They don’t know about the hidden room in the barn.”

  “Still doesn’t replace what’s lost. They removed something else from the lab besides the antidote. The samples I used to make it are gone as well. Without those, I have nothing to work with. We’re dead in the water here.” He looked around in disgust and gave one of the discarded beakers a solid kick, sending it skittering across the floor. “You know, I’m getting really tired of being chased from my home. All this is over? I’m thinking I need to boost my security system.”

  Kimmy looked at him in some confusion. “I didn’t think you had one?”

  He nodded. “Exactly. That’s all about to change. I’m thinking booby traps or something would be a good idea.”

  The Major shot him a look and Kimmy grinned.

  “Coming up with a few surprises for the uninvited could be fun. That’s Todd’s specialty. We definitely need to talk to him soon.”

  Jerry didn’t smile. “In the meantime, I think we need to see about getting hold of Sadie and Nicholas, and Elise and her daughter as well. We’re going to need another set of samples from them. It will take time to recreate the antidote. We were real close to having a way to deliver it over a larger area. I shouldn’t need any samples from the diseased vamps for this to work. I hope.” He admitted, not sounding near as certain as Kimmy would have liked.

  The Major grunted and headed for the door. “Well then, lets get you guys back to the farm and get things set up for you.” He sent Jerry Waverly a wry grin.

  “You know, this is getting to be somewhat of a habit, installing you in that room. You visit more than my sons and daughters do.”

  Jerry didn’t smile as he flipped the broken latch on the door on his way out and it refused to stay closed. Kimmy was sure her father had missed the mark as far as jokes went.

  Kimmy turned to Jerry as they walked. “I thought you said we shouldn’t use Emerald’s blood in the antidote. We don’t have any of the AB- left…”

  Jerry stared at her grimly. “I know what I said. Things have changed now, and we have no choice.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The eyes they felt on their backs made them move faster. They were being pursued and Elise was horribly sure she knew who was behind them and closing. “Run Emerald, we can’t be caught here.”

  Emerald didn’t need any encouragement; breaking into a ground-eating lope far faster than any human could hope to match.

  But what followed behind and was closing wasn’t human either.

  They ran along the shoreline trail of Bane Lake, skirting dead fall and clearing fallen trees in a blur of speed. Briars and twiggy branches reached out and ripped at their hair, causing them both to grunt in irritation; but it didn’t slow them down. They didn’t have to run forever. The portal into Wyndoor was less than a hundred yards away.

  But by the time they broke into the open and the moon lit their way, the gap between them and their pursuers had narrowed to less than fifty yards. They never slowed, hitting the portal in quick succession, the sucking whir of movement sending them in a tangled sprawl on the other side and well clear of the drop-off that would have messed up their day.

  Elise rolled to her feet and turned to face the sputtering portal as it faded and cleared in a rolling pulse. On the other side, she caught sight of the movement from whatever had chased them. But whoever they were, they’d obviously been given instruction not to pursue them into
Wyndoor. Elise wasn’t sure she wanted to know why.

  She helped her daughter up and they turned their back on the quivering doorway. They needed to get off the open plain they stood on. Wyndoor at night was nowhere you wanted to be visible to predator’s eyes.

  At a dead run, Elise grabbed her daughter’s hand and they sprinted the distance across the open plain to the relative safety of the woods. The forest bisected the large plains of Wyndoor where the Juggats roamed looking for fools just like them, open targets where they shouldn’t be and especially not at night.

  It seemed to Elise that nowhere was safe. Here they were free of the long reach of the Judge Fino Vas and his vampire minions. Instead, they worried about becoming dinner to the host of creatures that roamed Wyndoor looking for an easy meal.

  They needed to reach the Demon wolves and hope they were in a reasoning mood. To deliver the antidote and have any chance at success, they had to have help. Vampires and Demon wolves had enjoyed a very tentative truce for hundreds of years, each recognizing the power the other held. Will Bennett had destroyed that fragile peace the year before when he used his sorcery on the Demon wolves to help further his agenda. They had barely survived the ensuing battle. But peace had been restored, and though she wouldn’t say there were no hard feelings, both sides seemed to realize that the Demon wolves had not acted of their own free will. A monster had controlled them. She hoped the Demon wolves could recognize that this was a similar situation and that the vampires were being influenced by something equally deadly and not of their choosing.

  Together, mother and daughter moved deep within the walls of the thick tangle that formed Jordan’s Spine. The bare path that cut the undergrowth of the briars was minimal and meant for creatures much smaller, but no less deadly, than they were. Here they were safe from the Juggats. But other creatures were more at home in the thick tangle. The notion moved them forward as quickly as they dared, numbing them to the slick smears of blood drawn from the pull of sharp thorns along their arms and face.

  Worried about what might follow them, neither had paid much attention to what was in front of them. So it was hard to say who was more surprised when they burst free of the thicket into the open forest on the other end—and came face to face with three vampires, eyes shiny with madness.

  Time slowed to a pace of seconds as everyone froze. But hunger is quick and the savagery of the attack kept up as the vampires moved on them almost instantly, their hissing growls wet and terrifying. Elise and Emerald had just enough forethought to pull her dagger when they were on them.

  Elise growled in frustration. The ten-inch knife that was an extension of her arm wouldn’t be near enough to overpower the mad reach of the two male vampires that circled her. For one crazy moment she thought to look beyond the matted hair and tattered clothing, hoping to recognize the faces of their attackers. But just as quick, she discarded the notion. Whoever they might have once been, their consciousness no longer recognized it. They were insane with hunger and rage. Reasoning with them was off the table.

  Elise’s eyes shot to Emerald as she paced off against the female, grinning madly and circling her child and preparing to leap. Emerald’s bow was useless in close quarters, and like her, she’d opted for her own wicked Bowie knife.

  But they both knew the futility of fighting another vampire with nothing more than a blade. Vampires were nearly impossible to kill, and they’d have to rely on their training and skill compared to the out-of-control mania of their attackers to survive.

  Elise heard the long peeling whistle her daughter sent out as she turned back towards the vamp that had taken advantage of her distraction and was leaping her way. On instinct, she feinted low and instead of attacking or leaping out of the way; she used one clawed hand to pull him in close in a backward roll, her knife slashing viciously at his neck, hoping to sever something vital and at least take him out of commission long enough for them to escape.

  With a howl of rage they tumbled over the earth and he thrust her away with a gagging gurgle, grasping at his wounds and screeching in pain.

  She’d barely slowed him down. She leapt to her feet as the other vamp closed in, taking advantage of her position. This time she leapt high, using the momentum to climb his reaching arms and flip through the air behind him, the knife cutting a deep ribbon through the muscles along the back of his neck. She landed nimble as a cat on her feet, her own eyes dark with determination. There was no time for compassion or sympathy here. They were fighting to survive.

  Neither of her attackers would be down for long, but both weaved beneath the blood loss and the stress on their vampire systems required to repair damaged tissue and bone.

  A sudden scream of pain made her eyes fly to her daughter. The female vamp had her clasped in her arms, and had pulled her in close, thrusting the knife aside like it was nothing. She suckled at her neck greedily and Elise’s eyes bled red as she screamed her rage, on the other vamp in an instant and sinking the knife deep and twisting as she wrenched the vampire away from her daughter. Emerald sank to the ground like a limp rag, soundless and still.

  The vamps gave Elise no time to examine the injuries, despite their wounds they were all back on their feet and moving in as she stood over her daughter’s slight form in a fighter’s stance, desperate and afraid.

  A sudden whirl of wind swept past her and she blinked as a mammoth form shivered briefly into view before fading to translucent once more, the shimmery beast wavering in and out of focus. A chameleon, she realized. Emerald’s imaginary friend was real. Much like a Weis, whatever Emerald’s friend was, he could fade and blend into his background absolutely, to become nearly invisible to the naked eye. But this was no Weis. He was easily the size of a horse. And the three vampires felt his wrath. He hit them with an explosion of fury and ripping teeth. To the confused observer, it seemed as if the vamps simply exploded in a flurry of arms and legs and body parts as he tore them limb from limb. There would be no reassembling that.

  Shaking, Elise crouched in front of her daughter, wondering if she would now face another foe, ready to tear them apart just as easily.

  The creature slowly turned and faced her and in trembling disbelief, Elise watched as the camouflage fell away and a man-beast appeared, arms long at his side and standing tall on two feet. He was huge—easily seven and a half feet tall and wide at the shoulders. Dense tan fur covered him from head to toe in a carpet of hair at least a couple inches long. Only his face appeared devoid of fur. Broad heavy cheekbones jutted from a flat hard face. Dark brown eyes stared down at her with uncanny intelligence.

  “Stay back!” Elise threatened.

  He stared at her without expression, his eyes moving to Emerald’s fallen form. Ignoring her, he moved in and crouched next to her, reaching out with plate-sized hands and gently rolling her over. He stared at the substantial damage to her throat and hissed, his eyes flashing with rage.

  He gave Elise an imploring look. “Help her,” he growled, the words barely recognizable, sounding foreign through a voice box rusty from disuse.

  Elise thought quick. She needed help and a place to heal that was safe. Immediately she thought of Jerry Waverly. There Emerald would have both.

  Getting her there fast posed a problem. Elise, vampire strong, was nearly spent.

  As if sensing her dilemma and before she could stop him, he’d bent down and picked Emerald up, cuddling her to his massive chest like a puppy.

  “Where?” he growled.

  Elise stood. She needed to decide, and fast. Trust the beast or watch her daughter die. “To the portal. We need to get her through to the other side and Drae Hallow.”

  His slash of a mouth firmed in a savage snarl. “Follow.”

  And then he was moving, not bothering with the briar path. He took off, setting an incredible pace straight through the woods towards the open plain and portal out of Wyndoor. Elise, preternaturally fast, struggled to keep up with his loping form as he made his own path through the dense dar
k wood.

  They reached the cliff edge in a fraction of the time it had taken them before. There he hesitated, and Elise pulled up as well.

  She stared at the portal, a faint shimmering shadow in space as figures fluctuated beyond its door on the other side. Something moved there.

  “Can you enter Drae Hallow?”

  A quick nod.

  “The guards… they are waiting for me to return.”

  He handed Emerald to Elise and dipped his head towards the shimmering door. Elise watched him fade until only his eyes remained, winking at her, floating eerily in the air. And then they winked from sight as well. “I follow,” he whispered back at her.

  Elise lay her cheek against her daughter’s brow, feeling the feverish warmth. Mouth grim with determination, she backed up and ran towards the open space between the cliff’s edge and the portal entry. She hit it square, landing on the other side hard, falling to one knee on the downside of the hill. She pushed upright and raced to the top and smashed straight through the startled group of vampire sentries waiting for her there.

  They let out shouts of excitement and Elise ran full out, hearing the pounding of feet gaining behind her.

  Had he followed as he promised? Or was this where they caught her and they both died.

  A sudden explosion of noise and the ensuing screams of confused terror cut short made her smile in grim satisfaction as she ran towards the doorway leading to the other side of Shephard’s Mountain. She was very glad she’d paid attention to the pattern the last time she’d come this way with Sadie and the others.

  She was through and running along the tunnels inside the mountain in no time, emerging to the faintest glimmer of a pink and purple sunrise on the other end. She ignored the fingers of bold color and ran down the mountain towards Breathless.

  #

  The door rattled on its hinges and swung open under the force of her foot. She crossed the threshold and stared at the obvious signs of destruction. Overturned chairs and torn cushions dotted the room. The crunch of shattered glass beneath her feet brought her up short. The room was empty. Whoever had been here before was long gone. Despair hit her with a sucking gasp. What now?