“Thank you,” I said.
“Thanks,” Kai mumbled, still disgruntled from earlier.
She smiled and walked away to take care of her other customers.
“I don’t want to fight with you Kai, and I don’t want you to be mad at me over something I can’t change.” I focused on my tea, swirling the bag around in the cup. It was a cute hand-made sack with a string tied into a bow holding the leaves together.
“I know.” He didn’t relax in the slightest. “Let’s just focus on the mission for now.” I heard the click of his jaw as he ground his teeth. I understood being on edge about the mission, but for emotions, especially for a vamp, was odd.
I sighed, made quick work of my sauce and tea additive and dove in, wishing I was still human enough to find comfort in food.
Chapter 17
We ate and drank in silence until I threw down whatever cash I had onto the table. I didn’t know the dollar value, but I knew it was more than enough to cover the bill. I was ready to escape the tension suspended between us.
"Go ahead without me," I said pulling out my phone the second I hit the sidewalk outside.
"I'm a jerk, but not an ass; I'm not going to leave you knowing we're being hunted," he replied, giving our surroundings a quick once over.
"I'm in the middle of a busy city. I'll be fine." I shrugged stepping towards a building to avoid being knocked about in the crowd. I never realized how similar London and New York City were.
He studied me for a minute, a scowl upon his face. "You won't even know I'm here." He went a few yards down from me and leaned against the building. I couldn't get mad at him. He was protecting me. The friction between us was going to start a fire if we didn't find common ground again soon though.
I called Aunt Claire wanting a familiar voice of comfort.
"Alexa Lorrayne Jackson! Where the h-e-double hockey sticks are you?!"
"Hi to you too Aunt Claire," I sighed.
"Hi? Lexi I've been worried sick. I was left with a generic note and voicemail saying you had a new mission. Not once did you tell me where in the world you were going or who you were with. Auggy can kiss my white vamp butt with the whole secrecy crap. You're all I have left and I'll be damned if I lose you too. Now where in the dickens are you?"
So much for comfort... "London."
"With who?"
"Kellan, Al, Craig, The Bladangs and my Eislom."
"Eislom? You're at that point in the journey already?"
"You know the full story?"
"Of course. Where do you think I've been? I haven't shown or sold a house since I found out it was you and Kellan. I've been off doing something I vowed never to do again: studying history." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I couldn't believe she went to such an extent for me.
"Really?" My voice was barely a whisper.
"Yes, really. I told you, you are like a daughter to me Lexi. I also promised your mom I would protect you til the end of the Earth, whatever that entails. I meant it." She paused. I knew we were both thinking, remembering, her in some capacity. She cleared her throat suppressing all emotion in her voice. "Now, I'll be on the first flight to London. Don't even bother wasting your breath; I can tell you need me. You're scared and going through a lot and I'm going to be there for you. What hotel are you staying at?"
"The May Fair."
"Beautiful hotel. Well, alright then. I'll call you when I land. I love you Lex. Stay safe and stay strong sweetie."
"Thanks Aunt Claire. I love you too."
I returned my phone to my pocket. Despite not being able to talk through my issues, I felt better. It was like her love hugged me through the phone; her voice soothed me, reminding me that everything would be ok. It had to be.
I was still in my reverie when Kai abruptly grabbed my arm and whisked me through the crowd at a barely passable human speed. I immediately opened my mind.
"What's wrong?"
"There are several vamps nearby moving towards us at top speed."
I heard the brisk steps of a small army but my nose didn't let me differentiate them. I smelled Kai, the city pollutants, the misty smell of rain becoming snow and the humans I passed with their individual scents.
"I take it that's a bad thing."
He didn't bother responding. He instead led us through the alleys and behind buildings at vamp speed. I didn't realize just how far we'd walked earlier until now.
Moments later I spotted the hotel ahead. Kai headed straight for the service entrance. We moved so quick through the hotel that it was nearly a blur to my vamp vision; certainly the humans only experienced a gust of wind. We flew up the stairs; well Kai basically dragged me, and were in Kalel's room in under a minute. The second Kai let go of my hand, I grabbed the back of a chair for support as I regained my equilibrium. I didn't know vamps could get dizzy; maybe that was just a vampeen thing though because he seemed completely unfazed by the action.
I looked at the two of them obviously conversing mentally despite their cocked heads pointed at me studiously.
"What?" I nearly shouted, hating to be excluded.
"I'm going to tap into the cameras around the city to see who we're up against. Get everyone together because they'll definitely track your scent here, and we'll need to prepare," Kalel said as he moved to his computer setup at the desk.
"Ugh. We just got here," I groaned.
"Act now; complain later," Kalel ordered.
I found Will staring out the window in his room. His door was ajar as if he was waiting for me. He stood legs shoulder-width apart, his hands in his pockets.
"I already know," he stated, a bit of trepidation and sadness in his tone. I swallowed my serum, trying to calm the nerves stealing my sanity from me. He knew what was coming; he knew what we were about to face, yet he stood there saying, revealing nothing.
"What am I about to lose?" I asked stepping closer.
"Who. The question should be who." He turned to face me, a solemn expression despite the pool of emotions in his eyes.
"Who am I about to lose?" I choked out as serum covered my tongue.
"If I told you, you would focus on that vamp and lose another. I can't tell you. I will tell you to activate your necklace now and get to Kellan immediately."
I ran from the room without a second thought. I found Kellan and Craig in Al's room loading up on weapons.
"We know," Kellan announced the second I entered the room.
"Apparently everyone does."
"Here's your dagger." Kellan tossed me my other gift from the Bladangs, wrapped in the only material it wouldn't seer: gold. It made sense considering it's gold. I didn't understand how it worked since vamps wore gold jewelry all the time, but I refused to ponder a defense too deeply.
“We should meet in Kalel’s room. He’s accessing the cameras around the city,” I said, shifting back and forth from foot to foot. I felt so very human in this moment the way my emotions were slamming into me. Nerves, anger, worry, sadness, fear and many more were slowly eating away at me, rolling around in my stomach and rising up in my chest. Will was the one that’d started the entire campaign.
We evacuated and regrouped in Kalel’s room. I noticed we were one man down. For some reason or another Will wasn’t participating. I couldn’t say I was surprised. He’d stepped back and let me take the direct hit from the car bomb. I was beginning to understand that while he was there to guide me, he wasn’t about to do anything that would change history and most importantly, anything that would help protect me and my friends.
“Nothing’s showing up on the cameras. Either they’re hiding or they’re using deflectors,” Kalel stated. Kai and Rafi stood closely behind him studying the computer screen as he flipped through several camera views.
“Maybe it was nothing; maybe we’re all just paranoid. It could have been any group of vamps chasing a human or – “ I paused, unable to think of another excuse to throw out. “It could have been anything.”
“Very few vamps ch
ase humans in the light of day,” Al said, discrediting my hopes.
“So what do we do? Go look for them? Stay here? What are we doing guys?” Gabi huffed, staring down at her perfectly manicured nails.
“Oh blotty nickerbells,” Craig exclaimed. There was something in his voice that caused us all to turn around.
They’d snuck in. Not a sound was heard, not a single pin drop alerted us. They now surrounded us and blocked our escape route. There were at least fifteen of them, dressed in black from head to toe. Their faces were masked in black with merely their eyes visible to us.
“Holy sugar plums,” I whispered, taken aback by their graceful movements. I lifted my hands to activate my shield; I had a feeling I would need the protection. Somehow they all seemed skilled and dangerous despite their calm façade. A small noise, almost intergalactic in sound, reverberated through the room. I looked down at my necklace and tried again. “Uh, guys. My necklace isn’t working.”
“Dammit. I knew the bastard was two-timing us,” Kai bit out.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Gabi said.
“Now isn’t the time to bicker; it’s the time to defend yourself from the real enemy,” Al interjected.
“He’s right.” I pulled out my gold dagger; Kai and Kalel did the same. A quick glance around showed no one else but us were using weapons. “What happened to the weapons you were pulling?”
“Won’t work on them. They fight fist to fist. Their uniforms repel everything.”
“Shit.” It was one word I hadn’t used in forever, but knew I was in deeply.
“Block your thoughts and sniff the air,” Kalel ordered. “They have no scent.”
“Duh! That’s probably why we didn’t smell them you idiots. Now stop talking and get ready. Who the hell knows when these bastards are going to come at us,” Gabi nearly growled the order.
Taking the initiative, since it was my fight after all, I slowly edged towards the door. That set them into motion. I barely saw the black land in front of me. I ducked from a punch but caught an undercut that sent me flying across the room.
Chaos flooded the room. Gusts of wind wafted past me from time to time. It took me a minute to notice that the others were defending me. Every pair of enemy eyes focused on me between jabs with my friends.
Suddenly two snuck past the brothers and headed straight for me. My knife was short so I had to wait until they were close to stab them. I missed the first but caught the side of the other. The black fabric sizzled upon contact dissipating to reveal browned skin below.
I leapt up onto the bed, backing away from the pair trying to close in on me again. That’s when I noticed the dart gun in the hands of a ninja across the room. He took aim. I realized he was aiming it at Rafi. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t aiming it at me until I noticed he had at least ten darts in the round loader. Oh God. They were planning to take all of us out, and I bet the last one with the purple liquid instead of the blue was for me. I swallowed the serum that flooded my mouth.
My eyes darted from Rafi to the gun and finally to the ninja that’d just leapt onto the bed with me. They were silent in their assault. Vamp hearing did nothing for us in this battle. I couldn’t figure out why either based on their black boots.
The second I averted my eyes I was pinned to the wall, the headboard pressing into the backs of my thighs. The second ninja whom I’d narrowly missed the skin of joined the other, prepared to inject me with something when abruptly they collapsed; sizzling smoke and acid filled the air. The brothers rolled over the ninjas and retrieved their daggers. I was proud of their direct kill, but a quick glance around showed none of the others were faring the same. We were barely fending off their attacks.
The brothers immediately went back into action defending the ninjas. Another planted itself in front of me not giving me a second to defend myself again his kick. The air was knocked out of me as I landed on the nightstand and the lamp crashed to the floor below. I rebounded on my feet and raced towards him delivering my own blows, but none were even close in strength to the ones he supplied.
Suddenly remembering the dart gun, I gave one last hard blow and flew around him. A few more came at me; they were finally pinning me as the target. I somehow diverted their attempts and escaped the tug from behind. I focused on my target: the lone enemy in the corner, preparing to end us one by one without notice.
My body angled towards him, I leapt over random items strewn on the floor, ducked between and around casual combat amongst my peers and the enemy, focused solely on taking out that vamp.
Taking in my stride and angle, he wasted no time. He aimed the gun at the closest opponent: Kellan. “Lookout! Duck NOW!”
The dart was fired right as Kellan heeded my words and dropped to the floor. The ninja jumped up and rolled over the projection, narrowly missing its sharp edge into his back before he landed on the floor as silently as he’d launched himself.
Returning to my mission right as Craig and Al began fending off a few behind me. My eyes narrowed on the corner vamp again. I ran full force towards him. A palm landing in the center of my chest, caving in my diaphragm sent me flying backwards again. I gasped a few harsh breaths right as he took aim at an unsuspecting Rafi, fighting off two ninjas near the dresser. The army had trained him to focus on the enemy in front of you, not miles away aiming at you. Chances were the one that was miles away would miss, but the one close by wouldn’t.
“Rafi!” I yelled right as the dart was fired. The two vamps didn’t let up, keeping him upwards and in the line of fire.
Surprised by my own inner strength I threw the ninja threatening to land a blow to my head across the room. I crouched down line a tiger preparing to pounce on her prey, and launched myself into the air at an outward angle. I was upside down over the battle Rafi was fighting and was just coming down past them completing my full somersault when the dart hit my upper chest.
“No!” I heard Kellan fiercely cry out.
Pain, stinging, singed my veins as the venom coursed through me. Maybe it was the poison, or maybe it was my imagination, but the room went silent. Everyone stopped fighting to see what’d happened. I didn’t care at this point because I’d saved him. No one should die because of me, and I’d made sure no one did.
Chapter 18
KELLAN
I stared down at her lifeless body, unable to focus on anything else as my emotions, human emotions I only ever had with her, swelled to the surface.
“No, dammit! No!” I yelled, unable to contain my anger.
A second dart flew through the room; a silent whistle filled the air as the object hit Rafi in the center of his chest. Gabi cried out, a guttural hurt from deep within her echoed through the confined space. We’d let our guard down. We believed that because they’d stopped fighting that we could too. We’d forgotten for a second that our enemy was in the room and would stop at nothing. It was a fatal mistake. Rafi began to fall; Gabi quickly caught him, blood flowing down her cheeks meaning they’d probably just exchanged given their intermingling scents.
My eyes returned to her, pale and flaccid on the floor a few feet away. I didn’t want to look, but couldn’t stop myself. The others looked on in horror; I saw the anger creeping into their expressions. Vampires knew very little of the other emotions.
Looking down at her, I knew anger wasn’t even the right word. How does one cope with losing the love of their life at the hands of their enemy? They don’t; I didn’t. I gathered my rage and centered my fury, prepared to unleash it on the unsuspecting bastards.
I ripped my eyes from my dead fiancé. I felt the scowl on my face. I heard my heartbeat pick up speed as I glared at the uniformed assassins enjoying my despair. An evil laugh threatened to belt from me. I knew they would be dead before I walked out of the room.
Gabi stepped beside me, the same fury coursing through her veins. We would both be victorious. We would get our revenge.
The others grouped behind us offering silent strength.
No one was walking out with Lexi’s body but me.
“Let’s do this shit.”
“Here.” Kai and Kalel each passed me their prized weapon. A look of understanding and respect was shared by all of us.
I refocused on my enemies. With a gold dagger in each hand, I ran head on towards the closest target. I twisted sideways at the last minute swinging my arms out confidently and decapitating two at once.
I heard the chaos behind me, but paid no attention. My mission was to kill as many of these fuckers as possible.
I spun around just as one jousted towards me. I jumped and flipped over him; it was probably the best ninja move I was capable of. A quick turn and I offed him from behind right as another two came at me simultaneously. I waited until the last second to move so they killed each other with their powerhouse kicks, which were strong enough to break each other’s necks and rip through the delicate skin with the centered steel point on the bottom of their boots.
The second I turned one nearly hit me with a dart, and would have if Craig hadn’t killed the asshole with a silver chain slicing his neck. That threw off his aim a bit. A quick glance around showed we were winning.
Less than a minute later we’d murdered the last ninja proving powerful emotions fueled powerful attacks.
Gabi dropped her weapons to the floor as she collapsed pulling Rafi into her arms. Sobs poured from her. I couldn’t even react to that. Lexi had sacrificed her life in order to save a man who ended up dead anyways.
Rage resurfaced at the scene before me. I didn’t come all this way to lose her. We came to save her. She had to be saved.
Serum dripped off my teeth. I wasn’t pure vampire, but maybe I had enough venom to boost her system. Rafi was full vampire; there was no saving him. But Lexi had a chance. She had to have one. She’s fierce. She always had the fight in her. It was one of the things I loved about her.
Forgetting the others, I slid down beside her, recklessly ripping the dart from her upper chest. Without a moment’s hesitation I exposed her neck and bit. I wasn’t going to rely on just that though. I bit my wrist, pulling a chunk of skin off with my aggressive actions; the vein burst open and began emptying my life source everywhere. I opened her mouth and placed my wrist to her pale lips. I knew the scene was reminiscent of her parents, but didn’t care. I didn’t care what I looked like or how crazy they thought I was. I had to try. I couldn’t lose her; I couldn’t picture forever in this desolate God-forsaken hell without her.
3 Hit the Road Jack Page 12