Age of Vampires- The Complete Series

by Caroline Peckham

  The back of my suit tore at the impact and I winced, knowing it would displease Valentina. But the garment was not designed for running and fighting and the press of my muscles as they bulged with my gifts beneath it was too much for it to take. Hopefully my success in this hunt would make up for her displeasure at the damage I’d done to it.

  I was going to get that ring for Valentina. I’d carve it from Callie Ford’s finger myself and present it as a gift to my queen.

  I raced down a narrow alley between two of the huge hangars and emerged in a wide square on the far side of them. My shortcut had put me ahead of Erik and I grinned triumphantly as the helicopter swerved overhead and soared away into the sky.

  I looked up at it as the snow began to fall more heavily, spying the terrified faces of my prey peering down at me.

  Callie pressed her hand to the glass and her lips parted as she called my name before the metal contraption wheeled away again. My anger built and I bellowed curses after them as they attempted to flee from us once more.

  The helicopter roared in protest to the storm and the wind battered it from every direction as it thundered overhead, racing across the open fields to my left.

  I sprinted after it, quickly getting left behind and cursing as my quarry gained ground on me. I’d kill them. They had to die. There was no way that I could fail at this task twice. Their deaths would please my love and that was all that mattered to me on this Earth.

  The world began to turn white as the snow stuck to the ground and Valentina drew it from the sky in an ever thickening blizzard.

  I lost sight of the helicopter in the swirling mass of white but I could hear its engine roaring and I didn’t slow my pace.

  Erik slammed into me as he caught up, making me stumble before he raced on ahead of me with a laugh.

  I bared my teeth as I threw every ounce of my gifts into my legs, forcing them to move faster and faster so that I could pound away at the distance which divided me from my prey. Erik wouldn’t have this glory to himself. I would earn the reward of Valentina’s flesh for myself and pay for it in blood.

  My shoes carved tracks through the snow, the smooth soles slipping unhelpfully beneath my feet. I cursed the stupid garments, wishing for a solid pair of boots so that I might run even faster.

  Lightning lit the sky, illuminating the space ahead of me enough for me to spot it slamming into the helicopter.

  I bellowed a laugh as the whirring contraption stalled, its engines cutting out as it began to plummet towards the ground.

  My heart soared at the prospect of finishing this hunt.

  The engines restarted suddenly and the helicopter swooped skyward again just before it could collide with the Earth. I cursed as I ran on, desperate to catch up to it so that I could finish any survivors once my love brought it down.

  Lightning blasted across the sky again and again as the helicopter veered left and right and the wind howled.

  The engines screamed with the effort of fighting the storm and I grinned savagely as I upped my pace again. Valentina held our enemies in the fist of her storm and I would be there when she brought it to the ground.

  The helicopter soared through the battering maelstrom and fear clutched me in a vice-like grip. We’d seen the plane coming and had to take off with only half charge. Even if we could escape this storm, who knew how far we’d get before we ran out of power?

  Callie's eyes were wide with horror, staring across at me from where she sat opposite. The worst had happened. Valentina had caught up and Erik and Magnar were chasing after us like wolves. My heart clenched with terror as I searched the horrified faces of my friends for an answer to our desperate predicament.

  Callie opened her mouth to say something but a huge boom of thunder sounded overhead and the helicopter swayed precariously as torrential snow cascaded from the heavens.

  “Shit,” Warren growled from the cockpit. “The engines can't take this much longer! How far behind is she?”

  Julius tugged open the door from his seat beside me and a harsh wind whipped around us as he poked his head out, gazing down at the ground.

  “I can't see anything through this snow.” He swore, slamming the door shut and taking a rifle into his grip.

  I bit into my lip as another bellow of thunder cracked overhead. Callie fiddled with our mother's ring, her face pale and her expression haunted. “Magnar...” she breathed.

  I nodded, blinking back tears as I thought of him and Erik down there, forced against us.

  “Go as fast as you can,” Fabian commanded Warren.

  “What the hell do you think I'm doing?” Warren called back at him.

  Lightning forked through the air, so close it lit up the whole space inside the cabin. I took hold of my seat, my nails digging into the leather as my fear ratcheted up a notch.

  Julius shifted closer to me, his gaze flickering with concern. “Just hold on, maybe we can outpace her.”

  Clarice gave him a terrified look. “What if we can't?”

  Julius grunted his frustration. I took his hand and he squeezed my fingers in response.

  “Faster, Warren,” Miles urged, but Warren only swore in response.

  Another spear of lightning flashed beside us. Too close. It was too damn close. The helicopter surely couldn't withstand another hit.

  “Brace!” Warren shouted as the helicopter tilted sharply forwards. Lightning blinded me and I gasped as I was thrown into Callie. I hit the floor and she grabbed my arms to right me. Julius was on his knees beside me and he quickly hoisted me back into place on our seats.

  “That bitch,” he snapped, gripping his gun so hard his knuckles were turning white.

  Thunder bellowed again and hailstones pelted the helicopter, ringing off of the metal. A huge golf ball sized lump of ice smashed through the window to my right and I cried out, shielding my face from the glass as it hit the floor between our feet.

  “She's trying to crash us!” Warren yelled in a panic.

  “We know!” Fabian snapped at him. “Just keep your head screwed on and fly us away from her power.” He lifted a large machine gun from his lap and moved to the door.

  He wrenched it open and started firing blindly back in the direction we'd come from. The noise pounded against my eardrums, making me wince.

  “Stop! What if you hit Magnar?” Callie fell on him, trying to drag him away from the door. Miles grabbed her arm, hauling her back and Julius booted Miles in the leg to make him let go.

  “Stop it!” I snapped at them and Clarice took hold of Miles to pull him away.

  Fabian stopped shooting, throwing a scowl back at Callie. “It's us or them.”

  “You wouldn't be firing if Erik could die that easily from a gunshot wound,” Callie snarled.

  “She's right,” Julius barked at Fabian. “Stop shooting. If you kill my brother, I'll end you.”

  Fabian growled his annoyance, slamming the door shut again. The wind picked up and my stomach dropped dramatically as we plunged several feet.

  I braced myself against the wall of the helicopter, gazing at Callie's pale face. She held Fury in her palm, but there was no one to attack. We couldn't fight a storm. We were nothing but a bird in the sky, ready to be shot down.

  “Get away from the windows!” Warren roared.

  An explosion blinded me.

  White, blue, red. I couldn't see anything but a blaze of hellfire.

  A fierce wind tugged out my hair and I felt for the window beside me to support myself but it wasn't there. The helicopter turned violently to the right and I lurched out of my seat, falling, falling, falling.

  Someone crashed into me as my vision returned. The ground was zooming up to meet me as I tumbled from a great hole ripped in the side of the helicopter. I rolled over with a scream of terror spotting Julius falling too, his arms kicking and wheeling.

  I might have been able to survive this fall, but he was mortal. He was going to die and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

  My
screams were lost to the wailing wind and the raging thunder.

  “Julius!” I cried, my hand extending uselessly toward him.

  I crashed into trees and my body was battered again and again as I hit branches on the way down. Twigs and thorns tore at my clothes, my skin. I reached out, grabbing hold of the boughs to try and slow my descent, but I was moving too fast. Leaves brushed my fingers and wet branches slid through my grip.

  Panic consumed me as I continued to fall, helpless to the painful collisions of my limbs against the rough bark.

  I hit the earth with a loud crack, face up as I stared at the wind-swept canopy. Snow sailed down toward me, landing on my cheeks and piling up on me. I tried to move, but my body didn't respond.

  Something serious was wrong with me. My back was broken. I was numb. Paralysed.

  No no no no.

  A tingle grew at the base of my spine and I groaned as pain unleashed itself on my body in a tsunami.

  “Julius!” I screamed, panic ripping me apart from the inside out. He had to be okay. He had to be alive. I couldn't stand the thought of losing him.

  No response came and my hope started to fade.

  He's so strong, maybe he survived. Maybe he's okay.

  But what if he's not?

  Tears slid from my eyes, icily cool as they joined the snow resting against my face. I began to heal, agony slicing into me as feeling returned to my shattered bones. So many parts of me were broken, I could barely sense an inch of skin that didn't hurt.

  My shoulders trembled as I lay in the snow, listening to the sound of the storm and the whirring of the helicopter as it sailed away from me. The scent of smoke hit my nostrils and I released a murmur of fear.

  They were crashing and my sister was going to die in the wreckage if she didn't get out soon.

  A distant boom sounded from the heavens and fear scratched and clawed at my heart.

  It felt like an eternity waiting for my body to heal enough to move, but slowly my bones re-fused and the cuts on my skin knitted over. I sat upright with a groan, my vision spinning as I took in the sprawling dark forest before me.

  “Julius!” I called, sure he must have landed near to me. He had to be alright. But that fall...how could he have survived it?

  I stumbled forward, hissing as my ankle gave way beneath me. I fell into the snow again, buckling forward as I begged my body to heal fully.

  “Julius!” I cried again, desperate to hear the sound of his voice calling back to me, assuring me he was still alive.

  A low growl caught my ear and I turned, the flash of several yellow eyes staring back at me. Eight pairs of them, all trained on me. The pack of coyotes circled closer, sniffing the air.

  I took a handgun from my hip, my arm shaking as I aimed it at them.

  A pained yell caught my ear in the distance and my heart leapt upwards. Julius.

  One of the coyotes released a low bark and the pack turned, scattering away into the shadows. Fear sped through me as I took chase after them, clutching a wound on my side which refused to heal fully.

  I was not going to fall from a helicopter, shatter every bone in my body and stumble through these forsaken woods just to see my friend be eaten by a bunch of damn dogs!

  I screamed as a hole was ripped into the side of the helicopter and Montana and Julius tumbled out of it. My sister shrieked in fear as she fell and my heart seized in my chest as panic gripped me.

  I lunged after them but Fabian grabbed me before I could do anything stupid, slamming me back into my seat.

  Clarice sprinted past us, diving out into the blizzard and my mouth fell open in shock as Miles roared her name in an effort to stop her. She disappeared into the swirling snow without a backwards glance.

  “Montana!” I bellowed, thrashing against Fabian’s hold on me as the helicopter lurched violently and the icy wind billowed in through the hole.

  “She’ll be fine,” Fabian growled. “She’s a vampire; her body can survive that fall. Yours cannot!”

  I stilled, staring up at him in horror.

  “No,” I breathed. “Julius!”

  Fabian’s grip on me tightened and he shook his head, not saying the words I feared above all else. I knew what he thought. He believed the slayer couldn’t have made it. But I couldn’t accept that. I wouldn’t. I started shaking my head in furious denial just as the wind buffeted the helicopter again, throwing it in the opposite direction.

  I clung to my seat as I was nearly tossed out of it and Fabian fell away from me, slamming into the door on my left, causing huge cracks to spiderweb across the pane of glass at the centre of it.

  A wailing alert started up from the controls as if the helicopter itself was begging to be saved.

  “Holy shit,” Warren cursed from the cockpit and my heart leapt as the wind claimed us.

  The helicopter started spinning and a terrified scream left my lips as I clung to the seat. Everything that wasn’t bolted down flew through the space around us, crashing into us or being sucked out through the gaping hole on my left where the windows used to be.

  My heart leapt with a terrifying kind of fear. I couldn’t stare this down. I couldn’t look it in the eye and force myself to stand against it. I couldn’t even run from it. We were facing the inevitability of this craft crashing into the rocks beneath us and I was filled with the certainty of my own demise. This was how I was going to die. It was as if it had already happened but my body hadn’t realised it yet. I was caught in this moment between alive and dead where I wasn’t really either.

  “We’re caught in a fucking tornado!” Warren yelled as he fought to reclaim control of the helicopter.

  A huge metallic groaning sounded above our heads and I looked up just as the roof was torn off. The rotating blades spun away from us and my hair whipped over my face as my stomach swooped and my heart raced.

  It took every ounce of my enhanced strength to keep me in my seat as I gripped the armrests and another scream left my lips.

  Between the heavy snow which filled every inch of space outside, I spied the sky, quickly followed by the ground and then the sky once more as the remains of the helicopter flipped over and over. I clung to my chair in a desperate bid not to fall out, though I knew it wouldn’t really make any difference. Either way I’d be hitting the ground and either way I was going to die.

  My stomach swooped as we were tossed about like a rag doll in the immense storm. We were riding within its hold but any second now it was going to spit us back out and launch us towards the rocks below.

  My pulse slammed furiously in my eardrums and my mind was filled with images of my family and Magnar. Like the people I loved most in this world were giving me a fleeting moment to say goodbye. My soul ached desperately as I realised I’d never see them again and I closed my eyes, wanting to be with them instead of caught in the roiling tempest which would equal my end.

  Something battered my leg and I hissed in pain as my eyes snapped open and the heavy box flipped past me, sailing out through the hole to my left.

  Snow was swirling in around us and the biting wind stung my skin wherever it was exposed.

  “We have to jump!” Miles yelled and fear sliced through me as I stared at him while he clung to the remains of the seats opposite me.

  Warren gave up on trying to do anything with the controls which were still screaming alerts and scrambled out of the cockpit, his gaze locking with Miles’s for a moment as he gave him a firm nod.

  Fabian shoved himself away from the door to my right, using the seats to drag himself closer to me as we were flipped the right way up again and sent into a tailspin.

  “You’re gunna have to trust me,” Fabian growled as he yanked me out of the seat and heaved me into his arms.

  “What?” I breathed, staring up at him in total confusion. I grabbed his biceps to stop myself from falling and he planted his feet solidly as he held me close.

  I was going to die. This was it and it wasn’t nearly enough. I was leaving M
agnar in the hands of that insane woman and we hadn’t even solved the prophecy. Somehow I’d never seen our journey ceasing so abruptly and yet it was suddenly abundantly clear to me that my life was at an end. There was no way out of this. There was no possibility that I could survive the inevitable end to this fall as we raced towards the Earth.

  The helicopter juddered wildly as we were flung from the grip of the tornado and for a moment we almost seemed to hang suspended in midair. Fabian lifted me into his arms and started running before I could really comprehend what was happening. I sucked in a breath as he leapt out of the hulking hole in the side of the helicopter.

  I screamed as we plunged into the blizzard, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face against his chest.

  Fabian’s grip on me tightened and a growl left his lips as we plummeted toward the ground.

  Everything was a spiralling mess of white as the blizzard raged around us and we fell alongside the heavy snow. My stomach swooped and my hair was tugged upward, swirling above me as we shot down, down, down towards a landing which would be anything but soft.

  I was screaming and I couldn’t stop. My heart hammered desperately against my ribs as I careered towards death and it ached for me to find some impossible solution to the inevitable.

  Fabian kept hold of me firmly with his right arm but released me with his left as we slammed through the tree canopy. Branches slapped at my arms and back as we crashed through them and my heartbeat thundered in my ears as I cowered against Fabian’s chest.

  I knew he was trying to save me but I didn’t see what possible difference he could make. His body might be able to survive this but mine sure as hell couldn’t and there was no way he could shield me from the landing that was coming.

  “I love you Monty,” I breathed because I had to say it if I was going to die. “I love you, Magnar. I’m sorry.”