In my moment of distraction, Dorian tore from my grasp. He leaped to his feet and staggered toward the edge, disoriented.
“No!” I shouted.
He fell forward, his body tipping over the low wall. Dropping the gun, I lunged across the distance between us and threw my arms around his neck. I braced my feet against the low wall and hauled my weight backward to stop his fall. Dorian’s hands came up and battered my arms. He threw his head from side to side, clearly confused. I hissed in pain as I pulled him back. He could try and do his worst to me, but I wasn’t going to let him die. When I tossed the gun away, I’d made my decision that he wouldn’t face a tragedy today.
I pressed my foot against the back of his ankle and pulled. He tumbled backward, and we fell, splayed across the ground. The weight of him landing on top of me knocked the breath from my lungs, and I couldn’t stop my cry of pain. Dorian flipped, lightning fast, hovering over me. His black eyes sent another shockwave of fear through me. Even with his fangs trapped by the muzzle, he was terrifying. He grunted in confusion. I opened my mouth. What could I say to him? There was nothing. I’d already tried everything. For the first time in my life, as a soldier and as myself, I’d run out of possible solutions.
Dorian wrapped his hand around my throat, his grip bruising.
I might have just sacrificed my life getting him off that ledge.
But strangely, I didn’t regret it. Dorian had changed my whole world by kidnapping me on that fateful day, but I had gone along with him. I had made the decision to align myself with him and the vampires, despite all our struggles. I had fought with honor, to the best of my ability, in pursuit of preserving life and rooting out evil. If this was the way I had to go—keeping Dorian from harming himself or anyone else—then I would face it like the soldier I was. A bizarre calm stole over me. I closed my eyes, sinking into exhaustion.
Something slammed into us from the side. Dorian’s hand disappeared from my throat. My eyes jerked back open. Bravi’s small body tangled with Dorian’s on the ground, both of them grappling and snarling like wildcats. I scrambled to my feet, clutching my throat, drinking in the sweet relief of air. I could still feel his hand.
Bravi wrestled Dorian beneath her. I stared at her, barely processing what had just happened. Would that be me pinned beneath her fury if I’d made the other call?
“Go! Help the others,” Bravi screamed. Dorian attempted to strike her face, but she pinned his arms down and sank her fangs into his neck.
I staggered back but couldn’t help watching a moment longer as thick, dark energy pooled onto the concrete from her bite. More of it stained her mouth as she pulled away, spitting out the foul energy like oil. She snarled at him, fangs close to his neck.
“You idiot. I would have followed you to the end of any plane you chose,” she shouted. “You’ll never be mine, but I’ll be damned if I see you go out like this.” She pushed his face into the ground so that he stared in my direction, the blackness in his eyes already fading. “That girl over there? She needs you to snap out of this. Do it for her.”
Realization crashed over me. Bravi had been in love with him. Everything made more sense now. Her strange behavior during some of our talks. I’d interpreted it as Bravi’s stoic way of dealing with anxiety, but her concerns were always centered around Dorian. Her loyalty ran deep because her feelings ran alongside it. How could I have been so blind?
I had no time to consider the revelation. A woman screamed behind me, and I turned to survey the chaos. Bravi could take better care of Dorian than I could hope to right now. I was torn between relief and guilt over that. In many ways, she was a better match for him than I was.
One of the helicopters rose into the sky. My hope fell like a lead counterweight. How many board members were aboard that chopper? One more helicopter had its rotors spinning. Soldiers shepherded board members onto it. Or at least they were trying to.
On the remaining helicopter, guards fired at Vonn and Oleah, trying to protect the board members attempting to board the chopper. The vampires weaved between the laser beams, but there were too many for them to get close to the chopper.
Soldiers fired from behind Vonn and Oleah too. How were there so many? A realization settled heavily on my mind—we were still outmatched. I briefly glimpsed Roxy in the mess, swinging her fists into the noses of Bureau soldiers.
“Lyra!”
Bryce’s voice made me freeze, leaving no more time to think about Roxy. From the rooftop door, Bryce, Gina, Colin, and Arlonne spilled onto the scene. A rush of relief coursed through me.
But immediately, the soldiers guarding the second chopper turned their guns on the oncoming group, sending them scattering for cover. I growled in frustration. We were still outnumbered, even with Bryce’s team.
“They’ve got dark energy weapons,” I shouted and ran toward the group. Arlonne dodged a laser blast and slammed her fist into a nearby soldier. I dove forward, joining Bryce’s team in an attempt to overpower this string of soldiers. “Oleah and Vonn are on the warpath!”
“I can see that,” Bryce said dryly. He brought his knee up into a soldier’s stomach.
Oleah and Vonn would tear into the board members’ necks as soon as they got to them. I dodged a soldier’s kick and prepared to return a sucker punch to his face. We would have to worry about them later. Right now, I just needed to stay on my feet.
In a blur of black feathers, a redbill landed on the roof next to me. It snapped at an unsuspecting soldier, sending the woman sprawling onto her back. Taking advantage of the fact that my opponent had paused to gawp at the redbill, I drove my fist into his jaw unimpeded. Then I locked my hands behind his head and brought his face down into my knee, sending him to the ground. The air filled with redbill war shrieks. Renewed hope rose in me. Above us, a thick flock of bills descended on the HQ building.
In a blur of movement, Kane leapt from the back of the first redbill. Teeth flashing, he delivered a swift kick to the head of a soldier attacking Colin.
“Kane!” I couldn’t contain my surprise.
He looked in my direction and nodded once in cool acknowledgement. “Dorian owes me big for this one.”
I couldn’t stop the grin that grew on my face as I watched Kane dive into the fray.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kane took out another man before I regained composure. The poor soldier next to me was slower on the uptake. I smashed my cuffed fists across his face, and he fell back. I kicked his gun to the side.
Energized growls and panicked cries rose up around me. Our team seemed poised to overwhelm this group of soldiers. A feeling of impending victory stole over me. My limbs moved faster, spurred by the new energy of our changed fortunes. Even cuffed, I could help.
A redbill dove and nearly snatched the arm of a soldier. “Try to make sure they don’t kill anyone,” I yelled to Kane.
He rolled his eyes. “Where’s your sense of fun?” he bellowed back, but the redbills began to scatter on the outskirts of the crowd. They snapped at soldiers and used their wings to buffet them onto the ground.
A soldier grabbed my shoulder from behind. I spun, using the action to plant my elbow in his solar plexus. Bryce kicked the soldier’s knee from the side, and the man crumpled to the ground with a scream. I looked toward the door leading to the staircase, realizing it was still open. Even though adrenaline surged through me, my logic resounded. Backup could come any second.
“Barricade the doors,” I yelled. With Kane’s help and Bryce’s team, we had the advantage. I wanted to keep it that way. Several vampires who’d arrived with Kane flew toward the door, sliding weapons between the handles.
Laini and Bryce took out the final soldier of the group that had targeted us. I hopped over unconscious bodies toward the remaining helicopter. The guards were still helping board members into the chopper, hindered by Oleah and Vonn’s attempts to reach them. Gathered around the base, soldiers now only fired sporadically, and I noticed several were swearing
and abandoning their weapons after pulling fruitlessly at the triggers several times.
The X-75s could run out of ammo?
This realization spurred me toward the fray. With the added help from Kane’s crew and the redbills, we might actually be able to take them out. My fingers burned with new energy that overrode my fresh wounds.
“We have to stop that helicopter from taking off,” I cried to Kane.
He had almost reached the second group of soldiers. He fell back to dodge a stray dark energy blast and nodded. His eyes scanned the area quickly, then he darted to the side, lifting his hand as he went. The redbills stirred and circled overhead. They let out a series of war cries as they rushed the chopper.
One redbill touched down in front of the chopper and flapped its wing with a steady beat, while three others surrounded the other sides. The guards fell back to avoid the sharp, scratching talons, leaving the helicopter abandoned except for its occupants. The chopper lifted into the air, and one of the redbills lunged with its razor-sharp beak, shattering the glass of a side window.
“Go for the rotors on the tail of the chopper,” Bryce belted out.
I turned to see him limping toward me. Blood streamed down his forehead. He was right, but I couldn’t hold one of the larger weapons with these cuffs.
Gina snatched a gun from the ground and fired at the tail, peppering the metal with holes. It took five shots, but soon there was a satisfying squeal of metal, a spray of fluid, and the blades of the tail rotor came to a shrieking stop, jerking back and forth erratically.
The redbills yanked on the helicopter’s landing skids, dragging it back to the roof as it spun out of control. They screeched loudly as they struck the sides of the chopper with their talons and beaks. The chopper lurched to the side, and the redbills flew backward as the rotors hit the roof.
“Take cover!” I yelled as the whirling metal decimated the concrete wall and the railings.
I dove behind an air vent just before the rotors snapped with a hideous metallic wail. They ricocheted away from the ruined chopper that now lay on its side on the roof. Relief filled me when the scream of the engine died, and the ruined top rotors slowed. Did the occupants trying to pilot it realize they weren’t escaping? Or had Alan called for backup and knew it was coming? He could’ve been one of the first to escape.
A board member screamed from inside the helicopter. The metal creaked as the redbills, free from the threat of the rotors, ripped at the chopper from all sides with their talons. Vonn and Oleah were already closing in, clambering over the rubble. A number of Kane’s team also bounded forward, drawn by the dark energy of the board members.
The chopper was thoroughly grounded, but that meant the remaining board members had no escape from the Team War vampires. A blurred face pressed against the glass of the remaining window, terrified eyes staring out. Was Alan among them?
“We need them alive to work out a deal with the Bureau,” I shouted at Kane. “Don’t let your team kill the board members. If we do, our chance for the board facing justice is destroyed.” I hoped my voice carried over the whipping wind.
The guards gathered around the helicopter base raised their hands in the air as a dozen of Kane’s vampires and our team approached. I scanned every single soldier to make sure a sneak attack wasn’t coming. Some had dropped their weapons to the ground, while others let their strapped weapons hang limply on their chests.
A surrender was great, but the two most avid members of Team War were still up and moving, and we had a dozen new vampires closing in who were fresh from the Immortal Plane and hadn’t been briefed on what was at stake. If my team didn’t do something fast, this could still turn into a massacre.
My legs couldn’t keep up with Kane and his team of vampires. I fell behind as we ran toward the few remaining guards and realized two vampires blocked the way to the soldiers and the chopper. Laini and Gavril stood alone before the flood of vampires who had formed a circle around the helicopter and the guards. Laini spread her hands out and stared fiercely ahead, speaking to someone. I couldn’t hear her, but I saw the vampires in the circle exchange confused looks.
“We need them alive,” Laini said firmly. “We need them to bargain for a chance at asylum.” Her long dark hair flew around her in the wind, giving her a wild look.
Colin stood in front of her, his hands tight on a rifle he had found in the fray. His face was contorted in pain, and he breathed hard enough that his chest heaved. Was he thinking about Grayson? I wished I could go back in time, before the vampires, and laugh again with them both after being chewed out by Bryce after a mission. I held my breath as I slowly approached. Colin’s shoulders fell, and he nodded. Laini’s face brightened as he moved to join her and Gavril. I didn’t know when Gavril had converted from Team War, but this was a positive development.
In the front row, Vonn snarled wildly, only the threat of the vampires in front of him stopping him from lunging forward.
Laini, Gavril, and Colin guarded the humans. With a chill, I realized some Immortal Plane vampires had their fangs bared, sensing the darkness inside the chopper. The air of tension and confusion about the situation seemed to hold them back, but that wouldn’t last. We needed to make sure they didn’t attack.
For now, they focused sharply on Laini, Gavril, and Colin.
I spotted Kane’s conflicted face among the crowd as Oleah whispered in his ear.
I hurried up next to him, cutting off whatever poisoned speech Oleah was giving.
“If we can end this fight peacefully, it’ll make a world of difference,” I said. “They will be held accountable for what they’ve tried to do to your clan and what they’ve done to us.”
Oleah scoffed, and Kane’s brow furrowed skeptically.
“Is this some kind of warm and fuzzy gesture of goodwill nonsense?” he asked dryly.
My mouth twitched irritably. “Sure,” I replied, my tone equally dry. “We want to keep the board members alive because we’re just so nice. They’re bargaining chips. What do you take me for?”
Kane nodded with a slow grin of understanding. “Now that I like,” he said. He walked into the center and faced the circle. “Listen up! The humans have surrendered. We’re done fighting tonight. Get ahold of yourselves.” The last order he snapped to a brawny vampire near him with extended fangs, who had trained his hungry gaze on the chopper.
A few vampires exchanged stony looks. They wanted to feed on the darkness. Oleah gave me a filthy look and slunk away. Would Kane’s authority hold? I felt confident in his stubbornness and overall bossy demeanor, but hungry vampires sensing darkness might be hard to reason with. A tense moment passed, then several vampires stepped back.
It felt like things were wrapping up in our favor, a far cry from our desperation ten minutes ago. I jogged over to Laini.
“Thank you,” I told her. She smiled gently at me, her violet eyes warm. I glanced at the chopper. The remaining guards stood before it with their hands in the air. I stepped toward them, aware that some still carried weapons, despite their surrender.
“Drop them,” I ordered. “All weapons on the ground. Now.”
They exchanged looks—some nervous, some unsure, some angry.
I pointed to the gathered vampires. “They’re holding back for now, but if even one of you gets twitchy and goes for a gun, I can’t promise what will happen. Put them down to prevent the risk. We’re deescalating here.”
Slowly, they complied, kicking the weapons toward me.
“Thank you,” I said. “The cooperation is appreciated.”
I switched my attention to the ruined chopper.
“Now I need the board members to exit the helicopter,” I shouted. Though, that posed its own set of risks. They could have weapons. They could try to run. They could try to attack a hungry vampire who might lose control and feed. I glanced at Laini, and she nodded reassuringly. Gavril smiled at me.
“We can get them out,” she said. She gestured for Kane to step fo
rward to take her place in the blockade. Arlonne and Bryce joined him.
“I trust you,” I said. If the vampires stormed the chopper, they would be faster to apprehend the board members with their superior speed.
She held up her hands, gesturing to the other vampires to stay back. In a blur of inhuman speed, she and Gavril swarmed inside the helicopter.
A few gunshots rang out, along with a stream of shouting. My heart skipped a beat. I surveyed the layout, the scattered chess pieces of vampires and redbills, Bureau soldiers and dissenters. Unless a board member tried to jump off the roof, they were unlikely to get around us. Even if they did jump off the roof, a redbill could leap down to catch them.
Between the blur of vampire whispers on one side and my own thundering heartbeat, I couldn’t make out anything. The sound died down as Laini emerged from the chopper, dragging Alan. Gavril had two others: the woman with long dark hair, Elena Bradley, and the wiry man, Jones. Blood ran down Gavril’s arm, but it didn’t hinder his grip on the two board members. In fact, he didn’t seem to notice the wound at all.
Three board members. A heavy sigh left me. Were these the only hostages we’d gotten out of this terrible encounter? The rest of the board members must have escaped on the first helicopter. I wanted as many of them as possible. It felt like piping hot steam filled my head as I thought about Team War’s dangerous and impulsive interference.
But we couldn’t help matters now. In Gavril’s hold, Elena was unconscious, while Alan and Calum Jones kept their gazes fixed on the ground. Laini ripped part of her cloak into strips as she stooped behind Alan to bind him. Gavril followed suit. His hands ripped through the thick fabric of his cloak like paper. He tied Jones first, then Elena, just in case.
Darklight 2: Darkthirst Page 48