Two of my attackers leaned down over Phix, laughing at her agony. “Look at the tits on this one! She might be a furry, but I bet she knows how to be friendly, eh?” one snickered, revealing the long fangs of a vampire.
Then he reached out through the electrified netting, grabbed a handful of her breasts and squeezed hard enough to make Phix whimper, her eyes dancing in a wild daze. He and his pal burst out laughing, an undercurrent of malevolent glee dancing in their eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that for months after she ripped Brian’s face off.”
His pal nodded darkly, licking his lips. “Yeah, but what’s she doing here now?”
The first man shrugged dismissively. “You take a whirl, Charlie,” he urged.
Charlie, the sick son-of-a-bitch, obliged, fangs protruding from his lips as he grinned.
My vision pulsed red and wavered before me as if I was standing before an open oven. I couldn’t actually process that this was happening right now. Phix wasn’t some human girl they could dominate and terrorize—no matter what she had done to their friend months ago. She was obviously a non-human and an extremely powerful monster. I’d seen her utterly decimate squads of killers with an almost lazy, feline grace. Which meant it wasn’t just about revenge or sex to these guys. They were predators of the worst kind—not just of the hunt, but of the supreme dominance of their victims. And one look in their eyes told me this was only the beginning of what they intended for the Sphinx.
They saw breasts and had the misconception that those breasts were specifically designed to please them—regardless of consent. No, they hungered for it because there was no consent.
Roland—no matter how he had changed—would rip their faces off for even talking to a woman like this, even if the woman was an enemy. Luckily for the good pastor, I would teach them a very clear lesson in the birds and the bees.
Namely, that some of those cute little birds liked to rend flesh from bone with their bare beaks and loved nothing more than ripping wings off the buzzing little bumblebee.
This, I decided, would require a very…personal touch.
Three other men dropped down from the fire escape above, joining the lone man who hadn’t moved to torment Phix with Charlie and his pal, keeping his eyes locked on me. The four of them slowly advanced, stepping into the light enough for me to make them out. They were all young, and their eyes glowed crimson.
As did the tips of their fangs.
“Not a sheep, and not a furry,” the man who hadn’t opted to fondle Phix—the apparent leader—said, though he eyed me up and down with a similar, perhaps even darker, intent. “But I bet she still tastes like a succulent little lamb, lads.”
“I’ve been dying for a bite to eat,” another, larger vampire agreed, licking his lips with a leering grin even more scandalous than his associate. “And I’ve never tasted a demon before…”
“The forbidden fruit,” another agreed, panting with open lust. His eyes held not even a flicker of fear or consequence. As if he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt there would be no repercussions for their actions.
I wasn’t sure what they meant by calling me a demon, but I intended to be overly demonic in my upcoming lesson.
Time to show these little fangers what fear tasted like.
To remind them who the fucking White Rose was and what she did to naughty little boys who tried to trample the flower gardens she called home.
Chapter 5
I felt a cool, merciless wind rip through my soul at hearing more sounds of Phix’s torment from Charlie and his pal as they continued pawing her breasts, slapping her cheek violently when she didn’t cooperate with their sick game. Whatever had been strong enough to knock me down and incapacitate her should have terrified me. But instead, I found myself growing frigid and unyielding. The maestro—that strangely familiar man—in this attack would pay, but right now…
Slap. Laugh. Whimper.
Slap. Laugh. Whimper.
Each sound was like a gunshot to my ears, and I could hear nothing else as I slowly lifted my gaze to the appetizers laid out before me.
There would be no wave of my magic hand to decapitate them all on the spot.
Each of these men were as guilty as the two manhandling Phix. Because not a single one of them had told the other two to stop. Hadn’t even cast a disgusted look over a shoulder. They had just laughed. And then cast that same hungry, feral, possessive look at me.
I promised myself I would give them something to laugh at.
I slowly lifted my hand to reveal Silver claws from between my knuckles. They weren’t a set of blades that I actually held, but a manifestation of that alien magic I didn’t quite yet understand. But I knew a few things they were capable of. And they were very, very personal.
The vampires’ crimson eyes locked onto the obvious threat with a look of anticipation that let me know they were pleased that I was going to make their conquest fun. Which meant they didn’t see the trash can I’d lifted with my magic hurtling toward their backs, knocking them straight at me. I buried my claws into the soft flesh beneath the first vampire’s chin so hard that the tips came out the top of his skull.
“Bah,” I bleated at him, staring straight into his dying eyes as I licked my lips.
Two others turned their momentum into a blurring attack, hands outstretched to show me claws of their own. I spun to the side, dropping the sack of meat from my claws and swung downward in a violent motion, amputating both attackers at the wrists. They struck the brick wall face-first, followed by their fresh stumps punching the wall, and they crumpled to a heap before they could cry out about the blow to the face or the hands I had removed.
The last vampire was staring at his two downed friends in flat disbelief. I sprinted at him while he was distracted and drove my claws straight into his groin at an upward angle, hard enough to lift him off his feet a few inches. He attempted to slash his claws at me from above, so I shifted slightly as I squatted and stabbed my other hand into his throat, exploding upward, and lifted him overhead like a bale of hay.
That’s when I saw Charlie and his pal running for their lives down the alley past Richard.
“Not so fast, Charlie!” I yelled. “I wanted you to grab my tits!”
And I hurled the bale of vampire at them, using magic to make sure I threw far enough to knock them down. Before it even hit them, I was running. I scooped up a discarded wooden broom leaning beside a door, snapped it over his back as he attempted to rise, and then stabbed him in the chest with it at an upward angle hard enough to prop him upright on his knees in a mockery of supplication, pleading for absolution to a demonic White Rose who only knew Old Testament love.
Then I bent over and grabbed the other vampire by the legs and began dragging him back towards Phix so his face scraped across the dirty asphalt the entire way. I think he was screaming but I couldn’t have been sure. Richard and Cain had finally managed to take care of their own attackers—just not as creatively as I had.
Cain stared at me, his lips set in a grim, tired line. He nodded one time. That was all. Richard, on the other hand, was staring at me as if he’d never seen me before, his mouth opening wordlessly. I dismissed them both.
I dropped the vampire and immediately stomped down—hard—onto his balls, pinning him to the alley floor as he grunted so deep that I thought even Roland, his Master, might feel it from within his church.
I hoped he did. Like me flicking the porchlight on outside to let him know I was home.
The vampire continued to gasp breathlessly as I used my claws to slash the electric web covering Phix. I yanked it off her by the handle they had used to throw it at her—a rubber grip so they didn’t electrocute themselves.
Then I very slowly and very meticulously wrapped the last vampire up in it, smiling and humming to myself as his screams grew louder and less coherent. I crouched down in front of him, smiling at his agony. Then I carefully sliced an opening in the web, grabbed a fistful of his shirt, and ripped it open. I grinned, licked my lips, and
squeezed his chest hard enough to physically tear skin. I didn’t let go. I just stared into his eyes until he was drooling and about to pass out.
Then I spat in his face and decapitated him with a single swipe of my claws. I stood there, panting raggedly, trying to get my thoughts back under my control.
Cain gently cleared his throat. “Callie.” I looked up at the tone in his voice. “There are about a hundred more of these guys running over here right now. They must have heard the commotion.”
“Good,” I snarled, turning to face them.
“Too many,” he urged. “We need to get out of here.”
Richard had stopped staring at me so strangely and was now leaning over Phix. “She’s not going to make it without medical attention.”
I gritted my teeth, still not able to process the fact that such a dangerous creature as the Sphinx had gone down so easily. Hospitals were out for obvious reasons. “What about Darling and D—”
Phix’s eyes suddenly shot wide open, and I had never seen her look more terrified. “NO! Anywhere but there! Please!” Then she promptly passed out as if she had used the last of her energy to plead her case.
I shared a long look with Cain, momentarily at a loss for words at her reaction. “Aren’t…they her friends?” I asked, wondering for the hundredth time just exactly who Darling and Dear really were.
He was studying Phix, looking troubled. “We’ve been gone a long time, Callie. Who knows?” he all but whispered.
Richard heaved Phix onto his shoulders with ease, reminding me of his ridiculous strength. “I can take her back to Solomon. We grow some healing ointments in the garden. I’ll watch over her until she recovers.” He didn’t look pleased with that, but he could tell by the look in my eyes that I would have told him to do so anyway rather than have him tagalong with me. His presence was too much of a liability—especially after witnessing what Roland looked for in his vampires.
His vampires…
Because Haven had been killed. I didn’t have time to think about that—I could hear the vampires drawing closer.
I nodded at Richard. “Hurry.”
He shifted into a white fog, making it look like Phix was hovering on a cloud, and then they simply disappeared. It made sense that Richard could also enter and leave Solomon’s Temple at will. He was the guardian.
I turned to Cain, my heart beginning to race at the sounds of the hunting party not far away—screams that coordinated an attacking pack. Attracting the ire of Roland’s vampires had definitely not been how I wanted to return to Kansas City. “We need to run. Now.”
Cain grabbed me by the arm and shoved me ahead of him towards the back of the alley.
“You need to step up your game, Cain. I took down six.”
He grunted. “Trash talking while running for our lives is kind of oxymoronic, you know.”
Chapter 6
Cain and I dashed down the dank alley, avoiding puddles as best we could—both to avoid making noise and not to get our shoes soaked. The night was warm and running in wet shoes was a great way to acquire blisters.
We rounded a corner into an adjacent alley and I skidded to a halt to try ripping open a Gateway to escape the vampires. I felt a strong resistance like I had thrown a ball at a wall and it bounced back at my face, making me stumble. I shot Cain a sharp look. “I can’t make a Gateway…” I told him incredulously, frowning as I resumed running more desperately than before. Vampires were fast.
Cain grunted, nonplussed. But he seemed like the kind of guy to expect the worst of any situation and roll with the punches. “What about Shadow Walking?” he asked, barely breathing hard.
I could hear the vampires a few alleys behind us. They sounded busy with the remains of their brethren rather than deciding to pursue us. That wouldn’t last long. At least I didn’t think so. I figured they would be more interested in finding the group who had just dispatched a dozen of their comrades.
I grabbed Cain’s shoulder and tried Shadow Walking. My magic slapped back at me like a reproachful ruler from a Sister during Bible Study. What the hell? Richard hadn’t seemed to have any trouble using his magic to leave. I momentarily debated kissing my ring to head back to Solomon’s Temple—just to verify that I still could. But another part of me knew if I did that, I would convince myself to stay until Phix healed, and I couldn’t let myself do that. The fight with the vampires had my skin crawling. And whatever that man—likely their leader—had done to momentarily incapacitate me had been powerful, so why hadn’t he simply killed me? To consider that the vampire rapists might actually work with Roland and have his blessing…
That meant Roland had indeed changed. And absolutely not for the better.
“Let’s head to my apartment. It’s not far,” I growled. “We can get a quick look at the rest of the city as we do. See if anything else has changed,” I said, glancing nervously back up at the sky to see the faintly red glow. Cain grunted his agreement, his eyes dancing both up and out, checking for any surprise attacks—not wanting another gang of vampires to drop from a fire escape and catch us unawares. We reached the mouth of the alley and slowed, glancing out first. We were all alone, but I sensed eyes out there somewhere, watching, waiting. Phix had mentioned something about unseen eyes watching the streets, and she’d sounded troubled by it. The very shadows seemed to be alive, watching us with predatory instinct—like a pride of lions warily watching another pair of lions run through their territory.
Not aggressive and not afraid, but not necessarily friendly either. Just hyperaware.
I motioned for Cain to enter an adjacent alley to conceal our movements as long as possible. He did so without a word, leading the way. After a few minutes of stealthy running, he glanced back at me meaningfully. “They called you a demon.”
I gritted my teeth, nodding in response but letting him know with a look that I had no idea why. “Maybe it’s the White Rose thing?” I suggested.
Cain shook his head. “It didn’t sound specific or they would have just called you White Rose. And what the fuck did that guy do to us? I thought he was dead.”
I frowned at Cain. “I thought he looked familiar, but I didn’t get a look at his face.”
Cain looked troubled. “Le Bone. The vampire who came to Kansas City on behalf of Henri Bellerose—the Master Vampire of Paris.” He turned to look at me.
I blinked a few times. “Le Bone? Are you sure?” I asked in disbelief. But…I was almost certain he was right, now that I thought about it.
Cain nodded. “I know faces.”
I shook my head in confusion. “Le Bone…Roland and Henri were taking turns torturing the bastard when we left. How in the hell is he still alive?”
“Exactly,” Cain growled. “Makes you wonder who is running things back there.”
Which was something I hadn’t anticipated. Haven was apparently dead, but why would he release Le Bone? Even if Henri was still in Kansas City—which seemed unlikely—he had wanted Le Bone dead more than even Roland or Haven.
What was going on here? I really wished I had pressed Phix on the matter. I turned to Cain, controlling my breathing as we ran. “The attack caught me off guard. I don’t even know what happened. Just a flash of light and then him walking away,” I admitted. “And I don’t remember Le Bone having powers like that before.”
Cain nodded stiffly, his eyes still flicking here and there, watching the shadows like I was, obviously feeling the same attention on our backs. “Same here. A flash of light and then I was being kicked by about six pairs of boots.”
“What did Phix tell you?” I demanded. “What did she see in Kansas City that concerned her enough to find me in the Doors?”
Cain gritted his teeth in frustration. “That Kansas City rained enough blood to remind her of the old days back in Egypt. She didn’t give any specifics, just that you needed to come home. That there had been many…changes.”
I shuddered, ignoring the sensation of those eyes suddenly seeming to stare at the
two of us even more intently—as if they had heard Cain and wanted to silence him. I let my claws out as I ran, pumping my legs as fast as I could maintain for our run back to my apartment. Cain noticed and gripped his dagger in a fist, eyes alert.
“It didn’t look like those vampires knew who or what you were. Not even gloating at the fact that they had the White Rose dead to rights. And they definitely seemed to know Phix. Not many know about her affiliation with you, but enough for me to expect at least some kind of association with you.”
I narrowed my eyes, pondering that. It had only been a year. Granted, that was a long time on the streets, but not enough time to completely forget about Callie Penrose or the White Rose. And all the vampire power players who might be in town knew of me—so their acolytes should have at least heard about me. Long white hair and silver claws were not typical attributes. I had expected all vampires to recognize me on sight. Especially since I was assumedly the reason Roland had snapped in the first place. Their initial jobs had probably been to scour the city looking for me, which meant everyone should have a very good idea what I looked like.
None of those vampires had known me.
Whatever was going on, it didn’t bode well.
“You sure your apartment is safe?” Cain asked after a few minutes and a few more alleys—angling our path to simply get as far from any vampires as possible. They, surprisingly, hadn’t given chase. Maybe they had gotten the message that we weren’t easy prey.
I thought about Cain’s question. We could go to Abundant Angel Catholic Church. I knew Fabrizio, the First Shepherd. And I had found a crucifix on my trip through the Doors—one belonging to his old friend, Anthony—that I wanted to give to him as a memento. I’d also introduced a homeless man named Arthur to Fabrizio, and last time I’d checked he had been in training to become a full-fledged Shepherd. An acronym suddenly popped into my mind.
Shepherd in training…SHIT?
Yeah. That was sticking. I had been one once, what seemed eons ago, so I had the right.
Feathers and Fire Series Box Set 2 Page 56