Hirsch, out of either arrogance or impatience, had chosen a lair a short distance away, so it hadn’t taken Cade long to drive the route Hank remembered. He’d left the car parked a block away and slipped over to reconnoiter.
The results didn’t thrill him. The surviving mercenaries were on guard outside, though anybody watching would think they were having an outdoor cookout. They’d traded the Rambo gear for shorts and unbuttoned shirts, some with T-shirts underneath, some bare-chested. Doing a quick scan to find out who was armed, Cade discovered all the shirts hid shoulder holsters, and there were enough automatic weapons hidden in easy reach to make an arms dealer jealous.
The whole homicidal gang milled around a barbecue grill, laughing and joking as they drained cans of beer from a cooler. Cade’s vampire hearing picked out snatches of conversation about South America and the Middle East. Hirsch’s boys were talking shop.
He could probably battle his way past them, of course, but what would Hirsch and Ridgemont do to Val in the meantime? For that matter, what were they doing to her now?
Chapter Fifteen
Cade cursed silently to himself. He didn’t like the odds, but he also didn’t have much choice. He couldn’t leave her there with them. Yet a frontal assault would be suicide.
Just as he was trying to come up with a plan, a familiar figure stepped out of the house. Even swathed in desert robes, those bull shoulders were instantly recognizable.
Ridgemont. The bastard always did have a taste for theatrics.
The ancient dragged Val by one wrist. A blanket draped her slim body like a toga, but from the flash of her bare legs as she moved, Cade could tell she was naked underneath it. She looked furious but otherwise unhurt.
Cade’s sense of relief was so overwhelming he had to close his eyes for an instant. She’s alive! God, he hadn’t realized how terrified he really was until he saw her. He wanted to hold her so badly, he ached.
He opened his eyes just in time to see a second man shoulder through the door, dressed in white from head to toe. If Ridgemont resembled a desert sheik, that one could have been an escapee from a ninja anime, except for the war axe and shield he carried. Hirsch, Cade realized, recognizing the axe.
The German wore a white fabric mask that completely covered his face, except for a pair of black goggles designed to protect his eyes from the sun.
Ridgemont’s mental voice hit Cade’s mind like a sucker punch. “I thought I sensed you out here, gunslinger. We’re going for a ride. Care to follow?”
Shit. What’s he got in mind now? Ridgemont rarely went out in the sunlight; at his great age, he was more vulnerable to it than Cade or Hirsch. “Where, exactly, are we going?”
“I’m told there’s a very pleasant meadow up the road, screened nicely by trees. Good spot for a duel.”
“We wouldn’t want to be interrupted by any inconvenient cops,” Cade agreed.
“I think that’s unlikely in any case,” Ridgemont told him. “I understand every law enforcement officer in ten miles is still cleaning up the mess at your house.”
“Just for curiosity’s sake, will I be fighting both of you?”
“Actually, no,” the ancient said. “I plan to sit this one out. I’m going to let you two decide who gets to keep her.”
Incredulous, Cade attempted a deeper scan. To his amazement, Ridgemont allowed it. What’s more, his sire meant what he said. He intended for Cade and Hirsch to duel, and he did not plan to interfere even if Cade won. He meant to hand Val over to the victor one way or another. And once she’d been Changed, he’d duel the winner.
“It’ll be me, you bastard,” Cade snarled mentally.
“I’ll be highly disappointed if it isn’t. Come along, gunslinger.”
Rising from his nest of weeds, Cade sprinted for his borrowed car as Val and the vampires got into the limo. He glanced back in time to see the car roll to a halt in the driveway. Wary of a double-cross, he stopped to watch.
Ridgemont leaned out the window. With Cade’s vampire hearing, it was easy to pick up the conversation. “You’re all dismissed. Send me an invoice.”
One of the mercs snorted. “It’s going to be one hell of a bill, considering how many of my men you got killed.” But none of them tried to prevent the car from leaving as it continued down the drive, proving they were more intelligent than he’d thought.
Cade turned and raced on. As he ran, he became sharply aware of the suffocating heat of the ferocious, pounding sunlight. And that, he knew, was going to be a problem.
He’d commandeered Hank’s long-sleeved shirt, boots, and gloves to wear with the jeans he’d gone to battle in. To protect his face, he’d hacked up a piece of the tarp to make a hooded mask, cutting broad slits for the eyes and mouth. Hank had a pair of sunglasses stashed in a pocket, and he’d put those on as well. Though the whole rig provided some protection from the sun, he knew it wouldn’t be enough if he was forced to fight for long. Hirsch would have the advantage for once. Being considerably younger, the German had a greater tolerance for daylight.
Reaching the wooded lot where he’d left his neighbor’s Toyota, Cade pulled the door open and got in as the limo passed. He started the car and followed, pulling out between two trees and hitting the gas as he turned out onto the street.
He knew taking Hirsch wouldn’t be easy this time. He’d had to spend a hell of a lot of energy healing his wounds, and even feeding from Hank hadn’t brought him to full strength. Hirsch, on the other hand, hadn’t done any fighting at all. And judging from what Cade had seen in the girls’ minds, the German had practically gorged on them half an hour before.
All in all, this duel would be far more equal than he liked, especially with Val’s life on the line. Yet if he succeeded, Ridgemont would give her back. She’d be safe… if Cade could win the coming duel with the ancient.
Some of Ridgemont’s inexplicable actions began to make a bizarre kind of sense. The ancient loved a fight. In fact, he’d often said he never truly felt alive unless he was in imminent danger of dying. It had always been a source of frustration to him that he couldn’t find a proper opponent. Which begged the question: just how long had he been planning this, anyway?
“Cade?”
“Abigail?” He scowled at the limo as he followed it through the development. His sister’s mental voice sounded much fainter than usual. “What happened to you? You don’t sound like yourself.”
“Ridgemont absorbed some of my energy after I wore myself out playing poltergeist to divert Hirsch. He was beating Val.”
Cade tightened his grip on the wheel. “How badly was she hurt? And are you all right?”
“I will… survive. As for Val, she suffered a few bruises before Ridgemont put a stop to Hirsch’s games.”
Whatever the ancient’s motives, Cade was grateful for them. “Thanks for trying to help, Abigail.”
“I only wish I could do more, but I’ve got to go Beyond. I’ve used too much power fighting them,” Abigail said. “I must rest…” Her voice faded completely until even the smell of peppermint was gone. Cade sent up a quick prayer for her well-being, hoping He was still accepting messages from former Texas Rangers turned vampire.
Just ahead, the limo turned down a dirt road and bumped its way along it in a cloud of dust. Cade followed warily, his psychic senses on full alert, searching for any sign of an ambush.
They rounded a bend in the dirt road, snaking around a stand of pines. Beyond the trees stood a wide, oval grassy area bordered on one side by a narrow creek. Nearby, a massive oak with broad, leafy branches spread a generous blanket of shade. It looked a lot like somebody’s private picnic spot. Even the grass had been recently cut, which would leave the footing clear.
Hirsch parked the limo comfortably near the oak. Cade pulled in behind him, leaving a little distance between the two cars just in case. Ridgemont slid out, then reached into the car to pull Val from the back seat. She came easily enough, though there was a glower on her face that said s
he’d dearly like to put up a fight. Stiffly, she allowed the vampire to tow her over to the tree and position her under one of its thick limbs.
Cade picked up his sword and shield and got out of the car, all his attention on her. Looking up, her eyes met his. Her face flooded with a tangle of joy, relief, and anxiety. She took a half-step toward him, but Ridgemont jerked her back. Reaching into the sleeve of his robes, he pulled out a length of thin rope and flipped it over an overhead limb.
Lips tightening, Cade headed toward them. Before he could interfere, Ridgemont pulled Val’s bound wrists over her head. As her arms raised, the concealing blanket fell away, leaving her naked.
“Now wait just a damn minute,” Cade snarled, breaking into a run. Hirsch stepped into his path, shield raised, axe ready in his hand.
“Just making sure everyone has his eyes on the prize,” the ancient said calmly, tying the rope around the cord binding her wrists. Val glared at him, color flooding her cheeks. Probably dying to spit in his eye, Cade thought.
Feeling murderous, he scanned her body, checking for injuries. The only bite he could see was the one he’d put there himself, but there were bruises mottling her pale skin he knew hadn’t been there last night.
Cade wheeled on Hirsch with a snarled obscenity. The German barely jerked his shield up in time to block the downward stroke of Cade’s longsword. Over the ring of steel, he heard Ridgemont laugh. “Now that’s what I like to see.”
* * *
Aching arms bound over her head, Val watched numbly as the fight began. There was a sense of unreality about the whole thing -- two men, one dressed all in black, the other all in white, hacking away at one another with medieval weapons. They moved so fast, it was hard to see exactly what was happening.
The hatred between the two was almost tactile, like a thick, cold fog. Though their faces couldn’t be seen given the masks they wore, rage burned under the surface of every move they made.
“Ah, very nice combination, Hirsch,” Ridgemont murmured from her side as the white-clad figure swung his axe, then abruptly reversed the stroke mid-arc in a move no human could have matched. Cade leaped back just in time to keep the blade from lodging in his chest. “Hirsch caught him that time.”
“What?” Val asked, alarmed, as Cade brought his sword up and over in a smashing blow the German barely blocked. “Did Cade get hurt?”
“Slash across the chest,” Ridgemont told her. “With weapons like these, a misstep can get you cut in half.”
She glanced over at the vampire in horror. There was an absorbed enthusiasm in his tone that reminded her bizarrely of one of her old boyfriends explaining a football play.
“They’re looking very good today,” Ridgemont continued in that sports-fan voice. “You have no idea how difficult it was to teach gunpowder soldiers to fight like knights. Took years. But they’ve gotten quite good.”
Hirsch made another blurring attack with his axe. Cade ducked back, then snaked forward and thrust his sword straight for the vampire’s ribs. The German batted the blade away with his shield and reversed his stroke. Cade retreated again.
A chill stealing over her, Val realized he seemed slower than the other times he’d fought Hirsch, his timing a fraction off.
“They’re more evenly matched today,” Ridgemont said, confirming her suspicions. “Normally Cade has the advantage of strength and experience -- I’ve been working with him for almost a hundred and forty years, after all -- but healing his injuries has cut deeply into his reserves. He’s not hitting as hard as he usually does, and his parries are slower.”
Her stomach knotted with anxiety. She wanted to yell at Cade to stop, to go home and forget her and Ridgemont and Hirsch. She’d rather be left at their dubious mercy than watch him die.
Suddenly Cade lunged with a howl, spinning his sword in a hard, overhead attack that sent Hirsch scuttling back.
“On the other hand,” Ridgemont added as her heart gave a little cheer, “he’s really pissed off.”
* * *
God, where was his speed? Cade wondered in desperation. If he wasn’t damn careful, he was going to lose this fight, and Val would pay the price. Don’t think about that, he told himself savagely, catching an axe blow on his shield. If he let himself imagine what Hirsch would do to her, the distraction could be fatal.
He tried desperately to settle into the familiar rhythms of combat, but it was harder than it had ever been before. His arms and legs seemed weighted with lead, and his blade felt awkward in his hands, as though poorly balanced. He couldn’t seem to get his full strength behind it.
Damn it, he’d been doing this for years; he should be able to beat Hirsch in his sleep. No matter where they’d gone in their travels, Ridgemont had always forced Cade to drill with sword and shield, axe and armor, until he’d become more familiar with them than he’d been with his Colt’s Peacemaker. After Ridgemont had forcibly recruited Hirsch, Cade had beaten the German with monotonous regularity.
But the bastard had drilled endlessly to make up for his lack of experience, and as the years passed, he’d become harder to defeat. Now his greater size and longer reach were beginning to tip the scales in his favor, especially since Cade’s power had been sapped by his injuries.
And the sun wasn’t helping as its brutal radiation cut through his clothing. Even if he avoided major injury, he’d have to go into a healing sleep just to take care of the burns he was suffering. Worse, the light was eroding his strength.
Adding to his misery, Cade had lost his borrowed sunglasses a moment ago, and now his eyes were stinging from a combination of glare and sweat. Hirsch didn’t have that problem with those thick, polarized goggles.
Quit whining and focus, you bastard, he told himself savagely. You’re going to let the bastard win.
Gathering his energy, Cade concentrated on pouring it down his arm and into his sword. The next time the weapon struck Hirsch’s shield, it rang with more conviction. Better, he thought grimly.
“I’m going to kill you,” the German hissed in a low, poisonous voice. It was the first time either of them had spoken since the fight began. “I’m going to bathe in the blood from the stump of your neck, and then I’m going to your woman with your blood on my hands, and I’m going to…”
As he started describing what he’d do with the blood, Hirsch lunged, spinning the axe. Cade pivoted away, swinging his longsword in a wide, flat arc. But as he turned, the afternoon sunlight drove into his eyes like a spike. Blinding glare exploded in his skull.
Instinctively Cade jerked his head aside to save his vampire vision, missed his swing…
And realized he was wide open, his sword too far in its stroke to reverse. Hirsch’s axe stroke was going to cleave his head open. By sheer instinct, Cade swung his shield with every ounce of supernatural strength, aiming blindly for the spot where his opponent’s head should be.
He heard a choked-off scream, felt the sharp metal edge of the shield bite into something soft, grate against bone. Jerk free. Something hot and wet sprayed his face. A massive weight struck his shoulder and slammed him to the ground.
“Cade!” Val screamed.
He lay on his side, fighting to breathe. His chest felt paralyzed. At last, he sucked in a breath and his lungs began to work again. Still blinded, he tried to turn his head and couldn’t. The movement was blocked by something cold and metallic. Oddly, he felt no pain, only a spreading sensation of cold. It took him several dazed minutes to realize what had happened.
Hirsch’s axe was buried in his shoulder.
Cade reached up and groped blindly until he found the handle. He jerked. Something grated against bone. Hot liquid gushed down his side. Smelling copper, he knew he was bleeding. Damn it, not again. Wearily, he gathered his power and blocked the spurt of blood as he threw the axe aside.
Cade’s vision began to clear just in time to see Val running toward him, naked and desperate. “Get back!” he called hoarsely. “Hirsch --”
“Is no
longer in the picture,” Ridgemont said. As Val fell on her knees beside Cade and began frantically examining his gushing shoulder, the ancient sauntered up. “You decapitated him with your shield. Very nice. Unfortunately, your performance was otherwise pitiful. I hope you’ll do better when we meet, or it will be a very short fight.”
“Oh,” Cade panted, glaring, “you’ll get your fight. And it’ll be the last thing you get.”
Val had no interest in their posturing. “I need something to staunch the bleeding.” She turned and held out a hand to Ridgemont. “Give me that head cloth thing you’re wearing.”
The master vampire put a protective hand to it. “Not likely. Besides, he’s already bringing the bleeding under control. You’d be better off giving him your throat and letting him feed as he pleases.” To Cade he added, “I have been in the sunlight quite long enough on your account. I’ll be in touch.”
Cade bared his teeth. “So will I, you bastard.”
“Not for a week or so, I’ll wager,” Ridgemont said, subjecting Val’s naked body to a leering appraisal. “Have fun, gunslinger. I rather envy you the next few days.”
“Better him than you,” Val told him.
The ancient eyed her. “I’ll get my turn soon enough.” He turned and looked over his shoulder at Hirsch’s gory corpse with a grimace of disgust. “I suppose I’d better get rid of the remains. You’re not up to it, and if I don’t take care of it now, they’ll find him and do an autopsy. The next thing you know, someone would be publishing a paper in a journal somewhere. And I do not care to be outed by my own spawn.”
Grumbling, he stomped toward the fallen vampire.
* * *
As Ridgemont dealt with Hirsch’s body, Val hastily turned her attention to Cade. It could too easily have been his corpse being removed for disposal. “You scared the hell out of me,” she told him fiercely.
“I scared the hell out of myself,” he admitted. “Help me up. I need to get out of the sun.”
Forever Kisses Volume 1 Page 21