Witch Gone Viral

by Sami Valentine

  Lucas grinned when he spotted Red. “Oi, undo me, Delilah.”

  “Please would get you further,” Delilah groused as she unlocked his cuffs. A bullet caught her in the arm. She spun and charged a masked gunman.

  Red hovered a hand over the interface to try to feel the magical threads connecting it to the grotesque towering apparatus. She felt a tug from the smallest switch in the corner. She flipped it. The lights flickered.

  Gray eyes twinkling, Lucas sprinted to Red. He blocked her body from the brawling with his, looking over his shoulder at her. “I got to Anaheim.”

  Furrowing her brow, she looked at Lucas. “Huh?”

  “Before the Dague caught me on my bike. I got to Anaheim.” Lucas smiled. “You were right. I’m sorry, Red.”

  “Good to know, but not the time.” Red smirked and shook her head. She reached for a lever on the interface.

  A blur slammed into Lucas, knocking him down, skidding across the sand.

  “Lucas!” Red called.

  Hilde Higbee grabbed Red’s arm. Face bruised and snarling, she raised a sawed-off shotgun with the other hand. “You’ll learn your place, hunter!” She pointed at Selene, caught between two masked men in white collared shirts and black pants. “We’ll use both mages. This one may be dead, but there is a spark in her.”

  Red tried to shake off Hilde, but the viselike grip wouldn’t budge.

  “You’ll regret this, Higbee.” Lucas rolled under two vampires, growling as he tried to block their onslaught. “You have fifty childer here, and I will rip through them all for my girls.”

  “How salacious. You love a human claimed by another.” Hilde cooed behind her mask. “And the rumors about Miss Selene here and her sire…” She sighed as she dragged Red forward to the steps of the Genesis Machine. “I suppose that is gossip for another day.”

  Chin jutting up, Selene glared at Hilde. Unsouled mania glimmered in her doe eyes. “You wicked thing, the light crawls over me. Souls! Don’t you feel it?” She dragged her feet on the rough sand as her captors pulled her up to it first. “I see the ill wind coming.”

  “Turn it off, Higbee,” Red snapped. She reached across her body to her hunter’s kit. If she could just reach the revolver… She tried to reason with Hilde. “I fucked with it. You won’t like what it’ll do next.”

  “You flipped some switches. I’ll flip them back.” Hilde pushed Red forward, digging the barrel of the shotgun into her back. Tilting her face up, a fuchsia glow cast a blush over her cheeks. “The Genesis Machine is billowing smoke. You’ll be kindling on the fire.”

  Red vowed, “Take me up there, and I will throw myself in and tear every wire and crystal down as I fall.” The radiating energy made the hair stand up on her arms. She wasn’t sure if it even needed more magic to beam out the signal. Her fists clenched. Basil hold on!

  “Oh, yes, I’ll help!” Selene bobbed her head. She pushed her guard away.

  Lucas grabbed the guard by the neck and snapped it before lunging at the other. He tugged him by the arm and tossed him yards away toward Donal’s waiting sword.

  Red flipped open the magnetic flap of her belted hunter’s kit.

  Hilde noticed the movement with a snarl.

  Lifting her hand up, Red gulped. She had Selene right behind her and clusters of the Dague battled only feet away. She had nowhere to run.

  Shaking off a lanky vampire, Quinn darted to join Lucas. “Hilde. It’s over.”

  Lucas crept closer. “Give them up while I’m still inclined to let you go.”

  “You brought this curse upon us. I lost my own blood kin.” Hilde looked askance at Lucas. Ragged tendrils of blond hair framed her gaunt features. She glanced over at her followers battling for their lives. Her long neck stiffened. Thin lips curled over her fangs. She raised her semiautomatic shotgun at Red and Selene. “So are you.”

  Time slowed as Red looked down the barrel of the gun. She tried to reach her magic, that primal force that came to her aid when she was in mortal danger. She came up empty. The machine had drained her of what she had. In days, Red could recharge. She didn’t have days.

  Hilde Higbee pulled the trigger. She was too close to miss.

  Quinn launched himself, arms lifted. He pushed Red and Selene out of the way, facing the gunfire. His back shuddered, muscles twitching under his dark shirt, as multiple bullets struck his chest.

  “Quinn!” Lucas screamed and dove for Hilde’s knees, knocking her to the ground.

  Red landed against the machine. Hot tears welled up in her eyes. Chest tightening, she stared at her boss. They were wooden tipped bullets.

  Falling on his back, Quinn clutched at his bleeding chest. His head rolled to the side as if seeking out a face in the crowd. “Delilah.” Decay grayed his pale face. His gelled blond hair crumbled first before his body dissolved in a wave. 280 years of blood, passion, and history faded into the sand with a whisper that sounded like atonement. Quinn Byrnes had made his final sacrifice.

  Chapter Thirty

  January 28th, Hours Before Dawn, The Secret Burrow, California

  Red pulled out her gun, straightening against the Genesis Machine. Her knees knocked together. Weariness had sunk as deep as sorrow into her bones. Paling fuchsia fog billowed down the straining tapered sides of the machine like a cartoon nuclear reactor. It covered the spot where Quinn had fallen. Red pulled her eyes away from the dust of the vampire who had sacrificed himself for her.

  An unleashed primal scream of grief roared above the brutal violence bleeding onto the sands. Ripping through the night, the intensity cowed the scattered clusters of fighters to a hush.

  Hilde blanched.

  “Hear that?” Irises golden and fangs out, Lucas held Hilde by the neck. His nails gouged the skin. “That’s the sound of the widow who’s going to kill you.”

  Red raised her revolver at Hilde. “Make her turn the machine off!”

  “Never!” Hilde croaked from Lucas’s grip, rolling eyes seeking the unseen enemy twice her age in the crowd.

  Selene raised her sharp nails, fingers poised to strike Hilde’s face. Unhinged fury darkened her tear streaked features. “She killed Quinn. I want to eat her eyes. Then her heart.”

  “Basil is dying up there, Lucas!” Red pleaded. Grief ate at him and Selene whispered revenge in his ear. It was a stronger spell than any she could perform. She had to hope he would choose her over his sire this time. Voice cracking, she begged. “Please, for me.”

  Cheekbones sharpening, his nostrils flared and murderous anguish twisted his full lips. The eerie glow of the machine illuminated the conflict on his features. A long second stretched in the dusty, dark magic drenched air. Grimacing, Lucas nodded and dragged Hilde toward the controls. “Turn it off, you slag!”

  Red sagged in relief as she backed up behind him, keeping Selene in her sights. If he hadn’t broken up with her, she would have kissed him.

  Crossing her arms, the raven-haired vampiress stomped her foot. “I want an eye.”

  “To me, my childer!” Hilde spit out a choked order.

  Masked minions rushed Selene.

  She met them with a hiss, manicured nails slashing across the throat of the first foe. The cloudy ectoplasm rolling down the machine lightened. A low-pitched whine trilled from its depths. White mist fell on Selene and her attackers. Fairy lights flickered in the depths. Trembling, they fell to their knees.

  Hilde elbowed Lucas aside. “What is happening?”

  “It’s giving them their souls! Soon all your people will be cursed!” Red pointed her revolver at Hilde. White smoke obscured her sight as Basil’s soulmancy enveloped her.

  Racing to the controls, Hilde hurried to twist knobs and press buttons to turn off the machine. Her wide eyes darted up at the approaching fog. She slapped the interface. The lights darkened. She breathed a sigh of relief, looking over her shoulder as if to check on her numerous offspring.

  Tiny white orbs dropped on her like a gentle snowfall.

  H
ilde Higbee screamed, knees buckling, and fell to the ground. She curled her legs under her dark skirt. Sobs escaped her throat as she rocked back and forth.

  “Get Basil.” Red said to Lucas.

  Lucas blurred up the machine. He called out to Selene, “Stay there!”

  Red hustled to Hilde. The woman had been Michel’s secret right hand. This was her clan, and she could call them off. Red dropped to her knees in front of the crying vampire.

  Hilde stared at her trembling hands. “What have I done? I made scores of demons and called them my children. The blood. It’s everywhere.”

  Staring at that horror-struck face, exhaustion tumbled over Red. It was like watching someone wake up in hell. Red holstered her gun. She put her hand on Hilde’s shoulder. “You have a soul. It feels like a curse, but it is a gift. You can atone.”

  “How?” Hilde lifted her face, the moon reflecting off her tears.

  “Call off your soldiers.” Standing, Red gestured to the battle. The masked Dague circled Cora’s reinforcements around the dark husk of the Genesis Machine. Dozens of vampires brawled, more and more fighting hand-to-hand.

  Kristoff tugged a small vampire in a denim skirt off his shoulders, tossing the female aside like an inconvenience as he strode toward Red.

  Cora rallied her people with a raised scimitar.

  Desperation lingered over the field. The dawn was only an hour or two away.

  Nodding and sniffing, Hilde stood. She hugged herself, cringing. Demonic yellow eyes peered suddenly over her shoulder. White jaws flashed in the moonlight.

  Red lifted her hand, lips opening, but it was too late.

  Delilah reared her head back and bit into Hilde’s neck. Her fangs shredded the skin. The very act was an abomination forbidden by the Blood Alliance. A perverse ritual of revenge from a darker time. Fingers gripping the other woman roughly, she drank before ripping Hilde’s heart out through her back. Blood drenched her chin. Letting go of Hilde, she lifted the dark muscle to her mouth.

  Stomach heaving, Red looked away. Her heart raced from the pure hellfire in Delilah’s gaze. Their only chance at a white flag had gone down the vampire’s throat. The Dague weren’t going to give up after seeing someone eat their leader.

  Hilde flopped forward onto the sand, rotting to bones in an instant.

  Cursing, Red jumped backwards. She spat out the bile in her throat. “So, gross, Delilah!”

  Delilah wiped the blood from her mouth. Swaying like a sapling, her fangs retreated and her eyes returned to blue. She stared at the pile of bones before stepping over to where Quinn fell. Head bowed, she dropped to her knees and sobbed from three hundred years of love lost.

  Red backed away from the raw emotion that dwarfed the surrounding chaos in its intensity. She sniffed, biting her lip. Quinn… She hoped he had found redemption at last. Shaking, she felt the air change like the buzzing of an agitated hive.

  A wild cry rang out over the crowd. The masked defenders fought with renewed rage. “Hilde!” Mutterings and moans drifting up from the slap of fist on skin. “Mother!”

  “I’ll take you to mother.” Grim certainty in her voice, Delilah snapped her head up. She lifted her knee like a sprinter before disappearing into the crowd.

  Primal panic shivered up Red’s spine. She pulled out her revolver, trying to remember how many bullets she had left in the barrel. The will to survive jolted nervous energy into her limbs.

  “We have major grief vibes here, people!” Cora called out as she gestured for her people to pull back. “Circle this damn reactor. We’re making our stand.” Cora swung her scimitar, slipping out of sight, going to the other side of the Genesis Machine. She barked orders to spread her two dozen fighters around the perimeter.

  Nedda and Sal dragged the unconscious vampires in hospital gowns to huddle beside the tower.

  Guarding them, Donal thrust his broadsword in the throat of an attacker before slicing the masked head off.

  Kristoff appeared at Red’s side. He lifted a broken baseball bat and jammed it into a charging vampire’s chest, then jerked it out. “Forty vampires just lost their sire. Stay with me.”

  Red backed up. Ears ringing, she bobbed her head. “I’m cool with that.” She raised her snubby revolver and fired at a vampire in a sweater vest leaping for Kristoff.

  Kristoff twisted and caught the vampire by the starched collar and slammed him to the ground. He crouched to stake him.

  Lucas jogged to Red, carrying Basil slung over his shoulder. He set him against the metal siding. “He’s still alive.” Gray eyes filled with grief, heaviness hung on his brow. He cupped Red’s cheek. “But this could still be the end.”

  His touch tingled on her skin, soothing the rawness of the moment. This wasn’t the time for being soothed. It was time for war. She shook her head. “It’s not yet.”

  Nodding, Lucas stepped beside Kristoff, moving into a defensive position. He shared a long glance with his progeny.

  Red knelt by the soulmancer. She put a hand against his forehead. He still had a spark of magic and life within him. She stood, noticing movement in the corner of her eye. Legs braced, she raised her gun. “Look out!”

  “For Hilde!” Five rushed Lucas and Kristoff. Amber irises glowed behind the narrow slots in their flat white masks. “For the Dague!”

  “I get the big ugly one.” Lucas threw himself forward in a flurry of fists.

  “I’ll take the rest.” Kristoff quipped, drop-kicking a matronly vampire in a floral church dress.

  Aura spiking in excitement, a vampire creeped along the side of the Genesis Machine.

  Pivoting, Red shot him between his masked eyes. Panting, she spun on her heel as another broke past Kristoff. She hit it in the heart. Bones rolled to her feet. Sweat dripped down the collar of her jacket. Her eardrums screamed in protest.

  Kristoff fell back, denting the metal siding on impact with the darkened shell of a tower. He lifted his head, fangs retreating and eyes turning back to their deep blue. Straightening, he stepped to Red’s side. His gaze darted over her as if taking a picture. “I respect you more than you think. I would have regretted dying before telling you that.” He dropped his shoulders and charged back into the fray.

  “Oh, fuck.” Red gritted her teeth. She was used to doom and gloom from Lucas, not Kristoff. They really were going to die. She squared her jaw. She had one more bullet before she had to reload. Time to make it count. She lifted her revolver.

  A familiar guitar riff rose from a cloud of dust over the horizon. Over a dozen headlamps broke through the night, illuminating bushes and dunes as drums kicked in over a loudspeaker. Hushed, the sea of white masks turned toward the convoy. Racing toward the Genesis Machine, the ragtag calvary of farm trucks, jeeps, and bouncing cars honked their arrival. A black van led the charge, blasting rock and roll. Faint lyrics drifted on the wind. It was Highway to Hell!

  Heart leaping in her chest at the sight of the Millennium Falcon, Red grinned. “It’s the hunters!”

  Lucas laughed, headbutting a bulky giant of a minion. He ripped the stake away from his enemy’s hand, then slammed it into his chest. “Just the lads I wanted to see.”

  Kristoff clubbed a gawking vampire. “Let’s hope they know to kill just the ones in disguise.”

  The vehicles circled the battle. Hunters leaned out of car windows and the sides of vans. Raising crossbows, rifles, and neon Super Soakers filled with holy water, they fired on the Dague. Screams exploded from the outer line. Facing attack on two fronts, the masked vampires drew back from the machine. Some darted for the hunters.

  Guarding the laboratory prisoners, Sal let out a whoop yards away as he lifted his arm, clothes-lining a portly vampire. “That’s my people, ya’ll!”

  “The universe has our back!” Cora’s yell pierced the night. “Push forward!”

  Red holstered her gun. Going to Basil, she slipped her shoulder under his armpit and heaved him up. “Come on, buddy, wake up.”

  “Wha—?”
Basil grumbled, knees creaking as he stood. Sweat glistened on his ashen face. “Oh, good, I didn’t die in these godawful sweatpants.”

  “Be ready to move.” Red huffed as she adjusted his leaning weight. He was a slender man, but she buckled under his weight. The night had taken more than magic out of her. “We might need to run.”

  “I’m dressed for it.” Basil lurched forward. His gait evened to a strained hobble.

  The Millennium Falcon whipped out of the convoy to bulldoze through the vampires. Sand billowed in its wake. A white SUV followed it. Vampires dove out of the way. One skinny male didn’t move fast enough, and his legs crunched underneath the wheel.

  “Coming in hot!” Red yelled.

  Kristoff and Lucas jumped back.

  The SUV broke away to park by Nedda, Donal, and Sal guarding the comatose vampires. Short green hair peeped out from behind the windshield.

  The black van skidded to a stop. Chuck waved his cowboy hat from the driver’s seat.

  The side door slid open. Vic jumped out of the Millennium Falcon with a two-arrow crossbow in his hands and a wild grin on his face. He stood straight backed and strong, legs braced for action. The breeze kicked back his black mullet. He pivoted to shoot a vampire dashing for the door. The arrow struck the heart, arrowhead jutting out of the back. Dust dropped by his boots.

  Mouth dropping open, Red could only stare at him.

  Basil and Lucas sputtered beside her.

  “Hey Vic, how’s tricks?” Kristoff asked, leaning the broken baseball bat over his shoulder.

  A minion jumped onto the hood of the van.

  Vic lifted the bow, releasing the second arrow up at a minion who fell over into a pile of bones by the wheels. He stepped forward. “Your chariot, milady. You can come too, Basil.”

  “And they say chivalry is dead.” Red pulled Basil forward. Her cheeks hurt from grinning.