The Breed: Nora's Choice (32 page)

            Even from this
far of a distance Nora could see blood erupt and bullet’s filled his back.

            Rage
clouded her vision as she snatched the Hunter out of the sun roof sending
bullets flying straight up into the nights sky.

            She pulled
her razor sharp hunting knife from her boot and with all of her strength
plunged it down into his belly, impaling him into the seats below. She wanted
to watch the light fade from his miserable eyes, but she had to go and check on
Tessa and Ghost.

            With her
hands, neck and chest covered in blood Tessa let out a piercing scream as Nora
rushed to her.

            “Are you
ok? Where are you hit?” panic filled her as she moved her hands to try and find
a wound.

            There
wasn’t any. Ghost had absorbed every bullet with his own unprotected body.

            An explosion
erupted so loud is rocked the ground they stood on. Nora looked up to see part
of the education building crumbling and icy fear gripped her. 

            “Tessa,
take him down to the bunker, he needs a doctor,” she barked.

            “Go,” Ghost
choked out, blood bubbled at his lips, “that’s the building Memphis is at. I’ll
make it to the bunker fine on my own.”

            She wished
he wasn’t wearing those glasses, wished that she could search his eyes and make
sure he would really be fine.

            “I said
go!” he screamed and both girls took off running with fear in their hearts, ice
in their veins, and prayers on their lips.

            Casstiel
had never healed so slowly in his entire life. The battle raged all around him,
and all he could do until his lungs and shoulder healed, was sit at a crow’s
nest on the roof and take out individuals.

            Thankfully
all the helicopters had gone and now all they had to worry about were the
Hunters already inside, and those trying to blow a hole through the emergency
gates surrounding the Embassy.

            He had
never been a very religious man, but with every ounce of energy in his body he
prayed for their defenses to hold.

            With the
amount of fire power and foot soldiers they had brought to this fight, if their
gates were breached, he knew that no one in this Embassy would survive the
night. For the sake of everyone here, those gates had to hold.

            Focusing
his shots he picked off Hunters as they ran through, targeting the weak spots
that weren’t covered in vests and tactical gear, and cursing himself for having
gotten into this position to begin with.

            They had
been severely outnumbered, and were taken by surprise, but the kid hadn’t gone
down like he had. Quinn had a beast so strong inside of him that you had to
witness it in order to understand its full power. Even without transforming he
could take blows like nothing he had ever seen before.

            Whether
Cass wanted it to be so or not, Quinn Roberts
was
the best damn weapon
they had ever had against the Hunters.

            Screams
echoed up to him and he did his best to take down every Hunter he saw.

            Most of the
civilians that lived in the Embassy had run for safety into the underground
bunker at this point, but all along his perfectly groomed walkways laid
scattered bodies and pure carnage from those who had been caught before they
could make it.

            Never
before had the Hunters ventured off of their turf and attacked the Breed. They
hadn’t ever been able to get this organized before. With the amount of men that
were here now, there had to have been dozens of collective units that formed
together and were functioning as one.

            This all
had to be the work of the Nine. There was no other explanation.

            Clearly
Sampson had discovered that they were getting too close to the truth and had
decided to take them out before the New York Embassy could expose him to the
rest of the Breed.

            Too bad he
didn’t seem to understand that unlike other defense teams in the Breed,
Casstiel’s team was made up of hardened warriors who loved to spill the blood
of their enemies just as much as they loved to protect their people. You
wouldn’t find any frilly pencil pushers on his watch.

            With the
addition of Quinn, Roderick and Balor, his team was damn near invincible.

            Cass had
been watching carefully from his forced position, and though Balor’s mind might
be in serious danger of decay, his skills were still every bit as top notch as
they ever were.

            He and
Roderick had been born into chaos and fire, and it forged them into two of the
strongest, most lethal killers he had ever met. They thrived off of pain and
exertion, didn’t know the meaning of fear or doubt and truly lived as if their
lives could end at any moment.

            An
explosion ripped through the air so strong it knocked him onto his back.

            Looking
around wildly he found that the last of the helicopters to leave had set off
two missiles into the education building, crumpling parts of its foundation,
and  leaving a gaping hole in the building at least four floors wide.

            He shot
after the copter, but his bullet’s simply ricocheted off the hardened
reinforced steel.

            Squinting
his eyes he searched to see if Memphis was alright. There was definitely
movement on top of the roof, but was it Hunters? Could Memphis have survived
the blast?

            Down below
he caught a glimpse of red that could only have been caused by one person. He
screamed out to her to get away from that building and get to safety, but she
couldn’t hear him. There were dozens of Hunters up ahead, and he would never
reach her in time to help her fight.

            Focusing
all of his energy he took aim. One after another he shot down every Hunter that
they could possibly cross paths with. He squeezed the trigger with so much
force and anger he felt the skin on his fingers blister from rubbing.

            He had told
her to pull the emergency gates and
run
to safety. Not stay and fight,
and not run into a collapsing building. Neither of them even knew if Memphis
was still alive, but there they were running full speed to put their own lives
in danger.

            When he got
his hands on that girl he was going to-

            Helicopter
blades whirred over head and he rolled to his back to take aim. His shoulder
was just going to have to be healed enough because this chopper was landing, no
doubt filled with all the Hunters it could carry.

            No other
choice but to fight.

            Gun drawn,
he set off a spray of bullets, and prepared to throw the three grenades he
carried on his person once the damn thing landed.

            “Stop
shooting at me you fool!” Sebastian’s voice suddenly thundered over head.

           
Sebastian?

            Was his
mind playing tricks on him? Was he finally entering a state of exhaustion so
severe he was hallucinating?

            With
grenades still clutched in his fingers he waited for what felt like centuries
before it landed. No herd of Hunters ran out, no barrage of bullets swept over
him. Perhaps he wasn’t hallucinating.

            As graceful
as a panther on a hunt Sebastian jumped from the pilots seat onto the gravelly
roof below him.

            “Brother,”
Casstiel sighed with pure joy.

            “Apparently
you’ve let this place go to the dogs while I’ve been away,” he sighed, shaking
soot off of his long jacket, and readjusting the double swords sheathed at his
back.

            “How the
hell
did you know we were under attack?” Cass felt like he could breathe for the
first time in the last hour. The Calvary had arrived.

            “Believe it
or not, I trusted Ayla,” he looked as though he didn’t even fully believe the
words that had left his mouth.

            Out of all
the insane things that had happened this night, Sebastian trusting in Ayla was
by far the most ludicrous.

            “I don’t
even care anymore,” Casstiel sighed, his mind unable to process anything else,
“just help me take back my Embassy… and don’t let me kill my mate.”

~

            Every
muscle in Nora’s body burned as she raced to the education building with Tessa
trailing behind her.

            By some
stroke of luck from the Gods they hadn’t met any more Hunters on the way, and
could completely focus on the battle at hand.

            Once they
reached the building an eerie quiet reached them. Destruction and mayhem
crowded them on every side, but there was no sound. No voices to be heard, no
buzz of electronics going off. Nothing.

            It was
almost as if the battle outside had been put completely on mute while they were
inside this place. It gave off a level of creepiness that sank into her bones.

            They had
barely made it up one flight of steps before Tessa was calling after her to go
on without her.

            With the
elevators not working, and fifty floors of stairs ahead of her, Nora nodded her
head in understanding and plowed forward. Her fragile human friend had been
more of an asset in this battle than she had ever thought possible, and the
girl deserved a break.

            Trudging up
the last bit of stairs before she made it to the top Nora took a moment to
gather herself. Finding Memphis dead would be the most critical blow that life
had ever dealt her, and she wasn’t sure she would ever get over it.

            There was
no other option however but to open the door.

            With timid
fingers and prayers flowing from her lips like a fountain, she pushed the door
open and stepped outside.

            Memphis was
locked in a deadly battle with an enormous group of Hunters. He was severely
wounded, but still alive.

            She raced
to his rescue with her gun drawn, firing off rounds as she went. No one fucked
with Memphis and made it out alive.

            The moment
he saw her the berating started, “Nora get your ass out of here or so help me
God I will beat you myself girl!”

            “You need
all the help you can get,” she argued back between jabs, “don’t be mad at me
because you’re losing your touch.”

            “Losing my
touch?” He bellowed, using the one arm that wasn’t broken in three places to
elbow a Hunter in the throat, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but some ass hat
has blown half the building to hell with me and a hoard of his own people on
it.”

            “That
sounds like an excuse old man,” she gritted through the pain of a blow to the
ribs.

            “An
excuse?” He was flabbergasted as he put his big boot through a Hunters front
teeth, “you’re in enough trouble as it is girl, you might want to shut up and
try and save your skin before I get to you.”

            The rooftop
door flung open and Tessa hurled herself through it, still puffing and out of
breath.

            “Oh fuck
me!” Memphis’ eyes popped with rage, “God damn Nancy Drew is here too?”

            “Gonna
help,” Tessa wheezed, placing her fists in front of her body like a boxer
preparing for a bout.

            Hunters
zeroed in on her immediately, and the three of them entered a free for all of
jabs and blows.

            When there
was a small break in the action Nora grabbed the last of her knives and pressed
it into Tessa’s hand. She looked up unsure, but Nora gripped her shoulder hard,
“use it.”

            With that
they were parted again, each taking on their own cluster of men.

            Though
Memphis was by far the most wounded he still took on the largest group. They
reined their fists down on him mercilessly, but he somehow seemed energized by
the presence of the girls. His second wind hit him, and he fought them back
just as viciously.

            Tessa was
swarmed, but she stood her ground against four men, going hit for hit with them
and using her size and speed to her advantage. They were slow and clumsy, often
hitting themselves when she slipped past and dodged them.

            Heavy,
solid wood hit Nora straight in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and
sending her toppling immediately.

            One of the
Hunters had picked up a stray two by four from the roof and was now brandishing
it like a bat. He thrust it down at her, and she narrowly missed having her
head bashed in by rolling out of the way.

            Leaping to
her feet she put her hands up to thwart the weapon when he swung it. With each
broad swing he forced her farther and farther back to avoid being hit.

            Without
realizing it, she had come to the edge of the roof that had been crumpled in
the blast. Only when she momentarily lost balance and teetered on the edge did
the full predicament she was in come crashing around her.

            Neither
Memphis or Tessa had noticed what was happening as each of them was so
overwhelmed by the amount of men they were currently fighting. She was on her
own with this one.

            The short,
stout bullfrog of a man in front of her continued slicing the air and trying to
force her over the edge. If she didn’t dodge his swings, the force of the blow
would send her over, but the more she avoided the hits, the more off balance
she became.

            Finally she
snapped and did the craziest thing she could think of; she grabbed the damn
wood.

            The look of
surprise on the Hunters face when she yanked at it was priceless, but he
wouldn’t give up his weapon easily. He yanked back, and for a moment it was a
battle of pure will.

            Thanks to
her Breed blood however, Nora dug deep and with all the strength in her body
pulled back and twisted so that the Hunter himself went toppling over the edge.

            The
momentum of her pull combined with the hard twist that threw her off balance
however, sent Nora falling right after him.

            Her scream
pierced the night as she fell two floors through the rubble, finally managing
to grab onto a chunk of crumbling floor tile. Forty eight stories above the
cement.