To Walk the Night (22 page)
25
I pulled the trigger just as someone careened into my arm, throwing off my aim. The bullet whizzed past Adrian’s head and struck the wall. The entire room burst into a mass of confusion. Wolves leaped from the walls, shifting and shedding their clothes as they closed in on the group of Cultists. The vampires standing around us fell back, letting their expendable servants take the brunt of whatever damage our ragged looking group might be able to inflict.
I cursed and tried to level on Adrian again, but he vanished in the flurry of action. Nathan shifted as soon as the Tremaine wolves started moving, his suit tearing and falling to the floor in useless rags. He looked far more imposing as a wolf than in his human form, which was quite a feat considering how scary he could be even without all the fur and claws.
Jonathan took a step back and stood as if protecting the Luna Cult Purebloods. He didn’t shift or look as though he had any intention of shifting. His eyes roved over the fighting, anger bubbling from every pore of his body, yet I wasn’t so sure his anger was targeted at Count Tremaine or his wolves. Gregory was at his side, the smile that was somewhat charming, if not a little goofy, still in place. It was starting to grate on my nerves.
I drew my sword, cursing under my breath. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen, but at least we were getting to the action. I wanted more than anything to get one more shot at Adrian, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Back toward the doors,” Jonathan said. The Cultists started moving as soon as he spoke. They scrambled toward the doors, their robes tripping them up, screaming as the wolves barreled into their ranks. Two more wolves moved to bar the door and their retreat was halted.
I swung my gun around and shot a wolf who was tearing into a Cultist. The bullet from my modified Glock moved with enough force to penetrate his skull, but slow enough so that it went no farther. The wolf dropped almost immediately, his brain scrambled. The Cultist fell from between his claws, the tattoo that once adorned her forehead torn clean away—along with half her face.
Another wolf had hold of one of the other Cultists. He held her between us, peering at me with hate-filled eyes. He snarled something totally unintelligible and snapped at me. I would have tried to shoot around the woman, but she was still alive, struggling weakly in the grasp of her much larger, much stronger opponent. I wasn’t going to risk killing her just to get to the wolf.
Instead, I pushed through the stunned Purebloods and dropped to my knees the moment I was within reach of the wolf. I swung my sword at his ankles and it bit into his flesh, striking bone.
The wolf howled in pain, but instead of dropping the woman like I had hoped he would, he dug in with his claws and tore her damn near in two. Her body fell to the ground, a bloody, pulped mess.
I rolled to my feet to face the now unshielded wolf. His eyes were a dark yellow, almost orange in the bright lights of the ballroom. I brought my gun up to bear as he started weaving left and right. He was limping heavily where my sword had taken him in the leg, but he was still moving.
It was then I noticed the scar in the center of his forehead.
I cursed softly and lowered my gun. As the wolf started to lunge for me, I brought my sword up in a sweeping motion. He didn’t have time to avoid it.
The silver blade bit into his groin despite his best efforts to avoid the strike and he dropped, clutching at himself and shuddering. Blood poured from the wound, and even though the silver hadn’t done its job of paralyzing him, the castration would.
There was a loud roar, and I glanced to the side just as Nathan ripped the head off a much smaller werewolf. A pair of vampires were coming up behind him, and I was about to shout out a warning when Nathan spun around with the dead wolf’s body still in his hands. He used the corpse like a club, knocking one of the vamps on his ass. The other vamp hissed and lunged forward, only to have her throat shredded by his claws.
A scramble of sound drew my attention back to the wolf whose life as a male I had just ended. He was back on his feet, blood dripping from his groin, and he was limping my way. A mad grin was spread across his wolfish features. His tongue lolled from his mouth and his eyes were rolling around his head, unfocused, uncaring. Saliva dripped from his jaws in a white foam. His teeth were bared and blood bubbled deep from within his mouth, mixing with the saliva.
“What the fuck?” I said, taking a step back. I knew silver didn’t seem to work against the former Cult wolves, but having his family jewels cut almost clean off should have kept the wolf down. I didn’t care how crazy you were, you didn’t get up from a wound like that.
The werewolf lunged at me, claws bared and ready to tear me apart. I just barely managed to slide around the blow. As I slipped around him, I jabbed him in the ribs with the tip of my sword, opening a gaping wound in his side. He growled with pain but stayed on his feet. He turned back to face me, ignoring the blood pouring from his body in appalling gushes.
Close combat was clearly not working. The wolf made another pass at me and I dodged him easily. The wounds might not be causing him as much pain as I would like, but they were still slowing him down. He staggered to the side and snarled in rage before charging again.
He never even came close to me and he howled in frustration. He sounded weak now, his howl more of a groan than anything. He was panting, frothing at the mouth in a red-tinged foam that splattered the floor at his feet. He glared at me and staggered forward a step. His motions were slow and deliberate, as if he had to think hard about putting each foot in front of the next. He lunged at me, only to come face-to-face with my modified Glock.
“Nighty night.”
There was a muffled thump as the bullet buried itself in his brain. He dropped to the floor, and this time, he stayed down.
“Get up from that, asshole,” I growled, turning to the rest of the battle raging around me.
By now, half the Cultists were either dead or wounded. The other half were cowering close to the ground, covering their heads with their arms. I saw genuine fear in their eyes. Some of them were probably seeing for the first time the wolves they worshipped so fervently as the monsters they really are. Maybe it would make them realize how foolish they had been to ever worship such beasts.
Nathan was still battling one of the vampires, as well as a wolf that had joined in. The female vamp was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, gasping for air. Her arm was severed almost completely from her body, but you wouldn’t know it by the look of anger in her eye. If someone didn’t finish her off soon, she would heal long before dying.
Just as I was about to step forward and finish the job myself, a wolf grabbed her and tore her head off in what looked to be an uncontrollable rage. The side of his head was flat, and the pink flesh of scar tissue looked out of place against his dark fur.
Jonathan had decided to join the fight. Seeing the Cultists he wanted to protect dying around him probably did it. He stayed close to the remaining Cultists, taking out anyone who came anywhere close to them.
I started forward to assist him but stopped when a sudden movement to my right caught my eye. I quickly swung my gun around and found myself aiming at Gregory, still in human form. He was moving quickly toward me, his face frantic. His eyes were wide, scanning the mayhem around him. That damn grin was gone at least.
Davin, the vampire who had been sent to retrieve Simon, shot past Gregory and came straight at me. I wasn’t ready for the attack and had to drop to my knees and use my forearm to deflect his incoming strike. I just barely kept him from reaching my throat and I used his momentum to throw him over my shoulder.
I got to my feet, swung my gun around, and fired at him before he could fully right himself. He flung up an arm just as I pulled the trigger and the air around him wavered. The bullet struck the rippling air and ricocheted across the room.
“Damn it,” I muttered, holstering my gun and drawing my last knife in a quick, fluid motion. Did I mention I hated sorcerers?
Davin straightened and licked his lips as if already savoring the taste of my blood. Not that he would drink it. Vampires got nothing out of drinking another vampire’s blood. He would get more nutrition out of a cat or dog than he would out of me.
He kept his eyes on my weapons, but he didn’t seem all that concerned. He was clearly older than the vamps I had dealt with at the Fledgling Houses I had taken down. None of them had been able to do anything remotely close to sorcery. No wonder House Tremaine had risen to Minor House status. With a vamp sorcerer, they had an advantage very few could overcome.
“Give me a knife,” Gregory said at my side. I just about stabbed him he was standing so close. I had all but forgotten him.
“No,” I said, trying to ignore him. I was reluctant to give up one of my weapons, especially since my other knife was still stuck in the wolf downstairs. The other vamps and wolves in the room were completely content to fight it out with Nathan and Jonathan, leaving me alone with Davin. I wished Gregory would go away and find someone else to bother.
“I want to help,” Gregory insisted. “Give me a knife so I can help.”
“Why don’t you shift?” I said, taking a step away from him. He was seriously crowding my personal space. If the vamp attacked, Gregory would get in the way. “You’d be of more use that way.”
The vampire stood his ground and grinned. He seemed to be enjoying our little side banter.
I wanted the vamp to just attack and get it over with. Now that I knew what he could do, I was ready for him. If he wanted to get in close with me, he would have to drop his shield. As long as Gregory didn’t get in the way, I could have the vamp down and disabled in seconds. I just needed to get within his reach.
Besides, the longer we stood there staring at each other, the more likely it would be that Adrian or one of the other Tremaine wolves would join in our little standoff, severely tipping the scales in their favor.
At least I didn’t have to worry about anyone hitting me with silver. Thanks to the vampire ban on the stuff, I was pretty sure I was the only one packing the illegal metal. It gave me an advantage over everyone in the room. I like having the advantage.
Gregory thrust an open hand out toward me. He wasn’t going to go away unless I gave in and gave him what he wanted.
“Damn it,” I said, putting my last knife in his hand, hilt first, careful not to let the silver touch his skin. As long as he didn’t cut himself with it, it would only burn him anyway. It would hurt like hell, but it wouldn’t incapacitate him.
Davin’s grin widened as he took us both in. He looked mere moments from a gale of laughter. He turned his gaze away from us to take in the rest of the fight. It was getting pretty desperate for the good guys.
I took a step toward the distracted vamp, hoping to get in close before he knew I was coming. From what I understood, the shield charm would stop bullets, but something moving slower could get through. As long as I didn’t rush things, I could take him down before he knew what hit him.
Before I could go more than a step, a stabbing pain in my back sent shockwaves through my body. My muscles instantly seized. My entire body locked up, and my sword fell useless from my suddenly weak fingers. I fell to one knee, fighting my body as I went down. I would have screamed if I had the breath.
Another stab to my shoulder dropped me the rest of the way to the floor. I managed to hit with my uninjured shoulder and fell over on my back instead of my face. If I was going down, I was going to do it facing my killer.
Gregory stood over me, the knife I had handed him in one hand. It was stained red with my blood. He had that smug grin on his face again and was shaking his head sadly as if he was disappointed in me.
“I wish things could have ended differently,” he said.
“Fuck you,” I gasped through teeth that didn’t want to unclench. It was all I could do to force the air out for the words, but he heard them fine. The silver coursed through my veins, paralyzing me. The poison would eventually run its course and I would be able to move again, but that would take time. Time was something I was quickly running out of.
A scream that seemed to shake the very walls of the ballroom jerked Gregory’s head to the side. Whatever had made the tortured sound must have been good for his side, because when he turned back to me, he was absolutely beaming.
He leaned over me and I tried to reach for his throat, though I knew it was useless. I managed only to move my arm a fraction of an inch. I wasn’t even sure it was my own muscles that caused the movement or if my arm had simply convulsed. I couldn’t feel anything but pain from head to toe.
“Say good-bye, Ms. Redding,” he said, pressing my knife to my throat.
“No.” Suddenly, Adrian was standing over me. He was still in human form and looked as though he hadn’t bothered to take part in the fight at all. His clothes were completely unrumpled, as was his hair. “Keep her alive. Tremaine wants to speak with her.”
Gregory scowled and leaned into the knife even more. “No,” he said. “This is my moment. Tremaine can go fuck himself if he thinks I’m going to give up the chance to kill her. I’ll be a legend.”
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