To Wrangle A Witch (Southern Sanctuary Book 3) (22 page)

The
vampire Queen laughed loudly as the head came to rest at her feet, never losing
her concentration as she ducked a slash from Drum’s sword and the swing of
Vaughn’s axe.  Leaping back an upwards, she landed in a crouch on the very
edge of the roof, graceful as a cat.  Not a scratch on her, not a hair out
of place, she wasn’t even breathing hard despite the fact she’d spent the last
five minutes single-handedly facing off against three of Maat’s warriors. 

Taking
her time she surveyed the battlefield.  One of her lackeys trapped in a
tree trunk, another one leaking blood from dozens of cuts even as Dash and
Flynn circled it, keeping half and eye on it and half an eye on the
Queen.  That just left her last lackey as she eyed the headless still
standing corpse with a critical eye.

“Surrender.” 
Hadleigh demanded, looking up at the Queen.

“Or
else?”  The vampire Queen mocked, never losing her amused smile.

“Or
this.”  Nate casually twirled the wooden post he’d picked up from the
smashed shower alcove in his hand like a baton before abruptly smashing it down
through the neck of the headless body, piercing the vamp’s heart.  The
body exploding into a cloud of dust.

The
Queen eyed Nate with intrigued silver cat eyes.  “Now you’re just flirting
with me.”  Her voice throaty, all her attention riveted upon Nate.

 “Surrender
or the other two go the same way.”  Hadleigh followed up, absently wiping
her sword clean on her trousers.

“Counter
offer, hand over the blood of the witch and I’ll consider the contract
complete.”  All the while the Queen’s disconcerting gaze never left Nate.

“What
about your vamp pals?”  Hadleigh enquired.

“Neh.” 
The Queen toyed absently with the low zipper of her catsuit.  “Minions
come… minions go.”

“There
will be no handing over of anyone’s blood.”  Vaughn moved to stand beside
his wife.  “Be warned now, the warriors of Maat protect her well-being
with our lives, there will never be a time when she is not guarded or
defended.  We are willing to die to safeguard her, is your contract really
worth that… hassle?”

The
corner of the Queen’s lips twisted up at the edge with a wry smile.  “It
could be fun.”  Then she gave a sigh.  “On the other hand I’ve always
found female targets tiresome… not to mention shrill.  So by this united
stance of yours I’m guessing there will be no reasonable solution agreed upon
here today.”

“If
by that you mean, will we let you near the witch with those fangs of
yours?
 
No.”  Hadleigh raised both
her swords in warning.

“Even
if I promise the big bad warrior that I won’t drain the bitch… oops, I meant to
say witch, dry?”  The Queen ignored Hadleigh and Vaughn, directing her
question at Nate.

“No
deal blood Queen.”  Nate stated firmly, his eyes never wavering from the
challenge in hers.

The
Queen arched her neck, displaying her pale cleavage to maximum advantage Nate’s
way.  “Ooohh, blood Queen?  I like that, what I wouldn’t give to have
you at my beck and call warrior.”

“Sure,
for our first date let’s say we skip the small talk and go straight to the
staking.”

The
Queen straightened.  “Another time perhaps.  Well if I can’t have the
witch’s blood from the source.”  The Queen raised her head, sniffing the
air.  That smug smile returning to her features as she flashed her perfect
teeth and two long needle point incisors that teased the skin of her bottom
lip. “Danton.”  She looked momentarily at the vamp cornered by Dash and
Flynn.  “Be a pet and distract the mouth breathers won’t you whilst I go
collect the witch’s castoffs.  Feel free to die if you have to.
 Later lover.”  She winked at Nate and then blurred from sight.

Vamp
Danton leapt high into the air, uncaring that he received two more sword cuts
before returning to the ground in a twirling flurry of razor sharp nails and
gnashing of fangs, knocking Dash sprawling to the ground and sending Flynn
diving out the way of two sets of claws aimed straight for his eyes.

“What
the fuck did she mean by that?”  Marcus demanded, even as he raced forward
to engage the vamp with the sudden death wish. 

“Castoffs?” 
Vaughn planted his shoulder by Marcus’s side, the two of them moving in
together to fight Danton, Vaughn going high, Marcus low, aiming for the manic
vamp’s legs.

“Oh
shit.”  Locke’s head shot up as the truth of the vamp Queen’s words sunk
into his brain, his eyes full of dread, his feet already in motion as he pelted
full out for the house.  “She’s headed for the hospital!”  He yelled
back over his shoulder.  “Nell took Serena’s blood.”

“Nell!” 
Drum was hot on Locke’s heels, grabbing Nate roughly by the arm as he went.
 “Come on stud, if she’s touched a hair on Nell’s head you can distract
your vamp girlfriend whilst I fucking behead the bitch.”

Nate
laughed loudly, letting Drum pull him along.  “Actually I have a
plan…  Marcus,” he yelled back to his fellow warrior.  “Fire up the
tracking equipment, I think I have the perfect way to tag the blood Queen.”

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Locke
had never been more grateful for the large size of his linen closet as two Maat
warriors, plus their weapons, squeezed in after him.  Seconds later they
were slamming out of a staff-only break room - that doubled as the discreet
friends and family trans-portal - at the hospital. 

Chaos
was the perfect word to describe the scene that greeted them, followed closely
by the words pandemonium and nightmarish.  The Queen had barely a three
minute head start on them but she’d managed to not only reach the hospital but
storm through the place creating havoc.  An alarm blared out of the
overhead sound system, the red emergency generator lights were on whilst the
smell of smoke tainted the air.  Every few feet down the corridor a person
lay injured, if they were lucky they were being attended by a hospital staffer;
in a few cases the individual involved was dressing their own injuries. 
They were a tough, self-sufficient lot in the Sanctuary.

“Maat.” 
Drum was giving off so much anger the big guy practically had his own heat
haze.  “Where’s Nell?”  He shouted the question at the back of a
nurse crouched nearby, busy padding and bandaging deep cuts on the back of an
elderly woman, who was cussing and blinding a blue streak clearly audible even
over all the noise.  The nurse shrugged Drum off, too focused on her job.

“Come
on.”  Locke started moving towards the main nurses’ station he knew was
located in the central part of the hospital.  He felt only a little guilty
as he brushed past staff and patients, some in wheelchairs, some dragging their
own drips with them, everyone moving slowly in the direction of the
exits.  The family enforcers would be on their way, alerted to the threat;
there’d be plenty of help available soon.  Goddess, he fought back a cough
as his eyes began to burn, the cloud of smoke thicker the further they
progressed. 

At
the central nurses’ station he found his cousin Carl organising the evacuation,
issuing loud orders at passing staff and patients.  All the time clutching
in his right hand a golf club that had been bent almost in two.  One side
of Carl’s face was a dark purple bruise. The Queen had definitely been this
way.

Locke
grabbed his cousin by the sleeve of his white coat, demanding the truth. 
“
I need to know right now, where is Nell and where are the blood samples
kept?
” 

Carl
ceased giving instructions to two orderlies immediately, jerking around
abruptly to face Locke like a puppet on a string.  “Nell’s helping
evacuate patients in the east wing and blood samples are kept one floor down,
in the lab.”  Carl looked bemused for a moment, shot Locke a hard glare
before turning back to finish what he’d been saying to the orderlies.

Locke
was about to suggest he be the one to check on Nell, not being a century old
chosen warrior of the Goddess Maat and all, but it was too late, Drum was
already a distant blur.  His meld mate was in potential trouble, he would
not rest until he’d seen with his own two eyes she was safe.

“Come
on.”  Nate tugged on Locke’s arm.  “Looks like it’s you and me. 
Stairs?”

Locke
led the way once more, the hospital wasn’t a huge complex, only two storeys
high, modern and spacious but it could still be confusing to a first time
visitor.  The stairs leading down were reserved for staff only, mainly because
the basement level contained the morgue and according to Carl, the testing lab
facilities.  The first indication they were headed in the right direction
was in the empty eerily red lit corridor of the basement as they exited the
stairs.  Half way down the corridor, injured and unconscious lay Mortimer
Jenkins, retired family enforcer, now full time security guard at the
hospital. 

“Goddess.” 
Locke wanted to stop and help Morty but there was no time.  Besides with
the fire doors closed behind them no smoke was getting through.  Morty
would be safe enough here until the cavalry arrived.

“What’s
the plan when we find her?”  He gasped out the question at Nate’s back as
they raced down the corridor.

“Kill. 
Destroy.  Survive.  Kiss pretty grateful girls.”  Nate pulled a
second sword out of a scabbard strapped to his back.

“Ah,
I was hoping for something…”  The rest of his words froze in his throat as
the double doors to the lab came into view just as Malcolm, Morty’s twin
brother and partner, came sailing out, hit the floor, skidded across it and
came to a stop, an awkward crumpled heap at the base of the nearest wall.

“Game
on.”  Nate sent Locke a confident smile as he stepped up to the doors.

Locke
joined him, shoulder to shoulder, determined to present a united front against
the lethal, almost too fast for the human eye, vampire Queen, who from his
first impression struck him as only having a nodding acquaintance with
sanity. 

The
lab was a wreck, broken glass, bent metal and one unconscious lab tech slumped
over a bench.  More disturbing was the vamp Queen standing over the tech,
absently licking her bloody fingers as she surveyed the mess with a rueful
expression.  Noting them in the doorway, a flirty smile appeared on her
full lips, her incisors digging into her lower lip.   “Lover? 
Couldn’t stay away, I have that affect.”  She sighed, glancing down with
clear disgust in her silver eyes at the unconscious lab tech.  “I may as
well admit now before we get much further into our relationship that I can be…
impulsive on occasion.  I don’t suppose you and the cutie in the suit are
here to help me find the witch’s blood?”

“Intelligent
as well as beautiful.”  Nate acknowledged.

Wait! 
What?  Locke had to work hard at keeping his mouth from falling
open.  Was Nate seriously going to flirt with the psychotic vampire
royal?  Though come to think of it, fighting her had got three of his
colleagues nowhere close enough to plant a tracker, perhaps the warrior with
the Romeo reputation was on to something. 

Vampira
drew a long fingernail across her pale flesh, drawing attention to her small
perfectly formed breasts barely contained by her black leather catsuit. 
“First a brazen display of brute strength resulting in a gratifyingly gory
death and now flattery.  Why it’s enough to turn any girl’s head.” 
She licked her lips thoughtfully.   “I’ve never had a Maat warrior
before. I wonder what your blood will taste like?”  She kicked the desk
aside with frightening ease, it screeched along the vinyl floor sending more glass
shattering to the floor.  “I suppose there’s no time like the present to
find out.”

Nate
was ready for her; swords crossed, blocking her pounce as she leapt across the
room at him, nails outstretched. 

“Orrff.” 
Nate expelled air as he took the brunt of her attack. 

The
sound of metal clanging loudly as the armour the vamp wore strapped to each of
her forearms met the blades of Nate’s swords.  The Queen’s delighted
laughter rippling throatily across the room, chilling in how joyful the sound
was.

“Find
the…”  Nate heaved upwards, sending the Queen stumbling back several steps
as he followed up in attack mode, his two swords flashing with dizzying speed.
 “Find Sera’s blood and… destroy it.”

Locke
ducked spinning blades and flashing claws, heading for the refrigerator units
located on the far side of the room.  Assuming Serena’s blood hadn’t been
tested yet it had to be there.  Conscious he was turning his back on a
vicious psychotic nutcase he had to trust that Nate would keep her occupied as
he opened the first glass door and rummaged through the contents.  It was
hard to concentrate with Vampira getting her fighting flirt on, especially when
every now and then she gave a high pitched giggle that made the marrow in his
bones want to freeze.  Goddess knows how that creepy sound was affecting
Nate.

The
first fridge didn’t have what he wanted so he moved to the second, which with a
quick cursory glance he realised contained samples but none of them were
blood.  Damn, turning he scanned the room, there didn’t seem to be any
other likely storage holders for Serena’s blood.   Had it already
been tested and destroyed? 

The
only other option being that it was somewhere else in the room, on a bench top
maybe, waiting to be studied.  There was no way he could attempt to look
for it with Nate and Vampira duelling in the centre of it.  Though the way
they both moved it was almost like they were dancing.  Certainly the Queen
seemed to interpret the whole encounter as some weird take on the tango, but with
swords, claws and smutty banter. 

Ideally
Locke would have liked to have made a run for the door, but the lab was set up
so that four benches were between him and the exit.  No way could he
chance slipping past the fight and accidentally getting skewered by vamp claws
or one of Nate’s spinning blades. 

Goddess,
even with two swords how was Nate going to keep up with the deadly Queen when
she’d already taken on three Maat warriors, emerging with nary a scratch or for
that matter a discreet electronic tracker slipped onto her person
somewhere? 

So
far the confined space and crowded lab seemed to be working in Nate’s
favour.  The Queen couldn’t get her mega leap on thanks to the low
ceilings and the narrow aisles between the benches.  Goddess he felt
useless, the only thing he could do was remain crouched where he was trying to
recall in popular vampire lore besides staking and decapitation what other
weaknesses vampire’s suffered from.

*
                           
*
                                 
*

She
was a feisty psychotic bitch, Nate would give her that much. Thanks to a
century of training Nate was able to attack using the sword in his right hand
whilst defending himself against those wicked sharp dagger like claws with the
sword in his left.  Maat she was liquid fast, they’d been fighting almost
five minutes and the only opening he’d been able to exploit was when she’d
skidded slightly on some broken glass.  The tip of his sword opening a
small deep cut along her right cheek. 

She
jumped backwards like a cat, landing some ten feet away on top of a bench,
remaining there in a low crouch.  Lifting a finger to her cheek and
flicking a glance at her own blood before giving him a dazzling smile of
admiration mixed with a heavy dollop of insanity.  “Oh Lover, it gets me
excited the way you tease.”  She licked her finger; it was all kinds of
creepy watching her taste her own blood.

Nate
walked slowly around the bench between them.  “Imagine how much more
excited you’ll be when I put my sword through your heart.”

She
laughed softly.  “All this talk of penetration.”  She arched her
back.  “So bold and commanding and you haven’t even asked me my
name.  It’s Destiny by the way.”

Nate
couldn’t help but roll his eyes.  “Please tell me you did not choose that
yourself?  For one, it’s a completely clichéd comic book super-villainess
catch phrase… as in ‘prepare to meet your Destiny – Batman’.”

For
the first time something dark slid behind Destiny’s eyes, she hadn’t liked that
taunt.

“And
two…”  A deep rumble came from behind Nate as Drum stepped up beside him,
sword drawn.  “It’s a stripper’s name.”

“Hey
man.”  Nate smiled.  “I thought you were checking on Nell.”

“She’s
got everything under control.  The Doc’s helping get patients out, she
shooed me away once I’d done the head to toe check.”

“She
shooed you away?”  Nate shook his head laughing.  “Marriage has
changed you dude, made you soft.”

“I
accept that challenge little man.”

“Done,
let’s just deal with Tiffani here…”

“My
name is Destiny.”  The Queen crouched even lower, eyeing them like a
dessert buffet.  “Less girl talk, more fighting.”  With that she
leapt, but not straight at them, instead she went right, hit the wall,
rebounded and flashed in behind the two warriors.  Barely giving them a
chance to block her attack before she blurred past landing this time on the desk
closest to the door, sending papers, notes and pens falling to the floor. 

Something
twigged in Locke’s brain when the pens fell to the ground.  Of course,
scrabbling through his jacket pockets he blew out a deep relieved breath, he
still had it, his silver pen.  Gripping it tightly in his fist he prayed
to the Goddess above that his aim would be true, he couldn’t let the vamp Queen
escape.  He knew the Chippendales wanted to track her movements but they’d
yet to get close enough to covertly tag her, she knew Serena was alive and
well, he was not letting her leave so she could take that information back to
Sek and Mot.

“So
Suit.”  Those eerie silver eyes were suddenly directed Locke’s way.

He
clenched the pen to his side hoping the Queen hadn’t glimpsed what he held.

“You
found that blood I need yet?  No?  Well that blows, back to drain the
little witch dry it is then.”

“No!” 
Locke hurled the pen as hard as he could, straight at the evil bitch’s heart.

Luck,
the Goddess, eighteen years of training, who knows what was on his side, the
Queen wasn’t expecting a surprise attack from the guy in the three piece
suit.  Even so she was a creature of instinct and something caused her to
flinch, just enough so the pen struck her spine deep, three inches from that
black heart of hers.  Even so she looked more surprised than upset,
staring down at the expensive pen protruding from her chest.