Chapter 32

Jameson sprinted for his truck. He saw the limos first, his team approaching them, pulling the drivers out so the vampires couldn’t be driven away.

Aven, Shiloh, and Ryder all were hauling open limo doors or going in through the windows, rooting around inside for the vampires within. Five of them threaten a human in Five Hills! That shit wasn’t happening again.

His blood went cold. A back window in the lead limousine rolling down, a cruel face looking out. A skunk-stripe of white in dark hair flashing under the streetlamps.

Images flashed. Mother. The young. The vampires exiting his back door. William. Dying. Jameson’s fault. Them all dying. He was the last one left for so long.

Jameson’s running speed doubled. He slammed into the side of the limousine, smashing the partially open window as he thrust his hands inside and grabbed the male there. He dug his hands into flesh, holding tight, feeling the pull as the big ugly vamp tried to phaze away. “I got you, fucker. We’re gonna have a little party.”

Dario ran up from behind. “Send him an e-vite J, we got a situation.”

Indignant yells and growls filled the night air. Bloodblades. Were they even being careful for bloodblades? Had Jameson ever told any of his team about them? And he’d told Carick he was making bad decisions. Fuck!

“Help me, Dar- I can’t hold him-.” The vampire was twisting in his grip, biting and hissing and slashing at him. No knives yet. Jameson hauled hard, slamming the vamp’s face against the inside of the car, trying to pull him out the window.

Dario wasn’t helping. He got in close so only Jameson could hear him, and what he said made Jameson drop the vampire. “Cora is hunting a vampire at the fairgrounds right now. Flint and Bryce are trying to stop her, but they say she’s out of her mind. Bryce got his pants stabbed.”

Jameson stopped cold and relaxed his grip. The vampire phazed away at once, but Jameson couldn’t be bothered. He stuck his nose in the air, seeing the miles to the fairground in his mind. It would take him almost twenty minutes to get there in his truck, but one wolf-cut through the forest would shave ten off that.

Decision made, he skirted the limo, yelling over his shoulder to Dario. “You’re in charge. See that everyone gets out of here safe. And don’t go mountain man on any you manage to keep, unless you have to. We need intel!”

Without waiting to see if Dario had gotten the message Jameson broke into a sprint, until he was in the back of someone’s yard. As soon as no glow from street lights or side windows reached him he shifted, dropping purposefully to the ground, big claws tearing into the grass, propelling him forward.

The running white wolf could top a speed of fifty miles per hour and sustain that for hours. I’m coming, Cora, he tried to project, with no idea if she could hear him or not.

He would make it. He had to.

Green lights flashed in his mind, color where shades of gray naturally reigned. He could feel her hunting, could almost hear her. Jameson pushed harder, taxing his massive lupine body to its limit.

* * *

Flint stalked across the fairgrounds, moving east to rendezvous with Bryce, who had Cora locked in a port-o-john on the edge of the festival.

Fucking FUBAR. She’d found a vampire and they were all fucked, because no one and nothing could keep her from getting back to it. Bryce said she’d already carved a hole in the back wall of the port-o-john big enough to fit her entire hand through. Bryce was scared, and Bryce was never scared. He and Bryce both saw visions of the first Undoing in a hundred years going drastically wrong. Humans dead. Switch in jail. Vampire gotten clean away. On their watch. Fuck that! They were gonna handle their shit. Bryce was strong and did what he was told, and Flint would figure a way out of this shit.

We need Jameson.

Fuck yeah, they did. But they weren’t gonna get him. Fint had to be the star of this show until the calvary rolled up, and he needed to rock it. For Cora’s sake, and Jameson’s. That had been some pure fucking pain Flint had seen on Jameson’s face. Imagine if Cora went to jail? Or died?

He searched, ears pricked, muscles tense, eyes alert. He found the line of port-o-johns, but not one vampire. He knew Cora wasn’t imagining things, but where was the guy? Unless he left the area altogether, the only way to get Cora to stop her fucking slicing and dicing was to toss a vampire in there with her. (then what?) Right? Then what, indeed. Flint knew one thing, and one thing only. He wasn’t fucking Jameson’s woman. How did the switches deal with that shit in the past?

Another lap around the field gave him no scent of vampire. He wasn’t giving up, but he would check on his brother. He lost a bit of composure and ran for Bryce at an all out sprint. The port-o-john was rocking, and his brother’s heels were sunk halfway in the dirt as he pressed his entire body against the door. Two giggling teen-age girls went by him. He nodded to them. “I caught a bear. Animal control is on its way. Nothing to see here.”

People were everywhere. Someone had to have called the cops already. They had to go.

But if they tried to haul Coralie out while she wanted to kill a vampire, fighting and cursing them, they were gonna be arrested. All of them. Maybe fucking shot for their troubles. A bad scene, no matter how you played it.

Pine and bitter herbs coming in from the south. The vampire. Heading back from an exit at a brisk walk, like he’d forgotten something. Flint turned and ran, ignoring stares, until he saw the guy. He jogged to the left and grabbed the well-dressed fucker around the throat with his elbow. He couldn’t kill the bastard, but he knew who could. Flint pulled him into a bear hug, propelling him toward the woods, yelling for his brother. Get it done and GTFO, get the fuck out. The cops had to be on their way. “Bryce! Get ready!”

Bryce only gaped for a second. Flint saw the exact moment his brother figured out what the plan was. Bryce nodded and steadied himself.

Garner struggled, dug in his heels, bit and clawed like an animal. Flint moved faster, yanking Garner into the woods by his neck. Away from witnesses, from crowds. When they reached the edge of the woods he hollered over his shoulder. “Now!”

He had to trust that Bryce had heard him. Flint shoved the councilman away from him, hard, the vampire falling to his feet and scrabbling to get back up. An emerald blur came in fast.

Flint settled in to watch the energetic carnage with an anticipation born of bitter experience.

***

The second she was released, Cora ran, hard and swift and deadly. The vampire had been brought close to her and she could sense it even now, was drawn to it like a moth to a security light.

The vampire saw her coming and turned to greet her. Cora had her knife. He would not win. She’d been born to do this. The vampire bent his knees slightly and put his hands out, like he would grapple with her, then surprised her by speaking. “Cora, is it?” he said, his voice like a snake’s. Rage flared inside her, whipping her bold. “I can get you your job back.”

Job? She frowned as images of a brightly-lit classroom and young people she cared about came to her. Students. Yes. Job. No. She didn’t want it back. He was lying, anyway. That was what vampires did. Lie. Kill. Steal Blood. But she would play with him, if he wanted to play. She loved all words, even the ones that were lies. “I don’t think I can wait that long to kill you,” she said pleasantly, like he’d offered her a breath mint.

He snarled. “You’ll go to jail, you know. Or back to the looney bin. Shock treatments this time. I’ve already talked to Dr. Momeyer and he agrees it’s the only way to help you.” They faced each other between the trees, pacing their own small circle while Bryce and Flint moved around them. He spoke again. “Put down your weapon and I’ll get you your job back. I’ll cancel my order to your doctor.”

She smiled, but even to herself it felt like more of a snarl. “All my weapons? Can I keep my sharp wit?”

Someone barked a laugh behind her, making her realize she was ok again. She didn’t hurt anymore, now that she was engaged with the vampire. Her brain was moving too quickly for much steady thought, and it was just getting started. Magic built inside her like it had when she’d first touched her resonant, but now she was filling quickly, a balloon at a helium station. She flicked a hand at the vampire to see what would happen. He winced and flinched away from her. Magic? Energy? Her?

She ran for him and he ducked, intending to sweep her legs out from under her, but she spun in the air, over him, flashing her knife down, feeling it connect energetically first, then physically, directly in the meaty part of his back with a satisfying thud. She yanked up hard, tearing viciously through bone and gristle, exactly as she had with the training dummy. A green glow flashed through the sky as her leap carried to the other side of her victim. She landed lightly on her feet, her weapon between them.

But Garner was done for. A gaping wound in his back spilled red light and he screamed, red light pouring like sound from his mouth and illuminating the ground in front of him.

Cora spun in a circle, looking for the other vampires. None were in sight. She turned back to Garner’s already decaying body. “Your game is weak, vampire. I didn’t even break a sweat. Or a nail.”

She dismissed him, assessing the area for the best way to move forward, the most likely place to find the rest of the vampires. They would come for her, but she would meet them head on and slay them all. Their nest. It was close. Had to be. She headed to her left.

Someone spoke behind her and she whirled. “Cora, not that way. You’re going to be seen. We gotta go this way.” Not a vampire. A shifter, but not one of hers. She shook him off and went for the vampire nest again. She would find it. Clear it.

Head down, knife in hand, she plowed ruthlessly out of the woods, toward the humans. Vampires always hid with the humans.

It would not protect them.