Chapter Nineteen

Jackson

Neesa and I are standing at the head of a trail that will take us to the cave where the vampires are nesting. The bomb is in a pack on my shoulders and I'm fidgeting nervously with the remote. I know it's not armed and won't go off unexpectedly, but I'm not one who's comfortable with explosives. Or guns. I much prefer the steel of a good blade.

A black SUV pulls to a stop behind my truck and two large men get out. They're large and unmistakably bear. They're wearing black tactical gear and are bristling with an array of weapons.

“You Asher's guys?” I ask.

The first one nods. “Todd,” he says, shaking my hand. “This is Dom.”

“Jackson,” I say. “This is Neesa.”

Todd lowers his sunglasses and looks her up and down. “Wolf?”

“That going to be a problem?” she asks.

Todd puts his glasses back up and shakes his head. “Not at all,” he says. “It's just unusual, that's all.”

“Yeah well, there's not a lot about this that's normal,” I say.

“So I've heard,” Todd replies. “Asher got us up to speed for the most part.”

“We ready to roll?” Dom asks.

“Not yet,” I say. “We've got a couple more coming.”

As if on cue, another car pulls up behind the SUV and the man I recognize as Evan gets out from behind the wheel. Another man is with him – one I don't recognize. They're both carrying crossbows and have quivers of silver-tipped arrows on their backs. They walk over to us, nodding at Neesa and looking at the rest of us suspiciously. The tension in the air is thick.

“Evan,” I say and extend my hand. “Thank you for coming.”

He looks at my offered hand for a moment before taking it, giving me a firm shake. And as if by some sort of magic, the tension in the air begins to dissipate.

“Sounded like a party,” he says. “Who don't like a party?”

Even Todd and Dom crack a smile, further cutting through the tension of our small group. Evan turns to Neesa and gives her a hug.

“I've – uhhh – I've got your things in the back of my car,” he says.

“Does Umak know what we're doing out here?” she asks.

Evan shakes his head. “No, of course not. You told me to keep a lid on it so that's what I did,” he says. “I just told him I'd take your stuff to you and he was fine with it. More or less. He knows we always got on, so he didn't care for the most part.”

“Yeah, that's a big surprise.”

I look at Neesa and see the tightness in her face. Her life with the pack is over – officially. Umak has exiled her. She knew it was coming. Told me she was actually welcoming it. But when the reality of it sets in, no matter how prepared for it you think you are, it's still going to sting. And I can see the sting on her face clearly.

“Sorry, Neesa,” he says. “I really am.”

She shrugs and clears her throat. “I'm not. It's for the best,” she replies and looks at me. “There are better things in store for me.”

“If we survive this,” Evan says grimly.

“We're going to survive this,” she replies.

“Speaking of which,” I say. “We should probably head out. They sleep during the day and we don't want to get caught out here at night.”

“Agreed,” Todd says.

I heft the pack on my shoulders, adjusting its weight, and we set off. We walk through the forest, our senses alert, our bodies tense. Just because sunlight hurts them, I don't necessarily think that rules out the possibility of them taking the pain for a chance to get to us. Especially if they know it won't kill them.

The air is cool and the light on the forest floor is dim, the canopy overhead blotting out most of the sun. I fall back a little and fall into step beside Neesa. I give her a look and then reach out, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

“You okay?” I ask.

She looks at me and nods, her smile weak. “Yeah,” she replies. “I'm fine. I'll be fine.”

Neesa picks up her pace and walks ahead of me. I see her wiping the tears from her face and decide to give her a little space.

“She's a good girl.”

I turn and find Evan walking beside me, his face grim, his eyes narrow as he looks at me.

“I know,” I reply.

“Do you?”

I nod. “Yes. I do,” I say. “The most amazing woman I've ever met.”

“She's had a hard life,” he says. “She deserves to be treated with respect.”

“Should be easy to do,” I say. “I've got nothing but respect for her.”

Evan eyes me up and down again, his face going from openly hostile to – well – less hostile.

“You remember that,” he says. “Cos, if I ever hear of you mistreating her, I'll gut you myself.”

“Don't worry. If I ever mistreat her,” I say. “I'll gut myself.”

Evan chuckles low and shakes his head. “How did that ever happen anyway?” he asks. “A wolf and a bear. Could you have two people any more opposite than you two?”

I shrug. “You might be surprised,” I say. “We're not as different as you might think.”

“Kindred spirits,” he says.

I nod. “Yeah, something like that.”

~ooo000ooo~

We arrive at the mouth of the cave and all take a knee outside, our weapons at the ready. Exchanging glances with our team, I give them all the signal to move in. We enter the tunnel in twos – one walking along each wall of the cave, moving as quickly and quietly as we can.

The stench of the vampires is unbelievably cloying and I have to fight to keep from coughing or gagging. A quick look around tells me that everybody else is having the same problem. But we've got to fight through it.

The gentle slope down leads us deep into the heart of the cave and we finally come to the mouth of the cavern. Todd and Evan take a peek inside and when they look back at us, their faces are pale and their eyes are wide. I look over the edge and see the vampires all huddled together, a mass of pale flesh. It could just be a trick of the eye, but it looks to me like there's even more on the floor of the cavern than the last time I was here.

I look at Todd and motion for he and Dom to watch our backs. I put my finger to my lips, trying to tell them that they need to be silent. He nods as if he understands and the two men turn and trot a few yards back up the cave tunnel.

Neesa gives me an uneasy glance as I kneel down and put the pack on the ground before me. I hand her the remote and then slip the bomb out of the pack, setting it down as gently as I can. Evan and his man are watching the mouth of the cavern, their faces tight and their bodies tense.

I punch in the code to activate the bomb and a green light comes on, indicating that it's armed. Grabbing the rope we'd attached to the bomb, I pick it up and set it on the edge of the cavern mouth. I see a few of the vampires stirring and I freeze for a moment. The sound of their collective breathing – even and steady – echoes around the cavern.

I lower the bomb down to the ledge that sits a couple of feet below the cave mouth. It hits the rock with a sharp ping and I stop, everybody looks to me and I'm holding my breath. Nothing stirs and the vampires, deep in slumber, apparently don't notice. I feel the sweat on my brow and rolling down my back as I settle the bomb down on the ledge. It's secure.

I nod to everybody and we turn to go just as the sound of that high-pitched keening echoes around the cavern, freezing the blood in my veins. I turn back to see several of the vampires in that mass of flesh standing up, staring straight at us.

“Shit,” I yell. “Everybody run. Run now!”

Todd and Dom rush back and stand at the mouth of the cavern, immediately firing their weapons. The rattling of automatic gunfire echoes off of the stone walls, mixing with the nightmarish screams of the vampires, creating a cacophony that sounds like it's coming straight from the bowels of Hell.

“Silver bullets,” Todd yells to be heard over the din. “It'll slow 'em down. Now, go.”

I give him a clap on the back and the rest of us turn and sprint down the tunnel. Ahead of us though, half a dozen vampires drop down form a hole in the ceiling in the tunnel, blocking our way. Neesa and I draw our swords as the vampires advance on us.

Evan and his man start firing bolt after bolt from their crossbows, catching the vampires and knocking them down. But they get up again and come after them, their screeching burrowing into my ears. I step forward and thrust the point of my blade into the throat of the vampire nearest to me. It coughs and spits, a wet gurgling sound, but backs up, pulling itself off my blade. The creature looks at me and hisses, its face a mask of absolute hatred. I swing my sword in a murderous arc, taking the vampire's head clean off its body.

I turn just in time to see Neesa moving and spinning gracefully, her arms and steel nothing more than a blur. I see a grin on her face as her blade slices through the neck of a vampire, separating head from body. She lunges forward, kicking the headless corpse into the creature rushing toward her. The vampire trips over the body and stumbles forward. Neesa nimbly steps to the side and slashes with her slender, curved blade. The cut is clean – the head rolls from the body and the vampire doesn't get up again.

I turn to see that Evan's man is dead, his eyes open wide and a gaping wound in his neck. The blood pooling on the ground around him is thick and dark. One of the vampires is kneeling over the pool of blood, licking it up. It turns to me – its face, smeared with blood and gore, a visage of horror – hissing a challenge. I close the distance between us quickly and take its head off with the swing of my blade.

Evan is battling two of the creatures – and seems to be losing. Before I can move to him though, Neesa is there. She spins, her arms and legs lashing out, knocking the vampires off of him. She steps forward and with a graceful spin, slashes through the neck of the first vampire. I move toward the second and bring my blade down, feeling it as it bites through the flesh of the creature. It looks at me, its eyes wide and opens its mouth to scream. I kick the head and it rolls off to the side of the tunnel harmlessly.

Neesa is helping Evan to his feet when I realize that something is missing – the sound of gunfire. Spinning, I turn to see that Todd and Dom have been swarmed by the vampires. All I can see is a mound of pale flesh pulsing and writhing as they feed on the two men.

“We have to go,” I say. “We have to go now.”

The three of us turn and run, the sound of the vampire's keening following us up the tunnel. I hope that as long as there is still blood to be had, they'll stay with the bodies.

“Neesa, the remote,” I say.

I turn to her and see her eyes grow wide. She stops suddenly and turns back. Skidding to a halt, I move back to her, my sword at the ready.

“What is it?” I ask.

She's busy patting down her pockets, growing more frantic by the second.

“The remote,” she says. “I lost it. In the fight, I must have dropped it.”

“Shit,” I say.

At the mouth of the cavern, I see the vampires turn almost as one to look at us. The sound of their chittering and keening fills the air with a malevolent sound that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

“We have to find it,” I say. “We have to end this.”

“I'll cover you,” she says.

“No,” I snap. “You get out of here now.”

“You can't take them all on yourself,” she says.

“That's suicide, man,” Evan adds.

“You two go,” I say. “Somebody needs to get back to Asher. Maybe Riley can get another remote or figure out another way to detonate it.”

“I'm not leaving you,” Neesa says.

I turn to her and give her a gentle smile. “Yes, you are,” I say. “I will not have you die here. Just know that I love you.”

I nod to Evan who grabs her from behind. He wraps her up tight and drags her, kicking and screaming toward the mouth of the cave – out into the dying sunlight outside. I turn back to see the mass of vampires at the mouth of the cavern. Looking at me. Waiting for me to make a move.

“Well, this was a great idea,” I mutter to myself.

Gripping my sword, I walk back down the tunnel, my eyes scanning the ground for the remote. Neesa's voice, yelling and screaming fills my ears, drowning out the sound of the vampires. But then as one, they start to move. They rush down the tunnel toward me, their mouths open wide, their fangs ready to taste my blood.

I'm not going to make it easy on them though.

The tunnel isn't overly wide, which limits the effectiveness of their numbers. But still, there's a lot of them. I start to hack and slash, my blade slicing through flesh. Heads and limbs go flying and the smell of blood is overpoweringly thick in the air. I wade through the vampires, feeling their hands pulling at me.

I spin in a circle, keeping my blade at shoulder level, and decapitate half a dozen of them in one go around. The rest of the pack backs up a bit, all staring at me with hatred on their faces, with hunger in their eyes. But they maintain the circle around me, none of them daring to step forward to taste my steel.

“You learn quickly,” I say, my breathing a little ragged.

I turn in a circle, my blade still pointed at them, threatening them with the same fate as their friends if they dare step toward me. All the while, I'm scanning the ground. We're in the area where we were first attacked, which means that the remote should be somewhere around here. But all I can see are long, pale legs and the feet of the vampires.

“Son of a bitch,” I growl. “Where the hell is it?”

I keep turning in a circle, at a standoff with the vampires – for the moment. I know it won't last long though. Eventually, one of them is going to work up the balls to come charging in. And when one does, the others will quickly follow. And if that happens, I'm going to meet the same fate as Todd and Dom – buried under a mass of pale flesh who is feeding on my blood and body.

I'm frustrated and about to start trying to hack my way out of the cave when I spot it. Next to the tunnel wall behind the vampires – a green light. The remote. It's there. I have to act quickly to get to it and hope that luck is on my side.

With a scream, I step forward and start slicing my way through the vampires. Their angry keening starts again and I feel the crush of bodies all around me. I make it to the wall of the cave and scoop up the remote. I'm well inside the blast radius so I can't detonate it now. But this also might be my best chance to end this once and for all.

I scream when a pair of fangs sinks into my arm. I feel my blood flowing down my arm and feel the suction of the vampire's mouth. The scent of my blood sends the others into a frenzy as their keening grows louder and the crush of bodies presses closer to me. The only bit of luck on my side is that there are so many pressing against me, no single one of them is able to get to me.

I hit the vampire on my arm with the hilt of my sword as hard as I can. I hear the crack of bone beneath the silver hilt and the vampire staggers back a few steps. I renew my attack, swinging my blade as hard as I can, lopping off as many heads as I can.

But there's too many of them. My energy is flagging and I'm weakening. I can't win this fight. And for the first time in my life, I realize that I'm staring death in the face. But rather than fear it, I welcome it. At least I know that I can die having tasted true happiness – true love – at least once in my existence. Neesa changed my entire world and for that, I'm thankful.

Although I'd obviously like to spend the rest of my days with her, just that small taste of happiness and contentment is enough. It's going to have to be because I'm not going to get anymore.

I drop my sword and press the button on the remote as the crush of bodies finally overwhelms me. I feel teeth sinking into my flesh, feel my blood flowing, smell the stink of the vampires as the swarm me. I cry out as I feel skin being stripped from my body. I'm completely covered in vampires, their weight pressing down on me and I think that I may die of suffocation before the fire gets to me.

And then I hear my salvation. There's a loud whooshing sound and I feel the heat coming up the tunnel. The last thing I hear are the agonized screams of the vampires – and then the world fades to black.