We Are The Three
Delilah
I WALKED DOWN the street cautiously, my stomach knotted with panic. I saw faces in windows peeking out from behind curtains. I felt eyes on me from everywhere. I felt fear choking the air.
I had no idea where I was. I had no memory of putting on my tee, my jeans, my motorcycle boots.
I had no idea how I got there.
This couldn’t be right. I couldn’t be here.
Why was I here?
Alone.
No one with me.
Not a single one of The Three.
Not my mate, who I knew would protect me.
“This is a warning.”
I whipped around at the voice and saw him standing in the middle of the street.
A vampire. Handsome. Proud.
Evil.
Etienne.
“You know what we can do. You know what we will do. We showed you yesterday,” he went on. “This is why they will submit.”
Okay, maybe it was good that I’d learned a few karate chops.
But me, alone against a vampire? Those wouldn’t keep me alive very long.
So.
Again.
How did I get here and where was everybody?
I thought these thoughts.
But facing off against Etienne, I stood my ground, back straight, head held high, and I kept my eyes locked with his.
I was a member of The Three. I had mojo.
I just hoped I could figure out how to use it to help me.
Holding on to that hope deep in my heart, I said firmly, pleased as fuck my voice came out steady, “We will prevail.”
Etienne shook his head. “Today, we destroy The Three and finalize our mission to assert our dominance over humanity.”
“Impossible,” I hissed.
“Your mate will come for you.”
If he could find me, wherever the hell I was, he would.
I didn’t confirm this.
Etienne didn’t need confirmation.
“He will sacrifice himself for you.”
I felt my insides freeze and it was agony.
The vampire smiled like he knew he caused me pain.
And liked it.
“As for you, you won’t have forever. You won’t even have tomorrow. You will only have a lifetime of mourning.” His head cocked to the side. “Don’t worry, it won’t last long. It’ll only be a human lifetime. But during that lifetime, you, Delilah, will be my personal slave.”
Then, in a blur, shapes formed behind him.
An army of vampires.
And lumbering up the rear, the vampires were backed by huge, hairless, scary-as-shit giants.
Slowly, even by human standards, they started moving toward me.
I lifted my hand, hoping like fuck my blue light would come out.
Then I screamed, “No!”
Gregor
Gregor, Jian-Li, and those around them watched the interplay between Etienne and Delilah.
Somehow, they also heard it.
“I talked to Control,” the man with the headphones said. “They don’t understand how this is happening. But they say their satellites have been hacked and they can’t stop it.”
Gregor said nothing, because the instant Etienne announced that Abel would sacrifice himself for Delilah, Jian-Li ran from the room.
Gregor turned to one of The Council’s humans.
“Alert The Three. Contact Gastineau. Bring weapons to this room, as many as you can. Find out where the fuck that is.” He pointed to the screens. “And bring me Josefa.” He leaned forward and finished on a roar, “Now!”
On a quick nod, the human female dashed out the door.
Abel
“Delilah, baby, wake up,” Abel called, hand to his mate’s hip, shaking hard.
She continued moaning and moving with agitation.
“Lilah, bao bei, wake the fuck up.” He shook her harder.
“No!” she screamed, but she did it in her sleep.
And after she did it, she didn’t wake up.
“Goddammit,” he growled, rolling her to her back and looming over her before he curled his hand under her jaw. “Delilah, wake up.” He bent close, digging his fingers in as hard as he could without harming her as she stopped shifting and started writhing. “Wake up,” he repeated. When she didn’t, he barked, “Wake up!”
The door to the bedroom flew open and he looked over his shoulder to see Jian-Li rushing in.
“My Abel—” she began.
“They got her,” he cut her off. “I can’t get her out. I have to go in.”
She skidded to a halt by the bed. “But—”
“Go get Lucien,” Abel ordered.
“Abel, you don’t—”
“Go get him!” he bellowed, turned back to Delilah and concentrated solely on his mate. Let me in, he ordered. Let me in, Delilah. He dipped his face so close that his nose brushed hers. Fucking let me in!
With that, he collapsed on top of her, his chest to hers, his forehead sliding down her cheek, his eyes closed, for all appearances asleep.
Jian-Li hesitated not a second before she turned and rushed from the room.
In a Pub Somewhere in London
“What’s that?” the bartender asked, his eyes to the telly.
The football game was gone.
Instead, they had some bird standing in a street, facing a ton of tall men and women and . . .
He peered closer.
“What are those things?” he asked the screen.
Doing so, as well as when they heard the scream, the attention of a couple of blokes sitting at the bar went to the TV.
Delilah
At my scream, no blue light.
Shit.
I started backing up as they kept advancing.
Okay, this was not good.
I kept backing up as they kept coming and Etienne started talking to me.
“No mate?” he smirked. “Why doesn’t he come for you, Delilah?” He threw out a hand. “Perhaps he understands one human is just like the next. He can easily find another. He can find hundreds, thousands, and enjoy them after you’re gone.”
“You’ve obviously never been in love, asshole,” I muttered.
Let me in.
I heard Abel’s voice in my head and I blinked.
“I tire of this,” Etienne stated, suddenly stopping, and when he did, his army did the same.
Let me in, Delilah.
Uh-oh.
I was in a dream.
But I wasn’t in a dream. I was in a dream.
I stared at the sea of supernaturals before me.
With only one of Abel and my puny efforts, against all of them, neither of us would survive.
I did what I could (not knowing what the hell I was doing but still hoping) to hold him back.
“We need to give them incentive,” Etienne said to a vampire at his side. “Bring me a human.”
Fucking let me in!
In a flash, a vamp was gone.
Then he was right back, shoving a young woman who cried out in terror toward Etienne.
A teenager.
She was in her pajamas. A tight pink cami and cute pink bottoms with white and blue polka-dots on them.
She was sobbing, struggling, her fear reaching out, clawing at my flesh.
Etienne yanked her in front of him and put his hands on either side of her head.
He was going to break her neck or tear her head clean off. He was moving with a human’s speed and doing it so I could watch.
I knew it.
I knew.
I prepared to rush him, hoping Xun, Wei, and Chen gave me something that would allow me to stop this. To save one.
Just one.
Before they ended me.
Etienne’s lips curved in a sick smile.
But in the blink of an eye, faster than the girl could scream, she was no longer in his hands.
I felt a presence behind me, chanced turning, and stared at Abel, who was pushing the girl.
“Run!” he roared.
She ran.
In a Home Somewhere in Idaho
“Good God, honey, what is this?”
“Shh.”
“Oh my God, is that the man we saw earlier on Susannah—?”
“Shh!”
The woman sank down on the arm of the chair her husband was sitting in.
And together, they watched.
Gregor
“Shit, one of the dudes is there,” headphone man stated, and Gregor’s mouth got tight.
Her dreams.
Abel had gone to his mate in her dream.
“Have you located where the signal is coming from?” he asked.
“I got Control on it,” the man answered.
“Get them to move faster,” Gregor ordered.
“They’re doin’ the best—”
“Get them. To move. Faster,” Gregor hissed.
The guy nodded his head.
Gregor turned his eyes back to the monitors.
Delilah
“Retrieve her,” Etienne ordered.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Abel warned.
“Now,” Etienne snapped.
A vampire flew forward in a blur, but he dropped headless to the ground very visibly right beside me with Abel standing over him, the dead vampire’s head in his hands.
My man.
Awesome.
Even if that was serious gross.
Etienne turned to his other side.
“You, both of you, go,” Etienne commanded.
“We gonna do this?” Abel asked tauntingly before they did as Etienne demanded, tossing the head he held underarm like it was a soccer ball being thrown in for play. “Or are you gonna get smart real fast, get on your knees, and wait for The Council to get here and take you in so you can answer for all your fucked-up shit?”
“I have two hundred and fifty immortals at my back, young Abel. Do you honestly think you can take us all?” Etienne returned, brows lifting.
“Man, wise up,” Abel shot back derisively. “I’m a destined member of The Three for a reason. So is my mate. Trust me, you do not wanna learn those reasons.”
“Honey,” I said, sidling toward him, not taking my eyes off Etienne, “don’t give away the good stuff.”
Abel’s hand shot out in a wink, capturing mine and tugging me behind his back.
“Don’t worry. She will not die. I have uses for her.” Etienne’s eyes slid down me in a way that made my stomach turn over nauseatingly and caused fury to start beating from my man. “You, we’ll take your head. But she will watch.”
“Done with this. You’re not gonna get on your knees, quit talkin’,” Abel demanded. “Time to play.”
Etienne shook his head like Abel was all kinds of stupid.
Then he said, “As you wish.” He turned to his right and nodded. “The both of you.” He turned to his left. “And both of you.” He twisted his torso and nodded three times. “You, you, and you.” He pointed beyond the supernaturals to an extra-large, extra-scary golem. “And you.”
He turned back to us and smiled, not quite finished, showing clear as day he was enjoying this.
Immensely.
“Secure the mate. Bring the hybrid to me alive.”
Eight-on-one and Abel had no weapons.
My stomach dropped.
“Now,” Etienne whispered.
In an Apartment Somewhere in Washington DC
“Thank God, he saved the girl,” a woman whispered, her coffee cup forgotten on the counter beside her, her eyes glued to the TV hanging from underneath her cabinets. “Now, I hope those two know what they’re doing.”
It kept going.
She kept watching.
And hoping.
Gregor
“Oh God, I can’t watch!” the woman with the clipboard cried, her board crashing to the ground as she turned, lifting her hands to her ears, her eyes shut tight.
Gregor turned his face to the ceiling.
“Where are The Three?” he boomed.
Delilah
The supernaturals shot forward.
I heard grunts.
All Abel’s.
I felt wind whipping around me.
I saw blood splatter on the Tarmac of the street.
And I knew it was the end.
Wild and free.
Wild, okay.
But not free.
Never free.
Suddenly, I heard other grunts and saw action that I could actually focus on.
My heart slid up, lodging in my throat.
Xun, Wei, and Chen were there.
Weaponless.
But also fearless.
I saw an opportunity, bent low, whipped my leg out, and hit hard. The pain spiraled from ankle to hip as I connected with what felt like a tree trunk, but I’d caught him unawares.
The golem teetered, and with ungainly swings of his arms, he fell.
He was barely on the ground for a moment before his limbs and head were torn free in a haze of motion, the parts of him tossed haphazardly but powerfully, landing houses away.
It didn’t take three minutes before all eight were headless (and one limbless), their remains scattered around me.
Xun, Wei, and Chen stood, surrounding me close, breathing heavily, their clothes bloodied, their eyes pinned to the army in front of them as Abel sauntered to the golem, picked up his torso, tore it in half, and tossed each half away from him, one at either side.
More awesome and more gross.
Whatever.
Not taking a moment even to glance at his brothers to get a lock on how they were there, he faced Etienne.
“We done now?” he asked. “Or do you want more?”
Etienne apparently was unconcerned with the loss of his followers, their headless corpses littering the street.
He was still smiling.
Man, this guy was whacked.
Suddenly, he shouted, “Humans!”
Abel, the boys, and I all braced. Abel was crouching, obviously to prepare to turn wolf. Xun, Wei, and Chen were lifting their hands and shifting their legs, bending just at the knees as if they were track stars at the starting line. But before any of us could take a breath, a line of vampires in front of us held humans in front of them.
I stopped counting at thirty.
No, I stopped counting when I saw one had a little boy. He couldn’t be more than five, also in his jammies—a crumpled blue tee, bottoms with turtles on them.
His little, pale face was a mask of fear.
Sick rolled up my throat. Sick with a chaser of panic.
Etienne’s head tipped to the side as he challenged, “Do you think you can save them all?”
I knew by the tightness of his body that Abel was freaked.
And worried.
So was I.
“Yep,” Abel replied carelessly.
“Good luck,” Etienne whispered, lifting his hand.
“No!” I again screamed.
At a Convenience Store Somewhere in Florida
“They got no shot,” one of the throng of people standing around the counter, watching the small television on the shelf behind the cash register, said.
“Holy cow, that’s the guy and girl Susannah River was talking about this morning!” a woman who just walked up exclaimed. “What’s happening?”
“Shh,” another woman shushed her.
“Those Chinese guys can fight, and that big guy’s got speed, but those poor people are goin’ down,” another man muttered. “And they’re takin’ the good guys with them.”
“Pray God they don’t,” a woman up close to the counter whispered. “Pray God. Pray God. Pray God they save them all.”
Gregor
A vampire whirred into the room and stopped.
“Sir, The Three,” he stated.
“This is not good, this is not good, this is not good,” headphone man chanted, gaze to the monitors.
“What?” Gregor clipped to the vampire.
“We tried to get them but—”
“What?” Gregor barked.
“We can’t wake them.” He drew in a deep breath. “And we just received word. The compound is under attack.”
Delilah
I didn’t see it.
Until it was done and all the humans were rushing by me, a big man carrying the boy with his turtle jammies, running for their lives.
But in front of me stood Abel, with Xun, Wei, and Chen at his back.
And at his sides . . .
Lucien and Callum.
At my sides. . . .
Leah and Sonia.
At the Convenience Store Somewhere in Florida
“Yes! They did it!” a man shouted, turning, lifting his hands, and he got high fives from the man and woman closest to him.
“Good Lord, it is!” the woman who came late cried. “It’s all of them. All the ones Susannah River was talking about this morning.” She turned to the man beside her. “Did you see it?”
He didn’t answer.
Eyes to the screen, he whispered, “It’s not done.” He swallowed and stared. “Those assholes are far from done.”
Delilah
Finally, Etienne was rattled.
“How—?” he began.
“Hello, Father,” Lucien greeted drolly.
“You—” Etienne tried again.
“We all dream,” Lucien informed him. “You didn’t know that, I’m certain, when you found a witch to invade Delilah’s dreams. And apparently, you weren’t aware we have our own witches.”
Etienne didn’t reply.
He squared his chin, his eyes fixed on his son. “I did not wish to take your head.”
“Really?” Lucien asked. “That’s interesting. I’ll have no trouble taking yours.”
Lucien.
Awesome.
I chanced taking my eyes off the action to grin at Leah, feeling a whole lot better that we were all here.
Together.
The Three.
Finally.
She took her own chance and grinned back at me.
We both looked ahead of us.
Callum glanced at the bodies littered around him, then back at Etienne. “One of us, and his human brothers,” he stated, meaning that was what Abel and the boys had wrought. “Do you yield?”
“We will never yield,” Etienne returned coolly.
“Shame,” Callum muttered.
“I don’t think so,” Abel put in. “I’ll enjoy takin’ more of these motherfuckers out.”
Etienne looked back to Lucien. “As my son, you have my vow. Your death will be quick.”
“As your son, you have my vow. Yours will not,” Lucien replied.
“So be it,” Etienne said softly, then called loudly. “Bring in the wolves!”
And then, from everywhere, all around, streaming past houses, through yards, down the street behind the legion of supernaturals in front of us, waves of wolves came running.
Waves.
Hundreds.
Callum and Abel leapt to wolf.
In a blink, Lucien was tossing what appeared to be the bottoms of mailboxes and the posts of street signs at Xun, Wei, and Chen.
“Guard them . . . your lives,” he ordered shortly.
“You got it,” Xun replied good-naturedly.
Lucien turned just in time for the wolves to close in.
Jian-Li
Jian-Li sat on the bed beside Delilah, her eyes to the two twitching, unconscious bodies lying in it.
She reached for Delilah’s hand. Keeping hold, she reached for Abel’s. Firmly, she curled their fingers around each other and held them tight in both her hands.
She closed her eyes and bent her head.
“You will be safe,” she whispered. “You will be safe,” she repeated. “You will live so you can be happy.”
She didn’t open her eyes and she didn’t let go of their hands.
She held them tight in hers.
And she hoped.
In a Café Somewhere in Nevada
“Those must be werewolves,” a man said, crowding close to the long counter where every stool was taken, behind them a huddle of bodies. The patrons and the waitresses were all gathered, their heads tipped back, their eyes on a TV suspended from the ceiling. “And fuck, there are a lot of ’em.”
“You see that thing this mornin’? Those cats were on that program, and their women,” another man said, lifting his coffee cup to the screen. “That shit . . . that many of those immortal fuckers . . . they’re gonna be torn to pieces. Then we’re all gonna be screwed.”
“They aren’t backing down,” a waitress whispered.
“What, Naomi?” her colleague asked.
“They’re outnumbered. But they haven’t run. They haven’t given up,” Naomi said.
“Crazy,” one man said.
“Stupid,” another one said.
“Brave,” Naomi said quietly, her eyes never leaving the screen.
Delilah
One of the wolves took down Xun, opening a path to Leah, Sonia, and me.
As he went for Xun’s throat, I kicked out, hitting him in the jaw as Sonia transformed and attacked another beast that would breach us.
My kick offered Xun just enough time to scuttle back on his elbows, but the wolf found another target, baring his teeth and going for Xun’s thigh.
He didn’t latch on.
Another wolf, not Sonia, Abel, or Callum, attacked him from the side and, without hesitation, tore his throat out.
I recognized that wolf. I’d watched them training enough and done it with rapt attention.
Calder.
“Yes, yes, oh yes,” Leah breathed, her back pressed to mine as I jerked my head side to side.
They were all there.
Calder.
Caleb.
Ryon.
Maybe we had a chance.
We were seriously outnumbered, but please, God, let us have a chance.
I sent out my prayer, but it didn’t look good. Wolf bodies were strewn everywhere, not one I recognized, but the fighting was ferocious, bloody, relentless.
Sonia attacked anything that got close to besting Wei, Chen, and a Xun who was back on his feet, fighting. Then she emitted a high whine, her wolf eyes directed to the fray and I looked that way.
Ryon was going down.
“No, God, no!” Leah cried.
The wolf went for Ryon’s throat, but he was butted to the side viciously by the head of a wolf I’d never seen but who was very familiar. The new wolf skirmished with the one who nearly took Ryon and then Ryon joined the fight and the enemy lost his throat.
The new wolf turned and attacked one of the two Chen was holding back with sure swings of a sign post pole, and I knew when I saw his brown eyes, he was Cain.
Thank you, God.
There were high-pitched whines and strange-sounding barks and, suddenly, Callum leaped to man and bellowed, “Retreat and I’ll be merciful!”
Half the wolves that were left in the fight turned tail and bolted away.
The rest, in short order, at the teeth of our wolves, fell dead to the Tarmac.
As the last one went down, ours leaped back to man.
In a Pub Somewhere in London
“All right!” a man shouted, tossing his fist in the air.
“Did you see that, mate?” another man asked, slapping the man sitting on a stool on the shoulder. “Retreat and I’ll be merciful!” he shouted, then whooped, “The man is naked and outnumbered, and still, half those beasts tucked tail and ran. Bad-fuckin’-ass.”
“The one with the two-colored eyes is hot,” a girl said.
“Which one?” another girl said.
“Both of them.” The first girl smiled, not looking away from the telly.
“I like the good vampire. He’s lush,” a third girl said.
“Shut it, it isn’t done,” a man snapped.
“Testy,” the second girl mouthed, giving big eyes to the third.
The third smiled.
Then they both looked back to the TV.
Delilah
Callum pulled on his jeans. Abel pulled on his jeans.
Sonia circled around, stayed as wolf, and sat next to her king.
And Teona, appearing out of nowhere, grinned appreciatively as she handed out more jeans to her mate, Ryon, Caleb, and Calder.
“Jesus, you’re cock mad,” Cain muttered as he tugged his on, giving her a look that said he was close to laughing.
Or growling.
“Maybe,” she replied saucily. “But you know, baby, there’s only one cock for me.”
He rolled his eyes and turned, joining the line of The Real True who faced the posers.
Etienne took in Cain.
“A twin?” he asked quietly.
“Surprise,” Cain replied.
I tried not to giggle.
They kept bringing it; we kept giving it.
Hope bloomed inside me.
Etienne ignored Cain and looked beyond him.
“And there is your witch,” he noted.
“Dude, you are not cluing in,” Abel spat with frustration. “You’ve no idea what we’ve got, and I told you, you don’t wanna know.” He threw out both arms, indicating the dismembered bodies. “This enough evidence for you?”
“You also have no idea what I’ve got, young Abel,” Etienne returned.
“Maybe not, but I know it’s not enough,” Abel replied.
“Are you sure?” Etienne asked.
“Christ, what’s wrong with you?” Abel asked. “These jacked comebacks, like you’re the bad guy from a movie. Seriously, this is real, and if you don’t stand down, you’re not gonna be breathing much longer.”
“Let’s put that to the test, shall we?” Etienne asked.
I watched from behind him as Abel shook his head and muttered, “Whatever.”
In a trice, we were surrounded by vampires.
Not a couple hundred of them.
A lot more.
And they were all armed with lethal-edged swords.
I sucked in breath as the blooming hope inside stalled.
“Fuck,” Xun whispered, slowly turning his head side to side, taking them in while backing into Leah and me, Wei and Chen doing the same, surrounding us.
“Now would be a good time for whatever we got to come out,” Leah murmured.
“I hear you,” I murmured back.
“Now how sure are you, young Abel?” Etienne sneered.
“Bring it on,” Abel snarled.
Great.
My man was awesome and The Three and our families had it going on.
But right then, we were in trouble.
Big-time trouble.
I needed my blue light, however that could help.
But Abel was in danger, serious danger, and it wasn’t coming to me.
“Take their heads!” Etienne yelled.
Abel was right.
Earlier, they’d been playing.
Right then, it began.
In a Home Somewhere in Idaho
The man reached out and took hold of his wife’s hand.
She leaned into him, her body resting against his shoulder, as she held on tight.
“Please, God, please,” she whispered, her gaze unwavering on the screen. “Help them. Please.”
Gregor
“Got a lock on it!” headphone man cried loudly. “The signal’s coming from a suburb in Missouri.”
Gregor tore his eyes off the screens, long since noting they had cameras everywhere, microphones everywhere, and someone was switching them to get the best angles.
This right now being a blur that, with his vampiric eyesight, Gregor could see was Lucien battling eight vampires.
And losing.
He whipped his head to the line of vampires awaiting orders.
He looked to the first. “Get the exact location. Send everything we have close there.”
He looked to the second. “Phone Gastineau. Give him the location. Have him send everyone he can.”
He looked to the third. “Find out what’s happening with Josefa.”
As the third shot out, another vampire shot in.
“Status,” he said immediately. “We’re holding them at the wall. We have help—phantoms and wraiths are attacking them from their rear.” He drew in breath. “But there are a lot of them, sir. We need to throw at them everything we’ve got.”
“Round up as many as you can and go,” Gregor ordered, and the vampire shot out.
Gregor knew their play. He knew Etienne somehow understood that he could get at least Delilah in her dreams. And perhaps draw Abel.
Which would make The Three vulnerable and the time ripe for an attack on the compound.
“Thank God!” the production manager exclaimed, and Gregor looked back to see Teona had spelled those around Lucien. They’d been thrown back and Lucien again had a fighting chance.
And he was taking it.
“Where’s my baby? Where’s my little girl? Where’s my baby?” Hook whispered.
The man and his brothers had joined them five minutes ago.
Now Hook was leaned into the screens, his hands braced on the console, his eyes inches away.
“Step back, brother. She’ll be good. She’s tough. She’s smart. She’ll be good. Calm down,” Moose urged gently, his hand on Hook’s back.
But Hook didn’t have it in him to hear his friend.
He was focused.
“Where is she? Where’s my baby?”
“There!” Jabber yelled. “I saw her, standing. She’s good, man. She’s still standing!”
“Shit, okay, shit, awesome!” Moose bellowed. “The rest of them witches are there!”
And Gregor saw they were. Barb, Ruby, Jezza, and Flo lifted their hands, tossing what Gregor knew had to be spells at the enemy, magic that interestingly didn’t translate to the screen. It looked like they were simply throwing out their arms.
But they were also using weapons that could easily be seen.
Short, sharp blades, long, curved knives, and thin daggers.
The blessed instruments.
With each slash and jab, the immortals, wounded, fell back.
But he knew those witches and Poncho’s aunt had given them more too. There was no way The Three and their families could hold back the onslaught from that many foes.
Unless they had the powerful protection of magic.
But watching it, Gregor tensed.
Because he saw his son close to Aurora, fending off three vampires and a golem, with no weapon.
His son.
There.
In her dream.
Keeping his witch safe.
It had been the girl who became his daughter, Sonia.
Now it was both his daughter and son.
“Fucking where . . . is . . . that—?” he began.
“She’s here, brother. She’s here, amigo.” He heard Poncho huff and looked to the door to see the nephew escorting his aunt in hurriedly.
Her eyes went immediately to the screens and her lips thinned.
“I need her to send me, and those,” Gregor pointed to a collection of swords resting against the armchair Jian-Li had sat in what felt like centuries ago, “there.” He pointed to the screen.
She turned her head to her nephew and said something.
Poncho nodded and looked to him.
“She says you shouldn’t go.”
“My son and daughter are there,” Gregor returned curtly.
Poncho looked to his aunt who spoke, then back to Gregor. “Man, she says—”
“Oh fuck, one of those Chinese guys is down,” headphone man said.
“Wei,” Jabber whispered, the sound of his friend’s name coming out rough.
“Send me and those weapons to . . . my children!” Gregor shouted.
Ursula suddenly was at his side. “I go too.”
Poncho spoke to his aunt as Moose bellowed, “Fuck! Why are we fuckin’ here and they’re fuckin’ there?”
“Time is wasting,” Gregor bit off.
Poncho looked to him. “Grab the swords.”
With their vampire speed, Gregor and Ursula had the swords and were standing in front of the witch.
“Do not go and do not send Delilah’s family,” he ordered. When Poncho looked ready to argue and he heard a gruff noise from Moose, Gregor swiftly carried on, “It will be too distracting. They need focus. And the compound needs to be defended at all costs, so do not send any immortals either. Josefa must look after The Three from here. Their minds are there, but their bodies are here and vulnerable.”
“Got it, man,” Poncho agreed.
“Hook,” Ursula called, and Hook must have looked to her because she kept going. “You gave me happiness. I vow to fall before your daughter does.”
“Babe,” Hook whispered and said no more.
The witch was reaching up toward their heads, muttering under her breath.
“Good luck,” Poncho said softly.
Gregor slid his eyes to the man and nodded.
The next instant, he was in hell.
Somewhere in a Café in Nevada
“Not good, not good, not good,” one man chanted.
“Get ’im! Fuck ’im up! Yes!” another one shouted.
“To your back!” Naomi screamed, then moaned, “Thank God.”
“No! Yes! No! Yes!” a woman cried.
“Get up, guy, get up, guy, get up,” a waitress whispered, eyes on the fallen Wei, his body lifeless amongst the carnage on-screen.
“Shit!” a man boomed. “They got that female wolf!”
Delilah
With a frightening yelp, Sonia as wolf slid on her side across the Tarmac, and every inch of my skin prickled to see her coat matted in blood, claw and teeth marks everywhere.
The next second, the wolf that pounced on her was grabbed by the throat and thrown through the air.
But he left something behind.
The gore of his gullet in Callum’s jowls.
Callum tossed it aside with a shake of his head and nosed her. She shook her head and got to her paws.
Then he nosed her firmly in our circle and turned toward an attacker.
I caught all this before I felt movement close beside me.
After thinking how I could ever see the whip of action to make my play, somehow, the action around me had come into focus.
Vivid focus.
Using it, I jumped on the back of a vampire who was all over Xun. He twisted to throw me off. With experience with Abel hauling me around, I held on with everything I had. Calling for more, I curved my hand around his jaw and yanked back.
I didn’t get him very far, but I got him far enough for Xun to shove the jagged end of the mailbox pole straight into his throat. He twisted and slashed it to the side, opening a gaping wound, blood spurting.
The vampire fell to his knees.
I jumped off and kicked him in the head so he fell to his side.
Xun lifted the pole over his head and bore it down, hacking into his neck.
“Back!” Xun grunted, still hacking. “Now, Lilah!”
I backed into Leah.
“Babe, Gregor’s here,” she told me, grasping my hand.
I didn’t see him.
What I saw was that our guys now had weapons.
Gregor must have brought them.
It didn’t matter.
Wei was down. By the looks of him, I was sure he was dead.
I’d seen Cain appear and he was sliced to shit, looking like he was barely standing.
I’d lost track of Jezza and Flo.
Ruby was down, like Wei, unmoving.
We were losing.
All was going to be lost.
Standing in a sea of bodies, drenched in blood, we were going down.
In a Convenience Store Somewhere in Florida
The crowd was larger.
They didn’t realize it, not a one of them, but they were all holding hands.
They were silent.
All their gazes were locked to the screen.
Delilah
“No,” I whispered. “No!” I screamed.
Sonia barked. It sounded like she was trying to say something, but I didn’t speak wolf.
“Fuck this,” Leah hissed.
Bending down, she pulled a sword from a fallen, headless vampire’s hand and I blinked when, fast as lightning, she entered the fight.
It was then I heard an indistinct roar of fury and I looked that way to see Lucien had appeared.
The sound was coming from him.
Then he moved, hacking his way to where his bride was fighting.
I heard a whiz and a clash and I whipped around.
Shit! I was nearly taken out by a vampire sword.
That vampire was now headless, and Ursula, who saved my ass, turned and winked at me before she shot away.
I had no time to watch. Chen was fighting a golem.
Head down, I charged, barreling into the giant headfirst, agony shooting down my back but catching him off guard, allowing Chen to hack off his hand.
“Come on, blue light, come on, blue light, come on!” I cried, lifting, twisting, and hauling up my knee hard, catching him right in the golem family jewels I couldn’t understand why he had, considering he tore off flesh to make babies.
Apparently, it was a good target.
He grunted, his remaining hand going between his legs.
Chen hacked off his head.
I stepped back, looking for what I could do to help next, seeing Leah, shit-hot, moving at almost a blur of speed, using all Xun, Wei, and Chen had taught us (and then some), kicking major bad guy ass side by side with her husband. They were working as a team, weirdly in tandem like they were synced.
Then Chen took off the golem’s leg at his knee and he teetered before crashing to the ground.
That was when I saw we had new allies.
Surprising ones.
Dogs.
And cats.
And rats.
And snakes.
And fucking bunnies.
They were everywhere.
They couldn’t do much.
But considering there were hundreds of them, and they all were straight up pissed and attacking the bad guys, they sure as hell were distracting.
Creating opening after opening for the small army of The Three to deliver devastation.
In an Apartment Somewhere in Washington DC
The woman smiled a very small smile, a weak stream of hope filling her heart where fear had taken hold.
“They even have the bunnies,” she whispered.
Delilah
“Holy shitoly,” I breathed, staring at a vampire who was trying to shake a dog off his leg as a cat was clawing his face.
“Down!” I heard Abel shout, and instinctively, I hit the deck, landing on bodies (and body parts).
I felt something whiz over me.
Then Abel whizzed over me. I lifted my head right when a body dropped in front of my eyes, neck first.
Blood gushing.
I didn’t even have time to gag before I was hauled up and twisted so I was front to Abel’s back.
“Jump on,” he ordered.
“Baby, you can’t fight with me—”
“Hold the fuck on!” he thundered.
I wrapped my arms around him and held tight, swaying, jerking, jolting, as he kept fighting.
“Can you use mind-control?” I asked into his ear, keeping my hold tight.
“Too many,” he grunted, swinging. “Gotta focus.”
Shit.
A sword slashed through my shoulder, the pain so immense I almost dropped my arms.
But I held back my whimper. I didn’t want Abel to have to think about me.
It was then I heard a strangled, terrified, tortured, “Mom!”
Aurora.
This meant Barb.
Abel whirled and leaped over bodies, me looking around him, seeing Barb on her ass, one hand behind her holding her up, the other one outstretched. She was bloodied and cut, a weak ray of vermillion light sparking from her palm, a vampire over her, arm with a sword swung out to the side to take her head.
As he swung and Abel raced to him, the sword clashed against another one.
Gregor was there.
Abel had to stop to fight someone, whipping this way and that, taking me with him.
But he’d whipped back when it happened.
Even if it was a vampire blur, I saw it with total clarity.
In fact, it went in slow motion.
So I had every second. Every fucking second of Gregor losing his head burned in my brain.
Burned in my memory.
For eternity.
In a Pub Somewhere in London
“No!” a girl cried out, her voice hoarse with despair.
But after the sound faded away, the room went silent.
And everyone kept their eyes to the screen.
Each one holding hope to their hearts.
By a thread.
Delilah
I let go of Abel, my feet hitting the ground, and the world stopped.
All action around me suspended.
Completely.
There was only Gregor’s headless body, slowly, so damned slowly, sinking to the ground.
Like the sound was muted, distorted, drawn out, and slowed down, I heard Yuri’s desolate, enraged howl.
My breath stopped, my heart stopped, my frame electrified as Gregor finally crashed to the Tarmac.
And it was then I tipped my head back, drove my arms straight down, and balled my fists.
I opened my mouth and cried my despair to the heavens.
The sound was foul.
It was wreathed in anguish.
And while I made it, unbeknownst to me, from the middle of my body, a ring of blue light flashed, sweeping out in a circle, growing wider, wider, wider, wider, cutting through the combatants, the houses, and beyond.
I dropped my head, saw my bloodied boots. Next to one, the arm of a golem; at the tip of the other, the head of a vampire.
I closed my eyes.
“Gregor,” I whispered, his name torn from me, and I felt every letter as they passed my lips ripping me to shreds.
In Front of an Electronics Store in New York City
On every screen in the window, dozens of them, was a shot of the mortal, bloodied, injured Delilah Johnson, head bowed, grief for a fallen vampire she liked and respected etched along every centimeter of her frame.
Scores of people stood on the sidewalk, the crowd arcing out into the street, having stopped traffic.
But the drivers honked no horns. Car doors were left open so they could get out, approach, and watch.
And from the throng who gazed at the television screens, there was nothing.
Nothing but silence united in heartache.
Delilah
“Bao bei,” Abel whispered, and I felt his hand on my back.
I stood unmoving.
“Lilah,” Abel said from closer, his lips to my ear, his hand pressing into my back.
I remained still.
“Baby, you did it.”
I opened my eyes to blink and lifted my head.
I looked around.
Standing were ours, the few of them we were, except Xun and Chen were bent over an immobile Wei.
Scattered in endless heaps were the bodies of the dead enemy.
Wandering around, aimless, sniffing, slithering, hopping, were the animals.
And on their knees, weirdly motionless, was our enemy.
“Told you, pussycat, whatever you got, that shit is the shit,” Abel told me.
“Wh-what?” I stammered, my eyes drifting to him.
“That blue light?” he asked, and I nodded. “Went through them. All of a sudden, they quit fighting. It took them down to their knees. Left ’em there.”
“I . . . you’re joking,” I whispered.
“Look around,” he threw out an arm then grabbed my hand and pulled me to the nearest one. Keeping me close, he asked the female vampire. “Feel like moving?”
Her eyes fired and her body jerked.
Only slightly.
But she stayed on her knees.
“Holy shitoly,” I breathed, then stopped doing it altogether when it crashed into me.
My head shot to Wei.
“Already checked, pussycat,” Abel whispered to me. “He’s still with us.”
Xun was looking at us. “He’s breathin’, brother, but we gotta get him home.”
“I’ll see to that,” Teona said, prowling to them. She crouched, then carefully lifted Wei’s body between her legs and into her arms, pressing his back to her torso.
I squeezed Abel’s hand tight as Wei’s dead weight swayed lifelessly when Teona took him into her hold.
“Touch me if you’re going back with me,” she said to Xun and Chen.
“You go back. I’ll stay,” Chen said to his brother.
Xun nodded, touched his hand to Teona’s shoulder, and Teona looked to Cain.
“Later, baby,” she said softly and disappeared.
I let that impossibility filter through me before, mindlessly, I turned and slowly started walking, my hand in Abel’s, taking him with me.
As Abel and I stepped over bodies, I saw Yuri crouched over his father, his head down, his gaze to Gregor, his frame blocking our view of the man who kept us safe so we could fight the good fight.
And whose death, apparently, led us to victory.
“Allow me to take him home, sweetheart,” Barb said quietly, bending and touching Yuri’s shoulder.
“Take Aurora with you,” Yuri replied, his always-smooth, cool voice gruff with unconcealed emotion.
Hearing it, my throat clogged.
“Okay, honey,” Barb whispered and bent over Gregor.
Aurora got close.
“Yuri, sweetie—” She touched the back of his hair but got no further speaking.
“Go, button,” he ordered gently.
God, they were so freaking cute together.
“As you wish,” she whispered, bent, kissed his hair, and moved to her mother.
They clasped hands, and after both of them turned sorrowful eyes to Yuri, they disappeared, taking Gregor with them.
Abel and I got close to Yuri’s back as the rest of us gathered around him.
He lifted his head but didn’t come out of his crouch.
His eyes turned to the vampire who took his father’s life.
“You will not die so mercifully,” he whispered, and at his tone now, goose bumps rose all over my skin.
We heard sirens in the distance and I suddenly felt cold.
There was a reason for that as three phantoms, with a bevy more behind them, as well as some wraiths floated in front of us.
“We’ve taken out the cameras. You’re free to do as you wish with the others,” the phantom in the middle of the three at the front stated.
“Cameras?” Leah asked.
“This was televised around the world. Everyone saw it. Now the cameras and microphones have been disabled,” the phantom to the left said.
“Brilliant,” Lucien clipped.
“Yuri, let’s go home.”
I looked down to Yuri to see Sonia on her knees in front of him, Callum standing close behind her. She was bloodied but clothed. There were claw marks slashing across her upper chest, more across her hip, if the blood seeping through her jeans was any indication, and bite marks on her neck and arms, but she looked strong.
“Yuri, honey.” She lifted her hands to his cheeks when he made no reply. “Let’s go home.”
“You survived,” Yuri said, his voice freaking me out because it was not cold, it was not rough. It was nothing. “The Three survived. He fell.”
A tear tracked down Sonia’s cheek as she said nothing but kept holding Yuri’s face.
“He fell,” Yuri whispered, and there was no longer nothing in his voice.
It was full.
Full to the brim with pain.
My eyes got wet.
“Please, come home with me. We need to be with Gregor,” Sonia begged, her voice edged with a sob.
Suddenly, Yuri stood.
“Yes, Sonny. Home,” he stated shortly.
She nodded, straightening, but I moved fast.
Getting in front of Yuri, I got close and wrapped my arms around his middle, pressing my cheek to his chest as I hugged him tight to me. And only when I had him close did I say, “Your dad was the total bomb, Yuri. The absolute bomb. The vampire Gregor was awesome.”
Yuri stood motionless in my hold for a long time and I was going to give him that. In that moment, I’d give him anything.
But finally, I felt his hand curl light on the back of my neck.
“Yes, Lilah,” he said quietly. “He was.”
“We’re fading, honey. Grab hold,” Sonia called.
I let go and Abel wrapped his arm around my chest, pulling me back just as Yuri lifted his hand, Sonia took it, and she and her brother faded away.
“King of the Wolves, what do you wish for the rest of them?” one of the phantoms called on a prompt.
That was when I looked around and took everything in.
It was gruesome.
But we’d been joined by others, and not just the phantoms.
The humans had left their houses. Some were sticking close to their doors, standing on their stoops. Some had wandered into their yards, though not far. All of them held weapons, guns, baseball bats, knives.
I didn’t know if they were worried about us or if they got it together to come and help.
It didn’t matter.
It was done.
I kept looking and saw at each end of the block, cop cars were angled in, their lights flashing, the cops out, bracing their weapons against hoods and roofs, using the cars as shields.
“Are we sure how long Lilah’s light will hold?” Callum asked.
“We’re not sure of anything,” Abel replied.
“Then incapacitate them and contact The Council,” Callum ordered the phantoms.
They nodded and most floated off.
One remained behind and shared, “The Council is aware of your location. Reinforcements will be here within five minutes.”
“Little late,” Cain muttered.
I sighed.
The phantom drifted away.
“How can they incapacitate them?” Leah asked while leaning heavily against Lucien.
“They feed on energy and sometimes they can be . . . greedy,” Callum answered. “In this instance, it might make them ill.” He jerked his head to the scene behind us as phantoms swooped down on the motionless supernaturals who then dropped to their sides or backs like they were narcoleptics. “All that negative energy. But they can purge it when they get to somewhere safe where it will dissipate and not infect another being.”
“Ah,” Leah murmured.
Suddenly, Lucien transferred her weight to Callum and stalked off.
We all watched.
Then, noting his destination, we all quickly followed.
He stopped, looking down at his father, who was on his knees.
“Yield,” he whispered.
His father stared up at him, mute.
I gasped as my next vision was Lucien holding Etienne aloft by his throat.
“Yield!” he thundered.
“Neh . . . ver,” Etienne forced out.
Lucien hauled him to within an inch of his face.
“Then you will burn,” he growled and, with no further ado, tossed his father aside.
Etienne barely landed before I felt Abel’s body jolt.
I whipped around, panic instantly having a stranglehold on me that we had new aggressors.
Then I gawked.
The girl in the pink camisole and polka-dotted pajama pants was hugging my man around the middle.
My heart squeezed.
“Come here, Amelia!” a woman standing on the sidewalk shrieked.
The girl tipped her head way back.
“I’ll never forget you,” she whispered. “Never. I’ll never ever forget you.”
Abel lifted a hand and dropped it to the top of her head.
She grinned. It was weak, it was shaky, but she managed it.
Then she let him go and ran to her mother, leaping over bodies, sliding on blood and gore.
We heard vehicles. Some of us looked one way, others looked the other, and we saw army green Jeeps and sparkling black SUVs angling in behind the cop cars.
“Let’s go home,” Leah said, getting close to her man and hugging him from the side.
He slid an arm around her shoulders.
She reached out and grabbed Callum’s hand.
Callum lifted his other hand and dropped it on Cain’s shoulder.
Xun shouldered in and wrapped his arms around Leah and Callum. Ryon, Calder, and Caleb pushed in and connected. Ursula did the same. Jezza and Flo, helping a hobbling Ruby, joined us.
Abel pulled me close and took Cain’s hand, lifting them up and moving their bodies close so their hands were tucked to their sides.
Even though Abel gave me a tug, I stayed removed.
And I did this to look up and down the street.
Finally, I shifted forward, reaching out to clasp hands with Lucien, and I did it with my head thrown back, shouting, “We are The Three!”
And on a radiating circle of blue light, our huddle disappeared.
So we missed the cacophony of human cheers.
In a home somewhere in Idaho, a husband and wife embraced, his eyes rimmed with red, hers wet with tears.
In a pub somewhere in London, a bartender called to the unruly crowd, “Pints! All around! On the house!”
In a convenience store somewhere in Florida and on a street in New York City, perfect strangers embraced, smiles quivered, and tears flowed as all experienced sweet relief.
And in an apartment somewhere in Washington DC, a woman listened to a newscaster, quietly sobbing.
But she did it smiling.
In a Café Somewhere in Nevada
The cheers deafening behind her, Naomi kept her eyes to the screen.
Then she lifted them to the ceiling.
Her prayer was short and silent.
I never doubted, but even so, thank you.
Once done, she turned around and shouted, “Lemon meringue pie all around!”
The cheer of jubilation split her ears.
But they didn’t care about pie.
Knowing this, Naomi smiled.
Abel
Abel opened his eyes and lifted his head.
He felt his mate stirring beside him, but he saw Jian-Li sitting on the bed and felt her hands clamped tight around his and Delilah’s.
A tear dropped down her cheek as she caught his gaze, and her lips were trembling when she spoke.
“Welcome back, tian xin.”
He grinned at her, and when he felt Delilah lifting up, he helped her, sweeping her in one arm at the same time he caught Jian-Li in his other.
He tucked his women close.
He held them tight.
And he did this for a long fucking time.