Page 96 of Only Human in Strangeville

Nimbus kicked up with his wind powers, clearing a path, and I ran through while they were distracted.

In the entry room where the control pad was, I saw two more vampires. I blasted them with the sunlight spell and, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake, slammed my hand down on the pad.

Nimbus stood at my side, pelting the vampires with torrential wind to keep them back.

A speaker crackled.

“It’s me! Hannah!” I shouted. “We have them distracted.”

The doors glided open, and an entire horde of very angry vampires boiled through.

They moved quicker than I could follow, but flickers of color and form blurred past me. Nimbus dropped his wind attack and sank to the ground. I kneeled next to him, burying my fingers in his ruff.

“Very good boy.” I hugged my cloud dog close.

Jaz appeared next to me, practically out of thin air. “Go below. We will handle the rest.”

Before I could agree or disagree, she was gone and the wind of the enraged vampires passing faded. The door slid shut, but I suspected it would open for me if I put my hand on the reader. I didn’t want to simply hide, but I knew I was out of power. Really, what else could I do but get in the way. Though one thought did occur.

“Nimbus, that new dog, she needs to know that some of the vampires are friends.”

He huffed, ears perked, tail flagging over his back in alarm before he ran off and vanished. The cloud dog would warn her. As soon as he came back, we’d retreat below to rest and wait.

All in all, a solid plan. Until Drake swirled out of the shadows next to me.

“Shit!” I grabbed for any thread of magic I had left, but it was gone.

The shade’s hands closed on my arms in an iron grip I had no hope of breaking. Still, I tried, using all the techniques the FBI had taught me. They would have worked against a human, but Drake was nearly as strong as a vampire, or so he seemed at that moment.

He twisted one of my arms up behind me and wrapped his arm around my throat, cutting off my air. Either would have been enough to subdue me. I went still.

“Let’s go end this, shall we?” he hissed.

With no choice in the matter, I let him drag me out through the coffee shop. I thought about one last attempt at freedom, but Drake nearly dislocated my arm, and I gave up. This time, someone was going to have to save me.

Feeling worthless as the enemy shade dragged me out through the front doors of the coffee shop, I was at least glad to see all my men still alive. They had the upper hand, until they saw me.

The sky was lighter now, but dark enough for the vampires. It had gotten late while we’d fought, and they must have dropped the magic blotting out the sun. And this day had started so good, and now I felt completely hopeless.

Katsuro had Vito on his knees, Davin held a gun on someone else who might have been the mage from the aura of energy circling her, and many of the others were on their knees with their hands behind their heads. Oliver and Bridger weren’t in my line of sight, but I could sense them, so they weren’t dead, at least. Not yet, anyway.

I didn’t see the dogs.

A faint thread of hope that they could save us one more time was the only thing that kept me from weeping in despair. Logically, the guys shouldn’t trade their victory for me, but I, and Drake, knew they would.

Everyone froze when Drake pulled me out into the twilight gloom and cleared his throat loud enough for the supernatural beings to hear.

Then Vito laughed. He started to get up, but Katsuro shoved him back down.

Drake twisted my arm harder, and it took everything I had not to shout in pain. I did end up on my toes, trying to keep him from dislocating my shoulder. Katsuro must have sensed it through our bond, however, and he stepped away from the other vampire.

“And still, you lost,” Vito said as he finally got to his feet. “All that effort, all those lives lost. If you had simply cooperated…” The vampire’s head evaporated in a red mist, and the rest of him crumpled to dust moments later.

It took a moment to process what had just happened, and then chaos broke out once again. I jerked away from a suddenly unresponsive Drake and sprinted toward Katsuro, since he no longer had his hands full with the other vampire. Davin still had the magic user pinned, and with the loss of Vito, it didn’t take long for the others to fall into line.

The vampire tucked me against his side with an iron grip that let me know he had no intention of releasing me any time soon.

Oliver and Bridger joined us after a bit. Bridger had a rifle slung over his shoulder.

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