Page 41 of Tainted Blood

“What’s the point?” Conall asked, sighing as he leaned on the front door, or rather, the metal doors blocking everyone from the front door.

“Even if they all die, the ones fighting him downstairs will be able to weaken him, then we can fight him here. Hiding just prolongs the inevitable.” Gisela was on the stairs, blood on her hands and face. “Thank you for helping Aelia. Let’s hope it means something in the end.”

“Everyone else is probably hiding or fighting,” Julia said, giving a wary glance down the entry hall toward the door that led down below. “I haven’t seen the Athenians at all. They probably barricaded themselves in somewhere.”

“Caturix, Dago, and Sucaria are all—”

Something shook the floor, nearly knocking me off my feet. The other vampires moved quickly, taking better positions. Sheba stayed where she was, sighing heavily. She looked resigned to her fate.

“Girl, get out of here,” Gisela ordered, pointing at me. “You should hide. Go back to Aelia and Ka. Go anywhere. There’s nothing you can do against a vampire like Samas.”

She was right. I was too young and would be outclassed in every way. I was faster than Alexius, but he and I were certain that was due to my build versus his. I was weak enough that Alexius hadn’t taught me to fight yet. He’d taught me to evade.

Fire, sunlight, and losing his head. Those will kill him…

I didn’t have two of those, but I could make one of them and I wasn’t afraid of the risks involved. When people played with fire, they got burned, but that didn’t bother me. I had to do something.

“Do you have a lighter?” I asked her as she gave me an incredulous look.

“Excuse me?”

“Does anyone have a lighter?” I demanded, snarling at the others. Conall pulled out one and tossed it to me.

“There.”

“Go hide!” Gisela roared.

Not listening to her, I ran for the stairs to the lounge. I knew there was a bar down below. Scrambling down, I burst through the lounge door. The room had been utterly destroyed. Walls revealed the passageways and rooms beyond. Samas wasn’t in the room, only a few other vampires who were looking away from me. A second later, Samas was back, throwing someone at the others. I couldn’t see Alexius at all, and my panic jumped at that realization.

Just move. Don’t worry. Can’t worry yet.

I ran for the bar, lighter in my hand. A roar shook the room as I slid behind it, throwing my free hand over my mouth when I found Caturix’s headless body, still in the outfit he had worn to the hunt. I was shaking as I tried to get around it and find an unbroken bottle. I had never made a Molotov cocktail before, but I was certain I needed an unbroken bottle for it. I was going off random movie knowledge, which I knew wasn’t the best, but it was all I had.

I searched the cabinets as people yelled at each other to move or attack. As I was looking through one, a table was knocked into the bar, and shrapnel sliced me open in several places, but it was nothing serious. Wincing in pain, I didn’t stop trying to find a bottle and alcohol that might work.

Eventually, I found a handful of unbroken bottles of vodka. I tore off the driest pieces of Caturix’s clothing I could get and started making the first Molotov cocktail.

When someone hit the bar, I looked up to find the monstrous creature who had once been Samas. I froze, eyes wide as he looked down at me. He was bleeding from multiple places but didn’t look as though he was even close to going down. He noticed me, snarling. I wasn’t certain he knew what I had been doing. He seemed like he was in a mindless rage, attacking whatever was close to him.

And I was directly in his line of sight.

I bolted as Sucaria and Dago grabbed him, yanking him back. I didn’t think they even knew I had been there, but when I skidded to a stop behind a pile of wreckage, I made eye contact with Isaiah. His eyes went wide, but I went back to work, shoving the scrap of fabric into the vodka. The next moment, he was there with me.

“What are you doing?” he snarled at me, the shock giving way to anger.

“Making fire,” I answered, holding up the lighter in my white-knuckled grip. He rocked back, looking up for a second as something crashed. He looked back at what I was holding then reached out, touching my hand with the lighter, stilling it. I hadn’t noticed how bad it had been shaking until he made it stop.

“I’ll spread the word—”

“Isaiah! What are you… Everly?”

With horror, I looked to see the person who was now staring down at us. His terror was obvious, the fear on his face so powerful, I was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt.

“Fire,” I repeated, pulling away from Isaiah to strike the lighter for Alexius.

Alexius only stared for another second before nodding.

“Hold him! Isaiah, help her make that work.” Then he was gone. “We’re going to light him on fire.”

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