Page 128 of Land of Shadow

“Yes.” Valen takes my hand and leads me toward the White House.

Coal keeps pace, and they converse in the foreign language again.

I jump at every shadow, every moment spiking the tension that has me speed walking.

We’re almost to the White House entry gate when movement catches my eye. Someone’s inside the guard shack. Crap, if it’s the guy from last time, there’s no way he’s letting us in.

I pull on Valen’s hand, about to explain, when someone steps from the shack. A woman, her red hair in a high ponytail, her fangs long and glinting.

“Portia.” Coal stops just ahead of us. “Fancy seeing you here. Last I heard you were sucking Gregor’s cock like a babe at breast.”

“Very amusing,” she sneers, her gaze flitting to me. “I’m here for this hidden treasure, now come to light.”

“You can’t have her.” Valen pulls me behind him. I peek around his arm to watch.

“I’m afraid it’s not a request.” She pouts, her red lips gleaming, her hip thrown out in an alluring pose. “I simplymusthave your little pet.”

“I simplymustpunch you in the tit,” I whisper.

Coal shoots me a grin over his shoulder. Damn, the vampire hearing is legit.

“Have you forgotten what happened the last time we met in battle?” Valen taunts and pulls a silver blade from inside his jacket.

Where the hell did that come from? I don’t know, but I’m glad he has it.

“Coal,” Valen says calmly.

Then all hell breaks loose. Coal has the red-haired vampire in the air, and Valen is rushing me forward to the White House gate. It’s locked.

“Wait, there’s probably a button!” I dash into the guard house as Coal slams into the fence. He’s up again quickly, but there are deep gouges in his wings, all of them oozing that horrible green goo. She must be Blood Tantun. Poison.

I look around, slapping a couple of clipboards to the ground before turning and looking at a small bank of monitors. “Where’s the button? There has to be a damn button!”

Valen is gone, and I hear an ear-piercing screech from somewhere close.

“Fuck!” I slam open a small metal box beside the door and find a console of switches, one of them lit up red. Beside it is a keyhole. I try to press the red button, but it’s just a light, nothing more. I need a key.

The shed shakes as something hits the pavement hard just out front. Through the barred window, I see the redhead rise to her feet, a hiss like the air leaving a tire on her lips. She turns, her gaze meeting mine, and then she throws herself at the guard shack.

I scream and flinch back as one of her clawed hands busts through the glass, but then she’s gone, flying through the air with Valen’s silver blade in her chest. “Door?” he asks, a deep gouge at the edge of his temple.

“I need a key!” I open the drawers, ransacking everywhere it could be.

“Forget it.” Valen pulls me through the doorway, wraps me tightly in his arms, then gets down low.

“What are—” I squeal as he bounds over the fence and lands with a hard thump on the grassy area beyond. “Holy shit.” I suck in a breath as he sets me on my feet. “Didn’t I just say I needed more warning!”

“Let’s go.” He kisses me, his fangs grazing my lips, then pulls me up the path to the White House. The guards from before lie in a heap in front of the open door. “Coal already did some recon, it seems.” Valen peers down the hallway.

A body bursts through the trees overhead, branches splintering and leaves scattering on the grass as Coal hits the ground. Portia is on him before he even sits up. He yells as she buries her fangs in his shoulder. Several more vampires appear, all of them jumping on Coal who throws off one but gets swamped by three more.

“Jesus.” I stare, wide-eyed and frozen.

“Fuck!” Valen says. “Wait here.”

He rushes off and rips Portia from Coal, then pulls his blade free from her chest and stabs it in again to the hilt. She screeches, and I have to cover my ears at the sound.

“Doc!” Someone grabs my arm, and I whirl and shove them off me.

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