Page 267 of Golden Eagle

From what Trina could tell, she’d taken rounds on the forearm, shoulder, both thighs, and her hip, if the blood was anything to go by. There wasso muchblood. A human would have been unconscious at best right now, and probably dead.

“She’ll recover,” Much said, voice tight, “but she needs to feed. Where are her damn wolves? Hey,” he said to Mia, touching her face with surprising gentleness and righting her head when it tried to tilt to the side. She was sitting upright against the underside of the propped-up table. “Stay awake. Here.” He tugged up the sleeve of his shirt, exposing one boy-slender wrist. “You need to–”

A gunshot thudded into the other side of the table. Thank God they were only using AKs, Trina thought a little hysterically; a shotgun or a deer rifle would have punched right through the wood.

“Damn it,” Much hissed.

Trina risked poking her head over the table, and fired off a shot of her own. Through the haze of blue smoke, she saw a figure go down on one knee. But there were more; there was an endless supply.

Behind her she heard Dr. Fowler say, “Oh, no, please–” She didn’t know what Kolya was doing to him, but she hoped it hurt like hell.

We’re going to die, Trina thought. She wasn’t normally given over to pessimism, but she didn’t see a way out of this. Eventually, the soldiers would get through the smoke and their pitiful return fire, and overtake them. And then…

And then she heard a gorgeous sound. The high, clear, echoing howl of a wolf.

She couldn’t see, but could hear a sudden scuffle at the door. Soldiers shouted, cursed, and she heard more than one body hit the floor before two figures all but fell into the room, light glinting off bloodied steel, the blades flashing amidst the thinning smoke.

Flash – flash – a snarl, and three more soldiers toppled. The breeze from the window had dispersed the smoke down to green tatters, and she saw Fulk and Anna, a little bloodied and rumpled, but whole.

Anna cut down one last soldier with a slender, faintly curved saber.

Fulk thrust the point of his own sword through a throat, kicked the soldier backward out of the room, and then slammed the door shut. He thumbed the lock, and scrambled to drag a chair over and jam it beneath the lever. “That won’t hold,” he said, turning to face them.

Trina stood, relief making her lightheaded.

Anna surveyed the room, her stance ready. A long, red cut marred one of her cheeks; blood spray that clearly wasn’t her own dotted her throat. “Y’all okay?”

“Mostly. Mia was hit.”

Both wolves leapt over the table. “Secure that other door,” Fulk barked, and Much went to do so.

Trina stepped back, giving them room.

Anna and Fulk knelt down on either side of Mia. “Oh no,” Anna said, softly, pained.

“She’s alright,” Fulk said, but Trina heard the nip of panic in his voice. “She’s alright. Here, darling.” He laid his sword down, caught her jaw gently in one hand, and turned her face toward him. “Can you hear me?”

Mia swallowed, and blinked groggily. “Fulk–”

“Yes, it’s me. Here.” He let go of her – Anna leaned in and put supporting hands on her shoulder and the back of her neck – long enough to bite his own wrist and then pressed it to Mia’s mouth. “Drink.” It was a command.

Mia tried to turn her head, but Anna cupped her nape and pressed her in until Mia out her mouth on the bleeding punctures, and, after a limp moment, latched on and began to feed.

Anna let out an explosive breath. “Shit.”

Fulk frowned at his charge a moment, then turned to Trina. “How did this happen?”

Trina resisted the urge to back away another step in the face of his glare. “They came in behind us, an ambush. She jumped in front of me.”

“She saved your life,” he said, frostily.

“Where were you guys?” she bit back. “We’ve been pinned down for ten minutes!”

“They were doing a sweep of the stairwells,” Anna said. “We had to fight out way here.”

“And they’ve broughtsignificantbackup,” Fulk said, baring his teeth at no one in particular. Mia was drawing more earnestly at his arm, now; the muscles in his forearm flexed beneath the pull of her mouth.

“Vampires,” Much said, rejoining them.

---