Page 8 of Huntress and the Splintered Court
“But we’d need to know where…” I cut him off with a click of my finger, forcing a new window to appear revealing the address of where the car was registered.
* * *
Night arrived,just moments before we pulled up out front of the address to the car I tracked. This side of town wasn’t the best. Cars that lined the street were in poor condition. Many were missing parts, important things like wheels, doors, and engines. Streetlights were broken casting a ghostly feel to the street. A few roads over, an engine backfired causing all the wolves to reach for their weapons. The mission’s risk factor had gone up exponentially and not just due to our location. High-strung wolves would only become liabilities.
Before the car came to a stop, all the wolves grew tense. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Even my nose scented the decaying blood swarming the place.
“Blood den,” I whispered. This didn’t feel right. Vampires weren’t naturally stupid by any means. It took a lot to remain undiscovered and registering your car to a blood den, didn’t scream smart. We piled out of the car and I gave the order to spread out. The wolves, all but Adam and Trey, didn’t hesitate. Trey’s face briefly flashed red when the wolves didn’t look to him for approval. Adam seemed slightly nervous, not that I could blame him. While he was Beta in Gideon’s pack, this wasn’t his forte. This type of work fell to Trey.
I stared up at the rotting building with its broken windows and caving roof, searching from some sign of activity, but it was dead, grimly so.
More and more I felt like we were being led. Why would the vampires pick a fight with the wolves in a human establishment if they were against revealing themselves to the world? If they were responsible for the wolves’ disappearance, then why did they leave them alone in the alley only to track them down later? Unless someone wanted us to think it was the vampires. What bothered me was the car registration didn’t make sense, unless someone knew we’d look through the cameras for the car. What if it was altered? Who could do that?
“We need to go, now!” I spat to the two wolves who hadn’t left my side.
“You just told them to spread out,” Trey countered.
My body vibrated with unease. “It’s a trap.” The moment the words passed my lips they seemed to trigger the ploy. Chaos ensued as vampires flooded us like smoke. They leaped from nearby rooftops, out of windows, over fences, until we were swarmed.
One of the young wolves from the coffee shop was taken out first. He didn’t even see it coming, too distracted with the sight of blood splattered on the siding of the house that was there for that very reason. The vampires had prepared for us.
I withdrew my sidearm. It wouldn’t kill them, but it’d take the vampire out of commission long enough for one of us to take off their head. I spent enough time in the range that, out of the eleven rounds the nine-millimeter pistol I used held, nine of them hit their targets in quick secession. The other two grazed their targets momentarily slowing them. My final shot was one of the grazes, infuriating the vampire more. Dropping the gun, I went for the knife in my boot.
Against popular belief it doesn’t take a wooden stake to kill a vampire. If you removed its head or damaged its heart enough before it could heal, they’d die permanently. A knife was a lot easier to penetrate the rib cage than a stake was. Television made it look easy, but it was anything but.
The vampire plowed into me, but I was ready. My knife sliced upward into his chest like he was made of butter. His eyes went wide as I gritted my teeth, yanking the knife out only to plunge it back in. With a battle cry, I sliced it across his neck, partially decapitating him.
I was yanked from behind before the vampire in front of me hit the ground. Judging by the grip, it wasn’t friendly, so I slammed my head back, successfully breaking a nose. My free hand flew in a fist catching the vampire between the legs. Had it been a man it might have worked to sever her hold. Instead I went girl fight on her, yanking her hair, tugging her around until I saw the thick blood dribble from her nose. A vampire didn’t bleed the way the rest of us did. It was thick like molasses.
Once I had a visual, my blade rammed up into her jaw going all the way into her brain. Her face went slack and her hands fell away. I didn’t even notice the blood I’d been sprayed with until I went to wipe my hair back. Whether it was from her, the vampire before her, or both, I didn’t know nor care. I moved on to my next mark.
Eventually, the wolves and I—what was left of us—gathered in close quarters fighting off the vampires as we congregated near the car. Trey broke away slipping into the driver seat as we covered him.
“Come!” he yelled revving the engine.
A few of the wolves broke off jumping into the vehicle until only one wolf and I remained. I didn’t know his name, but I had a strict policy. When I was in charge, I was the last to go.
“Go!” I demanded.
“You go!”
“Are you kidding me?” I spat slicing where I could. The vampires were swarming faster. I needed him to go while I held them off.
“I’m expendable. You are not. Now go!” he shoved his way in front of me as I was grabbed from behind. Instinctively I thrashed until I realized it was Adam. I moved to yell for the last wolf to come, but he was no longer in sight. The vampires had overpowered him. One gripped the doorframe as Trey punched the gas. The vampire held on. I threw my knife with deadly accuracy. It sank into his eye and he released the car. The door swung then bounced off its hinges slamming closed. I’d miss that knife. It had served me well, but I’d much rather lose it than anyone else.
I sunk back against Adam taking my first relieved breath before I considered what was to come.
“Not a word until we return,” I demanded slipping into the seat. Each wolf nodded and agreed but Trey seemed more tensed at my request. “I need to be the one to tell him.”
Whether Gideon was right about us being mates or not, I knew how a mated male would react if he learned that his partner had been damn near killed. If I had stayed instead of the wolf, whose name I didn’t even know, I could be dead. The hunters would have blamed the wolves, the wolves the vampires and there would have been no peace.
5
The house was uncommonly quiet when we returned. The hour wasn’t late enough that most would have retired to their rooms. The mood was grim. Since we weren’t at the Hunter’s Order there would be no debriefing. I desperately needed a shower, but I needed to find Gideon first before one of the others spoke to him. I headed to his office and found a few wolves lingering uncomfortably outside of the doors to the throne room.
When I approached, they didn’t step aside causing me to pause.
“Are you sure you want to go in? He’s not in a great place,” one of them whispered hesitantly unable to cease his nervous fidgeting.
