Page 67 of Soulmates
Jeff gets lifted off his feet. He lands on his ass, close enough to kick me in the thigh. Mutt and I scramble up, weapons out.
“I’d say we rang the doorbell.” Neither of them laughs at my joke. “Look, I’m pretty sure David’s downstairs, and since I don’t want them to kill him now that they know we’re here, I’m going down.”
Jeff’s standing, not quite steady, but I don’t see any blood.
“You two cover me.” Or not. So much for the pride of the Elite and notorious elvish fighting mojo and blah blah blah. Without waiting, I take off, moving for the rear stairs as fast as I can.
The stairwell is dim, lit only by ankle-high lights in the upright of about every third stair. After my eyes adjust, it’s as bright as noon. I jet down the stairs, spine tingling from the sense that I’m being followed. Maybe it’s just my new elf friends. I’m moving too fast to check it out. Then I hit the bottom and slow myself.
Here, it’s truly dark. Even my vision only picks up hints and weak shadows. The only light, in fact the only thing I can make out clearly, is a bare bulb hanging over a four-sided cage that seems to be set in the middle of a much bigger space.
And David’s sitting in the middle of the cage.
A wolf howls, the sound bouncing off the cement floor and echoing in space.
“We see you, Trajan Gall. Drop your weapon.”
Aw hell no.The voice comes from somewhere in the darkness. I don’t answer, because what’s the point.
Then a pinpoint of red appears on David’s forehead. Some kind of laser.
“I told you to drop your weapons.” Laughter punctuates his command. I don’t think he’s funny.
I do a little reverse geometry and scan the shadows, following the line of the laser to its origin.
“Five….four….”
“Jesus, that’s a cliché even by my standards.” I can’t find the source, but I can see the trajectory, dust motes sparkling in the tiny beam of light.
“Three… Two…” I coil, ready to spring.
“One”—I leap into the beam, hollering the whole way.
“No.”
David bleats, a weak sound that breaks my heart. Did he get hit? I lunge for the cage. Can’t see any blood. Claws scrabbling behind me. Wolves. I reach for the bars, but a burning pain in my shoulder stops me.
Dammit. I got shot again. Metal, not silver. Guess I’ll be thankful for small favors.
A pair of wolves comes out of the darkness. I shoot one mid-leap. The other stops, crouches, growls. The red laser sight swings across the floor, traveling up my body. I can’t see it, but I imagine it stops at my head.
This’d be a humdinger of a time for those elves to show up.
“I figured the big bad vampire would be harder to kill.”
I wish I could see the guy, to know who I need to exact revenge upon. “Not dead yet.”
Another explosion, this one closer to the stairs. The wolf in front of me flinches. The laser light drops to the ground.
A third explosion rocks the whole building, followed by heavy footsteps on the stairs.
“Shit.” With a muffled thump, the weapon fires.
I duck, swinging wildly with both arms to try to redirect the bullet. It doesn’t hit me, and when I spare him a glance, it hasn’t hit David either.
Voices, speaking Elvish. The beam of red light sweeps across the floor and gets lost in a hail of gunfire. The wolf attacks too, leaping at the Elite squad. I hold my position, determined to protect David, who’s the most vulnerable of all of us. In my quick glances, I’ve been able to determine his lips are pink, so he’s breathing, but not much more than that.
The fighting dies down, the elves and their vampire leader coming into the circle of light cast by the bulb over the cage. Other members of the team are hog-tying the wolf, and another has handcuffed the pleasant chap who greeted me.
