3 Hit the Road Jack (18 page)

“Oh blotty nickerbells,” Craig exclaimed. There was something in his voice that caused us all to turn around.

They’d snuck in. Not a sound was heard, not a single pin drop alerted us. They now surrounded us and blocked our escape route. There were at least fifteen of them, dressed in black from head to toe. Their faces were masked in black with merely their eyes visible to us.

“Holy sugar plums,” I whispered, taken aback by their graceful movements. I lifted my hands to activate my shield; I had a feeling I would need the protection. Somehow they all seemed skilled and dangerous despite their calm façade
. A small noise, almost intergalactic in sound, reverberated through the room. I looked down at my necklace and tried again. “Uh, guys. My necklace isn’t working.”

“Dammit. I knew the bastard was two-timing us,” Kai bit out.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Gabi said.

“Now isn’t the time to bicker; it’s the time to defend yourself from the real enemy,” Al interjected.

“He’s right.” I pulled out my gold dagger; Kai and Kalel did the same. A quick glance around showed no one else but us were using weapons.
“What happened to the weapons you were pulling?”

“Won’t work on them. They fight fist to fist. Their uniforms repel everything.”

“Shit.” It was one word I hadn’t used in forever, but knew I was in deeply.

“
Block your thoughts and s
niff the air,” Kalel ordered. “They have no scent.”

“Duh! That’s probably why we didn’t smell them you idiots. Now stop talking and get ready. Who the hell knows when these bastards are going to come at us,” Gabi nearly growled the order.

Taking the initiative, since it was my fight after all, I slowly edged towards the door. That set them into motion. I barely saw the black land in front of me. I ducked from a punch but caught an undercut that sent me flying across the room.

Chaos flooded the room. Gusts of wind wafted past me from time to time.
It took me a minute to notice that the others were defending me. Every pair of enemy eyes focused on me between jabs with my friends.

Suddenly two snuck past the brothers and headed straight for me. My knife was short so I had to wait until they were close to stab them. I missed the first but caught the side of the other. The black fabric sizzled upon contact dissipating to reveal browned skin below.

I leapt up onto the bed, backing away from the pair trying to close in on me again. That’s when I noticed the dart
gun in the hands of a ninja across the room. He took aim. I realized he was aiming it at Rafi. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t aiming it at me until I noticed he had at least ten darts in the round loader. Oh God. They were planning to take all of us out, and I bet the last one with the purple liquid instead of the blue was for me. I swallowed the serum that flooded my mouth.

My eyes darted from Rafi to the gun and finally to the ninja that’d just leapt onto the bed with me. They were silent in their assault. Vamp hearing did nothing for us in this battle. I couldn’t figure out why either based on their black boots.

The second I averted my eyes I was pinned to the wall, the headboard pressing into the backs of my thighs. The second ninja whom I’d narrowly missed the skin of joined the other, prepared to inject me with something when abruptly they collapsed; sizzling smoke and acid filled the air. The brothers rolled over the ninjas and retrieved their daggers. I was proud of their direct kill, but a quick glance around showed none of t
he others were faring the same. We were barely fending off their attacks.

The brothers immediately went back into action defending the ninjas. Another planted itself in front of me not giving me a second to defend myself again his kick. The air was knocked out of me as I landed on the nightstand and the lamp crashed to the floor below. I rebounded on my feet and raced towards him delivering my own blows, but none were even close in strength to the ones he supplied.

Suddenly remembering the dart
gun, I gave one last hard blow and flew around him. A few more came at me; they were finally pinning me as the target. I somehow diverted their attempts and escaped the tug from behind. I focused on my target: the lone enemy in the corner, preparing to end us one by one without notice.

My body angled towards him, I leapt over random items strewn on the floor, ducked between and around casual combat amongst my peers and the enemy, focused solely on taking out that vamp.

Taking in my stride and angle, he wasted no time. He aimed the gun at the closest opponent: Kellan.
“Lookout! Duck NOW!”

The dart was fired right as Kellan heeded my words and dropped to the floor. The ninja jumped up and rolled over the projection, narrowly missing its sharp edge into his back before he landed on the floor as silently as he’d launched himself.

Returning to my mission right
as Craig and Al began fending off
a few behind me
.
My eyes narrowed on the corner vamp again. I ran full force towards him. A palm landing in the center of my chest, caving in my diaphragm sent me flying backwards again. I gasped a few harsh breaths right as he took aim at an unsuspecting Rafi, fighting off two ninjas near the dresser. The army had trained him to focus on the enemy in front of you, not miles away aiming at you. Chances were the one
that was
miles away would miss, but the one close by wouldn’t.

“Rafi!” I yelled right as the dart was fired. The two vamps didn’t let up, keeping him upwards and in the line of fire.

Surprised by my own inner strength I threw the ninja threatening to land a blow to my head across the room. I crouched down line a tiger preparing to pounce on her prey, and launched myself into the air at an outward angle. I was upside down over the battle Rafi was fighting and was just coming down past them completing my full somersault when the dart hit my upper chest.

“No!” I heard Kellan fiercely cry out.

Pain, stinging, singed my veins as the venom coursed through me. Maybe it was the poison, or maybe it was my imagination, but the room w
ent
silent. Everyone stopped fighting to see what’d happened. I didn’t care at this point because I’d saved him. No one should die because of me, and I’d made sure no one did.

Chapter
18

KELLAN

I stared down at her lifeless body, unable to focus on anything else as my emotions, human emotions I only ever had with her, swelled to the surface.

“No, dammit! No!” I yelled, unable to contain my anger.

A second dart flew through the room
;
a silent whistle
filled
the air
as the object
hit Rafi in the
center of his chest. Gabi cried out, a guttural hurt from deep within her echoed through the confined space. We’d let our guard down. We believe
d
that because they’d stopped fighting that we could too. We’d forgotten for a second that our enemy was in the room and would stop at nothing. It was a fatal mistake. Rafi began to fall; Gabi quickly caught him, blood flowing down her cheeks meaning they’d probably just exchanged given their intermingling scents.

My eyes returned to her,
pale and flaccid on the floor a few feet away. I didn’t want to look, but couldn’t stop myself. The others looked on in horror; I saw the anger creeping into their expressions. Vampires knew very little of the other emotions.

Looking down at her, I knew a
nger wasn’t even the right word. How does one cope with losing the love of their life at the hands of their enemy? They don’t; I didn’t. I gathered my rage
and
centered my fury, prepared to unleash it on the unsuspecting bastards.

I ripped my eyes from my dead fiancé. I felt the scowl on my face. I heard my heartbeat pick up speed as I glared at the uniformed assassins enjoying my despair. An evil laugh threatened to belt from me. I knew they would be dead before I walked out of the room.

Gabi stepped beside me, the same fury coursing through her veins. We would both be victorious. We would get our revenge.

The others grouped behind us offering silent strength. No one was walking out with Lexi’s body but me.

“Let’s do this shit.”

“Here.” Kai and Kalel each passed me their prized weapon. A look of understanding and respect was shared by all of us.

I refocused on my enem
ies
. With a
gold dagger in each hand, I ran head on towards the closest target. I twisted sideways at the last minute swinging my arms out confidently and decapitating two at once.

I heard the chaos behind me, but paid no attention. My mission was to kill as many of these fuckers as possible.

I spun around just as one jousted towards me. I jumped and flipped over him; it was probably the best ninja move
I was capable of
. A quick turn and I offed him from behind right as another two came at me simultaneously. I waited until the last second to move so they killed each other with their powerhouse kicks, which were strong enough to break each other’s necks and rip through the delicate skin with the centered steel point on the bottom of their boots.

The second I turned one nearly hit me with a dart, and would have if Craig hadn’t killed the asshole with a silver chain slicing his neck. That threw off his aim a bit. A quick glance around showed we were winning.

Less than a minute
later we’d murdered the last ninja proving powerful emotions fueled powerful attacks.

Gabi dropped her weapons to the floor as she collapsed pulling Rafi into her arms. Sobs poured from her. I couldn’t even react to that. Lexi had sacrificed her life in order to save a man who ended up dead anyways.

Rage resurfaced at the scene before me. I didn’t come all this way to lose her. We came to save her. She had to be saved.

Serum dripped off my teeth. I wasn’t pure vampire, but maybe I had enough venom to boost her system. Rafi was full vampire; there was no saving him. But Lexi had a chance. She had to have one. She’s fierce. She always had the fight in her. It was one of the things I loved about her.

Forgetting the others, I slid down beside her, recklessly ripping the dart from her upper chest. Without a moment’s hesitation I exposed her neck and bit. I wasn’t going to rely on just that though. I bit my wrist, pulling a chunk of skin off with my aggressive actions; the vein burst open and began emptying my life source everywhere. I opened her mouth and placed my wrist to her pale lips. I knew the scene was reminiscent of her parents, but didn’t care. I didn’t care what I looked like or how crazy they thought I was. I had to try. I couldn’t lose her; I couldn’t picture forever
i
n this desolate God-forsaken hell without her.

Craig placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. It felt like the weight of the world as Lexi c
ontinued to lay limp in my arms with my wrist healing itself already.

“She can’t leave me,” I bit out. My chest was tight, the air fighting inhalation. Serum oozed from my gums becoming a waterfall over my teeth.

“You can’t leave me. It’s supposed to be you and me; peace and all that crap. It’s not your time. Wake up!”

Chapter
19

I gasped for air, between a mouth full of blood; my body spent and oxygen deprived.
It felt like my chest had collapsed inwards on me
; the pain wasn’t unbearable though
.
The blood disappeared as I was pulled tightly against a chest; Kellan’s chest.

“Holy cow poo; I can’t believe it worked,” Craig exclaimed.

I was drawn to the bellowing cries behind him though. I blinked a few times to refocus my vi
sion, my attention immediately went
to Gabi, who was a crumpled, disheveled mess on the floor hugging Rafi’s
lifeless
body to her. Disappointment slammed through me. I failed. I didn’t save him.

Tears welled at the sight of my friend and her loss. I’d failed her; I’d let them all down. I was the only reason they were here, that they were
in this place. I couldn’t hold back the shame and despair. I felt the tears chasing each other down my cheeks, soaking Kellan’s shirt.

“I’m so sorry Gabi. I’m… so sorry,” I choked out.

I fell into Kellan’s arms as my world collapsed around me. Everyone faces tragedy at some point in life, but it felt like death was chasing me as life beat me down.

Rafi had fought hard to protect me and I’d let him down. It wasn’t like my parents when I wasn’t there and didn’t have a chance. I had the opportunity; I saw the open window to block the
move and miscalculated, which wa
s such a human error. The guilt was suffocating me; my stomach threatened to regurgitate the blood settling in it.

“We need to move. Who knows what was heard through the walls,” Kalel said, pulling me back down to reality and away from my internal self-abuse.

“I’ll have the army clean this one up. There should be a few on location who can move
quickly
,” Al stated.