Blood & Tears (Jane #3) (8 page)

EIGHT

The thud of a body hitting a wall
came to Benton and I as we raced down the stairs behind the others.
He reached the landing before me and I grabbed him, yanking him
back. I didn't want him in the middle of a fight between seven
vampires, no matter how talented he was. With a grip on his arm, I
pinned him gently against the wall.

"Stay out of this, Benton. Find
Jax. Help him."

His eyes narrowed and his lips
puckered. I could tell he was ready to fight with me, but suddenly,
his face softened and he just nodded. Releasing his arm, I headed
down the stairs. The hidden door was reduced to splinters, a gaping
hole leading to the dark basement. Felipe and Ado were engaged in
fierce one-on-one battles with two very buff vampires. Jax was
crumpled against the door to the porch, blood dripping from his
nose and mouth. As I headed toward the battling vampires, Benton
knelt beside Jax. He pressed a hand to the fallen man's neck. I
looked to him and he nodded. Relief flooded me and I turned my
attention to the task at hand.

Felipe had his vampire well in
hand, but Ado was struggling. His opponent was a thick-necked,
red-headed brawler with a scar running from his forehead down over
one eye. He snarled and spit like a dog trained for battle. Ado's
shirt was already torn and he had a nice gash on his shoulder. His
gun lay tucked against the wall and I leaned down to pick it up. As
I did, I saw Ronin out of the corner of my eye.

He was standing at the back door,
a female vampire in hand. He had a rip in his pants and his thigh
was bleeding, but he definitely won the battle. Her right arm was
bent at an awkward angle, her cheek was swollen and dripping blood,
and she was moaning, on the verge of slipping into unconsciousness.
He hefted her by her shirt and the back of the jeans she was
wearing and launched her down the hall as easily as if she were a
bale of straw. She flew through the air before thudding to the
ground and sliding several feet across the wood to crash into Ado
and his opponent.

The two combatants went down in a
heap, with Ado rolling away as the other vampire's feet tangled
into those of the now-unconscious woman. Snarling, the burly man
tossed her away and she landed heavily halfway up the stairs. She
began slipping back to the floor, but her hand gripped an
intricately molded baluster and she pulled herself up to the
landing, where she promptly passed out again .

I called out to Ado, drawing his
attention as Ronin raced down the hall, barreling into Ado's
opponent. I tossed the pistol to the free man and turned to help
Felipe. He was on his knees with his enemy in front of him on his
backside. Felipe had the vampire in a headlock and the creature was
beating him in the face. Felipe's nose was swollen and purple,
dripping blood onto the other vampire's shoulder. For the briefest
of moments, I thought about how sexy Felipe was, even with a broken
and bruised face, then I pulled my weapon and stood behind him. He
leaned his head away and I pressed the barrel to the other
vampire's skull before pulling the trigger.

Nastiness sprayed all over the
wooden floor, some of it shooting far enough to splatter the three
battling vampires. The wounded vampire slumped to the floor,
temporarily incapacitated. Felipe picked up Jax's butcher knife
and, in two very powerful swings, sliced through the flesh, muscle,
and bone that kept the man's head attached to his shoulders. My
lips curled involuntarily and I found myself wanting to
gag.

By then, Ado and Ronin had
neutralized the other vampire male and were staking him. Ronin's
hand pressed forcefully to the thing's mouth, muffling the sounds
as it screamed with pain. My immortal teammates stood, gathering
around me. I stared at the woman—no, not woman; girl—crumpled on
the landing above us. She was young, too young. Was she even
eighteen? Had she been stolen from school and turned against her
will?

"She came out of the basement
after I heard those two brutes break through the door. I think she
was trying to escape." Ronin's voice came from his place beside
Jax, where he was helping Benton check the fallen man
over.

"Can we take her with us?" I
turned to Felipe, silently pleading with him.

His lips set into a grim line, his
jaw clenching and releasing rhythmically as was its habit when he
was stressed and deep in thought. A minute passed before he tore
his gaze from her broken body and turned around.

"How's Jax?" he asked, effectively
changing the topic and avoiding a decision for the time
being.

"He'll live. Looks like his wrist
might be snapped and he has some nasty wounds on his face, but
he'll be alright."

Felipe nodded, watching his
soldiers work on one of their own, then headed down the staircase
to the basement. Ado remained upstairs, but Ronin and I followed
him in the damp darkness. The missing vampire was nowhere to be
found, but the three humans were all crumpled on couches arrayed
around the room. One was dead, probably for over a day. The other
two had clearly been the evening meals for the dead vampires and
were passed out from blood loss.

Felipe pulled out his cell phone.
There was a special cleaning crew standing by to take care of any
mess we might make and he called them in. When we heard a growl out
on the porch, he stepped outside to quiet the remaining dog. The
cleaners, a team consisting of three humans and four vampires,
brought the two dead canines into the house and set to work
righting our wrongs.

Ado stood at the foot of the
stairs, his piercing eyes boring into the unmoving figure of the
young girl. His fingers toying absently with the hilt of his sword,
an unsettling sneer playing faintly across his lips. While I
watched him, Felipe joined us, placing a hand on Ado's
shoulder.

"She lives," he said, softly and
simply.

Ado turned so fast I could hardly
follow the movement, his sneer turning to a viscous snarl as he
faced Felipe. His eyes burned, hatred, anger, and pain engaged in a
horrible dance across his irises. His nostrils flared and his hand
tightened on the sword. Felipe said nothing and made no movements,
his face remaining passive, his eyes remaining firm and hard. I
held my breath, not daring to draw attention to myself by either
one of them. Several very terrifying moments passed before Ado
scoffed and shoved past Felipe, stomping out the door. I breathed a
sigh of relief and put my arms around Felipe. He returned the
gesture, kissing my sweaty, matted hair.

"Go make sure she's alive, babe.
Then take her to the car, would you?"

He handed me a set of
vampire-grade handcuffs and I bound her hands behind her, cringing
when I realized what kind of pain that arm would be in when she
woke. As I was walking with her to the car, a shadow flickered in
the corner of my eye. It was gone when I turned my head. I set the
wounded vampire in the back seat behind the driver's side and Ronin
placed Jax beside her before heading back to his own vehicle.
Felipe chatted with the cleaning staff for a bit before joining us.
He opened my door and the dog hopped in, settling calmly at my
feet.

"What are they going to do with
the humans?" I asked when he climbed into the driver's seat. My
hand absently stroked the creature who had tried to kill us not an
hour before.

"The ones that are still alive
will be taken to rehab. All of them were pretty doped up. They'll
have a hard road ahead of them. But hopefully they'll be able to be
rehabilitated. If not..."

I nodded. He didn't need to tell
me what would happen. It was obvious. He put the SUV in gear,
pulling out of his parking spot. I checked behind us to make sure
the boys were following. I watched the other car for a moment,
worried about Ado. Suddenly, my body jerked forward and my elbow
smashed into the dash. It was lucky I'd remembered to put my seat
belt on or my head might have met glass. A pained yelp told me that
the dog had not been so fortunate. I turned quickly, wondering why
Felipe had slammed on the brakes so violently.

Standing in front of us, his face
very much like Ado's had been in the house, stood a vampire. He was
one I'd never seen before. His hair was shoulder-length and dyed
black. He wore a black t-shirt and leather jacket. His face was
painted white with too much mascara and blood-red lips.

"Conrad." The word drifting from
Felipe's seat was filled with venom, confusion, and a tinge of
something else, maybe despair.

Before I could ask him who Conrad
was, the creature in front of us pounded a hand on the hood,
leaving a dent two inches deep, then used that leverage to launch
himself over the car. Felipe was out of the vehicle in microseconds
and I wasn't far behind him. As we reached the back of the vehicle,
I saw Conrad, the mysterious man in black, grip the underside of
the other SUV and flip it through the air. It landed on the other
side of the road, the roof caved in.

Ado and Ronin had reacted swiftly,
pulling themselves from the vehicle in mid-air. Benton had not been
as quick. I could see him struggling inside the crumpled interior,
trying vainly to free himself. As the boys stalked toward the
intruder, I headed to Benton's aid. Using what extra strength I
possessed, I put the Jaws of Life to shame and ripped at the car.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I was able to pull
Benton from the vehicle. His leg was damaged, but not broken. He
was able to walk with my assistance and I helped him back to my
SUV. When I finally got him to relative safety, I turned to the
ensuing battle.

While Felipe and Ronin circled,
Ado engaged the new vampire directly. It was a brutal, fast battle,
with both combatants clearly trained in dealing as much damage in
hand-to-hand combat as physically possibly. Both of them were
bleeding profusely, but Ado was listing badly, holding a hand tight
to his side. He feinted, drawing the other man to his left, then
swung, connecting with a sickening crunch. The man reeled, pulling
away and Ado made to follow. It was a mistake.

As Ado chased after him, the man
lunged, reaching for the sword that rarely left Ado's side. Before
my teammates could react, the blade whistled through the air,
slicing cleanly. A peacefully confused look crossed Ado's face and
time seemed to pause. I stood there, clinging to Benton, unable to
breathe, the world blurring before me. It felt like an eternity
passed before the silence was finally broken by the evil vampire's
cruel cackle. We all watched as Ado's head tilted unnaturally, then
tumbled to the ground like a bowling ball, his body dropping beside
it.

Felipe howled with rage and he and
Ronin launched themselves at the murderer, but the man was too
quick. He raced through the trees, with the boys hot on his heels.
I stood there next to Benton, unsure of what to do. When I looked
down, tears stained the man's shocked face. His eyes were wide,
unblinking, salty water pouring from them unhindered as he stared
at his defeated friend.

Using my fingers to wipe Benton's
face, I finally convinced him to get in the car with Jax. Then I
headed over to the other vehicle to retrieve what I could from the
wreckage. As I picked among the broken pieces, my glance wandered
to the surrounding houses, which had all gone dark while we were
inside.

A small face peeked through a
curtain on a second story window, eyes wide, mouth slightly open.
Forcing a brave smile, I waved and a little hand waved hesitantly
back. When I held a finger to my lips, the boy nodded, locking his
own and throwing away the imaginary key before turning from the
window.

By the time I got everything
salvageable out of the overturned SUV, Felipe and Ronin were back.
They were panting and covered in sweat, but they had been unable to
catch the man. He had escaped, leaving behind a whole mess of
carnage.

Ronin picked up Ado's body and put
it in the back of the only working SUV. He climbed in beside it,
somehow finding a place to curl up among the various gadgets and
equipment. Felipe talked to the cleaning staff and they agreed to
handle the destroyed vehicle. Then he pulled himself into the
driver's seat once more and we headed off back home to lick our
wounds and plot our revenge.

Other Titles Available From This
Author

Vampire Assassin (Jane
#1)

Available on
Kindle
&
Nook
.

New Blood (Jane #2)

Available on
Kindle
&
Nook
.

Redemption (Jane #4)

Available on
Kindle
&
Nook

Blood of the Dragon

Available on
Kindle
,
Nook
, &
in
paperback
.

About the Author

Samantha Warren owes her love of
reading to Laura Ingalls Wilder, without whom she would not own a
rumpled, torn, beautifully pink book called
Farmer Boy
(the first book she
remembers reading repeatedly). Her favorite book of all time
is
Frankenstein
,
a fascinating study in the dichotomy of mankind.