Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) (23 page)

Devon, Julian, and Liam had exited the
building through one of the small windows in the basement so they
wouldn’t be seen. The window led to the small alley between this
building and the bank. They had never bothered with those small
windows as the basement was under the trap door that they had
barricaded. But after the three of them had gone outside, the
barricades had not been put back in place. They had been left open
so Devon, Liam, and Julian could make a swift retreat back to the
basement if it became necessary.

No one had thought the creatures would
be smart enough to figure it all out. No one thought that they
would discover the tiny windows below. They were wild, crazed, and
incapable of thought. But what if they retained more reason and
intelligence than they had thought? Cassie wondered again. What if
the monsters had known all along that they were inside this
building, blockading themselves, preparing for a fight? What if
they had expected this kind of a trap, and had laid one of their
own?

The thoughts ran rapidly through her
mind, but she was dismayed to realize that she already knew the
answers to all of them. The monsters were not mindless, in fact
they were cunningly smart, deceiving, and so very deadly. She knew
that she had to turn around, knew that she had to see what was
behind them, but her feet felt like wooden blocks. Her legs were as
heavy as lead. She didn’t want to see what her mind and body
already knew.

Gathering her courage, she turned her
head slowly, her eyes searching the dark room. Behind where Joey
and Patrick sat in their chairs, behind the shelves with all of
their goods, shadows hunkered amid the darkness. Though they were
still mostly hidden, she could discern their hulking shapes and
reddened eyes as they glared across the room. She could make out
eight of them, but there could be even more in the back, or still
down below. A pulsating hunger and excitement radiated from them,
seeming to fill the room, though she was the only one that had
noticed them so far.

Afraid that any movement would
immediately draw their attack, Cassie remained frozen, barely
breathing. They had weapons gathered by the windows, but she didn’t
think she would have enough time to get her crossbow, let alone
fire it, before the creatures were upon them. She wasn’t even
certain she would have enough time to warn the others
first.

Taking a steadying breath, Cassie
remained unmoving as she whispered to Annabelle. “How are they
doing?”

Annabelle didn’t look at her, but she
could feel her confusion over the fact that Cassie was no longer
watching. “Another one has arrived, but they’re ok.”

The creatures would probably keep
sending one or two in at a time in order to keep three of the
stronger fighters occupied. Though she knew now that these monsters
had enough sense to realize it was probably a suicide mission, they
would do what the larger group wanted. They would sacrifice
themselves in order for the others, more than likely the leaders,
to feed and murder. Cassie shuddered at the organization, the
brutality of it, and the thought process that had led them
here.

Patrick had said that they did react,
but only when murder, mayhem, and feeding were involved. Apparently
even he had underestimated these creatures, to what might be all of
their ultimate downfalls. They shifted slightly but did not attack.
She didn’t know why they were waiting, they knew that she could see
them, knew that she was watching them, but they remained
immobile.

What were they doing? She wondered
frantically, trying to get into their thought processes, trying to
understand what was going on. But she could not understand them, it
was impossible.

“Ok, ok good,” she breathed.
“Annabelle, get away from the door.”

Annabelle shot her a look, and then
froze. She turned slowly, her hand resting against the door as she
moved on the chair. Her strawberry curls fell around her shoulders,
her rosebud mouth parted in surprise, but she did not move. Beside
her, Chris froze, his hand tightened around the curtain to the
point that Cassie thought he was going to rip it from the window.
Luther stiffened, but did not move. Melissa turned slowly, her onyx
eyes, as dark as the room, widened in shock.

Though they were all aware of the
monsters now within the room, the creatures still did not move.
Patrick and Joey had turned in their chairs, their mouths dropped;
terror was etched onto their features. Where was Dani? Cassie’s
gaze darted past the creatures. She could not see the bathroom that
Dani had bolted into, Cassie didn’t know if she was still in there,
or if these monsters had gotten to her first. Though Cassie still
did not trust the girl, her power would come in handy right
now.

Very handy.

“What are they doing?” Melissa
whispered.

Cassie had no answer for that. She
found it more terrifying that they weren’t moving, then if they had
already attacked. And then two more emerged from the dark. Cassie’s
heart flipped, panic gripped her hard. She could barely breathe.
Ten on seven. The seven of them were strong fighters, if Dani was
still alive, but these odds were far worse than she would have ever
wanted.

And yet they still did not
move.

“There’s more,” she breathed in horror.
“They’re waiting for them.”

Chris cursed violently; he finally
released the curtain as he spun toward them. Patrick and Joey began
to make horrified sounds as they bounced their chairs back, all
pretense’s at trying to stay unnoticed forgotten in the face of
these numbers. Cassie spun, they could not wait for them to attack
their numbers would only swell if they did.

Hefting the crossbow, she slid a bolt
expertly in as she heard the sudden explosion of movement behind
her. They were coming, and they were coming fast. She spun back
around, taking aim at the first one coming at her. She fired
swiftly; the bolt was off target as it slammed into the creatures
shoulder, barely knocking him off of his onward rush.

Annabelle leapt off of her chair,
lifting it quickly she used it like a lion tamer as she slammed it
into the chest of the one rushing at her. It fell back a few feet
before lunging forward again. Cassie managed to get another bolt
into place, taking aim she fired it, finding satisfaction as the
bolt hit home. The creature made no sound as it fell back, its
hands clenched its chest as it began its death wither upon the
ground.

Cassie froze; her mouth dropping as the
creature continued its silent death throes. “Jesus,” Melissa
whispered, stunned into immobility too.

They were being silent, even in death,
they were being silent. They wanted to keep this attack as quiet as
possible. The thought process that went with that fact was
staggering. For a moment no one moved as they tried to blend this
new information in with what they had thought they’d known. Even
Joey and Patrick had frozen; their mouths were wide as they stared
at the creature that lay upon the floor, silenced forever
now.

What were these things? Cassie
wondered, trying hard not to completely unravel. Were they more
human than they had all originally thought? Or were they even more
demon? If they were more human should they even be killing them, or
should they be trying to save them?

She didn’t have time to weigh those
questions out; these creatures would not give her that time. Fear
for her own life far outweighed the guilt, and doubt, that flared
through her as the rest of the creatures raced toward them. Shocked
into immobility by the creatures silent death, Cassie had not
thought to reload her crossbow. Lifting it high, she slammed it
hard into one of the monsters chests as it reached her. Using the
crossbow as a barrier, she held it off of her as she struggled to
regain control of this awful situation.

She punched another hard in the cheek
as it reached for her. He fell back from the force of the blow, but
the one with the crossbow in its chest continued to claw and swipe
at her. They may have had the sense to plan this silent ambush, but
when it came to fighting, the bloodlust took complete control of
them. They had no reason, no sense, as the desire to murder and
destroy overtook them. Cassie slammed the crossbow harder, shoving
the thing further back as the other one launched at her
again.

A pain filled cry rent the air. Terror
filled Cassie, but she could not take her eyes off of the creatures
attacking her in order to see how Melissa was doing, or how badly
she had been hurt. Chris shouted, and then another monster went
flying by Cassie, its hands clenching at the knife buried deep in
its chest.

Continuing to use the crossbow as a
shield, she focused her attention on the other one that kept coming
back at her. Its reddened eyes were narrowed with fury as it clawed
and flailed in unnerving silence. Trying not to let her panic and
terror overcome her, she swung another punch at it.

The thing ducked at the same time that
it grabbed hold of her fist. A strangled cry escaped her, but she
could not tug her hand free of its grasp. Her hand tightened on the
crossbow as she continued to fend the other one off while trying to
tug her hand free. The creature’s eyes spit red fury as it tugged
her closer; its grip on her hand was painful.

“Why do you get to be normal
still?”

Cassie froze, her eyes widened as
horror filled her. She gaped at the thing, frozen in startled
surprise by the fact that it spoke. That it could speak! She had
not associated speech with these half crazed, wild things. She
would have thought it was impossible, but it was speaking to her,
and it was making sense, even if its voice was the most horrid
thing she had ever heard. It was low and grating as it slithered
out of him like a snake crawling out of a hole. The sound of it
sent chills down her spine, it made her blood run cold as terror
pounded across her.

It could speak, and its thought
processes were far more advanced than she had thought! Shaken,
confused, disoriented Cassie could not move. And its question, its
question! Why did she get to be normal? How did this creature know
what had been done to her? How did it have enough reason to
understand any of this?

The world seemed to slow, Cassie’s eyes
narrowed as she studied it. The features of it were a mangled blur
of human and monster. Its red eyes were filled with hate and
hunger. But there was something oddly familiar about it.

Then, she remembered. She had been
locked in her cell still, before Dani had rescued her. One of the
creatures had peered into the window, tried to get into her cell,
hoping to kill her, wanting to destroy her. It (no not it, this
thing before her), had been chased off by Dani’s power.

But now it had returned. It knew that
she had been in that laboratory too, knew that she had emerged, not
unscathed, but certainly not the same thing that these monsters had
become. It knew that she had emerged much better off than they had,
and it hated her for it.

“Why!?” it snarled.

Cassie had no answer for it, she could
not think of one. It was not fair that she had come out almost
normal after what had been done to all of them, but that was not
her fault. She had not done this to them, she had not done this to
herself. It should not blame her, but it did.

Cassie opened her mouth, but before she
could respond it ripped her forward. Having been shocked into
immobility, Cassie was thrown off balance by the sharp tug. She
staggered, trying to keep hold of her crossbow at the same time
that she tried to regain her footing. A hand entangled in her hair,
causing a sharp cry of pain to escape her as her head was ripped
roughly back.

She swung her fist up, hoping to
connect with something, anything but coming up with nothing but
air. Panic rose up to drown out her stunned surprise. She was
surrounded, and at the moment they had the upper hand. Using the
crossbow, she slammed it hard into the chest of the one she had
been fending off, knocking him back a good five feet. Using the
brief reprieve, she turned toward the one with its fingers
entangled in her hair.

Before she could do anything, it jerked
her hair back and struck with the unnerving speed of a cobra. Her
terror, confusion, and disbelief were swiftly buried by the pain
that rushed up to swamp her. A scream rose in her throat, but it
strangled there, unable to break through the agony that seared
through her veins.

Devon had said that it was painful to
have blood drained against your will, but this was far worse than
anything she ever could have imagined. Her muscles froze; her lungs
stopped working, her veins burned as the blood was unwillingly, and
greedily, sucked from it. Her skin fired with pins and needles that
poked her more rapidly than any tattoo gun. She felt as if a
million fire ants were crawling over her, nibbling at her, tearing
at her flesh as they ripped it away from her.

She wanted to scream, but she could not
get the air into her lungs to do so. She wanted to cry, but her
eyes were also on fire and they burned away the tears that formed
in them. She wanted to fight back, to move, but her limbs had
locked into place, her muscles were as unbendable as rocks. She
wanted to do many things, but all she could do was stand in
shattering agony as she listened to the disgusting, slurping sounds
of her blood being ripped from her.