Vampire Apocalypse #2 Cataylst (19 page)

The King stroked his chin as he looked into
the inky darkness behind them. “She may not have put proper guards
here. I took most of her better men last night. She’s weak,
unprotected.” The King glanced at the top of the wall again. The
wind whipped his dark hair wildly around his face. “Wait here,” he
commanded. Grinning, the King bent his knees like he was going to
jump across a puddle. When he sprang, his slender body launched
into the air like a rocket. The King landed on the icy turret at
the top of the wall. Before jumping down, he looked back at
Celticad with delight in his golden eyes.

Celticad didn’t want to wait there, but he
did as he was told. There were a few muffled noises that were
obscured by the wind. When Celticad looked at the top of the wall,
sharp flakes of snow fell into his eyes, but he didn’t look away.
Agitated, he felt useless waiting around, while the King went over
the wall alone, but Celticad couldn’t jump like that. The King
practically flew over the icy wall and landed soundlessly on the
other side. A noise caught Celticad’s ear and he leaned closer to
the wall, trying to identify the sound. Next to his eye, a small
fissure appeared in the white wall. Celticad leaned closer,
watching it spider into several directions before the wall made a
loud cracking sound. Celticad stumbled back, his arm covering his
face as the section of wall exploded. Shards of ice flew past his
eyes, nearly blinding him. When he lowered his arm, Celticad saw a
small opening in the wall where the crack had been. It gave way.
Caving in, the hole expanded and formed a passage big enough for
him to walk through. He didn’t wait for the air to clear. Keeping
his arm at his eyes, Celticad walked through the floating debris
and emerged on the other side of the wall. The King stood there
with three dead vampires at his feet. Their blackened blood soaked
into the ice, staining it like ink spilled from a bottle.

“Where is the tunnel?” the King snapped,
looking at the ground, like a door would magically fling open just
because he asked.

“In this garden. It’s part of the history of
this place, a reason why the Queen chose it. Caverns were vast in
this part of the country, often stretching underground for miles.
We aren’t looking for a small tunnel, we’re looking for the
entrance to a cavern.” Celticad spoke with certainty as his eyes
scanned the landscape.

The King was tense, moving swiftly through
the garden, but he didn’t see any way in. Before they had much time
to look a voice crackled to life. The noise came from the
communicator on one of the dead vamp’s body’s, “Report. Over.”

The King looked at Celticad. They’d know he
was here any moment. There were two posts down on this side of the
palace. He didn’t have time for this. As if he read the King’s
mind, Celticad walked over to the vamp and lifted the white box
from his belt. Pressing the button on the side, Celticad said
something the King knew to be a report, but the way that it was
spoken concerned him. The report had to be given a certain way,
parts of it in code. Celticad spoke fluently, like he’d done this
many times before. Celticad knew the Queen’s codes. While the King
didn’t know all of the code, he knew enough of it to recognize it
when he heard it spoken.

When Celticad finished, he said, “Over,” and
clicked the thing off, tossing it to the ground on top of the dead
vampires. Every single one was killed the same way—decapitation.
Vacant eyes were still open in shock, like they couldn’t believe
that they were attacked.

“When were you in the Queen’s guard?” the
King asked suspiciously, ready to destroy one more vampire. Another
body was nothing, not with his power.

“After I was turned,” Celticad replied, his
voice angry.

“Then, why should I trust you?” the King
asked, gaze narrowing. He didn’t expect the vampire to speak
truthfully. He expected lies, a faulty reason why he knew the
Queen’s code.

“You shouldn’t,” Celticad said plainly. The
large vampire looked directly into the King’s face as he spoke, not
making any apologies for his past. “You’d be a fool if you trusted
anyone. Make no pretense for me, your Majesty. Assume I’d kill you,
if I had the power. You’ll live longer.” Wind whipped Celticad’s
dark hair. He stood rigid, ready for the King to attack.

After a moment, the side of the King’s lips
pulled up into a sadistic smile, “A man after my own heart.”

Celticad nodded once. “Exactly,” he said
gruffly. “Now, let’s find that door before someone realizes we’re
here.”

CHAPTER 29

“This is stupid, Reggie.” Kahli grumbled for
the fourteenth time in five minutes. The guards already spotted
their vehicle and they were being escorted toward the palace,
flanked by the Queen’s vampires. They were surrounded by various
forms of snow mobiles and ice bikes like the one Will rode when he
chased her from here the other night. There were six, total. That
was too many to overpower or outrun. Turning their fate over like
this made Kahli nervous. It meant relying on a person that was
totally crazy. Reggie was guessing his sister’s next move, but that
meant she was predictable and in the short time Kahli was at the
palace, the one thing she learned for certain was that Sophia was
completely unpredictable.

Reggie ignored her. He continued to drive
slowly toward the palace. Speaking to Will, he said, “I’d question
your loyalty after all this. If you didn’t have my rune scarring
your shoulder, I would have thought you were trying to help her
escape.”

Will glanced at Reggie out of the corner of
his eye. “And, go where?”

Reggie didn’t look at him, but Kahli did. Her
green gaze was burning a hole in the side of his face. She’d know
everything—he offered her that—if he’d bitten her. Looking down at
the seat, her eyes fell on Will’s hands. They were strong and
smooth. There was no trace that he was thrown from a motorcycle
yesterday. Her blood healed him. She wondered if Reggie knew how
much blood Will had drank from her.

Reggie made a noise that sounded like he was
clearing his throat. “You shouldn’t have been able to do it—go
after her, I mean.”

“It didn’t violate your loyalty, Reggie. If
anything, risking my life to save Kahli proved the opposite.”
Will’s blue eyes were narrowed, watching the guards as they drove.
If Kahli didn’t know better, she’d have thought he was counting
them, getting a vamp total as they drove. She was doing the same
thing. So far there were six vampires, plus Reggie, plus two guard
posts. That didn’t include those she couldn’t see, the vampires
that lined the perimeter of the palace at other posts. And as they
got closer to the palace, Kahli knew that number would only go up.
Escape was looking less and less likely.

“This is stupid,” Kahli said again, gazing
out the window, her eye catching another guard. The vampire was
large, dressed in white. He looked like a snowman walking through a
snow globe. The wind whipped up the snow, swirling it in the air
and making visibility completely awful. Nightfall made it worse.
Reggie’s headlights only blinded them, reflecting back in their
faces. He switched them off again and they traveled toward the
palace, darkness falling around them like a thick blanket.

“What would you have us do?” Reggie finally
asked, his head turning to Kahli. She’d pulled her knees to her
chest and had her hands gripped tightly. Her fingers were
white.

When he asked her, she released her legs and
looked at him. “Are you serious?”

“No, I’m joking,” Reggie said dryly. Then he
snapped, “Of course, I’m serious. It’s not like your plan would
have been better, but since you keep mentioning it and we have a
ways to go—”

Kahli rolled her eyes. “All of us going in
together, walking straight through the front door is stupid. You’re
relying on Sophia being predictable. You see the problem?” She
sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. “She’s crazy. She’s
going to do whatever she wants. If she feels like killing all three
of us, you’re the only one who can fight her, and we aren’t even
sure of that.”

“I am,” Reggie muttered.

“Well excuse me if I’m not willing to throw
my life in your hands. I seriously doubt Will would have opted for
this plan either.”

“He could have protested.”

“He did, you ass. You blew him off.” Kahli’s
tongue was sharp. She plowed ahead, ignoring Reggie’s reaction to
her foul mouth. “There are too many unknowns. Last night when I
left, I killed three guards. The King was still alive. He’s a
factor, too. And the number of guards on the grounds is insane.
Have you ever seen this many vampires outside the palace? Where’d
they come from? I’ve never seen so many in one place before.” They
drove up the road, passing vampires dressed in guard uniforms every
few feet. Reggie glanced around, like he hadn’t noticed. “You knew
she was expecting an attack, didn’t you? So, what’s your plan,
Reggie? Walk up to her and stab her in the heart?”

Reggie sighed. His shoulders slumped forward
like he was tired of driving. “Will, explain to her what we’re
doing.”

Will glanced at Kahli. She wanted to talk to
him so badly. There were so many things to ask. He was loyal to so
many people. What would happen to him when he stood before all of
them, and they all told him to kill each other? Which rune would
win? Did it work like that? Kahli didn’t know.

“I have no idea what we’re doing. I agree
with Kahli. This is reckless. The best I can come up with is that
you offer the Queen your services and a peace offering—me and
Kahli—and hope she doesn’t lop your head off before you finish
speaking. Sorry, Reggie, but that’s a weak plan.”

Reggie didn’t speak. Kahli looked horrified
when she turned back to Reggie. “That’s it? Are you insane?”

“Blood of a feather, kills together,” he
said.

Kahli’s lip curled. She glanced at Will and
mouthed,
Is he crazy, too?

“Maybe,” Will smirked. “We’ll have to wait
and see. Since, Reggie prides himself on being smarter than
everyone else, we just have to hope he is.”

Kahli exhaled loudly, “How can you be so
calm?”

“What would you have me do?” Will asked.

Kahli looked at him. She didn’t want Will in
that throne room. She knew what he was, what Reggie planned on
doing with him. Will was a walking sacrifice, a slave. He threw
himself through Reggie’s window to save her, but by putting himself
in Reggie’s presence, he endangered himself. If the vampire wanted
to, Reggie could destroy him. There were so many things she wanted
to say to Will. Now she’d never have the chance. Glancing through
the front windshield, Kahli knew this was her last chance. The
gates were getting closer, looming in the distance like charred
bones jutting from the snow.

Kahli made sure she didn’t glance at the door
this time. Instead she smiled sadly at Will, only one corner of her
lips rising. “Something else, somewhere else. I have a feeling that
I’m going to be your undoing.” Without warning, Kahli grabbed the
door handle and pushed.

Will’s brow pinched together before his eyes
widened. “Don’t!” he yelled, snatching at her hand, but Kahli
already had the door open, and had thrown herself out.

Her body slammed into the ice, and rolled
toward the bank, careful to avoid the other vehicles. The
snowmobile to the right of the truck nearly ran her over, but it
veered at the last second and crashed into the snow bank. Gasping,
Kahli jumped to her feet. She threw herself over the top of the
snow bank on the side of the road, clinging to the ice as she went,
and slid down the other side. Jumping to her feet, Kahli ran into
the darkness.

Reggie continued driving. He didn’t even
brake. A growling noise filled the cab. Will slammed his head back
into the seat, frustrated, his hands pressing into his eyes hard
and muttering curses.

“Well?” Reggie asked, irritated. “Go after
her! None of this works if we show up without her. Go!” The truck
slowed and Will jumped out the door, flinging himself from the
truck. Reggie yelled, as he leaned across to yank to the door
closed, “Find her!”

Kahli ran hard, her feet getting just enough
traction to keep her from sliding on the ice. The new layer of
fresh snow helped. Heart pounding against her ribs, Kahli ran. She
ran away from the vehicles and into the orchard where the snow
mobiles and bikes couldn’t follow. It was too dark and the snow was
falling too hard. Visibility sucked, and that was the only thing
working in her favor. As it was, she barely had a head start, but
it was enough that the vampires didn’t find her right
away
.

A plan started to form in her mind, coming
together like pieces of wet paper. She shifted them around in her
head until she came up with a scenario that worked, and gave her a
chance to get to Cassie. Grinning like she was crazy, Kahli
thought,
It doesn’t matter if they find me, I just have to get
to the palace first.

The ground wasn’t smooth. It rolled with
small hills that made it difficult for the vehicles to get a light
on her. Every time Kahli thought they saw her, she suddenly
disappeared behind a little hill, sliding on her back, before
crouching and then jumping to her feet and taking off at a full
run. This was the only way to save Will. It was the only way to
make sure he didn’t end up in the room with her, and Reggie.

Kahli ran until her legs turned to lead.
Sweat trickled between her shoulder blades, despite the frigid
temperature. The dry air filled her lungs in big gulps, drying out
her mouth and cracking her lips. Kahli forced herself on, ignoring
the stitch in her side that burned like razor wire. The roar of
engines were all around her, but she couldn’t tell where any of
them were. For a while, she ran away from the lights, and that
helped, but the vamps figured out what she was doing and shut them
off.