Refuge (51 page)

“Beggars can’t be choosers.”

He stumbled, and I shifted to take more of
his weight. Damn, Mohiri warriors were not light.

I looked around us. “Where to?” I asked
Chris, trying to keep the fear from my voice.

“That way.” He pointed to the cluster of low
buildings a few hundred yards away on our left that housed the
garages. “If we can make it there, we’ll be okay.”

“If we make it.” I took a deep breath to
steady me and started in that direction, trying not to stagger
under his weight as we moved as fast as we could. I looked straight
ahead so I didn’t see the battle around us, but there was no way to
block out the sounds of fighting and dying. If I survived this,
those sounds would haunt me for the rest of my days.

“Sara, we
will
make it.” The arm across my shoulders
squeezed me. “Nikolas will be so proud of you.”

“Have you seen him? Where is he?” I asked
anxiously.

“We were coming back from town when someone
raised the alarm. We found the main gate open and ten vamps waiting
inside. The two of us were holding them off when Desmund showed up
to help. Nikolas asked me to come find you.”

“You left them there?” My voice rose when I
thought of Nikolas and Desmund alone and outnumbered five to
one.

“Don’t worry about the two of them. Desmund
is as good as Nikolas with a sword, and he actually looked like he
was enjoying himself. Trust me; he and Nikolas are safer than we
are right now.”

A menacing growl behind us made the hair on
the back of my neck stand on end, and I spun us around, fearing for
Jordan who followed us with the witch. My breath hitched at the
sight of the black werewolf ripping apart a vampire less than
twenty feet from us. Roland made short work of the killing then
dropped the body and bounded toward us with Peter close behind him.
Both of my friends looked like they’d been through more than one
battle tonight. Their fur was wet and dirty and bloody. Peter was
limping, and Roland had a nasty cut above one eye that looked like
it was already starting to heal.

“Phew, you guys really do smell like wet
dog,” Jordan declared, stumbling when Peter brushed against
her.

Roland came up to me, and I would have hugged
him if I wasn’t supporting Chris. I put a hand in the rough fur on
his back, and he leaned against me.

“I’m so glad to see you guys.” I wanted to
sob with relief, but now was not the time to break down. My friends
were safe and their arrival greatly improved our odds of survival,
but we were far from out of danger. We picked up our pace with
renewed energy. Roland walked beside me, and Peter took up the rear
to protect us from a surprise attack.

“Roland, once we get to the garage, will you
go find Nate and keep him safe? Please?” My voice broke on the last
word. I hadn’t allowed myself to think about Nate, but seeing my
friends made me painfully aware that he was the only one whose
whereabouts were unknown. I also knew Roland and Peter would not
leave me until I was safe, even to help Nate.

Roland growled softly and nodded his large
head.

When a high-pitched cackle echoed through the
woods a few seconds later, my bladder almost gave away and my heart
threatened to break through my ribs. Chris stiffened and tried to
stand on his own. Roland’s hackles rose as Peter came racing back
to us. We all turned to stare at the trees.

“What is that?” Jordan asked.

“You don’t want to know,” I said through numb
lips. “We’ve got to go – now.”

We broke into a run, going as fast as we
could with two injured people. I tried not to think about what was
out there, but it was impossible to not picture the grinning mouths
and the six-inch claws that could rip the roof off a pickup
truck.

The sound came again, much closer this time,
and I knew we weren’t going to reach the buildings in time. Roland
and Peter realized it, too, and they moved to take up defensive
positions between us and the trees. They had a chance against the
creatures, if there weren’t too many of them. All I could do was
stand there and hold up Chris, who was wheezing from our short
run.

Jordan let go of the witch and hefted Chris’s
sword like it was made for her. She was wet and bloody and tired,
yet she stood bravely to face a threat unlike anything she had
encountered.

“Jesus!” she hissed when the first massive
hyena-like creature stepped from the trees. “What the hell is
that?”

No one answered her. We were riveted on two
more creatures emerging from the woods, followed by at least ten
vampires. Terror slammed into me at the sight of the three massive
crocotta.

A large head swung in our direction and spoke
in a perfect imitation of Jordan’s voice. “Jesus!” it said and
giggled.

A second later, roars followed by screams
came from the other side of the grounds. What other horrors were
the warriors facing? How could we hope to survive this?

God, please help us.

The vampires held back as the crocotta
advanced on us. Roland and Peter sprung forward to meet them. One
of the crocotta raked its long claws along Peter’s flank. Peter
howled and clamped down on the crocotta’s throat with his own
powerful jaws. The two of them went down in a snapping, growling
mass of fur, claws, and teeth.

Roland let out a snarl, and he and the second
crocotta lunged for each other at the same time. I cried out as the
crocotta’s mouth latched onto the back of Roland’s neck. They hit
the ground with a loud thud and rolled over a few times in the snow
before Roland was able to shake free of the creature’s hold.

I was so fixated on my friends that I forgot
about the third crocotta until Jordan screamed my name. She leapt
in front of me swinging Chris’s sword in a deadly arc. The tip of
the sword sliced easily through the shoulder of the creature
bearing down on us. The crocotta roared in pain and swiped at her.
She dove to the side, but its claws hooked the pocket of her coat
and threw her off balance.

Jordan landed hard on her stomach but kept
her grip on the sword. In one fluid motion she rolled onto her back
and slashed at the crocotta looming over her, cutting a long
shallow gash in its chest. Her attack took the crocotta by
surprise, but that did not last long. It struck out with a paw and
knocked the sword from her hands before it reared up to strike, its
mouth opened and drool dribbled between the razor-sharp teeth.

“Jordan!” I screamed. I tried to run to her,
but Chris held me back.

A roar split the air, unlike anything I had
ever heard. From out of nowhere, a large winged shape dived from
the air, dipping so close to our heads that the downdraft from its
leathery wings made my hair fly around my face. The crocotta
stumbled away from Jordan, and I saw terror in its eyes before it
turned to flee. It didn’t get far before it was swallowed by flames
so hot I felt them from twenty feet away.

“Alex?” I whispered, too awed by his
appearance to be terrified he would come after me next.

Engulfed by flames, the crocotta screamed and
thrashed violently on the ground. The wyvern circled the dying
creature once before taking off toward the vampires that had
stopped their advance on us to stare in shock. Flames sprouted from
his snout again, and I heard a vampire shriek in agony. The others
scattered.

If Alex’s appearance shocked me, it was
nothing compared to the sight of the golden griffin that dropped
from the sky with an enraged squawk and snatched one of the
vampires up in her sharp talons. The vampire’s screams lasted only
seconds before he fell in pieces to the ground. I stared at the
gruesome sight and swallowed several times to keep from gagging. If
my sweet Minuet could do this, I did not want to imagine what an
adult griffin was capable of.

Chris let me go, and I ran to help Jordan to
her feet. She retrieved the sword, and the three of us watched the
vampires scream and run from the endless attacks from above. The
snow-covered ground turned scarlet, and I could not understand why
the vampires did not run for their lives, choosing instead to be
burned alive or ripped to pieces.

Growling pulled my attention from the
vampires to Roland and Peter still locked in deadly battles of
their own. Sharp teeth and claws tore at flesh and tried to snap
bones. Blood sprayed and hot breath steamed the air. The werewolves
and crocotta were evenly matched. We had to do something to help
Roland and Peter.

“Jordan, we need to – ”

Jordan jumped forward with the sword raised.
But not to my friends’ defense. I saw the vampire as he swerved
around her and came at me. He was not a baby vampire, but he was
still young and his sneer was cocky, obviously not seeing either of
us as a threat. Jordan staggered slightly as she spun to intercept
him, and I knew she was exhausted.

I was running dangerously low on energy, but
I stepped away from Chris and summoned what power I could. When the
vampire grabbed me, I slammed my hands into his chest and gave him
a weak jolt. It wasn’t nearly enough power to disable him, but he
stopped short and stared at me in surprise.

It was all the opening Jordan needed. Our
eyes met briefly, and I stumbled backward as her sword sliced
cleanly through his neck. The severed head hit her boot, and she
kicked it away before letting out a whoop and shooting me a savage
grin.

“You and me are one badass vampire-killing
duo.”

I tried to smile back as I swayed on my feet,
and Chris had to grab me to keep me from falling. “Looks like
you’ll have to go solo,” I panted. I was used up.

Chris yelled Jordan’s name, and she spun
around as a male and a female vampire weaved their way toward us.
Their ability to evade Alex and Minuet and the way they sometimes
blurred as they moved told me these were almost mature
vampires.

“Give me my sword,” Chris commanded, but I
knew he was still too weak to fight. Jordan knew it, too, and she
shook her head without looking at him. She was going to die
defending us.

I heard a whimper to my left and cried out
when I saw Peter slumped over one of the crocotta. He was bloody
and barely moving. A few feet from them, Roland was locked in a
death grip with the second creature. My friends were all going to
die before my eyes, and there was nothing I could do to help
them.

I felt the air move around me a second before
two long furred bodies sailed over my head and hit the ground
snarling. Hugo was on the female vampire before she knew what hit
her, and with one bite, he tore her head from her shoulders. Woolf
went after the male who had already turned tail and run. I watched
Hugo give the female’s body one last shake before he dropped it and
joined Woolf in the pursuit of his prey.

The remaining vampires’ courage left them
when they saw the two red-eyed hellhounds that had come to join the
fight. They turned and fled for the trees with Hugo and Woolf
snapping at their heels and Alex and Minuet attacking them from
above.

The sound of snapping bones tore my eyes away
from the hellhounds, and I spun in time to see the last crocotta
sink to the ground. Roland released its broken neck and staggered
back from the dead creature.

I fell to my knees beside Peter and ran my
hands over his head and sides. My power was so drained I didn’t
know if I had enough to heal him, but I would give everything in me
if I had to.

His large head lifted sluggishly, and his
amber eyes met mine before he gave my chin a lick.

“Are you okay?” I asked, and he nodded once.
I threw my arms around his thick neck and hugged him tightly.
Roland came to sit beside me, and I found myself sandwiched between
them and struggling not to fall apart. I’d come so close to losing
them again. If Alex, Minuet, and the hellhounds hadn’t arrived when
they did, we’d all be dead now. I wasn’t sure how much more I could
take tonight.

“I think it’s over,” Jordan said in a
disbelieving voice.

An eerie silence hung over the grounds.
Everywhere I looked, warriors stood with dead vampires at their
feet. The quiet was broken only by the distant roars and growls
growing fainter by the second.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” I asked no
one in particular, staring at the woods.

Chris let out a bark of laughter that was
followed by a fit of coughing. When he recovered, he wiped his eyes
and smirked at me. “Sara, I’d take you and your pets into battle
with me any day.”

Jordan harumphed and gave Chris a look of
pure chagrin as she stabbed the tip of his sword into the ground so
close to his foot, he had to step sideways to avoid losing a toe.
“Next time, you can carry your own damn sword, Blondie.”

I burst out laughing at the bewildered look
on Chris’s face, but my laughter faded when a familiar presence
brushed across my mind. My heart soared.
He’s safe.
I whirled and searched
the grounds breathlessly for a glimpse of Nikolas.

He tore around the corner of the main
building, carrying a sword in each hand, and wearing a thunderous
expression I could see from where we stood twenty yards away.
Spotting us, he veered in our direction, and I barely had time to
take a breath of air before he was in front of me. He threw down
his swords and grabbed my shoulders, ignoring everyone else.

“Are you hurt?” he bit out. His rigid posture
and the blazing intensity of his gaze told me he was close to
losing it.

“I’m okay, Nikolas; we all are.” I laid my
hands against his chest and felt his body tremble from the effort
to calm down. Rising up on my toes, I whispered in his ear.
“Please, don’t freak out on me, okay? I don’t think I can take it
right now.”

A sound like a soft growl rumbled deep in his
chest, and I took a hasty step back, only to be pulled against him.
I started to protest, but my words were smothered and all thought
fled when his mouth came down over mine.