I looked back toward the construction equipment. Saul was no longer sitting in the driver’s seat, but I could see a body crouching low behind it. My intuition nagged at me to go investigate, but with the battle raging all around, I knew I should be hunting down all of the snipers and killing any soldier I could find. Still though, the mystery behind Saul and the way he acted piqued my interest too much.
Looking left and right through the chaos, I spotted various wolves fighting in full fury. One had clamped his jaws onto a soldier. He viciously shook his head, killing his prey. He looked up, and I swear I saw him smile. Blood dripped from his fangs from the many kills. Wolves were definitely adept killers when they needed to be. I was grateful they weren’t hunting me.
I spotted Nicholas. Two bodies lay at his feet, and he held a third in his arms. The soldier pounded on Nicholas’s back, trying to break free from the deadly grip. Nicholas would not be budged. His teeth were sunk deep into the soldier’s neck as he fed from him.
All around me shots rang out. Gun powder hung in the air. The battle was far from over. Still, I needed to solve the mystery behind Saul.
I sprinted toward him.
Saul was crouched even further down behind the large tire of the construction truck. His wide eyes peered out at me from behind the shaking hands attempting to shield his face. “Mercy,” he said weakly, his voice barely audible over the noises of the battle surrounding us. If I hadn’t been a vampire I’d never have heard the word.
I locked eyes with him. “Why? Give me one good reason not to rip your throat out!”
“I mean you no harm.” He balled up, making himself appear smaller and frailer than he had when we’d last met.
“Of course not. You’re not in a position to harm me now, but you work for them.” I cast an angry glance over my shoulder to the fight. Thankfully, no one was paying any attention to us.
“They pay me, yes. They let me research, yes. But I’m not one of them.”
His pathetic voice tugged at my heart. There was true fear there. I could smell the tang of it emanating from him as well as see it in the depths of his eyes. But fear is no indicator of innocence.
“Why are you here, then?”
“The box. I have to see it for myself. It would be the pinnacle of my life’s work to know it exists, to touch it and hold it.”
“If you knew anything about it, you’d know no human can resist opening it,” I scoffed.
“But you know as well as I do that it is empty.”
How does he know?
“That crystal holds the evil within it, doesn’t it?” he asked, but it sounded more like a statement of fact to me.
“We don’t know that for sure,” I said cautiously, wondering just how much he knew about the crystal and the box.
“You know it as well as I do. And you know the crystal is dying. We have to find the box and put things right.”
“You say you’re not one of them, but you’d allow the slaughter of an entire pack of wolves to get at the box?” Anger welled up again.
“The evil that resides inside would kill more than this pack of wolves if it’s left to roam free. I can’t allow that.” I caught the hint of sorrow in his voice. “But I did not kill the wolf or the vampire here. I spared them. I told the soldiers they had to hold them for questioning until I found the box.”
I searched his face for any sign of deceit, but found only fear. “Show me. Now!” I practically shouted the words.
“They are close.” He nodded and pointed with a shaky finger toward the cabins that dotted the area behind the main preserve building.
Part of me wondered how much I should trust this man, while the other part of me desperately wanted to know that my friends were all right. It was a risk I’d have to take. If there was even the slightest amount of truth to his words, he could help us put things right with the crystal, Pandora’s Box, and maybe even Lysander.
“I hope I can trust you,” I said anxiously.
CHAPTER 23
Being old and frail, Saul was in no condition to sprint across the battlefield, past the soldiers, wolves and vampires, so I scooped him up into my arms and took off running toward the cabins.
With all the fighting going on around, I couldn’t tell which group had the upper hand. As I swerved past one pair battling it out, I almost tripped over another. Neither of them, thankfully, paid me any attention.
Flashes of bright light went off in my peripheral vision, followed by the loud mournful howl of wolves. A thunder of rapid gunfire assaulted my ears, but the bullets weren’t coming my way. My heart beat a drumroll as I continued on. I pressed on into the battlefield and ducked my head as if it would give me any protection, while Saul clung to me for dear life.
Everything around us was in utter chaos. I stopped behind the stacked wood again and tried to get my bearings. Crossing the battlefield directly was going to get us killed. I needed to retreat to the forest for cover and come around from a different side. With a new plan in mind, I took off again.
“Which cabin?” I asked as we passed into the forest.
“One of the closer ones, I think.”
“You mean you don’t know exactly where they are,” I growled the words. There were many cabins on the wolf preserve. We didn’t have time to search them all.
“Keeping prisoners is not my job.” Saul’s voice hinted his annoyance. “I did what I could to spare them, but beyond that I had no control over what the soldiers did with them. I only have so much power in the organization.”
I bit back my frustration. He had managed to buy them time and for that I was grateful. I kept running through the forest, hoping to use the trees as cover as I made my way around the outskirts of the battle and approached the cabins.
“Your friends will be heavily guarded,” Saul said to me as we came within eyesight of the first few cabins.
Thank you, Captain Obvious
, I thought but didn’t dare say out loud. There was no use venting my anger on him. I needed to save that for the soldiers.
Sure enough, there was a noticeable presence of soldiers surrounding cabin number three. That made my job a lot easier.
I set Saul down and surveyed the area. Two men stood at the door, holding assault rifles. Another appeared to be patrolling around the small cabin. He too was armed. To the left I spotted a fourth soldier, having a smoke break.
He’ll be first
.
“Use me as a hostage if you need to,” Saul offered. “I am somewhat important to the organization.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, Saul, but everyone in the Acta Sanctorum is expendable. These bastards would just shoot you if it meant hitting me too. You stay here. I need you alive.”
“I see.” He seemed surprised by my words, or maybe by the blunt way I’d said them. “What’s your plan, then?”
“I’m working on that.”
The sound of gunfire still rang out in the distance, but the soldiers guarding the cabin paid it no attention.
“I need some kind of distraction,” I mumbled to myself.
“If you can get me a weapon, I can try and pick off one or two of the soldiers,” Saul offered eagerly.
I looked at him crossed-eyed. “You’d be willing to kill one of your own?”
“You’re going to kill them anyway; I’d just be wounding them a little for you.” His gaze darted to the soldiers quickly and then back to me.
I shook my head, utterly confused. “You Acta Sanctorum guys have a weird sense of morality. I guess your God doesn’t blame you for being an accomplice, he only cares who deals the death blow.”
Saul shrugged. “Something like that.”
“See what I mean? Your group treat everyone as expendable.”
He pursed his lips. I was right.
“Better than nothing.” I shrugged and quickly changed back to the matter at hand. “I’m going to swing around back and grab the smoker over there. When he’s down, I’ll bring back the rifle.”
He nodded, and I took off running again.
I trotted to the next closest cabin, watching as the soldier on patrol made his round. When he wandered out of sight around the corner of the cabin, I made my move. As fast as my legs could carry me, I barreled toward the soldier who’d been enjoying his final cigarette. I connected with him just as he was stamping the smoking butt into the wet ground. He let out an “Ooof,” but before any other sound could escape his lips I covered his mouth with my hand and sank my teeth into his neck.
The heat from his blood coursed through my veins, strengthening me, warming me. I hadn’t fed in too long, and I needed this, though I knew I couldn’t savor it for long. I drained him quickly, squeezing his body and slurping down his blood as fast as his heart could pump it. When at last his heart failed, I pulled him back into the cover of trees and relieved him of his gun.
True to his word, so far, Saul had remained hidden in the trees, waiting for me.
“You’ve got a little something on your cheek,” he said with a cringe.
No doubt in my haste to feed I’d been a little sloppy.
I wiped my cheek quickly and tossed him the gun. “Get used to that; there will be a lot more blood before the night is over.”
He gave me a curt nod and lifted his rifle to inspect it.
“I’m going after the one on patrol next. You work on the two standing guard at the door. And try not to get shot, okay?”
“I’m not much of a marksman,” he said, fidgeting with the gun, “but I’ll do what I can.”
“I don’t need you to be a sharp shooter. Just distract them long enough for me to kill them.” I turned my gaze back to the soldier, watching for the right time to make my move.
“Yes ma’am.” Saul’s voice shook a little.
“And try not to shoot me in the process.”
I didn’t wait for his response. The soldier on patrol had just rounded the corner of the cabin again. His back was toward me, a perfect time to charge. I took off again at full speed.
Behind me I heard a shot; and then yelling from the other soldiers.
No time for seconds, no matter how thirsty I was, I had to kill this one quick.
As soon as I caught up to the soldier, I snapped his neck and then turned on my heel. Instantly, I spotted one of the two soldiers who’d been guarding the door. He was heading toward the forest, gun in hand. He sprayed a wide arc of bullets blindly into the trees.
I hoped Saul was quick enough to duck behind something.
Sprinting again, I ran after the charging soldier. Renewed by the blood I’d drunk, I was able to put on a little more speed and quickly caught my prey. His neck too snapped easily under my grip, but his death was so unsatisfying. I wanted to deliver a slow and painful death to at least one of these Acta Sanctorum bastards.
There was only one soldier remaining. I turned around and found him lying on the ground cradling his knee in his arms.
“You can come out now, Saul,” I called and headed toward the wounded soldier.
This one I can make suffer!
His eyes locked on to me as I approached. He knew his death was imminent. “Do it quickly please,” he said with no hint of fear, only pain in his voice.
“Where are my friends?” I sneered and stared down at him with all the malice I could muster.
He refused to answer.
Stupid man. I’ll deal with you in a moment.
I stepped over him and picked up the rifle lying at his back. I reached out and touched the handle on the door, pausing for a moment to sense if there might be anyone else nearby. I heard Saul approaching and the sounds of the battle still going on in the distance, but nothing else.
“Kill me,” the soldier whimpered again, but I ignored his plea. He wasn’t getting off that easy. And, if my friends were inside, they would need blood to help heal. Dead blood was of no use to a vampire.
I opened the door slowly. Inside, in a large steel cage, was a wolf.
Brady
. A little bloody, he looked like he’d been through some ordeal, but he was alert and paced in his cage.
Next to Brady, lying as if dead on the couch, was Ian, a large wooden stake jutted out from his chest.
Bastards
.
I tossed the gun aside and ran to Ian’s side. “Please be okay. Please!”
Wooden stakes by themselves aren’t deadly, but enough damage to the heart could be. Vampires can only regenerate so much. His heartbeat was faint but still there. I said a silent thank you. Ian’s chest was coated in blood, but the stake had not gone through his heart. It looked as if they had just wanted him paralyzed, not dead.
The wolf Brady growled at me as he continued to pace inside of his cage.
“I’ll get you in a second,” I said, and then turned to Saul who was just entering the cabin. “Drag that asshole soldier over here.”
The look on his face said he’d rather not, but Saul made no attempt to argue with me. He heaved a sigh and turned around.
I knelt down in front of Ian. With both hands, I grasped hold of the stake and yanked it sharply out of his chest.
Saul attempted to drag the soldier, but his old body just didn’t have the strength. “Move,” I shouted as I jumped up and stormed over to the soldier. He may not have looked frightened before, but now his eyes showed their true feelings.
“Kill me quickly,” he pleaded.
“You don’t deserve that luxury,” I snarled, and bent down to grab him by the scruff of his coat. With a rough jerk, I sent him across the floor.
I turned to Saul. “Look away if it will bother you.”
“Why don’t I try to find the key to the cage?” he said nervously.
“Good idea.” I knelt down between Ian and the soldier and pushed up the sleeve of my coat. I bit into my wrist, and as soon as the blood pooled to the surface of my skin, I placed it over Ian’s mouth. As injured as he was, he’d need a lot of blood to heal properly. I hoped giving him a little of mine would speed things up. It took a few painfully quiet moments before Ian swallowed. I let out a small sigh of relief. His lips began to move over my wrist, and gently he began to suckle. Confident that he was able to feed on his own, I turned my attention to the soldier. I’d need to replace the blood Ian was taking.