No Man's Land (27 page)

“Got it,” Melody replied, saluting before hauling a rifle out from under the sofa.

Kelly turned to meet Jaq’s worried eyes. “Let’s go.”

27

T
he bitter November air was sharp in Jaq’s nose. It smelled of snow, even though the moon and stars shone clear above. Avoiding the main roads, she’d run through the woods, familiar as the fur on her paw, before cutting through long stretches of open fields. The only sound was her breath. Animals hid and held silent, forewarned by the thud of her paws on frozen ground. It wasn’t time for stealth; it was time for speed.

As she approached the railroad tracks, the werewolf slowed. It wouldn’t do to barge in head–on. If this was a trap, she wasn’t sure where the other vampires would be positioned. Crossing the tracks and heading a bit east would bring her to the practice track and the rows of stables below. It would allow her to get close to the casino building under their cover, but her instincts told her there would be vampire guards placed there to ensure werewolves didn’t sneak into the main building undetected.

Straight down the railroad tracks would take her to the parking lot, but she’d be exposed the whole way. Veering west, Jaq hopped a wooden stockade fence and, instead, made her way weaving in and out of the manicured lawns of a residential subdivision. At the last house she paused, sniffing the air to get her bearings. There was no avoiding it; she’d need to expose herself in a dash across the parking lot to reach the line of tour busses that Jonah had positioned himself behind.

The fur on the back of her neck rose as she streaked across the nearly empty parking lot, belly close to the ground. It was too quiet. Sunday midnight and the humans were all settling in for the night. The air smelled of wolves from her pack, of grease from the fast–food joints that lined the highway ahead, of auto fuel and human sweat. It didn’t smell of vampire — not even a faint trace from the ten or so that were inside. It worried her. Where were they all hiding?

Jonah looked up as she approached. He was still in his human form, outlining strategy to a mixed group of twenty werewolves — most on four feet, although a few were still on two. Twenty. Mike had said there would be about two hundred. Hopefully she’d made it here before them.

Skidding to a stop, Jaq transformed into her human self. She was always a bit uncomfortable with her nudity, even though the pack routinely saw each other without clothing.
No one cares
, she told herself, and sure enough, not one of the werewolves looked below her face. That somehow bothered her even more.
Idiot
, she thought. Now wasn’t the time to question her attractiveness, or angst over the size of her breasts or the freckles that covered every inch of her skin.

“Jonah, Kelly fears this is a trap, and I agree.”

The alpha frowned. “Your pet vampire? Please tell me you didn’t bring her. I’ve got enough to worry about without fussing over whether one of us ‘accidently’ kills her in battle.”

Jaq winced, ignoring the question. “She has information to suggest that the northern prince may be making a play for the state, trying to drive us out and take over.”

“By seizing a casino full of humans?” Jonah looked at her as if she were insane. “That’s just going to piss us off, not drive us out of the state. No, this is just a rowdy group that came here to chow down on a bunch of humans safely out of their own territory. Once everyone else arrives, we’re going to distract them and send in three teams to take care of the situation.”

“Since when have vampires ever been a ‘rowdy group’?” Jaq argued. “They would have snuck in, drained half the gamblers and been back across the state line before we even knew. Come on, Jonah, you know better than that!”

He scowled, and Jaq cringed, realizing she wasn’t taking the best tactic with her alpha in front of twenty other pack members. “I mean no disrespect, Sir. I fear that this is a trap, that the vampires are gathering us all in one area hoping to kill enough of us that it encourages the rest to flee the state when they take over.”

“What trap? I don’t smell any vampires in the outlying areas. There will be almost two hundred of us — that’s more than enough to take on a bunch of vampires. Unless …you don’t think they mean to blow up the casino?”

Jaq shook her head. “They’re trying to buy it out. I doubt they’d destroy one of the better investments in the state. I don’t smell any vampires either — but I also don’t smell the ones in the casino. Could they be using some kind of olfactory camouflage? Or working with a witch to provide a masking spell?”

Jonah glanced toward the mish–mash of connected buildings that made up the racetrack and casino. “No witch in West Virginia would work with a vampire, but I guess they might have paid one of those New York ones to do it. So, Jaq, as our pack’s First, I’m asking your counsel.”

She caught her breath. “Sir. I’d suggest we move now. They’ll wait for the rest to arrive before they attack us. They’ll also expect us to storm in, in a huge show of force. Instead, let’s send a few individuals in through the back to rescue the human hostages. If they loop around by the stables, and go in on the lower level where the horses enter the track, they can sneak up the service stairs to the dining room, then down back into the casino.”

“We make a big show out front here to keep their attention in the meantime.” Jonah tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I’ll send my best hunters to locate the ambush party and report back.”

“What would you like me to do, Sir?”

Jonah grinned. “Why, Jaq, you’re my best hunter. I expect you to hunt.”

28

K
elly couldn’t help the occasional peek backward as she rocketed down the road in Jaq’s pick–up. It took every bit of strength to keep from being tossed around the bench seat. Jaq had stripped in Melody’s bathroom, the poorly hidden periwinkle bra peeking out from under the folded Levis as she placed them on the sofa and popped into her wolf form with a flash of light. It was disconcerting to see her race off through the trees, leaving Kelly behind with a werewolf that hated her, and an old pick–up with bad shocks.

She glanced back, feeling vaguely like a peeping tom, to see a shape twisting as it bounced around the rear of the truck. “If I don’t slow down, he’s liable to fly out,” she muttered, half hoping he would. Of course, that would make for an awkward conversation later, when she had to explain to Jaq why she’d driven off and left Mike beside the road, a horrific mixture of fur and flesh.

Ten minutes to the casino, even with the crazy back roads Mike had insisted she take before starting his revolting transformation in the back of the truck. Kelly hoped he’d be fully wolf before she arrived, otherwise he wouldn’t be much good in a fight. A huge pothole sent the truck lurching to the left, headlights bouncing around uselessly on the road. They were screwing up Kelly’s night vision. She’d contemplated turning them off and just driving in the dark, but at this speed, she was worried she’d plow into a deer before she could stop. Shocks weren’t the only thing barely functional on Jaq’s truck.

“Holy shit!” Something darted across the road, a blur in the headlights. Too fast for a deer, and too tall.

With a thump, the road disappeared and a face took its place on the windshield. Instinct took over, and Kelly jerked the wheel, sending the vampire sliding off to the side, hanging on to the light rack on the roof and scrambling with his feet to regain balance.

There was another thump, this time toward the rear of the vehicle. Kelly felt herself flung forward as the truck jerked backward. The wheels skidded on the gravel road and she shouted again, twisting the wheel. The truck spun around, slamming to a stop and flinging her onto the floor in a heap. If Mike hadn’t fallen out before, there was a good chance he had now.

“Vampires,” she shouted, hoping Mike could hear from the rear of the truck, and that he was in a position to do something about the attack.

The truck shook as the vampires jumped onto the hood and roof. A hand smashed through the window beside her and Kelly reached up from her position on the floor to grab it and pull. There was a shriek as the vampire’s arm raked across the jagged glass, spraying red onto the truck’s worn upholstery. With one hand, Kelly twisted and pulled to break the vampire’s arm. With her other hand, she yanked the door handle, kicking the door as hard as she could. There was a satisfying thump, and another yell of pain.

She repeated the action a few times, gaining momentum to spring up and out of the truck when the door flung open. Keeping his arm trapped through the window, Kelly spun around to face him.

The vampire stared at her with shocked eyes. “You’re not….”

“No, I’m not,” she assured him as she rammed the silver filet knife into his heart, twisting while it smoked.

Thanks, Prince. This knife sure has come in handy
, she thought as she yanked it from the vampire’s torn chest before giving it a quick wipe on her pants leg.

The truck rocked with impact, and Kelly jumped into the bed, slipping on the blood coating the floor. The tailgate was a torn chunk of metal dangling from broken hinges, and just past the end of the truck, two figures rolled across the frozen gravel — one on two legs and the other a strange, furry two–legged creature — half man and half wolf.

“Mike!” Kelly shouted, jumping from the truck and running to his aid.

The vampire pulled his head up to see her, and took a swipe across the face with a sharp set of claws. Turning his attention back, he grabbed Mike by the front leg and picked him up, spinning to fling him into the woods. Kelly heard a dreadful “crack” and saw a tree shudder just as she plowed headfirst into the vampire.

The momentum drove them both backwards, and the vampire hit the ground hard with Kelly on top. Once again, she stabbed for the heart, but this one had full use of both his arms. He grabbed each of her arms then lurched forward to smack his head against hers.

Everything blurred with pain, and Kelly’s grip loosened on the knife. Before she could react, the other vampire shifted his weight, rolling her over and snatching the knife from her hands.

“Hold still, you traitorous bitch,” he snarled, stabbing her repeatedly as she thrashed around, trying to get free, or at the very least keep the silver blade from her heart.

Wiggling an arm loose, she reached up and grabbed the vampire’s hair, yanking his head in a futile effort to throw him aside. As he shifted to the side, Kelly found herself looking into a pair of golden wolf–eyes and a massive jaw of razor sharp teeth in a human face. The teeth closed on the male vampire’s neck, slicing cleaning through muscle and bone, and blinding Kelly with a spray of red.

She panicked. There was a silver knife burning its way through her stomach, a decapitated vampire weighing her down, and Mike looming over her. Would he take this chance to kill her? Tell Jaq the vampires had done the job before he could save her? She frantically tried to push the corpse off her and wipe the blood from her eyes. Any moment, she expected those teeth to be slicing through her neck. Instead, she felt a soft paw patting against her cheek. When she looked up again, she saw through a red haze that the wolf–man was staring down at her, a look of wary respect on his grotesque face.

“Fanks for helpin,” Mike said, spittle spraying her from his misshapen snout. “Didn’t expect….”

“I know. That’s okay. No thanks necessary.” Anything to keep him from trying to talk. Those fangs, inches from her face and shiny with drool, the foul spray with every word — Kelly was never so grateful that Jaq’s transformation with quick and elegant. Mike’s breath stank.

The werewolf shoved at the headless vampire still pinning Kelly to the ground, embedding the knife even further into her gut. “No. Don’t. He’s got a knife in me. Just move off me to the left. I’ve got this.”

Mike shifted, and Kelly gasped, pain lancing through her middle. “No, your left. Your other left. The other way, other way.”

He obliged, and Kelly breathed in relief at the reduced pressure. “I’m going to lift up. Can you grab him with your hands …er, claws, and pull him toward you? Easy — his weight is pushing this knife into my gut. I don’t want any more damage than I’ve already got.”

Kelly struggled, lifting the vampire up and off the knife while Mike jammed sharp, furred claws into the body to pull it free.

“Hate silver. Hate it, hate it.”

“Me too. Hate the stuff,” Mike agreed, a line of drool extending from one fang to dangle a few inches above Kelly’s arm. She eased the knife slowly out of her stomach, and the burning subsided as her body began to heal. Two dead vampires— the one by the car, and the other decapitated between her and Mike. The woods rustled with noise of the battle only a few miles away, but Kelly could scent no other vampires nearby.

“North or South?” Mike spat out, waving a sharp claw at the dead vampire by his side.

It took her a second to realize he was asking which family the dead vampires were from. “Fournier. They’re from the north.”

Which meant they weren’t assassins sent to take her out, but part of the Prince’s trap. One had been surprised to see her, expecting another werewolf. If she was careful, she could use that to her advantage. They’d never suspect another vampire, especially one that clearly bore the scent mark from their own family.

A long, mournful howl carried faintly on the wind. Kelly raised her eyebrows as Mike turned toward the sound.

“We’re kicking ‘pire ass.” He grinned, and Kelly shuddered at the sight. “Driving them out toward Harpers Ferry. They’re almost to Halltown.”

Right where Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia joined in a line of jagged mountain cliffs and churning rivers. It was a good place to make a stand — as long as you didn’t have the river at your back. Another cry rent the night, taken up by a dozen other voices. Mike joined in, his howl echoing through the trees.

“More.” The werewolf took a deep breath. “Two families fighting crossed the border and are almost to Blair.”

Crap. Blair was just south of Halltown. If the other battle continued north, there was a chance they’d sandwich the werewolves in the middle as they drove the Fournier vampires east to Harpers Ferry.