A Cursed Bloodline (WG 4) (27 page)

In one pull, Misha wrenched the
were
—or what was left of him—into the cage with him. I’d always hated watching a vamp feed. This was way worse. I whipped around and covered my ears yet couldn’t muffle the slobbering, munching, and slurping as Misha feasted. Tye spun around. It was too much for him, too. We faced the wall. My growing nausea receded when Misha finished, except then Maria and Edith appeared with the next few courses. They hadn’t bothered knocking their prey unconscious, choosing instead to sever their arms so they wouldn’t be as much trouble.

The blood dripping from the
weres’
empty sockets sent Misha into a salivating frenzy. Tye tucked his arm beneath mine and led me out, but not before I heard Edith’s voice echo behind us. “Open wide, Master. Here comes the choo-choo train.”

The dreadful howls from the
weres
made us pick up our pace. When we reached the opening of the cave, Michael and the rest of the vampires waited amid clumps of ash and mounds of dead bodies. We’d beaten the enemy to a nasty pulp and still they remained eager to continue their rampage. Tye straightened to his full height. “Celia and I are leaving,” he told them.

Hank snarled. “You can leave if you want, but she stays. Our master needs her.”

I cut off Tye’s growl with a squeeze to his arm. “Let’s all leave. I don’t want to be around when Lu—”

Tye clasped his hand over my mouth. “Don’t speak a witch’s name aloud in her domain, unless you wish to summon her.”

I nodded. That wasn’t a lesson I needed to learn the hard way.

Tye released me as the vampires advanced, their sharp gazes locked on Tye in challenge.
“Stand down.”
They ignored my command. My hackles rose. Now that they had Misha, it was pretty damn obvious I was no longer in charge.

The door to the fortress blasted off its hinges. My heart stopped when I saw Aric storm in, leading one of the wereoxen by a chain of gold. The
were
was gagged and his eyes wild in fear of Aric. I couldn’t blame him. Aric’s facial features remained immobile yet the fury permeating his aura promised to butcher anyone in his path.
“Where’s Celia?”

Aric released the
were
when he caught sight of me and, from one breath to the next, stood before me. Thick and wretched humidity coated my skin with perspiration in defiance of the dark night sky. And yet the heat that spread between us was as gentle and welcoming as a warm bath. I inhaled his aroma just once before he snatched me into a tight embrace. My body quivered from the emotion behind his hold and my head fell against his broad chest. All I wanted to do was beg him to make the last few weeks disappear.

Aric rubbed his face against my hair and kissed my crown so softly I barely felt it. His voice held a strange mixture of ire and gentleness, like the power of thunder with the softness of a mist. “Why didn’t you tell me Anara had hurt you?”

I clung to his neck and sobbed. Throughout my entire time away from him, I’d tried to be so tough, but as usual he unleashed my vulnerability like a caged beast. The strain and burden I’d carried for so long spilled out of me like a cascade of falling timbers. Within seconds, his sweat-soaked shirt became newly drenched with my tears.

Aric pulled me closer while I rubbed my cheek against the side of his face. His skin felt like hard, crumpled paper, but his tenderness, warmth, and scent tightened my embrace. I’d missed my love so much and now he was finally here.

“Aric, now is not the time,” Tye said tightly. “We have to get Celia out of here.”

The vampires had circled us in the time it had taken Aric to reach me. Aric and Tye positioned themselves in front of and behind me, growling.

Maria’s claws protruded. “You’re not taking her anywhere. Our master needs her!”

“Do you think I give a shit what your goddamn master needs?” Aric shouted. “I came for Celia and there’s no way in hell any of you are going to stop me!”

I wiped off my face with my hands and stepped out from between Tye and Aric. “Everyone, calm down. Liz, go check on Misha and see how he’s doing. If he’s well enough we can all leave together.”

Liz didn’t like me telling her what to do.
“Fine.”
She hoisted the wereox by his torn collar and dragged him into the cave. He bucked and tried screaming, but Aric’s gag held.

“I don’t like this,” Aric muttered to me. He and Tye watched the vamps, their stances affirming their inner beasts would soon emerge.

I linked my arm around his. “It’s all right, love. They’re not going to hurt me.” It seemed like such an absurd thing to say, given the way the vampires lurked, ready to pounce, but I believed they wouldn’t attack me.

The oxen must have served as dessert because moments later Misha exited the cave with the good Catholics nuzzling against him. The tranquilizer guns that had been used to sedate Misha dangled at their sides. Misha sported pants, left over from one of his appetizers. His brutish size had diminished and he seemed a hell of a lot better, but his irises continued to flicker with a touch of insanity.

Misha bounded to me, completely ignoring Aric’s and Tye’s menacing snarls. When I moved closer to him, Aric hauled me back into his arms. I touched his face and, notwithstanding my nervousness, tried to speak calmly. “It’s okay, Aric. Please don’t be afraid.” Aric tightened his grip. He’d seen straight through me and knew I was scared.

I gently nudged him away. Aric was a lot stronger than me. If he didn’t want to let me go, I couldn’t have made him. All the same, he released me. He didn’t want me anywhere near Misha, but I had to say a peaceful goodbye to avoid any further carnage.

Misha took my hands. “You came for me.”

I smiled although I remained very much afraid of him, and just wanted to leave with Aric. “I told you I would, but now it’s time for me to go.”

Misha’s smile faded and his eyes flashed green. “No. You cannot leave me.”

Aric let out a sadistic growl and rammed his face into Misha’s. Misha gave Aric an inhuman stare, but refused to relinquish his hold. Misha still needed to eat, but Aric was the wrong wolf to take a bite of. The increasing hisses from the vampires and Tye’s own vicious growls made my words come out panicked rather than reasonable. “Please let me go, Misha. You’re safe now, we all are.”

But I was very wrong.

From a back entrance a
were
towing a large crate of supplies strolled into the compound. His pace slowed as he took in the devastation around him. Tye and two vampires charged him, but they were too late.
“Lucinda!”
he screamed before Tye severed his head.

Chapter Twenty-three

The ground shook and a furious scream blasted from all directions. We searched frantically, trying to place the source of the screeching until the fortress exploded around us. Aric shoved me to the ground and shielded me with his body. His entire form rattled against mine as falling debris pummeled his back.

Then everything stopped. I lifted my head. Pieces of the ruin and chunks of wood littered the area and a cloud of thick dust swirled in the still air. Aric leapt to his feet. I pushed up my hands, still shaken by the sudden eruption of chaos when a skeleton hand broke through the ground and grabbed me by the throat. I broke off its fingers while Aric yanked the rest from the dirt and crumbled the bones to powder. “
Shit
. She’s raising the dead—stay close to me.”

I didn’t really pay attention to the “stay close to me” part, I was still stuck on the “she’s raising the dead.” Dozens of skeletons ripped through the earth in all directions, bombarding our small unit with flinging arms and furious jaws that could still bite. But the skeletal remains of the Mayans weren’t the only things that frightened me. Lucinda had materialized—and damnit all, she was
pissed
. She screamed incantations and swore in Spanish, only to halt the moment she spotted me. A black film spread over her eyes and her mouth hollowed into a dark pit.
“Te mato, puta,”
she told me.

Great
. One more evil darling who wanted to kill me.

Her jaw unhinged from her face to tap against her chest. She retched, spewing a colossal serpent that slithered with preternatural speed in my direction. Hank leapt in front of it, baring fangs and slashing at it with his claws. A noble effort; too bad it had little effect. The snake punched holes into Hank’s body like large speeding bullets. No one could help him. We were all busy busting up the skeletons that continued to erupt through the ground. It wasn’t easy. If we failed to pulverize the bones to dust they’d reassemble, more incensed to take us down.

Hank stumbled back, crashing near my feet and resembling a bloody Connect Four board with legs. The barrage of swears that accompanied his wobbly rise assured me he’d live if fed. The next vampire, named Jackie, wasn’t so lucky. The snake shot straight through her sternum and into her heart. Bloody ash rained upon Aric and me as we fought our way through the destruction and down the mountain. Misha and his family followed, all the while fighting off Lucinda’s hexes.

I’d just caught sight of the barn when two hands shot from the ground and gripped my ankles. I fell hard. Dead limbs hooked on to my legs. Decaying fingers raked my body and tugged on my clothes and hair. The smell of rot encapsulated me, adding to my terror and making me scream. My fright alerted the snake to my presence. It fired toward me. But before it could strike, Aric attacked.

Tye broke me free from the sea of appendages as Aric tore into the snake in his wolf form. I scrambled to my feet, panting from fear and exhaustion. The only vamp still in one piece was Misha. I fought my way to help Aric only for someone to reward me with a slap to the face—or so I thought. Edith’s hand had flown through the air. Unfortunately, Edith was no longer attached. Lucinda’s magic had severed it along with most of her opposite arm.

Lucinda cackled through her gaping black mouth and, being the wicked witch from El Salvador she was, formed a tornado around herself. Because flying hexes and an army of fleshless dead aboriginals clearly weren’t enough. She whirled toward us, sending Tye slamming into a tree. I bolted away from the pulling force of her vortex and into the forest of dead trees, digging my claws into a thick palm to keep the blustering whirlwind from jerking me back. My efforts were worthless. She ripped me away like Velcro and sent me spinning toward her.

A knife flashed in the dense cluster of debris churning around her. I flipped my body, landing at her feet and away from the blade. Lucinda shrieked as my claws punctured through my sneakers and jutted into her thighs.

She dove at me, clutching her knife. I barely caught her wrist before she stabbed me. The blade arced an inch away from my right eye. It should have been impossible for her strength to match mine. She must have invoked additional power—one that grew with every breath she took.

Aric shouted through the howling wind, urging me to fight and yelling that he was coming. He never made it to me. The funnel encircling us launched him into the old barn. I heard him yelp as it collapsed on top of him.

I tried to
change,
but my ability was blocked within the eye of the tornado. Lucinda and I thrashed and rolled over the remains of her Mayan warriors. She must have grown up fighting on the street, but hell, so had I. And I’d be damned if I’d let her beat me. I twisted her wrist and head-butted her in the face, catching the hilt of her knife and forcing it into her left eye. Her screams were low and evil, calling forth more power and making me want to kill her that much faster.

Lucinda’s injured eye squirted a tarlike fluid that stank of venom. I bored the knife deeper into her skull. Although I hurt her, I kept waving the massive blade dangerously close to my face. I narrowly missed getting gouged in the cheek when I flipped her onto her back. That’s when I used my 110 pounds to hold her down and pummel her with my knees. We both hollered, Lucinda from pain and me with ferocity.

“Matare tu bebe, puta!”

I don’t how the crazy witch knew I was pregnant, but for her to threaten to kill my baby gave me one last burst of strength. I rammed her with an elbow, flipped the knife, and drove it deep into her chest.

A loud blast deafened me before an eerie silence crept across the land. My body dripped with sweat and I could barely catch my breath. Below me, Lucinda lay perfectly still, her hands clenching the long white handle of the knife.

The blade creeped me out. It had been fashioned from a large bone, with images of skulls etched into the hilt. Old evil magic seeped from it, so thick I could taste it. I scrambled away, disgusted by all the malice and suffering it had caused.

The black film veiling Lucinda’s eyes faded in time with the torrential winds. Her head lolled in my direction and she stared at me with unblinking eyes. Dark blood pooled in her mouth, leaking past her lips and settling into the deep wrinkles of her face.

Everyone watched me as they slowly advanced. Liz casually brushed off the skeleton still clinging to her shoulders. It landed like broken glass against the muddy ground. I stood on weak legs and stumbled toward Aric’s outstretched hands. “Come on, sweetness,” he whispered. “I’m taking you home.”

He gathered me tightly in his arms. I looked up to smile at him, only to catch his eyes sparking with fear. Aric spun me in a rapid blur, once more shielding me with his body. A bolt of lightning struck his back as we fell, followed by another that made his body shudder.

Aric slumped above me. From where I lay, I saw Lucinda. She sat with the knife still embedded in her sternum and smiled, before evaporating in a cloud of smoke. Tye wrenched Aric off me and hurled him in the direction of the demolished barn. Misha fastened his arms around my waist and hauled me away.

“No. Stop. What are you doing? Aric needs me!”

Tye rushed us, but instead of breaking Misha’s hold, he grabbed my legs and helped drag me toward the awaiting SUVs. I kicked and fought them, confused by their actions and ready to
shift
them underground when Aric lifted his head. My body sagged with relief when he rose to his knees. But my joy was short-lived.