A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) (10 page)

Please, I have
to get out.

Raven said, “I
understand. Come out all at once with all of your power.”  

Air’s escape hit
the house like a bomb.

Panes of glass
blew out of the house all at once with a large boom.  Where plywood had been
nailed to the windows, it was ripped out.  From inside the house, Raven heard
screams.

There was gunfire.
One minute Raven was standing on the lawn with her arms upraised facing the
house and the next she was on the ground where Jade had tackled her.

“Are you hit?” Jade
asked. She stayed on top of her, even when Raven elbowed her in the side.

“Get off me. We’re
losing our element of surprise,” Raven tried to push Jade off, but her sister
was stocky.

“Okay,” Jade said,
“But don’t stand up. They’re shooting from the window in the garret.”

Jade rolled off as
if she’d spent her life getting shot at.  She belly-crawled to the porch.
Fortunately, it wasn’t that far. Raven almost stood up again, but decided that
dying to spite her sister probably wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had. She
followed in Jade’s slug-like steps, keeping on her belly, low to the ground. The
only problem was the whole freaking yard was covered in glass.
Great idea,
Jade!

Another shot rang
out and hit the dirt not two inches from her side.

“Screw this!” Asking
Air to cover them, Raven dove for the porch, passing her sister who was still
doing the belly crawl. Jerking the screen door open, Raven threw herself
inside.

The porch had been
lightened by her fabulous attempt at sunshine warfare. One of the windows still
had a huge jagged piece of glass jutting up from the frame. Air’s explosion had
opened up the house. Raven had a knife in one hand and a stake in the other.

The porch was
empty. Just her luck, the door to the porch was solid.  The only way to see
what was on the other side was to walk through. Raven waited for her backup to
arrive. Jade was there in another fifteen seconds. As the door jerked open,
Raven said, “Took you long enough.”

“You’re lucky you
didn’t get yourself killed out there.” Jade groused.

“I had a windstorm
covering us. Better than crawling through glass,” Raven nodded to the door, “You
ready for what comes next?”

Jade nodded, “Just
stop with the Action Hero antics and let’s get Claire.”

Raven threw
herself through the second door, knife in one hand, stake in the other.  She came
face to face with a hot surfer guy just the right amount of years older. Raven
lifted the stake.

In a flash of
speed, the guy tore it out of her hands and chucked it behind him. Raven dove
sideways, slicing the knife at his legs, which were rather pasty.  When the
knife sliced along his skin without any blood beading, Raven knew. 

“Vampire!” She
yelled to Jade who was coming up behind her.

Ignoring Raven,
the surfer vamp grabbed Jade by the throat as he took a long step forward. He
smiled and ran his tongue along the two viper teeth vampires were known to have.
Myth said the vampires either fed on blood or energy.  Feeding on blood was
considered second class. Seeing them Jade said, “Oh, so you’re a loser vamp who
has to feed with his mouth.”

His hands wrapped
around Jade’s neck, cutting off her air as he leaned down to bite her.

Raven wanted to
high-five Jade for the dig.  Jade, the straight-laced goody-two shoes of the
family. Maybe high-stress situations really did bring out the best in people.
Raven wasn’t about to give the vamp a chance to eat her sister.  She dove for
the second stake and lifting it high, brought it down sharply on the vampires
back.

He flexed his
shoulder, still choking Jade.  He taunted Raven, “Oh, are you a woodcarver? 
Too bad for your sister you’re not a better fighter.”

Jade’s face was
purple. Her hands were wrapped around his fingers, trying to pry them off. 
Raven yanked the stake out of his body and tried again. The stake barely
entered his body. Nothing happened. Worse, the vampire seemed to enjoy her
helplessness.  He laughed at Raven and tightened his grip on Jade.

They were in the
parlor. Raven was frustrated.  Where was the light? There should have been
sunbeams burning the surfer-vamp to a crisp by now. Instead, a single beam of
sunlight had gotten through and now created a kind of vampire trip wire across
the parlor to the stairway. It was so far from where Jade and the vampire were
fighting as to be completely useless.

The vampires had
added security measures in the house. For all the coolness of tearing them out
of the house, the blasted-out windows didn’t leave the vampires defenseless.
The house was still too dark.  Jade was running out of time. Her eyes bulged
out as she frantically tried to breathe. 

Raven didn’t know
what kind of knife she’d pulled from the van.  It was large and sharp.  With a
cry of rage, she lifted it with both hands the way she would lift an axe. With
every atom of her being, Raven funneled her anger into downward motion.  The
knife skinned the vampire from shoulder to elbow. It bit deep into muscle and
bone and then caught at his elbow, stuck in the bone. Raven tried to pull it
out, but it was lodged tight.

He struck with a
vengeance, his teeth popping into Jade’s neck with an audible sound. Blood ran
down the side of her neck.

Crying out, Raven released
the knife.  Taking three steps back, she threw herself against the vampire and
Jade, using the entirety of her body weight to knock them over.  Jade fell
limply to the ground. Raven had taken care that the knife wouldn’t hurt Jade
but she feared that the vampire’s choke hold had already killed her.

Raven went for the
knife again.  The vampire beat her to it. With one swift motion, he pulled the
knife free.  Skin and muscle flapped back and forth on his arm. The vampire was
bloodless. The surge of blood Raven expected never came.

Time stopped.

Seeing the vampire
with the knife, Raven froze.  He was on top of Jade.  She tried to think of
what to do, how to save her sister. He was so close.  One sharp slice and Jade
would be dead.  Raven cried out to Air, asking for help.  Air did what she
could. The tornado blasted into the vampire. 

Raven had to stop
the vampire and get to her sister.  Sisters.  Claire was still there.  She
realized then that they weren’t alone.  Three more vampires were hanging back, just
out of sight of the parlor, watching.

Yelling at them
Raven said, “What are you afraid of? You soul-sucking brainless corpses!”

Jade had to be
alive. She had to.  How long had it been since the fight started?  How long had
that vampire’s hands been wrapped around Jade’s throat.  Air wasn’t keeping the
vampire from Jade.  He had grabbed Jade with one hand in the tornado and fed
from her even as they circled in the wind. In the other hand, he still held the
knife.

When Air stopped
circling, Raven yelled, “That can’t be it. Get in there and do your thing.”

It was the one
time, the only time, she had ever yelled at Air.  She could feel the hurt
coming from her Element.  Air was as confused as Raven.  The creature was
strong and buffeting him about was just wasting time.

Raven gasped when
the vampire lifted the knife in a single swift motion, Jade unconscious in his
arms.  She closed her eyes.  She wasn’t proud of herself for it, but she
couldn’t witness the horror of what he was planning to do with the knife.

Cringing, Raven
thought she would hear the final drop of the knife.  When she opened her eyes,
she realized that the vampire had cut his own throat.  Blood was falling into
Jade’s mouth. 

Air spiraled in
the parlor. “Stop him. You have to stop him.”

It was then that
Raven saw the antique mirror hanging next to the fire place.  She grabbed a
vase and smashed the mirror. It sprayed glass into her hair and eyes. Blinking,
Raven grabbed the largest shard of glass, cutting herself on the edge.

Take two.
 Air
shouted.

Raven picked up
another shard, blood running between her fingers.  The vampires in hiding,
smelled the blood and stirred from their hiding place.

She ran for the
stray sunbeam. 

Aloud, Raven said,
“Help me, Air. I don’t have much time.”

She felt the
presence of Air in her mind, in her heart, in her soul, a gentle presence, not
a fighter, not really.  That surprised Raven.  After all their time together to
know that Air was a pacifist when Raven was a fighter.  Why would Air choose
her?

Because you
intrigue me.
 That was Air’s answer. 

Air knew sunlight
and the bending of sunlight.  She understood prisms and flashes and all things
bright. She died a thousand deaths in fetid tombs, choking on dust and dead
things, but outside in the Universe, Air was best friends with Light. Air
showed Raven how to place the mirrors.  She needed both, just as Air knew she
would.

The beams burned
right onto the head of the vampire dribbling blood onto Jade’s lips.  Air
swirled around the room.  The vampire’s head caught fire in a whoosh, like the
propane of a gas stove suddenly catches.

Air warned Raven
of another vampire and showed her a new placement for the mirrors. Raven followed
her guidance and the beam of sunlight shot through this vampire’s neck. One more
vampire, again drawn by Raven’s blood poked its head around the corner.  Air
had already given her warning, and Raven was ready with her arrow of light.

It was over. The
last vampire in the room turned to dust.  Raven stumbled to Jade’s side,
terrified of what she would find. Raven grabbed a doily from one of the tables
and held it to Jade’s neck.  “Jade? Jade? Talk to me.”

Jade opened her
eyes with a groan. She whimpered and tried to spit out the vampire blood. Air
kept watch while Raven knelt at Jade’s side. “Are you okay? What can I do?”

Jade spit out more
vampire blood. Her own blood was soaking into the doily. She groaned, “Find
Claire.  Hurry. I can feel them. There are dozens.”

Raven left the
stakes behind, but decided the shards and knife would be useful.  She didn’t
even want to think about the repercussions of Jade drinking vampire blood and
suddenly knowing that they were all around, but it was all Raven could think of
as she took the stairs two at a time. 

Chapter 8

~~ Claire ~~

Claire struggled
to open her eyes.  She heard the fighting downstairs.  Raven screamed once. It
was a pained, angry scream, one that made Claire want to get up, made her fight
to get up.  But she couldn’t.

Gladys smoothed her
own hair, now restored to a youthful shine and said, “Beddy-bye time. Tasha, finish
her quickly and find me in the panic room.  The drug we used has an aftertaste,
and her sisters are closing in.”

Gladys left the
room, moving down the hall and to a back staircase. Claire heard her footsteps
retreating and then a door closing. 

Tasha put a hand
on Claire’s head and drank in her essence.  Claire’s heart beat slowed. She
gasped for each breath. The worst part was seeing Tasha’s fevered excitement
and knowing that her joy was because she felt Claire dying. 

Claire could see
it.  Tasha enjoyed the kill. The world spun. Claire knew that if she closed her
eyes, she would die. It took every ounce of her strength to keep them open,
even just a sliver. Finally, she couldn’t hold them open anymore and her eyes
slid closed.   

In the distance a
door slammed open. The drugs had affected Claire so much that the distant door
she had heard was really just a few feet away. Claire heard Raven’s voice say,
“Get your hands off my sister, Fangs.”  

The sound was so
distant, like a voice under water.  Claire wanted to open her eyes. She just
couldn’t.

A cyclone burst
through the room.

Claire opened her
eyes long enough to see Raven stab Tasha through the heart with a knife. It
didn’t do anything but buy time. Air tore down the curtains that had been
nailed to the walls and flipped the foil back. Sunlight pierced the gloom and
Tasha caught fire, burning up in a single fevered scream.

~~ Raven ~~

Raven sank onto
the bed, blood dripping from her fingers.  She dropped the glass, “Claire?”

Claire mumbled, “Drugged.”

Raven wanted to
cry.  She and Jade together could drag Claire out of there, but she didn’t have
the strength to carry one sister, let alone two out of the house. Air loved
Raven and would hold her up against the force of gravity, but she couldn’t be
trusted with Claire, not if the practice sessions were any indication.

Raven decided the
first step was to get her sisters to the iron gate. At least Claire wasn’t
fully grown yet.  Raven could reasonably expect to get her safely out.  She grabbed
one of the pillows and pulled it out of the pillow-case, wrapping it around her
fingers to stop the bleeding. Using a fireman’s carry, she heaved Claire over
her shoulder with a grunt.

“No sister should
have to do this,” Raven grumbled under her breath.

“Jade.” Claire
said.  Claire realized that she sounded like Mindy. Then she realized that she
was slobbering on Raven’s awesome leather jacket and started giggling.

Punctuating the
words, Raven said, “Stop. Laughing. Stairs.”

Which also sounded
like Mindy, making Claire laugh even harder.

Raven didn’t
bother with another verbal response, but in her head she threatened to leave
Claire on the stairwell.  As it was, she tripped at the bottom of the stairs,
but held it together long enough to retain her balance.

She stopped long
enough to check on Jade.  Jade was still on her back, staring at the ceiling.
For a moment Raven was terrified that her eldest sister was dead. Then Jade
moved her head slightly.  In slurred words, she said, “Get Claire out.”

“Don’t boss me
around,” Raven said, and then followed Jade’s instructions, which were exactly
what she was going to do anyway. Air helped with the doors. The sun was bright
in the sky. It had to be past noon.  It felt like they’d just arrived at the
compound, but Raven realized they must have spent a lot more time scouting than
she thought.

She dropped Claire
at the gate, hoping that Air had cushioned the fall.  It wasn’t that easy to
lug a person down a flight of stairs and across the lawn. Raven hurried back to
the house. Jade was still there, staring at the ceiling. “Jade? Can you move? 
I’m not sure I can carry you,” Raven said.

“I’ll try.”

The sisters
stumbled out the door and down the stairs like drunks. Jade banged her shins
against a post and Raven caught an elbow on the door. Raven kept expecting
another attack, but the vampires were quiet.

Jade held her
hands over her eyes the whole way across the lawn.  When they finally reached
Claire, Raven decided they should keep going while Jade was still standing. As
they stumbled past Claire, Raven said, “I’m taking Jade to the van.  I’ll come
back for you. Don’t go anywhere.”

Getting Jade through
the fence was tricky. They both managed to roll under the gate.  Once again,
Jade lay still, staring up at the blue sky and not quite all there. The only
difference was that she squinted her eyes until they were nearly closed. Raven
tugged on her, “Jade, get up.”

Jade ignored her.

Raven couldn’t
very well kick her sister, even though she wanted to.  She poked Jade again,
“Jade, we’ve got to go before it gets dark. I know that seems like a long time
from now, but I have a lot to do.”

Raven tugged until
Jade blinked and then let herself be pulled up. Raven cursed the idea of
parking the van around the corner and down the road. Their stumbling walk
seemed to take forever. When they finally reached the van, Raven felt
immediately guilty.

Mindy curled up in
the passenger seat holding her teddy bear and sucking her thumb.  Great
babysitting skills, leaving Mindy to fend for herself at the edge of a vampire
nest. Mindy pushed open the door and climbed down, thumb still in mouth, teddy
bear still in arms. When she saw the blood on Jade’s neck, she started to
whimper.

“Mindy, are you
okay? I need you to be brave for Jade, now.” Raven said gently.  She wasn’t the
best of sisters.  Jade was the one who loved Mindy the way she needed to be
loved, without selfish thoughts of playing on the phone or reading when Mindy
needed her to be present.

Nodding, Mindy
took her thumb out of her mouth.  Raven thought she was going to say something,
but instead she pointed to Jade and then the road they’d come from.

“I don’t know what
you’re saying, Mindy, but Jade was hurt there and I need to get Claire.” Raven
nudged Jade up. “Jade, I can’t get you into the seat by myself.  C’mon, you
have to help.”

Jade groaned. It
came out a bare hum. With one hand wrapped around the seatbelt and one on the
dash to steady herself. Jade took the first step up, teetering as if she might
fall right back again.  Raven was about to push her in when Jade leaned forward
and turned, half-sliding, half-falling into the seat. “Mindy, I need to go back
for Claire. Can you watch Jade for me?”

Mindy nodded.
Raven was about to open the sliding door for Mindy, but Mindy climbed over
Jade’s legs on the passenger side and squirmed between the chairs to go to the
back of the van. When she was safely settled, Raven closed the door.

Jade was in no
condition to drive.  Raven had just gotten her learner’s permit.  She felt a
sudden sinking feeling.  The mantle of responsibility had fallen on her
shoulders. She was responsible for getting her sisters away from the vampires,
for the whole escape.

Raven hurried to
the back of the van.  She found the first aid kit and used real bandages on the
slice across her fingers.  In Mom’s emergency supplies, she found a small axe,
starter fluid, a flashlight, and matches. She had dropped the broken mirror
shards in the house, unable to carry them and Jade. Now she wished she had
them. She dumped a duffel bag filled with beach towels and clothes and put her
finds inside.  Hefting the bag, she shut the door.

“Mindy, I’ll just
be gone a little while longer, okay?” Raven asked.

“Yes.” Mindy said.

Raven’s sneakers
crunched on the gravel road.  She realized that if she really wanted to fit the
part of a hot vampire snack, she should have worn high heels with the leather
skirt and jacket. Too late now. Plus no one can run in heels. Besides she was
none too lady-like in the skirt.

Jogging along the
road to the gate, Raven did the roll under, feeling like a pro now that she’d
done it so often. Claire was sitting up on the grass, as pale as a first snow,
with dark smudges under her eyes.  She looked so haunted that Raven knelt on
the grass next to her and gave her a sideways hug.

“Can you last here
for just a little while longer?” Raven asked.

Claire leaned her
head on her sister’s shoulder, “What are you going to do?”

“Break open the
sheds. Burn the main house. I should have enough daylight.” Raven said and
unzipped the duffel bag to show Claire.

“There are people
in the house. Real people. The vampires keep them drugged,” Claire said, looked
at the lighter fluid Raven.

“We’ve got to get
out of here before darkness falls,” Raven said.  “I’ll do what I can in the
next few hours.

Feeling wobbly,
Claire pushed herself up, “Let me help. The worst of the vampires are kept
locked in the sheds. They can’t talk and the other vampires keep people chained
up in there as food. If we can cut the locks on the door, maybe we can let
enough light in to kill them.”

The first shed was
the hardest.  After forcing the door open, they realized that the sunlight didn’t
penetrate all the way. Raven swept the shed with the flashlight, shuddering
when the beam landed on the half-eaten remains of a teenager. She jumped when
the light found the vampire, a dirty foul thing that moved in the dark like a
beast. Claire clutched her arm, her breath hot on Raven’s neck. Raven’s first
inclination was to shake her sister off.  Claire’s version of personal space
was a bit closer than Raven’s.  Feeling Raven tense, Claire moved back.  

The smell was a
wall of putridness. Raven felt her insides roiling. She was holding the axe in
one hand, flashlight in the other.  She said, “Watch the door. I’m going to try
something.”

The sheds weren’t
huge.  She thought she could gauge the distance of the vampire.  The axe bit
into the old wood.  She swung at the outside of the shed until she had created
a hole for sunlight to fall in.  The sunlight hit its mark and the vampire
howled.

Raven ran back to
Claire, “Is it dead?”

“You told me to
watch the door. I’m not going in there.” Claire sounded affronted in the way
only a younger sibling could be.

Grabbing the
flashlight out of Claire’s hands, Raven stepped forward.  Sweeping the inside
of the shed with the light, Raven knew that sunlight had done the job. “Okay,
let’s do the next one.”

“Wait. Aren’t we
going to burn these?” Claire carried the duffel bag. Clearly she’d taken a peek.

The stench of the
shed and the feeling that she was filthy beyond redemption made Raven
irritable. Her first thought was to snap at her sister, but instead she took a
deep breath and with slow words that were more annoying to Claire than a snap
said, “That’s for the house.”

“You can’t set the
house on fire. There are people in there,” Claire thought of the dozens of
couches, each one with a person, not a vampire, but a human being.

“And what? Let
them die here as vampire food? It’s euthanasia. They’re already dead anyway.
We’re just making sure the vampires die too.” Raven kicked the door.

Claire’s eyes grew
round, and in their depths Raven could see a bitter disappointment, as if
Claire had been hero-worshipping her from afar. “You can’t do that.”

“I’ve got a job to
do.” Raven stepped past Claire, feeling such a sense of guilt and terror and
disgust.  It was wrong.  She knew deep in her heart of hearts that sacrificing
the people in that house to kill the vampires was wrong. She just didn’t see
how they could get them all out, kill the vampires, and escape safely. She was
in way over her head. They all were.

“But they’re kids
like me,” Claire followed Raven like a little puppy.  They shared the same
look, black hair with vivid eyes. But Claire’s hair was messy, her jeans and
shirt filthy.  She was the walking poster child for a cautionary tale against
running away.

Raven ignored her,
stopping at the next shed with axe in hand.  Claire would never win an argument
with Raven. She was too stubborn.  Throwing the duffel bag down next to Raven,
she said, “You keep going here.  I’ll get them out.”

When Claire
stormed off, Raven thought of telling her that she’d changed her mind, that she
wasn’t really going to set the house on fire.  She felt completely stuck.  What
was the most right thing to do?  Leave the people to be eaten by vampires or
kill them all in fire? Or Claire’s third option…rescue them all.

It was ambitious,
but Claire was like that.  Before Claire got to the house, Raven called out to
her, “Claire!”

Claire turned
around. Raven said, “Help me here, and I’ll help you get everyone out.”

Claire ran back to
Raven, relief clearly stamped across her face.  Working as a team, they cleared
the sheds.  Five people were rescued from the sheds. They were as filthy as
Claire and scared out of their minds, but with a rescue squad, Claire’s idea
might work.

Raven assembled
the small group of men and women. She spoke with solemn authority, “We work in
pairs and clear the rooms one at a time. I’ll fire the house before the sun
goes down.”

~~
Claire ~~

Claire didn’t feel
well. She was exhausted and scared.  A whole host of other emotions flickered
through her soul like fireflies dancing through the sky at twilight. She wanted
to go back to the grass where Raven had left her before and just relax until
Raven was finished.