After the Fall: A Vampire Chronicle (Book One) (15 page)

             
“Ready to go?” Caroline turned to see both Lorenzo and Chris entering the room. Despite having just woken, Chris looked wide awake. Caroline realized that this was normal for him; he did most of his hunting after the sun went down. She stood.

             
“Yes,” she answered them. She grabbed her purse and started when Chris reached out and grabbed her arm.

             
“Here,” he said, holding out his hand. “Don’t forget this.” She looked down and saw he was holding a crudely carved but extremely sharp wooden stake. She took it from him, the wood feeling heavy in her hand. Chris had shown her some of the most efficient ways to stake a vampire in the heart, and she had practiced on pillows, but she had never actually used one to defend herself. She wondered if tonight would be the night that changed.

             
“Thanks,” she said, and he held the door open for her. Lorenzo followed close behind them. They rode the elevator down and walked out to the street; darkness had fallen quickly, and the streets were unusually quiet and empty. The three of them walked side by side, with Caroline in the middle, but despite the protection, Caroline felt herself shiver. She told herself it was the cold, but there was something in the air, an unearthly stillness, and despite herself, it frightened her. As much as she wanted her family’s killers to pay for what they had done, she suddenly wondered if she would have the strength and courage to collect the debt.

             
“It’s all right to be afraid,” Chris whispered to her. “In fact, it’s smart to be afraid. Just remember: neither Lorenzo nor I will let anything happen to you.”

             
She couldn’t answer; her mouth had gone dry and her teeth were chattering, but she nodded, and he took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly before releasing it.

             
They had walked no farther than two blocks when two figures appeared out of the shadows in front of them, blocking their path. Chris stopped walking, and Lorenzo and Caroline followed suit. Though she couldn’t see, she sensed more figures materializing out of the darkness around them, and despite Chris and Lorenzo’s presence by her side, she was suddenly aware that it wasn’t the cold; she was very much afraid.

              Christian watched as the two in front of them approached. Next to him, he could hear Caroline’s breathing getting faster and shorter. Stay calm, he silently told her, trying to mentally reassure her despite the fact that they were outnumbered at least two to one. He had known it was possible they would be attacked on their way to the church, but he had not thought it would be by so many at once – he had never seen vamps run in a pack this big before.

He knew what Caroline was feeling; she hadn’t actually been in contact with vampires since the death of her family. He very much wanted this situation to go much better than that had. He hoped she would remember everything he had taught her; he had a feeling she was about to need to use it.

              The two in front of them were deathly pale, a male and a female, and both had feral, evil grins on their faces. They were the two from the parking garage, the two who had run away when he had saved Angel.

             
“Wanna play?” the female asked, her voice both playful and seductive, and next to him, he heard Caroline’s sharp intake of breath, and he immediately sensed a change about her. The fear was still there, but now there was something else, and he heard it in her voice when she spoke.

             
“That’s them,” she whispered, unable to hide her building fury. “Those are the two who were in my apartment.”

             
Good, he silently cheered. An angry Caroline would fight better than a scared one, and the vampires had unwittingly given her that advantage.

             
“Well, it seems we’re all old friends,” Christian said loudly, “so why don’t we just get down to it?”

             
He grabbed Caroline by the arm and pushed her towards Lorenzo.

             
“Stay together,” he ordered them as he was rushed from both sides. He would have to trust now that both Lorenzo and Caroline would be able to help themselves and each other until he had gotten rid of a few vamps and freed up his hands to give them some help.

             
A young, reckless vampire grabbed him by the arm. Using his other hand, Christian faked a punch to the vamp’s face, and as he sidestepped the swing, delivered a quick kick to the groin. As the vampire collapsed, Christian buried his stake in his chest, watching as he disappeared in a cloud of dust.

             
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lorenzo struggling with a female vampire. Caroline noticed it at the same time and without thinking, buried her own stake in the vampire’s back, gasping in surprise and horror as the vampire turned to dust. Lorenzo didn’t have time to thank her before they were attacked again. Caroline turned in time to see Chris being grabbed from behind, his arms pinned. She screamed and began to run to him but felt her own arm being grabbed, sharp nails biting into her skin.

             
Whirling around, she attempted to deliver a sharp kick to her attacker’s side, but instead felt her leg being grabbed, and suddenly, she was flying through the air. She landed hard on the concrete sidewalk, just missing hitting her head, but banging her arm and leg badly. Her vision blurred for a moment as a wave of pain washed over her body.

             
Christian wrestled with his own vampire, unable to shake the creature’s hold. He did provide some leverage, however, from which he was able to double kick an approaching vampire. A double roll threw the first vampire over his back and onto the ground in front of him, an easy target. Two more down.

             
Christian turned to see Lorenzo being double teamed. Running and growling, he tackled one of the vampires, throwing them both to the ground, where Christian found himself pinned. They struggled, but the vampire was strong, and Christian couldn’t shake him. The vampire grabbed his wrist and squeezed real hard. Christian gasped in pain, and felt his fingers fly open, his stake dropping uselessly to the ground. The vampire on top of him grinned, only to disappear in a cloud of dust. Panting, Christian saw Lorenzo standing over him, his stake in hand.

             
Grabbing Lorenzo’s outstretched hand, Christian jumped to his feet, grabbing another stake and wincing at a sharp pain in his side, where his healing wound had been reopened. He watched as even now the next vampire was rushing him.

              Angel watched from the shadows. She had been staking out the hotel, and had alerted Anya, Gideon, and the other vamps when she saw the trio leave for God knows what reason –
they
were the ones always telling
her
to not go out after dark. Despite the number of vampires who had attacked them, the two sides seemed evenly matched. Even now, the Hunter was dusting yet another vampire. He was obviously the most skilled at vampire killing, but Angel was impressed at how well even the old man was holding up; she hadn’t expected that he could be so spry. Caroline, however, could have used a few more pointers. She was having some problems, although Angel had a feeling the hunter would be by her side first chance he got. Angel couldn’t help but smile. Soon, the tide would turn in one direction, and she continued to watch, hidden by the darkness, to see what would happen next.

              Caroline struggled to her feet only to find herself being thrown to the ground yet again. The vampire was attempting to straddle her, but bringing her knee up sharp, she got him right in the groin and was able to throw him off of her. A quick jab to the heart, and he was history.

             
Caroline turned to see what had happened to Lorenzo and Chris when she felt an arm snake around her neck. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand quickly clamped down over it. She felt hot breath on her ear, and her stomach churned in disgust. She felt her neck being bent to the side, and she whimpered in terror. The action, however, forced her captor to loosen his hold on her neck; Caroline used the opportunity to grab his arm, and gathering all her strength, flipped him over onto the ground in front of her. The vampire screamed in pain as a bone snapped in his arm. Caroline winced at the sound, but lost no time in burying her stake in the vampire’s chest.

             
Breathing fast and shallow, her side burning from lack of air, her leg killing her, she quickly scanned her surroundings. Chris and Lorenzo were to her left, making quick work of two other vampires. She turned around and groaned to see she would have one of her own to take care of. Getting to her feet, she turned to face him, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw another coming from the other direction. Her eyes darting in all directions, she realized she had nowhere to run. She was being backed into a corner; behind her was a solid brick wall. There was a fire escape above her, but it was too far out of her reach, even if she got a running start.

             
She was exhausted, and she was in pain. She was angry and frightened and as she watched the two vampires stalk closer, she knew she couldn’t fight them both, so she did the only thing she could think of: she screamed at the top of her lungs.

              The sound of Caroline’s scream got Christian’s attention right away. Momentarily distracted, it gave the vampire he was fighting the opportunity to get in a quick punch to Christian’s face, but a sudden adrenaline rush proved to be more powerful; Christian wasted no time in killing him, burying his stake in the vampire’s heart, whirling around and doing the same to the back of the vampire Lorenzo was grappling with.

             
Following the sound of Caroline’s scream, Christian turned, and froze. The scene before him caused his heart to stop and then leap into his throat. Across the street, Caroline had been backed into a corner by not one, but two vamps. In seconds, Christian ran through all his options and realized that not one of them would get him there quick enough to save her. In that instant, everything became crystal clear. He was going to fail her, after all his promises not to. He was going to fail her, and he was going to lose her.

             
Without thinking, he began running towards her, time seeming to slow down. As he approached, he saw acceptance in her eyes as she crouched down low, determined to go down fighting. The vampire on the left was closest, and in what seemed like slow motion, she lashed out at him with her foot, catching him in the rib cage so hard that even from where he was, Christian could hear the bones shattering. Even as the creature crumpled to the pavement, however, the one to her right had grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back, eliciting from her a scream of sheer pain.

             
Not much farther to go. He was almost there. But it wasn’t close enough. As Caroline fell to her knees, the vampire grabbed her head in his hands, ready to snap her neck. Christian wasn’t even aware that he was screaming her name, but just as the vampire’s hands began to move, he was gone, and Christian saw him flying through the air.

             
Not even caring about the vampire, Christian flew to his knees by Caroline’s side, where she had crumpled, now unconscious, to the ground. He was there now, but he would have been too late; he should have been too late. Gathering Caroline’s head in his lap, he turned to where the vampire had landed and jumped to his feet. Christian didn’t know what had happened, and obviously, neither did the vampire, but suddenly, from the fire escape above, a shadowy figure dropped to the ground in front of the creature. He heard the vampire growl and watched as it attacked the figure, who attacked back just as fiercely.

             
“Go help,” Lorenzo commanded, suddenly kneeling by his side. Christian hadn’t even heard the old man approach, but he got up without argument, watching as the two figures grappled in the darkness. Christian grabbed his last stake and ran to help just as the vampire doubled over in pain, courtesy of the stranger’s fist to his gut. Christian watched in surprise as the stranger reached into his sleeve, pulled out his own stake, and brought it down, hard, into the vampire’s chest.

             
Christian stopped in his tracks, as the stranger stood up; the few vampires left, including the two who had attacked Caroline’s family, melted back into the shadows, leaving the night quiet and empty except for the four people on the street.

Christian was in shock. Normal people didn’t carry wooden stakes around with them. Which meant…but how? He knew all the other Hunters, if only by name and face, and no two hunters were ever assigned to the same city or state, sometimes even country, even when there was a Master Vampire on the loose. Christian watched as the stranger put away his stake and turned around and faced him. Taking out
a silver lighter and a pack of cigarettes, he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Slowly, he approached, exhaling a cloud of smoke, and Christian felt himself getting into a defensive position. Behind him, Caroline still lay on the ground.

             
“Who are you?” Christian asked, wondering if he sounded as shocked and confused as he felt.

             
“I should be asking you that,” the stranger replied. His voice contained a strong Southern accent and a sharp edge, as if he didn’t spend much time being polite or friendly. Christian heard someone approach him from behind, and he turned quickly, but it was only Lorenzo. The old priest walked past him and up to the stranger.