Blood & Tears (Jane #3) (7 page)

He kissed my hair and I closed my
eyes, drifting off to sleep once more.

SEVEN

We switched places once more, Jax
driving while Felipe and I sat in the back with the curtain closed
to block out the sun. We arrived at our destination when the sun
was still up. We parked several blocks away and Jax and Benton
scouted the area. While they were out, us sunaphobics prepared for
the coming attack. I pulled on my vest and belt, adorning them with
all the essentials. As a last thought, I pulled a couple clips of
incendiary rounds from the chest in the back and slapped them onto
my vest. When Felipe gave me a what-do-you-think-you're-doing look,
I just grinned at him. I really had no idea why I grabbed them,
knowing we weren't supposed to use flame in the house, but they
called to me.

Jax and Benton returned to the
vehicles as the sun was falling from the sky. When it had settled
just below the treeline, Jax pulled open the curtain. He turned
around in the seat and leaned on the armrest in the middle to give
Felipe and I the rundown. I assumed Benton was doing the same in
the other car.

"So, here's the deal. There are
three houses directly around the one we need to hit. Left, right,
and one behind it separated by a fence. There are small yards in
the backs of the houses, as well. In the front, we have two
doors—the main double doors and a small door off to the side of the
porch. Same in the back. One leads to the kitchen, the other to the
basement. Most of the windows have thick black-out curtains, so we
couldn't get a good look inside.

"The house to the right is
currently for sale. Lawn is overgrown, porch covered in leaves that
haven't been swept. Looks unlived in. But there were kids in the
yard on the other side and a swing set in the yard of the house
behind. We need to be really careful or we're going to draw
unwanted attention."

Felipe leaned forward, resting his
head in his hands as he sighed. "Could they have picked a worse
place to set up a coven? Good Lord."

I patted him on the back and
grinned. "You're just used to it being easy. It's time you work for
it a bit."

He tilted his head, looking at me
out of the corner of his eye. Jax was trying desperately to
suppress a grin and failing miserably. I smiled sweetly and kissed
Felipe's forehead. By then the sun had sank enough for us to get
out. "Come on. Let's go."

Leaving our weapons in the
vehicle, we went over to talk to the boys in the other car. They
were dressed to the nines, too. We had parked on a stretch of road
that was lined by two foreclosed houses on one side and a park on
the other. At that time of evening, the area was dead enough that
we didn't have to worry too much about being seen.

After we had discussed minor
changes to our strategy, I wandered away from the guys into the
park. It was a small community lot with swings, a couple slides,
and a sandbox. There were no kids and it looked a bit run-down. I
noticed an empty syringe lying in the dirt next to an overflowing
trash can and nudged it with my boot, frowning. I knew the States
had problems like that, but it never had occurred to me that it was
a worldwide issue. Saddened, I plopped down onto a swing, pushing
off to set myself rocking gently. Before long, I felt a pair of
hands on my back, nudging me forward whenever I swung
back.

"It's sad, isn't it?" Felipe's
voice floated to me as I soared through the sky. "Parks are
supposed to be filled with children. Not empty, rusted, and
dirty."

"Maybe that's why they chose this
place."

"Or maybe they made it this way.
They've been here awhile, according to intelligence. A lot longer
than the last place we hit. We've seen covens bring down entire
communities before. Of course, it hasn't happened in a long time,
but it does happen."

We stayed at the park until the
sun disappeared completely and the street lights came on, then we
headed back to the vehicles. As we climbed back in, I glanced
around. There in the park, near the swing set I had just abandoned,
stood a shadowy figure. I'm sure it was watching us, but it
disappeared when I looked away to tell Felipe.

"Probably just a trick of the
trees and lights," he said, kissing me on the cheek. I knew he was
wrong, but said nothing.

We drove the trucks to the house,
parking in front on the opposite side of the street. Every house on
the street had lights on inside, including the house that was our
target. The curtains had been parted in the front room and I could
see bodies moving beyond the window. I thought again of the odds we
were about to face. Six of us against seventeen of them—five
vampires, twelve humans. Frowning again, I pulled on the gas mask
Felipe had handed me and saw Jax do the same.

As I climbed out of the car, I
screwed a silencer onto my weapon. No machine guns would be allowed
this time. Single shot weapons that could be quieted were our only
options in this populated neighborhood. I gazed around, examining
the houses on both sides of the streets. In a couple windows, I
could see families getting ready for bed or in their living rooms
watching television. As my glance passed by a row of trees, I
paused. A figure stood in the shadows. It disappeared the moment I
blinked, but again, I knew it was there. Gritting my teeth, I
turned back toward our target.

Felipe's stern gaze flitted around
the gathered group. Without a word, he lifted his hand, pointing to
the house. Ado, Benton, and Ronin nodded and headed toward the
house, slipping quietly over the metal fence, fading into the
darkness. After the agreed-upon time passed, Felipe took a step
forward, heading toward the building. He slinked up the stairs,
moving so silently even I couldn't hear his footsteps. He put his
hand on the doorknob and twisted. It turned easily in his grasp,
which made him frown. Within seconds, we knew why it wasn't
locked.

Three large, black beasts barreled
through the door the minute it was opened, growling fiercely. The
first one onto the porch lunged at Felipe. He grabbed it, wrapping
his strong hands around its thick neck. The dog whimpered as it
stopped and hung in midair. I barely had time to react when the
second one jumped on me, knocking me to the ground. My elbow
smashed against the concrete, making me clench my teeth against a
stream of curse words. I put my arms up, pressing against the dog's
neck as it tried to bite off my masked face. Instead, it snapped at
my arm and clamped on. I held it there as I reached for my pistol
with my free hand. My heart ached to shoot an animal, but it was
clearly trained for violence and I had no choice.

When it slumped down on top of me,
I rolled it off, its blood staining my vest and the sidewalk
beneath it. My arm hurt, but it would heal. Jax was heading onto
the porch, having dispatched his own opponent. Felipe's dog lay on
the porch, head on its paws, still breathing, tail wagging. I
looked at Felipe questioningly and he just grinned. The door was
wide open now, and I found it hard to believe that no one bothered
to find out why their guard dogs had suddenly burst onto the porch
in a fury. I looked to Felipe and he nodded, lifting his weapon. I
readied mine and stepped through the darkened doorway.

Inside to the left, I found a
living room. Three couches held as many humans, all passed out.
Their bare arms showed tracks along their veins and empty syringes
littered the tables and floors. They wouldn't be moving for quite
some time, so after searching the room I headed back out into the
hall. Felipe stood guard at the door as Jax searched the kitchen.
The refrigerator was nearly empty, stocked only with several bags
of blood. Some knives sat in a butcher's block on the island in the
middle of the room and Jax pulled out the biggest one. He hefted
it, testing its weight, then grinned at me as he stuck it into his
belt. Shaking my head, I headed back to the hall.

We could hear the rest of the team
moving through the other side of the house and waited by the
stairs. A minute and a half later, Ado and Benton appeared in the
hall. Ado kicked in a door and we could hear the wood frame crack.
Felipe rolled his eyes and clenched his teeth, but said
nothing.

"Anything?" Felipe asked when they
finally joined us.

"Nada." Ado double checked the
clip on his gun, even though he hadn't used any bullets. "Ronin is
guarding the door to the basement. I brought a flamethrower, so he
can torch any nasties that come out."

Felipe glared at Ado, clearly
irritated by the flippant disregard of Father Bellini's orders. He
took several deep breaths before turning to Jax. "Guard the door.
The rest of you, upstairs."

As we headed to the stairs, I
noticed that some of the wood paneling along the wall in the hall
didn't seem to match quite right. I went to the spot and tapped on
the wood. My knock was answered by a hollow echo and a smirk
crawled across my face. I looked back at the boys. Felipe was
nodding, a faint smile of approval on his face. He beckoned me back
to the stairs and ordered Jax to watch the hidden door,
too.

"No one in or out."

"Got it." Jax saluted with the
butcher's knife and stood at attention.

The rest of us headed upstairs. In
the first bedroom were two more humans, both passed out with tracks
on their arms. I shook my head. I couldn't imagine what drinking
from these people must've been like. Since then, I have tasted the
blood of a severely intoxicated man, and let me tell you, it was
not pleasant. I make darn sure that my targets are not hyped up on
anything stronger than alcohol.

Two more blood donors were asleep
in the next bedroom. We had them bound and gagged before they were
awake enough to open their eyes. As we moved to the last bedroom,
we heard some very unsettling noises that had Felipe, Benton, and
Ado grinning at each other like the boys they are. As they bent
over double trying to stifle their childish giggles, I rolled my
eyes and peeked through the door. My expectations on what I would
see were actually a little too low. On the massive bed in the
middle of some very expensive-looking sheets rolled a vampire and a
surprisingly flexible human female. Tied to the oak bedpost, blood
dripping from wide holes on her neck, hung another young woman,
stark naked.

I pulled back from the crack in
the door and looked at my teammates. The hopefully curious looks on
their faces made me want to laugh, but I just set my mouth in a
grim line, shook my head once, and cocked my weapon. It took less
than a minute for us to prepare and burst through the door like
true vampire hunters, but the evil rogue had already finished his
business and was feasting on his partner. When the door banged
open, smashing against the wall so hard the brass knob stuck in the
plaster, the vampire's head whipped toward us, fangs extended, eyes
so bloodshot I couldn't see the whites anymore. He crouched over
the bleeding girl and, in classic B-movie-vampire style, hissed
like a really angry cat, red drops spraying across the sheets and
carpet in disturbing fashion.

A half snort-half laugh escaped me
before I could clap a hand over my mouth and I had to turn away. I
waved my other hand, the one holding the pistol, at the vampire in
surrender and leaned against the wall, giggling. "I'm sorry, sorry.
That's just the funniest thing I've ever seen. I mean, even Blade
wasn't that bad."

The vampire's eyes narrowed to
bare slits and his lips curled up over his teeth in the perfect
imitation of a doberman. He launched himself at me, but before he'd
even left the bed, he had three bullets right through his brain.
Now, shooting a vampire in the brain will not usually kill him.
He'll eventually heal and be right as rain. But it sure as heck
will slow him down enough to shove a piece of pointed wood through
his barely beating heart, which is just what I did. Using the wall
for leverage, I launched myself at his stumbling form, having
pulled a stake from my belt during my laughing fit. The sharp point
pierced his bare chest, our combined momentum forcing it easily
through the flesh. The ribs protecting the heart shattered audibly
and I cringed as I heard the sickening sound of the wood sliding
through the organ.

The stake continued all the way
through the meat to protrude out his back. His forward motion
stopped completely and I stepped back as he gripped the wood
feebly. He fell to his knees, unable to stand any longer. Ado
stepped forward, sword in hand, and, in one clean swipe, lopped off
the vampire's head. It rolled backward, coming to a rest face-down
at the foot of the tied girl. I checked her vitals, but she was
gone.

The woman on the bed clutched
desperately at her throat, which was bleeding profusely. When we
had interrupted them, the vampire had his teeth sunk deep into her
artery. When he pulled back, he neglected to remove his teeth and a
large chunk of her flesh came with him. The hole was too large to
stem the flood of blood and she was dead within seconds.

Snarling with disgust, Felipe led
us out into the hall. Before we reached the stairs, we felt the
house shake and heard the sound of shattering wood. Moments later,
Jax's pained scream bounced off the walls, echoing loudly in our
super-sensitive ears. Without pausing for even a microsecond,
Felipe and Ado tore around the corner and down the
stairs.