Blood Warrior (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #4) (2 page)

“
We have to go,” Drew told
me. “We have to get over the bridge before more soldiers
come.”

I straightened and then turned to look
at him. Our eyes locked and all I could see in those green irises
was pity reflecting back at me. I didn’t need his damn pity. The
last thing I wanted was anyone feeling sorry for me. “Yeah,” I
agreed, “let’s move.” With that, I trudged ahead, leaving him to
wonder what in the hell was wrong with me.

The bridge still had at least a good
inch of water covering the pavement so I sloshed through it, making
my way over to the others. They stood in a half circle, surrounding
the military vehicles.

All the soldiers had been washed away
with the water, but the vehicles were too heavy for even that
amount of water to move.

“
I’m gonna have to drive
it to get it out of the way.” Zander climbed up onto the truck,
opened the door and hopped into the driver seat.

While he fired up the engine, the
others and I headed back to our vehicles. I climbed into the back
seat of the escalade and buried my face in my hands. I wanted to
cry, I wanted to let the tears fall until there were no more left.
But, there just wasn’t time for a breakdown like that.

The front passenger door opened and
Luke peeked his head in. “Chloe, are you all right?”

I sniffed and pushed some stray hair
back over my ear. “I wish everyone would stop asking me that.” I
let out a sigh and then whispered, “Yeah, I’m okay.”

He nodded. “You did good
honey.”

Yeah right. “That doesn’t make it
easier,” I snapped at him.

“
Well, it had to be done.
You chose you … and us, over the enemy and that is what you should
always do.”

This time I nodded. “I know. I just
wish we didn’t have to shoot people.”

“
I wish the same thing,
believe me. This is a first for us too, we have never had to kill
humans before the Vampire Apocalypse either. Just remember
that.”

Luke settled into the front seat and
we watched Zander park the military vehicle, jump out and then
hurry back to the driver side of his own truck.

Drew got in to drive the Escalade,
casting a quick glance in my direction, probably to make sure I
wasn’t still getting sick. Gavin opened the opposite door of the
back seat and slid inside, while Alice and Oscar rode with Zander
like they had on the way over.

Drew took the lead and maneuvered the
Escalade between the military vehicles. While we sped over the
bridge, into New Orleans, I considered what my grandfather had
said. He was right, everyone else was new at this too. That almost
made the feeling even worse. I was the only one who was handling it
so poorly and puking every time I had to take out an
enemy.

Freaking wonderful.

“
You got the maps?” Drew
asked, taking his eyes off the road long enough to look over at
Luke.

“
Yes, they’re right here.”
Luke leaned forward and opened the glove box to get out the maps we
had picked up along the way. We had realized that none of us knew
our way around New Orleans at all and we would need a map in order
to find the address Anthony had given us.

Luke unfolded one of the maps,
smoothing it out onto his lap. “Let me see the address again.” He
reached back, holding his hand out in expectation.

I dug down into my pocket and sifted
around until I found the piece of paper the address was written on.
I’d folded it up really tiny and shoved it into my jeans so it
wouldn’t get lost. “Here.” I extracted the paper and set it into
his waiting palm.

By then we were leaving the bridge
behind us and heading into a section where all the roads merged and
turned different ways. I stared at the crazy twisting knot of
pavement and wondered how in the heck anyone ever found their way
around in this city.

Luke read Drew the directions and they
seemed to have the whole driver/navigator thing going on, so I
leaned back into soft leather of the seat and closed my
eyes.

After a minute I could feel Gavin
staring at me. I didn’t have to open my eyes to feel the burn of
his gaze. I knew that he wanted to comfort me and assure me that
everything was going to be all right, but that he wouldn’t do it
with Drew around.

He needed to rest too, using our gifts
took a lot out of us and he had to be as exhausted as I
was.

I opened my eyes and discovered that
we were in the Garden District. I knew that we were because the
houses weren’t houses, most of them were big, beautiful mansions.
Even though I really wanted to close my eyes and rest, I couldn’t
take my eyes off the amazing historical homes.

The architecture of New Orleans was a
lot different than the area where we lived. I’d seen homes that
tried to emulate the style, but after getting to see the real
thing, I could definitely tell the difference.

“
Turn here,” Luke directed
Drew, “then take the second left after that.

Drew nodded. “Got it.”

The Escalade rolled down the quiet
streets which seemed undisturbed by the destruction of the Vampire
Apocalypse. These streets remained clean and beautiful. The yards
even appeared as if they had been groomed recently. I felt my head
shaking in disbelief. It was so strange to see such a place after
witnessing what had happened in our city.

“
Up there,” Luke pointed,
“I think that’s the address.”

I leaned forward between the seats,
trying to get a better look. The house was on a corner, surrounded
by an expanse of lawn that had turned brown from lack of water. The
lawn itself was surrounded by a tall iron fence which separated the
entire lot from the other homes. In the center of this corner lot,
sat a white mansion, complete with the large pillars the south is
known for..

Drew pulled the Escalade up in front
of the closed gate and Zander’s truck, which was considerably
louder than the Escalade, came to a stop directly behind us.
Everyone opened their doors and stepped out into the
street.

I glanced over at Drew and he
shrugged. We were faced with a locked gate and two vehicles that we
were not about to leave out on the street. “Maybe one of us should
hop the fence,” I suggested.

Zander stepped up beside me. “That
might be the only option we have.”

“
Who’s gonna do it?” Gavin
asked.

“
I will.” Of course it was
Drew who volunteered.

“
I’ll go with you,” I told
him. “The buddy system, remember.”

He answered with a slight nod and then
stepped forward to inspect the fence and look for the best spot to
climb over. While he was doing that I turned to the rest of the
group. “You guys keep a lookout, it’s pretty dangerous out here on
the street. Even though it seems to be quiet, that is actually the
part that scares me.”

Alice nodded. “Yeah,
it’s
too
quiet.”

The others nodded in agreement. I
looked up and down the street. “Just be careful,” I told them and
then turned back to Drew, who was staring at the fence with his
usual expression of seriousness.

“
I’m going to have to lift
you over and then Gavin or Oscar … or both are going to have to
help me over. This fence is doing its job of keeping people out,
that’s for sure.” He knelt down and clasped his hands together for
me to step on.

I raised my eyebrow and couldn’t help
my sarcastic reply “Really?”

“
What?”

I shook my head. Sometimes I wondered
how he could forget the simplest things. “Dhampir, remember.” I
backed up until I was a decent distance between myself and the
fence. Just a couple of days ago I jumped up onto a bus so this
should be easy.

“
Chloe,” Drew reached out
and grabbed my arm. “If you don’t make it you could impale yourself
on one of those posts.” He gestured in the direction of the fence.
It was true, each post had a pointy top that with a blunt spike on
top.

I patted his hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll
be fine.” I backed up a little bit more until I had enough of a
berth between myself and the fence and then I sprinted forward. My
body knew on its own when it was time to start the jump. I felt my
knees soften and my feet lift up off the ground.

I cleared the fence easily, every time
I made a big jump it got easier and easier. Once I was on the other
side I turned back to watch Zander and Oscar help lift Drew over.
He had to balance until he could get both feet up onto the fence.
Each of his shoes were placed in one of the gaps between the
spikes. He finally got both feet up there and then jumped down onto
the grass.

“
Ready?” he
asked.

I nodded and then glanced back at the
rest of the group. “You guys be careful.” I met my Grandfather’s
eyes and smiled. He nodded acknowledgment and offered me a small
smile in return.

Everyone we left behind the fence
waited in front of the vehicles as Drew and I made our way across
the crunchy, dead lawn and up to the house.

The mansion loomed before us. Even
though it was painted white, it appeared dark and intimidating. We
cautiously ascended the wide stone steps between the pillars,
making our way to the massive front door. Drew had his gun out
already, while I kept my hand near my holster, ready to draw if
anything happened.

I kept darting my eyes back and forth,
looking for anything that might be a threat, but the house remained
silent. No movement or noise came from inside or anywhere around
us.

Anthony knew we were coming, so I sort
of expected him to be waiting for us at the front door … or
something.

Finally, we stood in front of the door
and the only thing left to do was to ring the bell or just open it
and go inside. I decided against the latter, since Anthony was
supposed to be waiting for us. After casting a quick glance at
Drew, who raised his eyebrows in question, I raised my finger and
poked the little button for the doorbell.

We heard a muted, ding-dong, echo
throughout the interior of the house. After waiting a moment and
not hearing any movement within, I poised my finger to ring the
bell again. The second my fingertip touched the bell, the door was
flung open by an unseen force.

“
I assumed you vampire
hunters would understand that when the sun is up that is the time a
vampire must slumber.”

“
Hello Anthony.” I offered
the greeting, though apparently he was grouchy from being woken up.
I couldn’t see him, he stood far from the door, away from any rays
of sunlight that could possibly touch his skin.

“
Hello, little Hunter. I
see your journey into the city has been successful.”

You think?

“
Yes, we made it. Can you
open the gate for the others?” I gestured to where the vehicles
were waiting on the street. “We need to get those cars out of
sight.”

“
Of course, and please,
come inside, away from the heat.” His voice faded as he moved to
wherever it was that the controls for the gate were
located.

Before we went inside, we turned and
watched the gate roll open, allowing the rest of the group access
to the property. Both vehicles drove in and followed the paved
driveway around the side of the house. They parked in front of a
huge garage that could probably fit five of my Escalades
inside.

“
Let’s go.” Drew nudged me
toward the threshold.

“
Don’t you want to wait
for the others?” I asked.

“
Nah, they will find the
way. I’m sweating like crazy, this heat is insane.”

I led the way into the house. He
wasn’t the only one who was covered in sweat. My tank top was
pretty much saturated.

It
was
a lot cooler inside the house.
Once we entered into the foyer, I could feel the blast of cool air
from an air conditioner. It felt amazing. I don’t think I’d ever
been so uncomfortably hot in my whole life.

Anthony rounded the corner into the
foyer. “Welcome to one of my many homes.” The dark skinned vampire
spread his arms wide. “You are welcome to stay for as long as you
need or want.”

Drew practically recoiled in response,
but let out a small laugh. “Honestly I hope we don’t have to stay
that long. Once the others come inside we can do the introductions
and get down to business.”

“
As you wish, little
Hunter.” He executed slight bow in a mocking manner.

I heard the rest of the group on the
porch, their footsteps not even attempting to be quiet. I reached
over and opened the door before they had a chance to ring the
bell.

“
Welcome,” Anthony greeted
them.

Luke was at the head of the group. He
rewarded Anthony with a nod and stepped into the house with his
hand extended. “Thank you for this hospitality and your willingness
with the mission. We are grateful.”

I flicked a glance at the others.
Christina wore a grim expression and had one hand hovering over the
handle of her knife. Zander actually had his gun out and resting at
his side, but his facial features were more relaxed. That wasn’t
unusual for him since he was a more laid back kind of
guy.