Deliverance (26 page)

Chapter 32

T
hey were losing. Leisha and Nikita had sustained too many injuries. Nik’s left toes had been chopped off and his right arm hung limply at his side as he fought with his left. Leisha wasn’t much better off, with her left eye gouged out and slowly regenerating, along with a broken knee that she was trying to ignore as she continued to fight. Not to mention that the two of them had been slashed in too many places to count or even notice. Both the immortals and vampires were exploiting their weaknesses, though a good chunk of the immortals were killing other vampires, which Leisha wasn’t going to complain about. She and Nikita were on either side of the hatch, doing their best to fight off everyone that came near.

Their only silver lining was that the immortals and vampires were still fighting each other. Both sides wanted to get into the bunker and were doing whatever they could to prevent the other race from getting there first. But it didn’t stop handfuls of each side breaking through to Leisha and Nikita.

The onslaught kept getting larger and larger each minute. Leisha was soaked in blood from head to foot, most of it not belonging to her. It was proving difficult to keep her grip on the two swords she wielded. Though no lights were on in the desert, the stars shined brightly enough for the immortals to see as well as the vampires.

Two vampires got past her as she was fighting off seven assailants at the same time. Leisha did her best to kill her attackers as soon as she could, but it wouldn’t be fast enough.

She glanced over at the vampires struggling with the hatch in between her thrusts and kicks. It appeared that Tafari had resealed the entrance, but the vampires were already starting to pry the door open a crack.

“No!” Leisha cried, parrying a thrust and then running to the vampires, her attackers right behind her. Two stabs got her in the side and low back, while another pierced her hamstring on the same leg as her broken knee. She ignored the searing pain and tried not to limp as she rushed to the entrance. She flung both swords at the same time, making long sweeping arcs in opposite directions. The vampires lost their heads and their bodies fell with loud thumps on top of the hatch.

Snatching up her weapons again, Leisha whirled to face her attackers once more, barely avoiding having her own head lopped off in the process. The cold blade sliced through the point where her neck and shoulder met. Leisha cried out, but stopped the sword from going any further with one of her own swords. She slashed her other weapon, gutting the vampire from his chest to his groin.

A machete bit into her from behind, slicing into her kidney. Screaming, Leisha spun with the blade still embedded in her back and decapitated the immortal who had stabbed her.

Checking on the entrance, she saw three immortals pulling the vampire corpses off and working together to open the hatch. A blade shot out through the crack, stabbing at the immortals. They jumped back, but went right back to getting the door open.

Pulling the blade out of her stung, but Leisha did it as quickly as she could. She stepped forward to kill them, but was blindsided by a vampire she knew all too well. She hit the dirt with a hard thud.

Victor had his machete at her throat while he sprawled on top of her. “We’ve finally got you, Leisha. Why bother to keep fighting? You know you’re going to lose.”

She inched her hand up to her neck and put it between herself and the blade.
What’s a few lost fingers on top of everything else?
It sliced into her palm as she bucked her hips and twisted to the side. Victor lost his balance and released her to keep his weapon and stay upright.

Spinning away on the blood-moist sand, Leisha grabbed her fallen weapons and jumped up to face the master vampire. “I’d think a warrior like yourself would appreciate my fortitude.”

Victor stood and held his machete while he grabbed a long dagger from the back of his pants and held them ready. “If you were fighting with me instead of against me, I might change my opinion. As things are, I’m sick of your obstinacy and will make you pay by making you watch as I torture your son into insanity before I kill the both of you!”

The image of watching Rinwa being whipped by Ptah entered her mind until Leisha saw red and flew at Victor with a loud battle cry. The master vampire deflected her attack with lethal grace. His dagger slid down one of her swords until it met the hilt. When he pushed hard, Leisha felt her wrist snap and had no choice but to drop it.

With the other blade, she sliced into Victor’s dagger hand. His weapon slid out of his grip and landed with a dull thump in the sand. Instead of raising his machete high for a thrust, like most fighters would, Victor struck low, and Leisha jumped back to block it just in time.

She jabbed her sword and nicked his stomach before he danced away.

Six vampires surrounded her and attacked. While Leisha defended herself, she saw that four immortals were also trying to decapitate Victor. Putting all of her focus on the vampires surrounding her, Leisha swung her sword in an arc in front of her while kicking behind her at the same time. One vampire wasn’t fast enough to duck and his head flew off of his body to hit the vampire next to him.

The others moved to slice at her in any way they could. Leisha crouched low to avoid the tips of their blades and hacked into the knees of one of her attackers. The vampire grunted and fell in a heap, clutching her legs.

Leisha used her crouch to give herself some momentum and leapt thirty feet high in the air, her cut muscles screaming. As she descended back to the ground, she twisted so she faced down and then tilted forward and to the side. The movement made her spin and she decapitated two more vampires as she landed. Staying on the ground, she swept her leg under the feet of the two remaining vampires and quickly cut off their heads as they fell.

More enemies were headed her way. Ignoring the pain from her wrist, Leisha grabbed a second sword from the ground and stood in a defensive position while she tried to spot Victor. The master vampire was about thirty feet away. He met her gaze as he killed an immortal and smirked.

Killing as many vampires and immortals as she could, Leisha slowly made her way over to him. Before she could reach him, Nikita came through the battle in a blur and attacked the master vampire. A tide of battling immortals and vampires obscured the fight between Nik and Victor, but Leisha continued to make her way in that direction.

She was close to them. Victor was gaining the upper hand. Leisha almost made it over when Annette stepped in front of her and the woman’s sword pierced Leisha’s shoulder.

Annette laughed as she pulled her weapon out of Leisha’s flesh. “Ah, Leisha! This is a lucky chance. I’ve been dreaming of killing you for centuries! Now I will actually act out my fantasy.”

Bringing up both of her weapons, Leisha sneered. “Bite me.”

The petite vampire pointed her sword at Leisha’s chest. “Mark my words, I’ll do more than just that.”

Leisha rushed at her with one sword raised high and the other low. The higher sword was met with Annette’s, but her legs were unprotected when Leisha struck at them with her other sword. Blood gushed out and Annette snarled. She leaped onto Leisha with such ferocity that dropped one of her swords.

Annette pulled Leisha’s hair until their gazes locked. Leisha quickly averted her eyes and jabbed her other blade into Annette’s side.

The vampire screamed and stabbed into Leisha’s thigh and left her sword there.

Leisha grunted and tried to make a killing blow at her opponent’s head, but Annette blocked it with one arm while digging her fingers into Leisha’s chin. They locked gazes and suddenly, Leisha couldn’t pull away. She could feel Annette’s darkness enter her mind. Samantha was right to describe it as dirty. It was exactly how Leisha felt. Every recess of her consciousness was filled with smut. The invasion took away her sight and other senses. All Leisha knew was the slimy darkness filling her from the inside out.

She screamed in agony, but wasn’t sure if it was only in her mind or if her body cried out as well.

I’ve got this bitch now.
The thought was Annette’s.

Forcing herself to think past the filth, Leisha recognized that Annette was leaving her own thoughts vulnerable by attacking Leisha psychically.

Uncertain of how to do it, Leisha decided to try something. She pushed her mind into Annette’s.

What the hell is that?
Annette thought.

Leisha realized that as she probed deeper, she was bringing Annette’s own psychic smut with her into Annette’s mind. She continued to prod, experimenting with the thoughts she heard.

Dark, dirty!
I don’t like this! Make it stop!

Pressing further, Leisha thought she entered Annette’s subconscious, or perhaps even deeper.

You need to die,
Leisha thought inside Annette’s brain. She used as much mental force as she could muster to implant the thought there into her subconscious.
You’re vermin and the world doesn’t need you!

Suddenly, Leisha was on the ground, gasping for breath. Her mind felt violated, and raw. But she was herself again. There was no weight pushing her down. Annette was gone. Leisha looked around madly and finally found Annette. The vampire had a vague expression on her face, her eyes totally unfocused. She had grabbed one of Leisha’s grenades from her belt at some point and was now pulling the pin out. The brunette opened her mouth wide and shoved the grenade in. Leisha cursed, jumped up, and hurried to get out of the path of the explosion. She was barely out of the way when it went off, bits of teeth, bone, and blood dropping all around her.

Making a quick survey as she readied herself to fight again, she was relieved to see Nikita crouched over Victor. He raised his sword and made a killing blow, cutting off the master vampire’s head. She saw Nikita stand and plunge his weapon into Victor’s heart, twisting it to make sure the master vampire would never rise again.

Leisha breathed out in relief, as if the deaths of Victor and Annette should have put an end to things. But sounds of battle continued. Vampires and immortals continued to fight each other as if nothing had happened. Blood gushed all around as screams of death and fury filled the night air. Leisha killed them as they came at her, the whole time veering in the direction of the hatch.

She saw Ellery from the corner of her eye making her way toward Nikita. The woman’s face was filled with rage and Leisha prayed Nikita had the energy to kill her as well. Leisha had to get back to defending the entrance to her family.

There was such a crowd to get through that it took many minutes of slicing through the hordes of both vampires and immortals before she made it to the opening. Most of them were so intent on reaching the hatch that they had their backs to her as she hacked them down.
Makes my job easier. I can barely stand as it is.

Her heart rose to her throat, threatening to choke her when she saw the door completely open. Vampires and immortals fought each other to get into the hole.

Adrenaline peaked within her and Leisha fought harder than she ever had. She cut down everyone she came to, oblivious to the injuries she incurred in the process. All she could think about was her precious son and the rest of her beloved family down there, vulnerable and possibly even dead.
Like Rinwa.

Her throat was hoarse from screaming as she sliced and cut down every immortal and vampire she could. After killing most of the men and women around the opening, she jumped down.

Air made her hair fly behind her and dried some of the fresh blood and viscera coating her body. She landed hard, her knees taking the brunt of the impact. More immortals and vampires were battling against each other in the small space at the bottom of the ladder. Leisha could see no sign of Tafari.

The idea that her husband, Liam, and Samantha could be dead made something in her snap. She’d always been a decent warrior, but at that moment, she was on a murderous rampage. Nothing could stop her as she charged through the bunker, using her teeth to dig into muscles and ligaments and slashing two or three heads at a time.

If Leisha didn’t know any better, she would think that the Hunger had taken over, turning her into a primal animal, but her own mind was the one moving her body to kill brutally.
Maybe I’ve finally gone crazy.
Blood, flesh, and bone flew in every direction, coating her even more. Others’ battle cries suddenly turned into screams of terror. The remaining five dropped their weapons and held up their hands in supplication, begging for mercy, but Leisha felt nothing as she executed them and their bodies thudded beside their fallen comrades.

With no more live bodies to fight, her mind came back to its normal self. The scene before her, the scene that she had created, was beyond gruesome. Blood had flooded up around the corpses and was trickling past her feet into the hallways that sloped deeper into the earth.

More vampires and immortals were scrambling to get down, but Leisha wasn’t concerned about them at the moment. She honed her senses in the other direction and searched for enemies that might be getting close to Samantha and Liam.