Passion Ignited (34 page)

They’d died with the Dracs’ poison in their
veins. They’d regenerated. And now they were looking at him and his
brother as though they’d make for a tasty treat.

“Gods,” Draven murmured. “How are there so
many?”

The question really didn’t need answering
since they were both on the same page. From what they’d already
witnessed, Dracs packed a powerful punch in their fangs. One that
no one wanted to mess with. One of the Dracs plowed forward with
his fangs out and his claws looking all sharp-and-pointy. Ethan
quickly dropped the blood duffel and kicked into action. He and
Draven fought hand-to-hand against the demons, knocking them out
with their fists, kicking them down, twisting their necks. But
nothing seemed to make the bastards stay down.

They looked at each other for a brief second
before they reached for their weapons. Blades in hand, Draven and
Ethan started destroying their opponents. Both held a short-sword
and a dagger, using the dagger to subdue their target while the
short-sword severed their heads.

Their progress was short-lived as more showed
up, loping toward the scent of their blood.

“We have to get to that elevator,” Draven
yelled over the fray. “That’s the only way they can’t follow
us.”

Ethan nodded and gripped the duffel, swinging
it over his shoulder. They neared the elevator, fighting through
the demons as they slowly progressed toward the stainless steel
doors.

Finally, Draven reached it. He hit the button
and waited for the doors to open as he and Ethan fought the Dracs,
their backs against the elevator. The tiny chime signaled the
doors’ opening, and they stepped inside, fighting off any demons
that tried to climb on board. Ethan pressed the number three as
Draven shoved two Dracs—doctors—who’d fought their way inside. The
doors closed and they both sighed in relief.

They rode up in silence, catching their
breath. Neither knew what they would find on the third floor. Would
there be Dracs up the wazoo like there had been down below? Or did
the other warriors dispose of them already? What of Raider? Neither
Guardian knew what to prepare for. Neither knew what lay
ahead.

The elevator started to slow as it reached the
third floor, but instead of slowing to a stop, it shook violently,
both men grabbing the handrail for support.

“What the fuck?” Ethan said.

Draven shook his head, clearly as confused as
his brother. The elevator creaked and groaned before a loud,
high-pitched sound resonated, bouncing off the walls of the
elevator. The two Guardians gave each other a knowing look as the
hydraulics gave out and sent them plummeting downward.

Chapter
Thirty-Four

Raine stayed in the shadows, waiting to hear
word on what was going on inside the hospital. It had seemed like
forever since they’d gone in, and the fact that none of them had
made it out yet made her edgy as hell. She’d found a good hideout
in the midst of all the humans, so she could hear the conversations
going on around her.

The news wasn’t good.

The humans had strategized an infiltration of
the hospital. They were sending a SWAT team in within the next few
minutes, which meant a big problem for the Guardians—

Movement caught her eye. Looking over into the
brush where the Guardians had all met before, she saw four women.
She dropped out of the tree without making a sound and without any
of the humans noticing her. Sticking to the shadows, she made her
way around the melee of humans until she caught up with her
Valkyrie sisters.

“What’s going on in there?” she
asked.

“Literally nothing,” Raven said.

“A lot of dead people,” Savannah
added.

Odette nodded. “And that’s about
it.”

Raine looked around expecting to see her boys
come jogging up. When she couldn’t see any figures headed their
way, she turned to her sisters. “Where is everybody?”

“They were right behind us.” Caleen shrugged.
“Not sure why they couldn’t keep up.”

“Your mate and son decided to check some
things out,” Raven added. “They wanted to find possible escape
routes.”

Raine nodded as she let her eyes wander around
again. Not only looking for her men, but also to keep tabs on what
was going on with the humans. “You should probably go.”

“Thank Freyja,” Savannah said. “This has been
an extremely unfulfilling night.”

Raine said goodnight to her sisters before
they departed, and just as she turned around to return to her
hideout, another lone figure approached in the darkness. Through
their blood-bond she could sense who it was before seeing his face.
Normally, she would have run to him, taking him into her arms. As
it was, she knew that the apology he’d offered earlier hadn’t been
heartfelt. It had been a show.

“Raine,” he said, inclining his
head.

“Ferox. Where is everyone?”

“Right behind me. They’ll be out in a
minute.”

“Did you run into any problems?”

“None. The damage had already been done before
we got in there, and the demons have vanished,” he answered
stiffly.

When had things gotten so bad between them?
They weren’t speaking to each other as mates. They were conversing
as acquaintances. The thought formed a knot in her
stomach.

“You should go home,” he said. “Get some rest.
You haven’t been feeling well.”

“I feel fine,” she argued.

“And I told you to leave. You will obey
me.”

Anger rose in her yet again at her husband’s
hubris. He had no right to speak to her that way. With her jaw
clamped down tight, she turned and walked away from him. She wasn’t
leaving. She was in this fight just as much as they were, even
though she hadn’t gone inside. She followed a little shortcut to
her tree. She leapt up, grabbing a branch and swinging herself onto
it. Back at her hideout, she watched the humans as they milled
around.

“Hey, Rick. Who put a loop on the
cameras?”

Raine’s head whipped around as she focused on
the young human in the police van. He was sitting at the computer
station, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he focused
intently on the different screens in front of him.

Damn it! Had she been here when he went back
inside, she’d have known to distract him.

“What the hell?” another man said as he
stepped inside the van. Both men studied the screens, realizing
that they were in fact in loop-mode.

She vaulted from the tree, landing on her
heels with a light thump. She strutted toward the police van,
catching the attention of every male around. When she finally
reached the van, the two men inside hadn’t even noticed
her.

“Excuse me,” she said.

They glanced at her, both doing double takes
as shock crossed their faces.

Raine smiled, earning her smiles in return.
“Do you have actual footage from inside the hospital?” she asked,
tinging her voice with awe.

“Yes, ma’am,” the younger one
answered.

“Could I see it?”

They looked at each other before nodding at
her to join them. She crawled up inside as they pulled a chair for
her.

“Wow,” she said, keeping the fake wonderment
in her voice.

“Oh, this is nothing,” the one named Rick
said. “Jason here found a loop, so he’s hacking into the system to
get the live feed.”

So the boy knew computers. That meant she
needed to flirt the pants off of these men. She’d do practically
anything to keep them from seeing the Guardians inside those walls.
That’s all they’d need—to be marked as terrorists. She slid off her
chair and sidled up on Jason’s lap. He gladly let her sit there as
his arms incased her. His fingers tapped quickly on the keyboard,
and she knew without a doubt that he’d already found a way around
the loop.

She had to do more to distract him. She turned
slowly, and just as he was about to look at her, a big smile
crossed his face. “Got it,” he said.

“My God,” Rick said at the same
time.

Raine turned toward the screens again, her
eyes lit on the camera footage from the third floor.

“What the fuck is going on in there?” Rick
asked. He bolted from the van, clearly on a mission to inform the
officials.

Raine was transfixed to the screen. She
couldn’t look away as she watched her men fighting for their lives.
They were severely outnumbered as they battled the onslaught of
children and adults.

She leapt from Jason’s lap and bolted out of
the van. She ran around humans, jumping over some as she ran toward
the hospital’s entrance. She reached the caution tape, slid under
it, and rolled to her feet again before she continued to run.
Humans yelled at her to stop, a few attempted to get in her way.
One man jumped in front of her and gripped her arms forcefully,
trying to take her down, but she shoved her hand upward and her
wrist connected with the underside of his nose. Blood spurted and
he wailed in pain, but Raine still didn’t stop. She was almost to
the door. She could cause a momentary distraction to get the horrid
beasts off her boys.

Her heels made hardly any sound over the panic
all around. More and more police officers yelled at her to stop,
but she couldn’t. Her sons were in there, her brothers, and her
friends. The Guardians weren’t about to die while she sat by and
watched.

She had just reached the curb and bolted up
onto the cement—only feet from the hospital’s main entrance—when
the hospital grounds shook violently under her feet. Shattered
glass tumbled toward her as she skidded to a stop. Huge flames
billowed ominously above her head as she took in the
sight.

No longer were the humans bustling at her for
breaking through their barrier. They weren’t making any sounds at
all. Every one of them stared up at the hospital as it teetered
back and forth. She returned her gaze upward, horrified at the
scene.

One of the floors had blown out. The hospital
was about to fall, and the Guardians were inside.

****

Nitro was backed against the wall, fighting
demon after demon, each one starving to drain her dry. The few
times she’d actually been able to look at Raider, he’d grown even
more pale, his body still slumped against the cold hospital tile as
she and the others fought the Dracs. The fact that she hadn’t been
able to help him, and the fact that he hadn’t moved once in all
this time, scared her more and more with each passing second.
Thrash, Blaze, and Ash were still on the other side of the
commotion, fighting their Dracs as well, but still, none of them
had made their way to her side of the battleground.

Raider’s worsening condition became an
all-consuming worry. Something had to be done. They weren’t
disposing of the demons fast enough, and Raider needed blood—loads
of it—if there was any hope of saving him.

Two Dracs fell on her at once, grabbing
Nitro’s full attention. As she fought them off, another came in at
her side, sinking its claws into her side. She screamed out, her
back arching as she tried to get away from the demon’s
claws.

“Nitro
,” Ash yelled.

Through the pain, she spun around, slicing her
own claws through the bastard’s arm, severing it from his body. It
screeched a high-pitched scream just before the separation, but
Nitro was far too pissed to care. She spotted her friend bouncing
from Drac to Drac. With what she had planned next, she didn’t want
her anyone around. “Run, Kaira.”

The demon looked up at her, her head cocked to
the side. Her scaled skin swirled with bright colors, and Nitro
realized the little demon was excited and anxious.

She severed the Drac’s head and chucked it to
the ground before facing Ash. “
Rupture
,” she yelled at the
top of her lungs.

His mouth dropped wide open, his eyes going
wide. “
What
?”

“Rupture
.”

“Nitro, no!
” Looking over at Thrash and
Blaze, he said, “Get back!”

She kicked back some of the Dracs, creating a
small clearing around her. A quick look at her brother let her know
that he was with her, whether he liked it or not. They both dropped
to their knees, slamming their hands against the tile floor. A
fiery wave spread out from her hand, which was exactly what would
happen from Ash’s. The demons were thrown into the air, and back
down to the floor.

Nitro rolled over, covering Raider’s body with
her own, ensuring that what happened next wouldn’t harm her
warrior. The two fiery waves crashed into each other, their heat
rising and growing. Like an angry sun, the energy got bigger and
brighter, bursting when it could no longer be contained by the
walls. The Dracs screamed as a blanket of heat swallowed everything
and the walls caught fire. The floor opened up below, swallowing
them and Kaira whole.

Chapter
Thirty-Five

“What the hell just happened?” Ethan looked at
Draven, who was also lying on the floor of the elevator. The lights
had blown out just before the elevator fell, but that hardly
lessened his vision. With his keen vampire eyes, he could still see
Draven and the situation they were in. His brother went to his
knees, and then stood to his feet at the same instant Ethan
did.