Blood Bath, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series Book 4) (28 page)

Mason scraped blood and tissue out of his eyes in time to see the vampire at his feet
come around. He pulled a stake from his belt and drove it through the shoulder, using the momentum to force him down and pin him to the floor. "Stay there, I'll be right back."

That was our cue. We only needed one vampire alive to question. If he didn't have the answers we needed there were more waiting in the basement. I pulled the Retaliator from its sheath and made short work of decapitating the vampire closest to me. Her head hit the floor, rolling to Conry who huffed at it before pushing it away to lunge at another vampire charging towards us.

His teeth clamped down around the vampire's throat, shaking back and forth like he had a squeaky toy until he ripped the throat out. Sinead finished the vampire off with a stake in the heart.

We moved, slashing, tearing, staking our way through the room until only the vampire Mason trapped and the one being roasted from the inside out by a witch were left. The cooked vamp made an audible pop as his skin split, spilling blood and useless organs on the floor. The heart still beat, hopelessly pumping blood to a body that couldn't be r
epaired.

Looking at the disfigured, gooey vamp I couldn't help but think
of Mercy Brown. A woman who was the object of a vampire's obsession, driven crazy by it in the undeath she never wanted, trapped in suspended state - like this vampire- until the Council took pity on her.

Even now after meeting the sun all those years ago she still couldn't rest. He wouldn't let her memory die. I
would kill him, satisfied that not only would I rid the world of a madman but when I drove my sword through his chest he wouldn't see me. In his twisted mind he'd be looking at Mercy.

Aidan and Sinead took off, scanning the rest of the first floor for hostages. I knew they found them and a few va
mpires when I heard fighting, screams and a bang loud enough to temporarily deafen any norms in the house - percussion grenades. Sinead must have been in the IRA. She was seriously into explosives.

"If you don't cooperate and tell me what I need to know I'll let the little witch over there boil you up, from the inside out." Mason jerked the vampire's head in the direction of the soupy vampire remains and the witch, who wiggled her fingers and said boo.

The vampire whimpered, actually whimpered. "They'll kill me. They'll kill me."

I laughed as I knelt beside him. "Why do people always say that when facing this scenario? They'll kill you,
we'll kill you. Death is eminent. You can tell us what you know and we kill you quickly or I throw you down the steps to join your fucking friends waiting to ambush us. I doubt they'll give you the option of a quick death since no matter how many times you deny it they'll never believe you didn't tell us where your sire is."

"They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. It must be true if you're this desperate to find me."

Mason was already standing in a Kali fighting stance with a blackjack whip in one hand and a dagger in the other. Everything slowed. Heartbeats felt like minutes. The witch's hands flared with an ethereal blue flame. Conry growled, sitting back on his haunches preparing to lunge. All in the time it took me to stand and face him.

"Oh, I couldn't agree more. Since you drugged me and gave me to your little protégé I've grown fonder and
fonder of the idea of killing you. I guess I don't need him anymore, now that you're here." I plunged the tip of my sword into the chest of the vampire on the floor. The Retaliator wasn't silver, sun, or rowan wood, but nothing, not even a vampire, healed a wound from my blade. It was one of the few things that killed an immortal.

"Yes, I suppose he's out lived his usefulness for both of us. It was an elaborate plan just to get you here, but they are the best kind. It would have been so mundane to snatch you from the farmhouse. Elizabeth could have grabbed you any number of times you slipped up and entered the b
etween but where's the fun in that. All these puppets dancing on a string, it's too delicious."

"Sounds like you've been busy."

"So have you." He waved his hand to encompass the room and the carnage around us. "Why don't we bring your friends out here to join the party?"

Vampires casually filed in, dragging Aidan and the ot
hers behind them. I thought Sinead had turned the tide with her grenades but I was wrong. There were too many of them.

We were
out numbered and quickly running out of options to get ourselves and the hostages out of this house alive. Our intel had been way off. How did we not know he was here siring all these vampires? There had to be at least twenty, making it close quarters for a fight should the opportunity present itself.

The spot where Caligula had been standing seconds ago burst into flames. The witch was good but he was better. The sound of her neck snapping was almost as loud as her body hitting the floor. The fire snuffed out when her heart stopped beating. Someone threw up, one of the norms no doubt. Two of the fledglings rushed her body before the blood had a chance to spoil. Then all hell broke loose.

For once the man who prepared for everything, even his own death, hadn't accounted for something. A veritable feeding frenzy broke out as the newbie vamps went after the still viable blood.

If they drank too long after the blood went cold and c
oagulation began, we'd have a serious problem on our hands - like berserker vampires problem.

Caligula shot across the room, yanking his children off the corpse only to have them dive back in like little piglets fighting for the teet. If piglets snarled, were deadly
, and had fangs that is.

We needed to take advantage of the chaos to get the norms out of there. I grabbed the old piano stool being used as a side table and threw it out the window, motioning to Aidan and Sinead to get everyone out. Aidan fought the burn of his silver cuffs, the skin on his hands sloughing off as he broke free of the bonds. There wasn't time to undo everyone's restraints so he freed Sinead and a couple more who
were strong enough to lift people up and out the window.

With the hostages out of the way, Mason, Conry and I could fight without worrying about mortals getting caught in the cross fire. The local Regulator wasn't the only one with a few tricks up her sleeve.

I pulled a handful of small glass vials out of my pocket and tossed them on the floor at the edge of the vampires piled on top of the dead witch. Smoke and the acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air as the holy water worked its magic.

The fledglings scratched and clawed at the holes the blessed water bored into their skin. Mason's whip cracked the air, the silver corded blackjack splitting the face of one vampire as he drove a silver dagger through the heart of another that had come up beside him. Conry jumped into the
fray, tearing away at the undead, while I went after Caligula.

I swung the Retaliator with enough force to cleave his head from his neck, almost falling when the blade didn't connect. There wasn't time to apply my training. Caligula didn't need to cloak, he moved that fast.

What I wouldn't give for one of Cash's guns right now. Melee weapons weren't any good when your opponent could be out of blade reach in the blink of an eye - literally. I may be unrefined when it came to swordsmanship but I was effective. I needed to change tactics. One good hit and it was over.

Deciding that being on the defensive was actually a be
tter strategy when going up against Caligula with a sword - even a deadly fae relic - I waited for him to come to me. Muscle recall had my legs in the stance Mason showed me and my hands in the proper grip.

Caligula moved forward. I sliced the Retaliator horizo
ntally, hoping to eviscerate him. He jumped backwards, his back arched and stomach pulled in, voiding the strike at the last second. The loose hair hanging around my face lightly brushed my neck as the air shifted with his movements.

This time I felt him move and was ready when he came up behind me. Thrusting backwards and down with my sword had the pommel connecting hard with his knee cap. He instinctively crouched forward to grab his knee, provi
ding the opening I hoped. With as much force as I could muster I slammed my elbow into his face breaking his nose. My victory was short lived however. He swung wide with a left that slammed into my temple like Thor's hammer, splitting the thin skin along the brow bone. Blood pooled into my eye, blurring my vision.

Mason threw the vampire he
fought against the wall hard enough to shatter her skull. She wasn't dead but definitely down. His Kali whip and knife technique was extremely effective. The dangerous tip of the black snake whip kept most of them back, while he slashed the vampires who were able to get close with his silver blade. Clearing a path to get to me, he pulled his Bowie knife from the chest of a fledgling with a roar, lunging through the ashes.

I spun to face Caligula and almost vomited in the pr
ocess from dizziness. Pawing at my left eye, I tried to reset my stance. His hand shot out, fingers clamping on my throat, he pulled me to him.

A mangled cry tore from my throat as his tongue lapped at the blood flowing from the cut above my eye. His crus
hing embrace had the Retaliator wedged firmly between us. With my arms pinned and my blade trapped I would never be able to deal a killing blow.

Caligula's fangs viciously ripped into my neck as the air shimmered behind him. Elizabeth Bathory stepped through the veil, encircling us with arms stained red from the blood poultice. Mason's fingers slipped through my hair, grasping the air left in my wake as the three of us fell into the b
etween.

22

Bathory released us once we were alone the between. While I was distracted with training, the Blood Countess had been busy carving out a piece of the grey for herself.

Without my blood she'd never be able to hold onto it. Even now the between f
ought the contamination like an infection. Small sparks, like from an arc welder, rained down around us as the untainted particles of the between clashed against her circle.

Sensing she was losing control of her stolen powers she pried Caligula's mouth from my neck leaving two parallel gashes from below my ear down to my collar bone. With the silver out of my system
, nothing would stop her from going straight to the fount. Her power surged as she covered herself in the undiluted blood flowing freely from my wounds. With renewed strength she could keep us blocked off from the rest of the between.

Still trapped in Caligula's arms I was unable to stop the crush of his mouth against mine. His tongue forced its way in, coating my mouth with the coppery tang of my blood while Bathory's hands slid across my blood slicked skin
, stopping to unfasten the blades at my wrists. My stomach lurched. And as much as I despised throwing up, in that moment I prayed I would.

He loosened his hold as his hands roam
ed my body. He cupped my ass, grinding his erection into my pelvis. I pivoted my wrist and the Retaliator. I felt the razor sharp edge of the blade slice through his clothes and into his flesh before he realized what happened.

Throwing me down, he clutched his chest and stomach in a move that mirrored my own. He collapsed, landing hard on his side. No amount of infusions would staunch the flow of blood from a wound by my sword. I watched the light fade from his eyes as darkness crept into mine.

With a double edged blade there was no way to cut Caligula without cutting myself. My hands, covered in blood and pressed against my stomach, were the only warm part of my body. Cold seeped into my extremities as my body pulled blood in to keep the vital organs functional. I tried to stand only to fall again. Lulled by the ebb and tide as the grey flowed in and out of my wound it became more difficult to stay awake. Unconsciousness threatened to take hold. If I gave in, my death wouldn't be far behind.

Bathory was lost in a blood craze, oblivious to ever
ything around her. Kneeling in a pool of my blood she painted her body, occasionally stopping to lap at her fingers.

The sight of her, every inch of her exposed skin covered in my blood, was enough to stave off my death for a few minutes more. I had to find the strength to kill her.
I would not die before I killed her.

My arms shook as I strained to lift the few pounds of perfectly balanced steel. As weak as I was I'd never be able to swing the blade in a horizontal strike. Pulling the hilt back even with my hip, I put all of my weight and the last of my energy into a forward thrust.
She must have felt my shift in the air as she rolled at the last second, moving out of my strike zone.

Swing and a miss, I couldn't stop the momentum and ended up landing hard
on my knees. Searing pain shot though my knee cap. The Retaliator plunged into the veil and was almost swallowed by the swill surrounding us. The rot she created in the between continued to spread. I struggled to free my sword from the detritus.

The residue from Bathory's contamination
destroyed my sword. Rust pitted the exposed portion of the blade. I pulled on the hilt one more time, the between finally loosened its hold but too late. Bathory latched onto my back, her heels hooked into my side.