Caleb (48 page)

Caleb
finished buttoning his pants. “How many?”

“At
least forty.”

“Have
they breached the defenses?”

“Like
they were butter.”

“Then
they’re not were.”

“No.
I think it’s safe to say Vincent’s entourage has arrived.”

“Shit.”

Allie’s
gasp drew his eyes. Her spine was straight and her hands were fisted at her
side, chin up and ready to take on anything. She was going to need every bit of
that spirit. They were badly outnumbered.

“Least
the battle will be short.”

Caleb
snorted. Derek did have a way with words. “It’s going to be hell between now
and daylight.”

But
if they lasted until daylight they had surprises of their own they could throw
into the mix.

“How
many men do we have?”

Derek
tipped his hat at Allie. “I think your buns are burning, ma’am.” As soon as
Allie dove for the stove, he murmured, “Twenty-five,” too low for Allie to
hear,

He
hid his surprise. Twenty-five meant Derek’s entire pack was fighting on the
Johnson side, which meant a lot of weres were going to die tonight. He appreciated
the thought, but it was a hell of a sacrifice for a pack leader to make. “This
isn’t your fight.”

“It
became ours the minute Vincent’s gang chose to ignore pack protection.” Derek
crossed to the window and pulled the shade back. “Pack protection is held very
dear by my kind.”

“Friendship
is held dear by mine.”

Derek
smiled. “Maybe not your kind, but you and your brothers are damn near wolf in
your devotion to friends. We’re thinking that line of belief should be
preserved.”

Caleb
wished he could turn down the offer, but he couldn’t. A year ago the brothers
would have welcomed a fight to the death, but times had changed. Life had
changed. He glanced over at Allie who had her back to them, working on
something at the counter. He had a future, and if he did, his brothers could,
too. “We appreciate it.”

“You
can owe me.”

“Anything
you need. Any time.”

Derek
nodded. An explosion echoed in the distance.

“Does
Slade have any of those sun guns made up yet?” Caleb asked.

“Ten.”

Damn.
He’d been hoping for more. “Pass them out to the weres.”

He
didn’t want any more of his friends to die.

“Slade
already handled that.”

He
should have expected it. The one thing the Johnsons knew was how to plan a
battle. “Good.”

He
looked at the high-powered rifle in Derek’s hands and at the shotgun slung over
his shoulder. “You didn’t take one?”

“Nah.
Sun guns are for sissies.”

Allie
turned from the counter, a tray of bear claws stacked two high, dripping with
white icing. She walked toward them, her eyes unnaturally bright in her pale
face. She walked straight up to Derek and shoved the bonanza at him. “They’re
not burnt.”

The
were’s eyebrows rose.

She
licked her lips, glanced at the window and then his gun. “Thank you for
staying.”

He
slung his rifle over his shoulder and took the offering. “Shoot, no need for
thanks. It’s been decades since we’ve had a good fight.”

Allie
opened her mouth, glanced at Derek’s face, shook her head, and bit her lip.
Derek’s face softened as he saw the stress on hers. “We won’t let them break up
your marriage.”

“We’re
not married.”

Derek’s
dark gold gaze cut to Caleb. “Hate to be contrary—”

“You
live to be contrary,” Allie interrupted.

Derek
shrugged. “Be that as it may, there’s no one on this compound who considers you
single, and seeing how easily you were caught, you probably ought to be
grateful for it.”

The
wild rush of color over Allie’s face would have been amusing if not for the
howling that commenced in the dark beyond the window.

Derek
set the tray on the table. “Looks like we’re on.”

Caleb
grabbed Allie’s arm. “Yup.”

Derek
ducked his left shoulder. The shotgun dropped to his hand. He tossed it to
Caleb. Another quick shrug had a belt of shells coming right behind. Caleb
caught both. “This should hold you until you get her settled.”

“Thanks.”
The gun felt good in his hands. Natural. He let the feeling spread, welcoming
the cold, blank, calculating anger and internal stillness that always took him
before a battle.

“With
any luck, I’ll be adding the cost of it to your bill.” Derek disappeared
through the door, two bear claws in hand.

They
needed to get going, too. Caleb took Allie’s hand. “C’mon.”

“Where
are we going?”

“To
get you safe.” No matter what happened tonight, Allie and his child would be
safe.

He
pulled Allie into the hall. To the left he saw Derek clearing the bottom of the
stairs. Allie headed after him. “No. This way.”

She
frowned but didn’t argue, just followed. Slowly. Too slow. The sounds of battle
grew stronger. Caleb dragged Allie in his wake. When she stumbled, he yanked
her up against him, tucking her under his arm and racing down the stairs. Above
them, glass shattered. He spun, tossing Allie into the corner, hoping she had
the reflexes to save herself. He cocked the shotgun, dropping onto his back as
the creature screamed a bone-chilling war cry, landing on the stair above,
jumping back as Caleb brought the barrel up.

Allie’s
scream blended with the attackers as he pulled the trigger. Blood sprayed in
all directions. The creature flew back from the force of the blast and his own
momentum. Caleb sprang after him, ripping his talons through the man’s neck,
severing tendons and vertebrae as he went, decapitating him.

“Oh,
God.”

Allie
was staring at him, horror in her eyes. He knew he looked like the monster he
was. Vampire and outlaw in one. He didn’t have time for soft words. He leapt
over the broken glass, landing by her side. Pulling her hands away from her
mouth, too late seeing the blood on his own. “We’ve got to go.”

She
swallowed hard, and nodded, either unable or unwilling to take her eyes off the
dead vamp.

“He
was so young.”

“He
was trying to kill us.”

She
nodded again. One foot moving in the direction he wanted, still looking over
her shoulder. “You took off his head.”

“Just
guaranteeing he doesn’t get up again.”

Another
hard swallow followed by another of those nods indicating an understanding he
knew didn’t exist. Her free hand went to her stomach. “If you’re going to get
sick, you’ll have to do it on the run.”

Her
chin came up under the lash of his tone. “I won’t get sick.”

“Good.”
He opened the bedroom door at the end of the hall and pulled her through before
closing it behind him. Outside, howls blended with preternatural war cries and
above it all, the Johnson brothers’ battle cry. The house shook as something
exploded nearby again. A scuff of feet on the wood floor in the hall said they
had company.

Get
in the closet, get down, and shield yourself
, he hissed in a mental sotto voice.

Allie’s
confusion was palpable. Caleb didn’t have time to explain. He just opened the
door and shoved her in before closing it quietly and turning to face what came
through the door.

These
weren’t like the young, too-eager vamps that first attacked. Experienced, they
slammed the door against the wall with nothing but a lethal spray of bullets.
Caleb dove to the side an instant before they punctured the wall where he had
been standing. He rolled and came to his feet. A split second later, three
intruders hurtled into the room.

He
caught the first by the sleeve, sending him into the wall, kicking out with his
boot, into the midsection of the second, missing as the man flipped, following
the kick through on a low spin that took him under the other’s counterattack,
loading a chamber in the shotgun as he came down in a crouch. The enemy were
just as fast, finding their feet and flanking him. They spread out in a
deliberate threat. One blond, one brunette. Both butt ugly. He waited, shotgun
primed. He just needed an opportunity.

“Where’s
the woman?”

“Go
to hell.”

“You,
my friend, are the one who’ll be going there. There’s a new day dawning for
vampires, and you and your kind won’t be part of it.”

“Then
neither will my mate.”

“Oh,
she will. She’s the key. Whoever holds her holds the power.”

“For
what?”

“To
rule, my ignorant hick. To rule.”

“Who
the hell would find a thrill in ruling a bunch of jackasses like you?” He slid
to the right. The second vamp moved with him, stepping in front of the closet
door.

Stay
quiet, Allie.

“Just
because you and those like you—”

“There
are more like me?”

The
blond vamp didn’t appear to appreciate the interruption. His thin lip curled in
a sneer, revealing his fangs and the traces of blood on them. Blood from one of
Caleb’s people. Ice-cold rage filled Caleb. The son of a bitch was going to die
twice as nasty for that.

“As
in any society, there’s wheat and chaff.”

“Naturally,
you’re the wheat.”

“Of
course.”

The
man’s smugness begged a set down. “But not the leader.”

“Not
yet.”

Naturally,
he had aspirations. “Not ever. The way I see it, if they sent you after me,
they must see you as expendable.”

Out
of the corner of his eye, he saw the second man move. He swiveled the muzzle in
his direction. He really hoped the asshole figured his reflexes could outmatch
a bullet. The blond’s eyes flicked over his shoulder. The other man inclined
his head. The slight hiss was the only warning he had.

Caleb
dropped as an arrow imbedded in the wall across the room. He blocked the
brown-haired vamp’s attack with his arm, going down under the force of the hit.
Claws dug into his ribs. Fangs slashed for his throat. A shadow deeper than the
twilight of the room flashed overhead. He jerked to the side. Talons embedded
in the floor by his ear.

“Shit!”

He
planted his boot in the stomach of the guy on top of him, and heaved just as
the blond vamp cried, “Stand back!”

The
two vamps leapt away. The hammer of a gun cocked. He had one second to make a
decision. He didn’t even need half that. He gathered all his energy and sent a
private message to Allie, imprinting in her mind the secret passage, and the
path to the safe cave a second before the gun went off.

The
explosion was deafening in the small room. Caleb jumped to the side, knowing it
was too late even as he emptied the shotgun in the direction of the shot. The
agony never came. The expected bullet never hit. The man to his left went down
in a gurgling scream. He stood there trying to figure out how he was still
standing. And then he looked up. The closet door was open. On the other side of
it, Allie stood, terror and anger twin companions in her expression. Her
fingers gripped the doorknob like it was the last train out of hell. On the
other side, the blond vamp got up from where she’d knocked him with the heavy
door, swearing as he brought his gun around.

“Close
the door!”

Allie
didn’t move. Caleb was on the vamp before he could fire, driving his talons
straight into the blond’s stomach. The soft tissue offered no more resistance
than the vamp’s throat as Caleb bit deep, tearing hard, trapping his scream
there for all time. Blood filled his mouth, his vision.

The
other men came at him like hell on fire. There was no time for finesse. Only
survival. He went down between their combined weights, the gun sliding across
the floor. He didn’t go quietly. He slashed and bit, putting all his muscle and
determination into buying Allie the precious time she needed to escape.

Run.

Again,
he sent her the image of the passage and the safe home. Again, he felt her
resistance.

Go!

A
blow to his chest drove the air from his lungs. Blood spewed in a red arc.
Allie’s angry scream sent fresh adrenaline pumping through his body. He threw
the men off, snarling as he found his feet, placing himself between the closet
and the bleeding vampires. They snarled, baring their fangs, but they didn’t
charge. The likely reason why didn’t give him a snuggly feeling. More must be
coming.

He
backed into the door, closing it with his weight as he gathered his reserves.
He hit resistance before it clicked shut.

“Caleb?”

“Damn
it, Allie. Get our baby to safety.”

“I
can’t leave you like this.” Her hand pressed into his back.