Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) (14 page)

She shuddered, her hand tightened
around Devon’s at the reminder that it was her own father that had
ordered such a thing done. “Almost there,” he said
softly.

The hair on Cassie’s neck stood up, her
whole body erupted in a tingling chill. She froze, pulling Devon
sharply back and causing Chris to slam into her. Her eyes flew open
as she rapidly searched the deserted hallway. “Cassie?” Devon asked
quietly.

She shook her head, holding her hand up
to silence him as she strained to hear anything within the hallway,
strained to hear whatever it was that she knew was watching them.
And there was something. She could feel it out there, creeping
steadily closer, hunting them from the shadows of the
compound.

She glanced swiftly at Chris whose gaze
was darting rapidly around the hall. “There is something here,”
Cassie said softly.

“Yes,” Chris agreed.

Devon stepped closer to her, pushing
her toward the wall. “Where is it?” he hissed.

Chris shook his head. “I don’t
know.”

Devon used his body to move her toward
the others. “Move slowly.”

Cassie nodded, licking her lips
nervously as they continued down the hall, braced for the imminent
attack. Her entire body hummed with adrenaline; her fingers
trembled on the box she held. The one she was prepared to drop at a
moment’s notice. Her edginess grew as they turned another corner;
she knew that the closer they got to freedom, the more likely the
attack would be. Her hand tightened on Devon’s, squeezing him as
tight as she could. She was so very scared of whatever was stalking
them.

A loud clatter overhead caused her to
jump in surprise; Devon jerked her hard against him. The box
slipped from her grasp as he pinned her against the wall with his
body. Everyone braced themselves for the battle, but the hall
remained silent, eerily so. “We need to get out of here,” Julian
hissed.

“They’re stalking us,” Devon said
softly.

“They?” Cassie asked in a choked
whisper.

He nodded, his black hair falling
across his forehead, his emerald eyes hard as he scanned the
ceiling and hallway. “Yes.”

A shiver ran down Cassie’s back. She
caught Chris’s eye over Devon’s shoulder, they needed to get out of
here, all of them. “Devon we have to move,” Cassie
whispered.

He nodded slowly, bending to retrieve
her box as he moved cautiously away from her. Cassie took her box
back from him as he bent to retrieve his own. “Let’s go,” Julian
said gruffly.

Cassie pulled her crossbow from her
back, grasping hold of it with one hand as she juggled the box
under her arm. They had found a cache of weapons in the room. Aside
from stakes it had held more crossbows, a long bow, more guns, and
a nifty little thing that appeared to be a flame thrower when
assembled. “You need to give us some weapons,” Joey said, his voice
tight with a hint of panic.

“Like hell,” Julian
grumbled.

“You’re going to need our help against
them. We have a right to protect ourselves in here!”

“You have no rights as far as I’m
concerned!” Julian snapped ferociously back.

Joey stared at him in startled
disbelief; Dani remained silent as she moved steadily forward, her
head bowed in resignation. “Monsters,” her father
muttered.

“I think you’re the monster,” Cassie
retorted. “You’re the one that created this mess. You’re the reason
we are being stalked right now. You’re why we’re all here. You’re
the monster!”

She was shaking with fury by the time
she was done talking. Tears of frustration and anger burned her
eyes. Her father stared coldly back at her, hatred evident in his
twisted features. She had so often dreamed about what her father
had been like, imagined that he had miraculously survived The
Slaughter, but this man was nothing like what she had pictured.
This man was an atrocity who had been twisted by hate and violence,
a cruel stranger she wished had never come back into her
life.

“You might want to stop looking at her
like that,” Devon growled. “You’re not getting a weapon, and if it
wasn’t for your DNA I would have ripped your throat out
already.”

Her father’s eyes widened slightly
before he turned away from them, his shoulders set tight, his jaw
clenched. “Devon,” Cassie said softly.

He shook his head at her, silencing her
instantly. She knew that Devon was telling the truth, it was simply
the fact that Derek was her father that had allowed him to make it
this far. Devon would not hesitate to kill him though, especially
not if he felt that it would help keep her safe. Cassie thought she
should be more upset by that notion, but at the moment she couldn’t
bring herself to care. Even if he was her father, she didn’t know
the man, and a very big part of her hated him right now.

Devon pushed her slightly back in front
of him again, using his body to shield her from anything that might
attack from the back. Cassie wanted to protest, she didn’t want him
in danger, but arguing would be futile. He would not back down from
this, not when her safety was involved. “I meant what I said. Stay
close to me Cassie, they’ll attack soon.”

It was not the threat of attack that
made her shudder, but the fact that she was very aware that Devon
would kill any threat to her, no matter who or what it was. He
wrapped his hand gently around her neck, keeping her close to him
as they moved slowly down the hall. Though she could not hear the
creatures, she knew they were shuffling through the shadows,
stalking their progress. Her hand tightened on her crossbow as
terror flooded her.

“Almost there,” Dani said softly, hope
evident in her voice.

Cassie swallowed heavily, she wanted
out of here in the worst possible way. Her nose and skin were
desperate for fresh air. She wanted to see the night sky and the
moon. She wanted to inhale air that didn’t reek of the dead and see
something outside of this horrid place. She wanted to be free and
alive and away from the monsters silently stalking them.

Cassie held her breath as they reached
the double doors and Julian pulled them slowly open. He poked his
head out, glancing into the stairwell before nodding. He
disappeared through the door, holding it open for everyone else to
follow. Cassie was almost through when she saw it coming. It leapt
easily down the hall in long graceful strides that swiftly ate up
the distance between them. Cassie threw her box through the door,
grabbing hold of Chris she spun slightly, bouncing him off of Devon
as she shoved him out of the hallway. Devon and Chris were both
knocked backwards, tripping over each other as they fell through
the doorway.

She didn’t have time to register the
fact that it was the most ungraceful she had ever seen Devon. She
only had a split second to react, a brief moment to swing up her
crossbow, and no time to aim before pulling the trigger. The arrow
slammed into the things shoulder, jerking him back momentarily,
barely slowing its rapid pace and most certainly not stopping it.
She didn’t have time to grab another arrow and reload the weapon
before the thing was upon her. Grasping the crossbow in two hands,
she slammed it into the creatures chin, snapping its head back as
it seized hold of her.

Devon bellowed her name, shoving past
Chris as he scrambled to get to her. Cassie lifted the crossbow
again, smashing it against the monsters face. Its/his cheekbone
caved beneath the blow, leaving a gaping wound that would have left
a human helpless, and would have staggered a vampire, but did
nothing to ward off this monster.

Its hands dug into her skin, leaving
painful bruises across her arms as it tried to get closer. Its
teeth snapped eagerly as it attempted to rip her throat out,
attempted to mutilate and destroy her. She could smell its fetid
breath; its lingering stench of death engulfed her. Panic swamped
Cassie, this thing was crazed, irrational, and driven only by its
desire to see her dead. She snapped the crossbow down, shoving it
into its chest in attempt to further block its attack.

Teeth snapped inches from her cheek;
she turned her head to avoid it, trying hard to hold it off as she
regained her bearings. A loud roar enveloped her. Devon grabbed
hold of the thing by the back of the neck, flinging it off of her
with one mighty heave. Cassie staggered forward, nearly falling as
the weight was pulled off of her.

The monster screamed as Devon grasped
hold of her, shoving her toward the double doors. “Go!” he
hissed.

Chris reached for her, but she shook
him off, unwilling to leave Devon alone with the creature. She
turned as another creature came barreling out of the darkness,
leaping over its downed friend and slamming hard into Devon. Cassie
gasped as the woman tore at him, slashing her long fingernails down
his side, shredding his shirt and spilling his blood.

Cassie raced toward him as he grabbed
hold of the woman’s throat, pulling her off of him and holding her
at arm’s length. The woman spit and clawed, hissing loudly as she
swung violently at Devon. Cassie’s heart leapt into her throat, her
fingers trembled as she struggled to pull another arrow
free.

She loaded it into the crossbow, taking
aim at the man that had regained his feet and was coming back at
them. Pulling the trigger, Cassie took satisfaction as the bolt
slammed into his chest, knocking him ass over tea kettle as he
bounced down the hall. It writhed upon the ground, clawing at its
chest, its breath heaved in and out in a rattling whistle. It would
not be long before it died.

She raced toward Devon as Julian burst
back into the hall, overtaking her in his rush to get to Devon’s
side. Devon seized hold of the woman’s head, twisting it violently
around with a sickening snap that made Cassie’s stomach lurch. He
shoved the disfigured creature away from him, slamming his fist
into the back of its twisted head. The woman, no the thing,
staggered forward a few steps before falling to her knees. Cassie
felt as if she was watching a grotesque movie as the woman’s head
lulled around on her broken neck, but she did not die.

Cassie took a staggering step backward,
nausea twisted through her as she stumbled into the door. “Get out
of here!” Devon bellowed at her.

Julian had stopped running; disgust
twisted his features as he watched the creature crawl blindly
around. Cassie took a small step back, unable to stand watching
anymore. Chris grabbed hold of her arm, trying to draw her back,
trying to pull her free of the horror in the hallway. Chris froze,
his eyes bulging from his head as he gaped at the creature in
dismay. Julian and Devon remained unmoving for a moment, before
bursting into action again.

Julian spun toward her, shoving her
through the double doors so roughly that she fell over Chris, both
of them staggering into the stairs. Cassie’s palms and knees
screamed in protest as she landed roughly on the concrete steps.
Dani was still in the hallway, her eyes wide with shock and
disgust, but Cassie’s father and Joey had taken the distraction as
an opportunity to flee.

Cassie glanced up the stairway,
spotting them two flights above. Cursing loudly, Cassie untangled
herself from Chris as Devon and Julian burst into the stairwell.
“Give me the keys!” Julian demanded of Dani.

Her hands shook as she tossed him the
keys that fell a few feet short. They clattered to the floor as the
woman slammed into the door, and then something else slammed into
it. Dani screamed as Devon threw himself against the door, holding
it closed as the creatures screamed and howled on the other side.
“We have to stop them!” Cassie hissed to Chris, bounding back to
her feet.

Cassie leapt onto the stairs as Devon
and Julian struggled to keep the doors closed against the monster
inside. Dani grabbed the keys, rushing over to help them get the
doors locked again. Forgoing the weapons and supplies they had
gathered, Cassie raced up the stairs. She took them two at a time,
in great leaping bounds as she sprinted to catch up with her father
and Joey.

She could not let the two of them get
away; they could not be free to reign down more terror on some
other unsuspecting town and its inhabitants. They could not get
away without some type of punishment, and they had to explain what
the hell they had done to these creatures, and how many there
really were.

“Cassie!” Devon roared after
her.

She ignored him as she jumped up the
stairs, pushing herself harder, faster. She had to get to them
before they got to the top, they could easily disappear into the
darkened hallways, and the night if she didn’t. Joey’s head
appeared over the side of the banister, his eyes widened as he
caught sight of her just a flight beneath them now.

Cassie grasped hold of the railing,
using it to pull herself faster, using it to guide her along.
“Hurry!” Joey gasped.

Anger and fear fueling her, she poured
on the speed, gathering on her vast reserves of power as she
bounded swiftly forward. Her father had reached the mangled door as
she hit the top of the stairs. “No!” she cried, rage propelling as
if she had wings.

Slamming into him, she pulled him
backward, shoving him into Joey, and the wall. She fell against the
one good door, slumping slightly as she tried to catch her breath.
Her father’s furious eyes blazed into hers. He grabbed hold of her,
trying to pull her away, but she shoved him off refusing to let him
near the door again. “No,” she hissed again. “You will not get away
that easy.”