The Damned (47 page)

Then he became aware that Father Juan was speaking in Latin over him. He was calling on the angels. On the archangels. His voice penetrated Antonio’s panic.

I am safe
, Antonio thought.

He lay still.

“Oh, my God, Antonio,” Jenn cried. She threw her arms around him, but Father Juan dragged her backward.

“Stay away from him,” Father Juan said in a high, fearful voice. “I’m exorcising him. Aurora called on the Devil, and next thing we know, he’s out of his mind.”

“Oh, God, oh, God, Antonio,” Jenn said.

Antonio bolted upright, then got to his feet. He whirled around, then stared down at his hands.

Then at Jenn.

He was bewildered.

“I was burning,” he said. “I was set on fire.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“She called the name of Lucifer,” Father Juan said, crossing himself. After a beat Antonio did too.

Then the truth dawned on Antonio:

“She was calling on her sire. She called him Lucifer.”

“Can that be the name of a vampire?” Father Juan asked.

“We—they—worship the gods of death,” Antonio explained.

“Lucifer is a fallen angel. A creature of light,” Father Juan said.

“Many of the dark gods promise light to their followers,” Antonio replied. “It is said that through them vampires will walk in the light.” His lips parted. “She called upon him, and I felt the flames.”

“She mesmerized you,” Jenn ventured.

He reached out to touch her. Father Juan held her tightly. Whatever ground Antonio had gained with them, with
her
, he seemed to have lost.
What else did I do, while I was hallucinating?
he wondered, worried and ashamed.

“I don’t think so. Maybe her sire can mesmerize from afar. Or . . . I was bewitched.”

Antonio heard a wild, ragged howl, and his eyes sought out the source. Holgar was standing, holding a piece of black cloth, his head thrown back. A few feet from them one of the first-year students Antonio had seen during the fighting was sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Twenty feet away, Noah knelt over the body of Taamir, whispering prayers to Adonai and Allah for his friend.

Antonio became aware of quiet sobbing, and then next to him Father Juan swore. Antonio followed the priest’s gaze. There, a ways apart from the others, Jamie was draped over Eriko, crying and praying and swearing.

“No,” Antonio whispered, even as his senses told him what he didn’t want to know.

“She’s dead,” Father Juan said quietly.

Antonio started forward, but Father Juan put a restraining hand on his shoulder. “Don’t. He will kill you.”

“Where is Skye?” Antonio asked.

Jenn’s face contorted. She was trembling.

“They took her,” Jenn said. “Aurora and Estefan.”

So Aurora had escaped. Emotions crashed through him: sorrow, rage, fear, and, most horribly, relief. Aurora still had a hold on him.

The Devil
had
had a hand in this.

Antonio turned away so that no one would see his struggle even as his fangs pricked his lower lip and he thought about killing the others in her name.

“Antonio,” Jenn said, pulling herself away from Father Juan.

Antonio struggled to control himself as her arms came around him. He tried to remain very still, and after a moment he turned to face her. Sobbing, she covered his chin and lower lip with kisses. He didn’t return her kisses, and she didn’t seem to notice.

“I thought you had died. I thought I’d lost you,” she said, weeping. “My sister, Antonio. Heather!”

“Yes, we have to look for Heather,” Father Juan said urgently. “It will be light soon.”

Antonio nodded slowly. “But all the other students, the teachers, dead?”

“I’m afraid so,” Father Juan confirmed. He gestured with his hand. “Father Giovanni fell. He had a vision that he would die defending the academy, and it came true. We are all that is left of Salamanca.”

Antonio expected Jenn to cry again, but she surprised him by wiping her eyes and raising her chin.

Her voice was too calm. She had to be in shock.

He wished he could comfort her, but he couldn’t touch her again. He was intoxicated by the smell of her blood. He wasn’t in full control. He folded his arms across his chest and maintained his distance. He had to, for both their sakes.

What should I do?
he thought.

Estefan and Aurora were smart. Jenn had no idea what spells Estefan had used, what herbs, but he had managed to cloak their trail—even from a werewolf. They couldn’t track them and Skye. There was absolutely no sign of Heather. Jenn could barely function. She had lost her again.

She turned to Antonio, but he was distant. Maybe he was blaming himself. Maybe . . . something else was bothering him.

“We need to rest and regroup, and then we’ll take action,” Father Juan said. “And we must honor those who have fallen.”

They piled more stones on the resting places of the students and teachers, and dug graves for Eriko, Taamir, and Father Giovanni. They couldn’t chance remaining at the ruins long enough to bury all their dead properly.

Holgar took off his wooden cross decorated with wolf heads and laid it in the pile of rubble on top of Kirstinne and her mate.

Father Juan spoke over the three graves, then over the burial ground in general, and then they all retreated up into one of the caves that dotted the countryside, to rest, and to hide Antonio from the rising sun. They stood or sat in a loose circle, all of them bone weary and hungry, but unable to sleep and having no food among them. The kitchen and pantry had burned to the ground.

Jamie prowled around the edges of the group, his pain radiating from him, as they discussed what to do next. He was making them all even more uptight.

“Jamie, sit down,” Jenn said at last.

“No!” He whirled on her. “This is your fault!”

“Stop it, Jamie,” Father Juan said.

“Why should I? Eri’s dead, Taamir’s dead, Skye’s gone, and she’s too wishy-washy to stake the vampire who stands in front of her.” He pointed a shaking hand at Antonio. Then Jamie faced her square on. “This is bollocks, and I’m not going to take it anymore, you stupid, inept bitch.”

But at that moment Jenn Leitner had had enough. She stood slowly and turned, every muscle coiled, and she stared at Jamie. She stepped closer to him. Her breath came out in ghostly puffs in the frigid air.

“Okay, Jamie, you want to go, let’s go,” she said softly.

His eyes dilated slightly, and she could see the hesitation in them as he glanced quickly at the others.

“Jenn,” Antonio said, in a cautioning tone.

“Just you and me,” she said. “This has been coming for a long time, and it ends now. Agreed?”

He spat in the dirt and then met her eyes. “Agreed.”

She nodded and then hit him first. Jamie’s nose made a satisfying crunch under her knuckles. Jamie staggered back. She followed up with a kick to his knee, hoping to take him down fast, but he twisted out of the way. Jenn was off balance, and as she struggled to recover, he cracked his fist on her jaw. Her head snapped back painfully, and pain seared through her.

He dislocated my jaw
, Jenn realized. But she knew she had broken his nose. The question was, how far was too far? Or how far would be enough?

Jamie answered that for her when he leaped forward, knocking her onto her butt. He dropped on her, straddling her and pinning her to the ground. He raised his hand to hit her again, aiming for her jaw.

She spit in his eyes and then rammed her fist into his groin. While he was incapacitated, she flung him off of her and leaped to her feet, kicking him in the ribs until she could actually hear them breaking.

Sade screamed, and Holgar leaped forward and grabbed Jenn, dragging her back. She bit his hand, and when he yelped in surprise, she turned and punched him in the eye. The werewolf staggered back, eyes wide in shock.

“Let her go,” Jamie panted, struggling to his feet.

Holgar hesitated, and Jenn lifted her chin, glaring at him. She bared her teeth and did her best to imitate one of his growls. Holgar whined low in his throat, ducked his head, and backed up a couple of steps, acknowledging her as alpha.

Jenn spun around just in time to duck as Jamie threw a punch at her. She dropped to the ground, grabbed a handful of dirt, and flung it into his eyes. He grunted and half tripped. She slammed her hands against his ears before punching him in the eye too.

He roared in fury and swung blindly at her.

And that was when she knew she had him.

She pressed forward, kicking him in the solar plexus, and finished with an uppercut to the jaw that felled him like a tree. He lay on the ground for a minute, unmoving. She bent over, trying to catch her breath, daring to hope that it was over.

Which, of course, it wasn’t. Jamie exploded up from the ground with a roar and kicked her in the chest before she could get out of the way. She staggered and went down, but caught herself on one hand before springing back up. She punched him twice in the stomach before dancing out of his reach. She moved in again to clip him on the jaw and took a left to the side of her head. Her ears rang, but her jaw didn’t break.

She feinted to his left, and when he moved to block, she swept his feet from underneath him. She followed, landing on top of him, raining blows down on his face. She took careful aim at his throat and jabbed, and he coughed and grabbed at his throat. She had hit him hard enough to dislodge his Adam’s apple. He could choke to death.

She punched him again in the side, doing more damage to his broken ribs. Blood began to trickle out of the corner of his mouth, and she leaned down close to him until their faces were an inch apart.

“Do you yield?” she said, biting off every word as she continued to stare at him.

He hesitated, then nodded.

“Will you acknowledge my leadership and stop your sniping, your whining, and your bitching?” she demanded.

He wanted to say no, she could see it in his eyes, but his throat was beginning to swell, and he had little time before he lost the ability to breathe. He finally lowered his eyes and nodded.

She stood up. “Father Juan,” she said, “he’s going to need prayer and magick if he’s going to survive.”

The priest hurried forward to work on him while she faced Holgar, Sade, Noah, and Antonio. They stood facing her, their expressions mixed. “Will you follow me?” she questioned Antonio.

He nodded, staring at her almost as if he didn’t know who she was.

She turned to Sade. The girl reeked of garlic and fear, but she was still standing, still there, still willing to do her part. They needed someone to replace Eriko as Jamie’s fighting partner, and she was the only candidate. “Will you follow me?” Jenn asked.

“Yes.” She nodded like a bobblehead, terrified and wide-eyed.

Jenn turned to study Noah. He had proven himself time and again, and even now, after the loss of Taamir, he stood stoic, strong. He was a good man. He was a good hunter. “Will you follow me?” she demanded.

“To the ends of the earth,” he said, eyes clear and intense.

She cleared her throat. “You’ll be my partner.” She avoided Antonio’s gaze. “For now.”

“Good, Jenn,” Antonio murmured.

Finally she turned to Holgar. The werewolf had killed his father and his intended, and his partner had been kidnapped. His wounds were deep. So was his guilt. And the look of vengeance was in his eyes.

“Will
you
follow me?” she whispered.

“You didn’t need to ask,” he said.

He was right. She didn’t. Of them all he had never once questioned her, had always supported her. She would trust him to be Antonio’s partner until they could rescue his. Of all of them he would know when, if, Antonio needed to be . . .

No.
She couldn’t even think it.

Father Juan was working feverishly over Jamie. It would be easier if the Irishman died. Easier, but not better.

“What do we do now?” Sade asked softly.

Jenn put her hands on her hips. “We hunt down Aurora. We make Estefan sorry he ever laid eyes on Skye. We take back this world.”

“We don’t have many people,” Antonio said.

“We don’t need many. We just need a few courageous souls to stand up, to say they aren’t going to take it anymore. And they’re not going to have the courage to do that unless we show them the way.”

“To fight the Devil?” Father Juan asked.

“If it comes to that, yes,” Jenn replied.

“What about Heather?” Holgar asked.

Jenn shook her head. “If we find her, we find her. But that’s not our immediate mission.” She ignored the looks of surprise on her teammates’ faces. It was true. It broke her heart, but they didn’t know if her sister was alive or dead, holed up somewhere or running with the other Cursed Ones. They had a world to save. With any luck, when they did, her sister would still be in it.

“We need to find somewhere we can plan,” she said.

Father Juan paused in his ministrations to Jamie long enough to look up at her. “I may have a place. I’ve been preparing for something like this for a while now.”

“Good. As soon as Jamie can move, we’ll go.”

“You need help too,” Noah said quietly.

Jenn had been struggling to ignore the pain that was raging through her. Talking was a special agony. She shrugged. Jamie was worse off. Father Juan could deal with her second.

Noah stepped forward. “I have some field medical training. May I?”

She nodded and tried not to cry while he pushed her jaw back in place. The relief was almost instant, producing a sort of euphoria throughout her body that allowed her to, at least temporarily, ignore the other damage.

She turned and looked down the hill at the pile of stone that used to be their university. The damage was fearsome. A few walls of the dormitory still stood, precarious, though the roof was gone. She thought of her diary, the new Hunter’s Manual, which she hadn’t risked taking with her.

“Do you think anything is salvageable?” she asked no one in particular.

“I’ll go in,” Antonio offered.

“You’ll go
first,”
Father Juan corrected him.