Vicious (23 page)

“I’m fine, Grant. It will heal. They aren’t even silver bullets. You’d think the guards would be better prepared than this.”

“But there isn’t an exit wound. The bullet is still in you!”

“It will push its way out shortly. Now come on. We have to get moving before they send more guards.”

Her pastel dress was now splattered with blood, making her look like she had been Easter-egg hunting during the filming of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We began to make our way quickly through the hallway at an accelerated pace, and sure enough, after a few minutes of travelling through the prison stopping only to kill a few guards that got in the way, I heard a small ping of metal hitting the cement floor. It was the bullet from Anna’s shoulder. Her body had healed and forced it out, and she had taken no notice of the injury. I had never understood how very different she was from humans until that very moment. A bullet meant nothing to her. She could easily kill a man with her bare hands and was afraid of nothing.

We reached the ominous double doors we had seen earlier with the sirens blaring all around us, yet no more guards seemed to want to die trying to stop us. While the vampires investigated the doors, I looked in the cells I could see into and saw all of the prisoners were silent, crouching and terrified of the black-eyed creatures. It was probably better they stay behind bars unless we started the fire. At least they were a little protected behind bars.

The door issue was solved by Anna, Lea and Marshall kicking the door at the same time. One well-timed kick brought down a steel door three inches thick. We walked past the demolished door and into what looked like a horror-film set. The halls were dark and barely lit with greenish lanterns. The floor was dingy and wet with water and blood. There was an odor of death and animal that permeated the very air we breathed. If I could smell it, I’m sure the vampires heightened senses were sick with the scent.

We split into two teams. Lea’s crew went one way to look for the lab and our group scouted the hall for any doors that might lead to the captive vampires. The only door we found was so obviously the door in question that we looked no farther. It was fifteen feet tall and solid steel. The door looked like one of those bank vault doors that are always larger than life in the bank heist movies. It was hard to believe such a structure really existed in life.

Just then, Lea’s crew rounded the corner.

“The hallway is just one big circle. This seems to be the only door. If there is a lab for this prison, it certainly isn’t onsite. They must have learned from what we did to the lab at our prison and decided to hold up at a different location.”

We all paused to creep closer to the door and listen for any sign of movement inside. I was thankful all of the vampires’ eyes had returned to normal. The enraged black eyes were too creepy to handle after a while, and every time one of them would regard me with that lifeless gaze, I flinched.

“Okay,” began Anna, “any vampires that surrender to us and want to go with us are not to be harmed. If they attack, we have no choice but to take them down. Everybody got that?”

There were tense nods all around as sounds of agitated stirring lurked out from behind the giant door. Then there was a loud bang as something large threw itself against the steel door from the other side. We heard more frantic scuffling and animal-like noises right before there was another loud bang. Marshall moved over to the door and pressed his ear against the door tentatively. He sniffed the air much like a bloodhound would. His eyes grew wide and inked over instantly as he looked up at Anna in surprise.

“What is it, Marshall?”

“You had better come see for yourself,” he replied gravely.

Anna and I moved over to the door and pressed our ears against it like Marshall had. I inhaled some of the foul air and caught the distinct smell of wet dog. Odd. I looked over at Anna as her eyes grew wide with shock, and she backed away from the door in fear. Her eyes too inked over black and she growled at the door with fangs bared.

“What is it, Anna?” I asked, panicked at the sight of her startled face.

Just then, I heard more scuffling, and there was the sound of something running on the other side of the door. The thing slammed into the door with a loud bang, creating a large dent in the metal door right next to my head. I stumbled backwards and managed to gather my composure next to a retreated Marshall as I looked at Anna wildly.

“Anna, what the hell is going on? What is it?”

I screamed over the wail of the alarm sirens that seemed to be getting louder and louder. She looked taken aback and out of breath for the first time ever. Anna was stammering by the time she found her voice again.

“W-w-w-werewolves. They tried to make werewolves.”

“You have to be fucking kidding me.”

Unfortunately, that was all I could think to say as I looked at her in shock and gripped my spear tighter. All of the vampires changed to fighting stances with their black eyes and bared fangs as Anna moved cautiously in front of me. I wasn’t too proud to let her, and we all stared at the large dented door that was all that stood in between us and lab-created werewolves.

I couldn’t tell you how long we waited there for the door to break down. Looking back, it was probably only a matter of seconds even though it felt like we stood there for an hour or more. Every new bang and new dent made me flinch, and the anticipation of certain death at the hands or claws of a mythical creature made me sick and want to wretch. I held my spear, wondering if silver worked on real werewolves like it did on vampires. Either way, I figured sharp pointy things hurt everyone.

The final bang sent the incredible door flying, forcing Marshall and Lulu to duck out of the way. A real-life werewolf flew out of the room with the door. He was huge and terrifying. All the beauty of a real wolf had been hideously mutated when crossed with whatever poor human this used to be.

The human must have been enormous, because the beast stood tall at around eight feet, making even Marshall look slight. There was fur on his face and haunches that got thinner around his torso. His face had elongated into a dog’s muzzle and nose, and he had the wolf’s ears, tail and claws. It seemed he could stand up on his hind legs or run on all fours, and we knew it was a he because the beast had no clothes and a shriveled excuse for male genitalia hanging lifeless between his legs. It truly was more beast than man now as it looked around at us, snarling and snapping. Within a few seconds, it leaped at Lulu and pinned her up against the wall. The pixie hardly flinched as Marshall moved to help her. The battle had begun.

Three more werewolves leaped from the darkness of the room into our group, trying to bite and tear at everyone. The vampires danced around with such speed and grace the werewolves had a hard time pinning them down to one spot long enough to attack. Anna still crouched near me, ready to attack anything that got close when a silvery looking werewolf tackled her from the right side, knocking her to the floor.

I ran to help her, but just as I began to move, I caught a flash of red fur out of the corner of my eye. I spun around just in time to catch a fifth werewolf lunging out of the room and straight at me. Instinct told me to raise my spear, and in the split second I had in between seeing the wolf and turning to face it, I did just that. The impact sent me flying to land on my back with the huge werewolf hanging just over me. It took me an awful minute to realize why this creature was snapping and growling so close but not managing to actually reach me. He had leapt right into my raised spear, stabbing himself in the process. I was lying on my back with an impaled werewolf still biting at me on the end of my spear.

The relief I felt was short lived as I watched the werewolf grab the spear and begin thrusting it farther into himself, which caused him to get closer and closer to me. This animal was so intent on getting to me, it was willing to impale itself farther to do it. I screamed out for help as the snapping beast inched closer and closer. I was paralyzed with horror as I watched this thing use its mannish arms and wolf claws to thrust the spear farther and farther through its torso.

He snapped and growled in pain at me with every effort, and I could feel its hot breath and snotty saliva fall on my face. I struggled to keep the spear upright in an effort to keep the beast as far from me as possible, but with every thrust, a new wave of sticky hot blood ran down the shaft of the spear and over my hands, causing my grip to slip.

When he was only centimeters from my face, I felt a sharp tug on the spear, and I watched astonished as the wolf flew backwards and slammed with a definite slap into a distant wall. I saw his lifeless body slide down the wall, leaving a snail trail of dark blood, and then slump to the floor in a massive heap of blood and fur.

I looked up to see Lea standing over me, black eyed and wild looking. I flinched as she jutted a hand at me. With a flash of realization, I understood it had been Lea who had thrown the wolf off me. I took her bloody hand in mine with a nasty smacking sound, and she lifted me to my feet with little effort.

I looked around to see five furry piles of blood and tissue that used to be lab-made werewolves and eight vampires still standing. Lulu was helping Marshall to his feet since he had some bad gashes on his leg, and Bridgette was sporting a bloody bite mark on the side of her torso, but I knew they would heal with an inhuman ability. Cat was holding back Gabriel who was crazy and still black eyed from the blood lust and the violence he had participated in with enthusiasm. Gabriel seemed to be looking from me to the piles of wolf flesh with a hunger and longing that made him blind with want. Cat held him back with what appeared to be only a little strain, but Lulu and Marshall limped over to help her anyway.

Anna raced over to me as soon as she saw me standing. She had some big scratches on her face that were already starting to shrink and turn pink with the healing process. Her dress was ripped to shreds and hung loosely off her small body. I took her in my arms and hugged her with relief. She felt real and alive and warm. She was panting a little under my arms. We separated and turned to Lea, who was still standing near me and staring at us in a way that was making me a little nervous.

“Thank you, Lea, for saving me,” I said to her timidly.

She looked up at me. Her eyes had returned to normal with that suspicious glare she got when she managed to catch one of our few public displays of affection. I couldn’t tell if her stare at that moment was more contemptuous or curious. Either way, she turned away from Anna and me before she ventured to speak again.

“We’re even now, blood bag. Let’s get the hell out of here,” she said very simply and with little emotion as she turned to lead us out of that hell hole of a place.

Chapter Twenty Five

Grant

We stood there, Anna and I, staring at one another in the parking lot in front of my dorm room on the exact day she had made me promise to my friends I would return. The last day or two had been a blur.

I could barely remember our escape from that hideous place. I remembered the alarm sirens and the poor inmates who’d cowered helplessly in their cells, watching us leave with questioning looks. They were grown men reduced to groveling children who questioned if we were there to save them or finally finish off their wretched existence. Those faces were still haunting my dreams.

The guards had turned the sprinklers on us in attempt to fight back in some way I suppose. They were all too terrified after watching the vampires kill their comrades on the video monitors to attempt to stop us themselves. Now we knew what they were housing in that prison, it made perfect sense why they didn’t understand what the vampires were or how to fight them. I assumed they had hoped once we stole whatever we were there for, the alarms and the water would drive us to leave.

We’d left virtually uncontested. They had been caught unaware and unprepared, and I doubted any other authorities would have been called given the nature of the bodies we left behind those double doors. I remember the alarms as I ran along the slick floor as fast as my legs could carry me. Of course, I remembered the faces of those creatures. I don’t think I will ever forget
those
faces.

Now, I stood in a dark parking lot staring at a beautiful vampire who could not seem to look me in the eyes all of a sudden. The others had gone on to New Orleans while Anna had driven me straight to Baton Rouge just in case Lea changed her mind about leaving me alone after she saw our affectionate display.

That was her excuse, but something was wrong. Things were different. I wanted more than I could say to hold her and kiss her like we had before, but something stopped me. The air between us felt awkward and foreboding. She finally stopped fidgeting with her red skirt and looked up at me when I quickly grabbed for her hands to still them. She moved them with a speed only a vampire could boast a split second before I could grab them. I would always be just a little behind her.

“What is it, Anna? What did I do wrong?”

She peered into my eyes as if searching for something lost. She sighed deeply and wrapped her arms around me in a motion so fast I barely saw her move. I hugged her back and squeezed as we settled into that familiar affection we had enjoyed for the few days before the prison.

“You saw me,” she whispered almost inaudibly into my neck, but I heard her.

“What?”

“You saw me,” she repeated as she pulled her face away to look into my eyes again. “You saw the vampire me. How different we are became real to you in the prison.”