Welsh Road (The Depravity Chronicles) (25 page)

“Oh,” Nicholas
said. He could care less about their names, but he was trying to keep them
talking. It was better than being killed. “And this General dude? What’s his
story?”

“No one knows
where the General is from,” Micah said. “When we met him a few centuries ago,
he didn’t have a tongue.”

“He couldn’t
write it down?” Nicholas asked.

“This conversation
is becoming tedious,” Natalia groaned.

“Who are the two
guys that went with Nina?”

No one answered.

“The one dude
seems to be your boss,” Nicholas said.

“We don’t have
bosses,” Micah said.

“Somehow I
seriously doubt that,” Nicholas said.

“Keenan and
Drew,” Natalia said.

“Where did they
go?” Nicholas asked.

“Are you afraid
to be alone with us?” Micah asked, his tone dangerous.

“Nina needs me
alive.”

“Perhaps,”
Natalia conceded. “But we don’t.”

“I’d love to be
a fly on the wall when Nina punishes you for disobeying her.”

Both Natalia and
Micah snorted. Nicholas was trying to create some dissention in the ranks.
Perhaps if there was a little infighting, Nicholas could slip out the door
unnoticed. It was a terrible plan, filled with holes. But at this point he
didn’t have many other options.

“So, I’m dying
to know,” Nicholas said, though instantly regretting his word choice. “Exactly
who – or what – are you people?”

They stared at
him in a way that made him feel uneasy, as if he was the Chef’s Special on
tonight’s menu. Then it hit him. He did the mental math. These cats talked like
they were at least a few hundred years old. They were exceptionally beautiful
and had an attractive air of mystery surrounding them.

Vampires. They
are freaking vampires.

After his
Aha!
moment, Nicholas silently prayed that Nina’s return would be imminent. He
wasn’t sure how much longer he had before these vamps opened a vein.

“I’m touched,”
Nina said, appearing out of nowhere. “You were missing me.” She ran her fingers
through Nicholas’ hair, though he resisted her endless flirtations. At this
point he didn’t care if she was going to knock him out again. He’d rather be unconscious
than have her touch a single hair on his body.

“What happened?”
Natalia asked.

“We had to take
care of something,” the vampire leader answered. Nicholas figured that this was
Keenan. He also noticed that this dude looked a lot like Nina. They both shared
a prominent nose; it was large, but seemed to fit their faces. High cheek
bones, same furrowed brow. Could it be possible?

“Nothing for you
to worry about,” Nina added. She turned to Nicholas and gestured toward Natalia
and company. “I assume you’ve become better acquainted with some of my party
guests?”

Nicholas nodded.

“And this is my
brother, Keenan,” Nina said with a bright smile.

So he
is
her
brother,
Nicholas mused.

Keenan walked
over to the other vampires, a look of sadness on his face. “It was brought to
my sister’s attention that there were a few uninvited guests. They are powerful
witches, and they killed Rufus.”

Nicholas was the
only person in the room focusing on Nina. Although Keenan was blaming Rufus’
death on these unknown witches, Nicholas could tell by Nina’s expression that
someone was lying. He would have been willing to bet his life that Nina was the
one who killed their vamp friend. But how would she pull it off without the
others knowing?

“I’m sorry for
your loss,” Nina said, reaching out a hand. Natalia didn’t take it. Instead,
she growled.

“This wouldn’t
be happening if we hadn’t agreed to help you,” Natalia said.

“If you hadn’t
agreed to help me, my darling, you would be dead like your friend.” Nina lifted
her head high, the epitome and portrait of superiority.

Just then, yet
another person appeared in the doorway. Nicholas figured he was another
vampire. He was blown away by the sheer chaos in the house. It seemed to be
growing by the minute. This new arrival stood in the doorway looking like a
deer caught in headlights. Apparently they – whoever “they” were – had run into
some problems. Nicholas assumed the vampire was referring to Jena and whoever
was with her. Hopefully she had kicked some undead ass.

Regardless of
all the insanity and last minute flare ups, the moment had seemingly arrived.
Nina was having trouble hiding her elation. She had been tirelessly preparing
for whatever was about to unfold. Yes, the infamous Birthday Party was now
underway. Nicholas still had no freaking clue what any of that meant, but he did
know one thing for sure. If Nina was going to attend to any new problems that
had arisen, she was going to leave him with these pissed off vampires. That
would
not
be cool. He did not want his life to end at the hands of Tweedle
Dee and Tweedle Douche, or this weird ass General, all of whom were still
licking their chops whenever they looked at him.

Nicholas figured
that the plan was for Nina to once again render him unconscious so he couldn’t
cause problems. He wasn’t wrong. Nina approached him and put her forefingers
against his forehead. At first nothing happened, so Nicholas took advantage of
Nina’s slip and fell to the floor, pretending to faint. He wasn’t sure if it
would work, or what he would do in the event that he was actually able to pull
it off.

“Come with me,
brother, and we shall deal with this,” Nina said. Nicholas wondered if anyone
ever said no to her formidable charm and beauty.

“Stand guard,”
Keenan said to the others. “We won’t be long.”

“And then the
party begins!” Nina exclaimed. Nicholas could tell by her footsteps that she
was dancing toward the front door. Then she began singing, making up rhyming
lyrics about parties and guests of honor.

1

“Is everyone
prepared?” Anish asked the group.

“I don’t even
know how to answer that question,” Jena replied. “I mean, we’re in the middle
of the woods getting ready to do battle against a hoard of monsters. Like, holy
crap, you know?”

“It’s a surreal
turn of events, that’s for sure,” Simon said, clutching a Beretta in one hand
and a stake in the other.

Trevor stared at
Anish, astonished. “Dude, I didn’t know you had such a wicked crossbow.”

“Isn’t that a
bit hefty to manage?” Sam asked, joining Trevor in shared amazement.

“It’s only hefty
if you don’t know how to handle it,” Anish said matter-of-factly.

“Ouch,” Anna
said with a laugh. She shook her head, wondering how they could crack jokes
when any of them could die in a matter of seconds when the vampires attacked.
Vampires
,
she thought to herself. Is this my life?

“Here, this
might help in case you miss the heart,” Matthew said to Anish as he poured holy
water over the arrows housed in his quiver.

“Hit me with
some of that,” Trevor said as he held out a small vial.

“How are you
going to manage to uncork that and pour it on a vampire?” Jena asked. “Do you
think he’ll just kneel in front of you like he’s receiving the Eucharist?”

“Funny you
should ask, smartass,” Trevor shot back, grinning. “These vials are made to
break upon impact.”

“Cool,” Jena and
Simon said in unison.

“Oh, no,” a
deep, masculine voice called from the darkness. “They’ve got holy water. We’re
done for.”

“We better make
a run for it,” another voice responded, this one female.

Both voices came
from somewhere in front of the group. They were clearly mocking them, having
heard their conversation.

How long have
they been listening?
Jena
wondered. Suddenly, two vampires emerged from behind a massive tree
approximately twenty yards from them.

“Impressive
weaponry,” a high pitched, shrilly voice said, this time from somewhere behind
them. Jena wasn’t sure if it was male or female.

“Too bad you
won’t have enough time to use them,” a second female voice said. “You’ll be
dead before you can even pull the trigger.”

The second
vampire duo descended from the trees, also about twenty yards away.

“So two males
and two females,” Jena observed.

“Yeah, seems
like,” Trevor said. “Why is that important?”

“Just saying,”
Jena said.

“I think I will
have a taste of those two young handsome boys,” the female in front said. She
began stalking toward them, showing her fangs and growling like a lioness.

“I wouldn’t take
another step if I were you,” Anish warned.

“Yeah, what he
said,” Jena said. Ugh, what a stupid thing to say. She actually got chills
listening to Anish’s voice, which sounded brave and virile. She wondered if
Anish intimated any of the vampires.

The four
bloodsuckers laughed.

Apparently not
, Jena thought.

The situation
became much more intense as the female vampire who was approaching them picked
up speed. In the blink of an eye, Anish released an arrow from his crossbow. It
struck her shoulder, and wisps of black vapor streamed from the entrance wound.

“It looks like
holy water isn’t your friend after all,” Matthew said with an unnerving
chuckle.

The vampire
angrily wrenched the arrow from her shoulder, growling and hissing. The holy
water must have remained on the arrow to some extent because her hands also
began to burn.

“I am going to
rip your fucking throat out,” the vampire whispered between clenched teeth and
fangs. She leapt toward Anish, but did not reach her target.

POW! POW!

Smoke billowed
from the Beretta in Anna’s right hand. Again, the vampire’s heart remained
intact, but the two wooden bullets connected with her abdomen. The vampire
collapsed to the ground, causing two of the others to growl furiously.

“We are under strict
orders,” the first male vampire declared. “We are not to harm these humans.” He
seemed to outrank the other three.

“Keenan can
shove that up his ass,” the other male vampire snapped. The remaining female
nodded in fierce agreement.

“Keenan,” Anish said,
more to himself than anyone else.

“Do you know
him?” Anna asked.

“Let’s just say
we’ve been acquainted,” he answered.

“God, are you
ever
not
ridiculously cryptic?” Jena moaned.

“No, he isn’t,”
Matthew said, grinning.

“You dare to
grin,” the lead vampire snorted. “You dare to make jokes in our presence, when
we could so easily kill you.”

“I don’t know,”
Trevor said. “It didn’t look too easy for her.” He pointed to the female
vampire who was still sitting on the ground, literally licking her shoulder wound
while sticking her forefingers in her abdomen.

“That’s freaking
disgusting,” Jena chastised. “And so unlady-like.”

Suddenly, the
second female vampire sprinted past Jena, slicing her bicep with one of her
long, pointed fingernails. Blood began pouring from Jena’s wound. The second
male vampire grabbed Jena from behind, one hand around her neck and the other
hand over her chest.

“Drop your
weapons,” he commanded.

For a few
seconds no one moved. The vampire tightened his grip. Jena felt like he was going
to crush her windpipe and nearly passed out from lack of oxygen.

“Fine!” Simon
shouted in desperation, dropping his Beretta and stake.

“Good boy,” the
vampire said. He looked to Anish and the others. “I’m still waiting. I’m going
to count to three. If I don’t see all of your shit on the ground, your friend
here dies.”

The lead vampire
was about to object, but the other three bared their fangs at him. He backed
down, shaking his head. He had lost control of his crew. Trevor made a mental
note that this vampire was deathly afraid of their leader, who was most likely
at the farmhouse waiting for them. If they ever even got there…

“I need to
heal,” the injured female vampire said as she walked up to Jena. She began to
hungrily drink from Jena’s injured arm. After she had her fill, she stepped
back from Jena, staggering a bit and nearly falling.

“You look
drunk,” Trevor said. “Did you maybe overdo it?”

Out of the blue,
the injured vampire’s wounds began to hiss, sounding like a whistling teapot.
Her face was contorted in pain as she slowly dropped to her knees and began
vomiting Jena’s blood.

“What is the
meaning of this?” she asked between short breaths. The lead vampire and the
second female quickly ran to her side, trying to figure out what was happening.

“She’s not
healing,” the lead vampire said.

“It’s getting
worse,” the other female observed.

“Does my blood
not agree with you?” Jena asked rhetorically. It burned her throat to talk; the
vampire still had a death grip around her throat. Jena quickly realized that
both vampires seemed deeply concerned for their wounded comrade. Each of them
glared at Jena every few seconds, their expressions mixed with fear, confusion,
and a feral kind of rage.

“Bite her!” the
lead vamp said to Jena’s captor.

At first, he
didn’t follow what was clearly an order. Jena could feel his head shaking back
and forth, clearly telling his boss that he wanted no part of her blood.

“Bite. Her.
Now.”

Jena curled her
fingers, making a fist in anticipation of the painful bite. She could feel her
nails digging into her palms, and felt the warm trickle of blood as she
continued to squeeze her hands.

As the vampire
sunk his fangs into her shoulder, Jena was reminded of getting allergy shots
for five years when she was younger. There would be a small pinch when the
needle went in, and then the itchy feeling would begin. This felt the same way,
but it was accompanied by a weird erotic sensation. On the one hand she felt
violated, but at the same time she wanted him. She wanted more.

It didn’t take
long before he too began to choke on her blood. This gave her the opportunity
to break free from his grasp and join the others. She watched in shock and dark
curiosity as two of the vampires screeched in pain and the other two trying to
feed them their own blood, looking frightened and helpless.

“What the hell
was that all about?” Sam asked, giving voice to the question that was on everyone’s
mind, including the vampires. Everyone looked to Anish for an answer. But it
was Simon who answered. As he spoke, the group picked up their weapons and
prepared to kill the undead bastards who had just tried to kill them.

 “There are
certain, uh,
species
, whose blood can either incapacitate or outright
kill a vampire. I only know of two. The first creature is werewolves. But, of
course, we can be fairly certain that Jena is not a werewolf.”

“I think not,”
Jena affirmed, sticking her tongue out at the thought of being that hairy.

“And the other
species?” Anna asked.

“Witches,” the
lead vampire said, spitting on the ground.

“Yes, witches,”
Trevor repeated, patting Simon on the back.

“Witches?” Jena
asked, feeling uneasy as everyone stared at her. “Are you saying I’m a witch?”

“You stupid
bitch,” the uninjured female vampire said. “How could you not know something
like that about yourself? Did it ever even occur to you that your powers set
you apart from the everyday, boring human?”

“You look
famished,” Jena said to her, ignoring her inquiries. “Trevor, why don’t you
give her some water?”

“Of course,”
Trevor said. “Where are my manners?” He grabbed a vial from his pocket and
threw it at the vampire, who instinctively caught the vial before it hit her in
the face.

The vampire
cried out in pain as her hand sizzled like a steak cooking on an open flame.
Although her hand caught the brunt of the holy water, a few drops splashed onto
her face and neck.

“Still thirsty?”
Trevor asked as he took out another vial. This time he hurled it at the lead
vampire, who was trying to tend to the others. It struck him on the ear, and
within a matter of seconds, his ear had melted. All that remained was the
opening to his ear canal, which now looked like a festering, gaping hole in the
side of his head. As the second female vampire was cursing the burns from the
holy water, Trevor uncorked a vial and launched the liquid toward her face. He
nailed his target dead center: her eyes. She may still be a formidable
opponent, but now she was a blind one.

“I’ve always
loved holy water,” Matthew commented.

“I think it’s
time for you to die,” Anish said, almost in a whisper. He nocked an arrow from
his quiver, aiming it at the second male vampire who had been choking Jena. It
struck him in the chest, piercing his heart. The vampire erupted in a single,
colossal flame. One second he was staring at the arrow in his chest, and the
next second he was a giant fireball. The three other vampires scurried away,
trying to avoid the blue and yellow flame who was once their brother. The
process of his death took all of about four seconds. As quickly as the flame
exploded into life, it died just as quickly. All that was left was a large pile
of black ash.

The lead vampire
jumped up to his feet and bolted into the dusk like a flash of lightening. The
two remaining female vampires were still trying to heal themselves, the first
from an arrow and bullet wounds, as well as Jena’s blood. The second was wiping
dirt on the places where the holy water had corroded her skin.

“Should we just
kill them?” Jena asked. She chastised herself for even asking. Of course the
vampires needed to be slain. What purpose would it serve to allow them to live?
If given the chance, the vamps would undoubtedly kill her and her friends. She
shivered as she wondered whether Nicholas was still alive. Though if he
were
dead, she was convinced she would have felt it.

“Well, I second
the motion for killing them,” Trevor spoke up. Simon nodded, followed by Anna
and Sam.

Anish and
Matthew remained silent. Anna took that as disagreement.

“You’ve got to
be kidding me,” she growled. “I may not know much about this supernatural mojo,
but I can’t imagine there are happy-go-lucky vampire covens out there. I just
don’t see these demons sprinkling ferry dust and shitting rainbows like some
demented leprechaun.”

Trevor and Simon
burst into laughter.

“What the hell?”
Anna barked.

“Sorry, Mom, but
that was classic,” Trevor said.

“Yeah, totally
epic,” Simon echoed. “Demented leprechauns.”