Page 24 of Last Hope
I don’t care,he thought. Out loud he said, “Why is that?” He tried channeling his powers by staring him deeply in his eyes.
Azizi laughed. “Your powers won’t work on me. Caesareon has trained me well against your kind.” And that was all he said before he struck, moving lightning fast so that he was hardly a blur.
Terrance attempted to focus but his powers would be little use when a vampire was moving that fast. And then he felt a soaring pain through his chest with a force so great, it knocked him against the wall behind him. His vision blurred with the pain in his chest and he began to cough, as if his lungs had squeezed shut.
He wiped at the water from his eyes and glanced up to see Azizi standing in front of him, looking down at him. He could feel Burns crouching next to him but he didn’t turn. He tried to reach for his powers, to gain control over them but the wound on his chest couldn’t help him concentrate. His ribs and sternum were probably broken.
“I know that when I kill you, your mate will come after me. But do not fret because I will end her as quickly as I will end you.” He lifted his arm to strike but didn’t get the opportunity because an orange blur struck at his shoulder, knocking him backwards.
Terrance pried his eyes opened and expected to see Victoria to the rescue but the orange blur ceased to be so and took the form of a small wolf that looked more to be a very large fox in front of Terrance, hairs standing up in a messy frizz, a low growl emanating from him.
It was Savvy.
Terrance had long since forgotten what surprise felt like. Seeing Joshua, the werewolf who had no control over his change, who was a deformed werewolf that couldn’t transform at will changednow, reminded him what it felt like.
Azizi sat up from the floor and laughed. “Joshua Burns.” There was humor in his menacing voice. “Who knew?”
Burns growled. Azizi stood.
“Protecting your fellow FBSI agent? And here I thought that you two despised each other. Or perhaps what caused the change was the mention of his mate?”
Joshua growled low in his throat again. This time, Joshua struck, his front paws slamming into Azizi’s chest. When Azizi fell over, Joshua stood on him and snapped his teeth, attempting to nip at the vampire’s face. Azizi simply laughed and threw Burns off of him as easily as if throwing a ball, and knocking him onto the shelf with all of the scientists’ tools. Savvy whimpered and lay still and Terrance saw why. Several of the knives and little instruments had embedded their way into his skin and caused him to bleed.
An instant wave of protectiveness washed over Terrance in a way he couldn’t describe. It was something he had only ever felt towards Phillipe. He wasn’t a fucking Saint. He’d always only ever looked after himself and had never felt the need to protect others. But he wanted to protect Joshua. If only because Joshua had protected him.
He stood up and ran towards Azizi before he could finish the job with Joshua. But slamming into a vampire was like slamming into a wall. Or at least, that’s what he felt because it did nothing to him.
Azizi turned and backhanded Terrance, making him bite the inside of his mouth and extract blood. But he stood his ground. He wouldn’t let Savvy die. Not like this. He would stand and fight for the kid or die trying.
He brought his fist back and slammed it forward in a ready punch, but Azizi gripped his hand and squeezed it, and Terrance could hear every bone in his hand crunch and break. Crawford didn’t cry out. He never did. But the pain seared up his arm and made him flinch.
“Your power is useless against me,” Azizi stated with a smile on his face. But the smile soon distorted into a twist of pain and he cried out, letting go of Terrance almost immediately.
Terrance cradled his injured arm to his chest and saw that Burns was the reason for Azizi’s crying out. His jaws were clamped around Azizi’s ankle and Terrance could see the blood flowing from the wound.
“You—” Azizi kicked Burns, knocking him off to the side and advanced after him. This time Joshua didn’t fight back. He was bleeding over himself, his wounds not healing. His leg was obviously broken as was his spirit. Joshua’s ginger tail was tucked and trembling between his legs and he whimpered as Azizi drew near, turning to look at Terrance with those big green eyes of his.
But Terrance wasn’t fast enough.
Azizi reached Savvy.
And he struck.
14
Her grandmother led her through a very, very narrow hallway as soon as she let them past the front door. Antonio was behind Ezzy, carrying the bags, banging them against the walls of the hall, nearly knocking over the photographs that were hanging up.
She kept her eyes on the slightly hunched back of her grandmother as she walked through the dimly lit hall and into another opening that led them into a living room.
The couches here were cramped together and there was no television, but there was a coffee table that was neatly polished with a cloth arranged over it neatly. There were many other tables and shelves overflowing with weird knick-knacks, statues, and things that Esmeralda assumed old people liked to have around their house. It was all so perfectly…human.
“Sit,” her grandmother commanded and left through a small entryway without a door that was off to the side.
Esmeralda obeyed, holding tightly to Viktor. Her son, bored with the grown up affairs, began pulling at Ezzy’s loose hair, trying to stick it in his open mouth. As she prevented him from doing so, Antonio placed the luggage to the floor and then threw himself down next to her.
“Drinks?”
Ezzy snapped her attention up. Her grandmother was walking in with a tray between her long fingers. On it were cups and a pitcher filled with red liquid.
