Page 86 of Blood and Magic
I recognized the scent. It was Maeve’s, and that infuriated me. A roar ripped out of my chest as I raised my gun to shoot them, but Fenris and Pink reacted quicker. My buddy pulled the pin from one of Serpents’ gas grenades and launched it, tugging me back into the corridor as it exploded. Crimson vapor filled the space, reeking like shifter blood and chemicals. The vampires recoiled at first, but it made them woozy, and they dropped to the floor one at a time until all of them were incapacitated.
“That was Maeve’s blood,” I roared, feeling sick. My wolf bucked at what little restraint I had on him, begging to take over, pleading to have his revenge.
“I know, brother,” Fenris said.
“We’re with you,” Larentia added. “Let’s kill these fuckers, and we’ll keep going.”
We went around the room and fired bullets into their heads, but I knew we’d have to come back and cut them to pieces to keep them down forever. Their brains splattered on the floor, and when some of it hit me in the face, I winced and wiped the wretched stuff away. Fuck, I’d be covered in the slime by the time I got to her, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t think of how I looked right now.
After we put these fuckers down, I sensed Maeve was off to the right, so we entered another long corridor, checking each door as we passed it. My pulse thundered, her energy getting stronger under my skin as we drew closer. We’d just reached the end when the door on our left flew open, bodies piling out of it faster than I could count. Two became four became six, and I stumbled back, the vile scent nearly blinding me. I fired my rifle, but there were too many, and the weight of them took me down to the ground.
I swung my arm, nailing one in the face before twisting to hold another by the neck. Its enormous fangs chomped two inches from my face, and I snarled, shoving it to the side. A sharp pinching slice tore through my calf, another through my forearm, and I screamed.
“Vermillion!” came the anguished sound of my best friend, mere feet from me.
Even I was brave enough to admit things weren’t going well, and I reached for my knife, stabbing it into the eye of the Scorpion on top of me. It wilted to the side, and I went for my pistol, aiming it at the monsters by my leg.
“Die, you fucking bloodsucking bitches!” Rage exploded from me as I shot them, but then my gun clicked and went lifeless. I’d run out of bullets, my rifle had fallen out of reach, and there were still more coming. I scrambled backward, and Pink grabbed my shirt to pull me to my feet.
“We’re fucked,” he said. “Let’s fall back.”
I couldn’t swallow that. I could only go forward. She was just on the other side of?—
A blinding white light cut off my train of thought, and I clenched my eyes shut, holding up a hand to block it out. A vibrant magical plume permeated the space behind me and the hallway up ahead. The rotten decay of vampires quickly turned to a burning smell, ash filling my nose and throat. I coughed, and when the light finally died, I focused on a silhouette behind me. Boots echoed off the cement floor as the person came closer, and I recognized the leather cut before I saw her face.
The Royal Harlots MC: Asheville, NC, read the patch on one side. On the other side, her nametag said Marta—Prospect.
“Hiya, boys,” she said, tilting her head to one side. “Need some help?”
The Royal Harlots in Asheville were witches, and they’d been tasked with keeping America safe against rogue monsters. Kodiak had called them in for help, but we didn’t think they’d make it in time. Marta had long dark hair that she’d piled into a ponytail, and for being as powerful as she was, she wasn’t much taller than five feet.
“Thank you,” I said, grimacing through the bite on my leg.
“For real,” Larentia added. “We would have been vampire feed without you.”
“Let’s go,” I said, picking up my rifle before nodding toward the end of the hallway. I stepped and fell to the side, my leg refusing to work. Hot, sticky liquid pooled in my sock, and I winced. But my wolf came to the front of my consciousness, taking the pain, dulling it to the point where I could keep going.
“You okay?” Marta said, glancing down at the wound.
“Fine,” I growled and forced myself forward. “My mate’s in there.”
We pushed through the door on the end, and I held my gun up, Marta on my right, Fenris on my left, Larentia and Pink guarding our backs. The entire ride here, I’d prepared myself for what I might find. Maeve was still alive, I sensed it in my bones, but she’d been tortured. I expected her to have been beaten up and bruised, but the sight that greeted us stopped me. My muscles froze, my heart sank, and wrath boiled through my blood.
Maeve lay on the floor in the middle of a circle of lit candles, vampires chanting all around her. Marx kneeled at her side, his wrist pressed against her mouth while her body writhed and spasmed. At our arrival, he lifted his head, bloody streaks down his chin, his obsidian gaze unfocused.
“Well, well, well,” he said, ignoring us to return to his sick, twisted work. “It’s about time you showed up.”
The other vampires continued speaking in tongues as if we were mere annoyances rather than their death sentences.
“Let her go,” I shouted, holding my rifle up before taking another step forward.
Marx clucked through his teeth, his fangs gleaming in the dim light. Giant hooks hung from the ceiling, fixed from thick metal chains, and dilapidated machinery lined the walls. This must have been the room where they dressed the animals after they slaughtered them, and I prayed to whatever fucking fates listening that they hadn’t used any of this shit on my girl. This fucked-up ritual was bad enough.
The sinking weight of dread coiled in my stomach. I knew what they were doing, and I hoped to God we weren’t too late.
“Now, why would I do that?” Marx said with a laugh. He sauntered closer to the edge of the circle, and I aimed the barrel of my rifle right at his head before pulling the trigger. Nothing happened. I tried again. My nerves seized as I got the same result.
Fucking jammed.
