Page 34 of Fanged Embrace
“Max!” Ethan saw the ordeal from where he was tangled upwith another group of guards. He made light work of the guy trying to tackle him and sprinted toward her. She’d landed heavily against the wall, clutching the bloody hole in her shoulder, eyes rolling as she tried to stay conscious past the pain.
Across the room, Hunter caught sight of what happened. She didn’t waste time with curses or threats. With a roar that vibrated in my bones, she bolted forward like a beast on a warpath. Two of the guards pivoted to face her, but they might as well have been turning in slow motion.
She grabbed the first by the throat, slamming himhardinto the floor. The guy was out like a light and Hunter had already sprung upright to meet the second guard, yanking his weapon away and driving the butt of the gun into his nose. I heard the crunch of cartilage and his subsequent scream—cut off a moment later when Hunter sent him flying over her shoulder.
Every remaining guard twisted in unison to target her.
Flashes of muzzle fire lit the corridor in strobes of white and red. Sparks rained and screams echoed as Hunter’s carnage continued. Every guard who tried to close the gap was met with a swift, brutal takedown—guns torn from their grasps, helmets cracked in under her fists.
With Hunter going absolutely berserk and the guards momentarily distracted by the monster they’d provoked, I darted over to Maxine, skidding in the slickness of spilled blood. Ethan had hauled her behind one of the massive storage boxes and she slumped against it, color draining from her face in the strobing red lights.
“She’s not healing!” Ethan’s strangled cry was ear-piercing even over the blaring sirens. But he was right. The skin around the ragged bullet hole refused to knit itself back together. Whatever these guards were firing was more than standard lead.
“I’m fine!” Maxine gritted her teeth, trying to scramble upright with her good arm. “It barely tickled.”
“It nearly took your head off—hold still.” I palmed a hand to her face and pushed her back, hunching over to inspect the blast in her shoulder, before another hail of bullets had all three of us ducking low. “Shit.”
Now was not the time to play nurse. We had to end this quickly.
Maxine was drooping in my grasp now, eyelids fluttering shut. I caught her shoulders before she could topple over and thrust her into Ethan’s arms. “Ethan, stay with Max. Hunter and I will take care of these guys.”
Before the blond could argue, I shot to my feet and hurtled back into the fray.
I hadn’t gotten far before the blaring sirens suddenly cut out, along with the dim red glow of the emergency lights. The whole place was once again plunged into darkness, before the overhead lights buzzed to life and flooded the room with a blinding white light. Someone had made it to the control room, apparently—and I had to hope like hell that Laurie was long gone before they got there.
I cringed away from the sudden brightness, momentarily blinded along with everyone else in the vicinity. The lull in battle was short-lived, however, and as the room swam back into focus the remaining guards sprang to action—with Hunter clear in their sights.
She was still able to hold her own, but she’d been hurt somewhere in the switch from darkness to glaring light. Blood dripped from a slash in her ear, pasting hair to her neck and staining her suit a deep scarlet. She’d taken out most of the guards already, but the few that remained were relentless.
The moment they spotted me another volley of bullets whistled my way, and I felt a round clip my leg, tearing throughthe fabric of my dress and skimming the skin beneath. Grimacing, I stumbled forward, weaving from side to side.
Transforming was tempting, but these guys had guns. Busting out the bat wings would only give them a bigger target. Dodging and weaving was the best option right now.
So I relied on speed. My senses sharpened—adrenaline turned my world into a series of snapshots: the guard on the right reloading, the second guard steadying his aim, and a third pivoting to cut off my approach.
I dove low, rolling to slow my momentum, then sprang up in front of the third guy. His eyes widened as I lunged and grabbed for his rifle. He yanked the trigger and bullets spat out in a cacophonous burst, shredding a chunk of the wall behind me.
I slammed my elbow into his chin, aiming to rattle his teeth enough to break his grip. The guy staggered but held on, recovering faster than I expected—clearly no stranger to close combat with my kind. He saw the surprise on my face and leered with a blood-stained smile that sent my stomach turning.
We strained over the weapon, the muzzle swinging wildly between the two of us.
Another shot rang out and I just managed to jerk my head aside as the bullet whizzed past my cheek. Unwilling to eat lead, I planted my heel on his thigh, using it as leverage to twist the rifle away. The movement was almost fluid… until I felt the crackle of electricity across my back.
Pain detonated through my body, and every nerve lit up in agony.
From the corner of my eye I glimpsed one of his buddies. The guy had circled around and jabbed me with some kind of high-voltage stun baton. My knees buckled, and before I knew it, I was on the ground, muscles spasming. The guard with the rifle tore himself free, leaving me momentarily defenseless.Sparks ate at the corners of my vision, and I struggled to think past the pounding in my skull.
“Get away from her!” I heard Hunter’s roar from somewhere to my left, but her voice sounded like static to my fried senses.
I managed to roll onto my side, just in time to see a new guard looming over me. He raised a wicked weapon, barbed and gleaming with broken fragments of vampire canines. My chest cramped with real fear and I squeezed my eyes shut as the blade swung down toward me.
A single, thunderousbangechoed off the walls—followed by a brief flash of light that illuminated the veins in my clenched eyelids.
I tensed up, unable to move, but the devastating blow didn’t come. Instead, I heard the blade clatter to the floor.
I cracked an eye open and looked up.
My would-be executioner staggered forward a step. His face was one of confusion when he looked down at me, like I could explain the gaping hole blown in the center of his chest. Blood bloomed outward from the wound, spreading through the white fabric of his vest.
