Page 69 of Wolf Trap

“Idiot, now the others will be in here!” Lycaon scowled.

“Aw, either way we have to shoot our way out of here. Are you afraid to spill a little blood wolfman? Ready?” Hakon flashed the crouching vampire a grin, “Stay low. Stay behind us.”

Using the guard’s body as a shield, Hakon pulled his gun free and dragged out the soldier. Immediately gunfire pounded, echoing loudly around the metal framed building. It was almost deafening.

Grimacing, I edged towards the doorway, my heart in my mouth. Adrenaline surged through me, my arm shaking as I peered out around Lycaon into the corridor. Two sentries, both dressed in black stood on the stairway firing at Hakon. Lycaon let out a reign of fire, they fell but as soon as they were down, more poured through the doorway above and ran down the steps.

I heard a cry behind Hakon, looking down the corridor in the opposite direction, Austin shouted, a twisted smile on his lips.

“Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!” He leered at the soldiers.

What!

Hakon crouchedas the mage whipped out two shards of fire from his palms. The guards leapt from the staircase, the fire smacking on the walls behind them, as they ran headfirst, firing towards Hakon. As they darted, more poured through the doorway, the din of gunfire blaring.

Edging forward, I crouched as I aimed for the staircase, which was only about ten feet away. As I pulled the trigger, the hairs on my arms stood on end and my stomach flipped, my head spun for a few seconds.

I hit some of them, though I wasn’t a natural, and I landed on my backside as the recoil was stronger with me crouching and balancing on the balls of my feet.

Lycaon glared. “Elsa, get the hell back!”

But there was no time. As more of Adara’s guards pounded down the steps, more gunfire blasted, Austin blasted out fire.

The mage shouted, “Duck!” And Hakon threw himself to the ground as Austin sent a huge fireball hurtling towards Adara’s soldiers. Exploding as it hit them, it sent a plume of flames up the staircase, and Austin rushed over to us. “Come, we’d better hurry. We need to keep going up, the way behind me is blocked!”

The words almost stuck in the back of my throat, “What? How?” But there was no time. The vampire who’d taken refuge in the room we’d hidden in now lurched forwards. “Upstairs, there’s others, innocents. You have to help them. They brought us into this hellhole up there.”

Standing up, I asked, “How many?”

Shaking his head, he answered, “I don’t know, ten, maybe more?”

Lycaon sniggered, “Only ten? I would’ve thought they’d have an army up there?”

“They had more. Some were brought here, to this level. I don’t know what happened to the rest. I broke out when they were trying to transfer us, with a few others who they shot. Theywere taking us to thealtering. We’ve all heard the stories, heard the screams!”

Hakon strutted over to him. “Ever used a gun?”

The vampire brushed his long hair away from his face before taking the gun. “No. But I get it. Aim it, pull the trigger, arms bent. Thank you.”

He was lithe, dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, with dark brows and eyes, his wide lips making him look evil, and sultry.

Lycaon eyed him cautiously. “The layout upstairs, is it like this?”

The vampire took a long breath. “Yes, except the doors have bars.”

Sucking in his cheeks, Austin gave a half-smile. “Locks are the least of our problems. Sounds like we may need to shoot our way up there, you coming?”

Lycaon barked at him, “Wait, the angel hybrids?”

Austin brightened. “Ah, yes. Lucifer and Michael have them. They’ll be bringing reinforcements. But we’ll need to get to the surface and give them a sign!”

I rasped, “Jax, what happened to her?”

Austin shook his head. “She got called away. Best not to ask, she had a lot of souls to collect.”

I winced as we ran in single file to the staircase, the soldier’s bodies smoking and melted from Austin’s fireball. The stench was rancid, burnt flesh, hair and blood. As carefully as we could, we stepped over them, guns poised but heard no more of Adara’s soldiers, though that meant nothing. I assumed that we were walking into a trap. This place was high tech, so why no alarms? Why only send a handful of guards to kill us? Either way, trying to steady my hand, watching where I walked, I reloaded a new cartridge into the gun from the ammunition pack under my jacket.

Behind me, Lycaon placed his hand on my arm. “You’re doing great, Elsa, please take more care though. I thought my heart was going to explode when you were crouching in the corridor.”

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