Embracing The Lion (Gray Bears 6) (8 page)

Gareth glanced at Tara and
saw that all the blood had drained from her face. Her eyes were wide
with shock and horror. No wonder she had wanted to destroy herself
when she thought that she would turn into a vampire like Phillip
Lancastle. He truly was a monster.

Gareth turned in a circle and
saw around two dozen vampires closing in on them. He could sense
their age and their power. They were all very old vampires, all
centuries old.

He let his lion ripple to the
surface and let out a mighty, thunderous roar. His roar went on and
on, loud and urgent and furious. The wrath of his lion echoed down
the streets and carried through the small town.

If these ancient,
aristocratic vampires thought that they had Gareth and Tara
surrounded and cornered, they couldn't be more wrong.

These old-fashioned, outdated
vampires were in the wrong century and the wrong place.

And they were messing with
the wrong people.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Tara stared round as lights
flicked on in windows and doors slammed open. Up and down the street
windows were thrown open and more and more voices joined in and gave
strength and volume to Gareth's rallying cry. There was a rush of
footsteps as people came charging out of their homes, some in
slippers, and many in their pajamas.

Gareth stood back to back
with her and whispered, “The majority of the residents in
Shadow Point are paranormals. Every paranormal would be able to hear
my roar from miles away with their supernatural hearing. And I see
some of them have woken their human neighbors as well.” Gareth
smiled grimly and nodded to his townsfolk who had hopped out of bed
and rallied in a heartbeat. “I need help to fight these old,
evil vamps, and I'm not afraid to ask for it,” he told her.

A cloud of mist swept in and
spread out to surround Phillip and his cronies. Tara saw Rosalina
appear at the head of the big group of vampires. She nodded at
Gareth and eyed Phillip with obvious disgust as she gave orders
swiftly to her vamps.

Tara saw people swarming down
the streets. She saw the Gray brothers running barefoot towards
them. Gramma and Ne-ma were hurrying behind their grandsons and
urging each other to run faster. Ne-ma was in a lacy nightie while
Gramma had curlers in her hair.

Sirens blared and Tara saw a
convoy of police vehicles screech to a halt along the curb. Winston
and his deputies jumped out of their police cars and pointed their
weapons at Phillip and his vamps.

Phillip looked taken aback,
but he regained his composure quickly and raised his hands. “What
is this? You've woken up all your neighbors and got them all riled
up for nothing. This is all a misunderstanding. There's no need to
be alarmed. Everyone, just go back to your homes. This has
nothing to do with you. This is a simple property dispute. I am
here to claim my property. I will take what is mine, and leave.”
Phillip grabbed Tara roughly by the elbow and yanked her to him.

“Let her go,”
Gareth snarled.

“I am her new master.
She has to leave with me,” Phillip said reasonably. “I'm
sure your townspeople respect property laws.” He bared his
fangs in an ugly smile. “But if they don't, I came tonight
fully prepared for bloodshed. My friends are all very old and
powerful vampires. They can obliterate this town in a matter of
minutes.”

“I don't think so,”
Rosalina said coolly.

Phillip turned to face her.
“Oh, a Master Vampire.” He laughed. “And you've
brought your entire coven with you.”

“You attacked and
drained a human. You forced her to take a drop of your blood to turn
her against her will,” Rosalina said. “That is a crime
punishable by death under all coven laws.”

“I don't belong to any
coven. Neither do my friends. The coven laws only came into effect
a hundred years ago. The laws don't have retrospective effect. They
only apply to vampires who were turned after the laws came into
effect. They are meant to govern young, new, immature vampires like
yourself. And why would you fight us? You are one of us. We look
out for our own.”

Rosalina smiled but her eyes
were hard. “No you don't. You killed Hugo, without reason,
without provocation. It wasn't in self-defense. You killed him in
cold blood.” She gestured at Tara and Gareth and said, “And
we do look out for our own.”

Rosalina's eyes glowed red
suddenly and she flew forward with what Tara thought was the speed of
light. Tara only saw a blur and she felt herself being pried free
from Phillip's vice-like grip and shoved away.

Phillip let out a
blood-curdling screech and his human features contorted as his fangs
and nails elongated. His skin became gray and shriveled, and his
hair turned white. His cronies all dropped their polished,
aristocratic facade and revealed their ghastly non-human faces.
Their eyes glowed red and they became gnarled, skeletal versions of
themselves. They hissed and bared their long, yellowed fangs as they
advanced towards the townspeople with hate and hunger in their eyes.

“Ooh, they're really
showing their age,” Rosalina tsked and turned to her coven
members. “This is what drinking too much blood does to you.
Remember, consume everything in moderation,” she advised.

Phillip shrieked an order or
a mantra in an ancient language, and his vampires took up the chant.
With one unifying scream, they charged at the townsfolk, their eyes
glowing with blood lust.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

Tara instinctively reached
for the jeweled dagger that she had hidden in her boot. Gareth had
taken that beautiful, magnificent dagger from The Round Table and
handed it to her just a few nights ago.

“This dagger was used
by my brother and sis-in-law to slay a rogue wolf,” Gareth had
declared proudly as he unlocked the glass display on the wall of the
pub. “They saved Lorni Jones's life. I want you to keep this
with you. The blade is pure silver. You can destroy any paranormal
with silver. Just stab the blade cleanly through the heart.”

She had protested but Gareth
insisted that she keep the dagger so she could defend herself if she
was attacked. “Phillip Lancastle might be hunting you down.
You have to be prepared,” he said, pressing her fingers around
the bejeweled hilt.

Tara gripped the dagger
tightly as violence erupted all around her. The townspeople banded
together and fought bravely, looking out for one another and working
together to take down Phillip and his horde of savage vamps.

The ancient vampires were
powerful and brutal, but they were outnumbered and they didn't know
anything about teamwork. Their attack was violent but messy and
uncoordinated, and the wily townsfolk quickly formed groups to
isolate each vampire from the horde.

One by one, Phillip's
vampires were surrounded and defeated. Once they fell, their heads
were swiftly separated from their bodies and their hearts pierced
with silver. Their bodies disintegrated into ashes with nothing more
than a sigh.

Tara saw Gareth tackling two
snarling vampires to the ground. From the corner of her eye, she saw
Phillip flying towards Gareth. He leaped onto Gareth's back and
slashed his nails across Gareth's face.

Tara ran towards them and
raised her dagger high. With all her might, she plunged the blade
into Phillip's back before he could take a big bite out of her mate.

Phillip screamed and loosened
his hold on Gareth. Gareth spun round and advanced towards the
vampire with dripping, glinting claws.

Behind him, the four Gray
brothers pounced on the two vamps on the ground and pummeled them to
a pulp.

“Out of our way!”
Gramma and Ne-ma hollered as they charged towards their grandsons,
hoisting a heavy silver blade between them. The four beefy bear
shifters scrambled back just in time as their grandmothers swung the
blade down and decapitated the two vamps in one fell swoop.

Gramma and Ne-ma mopped their
brows and yelled, “You messed with the wrong town!”

A cheer broke out. All of
Phillip's cronies had been destroyed. It didn't matter that they
were ancient and powerful. They were no match for a town fiercely
united in defending and protecting one of their own.

Phillip Lancastle was the
only one left. The jeweled hilt stuck out from between his shoulder
blades and he thrashed wildly, trying to wrench the silver blade out
of his flesh.

With the silver dagger
embedded in his body, his powers were weakened and he couldn't change
into mist. He glanced at the piles of ashes on the ground, the
remains of his comrades and snarled at Gareth, “You. Will.
Pay!”

Gareth arched a brow at
Phillip. “Are those your last words?”

When Phillip screamed and ran
at him, Gareth knocked him to the ground with a well-aimed blow and
unsheathed his claws.

He stepped over the writhing
vampire and prepared to finish him off. Gareth's glinting claws were
arcing towards Phillip's throat when someone caught his wrist.

“May I?” The
voice was low but the grip was steely.

Gareth frowned at the tall,
good-looking stranger with glowing wolf eyes who had stepped out
silently from the crowd. The stranger held Gareth's arm back to stop
him from delivering the killing blow.

Tara ran to Gareth, together
with Gramma and Ne-ma.

Gramma and Ne-ma gasped at
the tall stranger. “Mr Rhys! What are you doing here?”

“Mr Rhys?”
Tara's eyes and mouth rounded. “B-but...he's not...” she
spluttered. “He is Ryan Kline!”

CHAPTER
TWENTY

Gramma and Ne-ma planted
their hands on their hips. “What? You checked into our inn
with a phony name,” they said indignantly. “Why...”

Ryan Kline turned and gave
Tara a slight smile. “I recognize you. You're one of Hugo's
maidservants. I believe you've seen me around Hugo's home. Coming
and going, mostly going...” He took a sharp breath and turned
to Gramma and Ne-ma. “Yes, my real name is Ryan Kline. I...”

“You're the Alpha of
the Kingston wolves!” Gramma exclaimed, slapping her forehead.

“And we thought you're
just a shy, retiring guest at our inn!” Ne-ma added.

“I am just a guest at
your inn. I am no longer the Alpha of the Kingston pack. I left the
pack, after Hugo's death. I've been traveling, looking for Hugo's
murderer.”

“Well, he's right
here,” Gareth said, nailing Phillip to the ground with his
claws. “And he's all yours.”

Ryan Kline nodded his thanks
to Gareth and shifted into wolf form. Raising his head to the sky,
Ryan let out a long, anguished howl.

He would avenge his lover's
death, but vengeance couldn't bring the dead back to life.

Ryan faced the vampire, his
wolf eyes burning with fury and pain. Phillip had no time even to
scream. The wolf lunged forward and tore out his throat. Phillip's
body twitched for a moment at the wolf's feet and lay still.

But Ryan wasn't done.
Growling, he savagely ripped open Phillip's chest and tore out the
vampire's cold, cruel heart.

As Ryan staggered back, Tara
pushed forward and snapped, “Lemme!”

She knelt down to yank the
dagger out from Phillip's back. Glaring at Phillip Lancastle's
shrunken, blackened heart, she stabbed the silver blade cleanly
through the heart and stood up.

The dagger clattered to the
ground as the heart, together with Phillip Lancastle's body,
disintegrated into ashes.

Ryan Kline stepped back and
stared at the ashes swirling around his feet for a long while.
Finally, he turned and gave Gareth and Tara a curt nod.

Swiftly and silently, he slid
away from the crowd and disappeared into the shadows. Tara saw him
running towards the edge of the town, heading straight for the woods.

Tara stood and squinted into
the distance, trying to catch a glimpse of the lone wolf. She felt
Gareth's arms circle her waist and she leaned into his embrace.

“Ryan Kline may remain
in wolf form for the rest of his life,” Gareth said, watching
the distance with her. “Ryan is a broken man after Hugo's
death. He stepped down from the Alpha position and left his pack.
He is filled with pain, regret and guilt. And the anguish may be too
much for him to bear. The beast will rise to protect the human, to
prevent him for losing his mind completely.”

Tara let out a heavy sigh,
and looked down at the dagger lying in the pile of ashes. Carefully,
she picked the dagger up and held it out to Gareth.

“Thank you,” she
whispered. “You saved my life, again.”

“You—saved me,”
Gareth said, his eyes shining with love and pride. “And they
saved us!”

Blinking back her tears, Tara
turned to the crowd of cheering townspeople and said, “Thank
you! Thank you all so much, I really don't know how to thank you...”

“But we do!”
Gramma and Ne-ma shouted. “We know the best way to say thank
you!”