Eternal War Rising to the South: The Beynok Vampire Series (16 page)

I wasn’t hit, but as I crawled around on the plush peach carpet, I could see crimson red stains forming all over. The majority of us were in this room. There were only a few of Galloway’s guards off securing the other rooms. The enemy must have known what room we were going to stay in ahead of time. It even looked like they were on the same floor in the other building across the street by the angle the stakes were coming through. To me, it only confirmed that they knew exactly where we would be.
Safe city, my ass.

For the first time, I was thankful everyone there was a vampire except me, so most of the injuries didn’t appear life threatening. I finally made it over to Galloway. He was shot through the stomach, upper chest, both legs, and one arm. Serenity and Corbin looked about the same as Galloway.

The extra few seconds my senses gave me to hit the floor saved my life. No questions on that. The only question was what was I going to do about it? Most of Galloway’s men looked like they were going to be down for a little bit. I thought,
The attackers might as well come over and get me. What do I do? I can’t sit here.

The stakes stopped coming in, so that meant only one of two things: they were out of ammunition or they were on their way over to finish us off with their own hands.

The few guards that were not in the room during the attack showed up just in time to help me carry all the injured down the hall to an empty room. We did our best to contain the blood as we moved the team so that there wasn’t a trail leading to dinner. We managed to move all the injured with no attack and, from what I could tell, with no one watching us.

There were only four of Galloway’s guards left to protect the others, and I knew one of them could be a traitor. Now was not the time to find the answer to that question, but the knowledge didn’t help me do what I had to do next. Leaving all of them, including Galloway, Serenity, and Corbin, under the watch of a potential traitor was difficult for me, but I had no choice.

There was not enough time to sift through the possibilities. No distinction set any one of those four guards apart. They all wore dress pants and a dress shirt, standard guard outfit, it seemed. They were all tall, muscular, and appeared clean cut. The only difference I could see was hair color, one red, one brown, and two blonds. My sense wasn’t going to do the job. I had already tried that. The emotions in the room were erupting with pain. I tried to single each guard out one by one, but they all felt ambushed … on guard … anxious for a fight.

“I know one of you might be a traitor,” I said to the four remaining guards. “I will find out, but right now I need all four of you to remain here and do your best to protect our injured.” I had to place doubt in their heads, so they would stay on their toes. “Watch each other closely. One of you may have betrayed us.” Out the door I went to kill the bad guys like I was bred to do. So what that I was alone in this for the first time. I slid my leather jacket off and let it drop to the ground right outside the door to the room that had been shot up. The attackers might have gotten the chance to attack our room, but that didn’t mean they had gotten away with it. This was a safe city, so there had to be someone or something that enforced the laws.

I knew that if I wanted to finish the job quietly, I would have to blend in with the spectators below and with the ones roaming the hotel. My current enemy could be any creature I passed.

Taking into account the amount of stakes and the coverage of the room, I figured there were about five shooters. My guess was that there were more involved. If there were too many, then they would stick out like a sore thumb, so my final guess was six to eight. I was going to assume the worst and go with eight. How was I planning to take out eight supernaturals by myself and with no witnesses? I didn’t want to piss off the law enforcers around here, not on my first day at least.

I opened the door leading to the stairs, and three guilty-as-hell-looking vampires were on their way up. They had just entered through the first level door, so I knew I would be able to make it to the privacy of the roof before they caught up with me. As my stairwell door closed, I heard a crowd running down the hallway to my room. Chances were Galloway and the others were in the safety of numbers by then—where I should have been, if I had been smart. I noticed all three of the vamps had a black leather wrap on their right arm, covering their skin from wrist to elbow. On it was a red dragon and a blue snake entwined together. What the hell did that mean?

I whistled and yelled down to the three, “Looking for me, boys?”

Yep, they were the guilty ones. The chase began. The building had four floors, so I only had two flights of stairs ’til I hit the roof, and I hoped the door was unlocked. The three furious vampires were closing in fast. I took three steps at a time running upward.

I was lucky the door to the roof was unlocked. I had just enough time to turn and pull my swords before the first vampire emerged from the stairwell. I sliced its head clean off its shoulders. My attack took the remaining two vampires off guard, buying me a few extremely needed extra seconds.
I’m not just any Beynok, boys. I’m the Beynok princess.
I decided not to fight the title anymore.

My swords were starting to do their magic show. I could feel their energy running up my arms into the rest of my body. The two vampires appeared shocked at the sight of the amethyst cloud forming around me.

The one that would be handsome if he wasn’t an evil vampire said, “We heard about your swords, but we didn’t believe it.”

He was tall and devilishly handsome but the venom dripping from his exposed fangs neutralized any hotness he might have had. The other vampire was scrawny and dingy looking. Maybe he was a gofer for Would-be Handsome.

Anyway, they might have seen the light show, but they had no idea what was really happening between my swords and me. Each time this sort of incident happened, the amount of energy transferred from my swords to me seemed to increase. I felt buzzed, overwhelmingly confident. My limbs tingled a little. I felt like I had just been fueled with all the energy I needed and I could crush anything before me.
Bring it on, boys.

Would-be Handsome nodded to the scrawny one. “Go kill her, Godwin.”

“That’s funny,” I said. I couldn’t help myself. “Godwin, the gofer.” I smiled at Godwin as he made his way toward me.

Seriously, if they wanted me dead so badly, why didn’t they both come after me at once? Double assurance the job is done. Luckily for me, they didn’t do that.

I held my two most trusted companions tightly and crouched to my fighting position. Godwin threw himself into the air toward me. I dodged and managed to slice his foot off as he passed over me in the air. Godwin was stupid. If he lived, the foot would grow back, but he wasn’t going to live.

He forced himself to a standing position and waited for me to attack this time. As I was about to do just that, I felt a burning sensation run down my whole back. Would-be Handsome had decided to join the fight after all, and with a coward’s attack, he had sliced his sword down my back. I was thankful I wasn’t wearing the leather jacket Sorin had gotten me. It would have been ruined.

“Are you ready to die, Princess?” I heard Godwin ask.

I said nothing. I was getting tired of being asked that ridiculous question. Of course, the answer would be no. Couldn’t these creatures come up with another line?

Would-be Handsome wasn’t an ancient, but he wasn’t a young’un, either. I could tell he was going to be a real fighter, so I had no more time to waste on distractions. Without looking, I slung one of my swords into Godwin’s belly, and he stumbled forward, closer to me. In one motion, I turned, pulled my sword from his belly and sliced his head off, all the while keeping an eye and my other sword pointed at Would-be Handsome.

I stood my ground and waited for the attack. I could tell he was sizing me up, trying to decide from which angle to come at me. What the hell, I opened myself up to him just a little. He was precise and very passionate about killing … slick and smooth is what he felt like traveling through my body. He knew what he wanted to do, and he believed without question that he was going to succeed. Confidence radiated from him. He was as close to an Italian stallion as they come … confident he was going to get the girl, but this time he was hoping I would end up in a coffin instead of in his bed.

He was a rugged, tall, dark-haired, sly vampire. He had to be some kind of royalty or something, but what was royalty doing fighting a fight face on? Something about him was off. I could tell he didn’t belong there. He didn’t fit in with the surroundings or beings of this safe city.

I had to find out more about him and his men. “What is your name? I mean, don’t you feel a proper introduction is due since one of us is walking off this roof and the other isn’t?”

“You’re right,” he said. How could I have missed the Italian accent before? Too busy looking at him, I guess. “My name is Drago. I am from the Italian royal family.” He paused with a curious look on his face. “Have you had enough talk?”

“Sure, I’ve had enough.” Why delay any longer? At least he had verified he was royalty. It had been a complete guess on my part. Actually, Beynoks were under the impression all the royal families in the vampire world had become extinct, but he was screaming royalty. It was impossible to miss the way he stood and walked. His presence alone was intimidating.

He moved so fast I didn’t even see him as he passed me and sliced my stomach. It wasn’t the kind of injury that would damper my fighting ability, but I was upset with myself. Twice Drago had sliced me, and I hadn’t even made the first attack on him. I needed to use my wits because my speed wasn’t going to cut it with this one.

I saw traces of shadows as he flashed toward me again, and had just enough time to drop to my knees as his sword cut a few tips of my hair off. I needed to engage him, but how?

The spark of power from my swords ran up my arms, giving me the energy to lunge towards him. His back was still slightly to me from his recent pass, but he still had enough time to turn to face me as I intruded upon his space.

The look I received from him was pure shock. I guess he wasn’t expecting me to be so strong. I leapt upon him, throwing my legs around his waist to secure my position. Close contact was the only way I was going to win this fight. He was clearly too fast for me. I securely slid my swords down my back and reached for one of the daggers hidden in my boots.

Drago looked pissed and his fangs looked even sharper close up. He ran forward and smashed me into the stairwell door.
Damn, that hurt.

With both hands, I plunged the dagger through his back and tried to hit his heart. I must have been close because the fear of death was written all over his face. I held on to his waist with the strongest hold I think my legs have ever made. I hit him in the face several times with my fists. All this, while I dodged his repeated tries to sink his teeth into me. At this point, it didn’t look like he cared where. I felt his hands pulling at me, and he gave me an occasional smash in the ribs with his fists.

I decided this fight needed to go to a different angle. I pulled my legs from around his waist and pushed myself away from him. Drago went flying through the air, and so did I, in the opposite direction. I felt the jagged edge of the short ledge of the roof hit me in the back of my knees.

The flash of light trailing off Drago told me he was coming for me and fast. I pulled one of my swords and angled it to where I believed his heart was. He was moving so fast all I could make out was a blur of light. I angled and hoped.

It happened so fast. The next thing I knew I was hanging over the edge holding on to the end of my sword. Shit…the force of his body threw me over the edge. My sword had run through his chest and out the back before I fell over. He was clawing for me with one hand and holding on to the blade to keep it from sliding out of his chest with the other hand. I had vampire blood dripping onto my face and into my eyes and mouth … gross. I realized I must have completely missed his heart again. Shit.

So there I was, dangling over the side of the roof and being sprayed in the face with vampire blood. The only thing keeping me from falling was my sword stuck through Drago’s chest. This was a first for me.

The sword was sliding out of his chest slowly and there was nothing either one of us could do about it. I wanted back on the roof to save my life and end his just as much as he wanted me back on the roof to kill me. Plus, he probably needed a snack after all this fighting and blood loss. My sword continued its descent from Drago’s chest. This battle was over, and there was nothing either one of us could do to keep it from ending.

“We’ll do this again, Princess. I look forward to the day.”

“I’ll make sure to count every second of every minute we’re apart.” I figured I might as well go down using sarcasm. One of us was going to walk off the roof, as planned. I was going to fall off the roof, not as planned.

I watched my blade slip out of his flesh in slow motion. Once the tip was revealed, the fall came fast. I had four stories to figure out how to save my life or say my goodbyes. I had too much to sort out in too little time. Sorin filled my thoughts. He wasn’t here to save my life, nor was he coming. Still, feeling abandoned, I didn’t want to say goodbye to him. I wasn’t ready never to see him again. Those thoughts of Sorin stole the moments I needed to put a plan together to save my tail.