Fractured (The Deep in Your Veins Series Book 5) (21 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

(Imani)

I’d spent years of my vampiric existence in hiding, so I was no stranger to it. But I’d never liked it. Never liked that feeling of not facing danger head-on. I supposed it went against a vampire’s predatory nature to hide. The only reason I wasn’t mentally bristling now was that this time I wasn’t running from the danger that was coming. I was simply tricking it.

Concealed among vine-covered trees with Butch and David on either side of me, I waited impatiently for the dragon shifters to arrive. We knew they were close because a certain member of the legion was able to sense when danger was approaching—he could even estimate how long it was before that danger arrived.

It seemed like hours ago that Jared had telepathically sent out a five minute warning, but it couldn’t have been longer than a few minutes.

Where were the fuckers?

I didn’t realise I’d said that aloud until Butch looked at me. “They’ll be here soon,” he whispered into my ear. “Remember, don’t go far. Be vigilant. I need you to stay alive for me.”

I kept my voice just as low. “I need the same from you, so watch your ass.”

His mouth kicked up in one corner. “I’d rather watch yours. It’s hotter than mine.”

I just snorted, not fooled by that smile. He was still brooding about having to leave my side during the battle. The fact that both David and Paige had sworn they would flank me throughout the entire fight only barely mollified him.

The majority of the legion was spread across the perimeter of the island. Sam, Jared, and our squads were in the centre, because that was where Butch’s shield needed to be. We wanted the dragons to fall smack bam in the middle of the island so that the legion could box them in the moment that Sam’s shield went over us.

She’d enlarged her shield many times in training, and I had every faith that she could do it here and now. As she’d once said herself, this
had
to work. We’d all be on Shit Street if it didn’t.

David’s impatient sigh seemed like a boom in the quiet of the night. The forest was unnaturally silent—no doubt Alora had ‘spoken’ to the wildlife and told them to keep quiet so that they didn’t make noise that would alert the dragons. She had probably also recruited the predators to join the battle. Good.

Since I didn’t have a gift that would help me bring the bastards down, my job was to take out the fallen. But I had no idea if my gift would help me with that. It was possible that they didn’t have blood-bonds. If that was the case, I’d have to rely on combat moves. I was good at combat—Jared wouldn’t have accepted anything less. But since the shifters could be just as competent at it, there was no saying that taking them out would be easy.

I rolled back my shoulders, trying to shake off the dread that snaked through me. It didn’t work. Tension and anticipation thickened the air until it was almost tangible. This waiting around shit headed into a whole new level of frustrating.

Discretely, I took in Butch’s scent on a long inhale. It was comforting. Reminded me of his strength; that he would be fine in this battle. The natural scents of the forest usually had the same calming effect on me, but not tonight. Not when so much depended on the outcome of the war.

Among all those scents was something else: the smell of ozone. Rain would be coming soon. It would seem that Keeley was preparing to unleash the storm. I could see a grey cloud beginning to form. Hopefully she was as in control of her power as her confident nature suggested. We were going to need her in a big way, especially since it—

They’re coming,
Jared warned.

A shot of adrenalin pumped through me, and I squeezed Butch’s hand. This was it.

“If we hadn’t been watching out for them, we would never have known they were on their way,” whispered Butch.

As I stared up ahead, I understood what he meant. They were all dark and moving so silently it was eerie. Now I got why they had chosen to come at night—they could better conceal themselves in the dark.

They were flying directly toward the island, and they were
huge
. Fierce. Seriously scary looking with long curled horns and massive bat-like wings. And they were here to kill us.

Butch took a single step out of the trees, ready to do his part. As David and I moved with him, he cast us both a ‘stay back’ scowl. We just stared at him.

Conscious that there was no time to argue, Butch planted his feet wide apart and raised his hands. I couldn’t see his shield. I couldn’t even sense it, since it didn’t buzz with energy like Sam’s did. But I knew that if I reached out, I’d feel it—hard and totally impenetrable.

His face was a mask of concentration as he enlarged the shield. Able to see the creatures and the formation they were traveling in, he would know just how far and high he’d need to extend the shield to prevent any from passing. If he was struggling at all, it didn’t show in his expression.

More adrenalin flooded my system as the dragons neared. Had they been moving at a slower pace, they might have scented us—we were positioned all over the island, after all. But the creatures were flying at such an admirable speed that they didn’t have a moment to sense us.

The five in the front slammed into the shield, causing it to glimmer much like sunlight reflecting off glass. I winced at their ear-splitting, harpy-like sounds of shock and pain. They might have bounced backwards if the others—moving too fast to avoid a collision—hadn’t crashed into them. Only the dragons at the rear managed to halt in time. Unfortunately none fell to the ground.
Shit.

Before they could even
think
to act, a buzzing silvery-blue shield blanketed the island. With a roar of challenge, vampires came at the dragons from every angle.

Butch gave me a quick kiss. “Stay alive.” He darted to Sam’s side just before our squads formed a wide protective circle around him and the Grand High Pair.

Chaos then reigned.

Jared’s lightning bolts illuminated the sky, showing flashes of red-hot arrows, balls of ice, and ripples of psychic energy whooshing through the air toward the dragons. The creatures screeched and roared as they retaliated from above, breathing streams of fire; the responding agonised cries of my kind made my stomach roll.

Two things became swiftly clear: they were much faster than we’d expected, and they weren’t going to go down easy. Flying around the island, they attacked with fire and ice, swiped people with their spiked tails, smacked them aside with their punctured wings, or grabbed them with their claws and then tossed them at other vampires. They also breathed clouds of smoke to impair our vision, making it harder for us to defend ourselves.

Basically, they were total bastards.

Beside me, David sent out a series of fatal psionic blasts. He bared his teeth in a feral smile when his aim rang true and one of the creatures fell mere feet in front of us, shifting into his human shape as death took him.

Hearing a roar of hatred and, if I wasn’t mistaken, grief, I looked up to see another dragon doing an actual nose-dive as it headed right for David.

“David, above you!” I warned.

His head snapped back, but the creature didn’t get any closer as Harvey swept out his arm and telekinetically sent it careening
hard
into a tree. The impact snapped the thick tree, which almost crushed me and Paige as it collapsed with a thud.

Harvey winced. “My bad.”

Growling, the dragon quickly righted itself. But instead of taking to the air, it stumbled and shifted to his human form. Eyes flaming with hatred, he lunged for David. But I’d already leaped toward the shifter. Intercepting the move, I jammed my elbow into his throat and thrust a psychic hand into his mind.

And there it was. A blood-bond.

I pulled it hard, almost sending him to his knees with a cry of utter agony. But it didn’t break; probably because it was different from vampiric bonds—perhaps a link that had formed as a result of a blood oath. I settled for tugging on it as I went at him with a series of dirty moves that should be illegal even in the world of vampires.

Weak though he was, he held his own—even got a few real good shots in, causing my lip to split and nearly cracking one of my ribs. Gritting my teeth against the pain that pulsed through my abdomen, I whipped out my leg, kicking his knee hard enough to knock his balance and make him fall to his knees. Then I was on him, hands gripping his head while my psychic hand stretched his bond. In a move that was one of Ava’s favourites, I snapped his neck.

I might have perversely smiled in victory if a stream of fire hadn’t blown in my direction. I jumped back, watching as it scorched the ground mere feet away from me. Although I’d evaded the fire, the boiling heat still caught my skin. Blisters formed on my face as it burned and prickled.

“Shit, Imani, come here.” Paige gently placed her hand over my seared flesh. As she took away my wound, it looked as though something was rippling under her skin, moving from the hand on my face all the way up to her elbow. The process didn’t weaken her because injuries were weapons for her to use.

Touching my healed cheek, I said, “I really wish I had your gift.” Or maybe a water-based gift since, at this point, fire was spreading like…well, wildfire. The rain coming from the spooky dark cloud hovering above helped, but it wasn’t enough. I sure hoped Keeley’s storm picked up fast.

As the fight went on, more and more dragons fell—many of whom had been heading right for Sam. Not only were dragon shifters seriously strong in their human form, injured or not, but they would fight to the bitter end. It would have been admirable if they weren’t trying to kill us.

The more mercenaries that died, the more the remaining ones tried to escape by charging at Sam’s shield or trying to damage it with fire. Of course, the intelligent creatures swiftly realised that the only way to fight the shield was to kill Sam.

That was when they came at her even harder than before. But Sam and Jared had known that would happen. And since coming at Sam meant facing our squads, the creatures were basically just flying to their deaths.

When one came much too close, I sent a telepathic warning to Jared. He lifted his hand, and currents of electricity streamed from his fingers and crashed into the creature’s skull. The shifter was dead and back in his human form before he even hit the ground.

“Can I just say thank God for Keeley!” shouted Paige, but I barely heard her over the hissing of fire, the snarls of a jaguar, the screams of pain, the pounding of heavy rain on the ground, and the cries of fury that rang throughout the air.

Keeley’s rain was coming harder and faster, incredibly managing to calm the flames. Wiping rain out of my eyes, I cast a quick look over my shoulder, wanting to get a brief glimpse of Butch. His hand was gripping Sam’s upper arm, supporting her weight. It seemed that keeping the massive shield intact was taking its toll on her.

Ava’s infuriated cry made me whip around. A dragon had snatched her from the ground, its claws digging into her shoulders. “Salem!” I shouted, but his psychic energy was already rippling in the air toward the dragon; it hit the creature right in the skull—like that, it was dead and shifting mid-air. Which was great and all, but it meant that
Ava was falling too.

Yellowy-green ooze shot out of Denny’s fingers and formed a net that thankfully caught Ava. I didn’t have time to enjoy my relief as dragons rushed at us from several directions. The mass attack took me by surprise, thanks to all the smoke billowing around us and messing with my vision. But I was ready when the charging shifters fell to the ground, either dead or too weak to shift.

With a snarl, a short blond lunged my way. I was just about to attack when something barrelled into my side and rolled me onto my back. Now I had a heavy motherfucking asshole straddling me, fingers digging into my throat. I shoved my psychic hand into his mind, found his blood-bond, and played it like it was a banjo string.

Crying out, he released me and cradled his head. I knifed up and punched him in the jaw. He rocked backwards, almost falling off me. Almost. The bastard was too freaking big and heavy. Eyes glittering at me, he struck me right in the temple.
Motherfucker
.

Glaring at him through the spots filling my vision, I blocked the next punch and tried to shove him back.
No success. Then Paige was there, slapping her palm on his head. There was a rippling from her elbow to her hand as she transferred an injury to him—an injury that would be three times worse for him.

His skin began to blister, peel, and smoke, making him scream in total agony. I took advantage of the moment and punched him in the dick. His breath exploded out of him, and he slumped to the side.

“Bastard!” I wheezed as I got to my feet, rubbing at my throat. A blast of psychic energy whizzed past my ear and crashed into his head. Like that, he was dead.

Twisting, I gave David a nod of thanks and looked around, unable to see much through all the smoke. Keeley’s rainstorm was fighting the fire—the heavy raindrops would probably leave bruises on me, now that I was partly human—but the dragons just kept creating more damage and breathing more smoke.