Hollowed (39 page)

Joel scoffs.
"
Please. There are four of you and how many of mine? Once you
'
ve been taken care of, no one will have any proof I did anything.
"

I watch as Noah discreetly slides a hand across his hip, reaching for the gun holstered against his back.
"
Four of us against a bunch of newly turned vampires?
Quality over quantity, Joel.
You
'
re stupider than I thought.
"

There
'
s something in the way Joel smiles that makes me break out into a cold sweat.
"
Young vampires, yeah.
"

As he speaks, the youngest of the group
—
the thirteen-year-old boy
—
launches himself forward so fast none of us have time to react. He slams head-long into Oliver, sending him flying back into the wall, where he slides and crumples to the ground.

Joel laughs.
"
But they
'
re young vampires who
'
ve had nothing but vampire blood since the day they were turned.
"

I
rush
to Oliver
'
s side, gripping his arm as he wheezes and struggles to stand. He leans into me and pushes to his feet as I whisper,
"
What does that mean?
"

"
It means,
"
Oliver growls,
"
he
'
s sentenced them all to die.
"

Fred
'
s face is pale, his expression drawn as he surveys the boy that hit Oliver
. The boy bounds back a few feet, bouncing on the balls of his feet like he's itching to attack again
.
"
They
'
re faster, stronger, quicker to heal...
a
nd they
'
re insane. A vampire can feed off another vampire once in awhile for the extra boost,
but giving them nothing but
when they
'
re this young? He
'
s completely ruined them.
Their systems wouldn't know what to do with human blood now.
"

The boy rocks from foot to foot, anxious and smiling wide. Like we
'
re getting ready to play hide-and-seek and not like he
'
s poised to tear our throats out.
T
he wall of people standing between us and Joel is a lot scarier than it was two minutes ago.

"
Question,
"
Noah calls.
"
How does one vampire feed fourteen new vampires with their own blood without bleeding themselves dry?
"

Joel doesn
'
t look at him. In fact, his dark eyes lock
with mine while he grins, all teeth.
"
They don
'
t.
"

It isn
'
t his words, it
'
s that
look
. Instantly, I know.
And the knowledge swirls through my insides, leaving a sour taste on my tongue.
"
You gave them
Ruby
.
"

Joel
'
s shark-smile widens.
"
Have fun, kiddos.
"
He disappears through the exit at the top of the stairs. The second the door slams shut, the vampires
are on us
.

I
'
m going to kill Joel. Tear him into itty bitty pieces.
M
ake what he did to Alex look like nothing. Except as I dash across the room, I have a hoard of vampires to contend with
first
. The boy lunges for me
. B
efore I can throw him off, his teeth sink into my skin, grazing off my collarbone
, s
ending white-hot currents of pain to the tips of my nerves.

Screaming, my fingers tangle into his hair.
F
or a brief second I forget that this is only a child,
because I remember the feel of Joel tearing into my throat like a wild animal,
because all I want is to get him off me. I yank his head back and he goes, blood running down his face, down my front, soaking my shirt. As hard as I can, I throw
him
aside.

Another solid body slams into me from behind. I barely catch myself on the ground wi
th my hands rather than my face
.
An older
guy towers over me, a lead pipe raised, ready to bring it down. I
pitch myself
to
one
side. The pipe
cracks the cement, chips of concrete flying.

That could have been me.

He begins to raise it again. I slam the heel of my boot into the end of the pipe
with as much strength as I can get behind it
. The other end
drives
into his chin with a definitive
crack
of bone. While he rears back with a howl, I
crawl
to my feet and try to run.

I get glimpses of the boys; Fred is surrounded in the corner with a vampire at his feet and two others coming at him. Noah is runni
ng in my direction, and Oliver—

An arm locks around my neck and squeezes, lifting me up off the ground. I choke in a breath, nails digging into the slender hand and wrist. A woman, not even taller than me
. B
ut her
grip is iron
and the lack of air is making it hard to
think
. I try
shoving
her back against the stairway railing and she doesn
'
t even budge.

Just as quickly as it came, the arm vanishes, and a hand grabs my shoulder to jerk me around. Still trying to catch my breath, I nearly hit Oliver square in the face.

He steadies me to keep me from toppling over with my own momentum.
F
or a second, I forget about the fight,
and
about Ruby, because I realize I can
'
t just leave my friends here to fight a battle we might not be able to win. All for what? So I can chase after Joel by myself?
What would I do when I found him?

Oliver
'
s mouth draws into a thin line. Noah comes skidding to a halt and Oliver steps aside, shoving me at him.

"
Take care of her. Go find Joel.
"

Without another word, he spins away to face the vampires coming at us, leaving Noah to drag me up the stairs.

"
We can
'
t
—"

"
They have it covered,
"
Noah insists. He slams one broad shoulder into the door
. T
he worn wood splits and cracks and
he
shoves it open. I find myself hauled through it, nearly stumbling. Behind us
he
swings the door shut. He yanks something
—
a marker?
—
out of his jacket and
begins
to draw.

All I can do is stare. I could
swear that from this angle, there is a vivid silver light flashing in his eyes. I remember the symbol he made on the archives at the cemetery, the one he said would keep Joel locked out. I can only guess that this
is the same spell. Sure enough
,
something angry slams into the other side of the door just as Noah finishes
,
and I wait for it to swing open, for something to lunge out at us. 

But the door holds under whatever abuse the vampire behind it is putting it through. I grab Noah
'
s arm.

"
We can
'
t leave Oliver and Fred trapped in there with them!
"

He carefully pries off my fingers and ushers me along.
"
They
'
ll be fine. Besides, they have another way out.
"

The way we came, yeah. Somehow taking their fight into the city
'
s underground, in complete darkness, doesn
'
t strike
me as brilliant
. I bite my lower lip. Oliver told me to go
. H
e was probably worried about me getting in the way.

Noah takes my elbow and begins leading me across the little room we
'
ve ended up in. Still no windows, and only a single door. Some kind of supply room judging by the lopsided wooden shelves shoved against the walls.
"
Where are we going?
"

"
I
'
m taking you somewhere safe,
"
he says tightly.
"
Then I
'
m going after Joel.
"

Oh,
hell
no. Yanking my arm out of his grip, I twist away.
"
Excuse me? I
'
m terribly sorry you think I
'
m completely helpless.
"

He takes a deep breath, mustering up patience like he always does when he thinks I
'
m being difficult. Me!
Difficult!

"
Don
'
t waste our time, Briar. I need you somewhere safe. You aren
'
t helpless, but against someone like Joel...
"

You
'
ll be in the way.
That
'
s all it is. That
'
s all I am. Constantly in the way. All I want is to find Ruby and make sure she
'
s okay, but I can
'
t even do that, can I? My face burns with the humiliation of it all, but I refuse to let him lead me along like a five-year-old. When he reaches for me again I step back, turn, and fling open the door to stomp out.

It opens up into a bigger room. An old
warehouse
cleared out decades ago. The windows are mostly boarded
or barred
. Glass and leaves and dirt litter the floor. This isn
'
t possibly anywhere in Old Town; we
'
ve made it back to Downtown
via the tunnels
. Noah keeps at my back as we head
inside
.

There is no warning. Just Joel coming out of the shadows like he's a part of them, knife raised. Before I can react, Noah slides his gun from its holster and throws me aside. I hit the ground with a grunt, twisting around in time to see Noah barely dodge the blade swiping so close to his throat that
,
for a second,
I'm positive he
's been cut.

But I don't see or smell blood, so I exhale and roll to my feet. Noah's gun fires. The hollow building amplifies every sound ten-fold and I clamp my hands over my ears to fend it off. Joel darts away through the darkness, always an inch ahead of every bullet until Noah has to stop to reload.

Where Joel comes to a stop
across the building
, I can barely make out his outline. Now is my chance, while he
'
s distracted watching Noah. Thinking I
'
m not a threat. No sooner do I reach behind me for the gun than I r
ealize...
it isn
'
t there.

I distinctly remember it when we came into the room, aware of it digging uncomfortabl
y into my flesh. Which means
it
'
s in here.
Somewhere.
I scan the floor and spot it against the nearby wall. Must have fallen out when I fell. If I make a dive for it, could I reach and fire it in time to do any good?

"
Ditching your friends, huh?
"
Joel says.
"
Honestly didn
'
t expect that outta you.
"

His eyes are on me now, burning into my skin. Despite the chill in the room, his stare makes me break into a cold sweat.
"
Where is Ruby?
"