Night of the Wolves (24 page)

She leaped to the ground and tried to throw herself between her father and the priest, but she was too late. Father Joseph had already flung holy water in her father’s face.

She watched in horror as her father stood dead still and Father Joseph froze on the steps above him. “It’s you,” the priest said. “You’re the man who…” His words trailed off as his eyes filled with remorse for what he had done.

Eugene nodded, then blinked in surprise. “I’m not burning,” he whispered.

“Because somehow you’ve salvaged your soul,” Father Joseph said in awe.

A wounded vampire suddenly fell at their feet, flapping and squirming.

Bert strode out from behind Father Joseph and slammed a stake into it.

“Have you seen Cody?” Alex asked anxiously.

“He’s in the saloon,” Father Joseph said.

Alex spun and raced across the street to the saloon, fearful of what she might find there. She threw open the doors and burst inside.

And there was Cody.

He was facing Sherry Lyn, whose pretty face was twisted into a vicious expression and whose fangs were
gleaming in the light, and a host of seven vampires. He seemed calm, despite the fact that Jigs and Dolly were lying on the floor nearby, dead or at least unconscious, and God alone knew where the others might be.

“Sherry Lyn?” Alex gasped.

“Oh, please, you were all such fools!” the whore told them. “Of course it was me. You were all so easy to fool—especially with a few false tears. Milo gave me this incredible gift, and now he and I have succeeded. All your friends are out in the street, fighting, and here…well, we just have Miss Goody Two-shoes and one little man.

“Oh, sorry, Cody,” she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “I’m sure you’re not a
little
man, but you
are
on your own except for your useless little girlfriend here, and…you have no idea what I’m capable of, not to mention what my friends can do. And of course Jigs could wake up at any minute, a ravenous monster again.”

She flew at Cody, but he was ready, catching her and throwing her back into her clustered friends.

She snarled, transforming into something big and ugly, and came at him again, and this time the others joined the fight by her side.

Alex drew the last two vials of holy water from her pocket, uncorked them and splashed the contents at the attacking horde.

She managed to strike three of the creatures, who screamed and flapped in agony, their skin sizzling and sparking.

Cody threw off Sherry Lyn, but she and the remaining creatures kept coming.

Suddenly Sherry Lyn stopped dead—literally—an arrow protruding from her chest.

More arrows flew, and more creatures fell.

Alex spun around. Her father and Linda were standing there, bows and arrows at the ready, but there were no vampires left to kill. Linda walked over to the body of Sherry Lyn, who looked like herself again in death. Her eyes were wide open. Blood trickled from her mouth.

“See if Dolly is all right,” Linda said.

Dolly was only unconscious, and Jigs roused when Alex touched him. He immediately asked for a stake, and Alex smiled at this proof that he was all right.

“You sit tight,” she told him. Then, taking one of the stakes, she rushed out to the street.

It was quiet and still. Everyone was looking around, wary, waiting for another attack.

But none came.

Cody, who must have rushed out while she was checking on Dolly and Jigs, was standing there scanning the sky.

The red haze was fading as she watched, revealing the full moon in all its brilliance.

In the distance, wolves began to howl, but it was a customary and oddly pleasant sound.

Alex stepped into Cody’s arms and felt as if she’d come home.

T
HE NEXT DAY
, John Snow and his family, although glad to have been of help, were ready to return to their lives.

Several of Tall Feather’s warriors came in to report that the camp had been attacked, as well, but they had brought down all the creatures and dispatched them.

Thoroughly.

An equally thorough burial detail dealt with the dead in Victory.

A posse comprised of Apache and the men of Victory searched the caves and surrounding areas, but it seemed that the danger was over.

“For now,” Cody said.

He and Alex were together on the balcony, savoring the breeze and the realization that the night was no longer full of danger.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Alex asked him.

To her surprise, he hesitated.

A smile teased his lips.

“I don’t know. There’s still the matter of your father.”

He had chosen to stay over at the saloon. People still weren’t sure what to make of him, most of them settling on the story that he had been buried alive, then escaped and hidden out, fighting the vampires in secret.

“What about my father? You saw what he did. You know he’s not a threat.”

“Yes, I learned something from him. A vampire
can
fight evil.”

“Just like you’ve been doing all these years?”

“But I’m half human.”

“Very human,” she said huskily. “So what about my father?” she asked again.

Cody pulled her into his arms. “He wanted to know my intentions.”

“Oh,” she murmured. “And…?”

“…And I found myself telling him how I felt about you.”

“What happened then?”

“Then he mentioned that an Episcopal priest was living in the house.”

She pressed a finger to his lips and told him earnestly. “I told you that I…that I would settle for whatever we could have.”

“Yes, but I want more,” he told her, pressing his lips to hers, his kiss both tender and urgent.

Then he pulled back and looked down at her again, his eyes glowing golden in the night.

“So much more,” he said, his tone husky.

“I…I admit I’m more than a little in love with you,” she said.

“Really? I hadn’t anticipated such a surprising and amazing complication. You see, Miss Alexandra Gordon, I believe that I’m much more than a little in love with you.”

“But…I know you want to find your father,” she said.

“True, but…”

“But?”

“Every man needs a home base. And if he happens to be a vampire hunter, he could have no better wife than one who knows…all there is to know. The truth about that man.”

She gripped his shoulders and rose on her toes to kiss him.

“You didn’t actually pose the question,” she whispered to him. “But the answer is yes.”

He laughed and swung her up into his arms. In seconds they were tangled together, passionate and laughing, both question and answer spoken in the oldest language known between a man and a woman.