Chapter 64: Chapter 64
Brandon’s leg was shattered, of that much he was sure. He’d done his best to break his fall, lurching for the side of the Colosseum as he fell, but he’d collided with several layers of travertine on his way to the ground, and he was pretty sure he’d scraped off plenty of skin as well. When he finally made contact with the earth, his leg buckled beneath him, and he screamed in agony, thankful Cassidy wasn’t there to see him crying.
Except she was. She was in his head and had been for the entire painful plummet. As soon as he realized she could hear him, he sucked in the scream and willed himself to focus on anything else—like the fact that gunfire encircled them, and he had no idea where Dax was.
Heather was bleeding from a cut on her head, but other than that, she seemed unharmed. “Are you okay?” she asked before she climbed off of him and took a look at his leg. “Holy hell! The whole bone’s stickin’ plumb out!”
“Ya think?” he asked looking at his femur protruding from the shredded skin. He thought about trying to shove it back in himself, but the idea made him want to vomit. He glanced around, trying to tell what was happening, how they happened to land in the middle of a war zone, wondering if he should draw his Glock or just sit tight and take in the situation.
He spotted Dax then, way up above him, holding onto the side of the Colosseum. Carefully, the former forest ranger began to scale down the side of the structure, and Brandon hoped neither one of them had done any permanent damage to the ancient relic. It looked like Dax had a pretty good grasp of what he was doing, and Brandon held back his jealousy over the fact that he might’ve been able to control his own landing better if he wasn’t carrying Heather.
She had Alex’s musket from behind her back now and was taking careful aim as figures neared them. “Be careful,” Brandon warned her. “I’m guessing some of these people are on our side?”
“Brandon, you need to accept visuals from Lex,” Cassidy said, which wasn’t quite what he’d expected her to say first, but he realized from her tone, it was urgent. “He’s trying to get in contact with you. They’re on their way to you.”
“Okay,” he said, doing as instructed. He saw Lex’s name in the corner of his eye and allowed visuals for the tall, Italian with the strong nose and equally masculine chin structure. Returning his attention to his girlfriend, he asked Cassidy, “Hey, baby. How’s it going?” knowing the full on cheese would calm her down a little bit.
“Just great,” she said back in a sarcastic whisper. “Listen, I’m gonna let you concentrate on not getting caught in the crossfire, babe, okay? I love you.”
“I love you so much.”
Through Lex’s visuals, Brandon could see many more black uniforms than Vampires, but the bloodsuckers were vicious, coming at Hunters and Guardians alike with no fear. Lex was doing his best to direct his troops to keep the Vampires from reaching where Brandon and Heather were pinned, but despite the numbers being on his side, the Vampires were closer and moving in.
Heather wasn’t taking any chances, and Brandon couldn’t blame her. She’d been duped before by these creatures of the night. As a woman with long red hair stepped out of the tall grass alongside a crumbling wall, Heather opened fire, shooting her several times before she stumbled forward, colliding with the Hybrid. “You’re going to need a silver knife,” Brandon managed, drawing one out of his pocket and tossing it to Heather. She caught it and plunged it into the Vampire’s throat. Brandon realized immediately that the reason Lex’s people were struggling was because these weren’t ordinary Vampires. They were Holland infused—they had the backing of the Vampire Queen influencing them.
Before another Vampire could head their direction, Brandon reached up and grabbed the sleeve of Heather’s shirt and pulled her back to him. “Listen, you need to set up a shield.”
“A what?” she asked, her forehead crinkling. Across from them, about a hundred yards away, another Vampire stepped through a hole in the Colosseum wall and bounded toward them.
“A shield,” Brandon said again. “Cass does it all the time, so I bet you can, too. You just need to use all of your energy and concentrate on blocking any signals coming in from Holland. I don’t know exactly how Cass does it, but she does it with her mind.”
“With my mind? You think I can set up some sort of protection from some damn Vampire I ain’t never heard of with my mind?”
“Yes, I do,” Brandon assured her. The Vampire was almost on top of them now. He aimed his Glock in its direction and slowed it down, but even the titanium bullets weren’t enough to stop it. “Just... try Heather. Concentrate!”
“But that damn thing’s comin’ right at us!”
“Yeah, and they’ll continue to do so unless you can set up a shield!”
The bloodsucker was within ten feet when Dax launched himself off of the lowest rung of the amphitheater and landed on its back. His knife was already in his hand, and he used it to saw through what used to be an older man’s neck. It took him a few moments, but he finally managed to break it loose. The creature burst into ash, and Dax dropped to the ground.
“We need to get you out of here,” he said to Brandon.
“I can’t walk.”
“That’s all right. I can carry you.” Dax leaned down and attempted to scoop the larger Guardian up, but the second he moved his leg, Brandon screamed in pain, and Dax set him back on the ground.
“Sorry,” Brandon said, stopping short of grabbing his leg. “It’s not gonna work. If Heather can block Holland, we should be able to mow them down.”
“Heather doesn’t know how to throw a shield,” Dax reminded him.
“That’s okay. She can do it.”
“Why not just ask Cass?” Dax shouted over the sound of gunfire closing in around them.
“I’m trying,” Cass answered both of them in their heads. “But it’s hard when I don’t know where she is, and I’m not with you. I’m pretty far away, too. I’ll keep working at it.”
Brandon glanced around. Now, several battles were taking place on the interior of the Colosseum grounds instead of just outside the limestone walls. “Dax, you should go. Take Heather and head toward Lex.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna leave you sitting here. Don’t be stupid.”
“It’s not like they can kill me.”
“True, but they can sure have fun trying to shove that bone back into your leg. Besides, if they happen to cart you off, I’m pretty sure your girlfriend will kill me. And I think she can do that. I’m not going anywhere without you.”
Behind him, Brandon heard a scream and turned to see a Vampire sinking its teeth into a Hunter’s throat. Dax opened fire, hitting it several times, making it drop back a few steps and release the Hunter, but there was blood everywhere. “We need a Healer!” Brandon shouted to Lex.
“I only have two, and they’re both busy patching up Hunters,” he said as he battled a Vampire himself.
He couldn’t blame Lex for thinking he meant for himself, so he further explained, “One of you Hunters just lost her jugular,” he replied. “If you don’t get a Healer in here, she’s not gonna make it.”
Dax had already moved in on the Vampire, and Heather was headed toward the wounded Hunter, probably thinking she could at least put some pressure on the wound. He could see by her expression that she was still trying to do what Brandon had said, and as Dax took out the Vampire with his blade, Heather dropped to her knees, taking off her jacket and wrapping it around the injured woman.
Her back was to him, but he could see she was rocking back and forth, and he knew she was giving it all she had. Around him, Vampires seemed to pour through every crack in the Colosseum walls. Most of them had Hunters or Guardians right behind, but nothing they were doing seemed to work. Brandon readied his weapon, hoping he’d at least be able to slow them down before they tried to drag him away. He hadn’t come this far just to be taken by Holland’s minions.
A large Vampire with a shaved head and bulging muscles was moving in his direction, and even from thirty feet away, Brandon could see a ghoulish grin on the bastard’s face. He had his eyes on a prize. Brandon didn’t know for sure what Holland had promised them if they were able to capture him, but he could only imagine it was a treasure. He opened fire, striking the Vampire several times in the chest, but other than a few plumes of smoke, he didn’t seem affected.
“Heather! Come on now, you can do it!” he shouted, not even sure if she could hear him over the din of battle. The Vampire knocked Brandon’s Glock out of his hand and grabbed him around his waist, swinging him up into the air and depositing him on his shoulder. The pain in his leg was so intense, Brandon couldn’t help but scream in agony. He was certain the Vampire was chuckling to himself as he headed for the nearest exit.
“Heather!” He couldn’t turn his head to see her, but through Dax’s IAC, he could glimpse her face as his friend took off running after the brute who was carrying him off like he was Donkey Kong claiming Princess Peach. Heather was concentrating so hard, her face was scrunched up, and her lips were moving rapidly, repeating the same thing over and over. He imagined it had something to do with a shield.
Another Vampire fell into line with them, whooping and hollering, leading the charge as a few black-clad figures ran in their direction. Brandon’s arms were pinned, but he had another knife just inside of his jacket pocket. He did his best to work his fingertips inside of the leather fabric, but he couldn’t quite reach the handle.
Dax could see what he was aiming at. Out of nowhere, a silver blade landed right between the giant’s shoulder blades. The monster didn’t even flinch as Brandon looked up and nodded at Dax before he worked his arm free and grabbed the hilt, pulling it out and plunging it back in over and over again.
At first, the Vampire seemed to think it was funny, laughing and swinging Brandon back and forth like the blade was tickling him. But then, his countenance shifted, and as Brandon stabbed him for the fourth or fifth time, he screamed out in pain. The Guardian dragged the blade down as far as he could reach and then pulled it straight up as the bloodsucker went rigid, and his knees buckled.
Brandon’s broken leg slammed into the ground again, and the Vampire rolled on top of him. His scream was choked off by the vomit that propelled itself out of his mouth as he could no longer deal with the pain. Dax was over them now, and he sank a titanium bullet into the monster’s head, immediately exploding it into a million pieces of ash.
The other Vampire who had been laughing alongside them threw himself at Dax, but he turned and fired just once, also ending the monster. Through tear-filled eyes, Brandon surveyed the battlefield. All around him, he saw Vampires turning to ash and dust with ease, and he realized the shield was up.
“Are you doing this, Cass?” he asked, hoping she had somehow missed the vomiting and the tears.
“No,” she said back immediately. “It must be Heather.”
The Hybrid was still kneeling in the same spot, even though it was obvious a Healer was taking care of the wounded Hunter now. Her eyes were still closed, and her mouth was still moving. He wondered if she even knew she’d been successful.