Red-Headed Stepchild

Page 41

The other two were almost identical in appearance. Each had shoulder-length blond hair and a face almost too beautiful to be male. Even their names were similar—Garrick and Warrick. I assumed they were brothers.
Part of me wanted to deliver a rousing speech to embolden the troops before we headed into battle. The other part of me wanted to throw up. The upcoming fight didn’t worry me. I looked forward to kicking some ass. Instead, I couldn’t shake the knowledge that after tonight my world would never be the same. I could never return into the Dominae’s embrace or live among the Lilim. I’d be an outcast with a price on my head.
It occurred to me that all the suspicion I’d grown up with had proven true. Maybe the mage blood in my veins predisposed me to being a betrayer. Or maybe, as Adam claimed, there was a purpose to all this. As much as I wanted to laugh off the whole prophecy thing, I couldn’t reject the idea outright. My immunity to apples might be related. My mage blood could be the reason, but given everything else Adam said, I doubted that was the whole story. Plus, my grandmother had always been very weird about my birthmark. Now, I had to believe it was due to more than just an aversion to a visible reminder of my mixed blood. Apparently my sister had the same mark. Too bad I couldn’t ask her about the apple thing, too.
Thinking about my grandmother lying to me all these years made my jaw clench. Her attitude toward me finally made sense. She obviously saw me as an unfortunate reminder of her daughter’s sins. A pawn to use in her bid to make the mages pay for my mother’s death. Even with the truth staring me right in the face, I still couldn’t understand how someone could be so cold and calculating. Had she never had a heart? Or did my mother’s death kill it? I shoved that thought aside. I needed to focus on the mission. Later, I could try to put the pieces together and figure out what was next.
The van slowed as it left the highway. It was almost time. My thoughts should have depressed me. Instead, they made me angry. And I fully intended to punish anyone who got in my way.
Twilight had arrived by the time the van pulled into the field on the dirt road curling along the backside of the vineyard. We filed out the back doors, blinking in the low light.
Four faeries and five vampires lined up in front of me. Vinca and Frank stood at my sides.
Frank took over, since he was the logistics man. “Remember the plan, faeries go in first. Once they’ve disabled the security, vamps attack. Remember, we don’t want any mages harmed. The vineyard center will be closed since they only open to the public on weekends. We won’t have to worry about any mortals interfering.”
“Wait,” I said. “The plan was to rescue the mages and get the hell out of there.”
Frank shook his head. “Clovis decided we needed to stay and make sure the supply of mage blood is destroyed.”
I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the group. “What the hell?” I whispered. “Why wasn’t I told of this?”
“Last-minute decision,” he said. When I started to tell him what I thought of his last-minute decision, he held up a hand. “I don’t want to hear it. Clovis calls the shots. You don’t like it, you can leave.”
I could tell he was hoping I’d walk away. Instead, I ground my teeth and clenched my fists.
“We’re burning twilight, you guys,” Vinca called.
I looked from her to Frank. With no other choice, I nodded and stalked back to the group. “Let’s move out.”
We crossed the road and scaled the fence surrounding the vineyard. Before us, a hill covered in rows upon rows of vines waited. We split up, faeries heading left and vamps heading right with me in the center. Our feet made little sound as we ran across the rocky terrain. Before long, the rear buildings of the winery rose into view. I paused before exiting the cover of the vines, trying to spot guards or workers patrolling the area. To my left, a male faery snuck up behind a guard and snapped his neck with a violent twist. From my right, I heard a gurgle as a vamp took out another guard.
The small faery group headed out of the fields and made their way to the back loading dock. They moved like apparitions though the dusk. Vinca led the team as they disappeared inside the building. I held my breath, waiting for an alarm or the sounds of fighting, but soon Vinca stuck her head out the door and gave the all-clear signal.
Frank’s team and I left the field and merged just before the bay doors. Frank motioned the team to split up again once we entered—vamps following Frank, the others taking my lead. The warehouse seemed deserted, except for piles of ashes Vinca’s team had left behind as calling cards. I crept forward, toward the secure area, while Frank and his group of vamps took a more circuitous route. I was fine with that because I didn’t trust Frank to handle the extraction of the mages. Faeries would have a gentler hand when it came to disengaging the mages from their machines. Their healing knowledge would also help if we had any problem resuscitating anyone.
We got to the doors leading into the containment area. Vinca pointed to the camera above the doors and made a slashing motion across her throat. The security was disabled. I pointed to the doors and she shook her head. None of our people had gone inside.
I pushed through the doors and crab-walked down the hallway. My gun remained in my waistband. I couldn’t risk a shot going wild. I flexed my fists, cracking a few knuckles in the process. I waved a hand for the others to stay behind me.
The elevators in front of me dinged, opening to reveal two vampires wearing lab coats in the front of the car. A few more bunched behind them. Acting on instinct, I ran at the first two as they came out, too engrossed in conversation to notice me. In a fluid motion, I pulled two apple wood stakes from my waistband. I took one vamp out by ramming the stake between his third and fourth ribs, piercing his heart through his back. Before he hit the floor, his partner came at me. The male had a hundred pounds and at least six inches on me. He grabbed me by the neck and pushed me back against the wall. He hissed as his fangs aimed right for my jugular. His elbows blocked me as I tried to angle the stake at his chest.
I managed to wriggle free enough to reach up with my left hand and jab a finger into his eyeball. He yelped and swayed for a second, but his hands tightened on my neck. He couldn’t kill me this way, but if he got his fangs into my neck I was as good as dead. I crossed my arms through his and clasped my hands together. With a quick twist, I dislodged his beefy arms. I followed this with an elbow to his nose. As he staggered back, I lifted the stake and shoved it down hard behind his clavicle. His eyed widened in surprise above the bloody mess that was once his nose. He ignited and fell to the floor in a mass of ashes.
While I had been busy fending off the big guy, the faeries had their hands full with the other vampires who had been drawn out of the clinic. As I watched, Vinca took down a female a few feet away. As the titian-haired vampire combusted, Vinca smiled and held up what looked like a can of mace.
“Apple cider,” she said. Her right hand held a bloody knife. “Spray ’em and slay ’em.”
I didn’t respond because two more workers entered the hall. I took the larger female, who resembled Attila the Hun’s mother. Her meaty fists swung like battering rams at my face. I stepped to an angle and side-kicked her in the ribs. I reached for another stake, but she tackled me. My head hit the linoleum hard, but the real pain came when the female’s weight settled on my ribs.
I tried to shimmy up to give myself some room, but her fleshy thighs gripped me like a vise. Her fists pummeled my face. I raised my own hands to block her blows and bucked with my hips to dislodge her. She kept coming. Vinca had jumped in and got the vamp in a choke hold. With a foot, Vinca kicked the apple mace at my hand. When Vinca ducked, I sprayed the obese vampire in her gaping mouth. She seemed shocked and I used the advantage to kick her off me. I scrambled to get my stake. Just as she rose to come after me again, I stabbed her in the eye. It happened so fast she didn’t have time to scream as the wood pierced the fragile bones behind her eye and impaled itself in her brain. As she exploded into a bonfire, I helped Vinca up.
Her left eye was swelling into a nasty shiner and her hands were coated in blood. “Are you okay?” I asked.
She nodded and looked around. Smoldering ash coated the once-white linoleum floor. The two faery males leaned against the far wall, their faces smudged with soot and blood. As much as I’d wanted to keep Vinca away from all this, I had to admit she was holding her own. Plus, it was nice to have someone I trusted fighting with me. Lilith only knew what Frank and Clovis’ other goons were up to.
A burst of sirens sounded. One of the vamps we’d just killed must have triggered a hidden alarm. I ran to the elevator followed by the faeries, who jumped on just before the doors closed. As we went down, we did a quick weapons check. Lord knew what sort of scene would be waiting for us below. We were running low on stakes, but Vinca produced a few clips of cider bullets. We just managed to reload before the doors opened.
We clung to the sides, waiting for a spray of bullets. When nothing happened, I carefully punched the button to hold the doors open and poked my head around the edge. The lab was filled with the shrill alarm mixed with the frantic beeps of machines. Three remaining vampires barely noticed us as they worked to unhook the mages from their machines.
Without thinking, I ran forward, grabbing the first one I reached. She struggled against me. Left with no choice, I used the last of my stakes to take her down. As she ignited at my feet, I looked around and saw the other two vamps being held by the male faeries.
“Vinca, check the ones they unhooked.” She scrambled to plug in breathing machines. I took my gun and hit the female I held in the temple. She collapsed long enough for me to lock her and her cohorts in the supply closet. Clovis would want them questioned.
I ran back into the room to check on Vinca. She was leaning over a female mage, giving her mouth-to-mouth. She pointed with one hand to the discarded breathing tube lying on the bed. I grabbed it and handed it to her. She pulled away and I turned my back as she reinserted it. The males went to the others who had been unhooked to check on their vitals.