Unbound (The Captive #7)(48)
“You can’t seriously be considering that,” Max said when he caught the direction of her gaze.
“If she’s in there, I can do it,” Aria replied. “Tacks will help me grip the roof.”
“Let me pull those out of my ass for you,” he retorted and she glared at him though he couldn’t see it from behind her glasses. “You said nothing reckless.”
“It’s not reckless, not if I plan it right. Now shush, we have to keep watch.”
“You’ll break your neck,” Max pressed.
“Good thing that won’t kill me anymore.”
Now he scowled at her as his hands fisted. “I might.”
“Get in line,” Xavier muttered under his breath and Aria glowered at him. He didn’t look at all repentant as he glowered back at her.
Aria turned away to study the vampires surrounding the building. This home was the only one with such a large number of vamps outside of it. It had to be where Sabine, or whoever she was, was staying, but she couldn’t do anything until she knew for sure. “I have to know if she’s in there first,” she murmured.
***
Daniel
Daniel watched the vampires in the doorway as the first one broke into a grin and stepped inside. “Three trapped little piggy’s,” he said.
Behind him, William adjusted his stance to keep the door beneath him from opening again if Tempest should try to come back out. The other two vamps stepped into the barn as Timber pulled the staff from his back and brought it before him, to hold it there. He grinned back at the vamps beckoning the first one forward with a wave of his fingers.
The vamps hesitated when confronted with Timber’s eagerness for a fight. They exchanged a look. “Easy prey,” one of them said to the others, and Daniel nearly laughed out loud.
Behind him, William chuckled, drawing the vamp’s attention to him. “Vampire,” one of them said to the others.
“Give this guy a cookie. You’re pretty observant, aren’t you?” William inquired of the vampire as he nocked his arrow against his bow.
The vampire’s lips skimmed back to bare his lethal fangs at William.
“About as observant as a rock,” Timber replied.
Daniel remained unmoving, studying his opponents as they fanned out farther. Judging by their lumbering gait, their lack of weapons, and the way they all moved separately from each other, they had no formal training in weapons or defense. They also hadn’t been working together for long. Otherwise, they would know not to let the one with the blond hair go to the right. He had a barely noticeable limp, but he would be slower to move off his right foot and was a weakness to their line.
They relied on their vampire strength to carry them through any battle they encountered with a human, but they were awkward for vampires. Strength meant nothing if they couldn’t catch their opponent. Even Timber, for all of his lumbering size, was quick from years of having to be. He could pick a pocket before anyone ever noticed him in a crowd, a seemingly unattainable feat considering he was impossible not to notice, but Daniel had seen him do it many times before.
These three vampires would tear someone’s jacket off while trying to shake their hand. Daniel couldn’t help but smile at the men. This was going to be a good time.
He pulled an arrow from his quiver as William released his string. His arrow pierced through the shoulder of the first vamp, who yelped as he stumbled into the wall. Daniel released his arrow, effectively silencing the vamp when his arrowhead pierced through his heart and pinned him to the wall. The vamp’s legs kicked against the wall before going completely still.
The one with the limp and the other vamp exchanged a frightened look before Timber leapt forward and swung his staff out, taking out the legs of the other vamp. The vamp spun away, scrambling to get back up. Timber spun the staff around and lifted it over his head. Like he was cutting wood, he swung it down and smashed it off the back of the vamp’s head, shattering his skull.
The vamp howled as he threw his hands over the back of his head, trying to protect himself from any further blows. “Shut up!” William leapt onto the back of the vampire, slicing his neck open in one clean stroke with the knife he wore at his side.
Limpy was trying to make it to the door, but Daniel followed his every move, stalking him like a cat after a mouse as he kept his arrow aimed at the vamp. He would be fast enough to dodge the arrow if Daniel shot it straight at him but not if he…
Daniel released the arrow. It thudded into the wall of the barn, one foot away from the door. He grabbed another arrow as the vamp leapt back, like he’d anticipated, and fired again. The arrow pierced straight through the vamp’s side, pinning his right arm to his chest and coming to a stop in the center of his heart. The vamp lurched awkwardly, thrown off balance by his pinned appendage. Blood gurgled from his lips before he slammed face first into the ground.
“Nice shot,” William commented as he walked over to retrieve the arrows they could use again. “Now let’s get this garbage out of here.”
CHAPTER 20
Aria
“I love this place,” Aria whispered as she settled on the bench before the fountain. The couple within the center of the fountain, forever gazed yearningly at each other, but they would never be able to touch. Braith had once told her that in the beginning of their relationship, he’d thought of the couple in the fountain as them and had understood the torment on the faces of the couple as he’d been afraid to get too close to her.