Vengeance (The Captive #6)(87)
Fast learner, he thought with pride.
He spun back to the fight as Kane burst free of the crowd and rushed at him. A grim smile spread across William’s mouth; he braced his legs and swung his spear up. Kane’s spear crashed against his, rattling the wood within his grasp. His fingers clenched on the weapon as he fell back beneath Kane’s furious blows.
He fended them off, wielding the spear with the expertise of his training. His arms ached, his hand vibrated as the spear was beat repeatedly. He turned to the side, avoiding Kane’s lunge and managing to crash his own spear down onto Kane’s back.
The blow should have knocked Kane to his knees, but he managed to catch himself before falling down. William spun the spear so the arrowhead pointed at Kane’s back. The vampire spun and grabbing the bottom of the spear broke the arrow off. It clattered across the stone floor with a rattling ting as it spun into the shadows of the cave.
William didn’t have time to recover before Kane’s arms wrapped around his knees and he was dragged down beneath him. His back slammed into the rock; his head crashed off it causing stars to burst before his eyes when his brain rattled against his skull. He almost lost his broken spear, but somehow managed to keep hold of it as Kane scrambled to grab his legs.
Getting his knees in between them, William thrust upward with enough force to dislodge the smaller vamp. Kane rolled away into the darkness as William staggered back to his feet. He looked toward where Tempest and the others stood; the rest of the white cloaked vampires lying about their feet. There were only a handful of the village vampires left, but at least some of them had survived. Tempest’s skin had taken on an ashen hue, blood speckled her cheeks, but she appeared unharmed. His gaze fell on the cowering children.
“Run!” he yelled at them. “Tempest, take the children and run!”
It was the mention of the children that finally broke through to her, as he’d known it would. Spinning away, she began to usher the children and others forward with a hurried shooing gesture. “Go!”
William spun toward the shadows as Kane bolted toward him with his shoulders down. He swung his spear up, prepared to drive it into Kane’s back. At the last second, Kane rose up and threw his spear at him. William dodged to the side, but not in time to avoid having the spear tip plunge into his shoulder and burst out the other side.
He bit back a shout of pain, afraid to draw Tempest’s attention to the fight again, but he couldn’t keep back a grunt from the force of the impact. Turning back to face Kane, he didn’t have time to get out of the way as the vampire hurtled across the earth and dove at him. William stumbled back. He realized too late that he’d been standing near the entrance of the cave. With another violent shove from Kane, he lost what was left of his balance and toppled over the edge of the cliff.
***
“William!” Tempest screamed when she saw him tumble away into nothing.
She’d led the others farther into the cave, urging them to run faster, and making sure the children would make it to safety before doubling back to help him fight Kane. She’d been too late to help though, too late to save him. Rage and sorrow left her shaken as tears streamed down her face. The tears fell, but the rage drove her forward with a bellow she’d never expected to come from herself.
Quiet and hiding in the shadows all her life, she knew now she’d never be that girl again. No, now there was no hiding from her problems, they had to be faced head on, and this one she planned to face with the ruthlessness of a mountain lion.
She threw her spear at Kane with far more speed than she’d known possible. Kane lunged out of the way, but she didn’t go after him again; she ran to the edge of the cliff and looked over the side. A shelf two hundred feet below had stopped William from plummeting all the way to the bottom of the valley and onto the jagged boulders lining the lake.
His head, twisted to the side, faced a direction that never should have been possible. Blood, seeping from the back of his head, had begun to form a scarlet puddle in the snow. One of his legs was bent behind his body; more blood spilled from where his broken femur had pierced through the flesh of his thigh.
The spear Kane had thrown at him was still embedded in his shoulder, but the broken spear he’d fallen over with had pierced through his chest, close to his heart. It might have pierced his heart she realized with a wave of misery so intense she almost fell to her knees. She couldn’t see his eyes, but she had to believe he was still alive and that the spear had missed.
A choked sob escaped her, if there was a small chance he was alive, she was going to help him and no matter what, she would not leave his body down there. Bending, she grabbed hold of the edge of the cliff in order to lower herself over it. A hand snatched her arm, jerking her back before she could go over. A red haze suffused her vision; she turned on Kane with the fury of a hellcat kicking and spitting as she clawed at his face and battered his shins.
“I’ll kill you!” the scream tore from her already raw throat as she threw herself at him, shoving him into the cave wall.
He grabbed at her arms, shoving them down to her sides. Before she could gather herself enough to go back at him, he backhanded her across the face so hard her cheek split open and blood spilled into her mouth. Her hand flew to her cheek; she staggered back and crashed into the rocks.
He leapt at her, clutching her arms. Tearing her away from the cave wall, he threw her to the floor. Tempest bit back a cry as her hands and knees slapped off the stones. Scrambling forward, she tried to regain her feet, but he grabbed hold of the hood of her cloak and yanked her backward. Her fingers clawed at the brooch and cloak cutting into her neck in an attempt to tear it away from her body.