A Dawn of Strength (A Shade of Vampire #14)(33)

“Move over,” I said as I approached. “I need to get inside.”

They both stood up, allowing me entrance. I grabbed an empty barrel from a corner of the room and began piling guns and ammunition into it—as much as would fit.

“Hey,” I called over to my shoulder to Bella and Brett. “Help me.” I pointed to more empty barrels. “Fill those up with firearms. And hurry.”

I helped them with their barrel to speed the process up. Once five barrels were filled to the brim, I said, “Both of you need to help me carry these now. You both look big enough to carry two at once, and I’ll take the fifth one.”

I was right. They bent down and wrapped each of their arms around a container. Then I picked one up myself and ran for the exit. “Follow me as fast as you can without spilling anything,” I called over my shoulder.

We travelled much slower than I was comfortable with. Even as I kept urging them to run faster, ogres’ speed was just no match for a vampire’s. I breathed out a sigh of relief when we neared the entrance of the beach through the trees. I stopped behind a row of thick bushes and turned to face the ogres.

“Both of you should stay here with these barrels,” I said, placing the container on the ground and gesturing that they do the same with theirs. “All right? Stay quiet and don’t leave this spot until I come back for you.”

They both looked nervous but nodded their heads. I picked out four guns for myself, made sure they were loaded, then tucked two into my belt while I remained holding the other two in my hands. Then I left their company. Moving away from this hiding place, I remained beneath the shadow of the redwoods, holding my breath at what I might see on entering the beach again.

The scene was looking more dismal than I had imagined. The line of members of our army lying paralyzed on the beach had grown considerably. I noticed several black witches fallen on the sand, their palms bloody, and dozens of vampires lying motionless, but some of those could have been our own. Even if they weren’t, we hadn’t even made a dent in their army. Gunshots fired all over the place as The Shade’s warriors continued to battle our enemies, some visible, others still not.

Careful to remain unnoticed, I slunk through the shadows like a panther, moving closer and closer to the line of paralyzed people that was being guarded by Rhys’ sister, Arielle, and two vampires—a short dark-skinned one I didn’t recognize, a new recruit perhaps, and a tall ginger-haired one. Stellan.

As I approached within thirty feet of them, I tucked the guns in my hands into my belt with the others and leapt up into the trees above me. I couldn’t afford to risk treading on something noisy in the undergrowth and drawing their attention at the last moment. I swung carefully from branch to branch until I was standing directly above the black witch. Her hands were balled up into fists as she gazed around at the chaos on the beach. I watched her closely, waiting until her hands slackened and her palms became visible.

Barely daring to breathe, I drew out one of the guns and readied it to fire. I waited for her to twist slightly to her right, giving me a clearer view of her right palm, before pulling the trigger. The bullet exploded from the barrel and a second later, Arielle’s scream pierced the air. She fell to her knees, clutching her palm. I lost no time in shooting through her left palm too—now clearly visible as it nursed her right. She doubled over in pain as the two vampires raced toward her, looking around for the source of the explosion. I ducked behind the trunk of the tree I was perched in. Resting the gun I was holding on a branch, I whipped out the UV-ray gun by my right hip. Peering out again, I fired a bullet at Stellan’s chest, then the vampire next to him. Both burst into flames the moment the bullets lodged into their flesh.

Leaping from the tree, I jumped over the line of bodies and landed next to Arielle cowering on the ground. I dug my hand into her hair and yanked her head back before digging the barrel of my gun against her forehead and firing. Her eyes widened and her lips parted as she released her last breath before sinking back on the sand.

Rhys has yet another reason to hate me now. I was sure that he’d be back on my tail again in no time.

I turned my attention to the hostages and ran to the nearest one to me—Saira. Her eyes moved wildly and she looked like she was trying to speak, but her lips remained stiff. I gripped her shoulders and tried to sit her upright, but she was stuck to the ground and budging her even an inch felt impossible.

I stood up again. I couldn’t remain here in clear view. Not after what I’d just done. I needed to find one of our witches fast to help free our people.

I stepped back and was about to climb back into the tree when I collided with someone invisible. I feared for a moment it was a black witch, but then Ibrahim manifested in front of me. Gaping at the dead witch on the ground, he had a deep gash in his right cheek and his ripped shirt revealed burns in his chest.

“Ibrahim,” I said, “we need to free the hostages.”

He eyed the long row of witches and werewolves before exhaling sharply. Clearly, he was going to need help, but he began hovering over Saira and muttering beneath his breath.

I climbed back in the tree and hid myself beneath the shadows, raising my gun and watching for any sign of more enemies approaching. I quickly spotted a group of ten vampires rushing forward toward Ibrahim across the sand. Positioning my UV ray gun again, I fired bullet after bullet around the tree until every vampire had fallen.