Warrior (Relentless #4)(224)

Everyone but Emma laughed as we piled into the vehicle. She was even quieter than normal as she sat in the back between Sara and Jordan. I smiled when I heard the two of them telling her about Westhorne.

Up front, the conversation centered around the work we’d been doing in California, and what had been happening at Westhorne in our absence.

Seamus and Niall told us about all the new security measures Dax had put in place, including new boundary sensors that were a combination of technology and warlock magic. Raj had gotten the idea when he was developing the listening devices, and he’d been working on a prototype with an Indian warlock he knew. The new sensors were designed to detect a vampire if one got within scanning range. They’d been tested in a lab, but so far none of the ones at Westhorne had picked up anything.

“And how do you like having the hellhounds loose on the grounds?” I asked them.

Seamus snickered. “One of the monsters took a liking to Niall. Follows him whenever he’s out of patrol.”

“One of these days, you’ll find my bones picked clean in the woods,” Niall said glumly. “You won’t be laughing then.”

“They probably won’t leave any bones behind,” his brother said not-so-helpfully.

Niall scowled. “You wouldn’t joke if it was –”

“Vampires!” Sara choked out.

I turned around in my seat in time to see a large white cargo van with darkened windows slam into the back of the SUV.

“Son of a bitch!” Seamus shouted as the SUV swerved precariously on an icy patch of road. Everyone was thrown forward, and I automatically reached for Sara to steady her. Emma screamed, and Sara and Jordan covered her with their bodies at the van sped up again.

Seamus hit the gas and we shot forward, but it was too late. The van hit us hard.

“Jesus Christ!” Niall bellowed as the tires lost purchase on the ice and we skidded off the shoulder of the road.

The ten-foot embankment was steep, and we rolled over twice, hitting the trees hard at the bottom.

My only thought was of Sara. Before the vehicle had come to a complete stop, I tore off my seat belt and reached for her. “Sara? Are you hurt?”

She winced but shook her head. “No.”

“Stay with Emma,” I told her as Chris and I went for the weapons stored beneath the seat cushion. Sara couldn’t handle a sword, but she could use her power to hold off a vampire if one tried to get inside the SUV. Emma looked like she was in shock. Sara would keep her safe.

I wanted to hug her, to tell her to be careful, but there was no time. The slamming of car doors above us told me our attackers were coming for us. Sword in hand, I climbed out the window and flew up the embankment.

I met the first two vampires on the shoulder of the road, and I tore through one of them before he knew what hit him. Chris was right beside me, and he went after the second vampire as Seamus and Niall held off six more.

As I moved in to help the twins, Jordan sped past me and jumped into the fray. She ducked under Niall’s arm and put her sword through the chest of a female vampire before she could attack the other warrior. Pulling her sword free, she whirled to meet the next vampire.

A tall vampire blurred out of sight and reappeared behind me. I saw him coming and spun away before he could punch through my back. Older vampires had the strength to rip a spinal cord out, but I wasn’t going out that way.

I came around and sliced through his arm at the elbow. He hissed in pain but didn’t retreat like a younger vampire would have. Moving fast, he swiped at my throat with his remaining hand. At the same time, someone grabbed my shoulders from behind.

I went down to one knee and threw my new attacker over my shoulder into the one-armed vampire. He staggered off balance, and before he could right himself, I plunged my blade into his heart.

The vampire I’d thrown hit the ground and rolled to his feet. I started toward him when the screech of tires cut through the sounds of fighting. A second van stopped, and another eight vampires spilled out.

I looked back to the one I’d been fighting. He was gone.

Sara.

Her presence began to fade. I tore down the incline to the SUV to find it empty. Movement nearby led me to Emma, who was hidden behind some bushes.

“Where is Sara?” I demanded.

She pointed into the woods. I looked down and saw the indentation where she’d fallen and the tracks in the snow. God, no.





Chapter 44





I sped through the trees, moving so fast over the ground my feet barely disturbed the snow. It took me a minute to sense her again, and another to catch up to them.

The vampire I’d let escape had Sara pinned on her stomach with her face pressed into the snow. She wasn’t moving.

I plowed into him so hard he flew twenty feet and slammed into a tree. I was on him before he could recover from the blow. My sword went for his chest, but he managed to roll to one side. He screeched when the blade slid through his ribs. I withdrew quickly and struck again. This time my blade found its mark, and he collapsed into the snow.

I raced back to Sara and threw down my bloody sword. Grasping her shoulders, I rolled her over, afraid of what I’d find.

She took a wheezing breath and coughed.

Relief warred with the fear in my chest. “Sara!”

Her eyes opened, and she croaked, “Nikolas.”