Warrior (Relentless #4)(59)

Sara spoke first. “Yes.”

I followed Chris to his bike and donned my weapons harness. Picking up a sword, I turned to the others. “Stay here until you hear from us.”

Sara clasped her hands together, and my heart squeezed at the emotions playing across her face. Her concern for us touched me, but it was the trust in her eyes when they met mine that made me want to pull her into my arms.

“Be careful,” she said softly.

Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.

“Careful, Sara, or people might think you care,” Chris teased her before he tossed me a knowing look.

I followed him out of the lot. When we got to the road I glanced back, but I couldn’t see Sara and the others through the trees.

“She’ll be okay.”

“I know.” I made myself believe that because, otherwise, I’d never leave her. I was loath to let her out of my sight after all that had happened today, and I had to remind myself that the troll could protect her as well, if not better, than I could.

I called Erik as we headed for the estate, and he told me he, Raj, and Glenn were on their way. The others were held up in Boston. The five of us could handle a dozen armed humans, as long as there were no surprises waiting for us. Like a Hale witch.

We reached the property and moved silently along the fence until we came to a small gate. I snapped the flimsy lock and eased the gate open. Whoever was in charge was either careless or they believed their armed guards could handle any intruders.

Chris slipped inside first, and he held up a hand when I followed him. Walking toward us along the fence were two large guards, each armed with a silenced SIG MPX.

I motioned to Chris, and he nodded. A second later, we were behind the two males and had them in choke holds before they could raise their weapons or shout a warning. We lowered the unconscious guards to the ground, not bothering to remove their weapons. They’d be down for hours.

Wordlessly, Chris and I set off in opposite directions. We’d worked together enough that we didn’t need spoken communication at times like this. If things went according to plan, we’d neutralize the threat here and secure the young trolls before Sara and the others had time to wonder what was going on.

I took down four more guards before I came upon one that was definitely not human. I stared in disbelief at the vampire patrolling the grounds with his fangs and claws extended. A vampire working with humans?

The vampire spun as I moved toward him. “Mohiri!” he snarled and came at me with a speed that matched mine.

My sword cut deep into his side, and he hissed in pain as he lunged away from me. He hit the ground and rolled back to his feet in one fluid motion. I started toward him again, but his sudden cocky grin alerted me to the fact that we were not alone.

I leapt to the right and spun, my blade slicing through the shoulder of the vampire behind me. He opened his mouth to cry out, and I brought my sword around to remove his head before he could alert any others nearby.

The head was still rolling across the ground when I went after the first vampire, who had turned to run. I pulled a knife from my harness and threw it at the fleeing vampire. The silver blade sank into his back, and his choked gasp told me it had struck home.

As he crumpled to the ground, I strode to him and yanked my knife free. Wiping the blade on his shirt, I sheathed it and turned toward the back of the house.

A large pool came into view, along with three human guards. The first two went down quietly, but the third managed to cry out before I knocked him unconscious. I entered the house through the open French doors, only to encounter two vampires who must have heard the guard’s shout.

The vampires came up short when they saw me, and their hesitation was all the opening I needed. I got one in the chest with a knife. Before he hit the marble floor, I swung my sword and gutted the second one. He clasped his stomach, trying to keep his intestines from spilling out, and his mouth opened in a silent scream as I brought my sword up to end his life.

I started to move past the bodies, but a shout had me running outside and speeding around to the front of the house to find Chris battling three vampires. Two were missing an arm and one clutched at a gash in his chest.

“Sloppy,” I bantered as I jumped into the fight to take on a one-armed vampire, who barely had time to snarl at me before I beheaded him.

Chris snorted as he swung his sword at the vampire holding his chest. His blade easily parted the vampire’s ribs and sliced through his heart.

“I was doing fine until you came to ruin my fun.” He spun and ran his sword through the chest of the last vampire who had stupidly stood there as his brethren were killed.

Wiping his blade on one of the fallen vampires, Chris swore and looked at me. “Vampires? What the hell is going on here, Nikolas?”

Before I could answer, shouts came from the direction of the main gate. “Sounds like Erik is here. He’ll handle it –”

Chris grunted and fell to the ground beside me as bullets tore up the grass around us.

I threw my body over his, not sure how badly he was hit. Bullets were not usually deadly to us, but enough shots to the head or heart could kill anyone. I scanned the grounds, and my demon sight quickly located the shooter hiding in a tree.

“Stay down,” I ordered Chris. Moving fast, I was at the tree and scaling it before the male could get off another shot. I was not gentle when I knocked him out and let him fall fifteen feet to the ground. As a rule, I didn’t kill humans, but I had no mercy for someone who worked with vampires.