Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
We slid to a stop in the gravel as I unbuckled my seat belt and clicked off the pistol’s safety.
I’d inadvertently stepped into a situation that was clearly fucked and none of my business, but I wasn’t about to cower like an infant. I refused to be caught unaware, and I sure as shit wasn’t going to sit in the car.
“Stay here,” Daniel said as he threw open his door, leaving the car running.
“Not a fucking chance,” I argued, following him.
Distant shots had us both snapping our heads toward the east side of the property.
“How good are you with that?” Daniel asked, nodding toward the pistol.
“Very good.” I’d been training since I was eight, but that wasn’t information that needed to be shared at present.
He watched me for a moment, tilted his head sharply from side to side, and finally nodded. “Stay close.”
We quietly jogged across the expanse of lawn and stepped into the trees. I stayed near Daniel, but chose my own route as we picked our way through the foliage, our steps nearly silent. The trees were so thick above us that what little moonlight we’d been using to see had all but disappeared. My eyes adjusted slowly to the dark, but I’d been in worse places at night. Using my other senses and pure instinct, I rounded bushes and picked my way through ferns as the sound of a struggle came from somewhere ahead of us.
When we finally found the three men, the differences between them were stark. Two of them were wearing camouflage tactical gear, their faces painted so dark that only the whites of their eyes shone in the dark. The other was in plain black, functional work pants and a long-sleeved shirt, and he was kicking their asses like it was nothing. The fluidity and speed of his movements were instantly recognizable. Another Vampire.
“Did all of you make it back?” he asked casually as he snapped the neck of one of the men, letting him drop silently to the forest floor. The other man roared and dove for the guy in black.
“Even brought home an extra,” Daniel replied calmly.
“No shit?” He elbowed the camouflaged man in the throat and then turned to us as the man went down, clutching at his neck. In the light, I knew his face would’ve been mottled with color as he struggled for air that never came, but in the dark, he just looked like a formless shape writhing on the ground.
“Rosie, this is Josiah,” Daniel said quietly as we walked further into the woods.
“Hey,” I whispered, scanning the darkness for anything out of place.
“Nice to meet you, Rosie,” Josiah greeted.
“It’s Rosemary, actually.”
“Rosemary, then.”
We quietly made our way around the property in a wide circle, and I’d begun to think that we wouldn’t find anyone as we crossed over the long driveway. The night was silent, though, and that made the hair on the back of my neck prickle. My stomach and chest were still aching, and my clothes stuck to me damply, but I tried my best to ignore it. When I was home again, I could figure out what the hell was going on. I wasn’t sure how I would’ve caught something from the men who’d held me in that garage, but I couldn’t rule out food poisoning from the cheap restaurants they’d frequented.
I needed to get home.
The Vampires on each side of me broke into a slow jog as we entered the trees again. They could clearly see or hear something that I couldn’t. Taking a deep breath, I followed them, trying my best to keep my footfalls silent. It wasn’t easy as I tried to match their speed, and eventually I stopped trying for finesse and just focused on not tripping on anything.
I smelled the blood before I saw what they’d been racing toward. There was a body lying on the ground while three others kicked at it.
“Motherfuckers,” I breathed as I ran harder. My footsteps were clumsy and louder than they should’ve been, but my body didn’t seem to be cooperating like it usually did.
Without warning, one of the men who’d been kicking the body spun toward us, and a spray of bullets thunked against the trees and bushes around me.
Dropping into a crouch, I ignored the fear that coated my skin and aimed. I couldn’t see if I’d hit the man, but by the way he folded in half with an almost breathless wail, I was pretty sure I had.
In the time it had taken for me to shoot, the Vampires with me had closed in on the other men and made short work of taking them out. I rose and hurried toward them as they kneeled beside the body on the ground.
“Get up, you big baby,” Josiah chided, making the body chuckle.
“Fuck off.”