Firestorm: Heart of a Vampire #5 (12 page)

He drew the dirk from the sheath on his belt and handed it to her. “Take this, just in case.”

She rewarded him with a brief, small curving up of her lips.

He watched in approval as she tested the weight and balance of the blade.

Holding it by her thigh, unnoticeable at first glance, she nodded her readiness.

Eric proceeded outside.

The wind had picked up while they’d been inside. He inhaled the air in great breaths and smelled them immediately.

Wolves.

Cat stiffened, her gaze zeroing in on the alley across the street.

“We can’t fight them here. There are too many mortals around,” she said.

He started down the street, toward the morgue’s parking lot. She stayed at his side, occasionally glancing behind them.

He could smell the mangy beasts, moving behind the opposite buildings, matching their pace. Then the dark scent of vampires mixed with that of the wolves, coming from the same direction.

Chapter Twelve

“D
o you smell the vampires?” he asked quietly.

“Yes. I don’t recognize them.”

So, more foes, potentially.

As they reached the parking lot, Eric glanced around. Figuring it was safe enough, there weren’t any mortals nearby to become hysterical at the sight, he drew
BrynTröll
.

Part of him worried. While he’d gotten in some practice since waking, he hadn’t been in a real fight since before he’d been taken and tortured. His skills were bound to be rusty.

He glanced at Cat.

It didn’t matter. Above all, he must protect her.

The stench of the wolves grew overpowering. “If something happens, take the car and get out of here.”

“Absolutely not...” her words trailed off as they reached the SUV.

On the driver’s side, both the front and back door handles were wrapped in barbed wire glowing with a misty blue light.

“Magic,” he stated, furious.

Not just at whoever had done this, but at himself. He’d been so busy concentrating on lightening Cat’s mood, he hadn’t considered someone might try to prevent them from leaving.

His gaze fell on the dark building hulking above them, and he had to wonder if the doctor was responsible.

Argus and the Judge were the only two people who knew they were here.

Growls rose in the night air. Husky eyes, ice blue and devoid of emotion, approached from a nearby shadow.

“Check the passenger side,” he commanded, turning to face the immediate threat.

Cat hurried around the car. “They’re wired shut as well.”

“The back?”

She checked. “Yes.”

“Be careful, but break the window far from the wire and open it from inside.”

She did so, then came back to his side. He wanted to tell her to get into the safety of the car, but he didn’t know what the effects of the magic might be. Nor, by the stubborn expression on her face, would she listen.

From the gloom, shaggy shapes appeared. Three wolves, fur ranging from black to gray, approached stiff-legged.

Their eyes were strange, unfocused.

Behind them strode the Judge.

“What the...” Cat said, tensing.

The wolves spread out in a semi-circle, then stilled, waiting.

“What is this?” Eric demanded of the man facing them.

His brown eyes were wide with fright, but he straightened. “This must end here. I will not have the Council taking their fury out on my Pack. And
she
knows as well, now that the two of you showed up to my hotel.”

Before Eric could ask any questions, the Judge raised his hand and the wolves surged forward. The Judge shuddered as he shifted into a wolf of the darkest night.

Eric concentrated most of his attention on him. Take him down quick, the others would falter. The leader bared his fangs, a growl rumbling over the twenty feet between them.

“If you fight me, you will die,” Eric stated, his tone full of confidence he used to be able to fully feel. He slid a dirk from his boot, holding it in his free hand. Two weapons were always better than one in a close fight, and that’s what it would be against these dogs.

At his side, Cat raised her blade, standing straight and tall, her pose that of a warrior ready for battle.

A flush of warmth touched him, admiration for her courage.

The Judge padded toward them, eyes strangely dull and empty like the others, as if by changing into his animal form, he’d lost his humanity.

Strange.

Unnatural.

The scent of the vampires mingled with that of wet fur. Eric sensed them, could pinpoint about where they were. Friend or foe, he didn’t know. But they stayed back, as if not ready to join in the fight.

No, they’d wait. When an opening appeared to serve their purpose, then they’d strike, like a coiled snake waiting for a meal.

Tactics he himself had used many times.

He hated going into a fight with such blatant unknowns skulking about. And he despised himself being one of those unknowns. With a glance at Cat, he straightened taller.

He refused to falter. It wasn’t just duty anymore. Somehow, the woman beside him had touched a part of himself that had lain dormant since his torture.

She was waking him fully, bringing him out of the desperate, dark memories of the past, and into the present. Cutting the depression from his soul, as if it had not been all consuming.

As he stared at the approaching wolves, the world took on a shade of red. Power from his ancestors rushed through him, swelling his strength.

The stakes were too high to fail.

With a battle cry, he stepped toward the leader.

The black wolf howled, and as one, the pack surged forward.

Eric swung his axe, but the leader leapt out of the way. He slashed with his dirk. It bit into fur and flesh. A yelp and the scent of fresh blood rewarded him.

Another wolf jumped, slamming into Eric’s chest. Claws and teeth shredded clothes and skin. He raised an arm, shoving it against the wolf’s throat and flicked his thumb over a small button on the axe’s handle. A hidden metal spike slid out, nearly eight inches long.

He angled it into the wolf’s belly, driving it deep. The animal fell to the pavement, crumpling as blood pooled from the wound.

Behind him, Cat grunted. Another wolf yowled. The choking stench of burnt fur filled the air as it stumbled back into the shadows, whining pitifully.

Two down. Two to go.

They both concentrated on Eric as the biggest threat.

He didn’t waste time. Raising
BrynTröll
, he slammed the edge of one blade into a circling beast.

With a howl that set his teeth on edge, the Judge sank his fangs into Eric’s wrist.

In his crimson haze of rage, he barely felt it. He slashed his dirk at the wolf’s muzzle. It didn’t let go. Blankness shone from its inhuman blue eyes as if it didn’t feel the pain.

The wolf bit down harder until Eric’s bones ground together, close to breaking. He punched a dirk-laden fist into the beast’s belly. It didn’t make a sound as he ripped the blade up its chest.

Blood pattered over the ground, but the Judge still seemed to feel nothing. It jerked back, pulling Eric off balance.

They tumbled to the ground.

Eric rolled away, jumped to a crouch, axe between them.

Cat cried out, “Behind you.”

A second later the other wolf jumped onto his back.

Teeth sank into his shoulder. He roared, slamming the dagger at the wolf’s head.

The Judge took the opportunity to join the fray.

Before Eric could raise his axe, they were both on him.

The world turned redder, drenched with the haze of blood. Power flowed faster. His lagging strength replenished. With a roar, he rose, the wolves hanging from him like some sort of wildly twisting, growling fur coat. He flung them to the ground.

Letting his battle cry fill him, he roared, swinging his axe and decapitating one beast.

The Judge still showed no emotion.

It was uncanny. Creepy.

He stepped toward the black wolf. It shuddered as if it wanted to flee... but couldn’t. As if it were a puppet on a string, it jerked forward, snarling.

Then the Judge burst into flames.

Before Eric could react, Cat screamed.

He spun.

She was pinned to the ground. Four hooded figures, vamps by the smell, held her down. Two others stood above her, watching him.

Eric raised his axe and grinned with bloody intent. Vampires were trickier than wolves, but he was well versed in their devious ways.

He took a step forward, but one of the standing vamps raised an arm. The black cloth slid back, revealing a woman’s jeweled hand. “We are not here to fight.”
Yet
was implied, if unstated. “We simply wish to ask a few questions.”

Eric watched them, not stupid enough to relax. “Let her go,” he stated.

The woman shook her head, her hand disappearing once more beneath the black folds of her cloak. “Not yet, I don’t think. One such as her should be contained at all costs.” Her voice held a hint of admiration.

Eric didn’t understand what the woman meant, didn’t care at the moment.

He could see bleeding cuts and bites over Cat’s skin from her fight with the wolves. Her hair and clothes were spotted with crimson. He needed to ensure she was all right.

“Then we fight,” he told the woman.

“Warriors.” She sighed. “So impatient. Do you truly wish to have us as enemies, when there is... perhaps... a chance of being allies?”

“Allies? Yet you threaten my charge?”

“Is she? Yours to protect, and yet, something more perhaps?”

He stiffened, the woman reading way too much into him. “Release her or fight. I prefer not to stand around here gabbing while the wolves regroup and come back.”

The woman laughed, the sound raising the hair on his nape. “They won’t return for quite a while. The one behind these evil happenings does not have quite that much power.
Yet
.”

“Who?” he demanded.

“If I knew that, I would not be here.” The woman waved her hand. “But that is not what I wish to discuss.”

Impatient, he took a menacing step forward.

The woman waved at him and he froze. Magic! Containing him. “Let me free.”

“Ah. A chink in the armor. Methinks that anger is for far more than me. But I will not pry. Answer me this, warrior. What do you know of the happenings here?”

He remained silent, refusing to admit his ignorance.

“So I thought. I suggest you take your... charge, and leave the city. Dark magics are stirring. If you are not prepared, you will both die. She is being hunted. If she is captured, the balance will tip further to the other side. I can’t allow such to happen. I will not hesitate to destroy her first.”

His rage flooded back at the threat to Cat. With a roar, he inched forward.

The magical vampire gasped, trembled as he shoved against her power.

“Impressive.” She laughed, though it was strained. “Heed my warning, Viking. Get her gone from here before I come back and do it myself.”

Eric blinked.

The vampires disappeared.

He didn’t know if they’d vanished, or clouded his mind with sorcery long enough to escape. Either way, fear coursed through him at the power the woman wielded.

How could he beat such a thing?

A tiny voice whispered in his mind to flee. Not to even try battling one like her. To remember his past, and all that had happened when he’d tried to fight before.

Shaking it off, though it didn’t go far, he approached Cat.

She sat up, rubbing her wrists. “Where’d they go?”

“Magic,” he said simply.

“Lovely.”

“My sentiments match.”

She glanced at the black wolf, lying dead on the ground, his fur singed off in patches. “The Judge?”

“Aye.”

“Are we going to be in trouble for dispatching a member of the Council?”

“I’ll speak with Connor. He’ll understand.” Still chewing over the sorceress’s words, he finally asked, “What did the woman mean about you?”

Chapter Thirteen

B
efore Cat could respond, a muffled bang rang out in the alley where the wolves had come from.

She jumped to her feet, reaching Eric’s side. This close, she could see just how bloody he was from the wolves. The man had to be in so much pain, it was disconcerting he didn’t show it in any way.

She wrenched her gaze from his tightened jaw and wary eyes, back to the shadows. Something was still wrong. Then she felt it. A darkness was growing in the air, as if the night had come to life and was closing in on them.