Kyle tripped and fell and because he had her wrist, she went down with him.
She took the opportunity to catch her breath. But it was gonna take a while.
“Okay, alright, we’re here. Kyle. Talk to me.”
Kyle was completely winded, gasping for air.
“There’s water in your pocket. Drink some. Give me the other.”
He reached for his pocket but was frenzied. She knew he’d been running on pure adrenalin, Sasha’s directions, and little else. She knew how powerful a vamp’s directions could be on someone. She could see how affected Kyle was from that long sprint and knew that he’d have kept going if they hadn’t gotten to the mouth. He’d have kept going until he dropped.
They both drank their water and caught their breath.
“Wh-what n-now?” Kyle breathed, “Another adventure with you this soon?” He looked amused. His smile died when he took in her expression.
Kyla let out a winded huff, unable to see the humour. He had no idea why they were at the mouth of a tunnel, no idea why he probably felt like he was gonna die from exhaustion.
She explained their predicament, heart beating wildly, struggling to regain normal breath.
“I gotta whiz, sis. Hang on.” He stepped outside the tunnel and around the corner.
And then she heard noise. The area they were in was fairly thick but she was pretty sure that there were people close by. That wasn’t Tristan already. It couldn’t be.
She heard a noise that couldn’t be all that far away. Men talking?
“Get back in here, Kyle!” she whisper-shouted.
He was back.
“Shh!” She pulled his arm back inside, grabbed the flash light off the ground and turned it off, and then passed him a gun and they backed up a few feet.
“Do you know how to use that?” she whispered.
“Totally. I’m a gamer,” he said.
She rolled her eyes at that but hopefully it was the truth. They stayed in the dark, a few feet back in the tunnel, but Kyla watched.
She heard footsteps. At least two people, maybe more.
Oh God, what? What now?“I smell it; do you smell it?” she heard a man’s voice.
She didn’t know what he was talking about. She only hoped he couldn’t smell them. Kyle put his arm around her in a comforting way. She leaned in.
“I’m bleeding,” he whispered, “my leg’s bleeding.”
Oh shit.
“Point the gun at the tunnel entrance,” she whispered, “They get close, we shoot. Aim for their heads.”
Kyla had never shot a real gun in her life. Those elephant tranquilizer guns at close range didn’t seem like they’d count.
Light flashed directly in her face. She squinted.
“They’re here! Both of them.”
She heard a male voice and knew she didn’t know it so Kyla aimed high and pulled the trigger.
Kyle pulled his, too.
They both clearly missed doing anything significant because she heard a cuss and then the light got bigger as one of them whooshed into her space, grabbing her by the throat.
Kyla reached into her pocket, got her dagger, and jabbed him in the side. He went down. Kyla turned the flashlight on. Another one was there, flashlight in their faces and Kyle pulled the trigger and shot him in the face. He went down.
She heard a whole bunch of shouts. There were a bunch of people outside.
“Oh shit,”
She grabbed her dagger out of the guy on the ground. They were blocked in.
“Let’s run back,” Kyle said, grabbing her wrist, it was the hand she was holding the gun with.
“We ran for forever. It’s one straight path. They’ll catch us. Better to run out shooting and have more than one direction to run.”
The mouth of the tunnel had been closed in on. They had no choice. He started to sprint for the way they’d come and Kyla felt sick inside because she knew that there was no way in hell that they would be able to run faster than vampires and get anywhere.
“Stop!” she told him and pulled out of his grasp. He grabbed for her arm again. He had no idea what that tunnel had been like, being on autopilot running through it. She had to make him listen.
Cold shot out of her and she struggled free and shoved him.
Kyle went flying back and landed on his ass, dropping the flashlight, which made it light the way toward the mouth of the tunnel that was now filled with at least half a dozen men.
Kyla blocked Kyle, held the dagger in one hand, the gun in the other.
Two big lights flashed on them and then pointed at the ground, lighting the space. A man stood there smiling.
Kyla didn’t know who he was.
“The Kelly twins, I assume? I’m Brandt Brooks. Not sure if you’ve heard of me.”
“No,” Kyla said, knowing he was vampire.
He’d be a beautiful vampire, too, if he wasn’t so fucking weasly. She knew he was a sick-headed individual just by looking at him.