One vampire went down, but Marcus was bleeding heavily already from his earlier wounds as well as the new one on his neck. He didn’t know if they were winning. It certainly didn’t feel like it. Adrenaline and fear were the only things keeping the pain at bay, but he felt like he was slowing down. Each movement growing more sluggish.
A new roar made his tired heart skip. He glanced up to see Aiden and Winter standing in the open doorway. They jumped into the fray, taking on the last of their attackers. Marcus stumbled away from the fight, his feet sliding in the blood and gore that covered the hardwood. He ran as fast as he could to the kitchen where he saw Bel kick away the corpse of a shredded vampire. His brother was covered in blood and his breathing was heavy. There were fresh cuts across his chest and a bullet wound in his thigh.
“Mother? Ethan?” Marcus shouted.
Bel pointed toward the half-hidden staircase as he leaned heavily against the center island. “Two vamps followed. I…I couldn’t stop them all,” Bel panted.
“No!” Aiden gasped from behind Marcus. He hadn’t even realized that his sire had followed him. “Julianna!” he roared, his deep voice echoing through the house a second before he charged up the stairs.
Marcus inwardly cringed. The sound of Aiden’s voice was likely to send her straight into an episode, putting Ethan’s life in even more danger. Or it would do nothing because she was already dead.
Clenching his teeth, Marcus pulled together the last of his strength and rushed after Aiden. He prayed there was a third option he wasn’t thinking of.
Ethan gripped the narrow wooden handrail with sweaty palms and pulled himself up the stairs as fast as he could, following on Julianna’s heels. The woman had tightly held his hand as she guided him easily through Marcus’s house to the kitchen. But as they reached it, the back door was kicked open. Without hesitation, she pivoted and turned them up the back stairs.
Voices shouted and among them, Ethan thought he heard Bel’s strong, angry voice. Ethan shouted at him to watch out before disappearing up the stairs. They had just reached the second floor when a new set of feet pounded up the wooden stairs, chasing after them. He prayed that Bel was okay as he and Julianna rushed hand in hand to the next set of stairs, continuing up to the third and now the final narrow stairs to the attic. There was nowhere else to go. His only hope was for them to barricade themselves in the attic and call 9-1-1 on his cell phone.
His heart pounded in his chest and his legs burned from climbing so many stairs so quickly. He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he needed to get back to Marcus. Ethan didn’t have a weapon, and he was pretty sure he didn’t stand a damn chance against a bunch of assholes with machine guns, but he was not leaving Marcus. He’d find a way to help him, but first he had to get Julianna somewhere she’d be safe.
At the top of the stairs, Julianna threw open the door and held it back for Ethan to run through. As he stepped into the attic, he turned around in time to see her flash him a sad smile before she stepped out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her.
“No!” Ethan screamed, lunging for the door. It took him a couple of steps to reach it, but he was already too late. Grasping the doorknob, he pulled but the door wouldn’t budge. He didn’t know if she jammed something in the door or what, but he couldn’t get out.
“No! Julianna! No! You can’t do this! You have to let me help you!” he shouted desperately at her.
“It’s too dangerous for you,” Julianna said, her voice muffled through the door. “You have to stay safe for my Marcus. He needs you.”
“No!” Tears streamed down his face. “He needs you too. Julianna!” He clamped his teeth together and tried to hold his breath, straining to hear her through the door. After a moment, he heard a thump and then another of her footsteps on the bottom stairs. He banged his hand against the door and paced away from it, eyes desperately searching the room for something he could use to break out.
The attic had been completely boxed up, and most of the boxes had been moved down to the third floor where they were placed in a bedroom close to the elevator. His hope had been that it would speed up the move, but it had left him without a damn thing to use.
Fuck! She couldn’t leave him alone like this. Marcus needed him to keep his mother safe. He couldn’t let Marcus lose his mother the same way he lost his own. She wouldn’t be stolen away.