Anger ripped through me, so fierce it charged the air. Below, vampires sniffed and stirred, and the ghosts readied to attack.
Calm. I needed to be calm if we were all going to get out of here alive. But it was a hard state to achieve when I was staring at the bloodied, swollen mouths of the three little ones. The youngest was barely four . . .
I briefly closed my eyes, fighting the sick fury as much as the fierce and sudden joy that Sal had died as slowly and as painfully as he had, then forced a smile and whispered, “I’m going to use a little magic and get you all out of here, but you have to do exactly what I say. Okay?”
Wide eyes stared back at me. I had no idea if they understood me or not. I took another, somewhat shuddery breath, which did little to erase the fury, then gently motioned the two littlest into my arms. They hesitated, then shuffled close enough that I could wrap my arms around them both. I glanced at the oldest of the three. “I’ll be back for you in a minute. Don’t make any noise.”
He nodded. I called to the darkness and let it wash through the three of us. Then I went back through the bars and dropped toward the exit tunnel, landing, rather ungainly, just beyond the ghosts guarding the tunnel. I re-formed us all, and then motioned the little ones to sit and wait. They nodded, eyes wide and somewhat glazed. I became darkness again and moved back out into the junction. Tension sung through the air and on the far outer reaches of the nest, vampires stirred and muttered, the guttural sound heavy in the silence. I spun upward and collected the third boy, but this time, when I re-formed, weakness hit and my stomach convulsed. I have no idea whether it was the stink of this place or sheer terror, but it was all I could do not to vomit. I glanced at the three children; wide, frightened eyes stared back at me. I forced a smile, held up a hand, signaling them to wait, then stepped back into darkness.
I was barely through the curtain of ghosts protecting the tunnel when the vampires finally became aware of our presence and all hell broke loose.
Their screeches and fury filled the air, but even in the bedlam of being torn from their slumber and attacked by the ghosts, they sensed my presence and surged en masse, their claws slashing at my particles even as others shifted to darkness and chased after me. But just as their energy began to lash around mine, the ghosts hit them, flinging them away and freeing me. I slipped into the second cage and found flesh. But there was no time to comfort these two, and no time to explain what was about to happen. I simply grabbed them, pulled them into my arms, and tore us all into darkness.
Ghosts rose to escort me into the tunnel. Vampires flung themselves at us, only to be sharply tossed back into the screaming, pulsating mound of flesh and fury. One of them hit the effigy of bones, and the whole structure cracked and began to tumble. The vampires screamed in despair and rose as one, forming a huge black wave that hit us hard, scattering the ghosts and sending me tumbling. I splattered against a sidewall and saw stars, but the surging mass had not finished yet. They hit me again, the force of the blow so strong that my particles were forced apart, until all that separated me from an inglorious death was the merest of threads. Somehow, I gathered myself together and shot forward, heading for the tunnel and praying to Rhea that the ghosts could hold them off long enough for me to re-form and get the children out of there.
Shots ricocheted across the darkness as the ghosts began to use the weapons. The scent of blood bloomed thick and heavy in the air, but the vampires didn’t stop to feed on their fallen. They were too busy trying to get me, to kill me.
I shot past the barrier of ghosts and became flesh again. But I was going too fast, and I hit the ground hard. I curled my body around the little ones to protect them as best I could as we tumbled several yards past the other three.
When we finally stopped, I released my grip on them and pushed upright. The tunnel spun around me, and my knees briefly buckled, threatening to send me crashing back down again. I swore and reached back to grab my one and only flare. I lit it and tossed it toward the tunnel entrance. The flickering light revealed a growing wall of twisted, angry flesh, and no matter how many times the ghosts shattered that wall, it just kept rebuilding and growing.
We had to get out of there.
I glanced at the first three I’d rescued and made a come-here motion. They stared at me and didn’t move. I can’t say I blamed them, given I hadn’t really done much more than fling them from the frying pan into the fire, but we couldn’t remain here. I had no idea how long the ghosts could hold out against the black tide battering them, but it was very evident time was the one luxury we didn’t have much of.
“We need to move before the vampires can reach us,” I said softly. The two slightly older children I’d just rescued climbed to their feet and pressed against me. A small hand touched mine. I wrapped my fingers around hers and glanced down, giving her a quick, bright smile that felt every inch as false as it was. “It’ll be okay,” I whispered. “We just have to move. Just wait here while I get the others, okay?”
She nodded solemnly. I released her hand, then ran over to where three of them still sat. “Up we get.” I caught the hands of the oldest two and hauled them upright, then squatted in front of the remaining little girl. “Can you climb onto my back and hang on really, really tight?”
After a moment, she nodded. I swung around and she climbed onto my back, her grip so fierce around my neck she would have choked me had she been any stronger. I clasped the hands of the others, then said to the remaining two, “Okay, keep close; grab my shirt if you have to. There’s light up ahead, but we need to run through this darkness for a little bit.”
They nodded solemnly; one of them grabbed my shirttails, but the oldest boy simply waited beside me. There was no fear in any of them; they were just all wide eyes and solemn faces. Maybe they’d seen so much they simply couldn’t fear anymore. But Penny had also showed little in the way of fear or situational awareness. Maybe it had something to do with Sal’s tests. Or maybe it was simply shock.
We went as fast as the little ones could, but it was slow, so damn slow. It brought back memories of the bunker, of the death I’d tried to outrun then, and the uselessness of the effort.
No. This time, I wouldn’t fail.
This time, I would save the children.
Behind us, the flare died, and the ghosts gave way. The tide was after us. I resisted the urge to go faster; to do so would risk losing the boy who clung to the back of my shirt. The ghosts weren’t done y
et. There were still weapons firing, and that meant there was still hope.
Then awareness surged—several vampires had gotten past the re-formed line of ghosts and were approaching fast. I didn’t stop, simply shifted the little girl’s grip from my hand to my shirt, then pulled the rifle free and fired randomly over my shoulder. One vampire went down, its guttural howl abruptly cut off; the other, however, was still very much in action.
The oldest boy reached up, snapped the second rifle free, then spun and shot. The vampire went down with a scream. The boy looked at me, and there was dark satisfaction in his eyes.
“Good shot,” I said. “Now let’s run even faster.”
We did. Up ahead, light began to twinkle—the tubing offering a distant line of hope. The children saw it, and their speed increased. Behind us, the wall of ghosts broke again, and again the vampires surged after us. Their hate and desperation were so fierce they were wind that battered our bodies and nipped at our heels. I fired over my shoulder until the rifle clicked over to empty, then swiftly hooked it onto my belt, grabbed one of the smaller guns, and kept on firing. Vampires went down, but more came after us.
We hit the light; hope surged fierce and fast, but we were hardly out of the woods yet. The tide was still behind us, and I had no idea how long the light tube would hold them off. But given their actions in the Broken Mountains’ bunker earlier tonight, I wouldn’t have been surprised if a few sacrificed themselves for the safety of the greater nest.
I stopped. Five wide gazes immediately met mine. “I need you all to run ahead while I stop the vampires behind us. Follow the light tubing—it’ll lead you into the sunlight and an old riverbank. Wait for me there.”
They nodded solemnly. The oldest of them held out the modified rifle he’d used. I hesitated and then shook my head. “You keep it, just in case one of them gets past me. It won’t,” I hastily added, to reassure the younger ones. “But it’s always better to be safe. Go. And keep together.”
They went. But their small silhouettes had barely disappeared around the tunnel’s gentle curve when the vampires surged into the light. As they began to burn, I grabbed another weapon and fired—not at those who were becoming ash but at those who flung themselves at the light. As the bodies began to mount up and the stink of ash and flesh stained the air and churned my stomach, the ghosts reappeared, forming a somewhat ragged line in front of me. Less than half of them were left, and I had no idea whether the others had been killed or were merely depleted of energy and unable to help. Those who remained, however, radiated a fierce and utter joy. They were doing what they’d been bred to do, and they didn’t care about depletion or even death.