I didn’t focus on that, however. I kept hammering away with my knives, hearing another fight break out. The other vampires. I finally got a deep enough slant on the knife under me to have the vampire go limp, and I gave the blade a final twist.
I got up to the horrified gaze of children and parents alike, but there was no time to explain that Chucky wasn’t Chucky, but his evil twin instead. The blond vampire came roaring across the room to me, almost kicking people big and small out of his way. I reached for another knife, found I had only a few left, and went toward him as well. I couldn’t risk throwing my knives at him—if he ducked, whoever was behind him would get hit. No, this would have to be a brawl. My eyes blazed green. Come on, Blondie, let’s see what you’ve got.
Seeing my eyes glow made him falter, but only for a moment. In my peripheral vision, I could see Belinda wrestling with the dark-haired vampire. We hadn’t given her any weapons, for obvious reasons, but it was a relief to see her fighting for us instead of against us.
Behind the blond vampire, the last one appeared. He snarled and started toward me, too. Then his gaze flickered to the door.
“Oh shit,” I heard him say right before he turned and ran behind the stage.
I didn’t have to turn to know what had scared him; I could feel Bones enter the place. But the other vampire hit me at the same time, so I couldn’t enjoy the view of that one tucking tail and running.
“You take him, I’ve got Blondie,” I called out, avoiding a set of fangs aimed for my throat.
“I’ll get the sod,” Bones growled, disappearing behind the large, fuzzy, robotic figures that still sang and joked among themselves on the stage.
“Let’s move it outside, people!” I ordered in between receiving and giving brutal blows. Fast, before any parents or kids became hostages.
A quick glance showed Belinda roughly handling the dark-haired vampire, moving him outside by almost bear-hugging him. She seemed to be speaking to him, too, but with all this racket, damned if I knew what she was saying.
A hard swipe brought my attention back to the blond vampire in front of me. Just a little farther, I chanted in my mind. I don’t want to kill you, too, in front of dozens of children. They’ll have nightmares as it is.
When he was in front of the hole in the window left by the video game, I charged him, ducking low to avoid his mouth. We spilled out the window into the parking lot, pounding each other on the asphalt. I only had a couple knives left on me, not expecting losing so many of them to Chucky’s thick hide. I had to make sure I chose my moment.
“Mommy, make them stop,” a child wailed, and I cursed inwardly. This was the worst setting for a vampire takedown. From the sounds of it, the guys were having a hard enough time keeping the parents and kids from fleeing to the parking lot in a panic, which would compound the problem even more. Dave barked out orders to have the dark-haired vampire Belinda had wrestled out secured in the capsule. Smart. He’d be no threat there, and we could cart him off and stake him at our leisure later.
I was ducking to avoid a roundhouse punch that would have snapped my neck when I saw Belinda, no longer restraining the other vampire, suddenly seize Zachary, a newer recruit, and bury her fangs into his throat.
“Tate, stop her!” I screamed, helpless to do anything as Belinda gave a jerk and Zachary fell back, clutching his neck with red streaming between his fingers. Then Belinda ran.
I heard gunshots, cursing, and the scrambling of feet as several of the team rushed over.
“Hostile on the loose, secure the perimeter!” Cooper shouted.
I gave the vampire in front of me a grimly cold stare. “I don’t have time for this,” I growled, and charged him, knocking both of us over. His fists pummeled me, but I didn’t defend myself. I took the battering, holding his mouth away from my throat with one hand and ramming my knife into his heart with the other. Three rough scissors of that blade and he was dead the permanent way.
I crawled off him. My ribs hurt tremendously, but I didn’t cradle my aching sides like I wanted to. A scuffle to my left made me whip my head around, just in time to see the dark-haired vampire who had been about to be pronged in the capsule fling the two soldiers nearest him to the ground. Most of the team who weren’t guarding the exits had gone after Belinda, except for the ones kneeling by Zachary. This vampire had taken full advantage of their distraction.
Dave leapt for him, but the vampire ducked under, slid like a macabre penguin on his belly, and then took off at a flat run.
I sprinted forward, following the sounds from Tate and Cooper as they chased after Belinda. But being human, there was no way they could catch her.