Jesus.
I counted to ten and slid down the rock formation, throwing vials ahead of me. The heat from the fire burning the vampires licked along my skin, but didn’t last long enough to burn. Not looking at what I was hitting, I shot my water gun as quickly as I could with my left hand, and kept pushing forward as I threw the vials. When they hit the vamps, they burst into flames. It spread to the surrounding vampires within two seconds and then burnt out.
Throw. One. Two. Step.
Throw. One. Two. Step.
Throw. One. Two. Step.
The sounds of the battle grew behind me, making my stomach knot. I wanted to look back and see if Dastien was okay, but there wasn’t time. He’d do his job, and I’d do mine. Our only shot of surviving was to keep moving forward.
It seemed like forever before we reached the mouth of the cavern, but we did.
I didn’t know how many vampires were in the tunnels. If there were hundreds more, we were going to be totally screwed. I could see a good thirty up ahead. I reached for another vial and felt only a handful left.
Sweat rolled down my hairline. I threw another vial into them and used the sudden vampire torches to peek behind us. The light didn’t reach far back into the cavern. It looked more like a stormy sea threatening to swallow us whole than individual monsters.
Shannon backed into me before throwing herself at the horde that still gathered behind us. There was no way to separate them from the cave walls until they moved.
This was bad. Really bad.
I threw my last vial and grabbed the other water gun from my back pocket. “Run!” I charged into the vampires blocking our way through the tunnels, dousing them with holy water as I ran. The blessed water wasn’t as effective as whatever was in the vials. They took longer to spark, but burned for longer.
Flames licked my skin as I pushed forward, but I would heal. Teeth sank into my arm and I screamed.
Dastien leapt. His teeth sunk into its neck, and the head severed—spurting black goo all over me.
Holy shit. That was gross.
Another clawed down my side, and then I couldn’t think anymore.
I moved in a flurry of action.
Run. Fight. Get out. Those were my only thoughts.
I don’t know how I made it, but finally we hit the outside. I was bleeding from vampire scratches and the bite on my forearm burned wickedly.
“Wait!” Meredith screamed.
I spun to her. Were we not all out? I thought we were all out!
She pulled out the three blue vials from her back pocket, and tossed them into the entrance. She said something in French that I didn’t understand.
The fire roared, knocking me back.
“What the hell was that?”
Meredith squatted a little and rested her arms on her thighs. “Just a little spell. You needed it. To activate the blue ones,” she said between gasps. “I was saving it. In case we got out.”
“In case we got out? In case we got OUT! Why the hell didn’t you use it in there? We could’ve fucking DIED!” She was nuts. I was going to kill her for that.
“Calm yourself,” Donovan said from behind me.
I would not turn around. I would not turn around. I didn’t need to see Donovan’s manly bits.
“You shouldn’t stare, Meredith. It isn’t polite,” Donovan said.
Meredith blushed, but only glanced away for a second before her eyes were drawn back to him.
Shit. Now I wanted to turn around.
“We need to keep moving, ladies. As much as I’d love to sit back and have a pint, there’s something else we need to take care of.”
Forgetting that Donovan was naked, I started to turn around. Dastien nipped my hand. “Hey. I do believe the biting portion of our relationship is over.” When I finished turning, Donovan was a wolf again. “Great. Now I can’t ask him what he’s talking about.”
My arm was throbbing, but I ignored it. Dr. Gonzales had said vampire bites were bad, but it would have to wait. Donovan was right. We had things to take care of.
I tried to remember where the car was. This was so not the way we came in, and now it was totally dark. Finding Dastien was easier. I couldn’t exactly link with my Tiguan. “Anyone have an idea where we parked?”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
After some debating and growling from the furry members of the group, we finally found our way back to my car. I had a brief moment of panic when I remembered that I hadn’t locked it, and then relaxed. It was on a random dirt road in nowhere Texas.
My hands were shaking as we piled in. I folded down the back seats so the wolves could stretch out. “Alrighty then. I have no idea where I’m supposed to go.”
Donovan—a black and brown speckled wolf—stuck his nose over the center console.
“I don’t speak wolf. Meredith?”
“Dude. It’s not like Twilight up in here. We can’t read minds.”
We shared a “we’re stupid” look, and then I placed my hand on Donovan’s head.