chapter 35
The two vans in front of the building were empty and unlocked. One of them still carried Rose’s scent and in the other Quinn could still smell Blake.
“We’re at the right place,” he confirmed to his colleagues, then gave the address to Cain and Eddie who were on the other end of the phone, on their way back from the Lyon’s steps. “Get here as fast as you can.”
Then he quickly assessed the situation and motioned to his friends. “Zane, Oliver, you’ll take the front door, then take the second floor. Wesley, Amaury, check if you can break a window on the other side and gain access that way. You’ll secure the first floor. Thomas, you’ll come with me. We’ll take the fire escape to the top. Once your floors are secure, work your way up.”
As everybody nodded and dispersed, Quinn rushed down the little alley next to the house. He’d seen the fire escape from the street. It wouldn’t take much to get up there.
As they reached it, Thomas put his hands together providing a step. “I’ll catapult you up.”
Quinn put his foot into Thomas’s palms and jumped, reaching his arms over his head. His fingers grabbed the fire escape, and he pulled it down, landing back on the ground.
“Let’s go.”
As fast as they could, they rushed upstairs, heading for the third floor. The window at the top provided no barrier. Quinn pushed it up and stepped through it, landing in a corridor. Behind him, Thomas squeezed through it and joined him.
Quinn’s sensitive hearing picked up sounds from downstairs: music and people talking. Then he concentrated on the sounds on this floor, his ears perking up when he heard a loud thud.
“This way!” he ordered Thomas and ran along the corridor, past the many doors until he reached a double door.
He pressed his ear against it. Taking a deep breath, he recognized Rose’s scent instantly.
“In there,” he whispered, looking over his shoulder.
He watched as Thomas drew his gun and nodded. “Ready when you are.”
Quinn pulled a stake from his pocket and held it tightly in his right palm.
On a nod, he turned the door knob and jerked the door open, bursting into the room. His eyes instantly took in the situation: two vampires were restraining Rose while two others were fighting against a struggling female—an Asian vampire. Quinn could only assume that she was a friend of Rose’s.
Thomas fired his gun, felling one of the vampires fighting the Asian woman as Quinn rushed to help Rose. From the corner of his eye, he saw the bastard combust, then disintegrate into dust as a result of the silver bullet Thomas had planted in him.
At the sound of the gunshot, the heads of the other vampires snapped toward them. One of Rose’s attackers released her and launched himself at Quinn, but he was prepared and struck him with a hard blow to his head, sending him reeling for a short moment before he caught himself.
As his opponent dealt an equally severe punch, Quinn shot back with an uppercut to his chin, then kicked his leg into the jerk’s knees. He toppled over, but before Quinn could deliver the deathblow, he was alerted to activity behind him.
He whirled around quickly, and as it turned out, just in time: two hostile vampires crowded into the room. Behind them he heard footsteps on the stairs. He could only hope those were Scanguards’ men.
As he attacked one of the vampires and Thomas lunged for the other, he saw two women reach the door. They were barefoot and dressed in skimpy outfits.
Their shocked screams added to the fighting noises and curses that now filled the room.
“No!!!!” Rose suddenly screamed.
Momentarily distracted, Quinn turned his head, just as more men stormed the room. He kicked his opponent to the ground and ran for Rose. Keegan—and he had to assume it was he from his determined look—had her in a chokehold and dragged her toward another door. As he pulled it open, Quinn reached him.
When Keegan saw him, he pulled a stake from his jacket and held it at Rose’s chest.
“You come any closer and I’ll kill her.”
Quinn stopped in his tracks.
“Got you, bastard,” he heard Amaury’s voice from the door. Good, his friends were here. But it didn’t solve his immediate problem.
The screams of the human women intensified, and from their direction, Quinn knew they’d entered the room and were now in the middle of the battle.
“Eat that!” came Zane’s triumphant growl.
Rose’s eyes stared at him, silently begging him to help her. But he knew that Keegan would be faster. There had to be another way to free her from his hold.
“Kasper!” Thomas’s stunned voice suddenly drowned out everything else.
Keegan’s head spun toward the sound, then his eyes widened in shock. “Thomas,” he murmured as if he’d seen a ghost.
It was impossible. Thomas flung his opponent against the door with so much force that it left a large crack in the lath-n-plaster, and stared at Kasper. Thomas hadn’t seen his sire in almost ten decades. But the vampire restraining Rose was clearly the man whose blood he carried in his veins. The vampire he’d divorced himself from, because he didn’t want to be part of what he represented.
Thomas stalked closer.
“Let her go!” he commanded, knowing at the same time that Kasper, or Keegan as he called himself now, didn’t believe in orders unless they came from him.
“You’re once again fighting on the wrong side, Thomas.”
His sire’s eyes were mocking him, trying as so many times before to plant doubts in him. But Thomas had long ago stopped doubting his choices.
“You’re wrong, as always. I’ve chosen the right side.”
Keegan intensified the chokehold around Rose’s neck, making her gasp. Instinctively, her hands came up, digging her claws into his skin, but Keegan didn’t even flinch.
Quinn stood only a few feet from them, his face one of anguish, ready to attack despite the hopeless situation. He would never reach Rose in time to save her from Keegan’s stake.
“What’s it gonna be, Thomas? Are you joining me, or would you rather perish with your friends?”
“You leave me no choice.” And he hated his sire for what he was about to do, because he’d sworn never to use his skill to kill.
When he locked eyes with Keegan, he realized that his maker understood what he meant to do. A flicker of apprehension crossed his face, and he heard his opponent’s heartbeat spike for an instant before it returned to normal.
“Very well, son, so you think you’re better than I?” He let out an evil laugh. “Maybe you would be if you hadn’t left and abandoned the gift I’ve given you.”
“Gift?” Thomas hissed. “It’s no gift to carry evil in your blood.”
Thomas allowed his mind to calm, preparing himself for the battle ahead of him, the outcome of which was by no means determined. Keegan was right: he hadn’t honed his skill in all those years, and using it now was a risk.
Collecting all his energy, feeling the warmth as it settled in his center, Thomas focused on his enemy, then sent his first thought to him.
Drop the stake!
A faint trembling of Keegan’s hand was the answer. Then his laughter.
“Is that all you’ve got? Haven’t I taught you any better?”
Anger and hate surged, forming a ball in his stomach. With a shout he sent it toward Keegan, aiming at the hand that held the stake. The invisible burst hit Keegan.
“Now!” Thomas screamed at Quinn, hoping his friend would get the idea and act. Giving any more detailed instructions would destroy his concentration and make him lose the little control he’d just gained.
As he saw Quinn move toward Keegan, Thomas sent another blast of his mind’s thoughts to him.
Release Rose. Drop the stake.
He noticed how Keegan’s jaw clamped shut as he tried to fight the invasion.
Quinn’s kicked his foot high, catapulting the stake from Keegan’s hand in the next instant. Simultaneously Rose pushed her elbow into his ribs.
With a curse, Keegan kicked his knee into her back, pushing her to the ground. Then his eyes glared at Thomas. “Your mind or mine. Only one can survive.”
Lifting his hands in a dramatic gesture, his body seemed to harden. His fangs elongated, his fingers turned into sharp claws, and his eyes glowed red.
The first invasion stabbed him like a silver knife, sending a burning sensation through his entire body. Thomas cried out in pain. Then Keegan’s thoughts entered his mind, pushing through the protective walls around his brain, searching for weak spots to annihilate first.
Thomas pushed back, collecting his own energy to combat his sire. He concentrated on the hate and disgust he felt for his maker and hurled it toward him, using those emotions to enter Keegan’s mind and create devastation there. Drawing on every ounce of energy his body possessed, he reached for his opponent’s mind, trying to crush it like a mouse beneath an elephant’s foot.
But Keegan was strong and his mind a minefield, a booby trapped maze. Whenever Thomas felt he was gaining ground, he was catapulted back, the shockwave blasting him back, robbing him of more energy by the second.
Thomas noticed Keegan draining of energy too. They were equally strong, and equally determined to see this to the end. Only one would emerge alive.
Quinn reached for Rose, helping her to her feet, pulling her away from Thomas and Keegan.
Locked in a deadly fight, there were few outward signs of it. The air in the room crackled. From time to time, tiny bolts of lightning traveled between the two, as if two electrically charged bodies fought against each other.
“Oh, God!” Rose said. “Keegan is using mind control on Thomas. We have to help him.”
Quinn pulled his silver knife from its sheath. He might be a lousy shot, but his knife always found its target. It wouldn’t kill Keegan instantly, but a well-placed knife wound would disable him sufficiently so he could finish him off with a stake. As he aimed at Keegan, he flicked his wrist, sending the deadly instrument toward him. But Keegan’s head turned suddenly, and a blast of energy struck the knife, reversing its path. He’d never seen anything like it before.
“Shit!”
Quinn jumped, grabbed Rose and sent them both tumbling to the floor, covering her with his body.
Breathing hard, Rose stared at him, stunned. “How are we gonna help him now?”
Before he could answer, a scream coming from outside, made Quinn jerk up.
He exchanged a brief look with Rose.
“Blake!” they said in unison.