More vampires exited Dana’s bedroom as two more raced out of the guest bedroom.
“Really?” Heather said, the word rife with exasperation. She nodded to Dana. “You get the two at the end of the hallway. I’ll take these clowns.”
Dana raised her 9mm but hesitated as Heather and the vampires she fought leapt into preternatural motion.
All were a blur. What if she hit Heather by mistake?
I’ll keep to the right, Heather told her telepathically.
Surprised by the woman’s voice in her head, Dana moved to the left and started firing.
She ran out of bullets before she could drop the vampires.
Ducking back into the bathroom, she ejected the empty magazine and slammed the full one home. Backing away, she advanced the first bullet into the chamber and aimed at the doorway.
A blur filled it and solidified into the form of a vampire.
Dana fired three times, hitting him in the head, the carotid, and his chest, inches away from his heart.
Eyes widening, the vampire raised a hand to the blood gushing from his neck and staggered backward.
Another vampire filled the doorway.
This one didn’t slow until Dana shot him four times in the chest. He was only a few feet away when she shot him in the head and the neck. And he still reached for her, spewing curses and blood as he dropped to his knees, then finally pitched forward.
Her heart slammed against her rib cage.
That had been close.
Aidan spoke in her head. I wouldn’t have let him reach you, sweetheart.
The vampire on the floor breathed his last breath.
You just concentrate on what you’re doing down there, Dana thought back to Aidan, and make sure your head stays on your shoulders.
Dana inched past the dead vampire.
The flesh of the vampire’s exposed arm began to shrivel up as though he were being mummified.
Creepy.
More grunts and thuds filled the hallway.
“Okay,” Heather growled, “now you’re starting to piss me off.”
Dana saw the tranq gun Aidan had given her on the counter beside the sink. She had been so rattled earlier that she didn’t even remember placing it there.
Grabbing it, she tucked it in the waistband of her shorts and poked her head out into the hallway.
Heather was surrounded by vampires.
Don’t do it, Aidan said.
Ignoring him, Dana yelled, “Hey, numbnuts!”
The blur of motion ceased.
Half a dozen vampires stopped battling Heather and looked at Dana.
Heather laughed. “Looks like they all answer to that. Next time see if they’ll answer to dumbass.” Swinging her short swords, she opened the arteries of the two vampires closest to her.
Two of the remaining vampires darted in Dana’s direction.
Ducking back into the bathroom, she backed toward the far wall and aimed her 9mm at the doorway.
As soon as it darkened, she fired three bullets. The first vampire stopped, grimacing in pain as he pressed a hand to the holes in his chest. Dana fired again and ended up hitting the vampire behind him as the first dodged to the side.
Both snarled in anger.
Dana fired multiple times until a click warned her she’d emptied her last magazine, but she’d hit enough arteries for the first vampire to drop.
The second vampire kept coming, stumbling over the bodies of his friends.
Oh crap.
Aidan appeared behind the vampire, yanked the man’s head back, and slit his throat. “Call me if you need me, damn it,” he grumbled, then vanished again.
Dana pulled the tranq gun. She didn’t even bother to leave the bathroom this time. When Heather’s grunts and curses reached her ears, Dana just yelled, “Hey, dumbass! In here!”
Sure enough, a vampire filled the doorway. “You’re the human,” he sneered. “This is gonna be fun.”
Dana fired the tranq gun.
The vamp looked down at the dart sticking out of his chest and started to smile. Then his knees buckled. A look of surprise crossed his face as his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor atop his friends.
A blurred form appeared in the doorway.
Dana fired again.
Heather ducked the dart, then stilled and held up her weapons. “It’s okay. It’s just me.” Remaining in the doorway, she looked this way and that. “I think that’s all of them up here.”
By the sound of things, Aidan and Ethan had nearly defeated the vampires below. At least Dana hoped that was what the dwindling noise indicated.
Heather casually leaned one shoulder against the doorframe. Her clothing was torn in several places, revealing jagged wounds. She had a nasty gash on one arm. Her face, neck, and pale arms were splotched and smeared with blood. “So,” she said, giving Dana a friendly smile, “you like Aidan?”
Dana stared at her. Really? There are three dead vampires shriveling up at my feet. A fourth is passed out on top of them. A dozen or so more are lying dead in the hallway. I’m still breathing hard and trying to get my hands to stop shaking. And she wants to engage in a little girl talk?
Aidan appeared in the hallway just behind Heather and frowned down at the female immortal. “Don’t be impertinent.”
Grinning unrepentantly, she looked beyond him as Ethan appeared. “All done?”
Ethan nodded. “You okay? Any wounds?”
Heather wrinkled her nose. “A few. They hurt like hell, but I’m trying to be tough like you guys and not let it show.”
Ethan frowned. “It isn’t that we’re tough, honey. We’ve just had more time to get used to it.”
Aidan raked his gaze over Dana. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
He looked as though he would’ve hugged her if his clothes weren’t saturated with blood.
“Are you okay?” she countered.
He nodded and turned to Heather. “Where are you injured?”
Setting her weapons on the counter beside the sink, she pulled her right sleeve up over her shoulder to expose the deep gash in her arm.
Aidan added his slick weapons to the countertop, then curled his hands around Heather’s biceps.
As Dana watched, the wound on Heather’s arm closed and healed.
Aidan did the same with additional wounds on her side, then on the back of her thigh. “Ethan?” he said when he was finished.
Ethan shook his head. “I’m good.”
“You’re favoring your right side and your breath is short.”
“It’s just some broken ribs. I’ll be fine.”
“No,” Aidan said. “I owe you.” Grabbing Ethan by the left shoulder, he held him still and rested a hand on Ethan’s right side.
After a minute, Ethan drew in a deep breath. The tension in his face eased. “Thank you.”
Aidan nodded, then healed a deep slash in Ethan’s back. Another on his arm.
Dana watched it all in awe as her hands finally stopped shaking.
Aidan frowned and nudged Ethan’s chin up. Yet another slash scored his jawline. “What did he do, try to decapitate you and miss?”
Ethan laughed. “I think so.”
Shaking his head, Aidan covered Ethan’s jaw with one hand.
Seconds later, a deep cut opened along Aidan’s jawline.
Dana gasped and took a step forward.
Ethan swore and slapped Aidan’s hand away. “You didn’t tell me you were low on—”