This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)

More documents

Recommendations

Info

$Fsagamocdo testebi me-4 kurselTaTvis pediatriaSi \\\\ razea yvelaze ...$

$\\\\ gulmkerdis romeli fascia uqmnis kafsulas sarZeve jirkvals ...$

“I think you should get more people.” “How many are there?” Bones asked him. “At least four score,” Fabian replied. “They’re having a rally in about an hour.” “Is Apollyon still there?” I pressed. Fabian nodded. “You could capture him afterward, once the others leave.” Bones exchanged a glance with me. Or Apollyon could leave with the other ghouls. Then we’d need to have the ghosts hunt him for us all over again. “The bulk of the ghouls—do they look like visitors for the rally, or guards?” Bones asked, tapping his chin. Fabian looked confused. “How would I tell?” “You can tell by how many of them are armed,” Vlad said, with pointed emphasis on the last word. “Ah.” Fabian’s brow smoothed. “A few of them had large weapons with bullets that crisscrossed around their torsos.” I made a mental note to familiarize Fabian with modern artillery so he’d be able to give better descriptions. “Machine guns?” I asked, miming holding one and making a series of rapid staccato noises. Bones’s mouth twitched, but he dipped his head so I wouldn’t see his clear amusement over my “GI Jane does Pictionary” imitation. “Yes, those,” Fabian said. “Some of the other people could have knives on them, but those were the only weapons I could see.” Vlad let out a snort. “I didn’t come this far to run now.” I felt the same way. Still, I had to assume the machine guns were armed with silver bullets and at least some of the ghouls would have silver knives. Most of them might not be armed, but eight to one was still eight to one. “Mencheres, use your power to keep any humans from getting hurt. One side of the cemetery borders a business district, and I can’t have Tate send troops to block it off because that would tip Apollyon to our presence. So keeping people out of the way is your top priority.” “As opposed to restraining Apollyon?” he asked, polite disagreement in his tone. I met his charcoal gaze. “If you rip his head off, that looks very impressive for you, but it won’t do me much good. You guys keep telling me if I don’t smack people down hard enough when they come after me, then more will follow. Well, I’m the one Apollyon used as a scapegoat all this time, so I’m the one who has to take him down.” Silence met this pronouncement. I braced for arguments, especially from Bones, so I was surprised when he coolly nodded his head. “Don’t use your power to restrain the other ghouls, either,” Bones stated. “We’ll take them in a match of strength on strength.” I looked around at the occupants of the van. In addition to Mencheres, Kira, Vlad, Spade, Denise, Ed, and Scratch, we’d picked up a few new additions in recent days. Bones’s sire, Ian, grinned at the prospect. Gorgon, Mencheres’s old friend, just shrugged, and the blond Law Guardian, Veritas, who was as old as Mencheres even though she looked like Barbie doll’s younger sister, only appeared bored by the topic. No one voiced a word of objection. Eleven vampires and a shapeshifter against whatever Apollyon had at that complex. That might not sound like good odds, but I knew how deadly this bunch was. Also, if we gathered too many vampires together, we ran the risk of Apollyon getting tipped off. “All right.” I gave everyone a steady, unblinking glance. “Apollyon wants a war? He’s going to get one, but not between our two species. It’ll be between his best and our best.” Bones met my gaze, dark brown eyes glinting with green. “We go in an hour,” he stated, the promise of violence caressing each word. “Gives the rest of them time to arrive.” And all of them being there meant less chance of any ghouls stumbling across the fight and then summoning backup for Apollyon. I smiled at Bones, feeling the mixture of anticipation and purpose that always filled me before a fight. “I can’t wait to crash the party.” His answering smile was edged with the same lethal expectancy. “Neither can I, Kitten.” The sharp wind made me squint as I stared down at the cemetery Bones flew us over. The majority was only lit up by residual illumination around the perimeter gates, with two exceptions. One was the funeral home. Exterior lights shone on the LASTING PEACE sign out front, emphasizing the
somber yet elegant design of the two-story building. The other area that had lights was on the edge of the southern burial plats, bordering against the unplowed acres set aside for future graves. I looked down at the small, illuminated platform, one ghoul standing in between the two portable floodlights, and couldn’t bite back my scoff. Apollyon didn’t have those lights set up on either side of him so his followers could get a good view of him gesturing emphatically during his rhetoric about how Cain was really a ghoul and vampires originally derived from flesh-eaters instead of the other way around. Ghouls could see in the dark. How arrogant did Apollyon have to be, to insist on being lit up like a rock star during what was supposed to be a secret undead rally? And was that an Armani suit he had on? In my boringly functional, all-black leotard with multiple weapon holsters, I was clearly underdressed for this shindig. Bones abruptly tilted us downward and all thoughts of clothing left my mind. Fabian was right; a crowd of around sixty gathered in a loose diamond-shaped formation, listening to Apollyon with rapt attention, while about two dozen guards armed with machine guns roamed around the assembly. We’d also seen about four or five guards near the main entrance of the cemetery, but I wasn’t worried about them. Mencheres would handle them, and Denise and Kira would make sure no latecomers showed up. I gripped my two katana swords as Bones bulleted us toward the thickest cluster of armed guards. Goal number one was to take out the guns before the guns took us out. I had a split second to enjoy the look of shock on the guards’ faces as either Bones’s power level preceded us, or they saw a big dark form hurtling right for them. And then we plowed into them with a tremendous crash. The impact was like smashing into a group of trees, except these trees shouted and fought back. I hacked away with my two swords before even coming to a stop, knowing Bones had already rolled to the side to stay well clear of my blades. Limbs and heads separated underneath my ferocious slices as I used the shorter swords like extensions of my arms, swinging away at anyone in front of me no matter if they were armed or not. If they were here, then they were on Apollyon’s side, which meant they’d kill me if they could. More gunfire and shouts let me know that the rest of our welcoming party had landed. As much as I wanted to look around and check on Bones, I didn’t, keeping my attention on hacking my way to the ghouls who were now spraying the crowd in an effort to take out the intruders. Flashes of white-hot pain arced into my side, making me roll in defense even as I continued to swing my blades at anyone unlucky enough to be near me. Dammit. I’d been hit. All the tumbling made my hair come loose from its bun. Dark strands interrupted my vision as I rolled to avoid another barrage of bullets, seeing the grass explode in mini pops where I’d just been. Acting on instinct, I flung my sword, hearing a scream before I jumped up, my side still burning, to see a ghoul fall backward clawing at his face, my sword hilt where his nose used to be. I ignored the pain and vaulted forward, tackling him before he could raise the gun again. A hard swipe across his neck and he wasn’t moving anymore. Another swipe took out the trigger on the gun. No need leaving it functional so a bystander could pick it up and start shooting away. Pain exploded in my neck in the next instant, blood filling my mouth. I grabbed the dead ghoul, using his body as a shield, coughing even though I didn’t breathe. That searing matched the pain in my side, but it faded quicker, and the red on my clothes let me know what happened. I’d been shot in the throat. Somehow, that pissed me off more than the bullets still burning their way deeper into my side. I kept ahold of the corpse, balancing his body in front of me as I charged at the ghoul who continued to fire at me. Those bullets struck his fallen comrade instead, and I had time to let out a savage snarl before I threw the body on him, knocking him over. I followed immediately with my sword, slicing through the arm he raised in defense and then his neck, putting all my pain and anger behind the blow. His head rolled a foot away from his body. I didn’t stop to celebrate but swung around. Just in time, too. A duo of ghouls bored down on me, one shooting, one holding out a knife. I had time to fling myself upward, making the bullets intended for me hit empty air instead, before I landed behind them. My sword ripped through both their necks with the momentum from my jump, blood splattering me as they fell, headless, to the ground. “Kitten!” My head jerked up just in time to see a flash of silver above me. I flung myself down, the sword that had been about to cleave through my neck catching me in the side of the head instead. At once, my vision went red and agony exploded in my skull. Every inner impulse screamed at me to hunch defensively and clutch my wound, but the part of me that remembered all the brutal training Bones put me through knew to strike out instead. I swung my blade where I’d last glimpsed the ghoul’s legs, putting all my strength into the blow. I was rewarded by a scream and a thump, something heavy landing on me. The blood in my vision made it hard to make out specifics, but I kept swinging, knowing from each new scream that I was hitting my mark even if I couldn’t see what that mark was. Sizzling pain erupting along my back had me arching in reflex and redoubling my efforts. The ghoul wasn’t done fighting yet. After several rapid blinks, my gaze cleared enough to see him. His arm was missing. So were his legs at the calves, but he had a silver knife that he kept stabbing into my back, seeking my heart. Instead of rolling away from him, I lunged forward, head-butting him with all my fury. He jerked back in a dazed way, but the sudden stars in my vision and urge to throw up let me know that my head injury wasn’t done healing yet. With pain crashing through my skull and my side throbbing like I had heat-seeking missiles doing the tango in my guts, I brought my sword down toward his neck. He kicked me with his stumps at the same time, knocking my aim off. Instead of cleaving through his neck, my sword buried deep in his shoulder. I tugged but it wouldn’t come free. The ghoul let out something like a snarl and a laugh. “Missed me,” he chortled viciously, raising his gun. My other arm whipped forward and the ghoul’s laugh died in his throat. He fired, but the bullets went wild, probably because he now had two
Page 2 and 3:
This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene
Page 4 and 5:
“We were only supposed to meet wi
Page 6 and 7:
“I have got to stop drinking your
Page 8 and 9:
The lack of disarray in the apartme
Page 10 and 11:
Scratch ran a hand through his gray
Page 12 and 13:
“That just leaves one more thing,
Page 14 and 15:
are correct.” Everything in me te
Page 16 and 17:
“Querida,” he murmured, opening
Page 18 and 19:
Chapter Six Don sat on the bed, an
Page 20 and 21:
Sometimes the old-fashioned way was
Page 22 and 23:
“I’m really sorry about what ha
Page 24 and 25:
of my hand. He’d really gone all
Page 26 and 27:
finding out from his roommate where
Page 28 and 29:
ground them into powder to make cer
Page 30 and 31:
His mouth slid up to mine again, ki
Page 32 and 33:
had my ass been so thoroughly kisse
Page 34 and 35:
I gave a pointed look at the less-t
Page 36 and 37:
We’d gone up about ten floors whe
Page 38 and 39:
“Bones. Cat.” A sardonic smile
Page 40 and 41:
“Told you helmets were safer,”
Page 42 and 43: The barest smile flittered across B
Page 44 and 45: husband with a fireball.” My answ
Page 46 and 47: matter. All I knew was that the man
Page 48 and 49: during that time, it had somehow be
Page 50 and 51: holding cell in West Virginia. He c
Page 52 and 53: And being so close, they could hear
Page 54 and 55: “Don’t fret, Kitten,” Bones s
Page 56 and 57: I let out a small snort. “I don
Page 58 and 59: The word was almost harsh in its ve
Page 60 and 61: Bones’s shout before a deep spasm
Page 62 and 63: many varied flavors of barbecue in
Page 64 and 65: sounds of it. Then the casual, geni
Page 66 and 67: them and changes them. They make go
Page 68 and 69: arms around him, reveling in the st
Page 70 and 71: he wanted to deliver in person. “
Page 72 and 73: Dave glanced at his watch. “I got
Page 74 and 75: into battle all those centuries ago
Page 76 and 77: Still the Remnants slithered over V
Page 78 and 79: This as Vlad continued to laugh the
Page 80 and 81: “Actually, Reaper, the thought of
Page 82 and 83: egimented, impeccable grooming habi
Page 84 and 85: “Actually this won’t be a relig
Page 86 and 87: I rubbed my hands together, bleakly
Page 88 and 89: Now it was Kira who cleared her thr
Page 90 and 91: compared to the city. Still, I wasn
Page 94 and 95: silver knives in his eye sockets. H
Page 96 and 97: Veritas straightened to her full fi
Page 98 and 99: “Hail to our queen!” one of the
show all

This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?