I jumped to my feet, watching in amazement as the skin regrew on my limb, knitting back together like a scene from a science fiction movie.
The new blood coursing in me made me feel wilder, less human. Considering the amounts I'd no doubt lost, I was probably running on a sixty-forty mixture favoring the undead cells.
"Come on, soldier," I said. "We have things to kill."
Without a backward glance I ran up the stairs and back toward the fierce sounds of battle.
The vampires were clustered around the hall in front of the landing like an undead gauntlet. Every shrieking, unholy thing that tried to gnaw their way through them was set upon by all sides. It was holding so far, but one look told me the grim truth. This barricade wouldn't last long enough. More and more creatures kept coming.
I sprinted forward to join the fray when I collided with Annette. She was wide-eyed and frantic, almost not seeing me as she rushed to smash a figurine against the wall. When nothing happened but broken glass, she gave a raw cry of despair and turned to seek out more objects.
"Annette!" I had to shake her to get her to focus on me. "Where are Tick Tock and Zero?"
She gestured in no general direction. "Tick Tock is on the other side of the house, Zero went to Anubus to attempt to beat the answer out of him, but I saw six of those...things follow after him, they've broken in! I heard Zero scream, and then I went this way. Oh, Cat, I can't find it, I can't find it!"
Whatit was didn't require asking. This place was coming apart at the seams.
"Just keep at it, Annette, we'll find whatever it is. We'll hold them off-"
She shoved me. "You don't understand. It's on the news! Graves emptying, rumors of things crawling from them...all headed in this direction. We're in an isolated area, but not that isolated. Don't you see? Patra doesn't need all of them to kill us; very soon she'll know exactly where we are, because all the zombies are a sign pointing the way!"
Shit! Didn't it ever stop? So our situation had upgraded from awful to doomed. Surprisingly, I was more angry than anything else. That bitch didn't deserve to win. We might not be innocents, but she was far worse on many levels.
There was noise behind me, coming from the basement. Screams, God, more screams. And the sounds of crumbling structure.This is it, the realization came to me.The end. No, I couldn't stop it, but I could choose how to meet it.
With renewed determination, I held out my sword. "You keep looking, Annette, no matter what. I'll keep killing. If that bitch wants us, she can come and get us."
"To the lower rooms, mates, move!" a shout ordered. Two dozen members of what was left of our forces began to fall back. I fought my way forward, seeing Bones and Mencheres at the end of the retreating line covering the exit. Both of them spun and slashed in a dizzying display of violence that made them seem like they'd been transformed into machines. I'd always guessed that Mencheres, once stripped of his polite manners, would be frighteningly lethal. I wasn't wrong. He looked like a living nightmare.
Vlad grabbed me, forcing me backward. His hands felt hot, not cold like they should have from the freezing outside temperatures.
"Come along, they'll join us soon," he barked, propelling me with his body.
"No, I'm going up there!" I yelled, trying to wrest away.
"He's the co-leader of his line so he's where he should be," was his reply. "But you're coming with me."
His fist landed a solid whack to the top of my head. Amid the wash of sudden stars, I ducked under his arm and lurched forward, brought up short by his hold on my hair.
All at once, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Vlad pulled me back, my feet slid out from under me, and faintly, above all the other noise, I heard a vindictive, satisfied laugh.
I saw six of those things follow after him, they've broken in!Annette had said.And I heard him scream...
She'd been talking about Zero, who was on his way to Anubus's cell. But while no one had seen or heard from Zero since, it was Anubus who was chuckling maliciously now. Anubus. Unharmed though he was chained to a wall with half a dozen ravenous creatures within chomping distance. How was that possible? Only one way I could think of.
"Vlad, do you have to be touching someone to burn them?"
The question startled him so much he quit manhandling me. "I have to have touched them before, and it takes longer, since it's difficult to burn someone I'm not holding."
"Difficult," I breathed. "But not impossible?"
"No, not impossible, why?"
"It's Anubus." I raised my voice because the adrenaline began to surge. "Patra's object isn't an object at all. Don't you get it? He's the ultimate Trojan horse, and Bones nearly got killed delivering him! She meant to finish Bones off in the ambush-and then the rest of us later, since we carted Anubus back home with us. Patra knew we wouldn't kill him, who offs their most valuable hostage?"
Vlad started to smile. He released me and spread out his hands, holding them over his head. All around us chaos reigned.
"He's too far away for me to reach him before I'd be cut down, but let's see if I can save the day."
"Go on," I replied, whirling to clear the area around him. "Impress me."
His hands began to glow, not red, but blue. They lit the hall with an eerie navy-violet light. Sparks flew off his hands, showering my hair as I continued to slash at the oncoming zombies.
Someone screamed, high-pitched and agonizing. I threw a heartless grin at Vlad as I recognized the voice.
"You've got his attention, Drac."
"He's strong," Vlad replied in a strained tone. His hands were now completely engulfed in flames. "And must I remind you once more what my name is?"
"You arrogant..." thrust though the stomach of a snapping zombie, twisting and using all my strength to cleave him in half "...overpublicized..." wasn't going to work, it clawed at the blade, and my God, these things were tough, "...showy old bat..." Crack! There went my head into the wall. If I didn't have a split skull, I'd be amazed. "What are you waiting for? Aren't you the king of all bogeymen? The legend children fear will devour them if they don't behave?"
Two more zombies slipped past Bones and Mencheres, who were now almost back-to-back trying to stave them off.
"Come on, Vlad, live up to your reputation! If you can't burn to deathone Egyptian vampire chained to a wall, how did you ever drive the Turks from Romania?"
There was a loud reverberating snap, like an electric transformer had blown, and then in midleap, the charging zombies fell to the floor. Out of the suddenly still forms, dirt began to appear, covering them, eroding over the creature's bodies, until nothing but piles of earth remained.Out of the ground they were called, I thought,and back they went.