Chapter 393
Elliott was still lying where he’d fallen, which was actually a good thing. If the Vampires intended to take him away somewhere to conduct experiments on him, they hadn’t tried to move him yet. I bent down next to him, seeing the spent syringe now. I was certain we were alone and used both my IAC and telepathy to shout at him. “Elliott! Wake up!”
I must’ve shouted it a dozen times as I shook him. He was out of it, that was for sure. So, I decided there was only one thing I could do to get him where he needed to be. I put myself back on the floor and lifted him up off of it, rotating him so that he appeared to be standing.
He cracked one eye and looked at me, confused. “I thought I told you to stay put.”
“I’m not known for listening or following directions,” I replied with a shrug. He was in no position to argue with me. Across the building, I heard a gunshot. We were running out of time. I floated his Glock into his hand and strapped his Beretta back on him.
Elliott managed to glance down at his gun. “If only I could move it.”
“Tell you what, I’ll move you, and you put everything you’ve got into aiming that gun, okay? I’m pretty sure the stuff in your DNA that won’t let you die can combat whatever was in that syringe. You just gotta want it.” I had no idea if what I was saying made any sense scientifically or not, but I saw him actually nod his head, so I was satisfied that this might work. I could kill Sam myself, and I would if I had to, but it would be so much more gratifying to see Elliott kill the guy who’d killed him.
“You sound like a fitness commercial,” Elliott muttered. “All right. Let’s go.”
I smiled and we started moving in the direction I thought would take us to Sam and Meagan. They were together now. I could see them through my IAC. Apparently, she is not good at finding hiding places. Sam had her by the neck, and Brandon was pointing his Glock at the Vampire, but Sam was still trying to negotiate for some reason.
“Cass, I’m on my way,” Jamie said in my head. “Be careful.”
“Always am,” I replied. He knew better. To Elliott, I said, “Jamie’s less than a minute out.”
He said nothing, and then we rounded the corner and were part of the main attraction. Meagan was pulling down on Sam’s arm, tears in her eyes, but I could tell she felt helpless. I had no idea what Sam was hesitating for. I supposed he thought no one would kill him so long as he had Meagan there, but he hadn’t given a second thought about shooting her last time.
“Well, if it isn’t Dr. Sanderson,” Sam said as we stopped inside the doorway. “Is this a case of ‘physician, heal thyself’ or what?” I don’t know if he thought he was being funny or something, but he wasn’t. I realized then that Meagan was bleeding. So maybe he had shot her. Or scratched her or something. She looked like a pin cushion without any pins there were so many holes in her.
When Elliott actually spoke, I was stunned. I could tell he was still out of it. Otherwise, he’d probably be standing in front of me to shield me instead of off to the side. “You think this is some sort of a sadistic game, Sam? Pretty sure I owe you a bullet to the head.” The fact that he was only pointing his gun because I was holding it up for him wasn’t something Sam needed to know.
“I know I can’t kill you again,” Sam said to Elliott. “But it’s a shame you managed to get up. Maybe I can kill her.”
Before Elliott or Brandon realized what Sam was doing, he turned the gun toward me and fired a single bullet in my direction. I could see both of the Guardian’s eyes bulge. They’d been so distracted, they hadn’t even been thinking about me standing here exposed. I didn’t think Sam could kill me, so I wasn’t too concerned about it. And then, I was also pretty sure his bullet would never reach me anyway.
I caught it in the air, two feet away, as Elliott tried to move in front of me. He froze, staring at it in disbelief. I let it drop to the floor unspent. “That all you got?” I asked, folding my arms and cocking my head to the side like some sort of gangsta.
Sam’s confusion crinkled his face. It was the perfect opportunity for Elliott to come back to life and shoot him. The bullet hit low in Sam’s gut, right underneath the arm he had used to shoot me. Meagan threw an elbow and then kicked him, hard, before she flung herself at Brandon, who caught her and started moving her out of harm’s way.
Cowboy Sam fired multiple times in Meagan’s direction, but I caught every bullet and let them fall to the ground like confetti. They tinkled as they rolled along the wood and disappeared through cracks in the floorboards.
Sam seemed to realize I was far too powerful to mess with. He took off running, abandoning his plan to kill Meagan. At the same time, Elliott regained the ability to walk on his own, and I set him down as he followed after the man who’d recently sent him to oblivion. A trail of smoke and ashes followed the Vampire from the gunshot wound in his abdomen.
Meagan jumped at the sound of hurried footsteps approaching, and Brandon steadied her. A look of relief washed over her as Jamie hit her with a beam of blue, healing light as soon as he entered the room. It was pretty cool to see his energy stretch out across the room and heal her before he even touched her.
“Stay here, Cass,” Jamie said to me, taking a few steps in the same direction that Elliott had run off to.
“No, wait,” Meagan said, still steadying herself against Brandon’s arm. “Let me go.”
