Chapter 454
Just as the Vampire was closing in, Dax launched himself off of the lowest rung of the amphitheater and stabbed it in the back. He started sawing through the monster’s neck and eventually brought it down before turning to Brandon. “We need to get you out of here.”
“I can’t walk.” Brandon gestured at his shattered leg.
“That’s all right. I can carry you,” Dax insisted. He didn’t give Brandon a chance to respond before he leaned down to pick him up, but the second Dax moved Brandon’s leg, he screamed, and Dax had to set him back down. My nails dug into my palms.
“Sorry. It’s not gonna work. If Heather can block Holland, we should be able to mow them down.”
“She doesn’t know how to do that,” Dax replied.
“That’s okay. She can do it.”
“Why not just ask Cass?” The gunfire was getting closer, and it was hard for me to hear Dax, but I figured out what he’d said.
I answered them both. “I’m trying, but it’s hard when I don’t know where Holland is, and I’m not with you. I’m pretty far away, too. I’ll keep working at it.” I went back to my previous mindset of trying to envision that shield, but I knew pretty quickly it wasn’t going to work. I hadn’t had the opportunity to help Paul in Melbourne because I’d been out after my second dose of serum or else maybe I’d be better at it now. I could get it up, but I couldn’t get it to stick. It was like it was moving in space as quickly as I was.
There were altercations all around them now, everywhere Brandon looked, and it seemed as if the Vampires were breaking away from their assailants, moving closer to Brandon before they’d encounter another obstacle, which they would eventually also break away from.
“Dax, you should go. Take Heather and head toward Lex.”
I thought that was an awful idea. Luckily, Dax agreed. “Yeah, I’m gonna leave you sitting here. Don’t be stupid.”
“It’s not like they can kill me,” Brandon countered. I was about to say something, but Dax seemed to have it handled.
“True, but they can sure have fun trying to shove that bone back into your leg. Besides, if they happen to cart you off, I’m pretty sure your girlfriend will kill me. And I think she can do that. I’m not going anywhere without you.” I was thankful that Brandon had such a good friend with him. Whatever emotional mess Dax had been inside of the portal, he seemed to have himself together now.
Behind Brandon, a horrific scream filled the air. He turned to see a Vampire sinking its teeth into a Hunter’s neck. Dax shot at it, knocking it off of the woman, but she was in pretty bad shape. “We need a Healer!” Brandon screamed at Lex through his IAC.
“I only have two, and they’re both busy patching up Hunters.” Lex’s tone conveyed he assumed the request was for Brandon’s leg. He was busy himself, tied up with a couple of monsters.
“One of your Hunters just lost her jugular,” Brandon explained. “If you don’t get a Healer in here, she’s not gonna make it.”
Dax was engaged again, and Heather had run over to the woman, trying her best to stop the bleeding. I could tell by the way she was concentrating, kneeling there on the ground, that she was also trying to throw the shield. Her hands were pressed to the woman’s neck, and another team member came over to try to protect them. I prayed the woman on the ground would make it and that Heather would figure out how to put up the shield before there were more casualties.
Brandon’s attention was pulled away from the girl, and my stomach lurched into my throat as I took in the scene before him. A large Vampire with a bald head and muscles the size of wrecking balls for shoulders was bearing down on him, a nightmarish grin on his twisted face. From his expression, it was obvious he was looking at Brandon as some sort of a treasure, and this guy didn’t look like the losing type.
Brandon’s Glock lit up the small space between them, but it wasn’t going to be enough, not without the shield. “Heather! Come on now, you can do it!” he shouted as the goon drew even closer.
Dax was busy with another Vampire or two and wasn’t going to be able to help at all. With the brute bearing down on him, and his bullets doing nothing, Brandon could only sit there, an easy target for the savage to scoop up.
I covered my mouth for a completely different reason now as I watched the thug carrying Brandon away. His leg got crunched again, and he screamed. I had tears in my eyes. Someone needed to do something! The monster flung him up over his shoulder and was strolling unimpeded to the nearest exit.
I could see that Dax was headed that way now. Brandon shouted for Heather, probably wishing she would go ahead and throw that shield so maybe he could fight the guy off. When another Vampire came behind them to stave off any other attackers, hollering and shouting like he was about to get some sort of reward for his find, I felt my insides beginning to crumble. All of that work to get out of the portal just to be kidnapped by Vampires?
Dax got hung up again, but he managed to throw a knife. It landed between the shoulder blades of the bloodsucker carrying Brandon, but he didn’t even flinch, like if a gnat landed on his back. Somehow, Brandon managed to pull his arm free just enough to grab the hilt, and then he began to stab his captor again and again.
I heard a rumbling noise through his IAC and realized the Vampire was laughing. He seemed to think it was just a little tickle. But then, on the fourth or fifth jab, his disposition changed, and he started to groan in pain. Brandon dragged the knife down as far as he could reach and pulled it back up again. I wasn’t sure what was happening, why it suddenly hurt now, why there was ash pouring from the wounds that previously had looked completely benign, but it was evident Brandon had the upper hand.
