Chapter 116

The Vampire Queen wasn’t too far down the hall from where Jo was headed. She could feel the power rolling off of the bloodsucker, causing her stomach to twist into knots and her trigger finger to itch. It would take more than a few bullets to kill Holland, though.
She had a few tools that might be able to help her, but nothing that was likely to completely take the bitch out of commission. All she could do was hope that her aunt got there in time, and that when she did, she was strong enough to take Holland out this time.
Heather was also on her way, but the other Hybrid was farther away. She’d been in one of the hallways that didn’t connect and had had to go back and loop around. She’d be there in a few minutes, but if Jo kept going at her current speed, she’d be there first with no back up.
Out of habit, she checked to see where the closest Healer was. Unfortunately, the closest one to her was Scott, not his dad, and he was still pretty far off.
Elliott was also in the hallway, working his way toward the door. Since he couldn’t die, thanks to the Blue Moon Portal, he would be helpful to have at her side, but he wasn’t as fast as her dad or Cassidy, due to his girth.
No, she was going to have to do this alone and hope for the best until she got help, and even then….
It didn’t matter. She’d have to figure it out.
Up ahead of her on the left, there was an opening. It wasn’t quite the end of the hallway, but it was close. Jo could see a faint red light glowing from inside the space, as if Holland was announcing her presence with her signature color.
Jo grabbed the two remaining silver nitrate grenades she had in her utility belt and pulled the pins on each with her teeth before she lobbed them both into the room. If there were other Vampires in the room, they might be taken out by Christian’s invention, but she knew that Holland was too powerful for something like that to hurt her.
There were a few shouts and screams once the grenades exploded. Jo used the distraction as an opportunity to duck inside and start shooting. The smoke was dissipating already, since it was mostly silver nitrate that came out of the little bombs, not any other type of explosives. On the ground, she saw a few piles of ash that indicated her diversion had been somewhat successful, but there were still several creatures of various states of undead in the room.
Including Holland herself.
The Vampire Queen was in the back of the room, looking rather small and unimportant at the moment, her red hair slicked back and off of her shoulders. Jo couldn’t concentrate on her initially because as soon as she entered the room, a barrage of gunfire came flying at her. She moved fast enough to dodge out of the way, but it was clear that the Vampires with Holland were more skilled than the average.
She had to move quickly. The one closest to her got a palm to his nose before she shoved her knife into his throat. She picked him up and used him as a club to knock the next bastard over, but then, a blast of energy came at her from the back of the room. So the bitch wasn’t just going to stand there after all.
Jo ducked down so that the blast went over her head, but she knew Holland wouldn’t miss twice. Quickly reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the weird bracelets Christian had made right before she was born. She’d never used them before, but she’d heard they would deflect blasts if used correctly.
Here's to hoping she knew what that meant.
She’d just gotten one on when Holland tried again. Leaving the Vampire with the knife in his throat on the ground and the other one whom she’d knocked to the ground to attempt to recover, she lifted her hand and deflected the blast from Holland. It careened into the cave wall and knocked some pieces of rock down on the other side of the cavern.
Holland looked confused, as if she’d never seen these bracelets before. While the Queen was distracted, Jo ended the two Vampires she’d been fighting. She noted that a few of the other beings in the room were Hunters just like her--Assassin Hunters. She’d need some of Lucas’s people to help with that, although titanium bullets would allow a Guardian or Hunter to kill them. It would be easier with the Souleds, though. Killing Hunters was what they were made for.
Lucas himself was nearly there. She hoped he got there before any Guardians showed up.
The thought had just formed in her mind as her father stepped through the door, opening fire on everyone but her. Jo used the distraction to slip between some of the Vampires, trying to get closer to Holland, but she was stopped by a large Vampire with an evil grin on his face, his fangs protruding like a walrus.
She didn’t have her knife anymore, having failed to pick it up off of the ground when she’d used it to kill that other asshole, so she had to do something else. The gun wasn’t going to do her any good, so she tried kicking him in the stomach. He caught her ankle and started to twist her leg. Rather than letting him hurt her, she used the movement to her advantage and brought her other leg around to hit him in the face with her boot.
His head cracked backward, and he let go of her ankle. Jo quickly kneed him between the legs, and when his head came back down, she head-butted him, knocking him flat on the ground just in time for Holland to send another blast of energy her way.
She almost didn’t get the bracelet up in time, but she caught it at the last second and sent the energy flying up into the ceiling. The rocks that came down this time were a bit heavier, and one of them caught her in the shoulder, but it only stung for a second.
A quick glance around the room told her that her dad was still alive--that was something. He was fighting his way through a row of Vamps and Assassins. She had to remember that she was going after the queen and not get distracted by how fast he was. Damn, if she’d only taken after him a little more.
Holland was clearly not happy with the way Jo kept sending her balls of light flying all over the room. Her gray eyes were glaring at the Hunter as they stood across the room from one another, about fifty feet apart. The number of bodies between Jo and her target was quickly shrinking.
And more help had just about arrived.
Maybe she had a chance at taking Holland out after all.
Holland lifted her hand again, and Jo got ready to block the blast. But this time, it wasn’t a blast of energy. It was something else… something smaller… something darker… and it wasn’t aimed at her.
Whatever Holland had shot was going the other direction, across the room.
Headed directly for the Guardian Leader.