Chapter 301
Katelina's eyes moved to the gate where Verchiel had been, but all that remained was the corpse of one of Malick's lackeys with a hole in his chest. She scanned the bedlam to see a flash of the redhead near Hikaru. The Japanese vampire had a cut on one cheek and his arm bled freely as his super-fast opponent attacked again and again. Suddenly, Hikaru was knocked to the ground and a ringing clash echoed off the trees; Verchiel and the other wind walker stood, weapons locked. The enemy spun away and seemed to disappear, and so did Verchiel. Katelina had momentary glimpses of them as they ranged over the battlefield, weapons clanging.
Meanwhile, Maeko had grabbed her pack and swung up to the roof where she crouched, her pink gun blazing. Her reload was lightning fast, and shiny shell casings landed in the snow around the building. Katelina wondered how many bullets she had with her, and if they were even worth firing.
Micah was back on his feet from his tussle with Senya. Though he lunged for the vampiress, a second attacker flung him into one of the stone statues. The rock shattered and Micah tumbled past it to land in a heap. He pulled himself to his feet and shook his head, like a dog shaking snow from his coat, and then charged his assailant. The vampire, obviously another wind walker, disappeared a moment before impact, and left Micah stumbling.
The metal box had fallen from Jorick's grasp and was nearly lost in the churned snow. Katelina slunk to the edge of the porch, planning to scoop it up, when Greneth had the same idea. He twisted loose from Jorick, grabbed the box, and flung it with a cry. It barely left his fingers before Jorick tackled him to the ground, but the damage was done. The wind walker who'd fought Micah materialized long enough to catch the box and then disappeared again. Verchiel kicked his opponent in the leg and took off, following the runaway.
Katelina stared after them, her heart in her throat and her mouth open. After everything they'd gone through, after all the precautions Jorick had taken, that was it? No! It couldn't be! It couldn't end like that! Malick couldn't get it!
Jorick roared his fury and slammed his fist into Greneth's chest. Blood splattered over the pair of them as he ripped Greneth's heart from his chest. The grisly glob was shiny in the moonlight and Greneth screamed as Jorick tore it with his teeth and then threw it to the ground and smashed it with his fist.
Senya howled and threw herself at Jorick. She lashed at his face, his arms, his chest, but most of her blows missed. Jorick gave her an uppercut to the ribs that sent her reeling. She fell back, breathing hard, and her cold eyes skipped over the melee.
Katelina glanced around quickly. Griselda had recovered. The wound in her forehead had quit bleeding, and she seemed as good as new. She planted her feet and raised her guns to the porch. The first barrage hit high and Katelina covered her head as splinters of wood rained down around her.
The shooting came to an abrupt stop and Katelina looked up to see Griselda on the ground with Micah on top of her. Her guns were out of reach, and he mercilessly snapped her right arm. He grabbed her left but, before he could finish it, the wind walker with the metal arm piece appeared and kicked him with enough force to send him sprawling. Micah rolled into Hikaru and they tumbled into a tangle of limbs and curse words.
A chunk of the broken statue whizzed through the air, a missile controlled by Sadihra. It only missed the wind walker by inches. He disappeared and Sadihra turned her attention to the vampire with the throwing stars. It seemed he'd figured out that throwing them only gave her more missiles to hurl back. He tried to use them as a close -range weapon, hacking at her with the sharp edges. She jammed an elbow into his ribs, brought her knee up into his groin and kicked his knee out from under him. He crashed to the ground and his projectile weapons scattered from his coat and landed in the snow around him. Katelina saw the horror dawn on his face a second before the blades lifted into the air and flew into him.
Kai tossed Sorino a reloaded gun and started on the empty one. Sorino fired into one of the vampires at point blank range. The sound ripped through Katelina's tortured ears, and she flung her hands up to protect them. The vampire stumbled backwards, a smoking trench ripped across his chest. He lifted his arm and then pitched face first into the snow. Blood poured from the wound, black in the moonlight. Katelina could see what looked like chunky bits of organs oozing out around the hole and the pockmarks of other bullet wounds on his sprawled arms and legs.
Senya gave a loud, ear-piercing call that sounded like jumbled nonsense words. Griselda, on her feet again, her right arm hanging limply and her gun in her good hand, drew back. Her eyes skipped to Greneth's ruined body and sorrow flickered across her face. Then her features hardened in rage and she lunged forward. Senya caught her and pulled her back. "We already have what we wanted. Let Ronnell finish them."
Griselda raised her gun and fired at Jorick. After the first few shots, there was only the echoing click of an empty gun. She swore loudly and jammed the empty weapon in a holster at her side.
Micah and Hikaru regained their footing and charged her. The wind walker, obviously Ronnell, appeared long enough to slash them both and send them stumbling backwards. Maeko fired the last of her bullets at him, but he was gone before they hit.
Sadihra waved her arms and the mangled corpse of her enemy flew through the air towards Senya. The bobbed haired vampiress ducked, and the body hit the ground and slid in a spray of snow. Katelina could almost imagine her snarling, "You'll have to do better than that."
Jorick wiped his gory hand and cleaned some of the blood from his face. He stood, his eyes on Senya and Griselda's retreating figures and, with a snarl, lunged after them. The wind walker who'd taken the box reappeared long enough to knock Jorick off his feet and then evaporated into thin air. If he was back then that meant-
"The box!" Katelina shouted over the noise in her ears. "He's the one that took it." If he'd returned to the battle then where in the hell was Verchiel ?
Something slammed into her and knocked her back against the porch. Her head bounced and the world darkened around the edges. Through a fog, she heard Senya shout, "Arlen, you and Ronnell handle this!" and she watched as the two women ran for the trees.
Katelina struggled to sit upwhen a voice soothed her, "Relax. You only hit your head. The effects will fade in a moment."
The voice was right, the fog began to lift, and she shook her head and found herself looking at Kai. The boy shrugged and hurriedly finished repacking the guns and ammo into his backpack.
Though there were only two wind walkers, they easily out maneuvered the remaining six vampires. Katelina watched as wounds seemed to magically appear on her allies. Micah was thrown through the air. Hikaru was knocked to his knees. Maeko, down from her perch on the roof, was spun in helpless circles.
"The trees!" Maeko shouted. "It will be harder for them to sneak up on us!"
If she had anything else to say it was cut short as Ronnell grabbed her and flung her into the building. Shards of wood splintered like missiles as she crashed through the wall. Katelina could just see her rolling across the floor before darkness swallowed her. Hikaru cried something in Japanese and swung his stick at the place the wind walker had been, but he was already behind the Japanese vampire. Katelina heard the swipe before she saw the blood, and then Hikaru was knocked across the grounds in the opposite direction.
Jorick was suddenly at Katelina's side. He scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder. She kicked in surprise and then surrendered. He could run faster than she could, and right now speed was everything.
She lifted her head to look behind them. She saw Micah grab Loren and do much the same thing. He was nearly gaining on them when Ronnell suddenly dropped into his path and kicked his legs. Micah went sprawling and Loren tumbled away from him to land in a broken limbed heap. Katelina heard Micah shout, "Hold still you fucking bastards!"
