Chapter 113

Gilgamesh came trotting over, waving his hand. “Thank the Goddess.”

Candido turned to him. “How are things looking?”

“They’re headed towards the forest. People are chasing them, but we’re trying to get the citizens out of the way. They attacked out of nowhere.”

“And they’re not done. We’ll cut them off before they leave the city. The more we get rid of now the better.”

“At least the rain will help put out the fires.”

I followed Candido as he jogged through the city toward where the battle had picked up. Gilgamesh turned, aiming to punch, but the figure twisted out of the way and dropped down beside us.

“Stop!” I said. “It’s Claire.”

She was covered in blood. It was smeared across her mouth and running down her neck as the rain drenched her.

“She’s a vampire, and—” He stepped back. “You’re that girl from the news!”

“Long story,” Claire said and looked at me. “Francium’s keeping an ear out for more intel, but they aren’t leaving the city it looks like.”

“Well, what are they doing?”

“Regrouping,” Candido said. “We’re headed that way. Rally every Moon Shadow operative with combat experience and head that way. Full Moon’s police will head that way.”

“There… isn’t much police left,” Gilgamesh said.

Candido stiffened beside me. “What do you mean?”

“They attacked city hall with fire, but they also bombed the police stations. All of them. It’s why it took a bit longer to organize a defense.”

My stomach lurched thinking of all those people.

“… how many dead confirmed?”

“We don’t have numbers,” Gilgamesh said. “We’ve been focused on getting the civilians out.”

“Keep on that track. Get them out of the way of the fight,” Candido said. “The rest of the plan stands, let’s go.”

I wanted to comfort him. I knew he was probably blaming himself for the death of all those police officers, but now wasn’t the time.

We crossed through downtown towards the other side of town where they had been reported to be gathering. Claire streaked ahead, speeding up as if she’d gotten a sudden burst of speed before barreling through the group with a battle cry.

“What was that?” I asked Francium.

“Complicated,” Francium said then he vanished from beside me. I could see just the faintest outline of him in the rain, but he slammed into a vampire coming towards him. I turned back as a vampire lunged at me.

I shoved the heel of my palm under his chin, but he twisted out of the way. I heard more boots joining us. I just hoped they were here to help. Then, I rammed my knee into his stomach and shoved him off. He got back up and I shoved my dagger into his chest.

He hissed and shoved me down. I shoved the dagger against his teeth as he hissed and tried to bite me before cutting through his mouth. He howled and pulled away. I got up and went running back into the fight.

Gilgamesh smashed one of the vampires in the face with a kick and sent her flying. Candido maneuvered through the group of vampires, grabbing a spare pipe, and smashing one of them in the face with it. Teeth and blood spurted out. His head turned unnaturally and he spun around, poised to attack again.

Candido swung back the other way catching him in the chest and knocking him down to drive the pipe through his face. He turned sharply twirling the pipe like a staff and hitting another vampire.

I was surprised. I hadn’t ever thought that Candido had any sort of training. Gilgamesh looked like he had some training too.

I felt a little out of place as my dagger didn’t seem to be doing much of anything.

Someone caught me by my hair and yanked me off my feet. I cut through it with my dagger before I hit the ground and rolled back onto my feet to fight. They were fast. Much faster than I was and I was still recovering, so I couldn’t risk using my power.

He landed a punch to my face and chest, but I dodged most of them. When another vampire dropped down, my gut clenched. I was definitely in trouble now. I tried to block and put some distance between us, but someone caught me in the back with their claws. I fell forward and rolled away, trying to keep moving until I could get somewhere.

One of them caught me in the face. Pain ripped across my face and tore through my mask.

“It’s her,” one of them said. She laughed and wrapped her hand around my throat. “Prince Damian will be happy about this.”

She turned and threw me to the ground. I skidded across the ground, scraping off skin and tearing my clothes.

“But first, I’m going to teach her a lesson,” she hissed. “About what happens when you fuck up the prince’s plans!”

I dodged barely, but she caught me in the face with the toe of her boot.

“Stupid,” she said, kicking me in the stomach. “Worthless waste of—”

She screeched, and I turned over to find Candid shoving a long bloody pipe through her chest. She jerked and screamed as the fire began to burn her from the inside. Candido shook and rocked forward, using his pipe as a walking stick as he panted. He looked terrible. His clothes were ripped, and he staggered towards me. He looked down at me. His eyes were glowing with light.

“Go home,” he said.

I struggled to my feet. “You can’t—”

“Pandora,” he growled. “Go home. I mean it.”

“And you think you’re going to escape that easily?” Someone hissed from nearby.

Then, I realized that we were surrounded. Candido lifted the pipe and pushed me behind him. My ribs ached as I looked around. There were too many of them to fight with just the two of us.

“I’ll clear a path,” he said.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“I’m not arguing with you,” he said lifting the pipe and aiming it towards the pathway that led away from the rest of the battle. “On my mark.”

He darted forward faster than I expected, and I followed him. How was he moving so quickly though he’d been fighting all this time and using his powers? I was surprised he hadn’t shifted into his wolf form already.

I was starting to realize that Candido was far more amazing than I ever imagined. I blocked someone trying to attack him. Then, the ground started to rumble and shake. I felt it lift me up and throw me over the circle of vampires. I landed and looked back to see Candido holding them off.

“Go!” He yelled at me.

I was about to refuse when another vampire darted toward me. His hands were raised and they were tipped with sharp claws.

“You!” I reared back, throwing my hands up.

“Hedy!” Claire growled. She turned into the vampire and punched her hand through his chest. He choked and slumped against her as she forced his head to the side and drank from him. I heard her sucking his blood and watched him start to turn to ash.

My stomach turned. Francium came running up and aimed a gun at three oncoming vampires.

“Get up, Hedy and get moving. Head back to the jeep, we’re retreating.”

“But Candido---”

“We’ll clear a path,” Claire said, her voice was dark and furious. “If anything happens to you, he’ll lose his shit and we don’t need that right now.”

I turned, torn between staying to fight and running. I turned and ran. “I’m going to find back-up!”

As I ran, I wasn’t sure how I was going to find someone to help, but I knew that somewhere there was going to be a group of Blue Moon and Moon Shadow operatives. I passed several little battles and dodged a few vampires on the way, searching for someone I recognized.

Gun shots exploded through the air. A line of vampires collapsed under the bullets, but I didn’t know if they were dead or not.

“They just keep coming.”

I saw someone up ahead, a tall familiar figure I was sure was Gilgamesh.

“Armageddon needs back-up!”

Gilgamesh turned sharply and started running towards me. “Where?”

“That way,” I pointed back. “Quick! We were outnumbered.”

Gilgamesh led the charge back the way I came as I stopped to catch my breath. I turned back and headed after them, but as soon as I stepped into the alleyway. Everything went black as if I had walked into a void. I tried to get out, but everywhere I turned, there was a wall that I couldn’t see the top of. I tried walking to the edge but there wasn’t an edge.

The walls started to grow closer and closer until I couldn’t even move. I screamed as they pressed tight and paralyzed me.

“Candido, help!”