Chapter 91

Francium’s eyes flicked between the bottle of pills and back to the gun. He took the gun slowly, hesitantly. I could see his hands trembling as he looked at me. He looked down at the gun then back up at me. I could see him considering it.

Then I heard something further away, down the hall, like the creak of a door or something. I didn’t know what that was, but my heart was pounding. How long would it take for Moon Shadow to find my body? Would they leave me here? Would Francium actually shoot me?

It seemed like he would. He’d killed Claire. He may have howled in agony afterward, but he still killed her and they were mates. What hope did I have to get out of this alive?

My spirit started to deflated and I thought about Candido. I wished the last thing I’d spoken about with Candido was something else. Anything else. I wish I had at least met his mate before going off on this spree to try and make him jealous.

I felt stupid.

“I can’t.”

My eyes widened and I looked up.

The vampire looked at him with a lifted eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t shoot her,” Francium said looking up at him. “The bullet would go straight through her. I didn’t think you were interested in losing a subordinate today.”

My gut clenched, and I bared my teeth. “Traitor. If you think Claire will ever forgive you—”

The vampire laughed as if he hadn’t thought about it. There was a manic glee in his eyes that made my skin crawl.

“That is a good point. Perhaps adjust the way you’re holding her?”

The three men holding me started to move. I twisted sharply, trying to get free and escape, but the big guy kept a tight grip on me.

I heard something getting closer, but I couldn’t make out what it was. It didn’t matter right now. All I had to do was get free and run. With enough speed, I could rush Francium and get out of here, somehow. I had to.

I landed a solid kick in the man’s face. Then another in the other guy. The big guy growled and jerked me around, but the other one regained his balance and came at me. He shoved his fist into my gut, knocking the breath out of me and I sagged between them, dropping to the ground and choking, wheezing though my ribs just wouldn’t recover.

“I really thought to keep you alive,” the vampire said. “But I feel as though it wouldn’t be worth it. You’re far more troublesome than I thought you would be… A shame. Your mother was such a woman.”

I lifted my head. “How did you know my mother?”

“Perhaps you can ask her when you see her again,” he said lightly as the other guy took hold of my other arm and pulled until I was up on my knees and Francium would have a clear shot. Sweat was on his brow. His brow was furrowed as he was thinking hard about something. His expression shifted a bit.

I looked over at the vampire, watching the way he stared at me. There was something about him that seemed to be changing. My stomach churned a bit. His hair flickered and shimmer a bit. His face seemed to be just fine, but his eyes were wavering.

Was he losing control of his powers or was I just imaging things?

Then, I realized that he wasn’t focusing on me. He wasn’t focusing on anything and the way his lips and eyes twitched made me think of someone trying to hold back their emotions during an argument.

His eyes flashed with moonlight for a moment before he turned his head and met my gaze. He lifted the gun at me and cocked it.

I closed my eyes, feeling hope leave me.

Then, the gun went off, and no pain went through me. I opened my eyes at the sound and I saw a pale body lunging at the vampire. I smelled burning blood and fire near me. The hold on my left side went slack. It tore into his neck, bowed head and greedy. I heard him struggle and the gulping of blood. I smelled blood. Another shot was fired. I was released and swayed. The scent of blood grew stronger.

“Fucking traitor!” The vampire screamed.

Francium grabbed me by my arm. He swiped the bottle of pills off the floor and ran, dragging me along after him.

“Kill him! Kill them all!” The vampire screamed.

“Hurry!” Francium said, dragging me along. I turned back as Claire darted ahead of me. She swiped the bottle of pills from Francium and took off. He fired at the doors as we passed. People lunged out behind us and went running down the hallway.

I tried to keep up, pulling in lungfuls of air as I ran. My ribs ached the rest of me ached, but there was something else rushing through me. Adrenaline? Fear? Relief? I didn’t know. We hit the door of the building running. The door flew off its hinges as Claire burst through it. Then, she was turning towards town, cutting through the trees as if she knew exactly where she was going.

The run to the town seemed shorter this time.

“On your left!” Francium yelled. Claire swerved aside, letting a vampire leap and tumble to the ground. He rolled onto his feet and swiped at us. Francium fired another bullet into his head. Blood splattered and filled the air.

Did silver bullets work on vampires? If someone could separate their heads and reattach them, what did silver do? The vampire shrieked. The smell of cooking meat filled the air. I turned back as he burst into flames and the first caught in the underbrush. Then, I understood that the scent I had smelled back then had been the two vampires after Francium had shot them.

The town was empty again save a few vampires that seemed to be closing in on us. Claire took a running leap, rendering a man’s head from his shoulders. She bowed her head and drank greedily. My stomach turned. Francium shoved me forward.

“Follow Claire!” He said turning to cut off another vampire.

I hadn’t expected him to shove the vampire back so easily.

He shifted mid leap into a large, monstrous creature I couldn’t name with sharp talons and fangs before tearing into the man.

I turned and followed Claire after she left the vampire’s body on the ground, drained of blood. His head was several paces away from them.

Another vampire cut across our paths. I shoved the man back hard and kept running. Claire shrieked, ripping through vampires like butter. I couldn’t know if that was because she was now a vampire or something about her werewolf strength that made her so vicious.

But soon, we were in another section of the town that hadn’t been there when I arrived. Or rather it was hidden. Claire leaned against the wall, panting, trying to catch her breath. She was covered in blood.

“Claire?” I asked.

She looked up and gave me a wry smile. “Hey, Hedy… I hear you crashed our alpha’s wedding?”

I laughed wanting to hug her and cry and tell her how sorry I was that I couldn’t do more, but my eyes caught something moving, leaping and flying towards her from behind. I shoved her out of the way and the vampire fell on me.

I felt the sharp, hot prick of pain in my shoulder as his teeth sunk into my flesh. I howled in agony. Something burned and started to bubble through me. Then it was gone. Claire was screaming and tearing him apart.

I heard Francium’s voice and felt his hands on my neck. He pressed something to it.

“… hear me… Hedy?”

“Candido,” I whispered.

He grimaced and pulled something out of his pocket. He put something in my mouth and I swallowed it, not knowing what it was.

I felt a familiar surge of power and focus like when I’d fallen into the fountain, but there was no aggression. I sat up, staggering to my feet as Francium lifted me and started hustling me after Claire through the winding streets of the town.

The world grew clearer, the further we went. I didn’t feel the pain in my shoulder, but I felt something else.

Something in me was changing. I didn’t know what it was or how to describe it, but I felt it.

“What did you give me?”

“Don’t worry about it, just keep going,” Francium said stiffly.

I didn’t feel bad, but I didn’t feel right. I tried to focus on what was going to happen next. Moon Shadow—how long would it take them to get here? How long would it take Team Gamma-2 to find me?

Would Candido forgive me for all of this?