When more Savages and their captives filed through the door behind him, they finally drew the attention of a couple of men standing near the edge of the dance floor. In short-sleeved dress shirts and slacks, two of the men wore loosened ties while the third had no tie and the top buttons of his shirt undone. Flushed with exertion and booze, their faces were red beneath the white lights encircling the wooden beams running across the cathedral ceiling of the hall.
The three men stood with their mouths gaping as they took in the spectacle of a group of men and women holding the chains of others in hoods. Then the tieless one nudged the others and said something to them.
“What about cell phones?” Killean whispered to Joseph. “They can easily call the police.”
“There’s not much cell service in this area, but we’ve jammed it just in case. They’re not calling anyone.”
Which meant Killean wasn’t either. Not like there was anyone he could call. With no idea where they were, he couldn’t give an address to Ronan, and calling the police would only bring more victims to the party.
Killean quickly took in his surroundings. There were over a dozen windows in the place; the ones behind him, six across the way, and more behind the bar that was to the left of the dance floor. The DJ had his equipment set up on a small stage at the far end of the hall, opposite the bar.
The three men shook themselves out of their stupor and started toward them. One of them pulled out his phone, but he didn’t dial anything, probably because he was reluctant to draw the police to his friend’s wedding.
Run you idiots, Killean thought as the men stopped before them.
“I’m sorry; this is a… uh… it’s a private party,” the tieless guy said as he stared at the hooded figures.
“Is it now?” Joseph purred.
One of the men took a small step back when the door closed behind the last Savage. Killean gazed over the crowd of vampire heads; most of them were in the building. A few remained outside, either looking for stragglers or keeping watch.
The three guys glanced nervously over the group, and the one with the cell punched a number into it. He lifted the device to his ear, frowned, and pulled it away to stare at the screen. When the men first approached, their eyes held the glassy sheen of alcohol, but now the fog was clearing as apprehension etched their features. The man with the phone hit some buttons again, held it to his ear, and paled before lowering it.
Killean refrained from shouting at them to bust out the windows and flee as Joseph turned toward him and handed out a key. “You’ll need this.”
He forgot about the humans as the key to Simone’s freedom was slipped into his hand.
“It’s time for you to go,” the tieless guy said, but he didn’t sound as confident.
“We don’t plan to stay long,” Joseph assured him, and the men exchanged a look.
Glancing over his shoulder, Joseph’s eyes met Killean’s before going to the other Savages.
“Turn them loose,” Joseph commanded.
Before Killean could react, the hoods were removed, the chains unlocked, and the gags untied. Twenty-four of the twenty-five hunters sprang forth. The three men didn’t have time to shout a warning before some of the starving hunters pounced on them. Inhuman snarls filled the air as muscle crunched beneath fangs and the men released garbled cries. With the humans to distract them, the hunters didn’t turn on their captors but ran toward the people surrounding the dance floor and the bar to the left of it.
The music was so loud the celebrators didn’t become aware something was wrong until three of the hunters launched onto the back of a woman standing near the dance floor. They tore at her flesh as they dragged her beneath them.
The woman’s screams were drowned out by the music, but those closest to her staggered away from the blood spilling across the floor as the monsters bit at her arms and neck. The scent of blood permeating the room grew stronger than the alcohol and sweat that greeted them when they entered.
Simone twitched and whimpered beside him; her fingers flexed as fresh blood slid from the skin she’d torn from her hands. Her hunger beating against him only enflamed his until he felt as crazed as the Mad Hatter.
“Turn her loose, Killean.”
So caught up in the massacre, and his growing thirst, Killean had forgotten about Joseph and the other Savages. When his gaze focused on Joseph, he saw the suspicion in the other’s eyes while they surveyed him and Simone.
You have to let her go. But if he did, he’d never be able to save her.
Against his back, the heat of the other Savages pressed closer when he didn’t immediately react to Joseph’s command. Humans ran for a door marked stairs and another one behind the bar. Their shouts grew louder as they banged on both of the blocked doors. Some of them were so panicked, they ran for the door behind Killean, but the Savages blocked their exit.
Someone bashed a chair into one of the six windows lining the wall across from him. Glass shattered, but before the man could leap out, a hunter tackled him around his legs and brought him down on the broken shards. The scent of the man’s blood spilling across the glass sent the hunter into a frenzy, and instead of using his fangs to feed, he tore at the man until he was licking the blood off his drenched hands.
The DJ fled, but dance music continued to blast from the speakers as the man bolted for a door behind his equipment. The Savages took him down before he could make it to the exit.
The blood, the killing, the screams, and pulsating music were combining until Killean’s thoughts centered on one thing…
Death.
