Page 67 of Bloodgrove

“Hold on,” Eric murmured, and before Will knew what was happening, Eric slipped an arm beneath his knees and lifted him. Elodie laughed softly at Will’s startled gasp while drawing her weapons.

Eric set him down again in the hall of the fishmarket, and Will was grateful to lean against his shoulder, if only so he would not have to look at the place where the vampires had torn Saint apart. Supported by both of them, he stumbled past the corpses and out toward the harbor. The howling of the pack already sounded in the distance.

The moment they stepped into the cutting wind and needle-sharp drizzle, the cold crashed over Will. His head sank against Eric’s shoulder, and Eric pulled him closer.

“Faster,” Eric growled. “My blood was not enough. He is fading.”

Will’s eyelids fluttered, his legs stumbling. The cries of the vampires drew ever closer.

“Take him,” he heard Elodie say, and then she was gone. A whimper escaped Will at the loss of her warmth. Moments later, gunshots rang out as Elodie attacked the first creatures with her pistol and rapier.

The world swayed around him as though they were walking over waves. Although Eric supported him with a strong arm, their progress remained slow. With his other hand, he drew a revolver and fired into the darkness.

“Will, stay with me.” Eric’s words disappeared as the dark, freezing sea rolled over him once more. “You cannot give up. Not now!”

Chapter 35

Only half conscious, Will stumbled beside Eric through streets and over stairways, always pursued by the sounds of battle.

“We are almost there.”

Will nodded weakly. The streets were narrow, and figures moved across the rooftops above them. Suddenly, Eric stopped. Gunshots tore through the night until the empty chamber clicked. The dogs raced ahead and threw themselves upon the enemy, but Will was too weak to look up.

“Damnation!” Eric eased Will away from his shoulder and let him slide down along his legs. “Stay.”

As though he could run away.

Like a drowning man, Will clung to Eric’s strong legs, panicked at the thought of losing the last source of warmth, and Eric allowed it. Vampires closed off the alley from both sides, their chittering sounding like laughter.

Eric was far more skilled at reloading. He was already firing again while wielding his rapier with the other hand. But more and more monsters appeared. Claws seized Will’s leg and dragged him away. Eric caught him just in time and drove his blade into the vampire’s face, but the rescue cost him. From the other side, the vampires pressed closer without resistance.

In a whirl of dark-red skirts, Elodie leaped from a low rooftop into the middle of the creatures. She wielded a curved blade of blood magic, cutting down everyone who placed themselves between her and Will and Eric.

In Will’s half-dead state, his rescuers became demons performing a dreadful ballet. And he lay helpless upon the frozen ground, staring into the empty eyes of a slain vampire. Brown blood seeped from the hole in its forehead. Were vampires afraid to die in those final moments before they threw themselves at a hunter?

A wet tongue and hot breath tore him from his thoughts. One of Eric’s dogs was licking his arm, but then Will was hauled upright once more. Only now did he realize the dance had ended. Yet the silence was deceptive. A few streets away, he could already hear more vampires.

Eric heaved Will back against his shoulder, and they fled onward through streets that grew ever more tangled. Will struggled to keep his eyes open. Breathing became a burden.

A front door swung open. Beyond it lay a narrow, filthy passage. Steep stairs followed, too cramped for the two men to walk side by side. A bolt slid aside, and darkness received him. He stumbled over a rug. Behind Elodie, the door fell shut, and she drove the bolt home.

Eric’s large, cool hand guided him to the center of the small room and helped him to the floor. The carpet was worn and old.

Elodie opened the curtains, and weak moonlight illuminated the silhouette of a narrow bed in one corner, a stool and washbasin in the other. There was nothing else apart from the large rug before the fireplace. Eric set about lighting a fire, and soon the first flames licked at the wood. It had not dried properly, so thick smoke climbed into the chimney. Its comforting scent filled the room and soothed Will more than the warmth radiating from the hearth. The two dogs curled up before it.

Will moved closer as well and pulled the coat more tightly around himself while his rescuers worked behind him.

“Bandages are under the bed,” Eric said.

“Do you keep spare clothing here?”

“Only whatever you find in the chest.”

Judging by Elodie’s contemptuous snort, it was not much. “I will return to the fish market tomorrow morning. Surely they did not eat his boots.”

Will drew up his knees and placed his frozen toes upon the stone border of the hearth. He rested his chin upon his crossed arms and ignored the scratching of the spiked collar. He also ignored the scabs splitting open across several of the bites. His entire consciousness focused on the fire. He would have gladly sat inside it if that were what it took to drive the cold from his limbs.

A short while later, Elodie and Eric settled on either side of him. Eric finally managed to remove the collar from Will’s throat with the aid of a little magic and threw it clattering into a corner beyond their sight.