Page 45 of Grayson’s Challenge

Zach swept his eyes around the room, looking for his brother. He lay with his back on the floor, the large vampire with the gun above him. They were struggling for control of the weapon. And it looked like David was going to lose.

“Shit!”

Zach charged toward them, when he stumbled over something. He glanced down. Sharleen lay lifeless on the floor, blood gushing from her neck. Knowing he couldn’t help her anymore, he lunged for the vampire, and slammed the makeshift stake into the bastard’s back. At the same time, the gun went off. When the vampire dissolved into ash, Zach fell onto his brother, his hand jerking toward David. He stopped it just as the stake touched David’s skin.

Zach rolled off his brother, his heart racing, his breath uneven. “Fuck!”

Next to him, David breathed hard and sat up. “Yeah, what the fuck was that?”

Labored breathing tore their gazes to the stairs. Barbie lay on the landing, holding a hand to her chest. She was bleeding profusely.

David ran to her. “Fuck!” He took her hand and looked at the wound beneath it. “Gunshot wound.” He pulled her toward him and looked behind her. “No exit wound.”

Zach knew what that meant. “Small-caliber, silver bullet.”

“We’ve gotta get it out,” David said, agreeing. “Barbie, just keep calm, we’ll take care of you.” Then he looked to where Sharleen lay on the floor.

Zach shook his head. It was too late to save Sharleen. She was already dead.

Barbie continued crying. “Nobody… was supposed… to get hurt,” she wailed.

Zach snapped his gaze to her. “What?”

David stared at her in utter surprise. “What the fuck, Barbie? What was this about?”

Barbie shrieked, and suddenly collapsed. David caught her before she could hit her head on the stairs.

“She’s breathing,” he said.

“We can’t let her die,” Zach said.

“Agreed. She knows something about this attack. I’ll give her some blood.” David bit into his wrist.

Zach turned away to look at what was left of the two attackers: a whole lot of gray ash, a couple of cell phones, car keys, the gun, the silver knife, and a few coins. Why the fuck had they targeted him and David?

A sound at the door made him spin around. Another vampire! Fuck! He charged toward him, just as the intruder crossed the threshold, gun pointed.

“Zach, no!” a woman screamed, while he tackled the intruding vampire, or rather vampire hybrid. They crashed to the floor together. Zach pressed the silver knife he’d collected from the floor against the vampire hybrid’s neck, making his skin sizzle.

“We’re from Scanguards!” the woman yelled. “Monique sent us!”

Zach hesitated, and suddenly realized that the vampire hybrid he was fighting with was only defending himself, rather than attacking him.

“Who are you? Talk fast,” Zach demanded, glancing up at the woman who stood in the door to the chalet. Her aura identified her as a preternatural creature, but she wasn’t a vampire.

“We have a video message from your sister.” She lifted her hand. “I’m gonna reach into my pocket to retrieve my cell phone.”

He watched her closely as she pulled out her phone, unlocked it and tapped on it. Then she turned the screen so he could see it. It was indeed his sister on the video.

“David, Zach, you can trust Virginia and Cooper with your life. They will bring you back home. I love you.”

Zach sat back on his haunches and released Cooper. “Fuck!”

“I’m Virginia, a Stealth Guardian. We’re allied with Scanguards. And this young man is Cooper Montgomery, Yvette and Haven’s son.”

“Hey,” Cooper said, and sat up.

Zach rose and offered his hand to help him up. “Hey, Cooper, sorry about that. But we just got attacked by two vampires. They killed one of the girls, and the other one is badly injured. Did you know this was gonna happen? Is that why you’re here?”