AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe.” Jamie swipes more blood from his face as he rises unsteadily to his feet. “Why?”
I reach for his arm, offering him support as I turn to point at our attacker. “The lookout who fired that explosive. We need him. If you can make him lose his grip, I’ll catch him on his way down.”
“Let him hit the rocks first,” Jamie grumbles, his gaze narrowing on his prey. “He can still answer questions with broken bones.”
He shifts into his bat form, his large black wings flapping weakly a few times before getting a boost from a sudden breeze sweeping down the riverbank. He thrusts his arms wide, riding the wind several dozen feet into the air before flying hard for the slim figure now nearly at the top of the cliffs.
“What’s happening, are you all right? Where are Jamie and Ringer?” Nadar asks, stumbling up the bank toward me, his right arm hanging limply at his side. It’s clearly broken, but he seems otherwise unharmed.
“I’m here,” Ringer, the vampire military captain leading this mission says, hurrying up behind him. “I got thrown into one of those little trees, but I’m okay.”
Miraculously, we all seem to be all right—damaged but nothing blood from the pack still on Ringer’s back won’t help mend.
We may survive this yet.
We may more than survive it…
“Jamie is up there getting us our ace in the hole,” I say, pointing to the mountainside.
We watch Jamie fly into the Shadowbane spy’s face, pummeling him with his wings until he tumbles from the cliff with a soft cry that’s swept away by the wind rushing past him as he falls.
Nadar and I run toward him, with Ringer close behind us. We reach the base of the cliff in plenty of time to attempt to catch the man, but Nadar has a broken arm. Once I see our spy is going to hit the ground feet-first, I feel comfortable honoring Jamie’s request.
He can, indeed, answer questions with a few broken bones, and broken legs will work in our favor. He can’t run off to tell tall tales to his superiors with two shattered femurs.
The sharp, sudden crunch of bones shattering is followed by a gut-wrenching scream from the dark-haired man, but before the sound can fully bloom, Ringer is on him, covering his mouth with his pack, muffling the sound. Jamie alights on the riverbank beside us in his human form a beat later, looking much improved by his shift.
The wound on his head is still there, but smaller and no longer bleeding freely.
There’s even a smile curving his lips as he says, “Okay, Edmond. It’s your time to shine, my mind-fucking friend. Make this fucker talk.”
Chapter Twenty-One
CASEY
My walk through downtown is eerier than any I can recall since arriving in Nightfall.
Thanks to the lockdown, almost everyone is hidden away inside their homes or out of town staying with family until the threat has passed. The only living beings I encounter are a trash collecting team and two deputies, both armed to the teeth—and armed with teeth, seeing as they’re vampires—patrolling the area near the wharf.
I duck into the shadows by the closed shrimp shack, waiting for the two men to pass before dashing on silent feet onto the docks. I move swiftly, glancing over my shoulder now and then to make sure I haven’t been observed, until I’m out of sight behind the main marina building. Then, I hitch my messenger bag higher on my shoulder and slow my pace, not wanting to arrive harried or out of breath.
I don’t want Priscilla to know how nervous I am. I need her to keep assuming I’m an idiot who thinks all vampires are friends not fiends, until I get my signature blood cocktail down her lily-white throat.
And then I need to ensure she doesn’t put the mind-control whammy on me or call for help until after I get the goods on breaking the curse and get the hell off her boat…
“Easy breezy,” I mutter as the gaudy yacht comes into view, glowing Pepto Bismol peach in the full moon light. “You’ve got this.”
I shove terror to the back of my mind, stuffing it into the overflowing, Things I Don’t Want to Think About Right Now closet, and tromp up the gang plank, calling out brightly, “Priscilla? Hello, are you here? It’s Casey.”
A nano-second after my feet hit the deck, one of Priscilla’s massive bodyguards materializes, looming over me with an ominous grunt and the overpowering scent of Axe body spray. One would think a vampire would have fancier taste in cologne but judging from the bleached blond tips on this guy’s spiky hair and his 90’s boy band vibe, he was likely turned at the height of Axe’s dude-bro popularity.
The smell probably gives him comfort, which means he isn’t a heartless, bone-crunching machine. There’s still something human in him to appeal to, and I’d better get appealing before he tosses me overboard.
“Hi,” I say, my smile frozen in place as I wiggle my fingers up at his cranky mountainside of a face. “What’s your name? I didn’t catch it at the party. I’m Casey, Edmond’s wife.”
I thrust my hand his way, but he only growls again, vibrating my cells in a way that makes my internal organs itch.
“Who is it, Sylvester?” a sing-song voice calls from below.
