Part 35 (2/2)

”Get away.” Sweat poured over Nathan's face, mingling with the red. ”No fangs, no fangs!”

Fear of vampires or fear of his son?

”Dawn,”Breisi said, trying to get her moving.

She rolled to her good side as Robby plopped to the floor in front of his father, tilting his head.

”They're going to get you anyway, Dad.” The boy vampire smiled. ”You've already said too much. If it's not my fangs, it'll be theirs. You're going to be with me forever now.”

”No!Nonononono-” Nathan's eyes were rolling back in his head. ”I'll kill myself before I let them-letyou-touch me!”

Marla resumed her place behind the chair, her gaze darting from her son to the window.

”Forever.” Robby smiled. ”We'll always be together.”

Nathan's wide eyes locked on something to his right.

The sculpture by the door-the blob with the bladed thrust of iron coming from its center. Robby scooted closer to his dad. ”Let me feed from you.”

With a long cry, Nathan darted away and ran ahead at full steam, straight at the sculpture.

Robby watched him, head c.o.c.ked. ”Daddy?”

”Nathan!” Marla screeched.

With a thrust of blood, the blade jabbed out of his back, making Dawn's arm lose strength as she fell to the floor in shock. He slumped against the iron, embracing the sculpture, the artistic sword holding him up.

Unintelligible words whistled out of his mouth and, for a blurred second, Dawn thought they were regrets for his son.

But then all h.e.l.l broke loose as the Guards appeared in front of the window frame.

Dawn knew exactly what his last words had been.

”He invited them in!” she yelled.

Before she and Breisi could raise their guns, a baffled Robby had staggered to his feet, beginning to change back into what Dawn now thought of as ”Danger Form.” He flickered in his attempts, weakened as he watched his father hug the statue with more true adoration than he'd probably ever received himself.

But the Guards were already pounding forward, propelling into the room as their tails whizzed behind them. Abruptly, they reared back-from the garlic?-and clawed the air, preparing their tails to strike.

At their hesitation, Breisi's bullet found a mark, and one creature jammed back against the wall, its body shriveling into itself as if eaten by an internal vacuum.

But Dawn wasn't so lucky. With her left-handed aim, she was off, hitting the wall, plaster exploding outward. The Guard aimed a stream of spit at her, but she expected it, dodged it.

Then, out of nowhere, a blade spun out of the darkness from the third Guard's direction, chopping Robby's wounded arm off, spraying blood over Dawn's arm as she hit the deck. Instinctively, she recalled the burn from the spit and prepped herself for the pain. But she was fine. Just fi- A roar of anguish shook the room while Robby fell to the floor, clutching his shoulder stump.

The long blade was speared into the couch, s.h.i.+vering.

Had that come from a Guard? And why the h.e.l.l were they trying to kill Robby? Had they removed his arm as some kind of surgery to keep the silver from spreading?

In a fractured flash, her hands remembered the feel of Matt Lonigan's blade sheathed near his spine. A machete?

With one peek at the darkened window, she decided she didn't have time to sort this out. She aimed her revolver at the spitting Guard, hitting its heart this time.

Smon sense.

Ripped open, defenseless, attacked...

She grabbed her machete, slid it out of its sheath, swung back the blade, then leapt at the vampire.

Smack-the machete hatcheted into his neck, blood gus.h.i.+ng over her chest, her neck and arms.

Unlike the Guards, Robby didn't spit. No, it was red matter bathing Frank's s.h.i.+rt as Robby fell to the floor, the blade gouged halfway into his throat.

”Dad?” he gurgled, his face wet from his tears. ”Mom?”

No answer. With a glance, Dawn saw why.

The remaining Guard hadn't been going after Breisi at all-Marla had been its target. And with eye-blinking speed, it was flying out the window with the woman in tow, her mouth gaped open in a gulping scream.

Breisi rushed after them, leaving Dawn alone with Robby.

Now that he wasn't in Danger Form, she felt ill. Blood was gleaming on the marble. Red over white.

The boy sought her gaze, crimson bubbling from his lips.

Dawn wasn't sucker enough to make eye contact. ”It hurt when my friend broke his back, too,” she said in an effort to conjure her ire. But it was harder with this little body in front of her. A crying child.

Dawn, she told herself, don't trust him. Don't let him fool you. Don't have any mercy, because he didn't with you.

Fumbling with urgency, she cried out, yanking the machete out of his neck. Then, with feral purpose, she raised the blade over her head, swiped it at him again.Swick-he stopped crying.

The sound echoed as his head rolled away from his body, severed from his spine, coming to a stop near his father's impaled corpse in the foyer. Together forever.

Her heartbeat, her breathing filled the room, surrounding her in anesthetized distance from the horror of what she'd just done. But she didn't linger. No-for good measure, she calmly shot the vampire in the heart.

With a savage sucking noise, the clothing, torso, and head zipped into themselves, and Robby was obliterated. Leaving an outline of blood, like chalk lines at a crime scene.

Is this what you did for a living, Frank? Is this how it felt? Numb and inconceivable, even as you stared at the damage?

Dawn turned her head. Blocking it all out.

As a rivulet of Robby's blood ran over the marble and past her feet, she heard a sound at the window, quickly aimed at it. Breisi, empty-handed except for her spent saw-bow.

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