Part 19 (1/2)
”We will be fine. I remember.”
”Ready?” Mikjall's voice questioned from behind us.
”Yes, come outside. It will be easier if I don't have to blur through the house.” I jogged out of the room and through the kitchen door, took the porch steps two at a time, and waited for the others to join me.
The night air was warming slightly. The soft glow of sunrise was turning the horizon just a shade warmer than the sparkling midnight blue that stretched over our head now. The stars were fading. Soon they would be invisible again as the sun rose and its light bathed the land.
The door slammed open and shut several times. Heavy footsteps pounded on the rickety old porch. Soon I was surrounded. Bailey stood next to Jesse. She was so young Erick wouldn't let her carry two people for the trip. It was probably a wise choice. Beside Erick stood Malachi and Garrett. To my right, Mikjall stood behind Riza, who clutched her baby so tightly her knuckles were turning white.
”I promise it won't last long,” I said, trying to give the small woman a little rea.s.surance. ”Let's do this.”
Bailey and Erick gave a nod. We each grabbed our pa.s.sengers and leapt into a run toward the forest. Minutes later, we emerged on the bank of the Mississippi. One more leap and we would almost be there. I took it first, panting as I carried the very uneven weight of a Kitsune in one arm and Drakonae in the other.
I lunged forward, landing on the western bank a half dozen feet from the water's edge. A few running steps led into a vertical leap that cleared the wire fence.
The ground sped toward us. I made sure to lift them high so my legs could take the brunt of the landing. My ankle snapped, and I screamed through the pain, refusing to let either of them hit the ground.
”Eira!”
I released Riza, and she stepped away with the baby. Mikjall knelt beside me on the ground. The smell of his blood filled the air, and I turned to him, gritting my teeth through the pain of my body knitting together the broken bones.
Bailey and Erick landed a few feet away with the others only a few moments later.
My fangs descended, and I nearly bit into Mikjall's exposed forearm.
His hand encircled my throat and pointed my mouth up, so that the blood from the cut he'd made dripped into my mouth. A few minutes later, he released me.
I stood next to him, catching his arm when he swayed uneasily. ”You gave too much, you big oaf,” I whispered.
He chuckled, something I'd never seen him do before.
”Thank you, though. It would've taken precious time for my leg to heal without your blood,” I said, knowing he was hurting from losing so much blood in one night.
He nodded. Riza took my place at his arm and helped him walk away.
”Eira, are you okay?” Erick asked, pointing his pa.s.sengers toward the tent where I knew Killian was resting. I could still smell him, and I recognized his heart's pattern.
”I am now. We have to hurry.” The sky was half lit with the sunrise. Darkness had left us. Our people were more vulnerable now. As well as us. We could move more freely in the dark. And there were fewer people to see under the cover of night. The roads we'd used would be filled with cars now -morning commuters.
Chapter Thirty-Three.
EIRA.
Erick's hand touched my shoulder, cautioning me from moving forward. I turned and surveyed the camp before me again, noticing a guard to my left across the field. He was hidden away in a tree blind.
”I'll take him,” Erick whispered, his voice barely at a decibel I could hear. ”Those are yours.” He pointed to the two guards half-dozing to my right. ”Bailey stay where you are until we clear the area.”
She nodded and crouched lower.
He blurred away first. The snap of the guard's neck was the only distinguis.h.i.+ng sound that could be heard from the tree. The guards to my right hadn't even noticed.
I moved next, running as I drew Dragonbreath from my back. They never saw me coming.
None of the soldiers did.
We moved stealthily through the outer guards and closer to the panicked center of their command. They knew vampires were hunting them. But their fear made them stupid and careless. We picked them off one by one. Blurring through, grabbing them, and carrying them off to the edge of camp where no one was watching anymore, we fed until we had enough and then raced for the lake house.
I stopped at the edge of the forest and gasped for breath I did not need. The house was gone. Nothing more than a burning pile of rubble. I sniffed the air. The smell of explosives was acrid and thick in the air, but I couldn't detect any human or diesel fuel. No trucks. Where were the soldiers?
Erick and Bailey came to a stop next to me. We stood in the shadow of the trees and stared in disbelief together.
Had they escaped? Were they captured?
The howl of a wolf sounded from across the field.
”Someone made it!” I ran, staying with the line of trees. A moment later, the thwack thwack of a helicopter beat the air above me, and shots rang through the trees, pounding into the branches above my head.
f.u.c.k! I blurred in short spurts, hoping to keep their attention and draw them away from where I'd heard the wolf. The last thing I needed to do was lead them to our survivors. Bailey and Erick were still in the clear. They could move without detection as long as I went slow enough to keep their fire aimed at me.
The hiss of a missile made the hair on my neck stand on end. I leaped to the right and blurred a hundred yard away, disappearing from their view. The explosion behind me sent shards of trees flying like spears of death. I could only pray none had hit a target.
I peered around the trunk of the large tree I'd hidden behind and came eye to eye with a piece of wood the size of my arm impaled into its trunk. Shaking off the close call, I peered through the branches and listened as the chopper circled, trying to detect my location.
”We have them.” Erick's voice cut through the din of the helicopter above my head. ”Run.”
”All four!” I shouted.
”They didn't all make it out!”
d.a.m.n it!
”Run, Eira!” Erick's voice thundered. A human would barely have heard him over the roar of the engine, but I heard him like he was standing next to me shouting into my ear.
”I'm going,” I shouted again before jumping into a ground-eating run.
The brightening landscape rushed past me. Roads. Cars. Trees.
Thirst burned in the pit of my stomach. I could feel it creeping up, growing stronger and stronger until all I could see was the beat of life surrounding me. Heartbeats of the people in the cars I was pa.s.sing. Heartbeats of the animals in the forest as I blurred past.
When we arrived at Vicksburg, all three of us would be ravenous. We had all been prepared to feed some from Alek. I needed to reach the Army base first. They had to be prepared.
I pushed myself harder, using every reserve of energy I could muster. I leaped the Mississippi and then the fence.
”Jared!” I stood from my crouched landing place. My vision was red, and I licked my lips as a soldier rushed past me a few yards away. His heart raced as fear blossomed like an orchid in his mind.