“Time’s up. They’re coming.”
“Right,” Marc acknowledged, and Christian could hear him calling to Scoville deep inside the building.
The helicopter had been idling beyond the yard, far enough away that their rotor wash didn’t blow everything to pieces. Christian did a crouching run over there, climbed into the passenger compartment, and donned a headset to talk to the pilots. “You need to get out of here,” he told them. “Do you have a place in Laredo where you can wait for us?”
The co-pilot nodded. “Yes, sir. How long?”
“An hour or two at most.”
“We’ll fuel up while we wait. You have our number?”
“I do.” Christian climbed out of the chopper, and moved away, watching as it flew off toward Laredo and was soon out of sight. He heard footsteps behind him.
“That was our ride back,” Marc observed.
Christian had trouble concentrating on what Marc was saying, his senses nearly overwhelmed by awareness of the vampire army now bearing down on them. He stared out into the darkness, unable to see them yet. But they were coming.
“They’ll come back when we call,” he told Marc absently, as they started walking back to the outpost. He glanced over, his gaze sharpening as he noted the HK MP5 that Marc now wore on a combat harness in front of him. Christian nodded his approval of the gun. “Get ready,” he said. “They’re coming.”
He’d just reached the yard of the building when a flicker of movement caught his eye, and the first enemy vampire appeared in the near distance. “Hold your fire,” he told Marc quietly. He didn’t want anyone killing this vamp before he had a chance to scan it, to ferret out what Hubert had done, so he could figure out how to kill them.
The vampire was quickly followed by another, and then several more. But Christian kept his attention on that first outlier, digging deep into the creature’s brain to determine what made him tick. He was Mexican, more indigenous than European in appearance, probably some poor farmer Hubert had captured and changed. The vampire’s eyes glowed a dull red, but seemed focused on nothing. And while he moved well, it was slowly, as if he had difficulty getting his body to obey his brain.
But then, there wasn’t much brain left, at least not if one only counted the functioning parts. Christian smashed easily through the vampire’s natural shield, the bare minimum that every vampire was born with, and immediately saw what Hubert had done. It was the same here as in Europe. He’d turned all of these vampires, then starved them of blood, giving them only enough for their basic instincts to kick in. Since the most basic instinct of all was a vampire’s link to his Sire, these creatures would do anything Hubert asked, without question or any sense of self-preservation. They would be merciless in their defense of him, and from what Scoville had said, they were vicious fighters.
Christian fired off a sharp jolt of power, and took down the vampire he’d been scanning. The vamp dropped to the ground in a boneless heap, but he didn’t turn to dust. As Christian had surmised, they were far too new to dust upon death. The bodies would lie there until the sun rose. More incentive to make this short and brutal.
The vampire’s abrupt death had no effect on the army behind him. They plowed on, stepping over, on, and around their former companion’s body, as if he were no more than a rock in their way. A steady noise emanated from their throats, a high-pitched keening that seemed never to stop, as if they didn’t need to breathe. Or maybe it was just that there were so many of them, he couldn’t detect the break when the creatures drew breath.
“Now, my lord?” Marc asked, coming up to stand next to him.
“Now,” Christian agreed, as Scoville took his place on the other side of Marc.
The night came alive with the sound of the two submachine guns. With ammunition so short, they didn’t go to full auto, but their vampire-enhanced vision and reflexes made their single-shot rhythm sound every bit as fast as automatic fire. The two vampires swept their weapons from side to side, taking out one zombie vamp after another. But despite the carnage they were wreaking, none of the approaching vamps made any attempt to evade their fire. They didn’t even slow down. They just kept coming.
Christian didn’t try to count, but instinct told him there were at least a hundred of the zombie vampires still out there. He resisted the impulse to grab a gun, or even to drop a few of the oncoming zombies with his vampire abilities. He could sense Hubert out there behind his fighters, and didn’t want to give the European lord any more data than necessary about his power. He figured Anthony had probably shared whatever he knew, but fortunately, not even Anthony knew everything that Christian was capable of.
When the main force finally reached them, however, Christian knew the time for caution was over. He stood side-by-side with Marc and Scoville, sending bolts of his power to take down the zombie fighters as they charged forward. A small contingent made a dash for it, trying to outflank Christian and his small team. But Christian caught their charge, and dropped them mid-stride. Despite his success, however, it seemed inevitable that they would be surrounded in relatively short order. There were so many more of the creatures than the hundred he’d estimated at the beginning of the assault. Their power levels were so low that they barely pinged against his vampire senses even now, when he could see them in the flesh. As a group, they were noticeable, but as individuals, they were barely there.
“We need to pull back,” Marc yelled, dropping the mag from his MP5, checking to verify it was empty, then slapping it back in. “I’m out.”
“Same here,” Scoville called. He slung his weapon over his back, freeing his hands to fight.
“Back to the outpost.” Christian had to shout to be heard over the unceasing and high-pitched growl of the enemy. “On my mark.” He killed another two zombie vamps who tried to slip behind them and cut off their retreat, before shouting, “Now!”
The three of them ran back to the outpost and the horde followed. By the time they put their backs to the building, they were trapped. The only way out was through the bodies of their enemies. So be it.
The fight was brutal and bloody. The attacking vampires had no weapons but their bodies, and they used them without regard for survival, launching themselves into the air, fingers curled into claws, nascent fangs protruding through bloodied lips. With no ammo, Marc and Scoville fell back on their own vampiric powers. They weren’t as strong as Christian, but they weren’t lacking, either. Together, the three of them fought systematically, taking out vampire after vampire with controlled bursts of power. Christian knew that eventually the other two would run out of juice. Their strength would drain well before his did. He had the power to end it before that happened, to mow these pitiful creatures down with a single massive blow. It would kill most of them, and knock the rest senseless. Marc and Scoville could then deliver the coups de grâce. But while it was tempting to get it over with, he was wary of using up too much of his power in a fight against these weaklings. Not with Hubert still lurking out there somewhere.
Christian had every confidence he could defeat the French lord, but victory could not be taken for granted. Hubert was powerful and ruthless, and Christian would have to be at his best. Which was why he had to resist the temptation to end this part of the battle quickly.
One of Hubert’s vamps suddenly came roaring through the swarm. Bigger than the others, his red eyes bore a gleam of intellect that the others lacked, and it seemed to drive him forward. He made straight for Marc, rolling beneath the bursts of destruction being generated by all three of them. He managed to tackle Marc around the legs and send him tumbling to the ground, where he wrapped gnarled fingers around his throat, and bore down. His face was contorted with hatred, fangs gleaming, and ropey muscles straining, as he tried to choke the life out of him.
Christian spun around, grabbed the vamp by his long, greasy hair, yanked him off Marc, and tossed him through the air. He landed on top of the horde who immediately began attacking him, biting and clawing, seeming not to understand that he was one of their own, knowing only that he’d come from the enemy. And all the while they kept up that weird keening growl.
“Marc?” Christian asked, his attention fixed on their enemy, killing any of them who ventured too close.
“I’m good,” his lieutenant said, jumping gracefully back to his feet. His neck was bleeding where the vamp’s fingernails had dug into the skin, and, at any other time, Christian would have pulled him out of the fight to treat those wounds, which were surely filthy. But not tonight. It was only the three of them, and everyone had to keep fighting. But even with all of them giving their best, Christian knew they couldn’t stand against these creatures for the rest of the night. Exhaustion would take its toll, and he was wasting his power on these pathetic vampires when no matter how many he took down, more would come to fill the gap.