Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,52

of her footfalls echoed in my ears as she broke off and headed toward the corralling vampires, breaking them up with well-placed kicks and punches. The humans didn't stop to watch the show, not that their eyes could have followed what was happening.

One moment I was launching myself at the feeder, and the next I was beside him, unsure if it was my vampiric powers that had gotten me there, or if I had simply stepped through the shadows. Either way, a moment later, his head thudded against the nearly frozen ground as he disappeared in a burst of ash.

We're killing them? Yuki wasn't delighted, but she wasn't sad either.

At this point, we have to.

I felt her mental nudge of agreement. Kicks and punches turned into bone crunching, wet squelches as she used the only weapons she had to separate their heads from their bodies. Her hands.

Shea stepped out of the shadows and separated another head with his keen, wicked looking dagger. Dar and Ellis ran back into the square. Dar immediately joined the battle while Ellis, surprisingly enough, aided the wounded, and hopefully not dead, humans. His hands were aglow with purplish fire.

Some of the vampires in the local branch of the clan were formidable. Not one of the ones in the square were anywhere close to being remotely powerful. Abernathy had managed to cultivate the weakest of the bunch. But his intention had never been about winning, it had been about exposure. In that, he had succeeded.

"Fuck." I stood atop the steps of city hall and surveyed the damage. Of the vampires, there was nothing left but dust. The one human sat at the base of the tree covered in blood. Another was being held up by his brethren. The one lying on the ground didn't make it. Ellis' stare and sad shake of his head told me that much. Absolutely pissed, I banished the scythe and hung the broom charm back on the leather thong around my neck. Shoving my hands back in my pockets, I headed toward Chief to figure out if there was any way to salvage the situation.

I made it halfway toward him when one of the OWLs pulled a gun and shot me in the head.

Chapter 15

"Will you shut off whatever the fuck is beeping. My head is fucking killing me." The nurse's shoes screeched against the linoleum tiled floor. Then her voice matched the sound of her shoes still echoing in my cranium as she took off running without shutting off the goddess damned beeping machine.

Holding up my hand, I smothered it with shadows until it was muffled enough that the pain subsided, and my eye stopped twitching in time. Muffled meeps I could stand. Ear piercing beeps, not so much.

Two sets of racing footsteps returned a moment later.

Without opening my eyes, I knew it was Dr. Shapiro. I recognized his scent the moment he walked through my door. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you're awake. Let alone alive."

"Hey, Doc."

"Can you??h??elease my machine? I want to check your vitals."

"Can you put it on mute?"

"Yes."

I waved my hand, releasing it from its shadow cocoon. It beeped twice before he found the right button and made my fucking day. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"So, what's the prognosis?"

"Your vitals are stable, EEG normal, and you seem fine."

"Why do I feel a but coming on?"

"You need surgery to get the bullet out of your brain."

"It's still in there?"

"The guy shot you with a thirty-two ACP. I can't believe it made it through your thick skull to begin with." He sighed.

I opened my eyes and instantly regretted the decision. The blinding white lights of the overhead fluorescents were twenty times worse than the incessant beeping. My eyes twitched and started watering. Closing them as quickly as I could, I felt for the wound in my skull. That wasn't there.

"Don't bother. You healed right up."

"With a bullet in my brain."

"Yep."

"Lucky me."

"Come on. We're going to take you down for some more X-rays. I want another look before we put you on the operating table."

"X-rays? Not a CT Scan?"

"Steel jacket. Probably not the best idea to put you in a machine with giant spinning magnets. You'll scramble what you got left."

"That's pleasant."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want me to sugar coat the fact that you have a fucking bullet lodged in your brain?"

"Maybe." I grinned without looking at him.

"Just do me a favor. Promise me that if you survive this, you'll stop putting yourself in situations where you end up