out of sight. When the Knight straightened, he held a long, silver-bladed sword in his hand.
“Say your prayers, bloodsucker.” Tightening his grip on the weapon, Trey 95 rounded the chair and walked slowly toward Quill.
Quill took a step back. Closing his eyes, he summoned Callie’s image, wanting it to be the last thing he remembered.
There was a loud thunk as the heavy shackles that bound him hit the floor. Startled, Quill opened his eyes to see the sword arcing toward him. He ducked out of the way as the blade sliced through the air where his head had been. Darting forward, he locked his hands around the Knight’s throat. For a moment, their gazes met, and then Quill gave a quick, clean twist. The sword fell from the Knight’s hands as the life went out of his eyes.
Quill let the body fall to the floor as the front door flew open and Callie ran inside. She didn’t say anything, just threw her arms around him and held on tight.
“I thought I told you to get out of here,” Quill murmured, thinking he’d never been happier to see anyone in his life.
Leaning back, she looked up at him. “Did you really think I’d leave you here alone?”
He smiled down at her. “No. In fact, I was counting on a little outside magical help. That’s the second time you’ve saved my life.”
She grinned at him. “But who’s counting?” Then, cupping his face in her hands, she went up on her tiptoes and kissed him.
After a few moments, Quill lifted his head. “Where’s Vivian?”
“I told her to go home or go stay with relatives.”
He nodded. “We need to get back to town right away. Something tells me that this guy sent the town’s location to all the Knights. I just hope we aren’t too late.”
Callie closed her eyes as his arm wrapped around her waist, a silent prayer in her heart. He wasn’t the only one who had a bad feeling about what they might find when they got there.
Chapter 21
Callie’s stomach churned as she stared at the charred bodies sprawled in the street. The vampires—nine in number—had all been shot numerous times—with silver bullets, Quill told her. Too weak to fight back, they had been decapitated, their hearts cut from their chests, their remains burned. A single human female lay among the vampire remains, a gun at her side, a bullet hole in the side of her head.
“I thought the Knights were sworn to protect humanity,” Callie said, her voice bitter.
Quill glanced at the spent cartridges near the woman. They told the tale. “She tried to defend her husband and when that failed, she took her own life.”
Callie turned away. There was no sign of Wendy. Hopefully she and her husband had heeded Quill’s warning and fled before it was too late.
An eerie silence hung over the town, as if the wind and the trees were in mourning.
“How?” she asked in a voice choked with tears. “How did the Knights come and go so quickly?”
“I’m sure the Knight I killed notified his Brothers as soon as he talked to you.” Quill told himself it wasn’t his fault that not all of the vampires had left town. He had warned them in time. The ones who hadn’t left had paid the ultimate price.
Callie glanced around, her gaze probing the shadows. Any number of men could be hiding in the forest that surrounded the town. “Are you sure all the Knights are gone?”
“As sure as I can be.”
Looking up at him, Callie felt an icy chill run through her. She had never seen him look so fierce, so angry.
“I need to bury them,” he said, his voice raw with emotion.
Trying not to look at the bodies, she followed Quill to a partially burned store in town. Inside, he found a shovel and a large wheelbarrow that had escaped the flames.
Handing her the shovel, he pushed the cart back to the scene of the carnage.
Callie trailed behind him, pausing each time he stopped to load a blackened body into the wheelbarrow. When it wouldn’t hold any more, he pushed it deep into the forest. Taking the shovel from her hand, he quickly dug a large hole.
She stood quietly watching as he gently lifted each body and lowered it carefully into the grave. When the conveyance was empty, he dropped the shovel and went back to gather the rest.
When the last corpse had been laid to rest, he filled in the grave, then stood there, jaw