my position and cost me the element of surprise, but it was worth it to take down the larger threats.
Rolling up to the balls of my feet, I edged along the side of my roof to one of the makeshift ladders I’d built into the brick siding. Several quick steps later, my boots touched the gravel below.
I didn’t waste time looking around. Even if the vampires had run, they wouldn’t be here yet.
Moving a few feet to the right, I knelt and pulled open one of my trapdoors in the dirt, then dropped into the tunnel below. My entire property held a maze beneath the surface, all lined with hidden entrances that could only be accessed by my thumbprint.
Maybe I should have put Willow down here, I thought as I closed the door over my head. Then I frowned at the notion.
Since when did I try to protect others?
Shaking my head, I took off at a sprint toward the area where the largest cluster had been seen on the cameras. They’d probably already split up, but I could catch a few off guard with some of my presents lying in wait throughout the fields.
After a bit of a jog, I slowed my pace, then stopped beside one of my panels to bring up the footage of my property.
Two offenders had already reached the front door.
Three more were rounding the back of my house.
One stood near the outer perimeter, unmoving. Maybe he no longer wanted to play. That’d be the smart decision.
Another was less than ten feet from my position and frozen, likely because he could sense my presence.
I ignored him to hunt for Willow. I found her in the living area with her back pressed up against a wall, her body position alert and defensive. She’d chosen to hide in plain sight, giving her two avenues to escape, both of which were highlighted by the moon coming in through the windows.
Good girl, I thought at her, then searched for the final two intruders.
There. I smiled at their location about a hundred yards from my house. Just a little closer, I urged them as I called up an administration screen on the panel beside their image.
Come on. Take a few steps.
That’s a good boy.
All right, you, too, buddy.
And… three… two… I hit the button and grinned as the explosion rocked the infrastructure around me. My tunnels would be safe—the blast radius was confined to the area they’d just entered and away from my underground haven—but those two vampires would be severely injured or dead, depending on how close they were to the detonation point.
All right, I had seven to go.
The one closest to me had started forward again, making it easy to catch him.
Using my security panel, I engaged a trap point within his trajectory and smirked as he stepped right into it. His resulting howls of pain were music to my ears. The only way out of that literal bear trap was to lose his limb. Oh, it’d grow back eventually, but not quickly enough to save him from me.
The trio behind my house started toward me, searching the field for my location because the idiot above me was shouting about me being nearby.
Yes, walk this way, I encouraged them, an old song popping into my head that I began to hum beneath my breath. No one made music like that anymore. Cinematic arts had died with the human population. A real pity because I rather enjoyed theatrical entertainment. Lycans were somewhat into it, creating their own on occasion, but it wasn’t the same.
I started dancing around to the tune playing in my head while watching the idiots on the monitors move exactly where I wanted. With a little spin, I engaged another explosive and chuckled when they stepped right into it.
“Thanks for playing,” I murmured, not caring if the idiot above me heard it. “Who wants to dance next?”
Still singing the previously famous song, I pulled up the screens of the house and found the other two inside, walking right toward Willow. Smart Guy Number Twelve had retreated, his presence no longer on my property. I’d try to track him down later by scent.
First, I needed to take care of the final two jokers inside my house.
Willow’s tense stance told me she heard them coming for her. Hopefully, she could hold them off until I arrived.
I really should have put her in a safer place.
Why do I care? I wondered as I started running toward her location via the