A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,114
second patch on with my left hand, pressed hard, and let go.
The violent currents subsided a moment later. Lungs burning, I prayed that the redbill was finally dead while I struggled to remove my helmeted suit, the heart-stopping cold engulfing me as I kicked to the surface. The pulse was over, and I didn’t have the energy to sustain the suit’s weight.
Then again, hypothermia might kick in soon. But I trusted my brother to fish me out before that.
Breaking the surface, I heaved a gloriously deep gasp of air while I reached for my comm and wiped my eyes.
Two redbills hurtled toward me from the sky above, their razor-sharp beaks angled to strike.
My heart lodged in my throat, and in one motion I gasped again and dove hard and fast, bracing myself for beaks to slice through the water. I should’ve expected them. It was Bill Behavior 101. The birds saw their companion take down prey (or so it looked from a distance), and they wanted a piece of it. A snatch-n-fly had never happened to me before, so I wasn’t as prepared as I should’ve been. Simulations only took you so far.
I wouldn’t be able to survive this kind of attack even with a suit. The only idea I had was to get as deep as possible, rely on the water to hide me, and resurface far enough from them to get away, all before my lungs gave out. It sounded impossible.
But it never came to that. The redbills didn’t follow me. There was a commotion above the surface: two deep, echoing booms followed by a bright flash. Two enormous splashes disturbed the water around me.
I rose back to the surface to breathe, blinking furiously when I reached air. Our aircraft hovered in the sky. A tall, broad form dangled from its extended ladder, a wide-barreled grenade launcher gripped in one hand.
“Lyra!” Zach bellowed, his head swiveling wildly as he scanned the waves.
“I-I’m here,” I managed, almost choking on an incoming wave. I raised a hand and flailed.
I could’ve sworn I heard his sharp exhalation even from this distance, and the helicopter moved closer. Slinging his gun over his shoulder, Zach climbed to the bottom of the ladder as it swung directly overhead. He reached his hand out to me, and I kicked hard to grasp it, allowing him to haul me up.
I swung around to the side of the ladder opposite him, both of us clinging to the same rungs, and met my older brother’s brown eyes with a deep inhalation. His lips stretched slowly, the sheer panic I’d seen in him only moments before melting into his signature devil-may-care grin.
“Having fun?” he asked, reaching through the rungs to smooth back my sopping wet bangs.
“A friggin’ ball.” I batted his hand away and started climbing before I froze in the harsh wind.
Zach followed me up. “Are you hurt?”
“Mostly shaken. A few bruises. I’ll survive.” My teeth chattered.
“Not gonna lie, you had us all crapping our pants back there. I don’t think any of us saw that sucker returning for more… At least all’s well that ends well, eh? You gave me a chance to use this baby.”
He was referring to the grenade launcher. We weren’t supposed to use heavy explosives unless a location was cleared of citizens, which was why we’d started with weaker gunfire at the pier. Out here, though, we could blow things up to our hearts’ content.
Something Zach enjoyed more than was probably healthy.
“You’re welcome,” I replied, my voice dryer than the Sahara.
As I reached the top of the ladder, a pair of strong hands grabbed me and hauled me up. The warmth of the aircraft’s interior enveloped me like a sauna. Our captain—and our real first-in-command—stood before me, his sharp blue eyes narrowed in scrutiny. But before he or I could say a word, someone attacked my head with a towel.
“Better get you warm, fast, Lyra.” A familiar voice came from behind me, muffled by the towel scraping my ears as it swiftly transformed into a turban. Hands spun me around until I stood face-to-face with my brother’s girlfriend. “Come and get changed,” Gina said firmly. Her light amber eyes were concerned and relieved as she took my hand and led me to the back of the aircraft.
“Yes, get changed, Sloane.” Captain Bryce’s thick Scottish voice sounded from behind. “And then we all need to talk.”