and activate the lock. Now things were becoming clearer. Becki mentally thanked Kurt for his preparedness. The instant the lock had tripped on the panic room, Kurt would have received a text message. He would be freaking out about now and pissed as hell when he found out that she had not joined the girls in safety.
Becki was not a child; she was not going to hide and wait for someone to rescue her. She sprinted to the gun safe trying to remember the combination. Thirty-three to the right, twenty-four to the left, and…. Think! Calm down and think.
Becki closed her eyes and drew a calming breath before trying again. Thirty-three to the right, twenty-four to the left…and thirty-two to the right! Click! The electronic mechanisms began to move. As the safe door swung open, she frowned at the confusing selection of weapons. Wooden stakes, a cross bow with an assortment of arrows with varying tips, wooden bullets, vials of liquid, and a case of shiny bullets marked ‘silver’. What the hell?
Pale men, large canines, all at once it made perfect sense! The wooden stakes were for Vampires and silver bullets for Werewolves. Judging from what she had witnessed, the Wolves were on their side. This is what Royce had been trying to keep from her.
“ Royce!” Becki screamed. She snatched a wooden steak and tucked it in the waistband of her pants. With hands that shook, she loaded Kurt’s rifle and hand-gun with wooden bullets. Lord, help me, she prayed as she moved toward the front door.
A flash of silver leaped into the pack of snarling wolves. Royce knew instinctively it was Landon. As he touched Landon’s flank, the massive Wolf swung his jaws toward Royce and snarled. In retrospect, perhaps he should have patted his head instead; however, Landon got the message and signaled the pack to quiet down. The Wolves immediately broke ranks and divided. Half the pack formed a semicircle around Royce and Landon while the other half positioned themselves as a barrier between the Vampires and Kurt’s house.
“You know you can’t win this,” Royce advised the pale group. “You also know it can’t go down here. You are all risking execution at the hands of the Council for causing a public spectacle as it is. What is your interest in this place?” Royce asked.
“There is a house full of sweet smelling females,” taunted a bloodsucker with an accompanying flash of his fangs.
“Rouel,” snarled at one of his minions.
“Some are only large enough for a snack, but one in particular interests me on several levels. Adult entertainment and dessert, you might say, all rolled into one. I’ve hungered for her ever since I caught her sweet scent on Trevor,” Rouel leered.
“We need to finish this,” another nervous Vamp insisted. “Get the maps and the girl and let’s get out of here.”
“Over my dead body,” Royce promised as the Wolves began snarling.
“That can be arranged. We know you have the original maps. We know you’ve found the hidden tunnels. We suspect that you have not recovered the coin yet. Otherwise, you wouldn’t still be hanging around. That’s how it works with Special Ops, right?” Rouel snarked. “Oh, don’t worry… I’m in no hurry. You might say I have all the time in the world. I can stick around for a while after you are gone just to, shall we say, tidy up some loose ends.”
Landon growled low in his throat. His pack responded by moving in closer, tightening the circle around the Vamps. The air hummed with tension.
“You are a dead man,” Royce promised.
“I’m already dead,” Rouel reminded, allowing his fangs to drop. “You, on the other hand are still irritatingly alive.”
“Then come and get me, you bastard,” Royce tempted.
“Oh, I will. But presently I have a taste for that sweet thing preparing to bolt through the front door,” he said inhaling as he dematerialized.
Becki opened the front door just as Rouel reappeared. He leaned carelessly against the pecan tree just a few feet away.
Royce felt his heart stop as she stood in the doorway with a sniper rifle pointed at Rouel’s chest.
“Do come out and play, Darling,” The Vamp drawled.
“Go back in the house, Becki. That gun won’t help,” Royce warned.
“But, Royce. I’ve been invited out to play,” she responded sweetly.
“Go back in the house and lock the door,” Royce ordered.
“Royce, I’ve been thinking,” Becki reflected, her rifle still trained on Rouel. “These men were here earlier trying to talk the girls into inviting them in.