Page 46 of Blood and Magic (RBMC: Helena, MT #2)

Vermillion

I t took too long for us to get to her. Her pain echoed through our bond like razors under my skin, like they were scraping me apart from the inside out.

“They’re here,” Pink said, staring at the crumbling slaughterhouse with an intense focus.

“You’re sure?” Kodiak asked, his eyes already gone red to his wolf.

Understandably, my beast was also close to the surface. He couldn’t retreat or let me rest until we had her again. The human, too, had a vengeful streak that wouldn’t be calmed.

“I’m sure,” Pink said. “I can sense those motherfuckers like a plague.”

Kodiak nodded and turned to the group. “Split up. You know your groups. Stay tight. Keep an eye on your six.”

Fenris gripped my shoulder in a reassuring squeeze, but it didn’t help.

I knew I had my pack behind me, but it was my fault she had a target on her in the first place.

I should have kept my distance from her.

If I had, she might not have transitioned.

As soon as I thought it, I remembered Lycan telling me she was close at Orion’s wedding, and I chastised myself for my shame.

This would have happened anyway. I couldn’t have stopped it.

I pushed thoughts like that out of my mind and focused on the task.

We had to get in there and find her. With two pistols on my waist and an assault rifle in my arms, I snuck around the corner of the building toward the side entrance.

I’d been able to pull up blueprints, and I knew this led to the basement.

The last time we’d raided a vampire nest, they’d kept Sol and Guin tied up in the darkest room, so I suspected they’d do the same here.

Just as we approached the door, Larentia held up a fist to stop us, narrowing her gaze at the entry. I smelled them before I saw them, the decrepit decay of rotting flesh. It hit me in the nose, and I recoiled, forcing my legs to stay still so I didn’t rush into an ambush.

One heartbeat went by before the thick metal doors burst open, five vampires pouring out.

They launched at us, two taking Larentia down before Fenris fired bullets into their brains.

I rained hellfire down on them, shooting before thinking, but the biggest one in the back jumped on me, knees to my chest, forcing me to the ground before I could stop him.

I landed with a loud grunt, and pain rattled through my sternum, but I managed to get my pistol and aim it at his temple.

He grabbed my neck and bared his fangs like he meant to tear into my jugular.

I shot before he could. Cold, disgusting brains splattered my face, and I winced to keep from getting it in my eyes, pushing to my feet so I could help my teammates.

Pink had ripped a vampire in half and thrown its carcass to the side, while Fenris shot at three more that piled out of the door before they could attack. Larentia stood and brushed herself off before checking in.

“Everyone okay?” she asked, her observant gaze trailing the length of each of us.

“Let’s go,” I snarled, taking the lead this time.

I sensed my girl somewhere inside, and when we emerged into a long hallway, my wolf told me to head straight, even though we were meant to take the stairs on the left and go to the basement.

The ceiling was falling apart, thick pieces hanging in scattered spots, the musky scent of mold nearly masking the overwhelming aroma of death.

The floors were littered with garbage and peeling wallpaper.

This place hadn’t been operational for years.

“This way,” Larentia said, nodding toward the stairs, but I resisted. Maeve wasn’t down there. My instincts told me to go forward, that I would find her up ahead.

I didn’t respond, just continued treading lightly as I went in the direction of my girl.

“Mill,” Fenris hissed. “C’mon. What are you doing?”

“Maeve’s up this way.” I kept going, ignoring the protests of my packmates behind me.

“Go,” Pink said. “I’ll take the basement.”

“Not alone,” Larentia said. “Vermillion, stop.”

I didn’t. I couldn’t. My wolf and I were laser-focused on one thing: getting to Maeve as quickly as possible.

Her torment and fear raced through my veins, and the most vicious part of me urged me forward.

As I moved, I stepped on something that sounded like broken glass, but as soon as I moved my foot, a loud blast went off to my left, and a slicing pain shot down my right side.

I wilted and dropped to the ground, crumpling onto one knee.

“Goddamn it, Mill!” Fenris grabbed my shirt and hauled me up, yanking me into the room on the right as more blasts sounded up and down the hall. I’d triggered a trip wire, setting off a string of rifles positioned in the corridor.

“Fuck,” I groaned, grabbing at the wound on my ribs. My fingers came away wet with blood, but it wasn’t serious. It was barely a cut. “I’m okay.”

“Hell,” Fenris said, running his hands back through his hair. “What are you doing? We have orders.”

“My mate is down there, Fen,” I said. “You’d do the same fucking thing.”

When the guns stopped shooting, I peeked my head out into the hallway to make sure we were alone.

Once I verified we were, I stepped out and stared at the ground so I didn’t set off anything else.

My rifle held high, I continued, checking each door as I walked.

Fenris fell into step behind me, Pink and Larentia behind him, begrudgingly staying with me despite the breach in orders.

“Mill,” came Kodiak’s voice in my head. “Stick to the plan.”

I ignored him, pushing his frustrated voice away. Technically, I would have to answer for this, but I didn’t care. Only one thing mattered.

“Goddamn it, Mill,” Larentia said. “Fine. Lead the way.”

Just as we walked into the opening at the end of the hall, a group of vampires appeared out of the shadows, snarling and hissing, blood dripping from their chins.

I recognized the scent. It was Maeve’s, and that infuriated me.

A roar ripped out of my chest as I raised my gun to shoot them, but Fenris and Pink reacted quicker.

My buddy pulled the pin from one of Serpents’ gas grenades and launched it, tugging me back into the corridor as it exploded.

Crimson vapor filled the space, reeking like shifter blood and chemicals.

The vampires recoiled at first, but it made them woozy, and they dropped to the floor one at a time until all of them were incapacitated.

“That was Maeve’s blood,” I roared, feeling sick. My wolf bucked at what little restraint I had on him, begging to take over, pleading to have his revenge.

“I know, brother,” Fenris said.

“We’re with you,” Larentia added. “Let’s kill these fuckers, and we’ll keep going.”

We went around the room and fired bullets into their heads, but I knew we’d have to come back and cut them to pieces to keep them down forever.

Their brains splattered on the floor, and when some of it hit me in the face, I winced and wiped the wretched stuff away.

Fuck, I’d be covered in the slime by the time I got to her, but I didn’t care.

I couldn’t think of how I looked right now.

After we put these fuckers down, I sensed Maeve was off to the right, so we entered another long corridor, checking each door as we passed it.

My pulse thundered, her energy getting stronger under my skin as we drew closer.

We’d just reached the end when the door on our left flew open, bodies piling out of it faster than I could count.

Two became four became six, and I stumbled back, the vile scent nearly blinding me.

I fired my rifle, but there were too many, and the weight of them took me down to the ground.

I swung my arm, nailing one in the face before twisting to hold another by the neck. Its enormous fangs chomped two inches from my face, and I snarled, shoving it to the side. A sharp pinching slice tore through my calf, another through my forearm, and I screamed.

“Vermillion!” came the anguished sound of my best friend, mere feet from me.

Even I was brave enough to admit things weren’t going well, and I reached for my knife, stabbing it into the eye of the Scorpion on top of me. It wilted to the side, and I went for my pistol, aiming it at the monsters by my leg.

“Die, you fucking bloodsucking bitches!” Rage exploded from me as I shot them, but then my gun clicked and went lifeless. I’d run out of bullets, my rifle had fallen out of reach, and there were still more coming. I scrambled backward, and Pink grabbed my shirt to pull me to my feet.

“We’re fucked,” he said. “Let’s fall back.”

I couldn’t swallow that. I could only go forward. She was just on the other side of?—

A blinding white light cut off my train of thought, and I clenched my eyes shut, holding up a hand to block it out.

A vibrant magical plume permeated the space behind me and the hallway up ahead.

The rotten decay of vampires quickly turned to a burning smell, ash filling my nose and throat.

I coughed, and when the light finally died, I focused on a silhouette behind me.

Boots echoed off the cement floor as the person came closer, and I recognized the leather cut before I saw her face.

The Royal Harlots MC: Asheville, NC, read the patch on one side. On the other side, her nametag said Marta— Prospect.

“Hiya, boys,” she said, tilting her head to one side. “Need some help?”

The Royal Harlots in Asheville were witches, and they’d been tasked with keeping America safe against rogue monsters.

Kodiak had called them in for help, but we didn’t think they’d make it in time.

Marta had long dark hair that she’d piled into a ponytail, and for being as powerful as she was, she wasn’t much taller than five feet.

“Thank you,” I said, grimacing through the bite on my leg.

“For real,” Larentia added. “We would have been vampire feed without you.”