Page 36 of The Wayward Sons & The Vampires of Fortune

My breath caught in my chest as I waited. If I’d been off by even a hair, we were fucked.

Another seizure rolled through the vampire’s body. The skull cracked and fractured, turning to dust right in front of us and leaving behind a pile of clothes crumpled at the foot of the stairs.

Thank fuck for vampire-killing bullets.

“Holy shit.” Nash let out as the initial shock wore off. “Your record ain’t lyin’.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I replied. In a room full of superpowers, I had a gun.At least I was a damn good shot.

“Up.” He hurried ahead, taking the stairs two at a time. “One down, kid.”

“One down, six to go,” Riley said in our ear. I’d almost forgotten the kid was there.

Up one half a set of stairs.

Around the bend.

Up the second half.

Nash paused at the door, hand hovering over the knob.

“The stairs let out into a hall,” he told me quickly. “We’re goin’ right, and then an immediate left. We’ve got a whole goddamn floor to cross. Stick to the wall, watch—”

“Your six. I got it,” I interrupted.

“Good.”

“What about the others?”

“They’ll be behind us. You just worry about us gettin’ across the buildin’.”

Right. Easier said than done.

I stuck to his back, doing everything I’d already done once.

The silence was consuming as we stepped into the unlit hallway and took a right. My steps were in tune with his as I followed him, my gaze glued on the path behind us.

The short hall spilled into an open, unfinished building. Tarps, power tools, support beams. The set up meant it’d be a nightmare to get across.

We made it two steps before rhythmic clicking bounced off the walls around us. They came from everywhere all at once with no easy source identification. My heart lodged in my throat.

Nash’s hand latched onto my shirt at the waist, and he inched me closer.

“Don’t move,” he whispered.

“Are they fucking dinosaurs?” I found myself saying, channeling a little bit of Gray impulsively.

“I fuckin’ wish,” he muttered. My gaze followed his, trying to track the sound without luck. The goddamn obstacles helped nothing.

And then the clicking stopped.

The air stilled.

The silence was deafening, taunting us about what was coming.

Was it one vampire?

Two?