Page 63 of Those That Are Lost (Hidden Vampires #2)

TY

T he bastard stabbed me.

White hot pain slices through my left side as the blade gets pulled free. He’s hit something major, definitely a lung, and has possibly even caught my heart. He doesn’t pull the knife clean out either, twisting it and grating the side against the bone of my ribs.

I can’t stop the scream that leaves my chest with that move.

My ex-leader has clearly been in training since our last altercation. He’s faster, slicker, but still needing a damn weapon like the fucking coward he is.

I’d planned for it, after Ronan had brandished one before, when the pack had captured us the first time. But it still goes against everything that we are.

I need to end this now. I’m not going to last long before my injury takes me down. It shouldn’t be fatal, but it could lead me there. The wound is debilitating enough Adicious could gain the upper hand.

As Adicious raises the knife again, Red is back in the fray. I’d shoved her out of the way on Adicious’s first advance but am powerless to stop her this time. She intercepts his swing and hauls him backwards, twisting his arm.

I muster my strength and go for the opening she’s created.

One hand holding my chest together, I use the other to hook his neck and bring his throat down to my waiting fangs.

I don’t hold back as I rip through his artery, muscle, and ligaments.

I close my jaw around the side of his neck and pull, removing it all.

I see the fear in Adicious’s eyes as I rear back to rid my mouth of him. It’s the first time he’s allowed the emotion to show. He knows I’m about to end him. I’m about to win.

Red manages to wrestle the knife from his grip.

As she brandishes it against his side, he makes one final attempt to escape our grasp.

They knock into me, sending me dizzy as I desperately try to keep my feet underneath me.

I fail as Red jumps to his back. His blood slicked hands go for my throat as he garbles more blood from his mouth, like he’s trying to talk.

Hopefully I crushed his windpipe too. He’ll have seconds left with the amount of blood he’s losing but he’s determined to take me out with him as his grip tightens on my neck.

I try with all my might to push him off.

I feel Red panic as she feels my pain and my consciousness slipping.

The crack echoes through the room before the body holding me down goes limp. Adicious crashes to the ground as Red snaps his spine.

She’s left panting, skin painted red, crouched in front of me.

“Sever his head,” I force out, needing her to complete the job before I can succumb to my injuries.

She hesitates for a second before moving to follow my orders. I grip the torso of the body between us as she leans down and rips the other side of his neck with her fangs. With the skin and muscle cut on both sides it's easy for her to decapitate Adicious fully.

She throws his head across the room without care about where it lands.

My vision blurs again as my mate scrabbles across the body to hold me up and assess my wound.

“Gods, fucking hell. Ty, stay awake.” She applies pressure to my side, sending pain shooting through my ribs like a hot poker.

I can’t focus, all I can smell is her blood as I wobble on my knees.

“Drink!” Her order comes from far away. I feel her warm wrist on my lips.

I pull back, she’s been injured too. I can’t weaken her further by drinking from her.

“You damn well can and will. Even if I have to force it down your throat. Now drink!” Her voice comes through more forcefully this time and her wrist is pushed so hard to my mouth, my lips part.

I can’t ignore my body's instinct as my fangs sink into her skin. She tastes euphoric, like ecstasy but better.

A few mouthfuls and I feel my head clear, the darkness receding before it can claim me. I need more but pull my mouth free. From the small amount I’ve taken, I can feel my body healing the most crucial injuries.

Red sags against me as she feels my strength returning. “Thank gods.” She inhales deeply at my neck, breathing in my scent.

I find the strength to wrap my arms around her, pulling her flush to my chest. It’s a little awkward as her hand still covers my open wound but I need her warmth against me.

I lay a gentle kiss on the top of her head and rub gentle circles on her back as I reassure her. “I’ll be okay. I’ve got you. We’re okay. ”

I allow a couple more seconds of peace before pulling back. Feeling strong enough to stand, I get to my feet and pull my mate with me. She eyes me warily, assessing, but relaxes when she sees I’m not swaying.

The room around us looks exactly like what it is, the scene of a bloody murder. Smashed furniture, blood splattering the walls and floor, not to mention the body.

“The pack?” Red gasps as we hear a particularly loud scream from outside.

“We need to get to them. Henry and Ash were coordinating the attack.”

“You need more blood first, that wound isn’t sealed.” I go to argue but see the ‘I dare you’ look in my mate’s eyes as she looks up at me. “If you think I’m letting you go out there, into another fight, with your chest exposed, you can think again.”

“If you think I’m staying here, whilst you go fight, you can think again,” I warn her with a growl.

“There should be blood packets in the common room, we need to go there first,” she tells me with a tone that commands I don’t argue back.

I’ve always loved her fiery temper, so I simply grip the back of her neck and duck to kiss her.

It’s not gentle. I force my way into her mouth, pushing past her stunned reaction.

I make the kiss quick but hit her with the full force of my emotions towards her.

It’s been days since my lips have been on hers and I need her more than my next breath.

The taste of her distracts me from our current situation a little.

I lace my tongue around hers again, the short kiss I intended turning a little longer.

We both pull away gasping. “I missed you so much, my brave, fiery mate.”

“Me too,” Red whispers, tears making her emerald eyes shine in the dim light .

The sudden pang of pain shoots through us both, landing us both firmly back the danger we’re still in.

Henry…

“Has he been hurt?” Red’s panic-stricken face searches mine for answers I don’t have

“Possibly. Something’s happened for sure.

Grab a shirt and let's go.” Red steps back and looks down at the tattered material hanging from her body.

The dress she’d been wearing does not cover much of her.

With vampiric speed, she rips it the rest of the way off and quickly dons some leggings and a t-shirt.

“Follow me,” she directs as she races to the door. I have no option but to obey.

Keeping close behind Red as we make our way across my old house, I get flashbacks to the last time we were here. To the last escape attempt we made. The one where I didn’t make it out. This time will be different, and we don’t intend to leave.

We’ve already taken out the pack leader.

The rest of the males living here will have felt it, their pack bond breaking.

I don’t know how several will have reacted to that; they might surrender, others might double down and fight harder thinking they can take over.

Either way, this night is far from over.

Red grabs my hand and interlinks our fingers as we reach the bottom of the staircase.

The place is a bloodbath with splatter across all walls, the front door and the floor.

The noise of fighting is all around, snarls and growls mix with grunts of pain and the smashing of furniture.

There’s nobody in the entrance hall and it's hard to figure out which way we should head.

I close my eyes for a second and feel for the bond I have to Henry. I think he has to be our priority.

“We’re still going for blood first. I want to get to Henry so don’t argue with me but I’m still not letting you into another fight until we’ve healed you a little more.” Red pulls me in the direction of the common room.

The bond to my best friend eases as we move down the hall. I think we might both get our way as it feels like we’re heading towards Henry and the place where the pack stores its blood.

The scene we’re greeted with is chaotic and reminds me of being back on the battlefield.

Henry and Ash, in his wolf form, are engaged with Ronan and Cairn.

Henry is holding one of his arms tightly to his chest as he swings with the other.

The flesh hanging off the limb he’s shielding makes bile rise in my throat.

It’s like he’s fought with a meat grinder and lost. The wolf fighting at his side is positively feral and causing a lot of damage as he shreds into Cairn’s torso with his claws, the male struggling under the weight of the sizeable animal.

Ronan seems to be pulling back but Henry isn’t giving him a clear shot at freedom.

Freedom being through the door we’re now blocking.

I see the moment Ronan spots us, freezes and goes visibly paler.

He knows he’s not getting out of this room alive, and I let a grin split my face as I go to ensure it.

‘Sorry, Red,’ I apologise to my mate before launching into the fight, getting blood for myself will have to wait.

Slamming into Ronan and forcing him away from Henry, I shove him back hard enough that he goes flying into the bar top. There’s a lot of smashed glass covering the surface and it must cut into his back as he lands against the wooden top as the scent of his blood permeates the air.

Red must’ve read my thoughts as I calculated my next move because she moves in a blur, darting around me and over the bar to grab Ronan by the hair and one arm before I can reach him.

He kicks out as I approach and tries to twist in my mate’s grasp, but he’s stuck, like a beetle on its back, unable to right itself.

“Fuck you,” Ronan snarls.

“You’re happy to see me then?” I toy with him.

“You killed him, didn’t you?” he snarls. “I told him to be more cautious, that this seemed like a trap.”

“Too bad Adicious didn’t listen.”

I see Red’s fingers dig harder into his scalp, nails cutting the skin. Ronan grabs her arm with his free one and tries his best to pull her off.

I move to pull his hands off her before he manages to loosen her grip. Henry’s also at my side and covered in more blood than he was a second ago. He grabs one of Ronan’s legs to ease his squirming and pins him down further.

“Any last words?” Red grinds out between clenching teeth.

“You’re just as bad as he was. Doing this, wiping out more of our kind when we’re on the brink of extinction.”

“It’s those like you that caused the hatred to ignite,” I snap, moving round the bar. I put my hands on either side of his skull and twist sharply, breaking his neck and rendering him unconscious.

I keep twisting as Red lets go of his limp body until the muscles in his neck give way and his head tears clean off.

It almost feels anti-climatic. But with three on one, there was no way Ronan had a chance.

I wished there had been time to inflict the pain on him that he deserved.

There had been countless times where I’d imagined peeling the skin off his bones, making him suffer—Adicious too—for all the cruelty they’d inflicted on the others in the pack.

But the priority is getting rid of them.

Either way, they have ended up dead and we’re still alive.

Looking over to check on Ash, the wolf sits beside a very messed up looking Cairn. Ash has one paw on his head, looking almost comical. He lifts his paw and tilts his head as we make eye contact, his large ears flicking with the movement.

He’s checking with me whether to end the shredded unconscious vampire on the floor.

I nod and we watch as Ash gives a small bark before closing his powerful jaws around Cairn’s throat and shaking him like a chew toy. Henry moves over to hold the body still, by placing his foot on Cairn’s chest. Ash tugs again and Cairn’s head comes away, rolling across the floor.

“Here, drink.” Red thrusts a blood packet into my hand, having pulled a few from the fridge.

She moves over to Henry, handing him one as well. His arm looks horrendous and must be painful but it’ll heal. He takes the blood gratefully and immediately lifts it to his lips.

Red looks back over her shoulder and sees I’m still not drinking, so I hurriedly open the pack using my fangs and down several mouthfuls. The blood instantly heats in my stomach, my body quickly digesting it to further heal my injury.

“Can you tell where Antares is?” Henry asks as soon as he’s finished drinking.

“Have you seen him?” Red asks.

“Yeah, he was fighting with the rest out the back. We followed Ronan and Cairn in here as they tried to run.”

“Then let's go. I do feel him close.”

I nod in agreement and Ash yaps as he bounds to the door. We’ll need to burn the bodies, but first we need to finish this.