Series: Shifter Ops Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
“I heard that!” Parker calls, and I grin to myself. I was hoping to snap him into the present.
“Let’s do this.” I trot towards the fiery shell of the hearse. I hope someone has a plan because I’m winging it.
Red eyes gleam behind the vampire's head. Fiona. I try to get a better look, but she’s deep in the shadows. I don’t know what she’s doing, but when the hose stops spraying water, and the vampires peer into the end, I get some idea.
Jenkins looks up from the hose and starts to turn in Fiona’s direction, and someone shouts “hey!”
The vampires turn my way, and I realize it was me. “Hey,” I try again, and it comes out a bit more squeaky this time. But I have to distract the vampires from Fiona. “Ya got to be the stupidest vampires we’ve ever met.” In for a penny, in for a pound.
The vampires’ hiss unhinged my spine.
“But,” I take a breath. “It’s time ya learned a lesson.”
“And what lesson is that?” Charles asks. Behind his head, the red eyes blink once.
“No one fucks with my family.”
Behind me, Parker racks the shotgun.
Jenkins and Charles share an evil laugh. “And what are you going to do? Fight us? You can barely walk in a straight line. Surrender now, and we’ll only throw you back in the cages.”
“Never,” I growl.
“Then you’ll all die here, alone,” Charles sniffs. “No one will know or care. No one will miss you. You’re not important. Not part of any pack.”
“You’re wrong,” I say. “We are a pack. A pack of weirdos is still a pack. We stand together.”
“Then you’ll die together.”
I want to take a step backward, but Parker’s right behind me now. His familiar scent, scared as it is, gives me strength. “Maybe. What matters is we have each other's back.”
“Kill them,” Charles says to Jenkins.
And whatever Fiona did to the hose, she undoes, making water gush out and spray the vampires.
“My dressing gown!” Charles cries.
“This is real suede!” Jenkins frantically tries to wipe the water off, and when it doesn’t work, he flashes his fangs in my direction. “You’ll pay for this.”
I’m gonna die anyway. Might as well go out swinging. “Yaaaahhh!!!” I yell and rush forward.
Parker
Charles blurs towards us, when a white shape drops from the sky. A giant dove dives and slashes the vampire with her claws, flying off as quickly as she came. Charles stops and screams, his face in his hands.
“My eye!”
“Fecking A,” whoops Declan. “Go Allison!” He races off into the night. I fire the shotgun to give coverage.
Jenkins snarls at me and blurs my way. I get a close up of fangs before claws hook into my jacket and carry me aloft. The surprise almost makes me drop the shotgun.
“Thanks for the rescue,” I call up to Allison, and she coos. “Can you get me on top of the barn?” She coos again and wings higher to drop me onto the roof. My boots shuffle on the metal, but my shifter reflexes kick in, and I’m able to balance on the apex and raise the gun. The vampires are blurring shapes, scurrying around, trying to find my friends. I fire in quick succession, taking the recoil into my shoulder, trying to distract the enemy.
A soft trill is my only warning before Allison descends again and lifts me off the roof. Her claws are sharp enough to pierce through my jacket, but she holds me gently. Below my dangling feet, Jenkins snarls up at me, his wet hair flying in the wind.
He almost got me. And when a vampire gets you, it’s all over. These ones are pretty inept, but they’re still vampires.
“I don’t think we can make it until daybreak,” I shout to Allison the dove. We’re fighting, but we’re not winning. I’m not sure if the odds were ever in our favor.
Allison coos back. I’m not sure what she’s telling me, but the sound is very soothing.
Down below, Charles is facing off with something in the shadows. Something hissing and spitting. Charles reaches for it, and yelps, cradling his hand to his chest. “Demon creature.” He backs away, and Declan blasts him with the hose.
In a blur, Charles has Declan off his feet and in a chokehold. Declan’s legs kick as the vampire’s hand tightens around his throat.
“No,” I cry. “Let him go.” I writhe, trying to get free of Allison’s grip. “Let me go, I have to save him!” But I don’t know how. No matter how close she gets me or how fast I run, I won’t make it in time. And how do I defeat a vampire?
Around us the coyotes howl. And a louder, deep howl slices through me. Louder than the coyotes, than the cooing murder dove, it raises the hair all over my body.
And from my throat breaks a loud, hyena cackle. A laugh I haven’t heard in a very long time.