Taste

  “Any time now, Ava,” she hissed at me.

  I gazed at Shay’s pale face. “This is your serial killer, except this time, it’s a war!” I raised my voice to ensure everyone heard me. “We’re being invaded by the same vampires who are currently taking over Britain. They’re sending these things here to do the same to us. But we can’t let them. We have to fight back!”

  A flurry of questions were thrown at me, but I ignored them all and carried on. “Silver hurts them. Religious symbols can harm them if enough faith is behind them. Removing their heads kills them. Their bite will paralyse you. They are stronger than you. Stick together and fight back. If you’re not human, help your human neighbours anyway. For once, we’re all in this together, and if nobody’s going to come to our rescue, then we have to save ourselves.”

  I took a deep breath, fighting against an ache in my throat. “The people helping out the humans in those flats over there are so-called rebels. The Féinics has risen. They’ve come out of hiding and risked their freedom to help protect this country. Do the same. If you’re watching… do the same before we’re all screwed.”

  “What are you?” a woman asked, one of the few reporters not freaking out.

  I flashed my fangs, and the crowd took a few steps back, faces horrified and shocked. “This is what I am.” I glanced at Val. “Ready?”

  She nodded grimly, and we both let go of the beast. He leapt forward, straight for the camera, and we yanked him backward by pulling at the silver chain around his neck. He made a strangled sound, his eyes bulging. With one final, desperate tug from Val, we removed his head from his shoulders.

  I grabbed the chain and walked away, leaving the beast’s body where it lay. Shay called my name.

  I glanced back. “That’s how you kill a beast.”

  “You’re going to be in so much trouble for this,” Val said.

  “I know.”

  “Gabe is going to destroy you.”

  “I know.”

  We joined Peter and Gabe on the pavement outside the stark set of flats. The walls and paths were almost exactly the same lifeless colour, and I wondered if the blood stains could ever truly be washed away from the memories of the people who lived within the buildings.

  “There’s a lot coming,” I said. “This is going to be a long night.”

  “Ava,” Peter said.

  “Not now,” I snapped and walked through the permanently open gates to speak to Moses, who sat on the bonnet of a parked car. “Everyone inside and armed?”

  Moses nodded grimly. “Cool trick.”

  “Val’s pretty strong.”

  “Think it was wise to let the whole fucking world know, Ava?”

  I shrugged. “We’ll soon find out.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Crazy bitches all around me. I’m kinda hot for your new friend though. I bet she’d be rough—”

  “Don’t even. Get ready, Moses. Almost time for you to fight for the flats.”

  “We’ll destroy the fuckers.” He grabbed a joint from the man next to him and eyed my dagger. “Need something a little stronger?”

  “I’ve had bad experiences with guns,” I said. “And this baby never needs reloading.”

  He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  “Be ready to fight dirty when you run out of bullets,” I teased. “Some of them are here,” I whispered, running forward to get a better view.

  Five came into view, one by one, two on the ground, three leaping from the balcony of the farthest block away to the next.

  “They’re better than Becca,” I shouted. “Smarter. Don’t hesitate. Never give them a chance to plan ahead.”

  I heard a roar behind me and knew Esther was ready. Gasps from Moses and his gang let me know that Val was preparing to go hellhound. I took one last look at Peter, and he nodded, the only one who looked eager to battle. Gabe’s grim smile as he gripped his sword set me further on edge. One each. We couldn’t let them get into the flats or hurt those foolishly watching.

  “Get these people to the church,” I shouted at the police.

  The night was just beginning. I couldn’t guarantee the humans would be safe in the church, but they definitely weren’t safe on the side of the road. Two beasts approached, salivating, but watching us all carefully. They bided their time, trying to figure out the easiest marks. We couldn’t give them a choice.

  The beasts were both male, huge, muscular men who were probably terrifying even before they turned. The leader of the BVA had chosen wisely.

  Inching closer, I tried to zone out the voices behind me, the running footsteps, and the panicked hearts racing. They were all distractions, all unnecessary. But if they distracted me, then they definitely distracted the beasts.

  One monster’s head kept turning as if he had scented something delicious and could barely stand to be in the one spot when there was so much blood running away, so many racing hearts nearby. I knew we couldn’t keep everyone alive, but if we could just let the majority walk away unharmed, it had to count as better than a loss.

  I thought perhaps we were still at the taunting stage. The vampires were testing out tactics. I had a terrible feeling that they had plenty of beasts to play with, so many they could afford to lose five or ten. Or more.

  I clamped down on my thoughts and released my fangs, jumping from one foot to the other, bouncing with adrenalin and energy. I was no longer tired, and I knew that some part of me recognised that I was doing something I was supposed to do. I was made for battle, whether I liked it or not.

  I stretched out, drawing attention on myself. I sensed Val behind me, ready to fight. Peter’s scent was provocative; his lust for battle drove me, too. I glanced to my left and caught the expressions on the faces of those standing there, all pale, all determined, all ready to fight to the death.

  Time stood still. So I kept moving, right to the beasts, right to the test. We couldn’t be beaten, or the British vampires would never stop coming for us.

  I sped up as I got closer to the beasts, surprising both of them. I ran straight past them before they could understand what I was doing, but as I ran, so did the people behind me, and the two beasts were surrounded by five beings determined not to let them live.

  The other beasts began to climb down, howling as if encouraging their pack, coven, or whatever they called their brethren.

  The fight began.

  Chapter Twelve

  I took on the less distracted creature since I was the one with most experience. He swung at me, not so wildly but with a spark of intelligence in his eyes. He had been a fighter before being turned into this creature. He moved more lightly than seemed possible, circling me as though he would never tire.

  I stood still, closed my eyes, and concentrated with my other sight. The fight could slow and calm me if I tried, but when I swung into attack, I would be wilder than he was. I would beat him that way, by being unpredictable and disorganised.

  My opponent swiped at me as I ducked around him, barely catching my jacket with the tips of his claws. Peter crept up behind him, while the other three worked on the second beast. The third landed, and Val ran to deal with him, her mace swinging above her head as her battle cries chilled my blood.

  The beast caught Peter’s scent, as Peter had obviously known he would, and a switch flipped in the creature’s brain. The animal could have been Becca, the way he zoned in on the source of human blood from pure instinct. All he wanted was to drain Peter, and even Peter faltered at the sheer force and speed coming for him.

  But I was faster. I was smarter. I had done it all with Becca.

  I drove my dagger so far through his right cheek that the tip pierced through the left one. I jumped clear as Peter sank his favourite sword through the beast so hard that its spinal cord snapped. The beast dropped to the ground. Peter stomped on the creature’s forehead, crushing its skull, and I ripped out my dagger in time to swing around and slice another beast in the face.

  I tripped the next one,
shoving against him as he faltered, and he fell to the ground heavily. I checked my friends. Gabe and Esther had moved on to the last one, while Val fought hers.

  The new beast jumped to his feet, and I ran back a little, trying to draw him away from the humans, but he didn’t pursue me, instead diving straight toward the bottom row of the block of flats being guarded by Moses’s gang.

  Swearing, I ran straight after him, but more beasts landed.

  “Ava, we’ve got this!” Moses shouted, his steady voice belying the scent of fear coming from him. He raised his arm and shot the beast twice in the head without hesitation. The beast stumbled, and Moses’s gang rushed to make sure the creature was really dead.

  I hesitated only briefly before diving back into the fight. More had come, and the air already stunk of death and gore.

  One caught me solidly in the jaw before Peter and Val joined in, ready to back me up. We had to hold them off until dawn. That was all.

  The fight became bloody and sweaty. Occasionally, a scream would rise up as someone got caught in the fangs of a beast before anyone could help.

  I panted, exhausted from the adrenalin surges as much as the fighting, and did my best to stop the slaughter from becoming too much to bear. I ran to the humans, seeing a decapitated beast still connected to someone’s arm. The man lay on the ground, barely moving.

  “You have to take the teeth out of them if they get bitten,” I shouted, yanking the head and flinging it at a beast trying to tear out Esther’s heart. While he was distracted, she destroyed him by ripping bones from his body. I swallowed hard, rubbing the human’s arm as he moaned on the ground.

  A door of one of the flats opened, and a group of women ran out, holding up various household objects that doubled as weapons.

  “Fuck this shit,” a young brunette said. “We’re not hiding away when we can help.”

  “Get back inside,” Moses screamed at them.

  The brunette glared at him. “Back the fuck off, Ben, you chauvinist pig. These are our flats, too.”

  He looked at me and shrugged, but the corners of his mouth lifted into a grin.

  “Take the fangs out,” she told me. “Got it.”

  Cracking glass echoed through the flats, and all of us froze for an instant. The brethni raced as one to the back of the block, and I followed in case the beasts had broken through the barrier.

  By the time I got there, the brethni had three blood-stained beasts fleeing from the building. The brethni had shrugged off their human forms, their arms twisting into grotesque clawed weapons.

  I joined them, and we finished off the beasts quickly, the brethni tearing chunks of flesh away with ease.

  “We dig,” the leader told me solemnly.

  “I don’t doubt it. Maybe hang about here, just in case. Call out if you need help.”

  Their pink eyes glowed red. “We won’t need help,” he hissed.

  I nodded and sprinted back to my friends. We were outnumbered, shots rang out in the night, and the scent of blood was intoxicating. I raced through the fight, desperately trying to reach Peter before the two beasts surrounding him removed his head from his body.

  “Trying to hog all the glory?” I asked as I jumped on the back of one of the beasts.

  “Gotta find some way of getting your attention,” he said, sweat trickling down his face. He brushed his arm across his temple, swung his sword around and barely missed me as the beast spun with me on his back.

  “Jesus, Peter. Aim that at the other one!”

  I heard him laughing as we both got back to work.

  “Gabe!” I screamed and pointed. At least ten of the creatures were running down the road in the same direction the police had taken the bystanders.

  “I’m no use if I do this,” he warned me. “That’ll be it for me.”

  “The church!” I shouted, ducking out of the way of a kick. “Humans are hiding in there, including Shay. If the beasts make it inside…”

  “Fine,” he called back. “But follow me if anything else comes, or we’ll all be dead.”

  “I’m watching out,” I said, but I doubted he heard me as he jogged after the group.

  He kept his distance because they would crave the light in his blood. I prayed he would make it. He would tire after using his light, and if more came after that, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself.

  The beasts apparently realised they weren’t getting into the flats easily, so they all zoned in on the farthest flat as if they had gone hive mind on us. They took down two humans, flinging them aside as they smashed the windows. Steam emanated from their hands, which were burned by the holy water and silver crosses.

  The occupants were ready. Father Ryan threw a glass bottle, and it shattered in the face of the first beast, causing it to howl with pain as holy water burned its eyes. A teenager pointed an aerosol and lit the spray, and the flames flew toward the beasts.

  I punched the air. “Fucking brilliant idea!” I screamed at everyone and no one, but more beasts trampled their flaming companion to get to the humans. They grew frenzied, not caring about the danger anymore. They were too close to the blood.

  Some of the brethni returned to help. Those brethni, Moses’s gang, and my friends cut away at the edges of the group, the gang’s guns forgotten as we grew desperate. The people in the flat used fire or holy water and held up crosses as a last resort. The creatures’ self-preservation instincts had vanished, and for a long moment, it appeared that we might win against their singular focus on blood.

  It didn’t last long enough. The remaining beasts snapped out of their momentary madness and fled after the ones who had headed in the direction of the church.

  “I have to go find Gabe!” I shouted. “Stay here in case more come!”

  I ran after the retreating beasts. The church was lit up, blood-curdling screams from inside ripping through the air. The beasts I followed ran inside when the light faded, and I hurried after them, surprised by the scene. Gabe had freaked out the beasts, and as they lay whimpering in pain, the humans took care of the rest. The beasts I had followed weren’t affected by the light, and I could see Gabe lying on the altar.

  “Holy water!” I screamed. “And if anyone has any hair spray or deodorant and a lighter, fucking blast them with it!”

  What happened next was a blur. The last few beasts were desperate to survive, although the church seemed to unsettle them. I fought as best I could, but not all of the humans could help. Some huddled in corners, while others lay injured in pools of blood. But more of them than I expected helped me fight. A few used police batons, and a couple managed to trap a beast in a corner with a heavy bench and some holy water. They took longer to kill the beasts, took way more risks than a human should, but we slowly gained the lead.

  I killed the one I fought and turned, seeing Shay about to be eaten. I used the silver chain again, pulling the beast back toward me.

  “Let me,” Shay said, his face grim.

  I shrugged and kicked my sword over to him. I ducked as he took a swing, and he managed to behead the beast in one shot.

  “Used to chop wood a lot,” he said wryly, dropping the sword as if it stung his hands.

  “Yeah.” I sank into a seat. “That would do it.” I dried my face with my sleeve, clearing away all of the blood and sweat as best I could, grimacing as I suddenly felt all of the injuries I had chalked up during the night. “I should head back,” I said, struggling to take a breath, but I jogged up to Gabe.

  I kicked his foot. “You okay, angel?”

  He groaned. “I need to sleep for a month. And you owe me a dozen favours by now, Delaney. That stunt you pulled with the cameras was particularly annoying. Don’t think I’ll forget it.”

  I laughed. “No time for lectures, Gabe. Gotta go see if all the beasts are gone.”

  “Isn’t it dawn yet?”

  “Soon.Very soon.”

  “Ava,” Shay said as I walked outside.

  “No time,” I said sharply.
“Wait for dawn before you call for help. Just in case.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  I stopped walking. “No, you won’t. You wanted to know everything, you idiot man. Now you do, so you have to deal with it. Get back in there and make sure those people don’t die before an ambulance gets here. You prepare those who aren’t injured in case another beast gets past me. And you keep an eye on Gabe, too.”

  “Is he really an angel?” he asked, eyes wide with awe.

  “Yeah. Goodbye, Shay.”

  “Thank you, Ava,” he shouted after me.

  I waved and ran faster. The gang were dealing with one last beast when I got there. Left alone, it was as wild as Becca, and it didn’t want to escape anymore. It wanted to destroy.

  “Just hold it down,” I said. “Dawn’s here in…” I spun around, holding out my arms as that sensation ran over my skin again. The beasts were gone. Until the next night.

  The following hour was crazy. Trying to get people to the hospital, trying to figure out how many died, and having to deal with the fear and confusion as the bodies of the beasts disintegrated in front of everyone was too much for me. Esther moved between the flats and the church in full organisational mode. One of the women had given Esther some ill-fitting clothes as a thank you; they laughed and joked together as if they had known each other years, as if they hadn’t just suffered through an attack by blood-thirsty abominations.

  The brethni leader approached me. “Fewer than ten losses all told. You did well. You and your people.”

  “Truce?”

  “As long as you keep your human in check.”

  Scratches on his chest healed before my eyes. “Did you lose many?” I asked.