Urvashi held her position, poised for the killing strike. “This is not a negotiation.”
Dmitri smiled. “Ahh, but it is.” He turned towards the hedges and raised his voice. “Bring her out.”
Another soldier stepped from behind the far side of the hedges, pushing a young girl, no more than five or six years old. She stumbled slightly as the soldier prodded her back with the tip of his gun. When she straightened and wiped tears from her cheeks, Aaron finally got a good look at her. Her little narrow face was framed by curly chestnut hair stuffed under a cream-colored fur cap. She wore a puffy, light blue coat and matching cream-colored mittens with blue jeans. Such a cute, normal-looking girl was sorely out of place where she stood shivering in the subzero night breeze beside Dmitri’s assault team.
Kristina gasped and tried to pull away from Michelle, but was held in place.
Dmitri called to the child. “Come, Lana. No one will hurt you. Come closer.” She moved forward very slowly, obviously terrified and confused by all the men bearing guns.
Dmitri turned around slowly to face Ivan and Katya. Though bleeding from multiple wounds, he still acted as if unaffected by the ordeal. “I propose a trade. Urvashi gets her precious serum, you get the wolf cub, Lana, and I let you all live. At least for tonight.”
The girl perked up when she recognized Kristina. “Mama? Mama!” She looked ready to run for her mother, but the soldier behind her seized her coat and wouldn’t let her come any closer.
Katya’s rifle snapped to and sighted in on the soldier holding Lana. Aaron watched her finger tense on the trigger. One little shot rang out and the soldier’s head snapped back as he toppled over.
Then all hell broke loose.
Lana screamed at the top of her lungs and bolted straight for Kristina. The world slowed to a crawl as bullets whizzed past hitting Ivan, Katya, Renault, and then SLAM, something like a hammer-strike nailed Aaron in the back through his vest. He stumbled from the impact. Pain came next.
“Fuck!”
Eyes blurring with tears, Aaron watched as Michelle took a bullet in the side and Kristina jerked free and ran for her daughter. A blur of blonde hair and black outfit flitted past as Michelle dived into the empty concrete water fountain for cover. More bullets ripped into the concrete where she had been standing. By the time Aaron regained his wits, Dmitri was gone, and Urvashi was flying high, twenty feet in the air, her sword flashing in the moonlight, chasing her quarry.
Dmitri was her problem. More bullets cut through the air around Aaron, spurring him into action. He zigzagged across the plaza, heading towards Kristina and Lana who met and hugged, both crying. Several soldiers tracked Aaron’s movements with their rapid-fire rifles on automatic, so Aaron redirected and flitted off straight for the hedge line. The stream of bullets passed so close he could feel the heat and score marks on his cheeks and arms. Adrenaline burned through his veins and full-on bloodlust kicked his inner predator into overdrive. Both swords out, he darted into the midst of the soldier lineup. Snow began to fall and he couldn’t help but feel the spirit of Christmas on this wicked, cold night.
Dashing through the hedges,
with blades a flaying flesh,
opening up their throats,
and slashing all the way.
Arms and tendons cut,
arterial flow sprayed red,
What fun it is to slip and slide in icy blood and death!
Oh jingle bells, Dmitri smells, Katya shot a sniper off the roof.
Ivan screamed obscenities and Michelle was feeding again.
Oh … where the fuck did Kristina go?
In the desire to avoid bullets, Aaron zig-zagged his way back in the direction Kristina had been running. He heard her panting breaths and muffled prayers before he caught sight of her. She had Lana in her arms, running down the street as fast as her frail human body could possibly go, which was considerably slower than a vampire. He sheathed his swords and put on a burst of speed to catch her seconds later.
She tried to fight him, tears running down her face, struggling with the desperation of a mother who would kill to save her child. She was no match for his strength. He overpowered her easily. “Stop fighting me! Stop!”
“Gospodi! Pomogi! Please let my daughter go, please, I beg you.” She bawled in his arms, her body shaking in great sobs.
He grabbed her face and forced her to look in his eyes. “I am not your enemy, Kristina. I didn’t come here to hurt you or your daughter. I need your help. I need you to show me where to find the vault, where to find Dmitri.”
The young child was frozen in fear, trapped in a sandwich between Aaron’s strong grip on both of them. Lana breathed in heaving gasps as Aaron looked down and focused on this beautiful young innocent, her heart beating as fast a hummingbird’s wings. “Lana, you understand English? You understand me?”
The girl nodded slowly.
“I need your mother to help me. I promise you can be together. I will not hurt either of you. Just help me. Dmitri is a bad, bad man, and he took you away from your mama, but that’s over now.”
“No, no, no.” Kristina bawled. “You’re going to get her killed! Please no. I know you’re not like Dmitri, I know you wouldn’t hurt us, but please, do not ask this of me. Get my daughter to safety! Get her out of this palace of death!”
“You have my promise. When this night is finished, I’ll take you wherever you want to go.” Aaron backed off, and gave them some space to breathe and calm down. The gunfire had stopped, and he looked back over his shoulder to see if anyone was following.
Kristina kissed her child on the cheek and looked up to Aaron with a deep well of emotion. “There is a special place in hell for those who harm children. Do not forsake your promise.”
* * * *
Chapter 16
Urvashi cut into Aaron’s mind with an urgent command. {{Dmitri has escaped. Do not let Kristina out of your sight until she shows us where to find the serum.}}
Aaron suspected that crafty son-of-a-bitch would get away. Dmitri was too damn fast, even injured. Everyone knows an animal is most dangerous when it’s wounded.
His arm wrapped securely around Kristina who held Lana in her arms, Aaron marched them back to the scene of carnage. Realizing what the child was about to witness, he stopped them at the far edge of the hedges. “Stay here. Go nowhere. I cannot protect you if you run. Trust me, you need my protection right now. Dmitri has escaped.”
Kristina’s eyes flared with horror, but she held her tongue. Lana simply nodded and held onto her mother. Aaron suspected the woman was probably too terrified to move, at least for the moment. A deep well of sympathy flowed out of Aaron for this poor woman and her child, and the dark future that lay ahead of them if he couldn’t track down the fucking super villain vampire and put an end to him.
Aaron had been slashing and hacking up soldiers with glee, damn near humming with the adrenaline rush, and this woman had been running to save her daughter. Yet again, he wondered where the hell his humanity had gone, leaving this psychotic predator inside his head. Like Michelle, he’d begun to enjoy the killing a little too much.
Urvashi sailed down from her majestic high-flying act and landed several feet in front of Aaron, her sword stashed back in its scabbard. “Stay with her. I will collect the wolves.”
Relegated to babysitting.
Focusing on the littered bodies and mayhem, he found Michelle on her hands and knees, gorging on a mostly dead soldier who could no longer scream because she had torn into his throat. She finished him up, sat back on her heels and wiped the blood off her face. He couldn’t tell if she was injured, but, when she stood, she favored her left leg with a limp. She made her way to him, glancing around casually at all the dead and dying. The woman was a fascinating study in contradictions. Perfectly happy killing and maiming her enemies, she could also be a deeply compassionate and caring creature. She had hammered caution and restraint into him at every turn, and yet didn’t hesitate to dig her h
ands into the bloody gore when the time came.
Katya was holding her left shoulder and Aaron caught the glistening reflection of blood running down her gloves and arm. His instinct was to go to her immediately, clean and tend her wounds, and take her straight to bed for some sexual healing.
With the adrenaline rush gone, Aaron started shivering as Urvashi made the rounds, checking on Ivan, then Katya. The big man was growling something at her, his arm flying off in the air. He was pissed as hell. Her lips formed a tight line of disapproval as he shook his finger in her face. Aaron focused in to better hear what he was saying.
“You promised me Dmitri’s head. Last time we lost two good men, and now our entire pack is at risk based on your promises.” He looked around in a circle. “I have nothing but your promises.” He leaned forward into Urvashi’s face. “Bring me his fucking head.”
Aaron had never heard Ivan speak to anyone with such vitriol. Not even when the wolf was spitting mad because Aaron had hooked Katya as a bloodslave. Ivan had been harboring this vendetta for a century, letting it fester and stew into a nasty pot of hatred.
Urvashi put a gentle hand on Ivan’s face, and Aaron could feel her powerful soothing aura flow over the angry wolf. “I will not fail you, Ivan. Give us a chance to see it through. I will deliver Dmitri to you this night. I give you my word.”
The wolf watched Urvashi carefully. Like flipping a switch, he dialed back the aggression and held her hand with his own. “I know you won’t fail me, because I will have his head tonight, even if I have to tear it from his body with my own hands.”
After staring at each other for a time, they parted in mutual understanding. Urvashi moved on to find her servant sprawled out on the ground. She reached down and pulled a mewling Renault to his feet. He had a weak right leg, a grimace of pain, and generally looked like shit. The gang had seen better days.
Aaron wondered how Nikolay and Anatoly were doing, if they had been ambushed by another batch of the seemingly endless supply of cannon-fodder soldiers Dmitri employed. Considering these wolves had survived so many decades, some more than a century, from war zone to war zone, Aaron figured they would recover well enough. All they needed was a chance to change and whammo, like new again. Katya could probably heal herself far easier than Aaron playing his incubus routine.
He shook his head in awe of the predicament he found himself in, again. Hunting billionaires, babysitting werewolves, answering to a fallen angel, and still attached to his psychotic French vampire lover who reeked of blood as she hugged him to ward off the chill. He returned Michelle’s embrace and tried to let the absurdity of the moment slip away in the warmth and comfort of her arms.
The mess of his life provided one sure advantage – he never had a shortage of sexual partners.
Kristina murmured something to Lana in Russian, her mental shield solidly in place, blocking Aaron out of her mind. Aaron wondered just how much Kristina could be trusted. She’d been driven to such extremes for her survival, and to protect her daughter. No telling what she might do.
Ivan, Katya and Urvashi joined Aaron and gang in the street. Renault remained sitting on the edge of the concrete fountain.
Aaron stepped up to Urvashi and nodded towards Renault. “What’s up with the gimp? He’s not coming?”
Urvashi shook her head in dismissal and moved past Aaron to face Kristina. “I will honor Aaron’s promise to you and your daughter, regardless of what the pack wishes. But first, you must lead me to the vault and show me how to open it. And you must help us track Dmitri. You know his comings and goings, this place, everything about him.”
Kristina started to balk. “I’ll help, but I don’t have the code to open the…”
Ivan chuckled, having regained a touch of his humor. “Don’t worry about getting in. Just get me to the door.” He patted several filled pouches hanging from his batman utility belt. “I have the key to any door.” The blood-splattered wolf had a twinkle in his eye. Aaron suspected Ivan never got tired of blowing shit up. Probably the most fun he’d had in a while.
Katya’s face turned sour and she stepped towards Urvashi. “Kristina owes us a blood debt for the lives of Abram and Vitaly. It’s not your place to forgive her debt.”
Urvashi glared at Katya. “I’m not the one who sent her to Dmitri, but if she cooperates, I will be the one to get her out. Your debt is with Dmitri, not Kristina. She is but another of Dmitri’s countless victims. Do not make enemies of those who would otherwise be friends.”
Katya backed off grudgingly, but Aaron knew her shit wasn’t over, not by a long shot.
Urvashi nodded to Kristina. “Lead the way.”
They stayed close to Kristina as she led them around the bushes, Lana clinging onto her hand. Aaron watched as mother and daughter plodded along, slow, exhausted. It was driving him nuts. They should have been there already, ten minutes ago.
Aaron reached out to Kristina. “Here, let me carry her. We need to move faster, and I can protect her better than you can.” She looked to her daughter who was watching Aaron. “We need to go, let me help you. Trust me.”
Kristina leaned down to her daughter. “Go with him, Lana. It’s okay. Mama’s tired.”
Mama looked beyond tired. She was ready to collapse. Michelle became impatient and snatched Lana off the ground to hand to Aaron. The girl yelped, but didn’t complain any further as Aaron snugged her up in his arms. He assured himself the girl would keep quiet and nodded to Kristina. “Let’s do this.”
He and Kristina started moving at a fast clip, and everyone behind jogged to keep up. They raced around the circular driveway and quickly covered the distance to the front steps of the second mansion. The massive oak double doors were locked, so Aaron dropped back, keeping a solid grip on his cargo, and let Ivan do his thing. The Russian didn’t bother with explosives this time, he simply kicked hard and busted through the right side of the doors. Several gunshots flew through the opening where Ivan would have been if he hadn’t sidestepped immediately. With a wicked grin on his face, he pulled the pin on three grenades and tossed them into the partially open door. Ivan ran back down the steps to a safer distance.
Aaron jogged even farther from the door, to the center of the driveway, hoping to keep Lana calm. She jerked and squealed in his arms when the explosions hit, blasting open the other door, but when she looked up to him, he held her gaze steadily. “We’re going to be okay. I got you. It’s fine, Lana.”
With tears rolling down her face, and a quivering bottom lip, she must have understood him, because she nodded before burying her face in his jacket. The damn girl was adorable. Why did he have to be here, in this frozen, corrupt place, with this soft kitten of a girl scared shitless in his arms?
He should be in Southern France or Florida or the Caribbean, somewhere warm and fun. He shook it off and watched Ivan and Katya advance through the doors with their rifles up. A few quick shots fired and no more noise came from the entryway. Urvashi followed the wolves in, drawing her sword as she walked through the busted doors. Aaron had yet to see her really cut loose with that thing. She must be saving it up for a deserving opponent.
With the firefight for the entryway finished, Aaron nodded to Kristina and Michelle, then slipped through the doorway into the second mansion. About half a dozen disposable soldiers were strewn across the entryway, twitching through their death throes. Ivan and gang waited in the center of the room. Kristina stepped over the dead, trying her best not to look at the men, and motioned with her hand to the left hallway. Ivan and Katya went first, scanning the room through their night vision scopes. Everyone else followed.
This was another formal sitting room, but with Victorian or Edwardian furniture, all dark wood and creamy white upholstery. Kristina indicated another hallway across the room, and Ivan and Katya took the lead with their rifles.
At the end of the hall, Kristina walked up to the glossy wood paneling and reached down to the floorboard, to a hidden switch. The panel popped open reveal
ing a hidden doorway. Behind the wood panel lay a staircase and yet another eerie descent with wall sconce lighting.
Fuck. The last time they tried this shit, they had walked straight into a trap. With his free arm, Aaron snatched Kristina by the collar of her coat and hissed in her ear. “Who is down there waiting for us?”
She shook her head and tried to back away in fear. Her voice came out in a breathless whisper. “This is where he keeps the otrok. This is what you wanted.”
Urvashi’s impatient gaze pegged Aaron as she passed him by with her sword drawn. She stood poised on the first step. “Regardless of what awaits, we are going down. Now. Trust in me, Aaron, I always protect what’s mine.”
Her assurances stirred up a boil of conflicting emotions, primarily irritation. He hated being referred to as property. Yet, he sensed there was something that had gone unspoken. As usual, her words brought more questions than answers.
Urvashi led the descent into the room. At the bottom of the stairs was a single doorway. Locked. Urvashi broke the lock with a hard jerk-twist. She ripped it open and stood looking into a pitch black room with a dark brown ceramic tile floor. The weak light from the stairwell penetrated all of three feet into the gloom.
No shots fired. Nothing. After a moment, Urvashi walked straight into the darkness. Ivan and Katya followed on her heels, flashlight beams sweeping left and right. Then Michelle. Aaron went in last, one hand holding Kristina, the other carrying Lana. The girl was nodding off on his shoulder.
As they progressed, a small squishy sound came from the far end of the room. Aaron tensed up, expecting the worst, but nothing happened. Finally, Aaron’s enhanced night vision adjusted to the gloom, and he was better able to see that it was actually two rooms. A large open archway led to another room where the noises were coming from. The first room had several low couches of dark colored leather in semicircle around a television, behind that a dining table, and the wall was lined by another fully stocked bar. Through the archway Aaron could make out vague shapes, including the biggest bed he’d ever laid eyes on.