Defiance

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

We dragged Anna into a small utility room off the hall. The argument now was whether to wait for the Order to find us, or get outside. I knew what I was voting for, but we had serious problems.

Graves leaned against the wall. His eyes were half closed, darkening rapidly, and his breathing had taken on an asthmatic wheeze. He needed food and rest, bad. Bulking up and getting ready to tango with Sergej had depleted whatever reserves he had left. Accessing the Other is hard on the body’s energy factories; it’s why wulfen are so seriously about munchies all the time.

Anna was still bleeding. It wouldn’t stop; she couldn’t heal. Something internal had been broken when Sergej hit her, and weakened as she was from his feeding on her . . . Jesus. Plus, the twins didn’t look so hot either. One of them was limping, and his right arm hung at a funny angle. Blaine was paper-pale, and Kip—the curly-headed ghost-quiet one—was breathing heavily, like even walking was an effort.

I didn’t feel so great myself. The heat of the aspect was starting to fade, and the malaika were getting heavy. If another wave of vampires came at us, I wasn’t too optimistic about the whole thing.

Especially if they didn’t choke and fall down when they got near me. Which all added up to a Very Bad Feeling About All This.

Anna shoved the limping twin away. She drew herself up, her knees visibly shaking, and glared at me. “Come. Here.”

I shook my head. Curls fell free, the blonde receding from them. My entire body ached sullenly under the aspect’s flaring and fading. “No dice, Anna. Don’t trust you.”

Her eyes all but snapped sparks, and the blood running down her chin wasn’t just a trickle. “You didn’t . . . leave me . . . there.” Little crimson droplets sprayed. “Come. Here.”

I glanced at the door. Kip had propped himself against the lintel, keeping watch on the hall. It was clear, but for how much longer?

“Not leaving you to you-know-who is not the same thing as this, Anna.” The malaika were so heavy, dangling in my fists. “Not gonna come near you, and especially not going to—”

She collapsed. The twin she still held on to cursed, going heavily to his knees. “Milady,” he whispered, and his face looked like a three-year-old’s for a single, wrenching moment. “Don’t leave us.”

My stomach turned over, hard. I knew I was about to do something incredibly stupid, but it didn’t matter. The chances of the Order reaching us, or us making a usable break for the exit we were heading for, were pretty damn slim.

And God only knew what would happen if Sergej somehow got that spear out of his chest.

“Hey.” I half-turned. Blaine was staring at me. “Help me get my malaika up.”

“Perhaps . . . ” He wet his lips. Even his tongue was too pale. He’d lost a lot of blood, too. “Milady, perhaps you could . . . share your strength, with Milady?”

I shrugged. “What do you think I’m gonna do, suck her blood? No way. She can take a little from me, then Graves can get me out of here while you get her out. And for what it’s worth, I’d keep her away from the Order for a while too. They’re pretty pissed off.”

Not like I thought Bruce and the rest would do anything to one of their precious svetocha, but Anna had played them like fiddles before. I’d be an idiot if I gave her the impression she could just waltz back in and start her little games again. Especially since I was looking at taking a powder in a big way; I didn’t want to end up with a bunch of her loyal djamphir chasing me, for Chrissakes.

It made me feel dirty to think that way. Dirty and tired way down deep inside, the way I imagine adults must always feel.

How do they stand it?

Blaine’s shoulders sagged. He helped me snap the malaika back into the harness; I glanced up and found Graves had closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple moving as he swallowed hard. “Hey. Jesus, you all right?”

Another explosion. It sounded closer. Just how big was this place we were trapped in? A complex of warehouses instead of just one? If we were in Jersey, it could be any of a hundred places. How had they found me?

How many of the Order were here, and were they dying or getting hurt trying to get to me? Or to Anna? Was Christophe out there? Guilt hit me with a sick thump, right in the stomach.

“Fine.” Graves coughed. The coat hung scarecrow on him, flapping a little as he moved. “Get whatever you’re gonna do over with, Dru. Then let’s blow this Popsicle stand.”

My smile felt traitorous and unnatural, but it helped. A little. “Watch out for me, okay?” There was no point in keeping it a secret.

He half-opened his eyes, and instead of bright green they were mossy now. But he looked at me, the corner of his mouth lifting in a silent snarl, and one of those instants of communication passed between us, a zing like biting on tinfoil.

As long as I’m breathing, his look said, and I nodded. Let out a shaky breath, my eyes prickling with hot, useless tears. I shoved the urge to cry away. It wouldn’t do any goddamn good.

It was hard to get close to her. I kept seeing her face, distorted as she screamed and fired an assault rifle at me. I kept hearing her last words to my mother.

Don’t let the nosferatu bite.

She scared the hell out of me. Even wounded, even bleeding, I was pretty sure she’d have something up her sleeve.

The gunfire was getting nearer, echoing oddly. The touch kept trying to bolt free of my head and show me what was going down, but I was too tired. I needed all my energy for staying upright, and besides, I didn’t want to know. If I was going to die messily when Sergej and reinforcements busted in here, I’d kind of prefer it to be a surprise.

I mean, ideal would be no dying at all. But that was looking less and less likely.

Anna was gasping. Under the blood and the bruising she was a bad color, a sort of pale yellowy-gray. The faint ghost of her polished beauty still clung to her, and that made it even worse. She would struggle to get in enough air and let it out with a little hiss that tore right through my chest, because I remembered that sound from Gran in the hospital, the night her owl showed up and the one person who hadn’t ever left me behind slid away from life for good.

Why are you doing this, Dru? There’s got to be a better way to prove you’re not like her.

Except there wasn’t. And I even hated myself for thinking like that.

Go figure.

I lowered myself down to my knees, slowly. “Anna.” Swallowed, hard, hoping Graves hadn’t closed his eyes. Hoping he was watching. “You’re going to have to bite me. I, uh. There’s just no way—”

Her hand shot out, grabbed a hank of my hair, and pulled. I let out a short scream, toppling over, and her fingers were slender steel visegrips. She had my head, and I didn’t know where she was finding the strength. My palms slammed onto the floor, but it was too late.

Because my nose was buried in her blood-drenched neck. And the hunger woke with a snarling roar, dyeing everything around me red.