Chapter Twenty-Four
It was like history repeating itself, coming full circle. He'd become so fatigued that at one point he'd nearly dropped her. Now she was running by Carlos's side, her steps hard and sloppy from exhaustion, gasping breaths through a blinding pain in her abdomen that felt like someone was examining it, ruthlessly invading it. Carlos was wounded. Both of them were practically staggering and hitting the sides of the walls while running and as the ship continued to shift, listing like they were, her man was too tired to transport, too tired and unfocused to heal himself, half dragging her toward her team.
As they rounded a corner within the behemoth vessel to escape through the exit left by the fallen stairs, they saw a wide smoking hole in a wall and three smoldering vamp dust piles. A dead man was on the bed with a table leg in his chest. Carlos glanced at the grisly sight and his panic shot through her system, nearly blinding her.
Without a word, he wrapped his hands around her waist and thrust her over his head so she could grab a bent rail and pull herself to deck level.
"Run!" he yelled, but she watched him struggle to pull himself to safety with his uninjured arm.
Ignoring his command, she knelt, hooked her arm securely on a brace, and extended her hand. She reached for him harder, holding her breath as new tears formed in her eyes and fell. Their eyes met, no words needed, and he grabbed her hand, leveraging himself with a hard swing and her grasp to land beside her. Then together they ran.
Ammo shells littered the deck; rapid machine-gun fire sent shells in every direction, making them run low and in a zigzag pattern to avoid getting hit. Her team was pinned down behind a twisted section of metal and wood once the helm. A Hell-hound was assisting, keeping nearly fifty top-deck vampires held at bay at the bow from leaping at them airborne, patrolling the expanse with razor-sharp jaws and a slashing tail.
J.L. had rolled away, fly-kicked an encroaching male vampire, and mowed him down with a hail of bullets while sliding on his back. Dan was dead aim and capped two females, then smoked another to give J.L. cover, while Jose stood, a Glock in each hand, giving Dan a chance to reload another magazine.
Shabazz, Rider, and Big Mike were hemmed in at the stern, out of ammo. The rail was at their backs, and a long she-serpent with Lai's body atop, a thick, black coil swayed from side to side. Mistress Xe's six bulked arms were reaching for the trapped Guardians with claws. Mike stepped forward and took a swing at her with the butt of his shoulder cannon, catching her in the jaw, chipping one of her fangs and splitting his weapon in two. In a swift pivot, six hands snatched Mike, squeezing him into a snake's death grasp as she freed her claws to combat the others by thrusting him into her coils. As he struggled to break her hold, she screeched and screamed her fury, making his ears bleed, crushing him with constricting serpentine strength.
Carlos was on her tail in seconds, grappling with the end of it, making her turn, drop Mike, and focus on him. The Hell-hound swooped in, slicing her back open, making her screech, sending black blood everywhere that the huge Guardian had to avoid as he rolled away from the splatter. Then the dog flew off to circle and come in again.
"Carlos..." Lai hissed, furious, her thick, muscular tail-body slamming him to the deck. "We ran out of product, but we'd picked your pocket and found one more pill. Shame you didn't stay."
The dog stole the female vampire's attention for a moment as she swiped at it with a free hand.
"The red pills," Damali yelled, her eyes going to Jose.
Jose nodded, and flung a Glock end-over-end to her. Damali missed, but Rider caught it as Master Xe's wife reared back, swaying, to deliver a death strike to Carlos. J.L. tossed Shabazz a full clip as the dog landed behind the female vamp, distracting her again, and stalked toward her.
With complete synchronicity Rider and Shabazz shadowed each other's movements; they were one. Each brought their arms up, extended, at the same time.
"Yo, sis," Shabazz hollered, making the female vamp turn away from the approaching hound.
Carlos had both hands around the female's throat, but she was a full head taller than he, and more bulked. His back was to the Guardians as she pivoted him with her, and her multiple arms were crushing his rib cage.
"He's family," Rider said, releasing the hallowed-earth-packed rhino shells at the same time Shabazz released his.
Carlos felt sudden heat whiz over his shoulders. Mistress Xe released him, writhing, twisting, and screeching. The dog stopped its advance, then he heard two more simultaneous gunshots, ducked, and shielded his head as her chest exploded, leaving only ash.
He stood fast, glanced back at Rider and Shabazz, and nodded a nonverbal thanks. But his condition was real. Big Mike's gun butt had had more of an effect on the female vamp than he did. If the dog hadn't been there and assisted, if the Guardians hadn't had his back... He had to get Damali and her team off the ship while there was still time. Council was taking away his power.
Drawing together like a magnet, the team instinctively formed a ring around Damali. The hound howled and stood by Carlos. The ship leaned at a harder angle and groaned. The lower-level vampires who were left backed up and sought cover.
"She's going down," Carlos said, his terror unmasked as his gaze swept the group then the open sea. "I have to bring it to a full stop and reverse engines."
Damali touched his face, her fingers tracing Master Xe's blow that still bled, then she looked at his ragged shoulder. "You have to feed. You don't have that much energy in you - your wounds aren't sealing."
He shook his head. "There's nothing on the boat to eat." He stared at her, refusing to look at anyone else in the group.
"Save the key, Carlos. Don't worry about me!" She extended her arm and he glanced at it and staggered away, going to the stern. He held onto the rail and closed his eyes. He could feel energy draining away, making it hard to breathe as the ship slowed to become dead in the water. He pushed off of the rail, his hands forward, concentrating everything within him to a pinpoint of fury, then fell back as the listing vessel lurched and jettisoned in the opposite direction going toward the harbor.
Gasping, he lay on the deck. It was getting too near dawn. Hell was siphoning him hard for answers, draining him. He could smell the putrid stench of Hell-hound saliva and the creature nuzzling him back to consciousness. Footsteps echoed from the deck wood into him, pain. Hands pulled at his body. Sweat blinded him, but he managed to stand. His vision was fuzzy, unfocused for a moment, but he could feel the speed by the rate of the wind passing him. A pair of tender arms held him upright. Sydney Harbor Bridge was coming into view, and he could hear the speedboats rushing to rendezvous in the distance.
"Get on the boats," he said, his speech slurring from fatigue as he weaved. "I can't stop it from hitting the harbor."
"We all do this, man," Shabazz said.
"No," Carlos said, almost unable to lift his head. "Protect the package," he croaked, pushing Damali away from him, staggering backward, and snapping his fingers for the dog. "No acid," he yelled at the creature. "No harm. Do not bear down - carry her for me. Be my arms."
"We are not doing this again," Damali yelled. But as she took a step forward, the Hell-hound rushed her, grabbing her in its massive jaws, and flew off without biting down, and dumped her into Marlene's fast-moving skimmer. Then it circled back to the ship.
Marlene rubbed Damali's back as she jumped up and leaned far over the side of the speedboat, straining toward the larger vessel. Father Lopez made a U-turn in the water and came alongside the rocketing yacht. Father Patrick and the other clerics flanked Marlene's speedboat, all eyes looking up, trying to keep from bumping the vessel beside them, but also urging with their eyes for the rest of the team to quickly join them.
"Jose, J.L., Dan," Carlos yelled, not looking at them, but sending the order to the dog, who responded instantly. Carlos looked at Jose. "The others are too heavy now, the dog hasn't been fed, is exhausted, and might drop them. Don't fight me. Remember what I told you. Hallowed ground. Deliver the package intact."
All the Guardians glanced at each other. The dog hadn't eaten. Jose nodded, and nervously complied on trust alone, committing his body to the dog's jaws. They all watched as the animal brought the three lighter-weight Guardians and dropped them with a soft thud. But on each pass, the animal visibly slowed its return, the exhaustion clear as it strained harder with each delivery.
"We ain't leaving you," Big Mike hollered. "We'll jump, Mar can circle back."
"The sharks," Carlos said. "I can't hold them back."
"We are one," Rider said.
"Carlos, throw a line, and let Rider and - "
A swirling black cloud silenced Damali's urgent demand. It was headed in a direct path, perpendicular to the port side of the listing yacht. Carlos turned slowly, knowing exactly what it was. Council transport.
The dark tornado cut the water in two frothing sections that made the speedboats bounce and have to pull away from the yacht to avoid collision. Black lightning zigzagged through the Hell-sent mass, flashing hints of red-eyed courier bats within it before going dark again. The angry screeches sliced his eardrums and made Big Mike hurl. Carlos glanced at the cloud and then at the horror in Damali's eyes.
Gale-force winds made it hard for them all to stand. The remaining lower-level hiding vampires and helpers that cowered at the bow took their chances against the sharks, leaping off the yacht like lemmings. Angry jaws from beneath the water's surface abandoned their chase of the speedboats and headed back toward the yacht. Their instant feeding frenzy colored the water, turning it black and red and sizzling. Vampire extinctions and human cries rent the air as lieutenants and helpers fought against the impossible
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