His eyes narrowed. “And what are you going to do? Throw a rock? I can’t believe you fell for a hustler.”
“Have a little faith. Maybe there’s something to it.”
“I bet he has a penthouse suite somewhere in here. You’re so gullible.”
Vampires appeared, coming at us like a plague of demons. I shoved the stone at Christian since he was stronger. “Throw it!”
He swung his arm back like a baseball pitcher and hurled it at them. It rolled across the floor before coming to a stop.
“Brilliant,” he said tersely.
The men didn’t break stride, but just as soon as they reached the stone, it exploded.
Christian and I fell to the floor as the air whistled around us, pinging off the walls.
When I sat up, all five of the Vampires were immobile on the floor. There was nothing left of the rock but a pile of pebbles and a small plume of smoke.
I spied a tiny spike of wood on the ground next to me and pinched it between two fingers. It was larger than a toothpick and looked like the same wood used for impalement stakes. The size of the wood didn’t matter much, but people preferred larger pieces. If you’re going to get close to a Vampire, you don’t want your stick snapping in two as soon as it hits their jacket.
I stood up, and that was when I saw those wooden splinters all over the place, some of them sticking out of the men’s heads, arms, and backs.
Next to me, Christian was lying facedown. I nudged him with my foot. “It’s over. Get up.”
My eyes traveled down his body until they stopped at a cluster of sticks in his ass. I laughed and knelt down, giving his backside a nice little pat with my hand. “I always knew I was a pain in your ass.” One at a time, I plucked them free.
Christian rolled over to all fours and stood up. While stroking his beard, he studied the fallen men. “Okay. I was wrong, you were right. Let’s not speak of this again.”
“Maybe we should go back and buy something else. I could use a pet rock.”
“I’m sorry to inform you that we’re running for our lives and don’t have time to do any Christmas shopping.”
“I can make time,” I quipped, holding a wooden stick between my fingers. “Is this really all it takes?”
“Some wood works better than others. The smaller ones are useless unless there are a lot of them or they go deep. Good luck if they can get someone to retrieve those sticks from inside their body.”
There was a gruesome thought.
A man strode toward us from up ahead, followed by another. He looked down at the fallen Vampires and then swung his gaze up, fists clenched.
When he bared his fangs, I damn near tripped over my own feet as I spun around and took off.
Christian jogged past me. “You ever watch those animal kingdom shows about the lions chasing prey?”
I kept running, my heart pounding against my chest like a drum.
“We’re the gazelle,” he said, huffing as we weaved around people in a crowded tunnel. “Sometimes predators don’t need a reason. They just want to chase.”
“So this is for fun?” I glanced over my shoulder at the two men not far behind. “Why don’t we just kick some ass?”
“Rule number one: Always know when you’re outnumbered.”
I glanced over my shoulder again. “But there are only two.”
“Not down here, lass. They multiply like chicken pox.”
When we reached the rickety bridge, I grabbed the ropes and scuttled across the planks.
“Faster,” he shouted from behind.
