“We need to get you to safety,” I said, staying low as Eric and Daniel engaged the hunters. In the background, Dominick gave them orders.
I cupped my hands around the pixie as I bear crawled to Deborah, trying not to draw notice. Screams came as the enforcers picked off a couple of the humans.
I reached Deborah, nodding at her to show everything was fine. It wasn’t fine, but panicking wouldn’t help.
“I’m fine, Aileen. Stop worrying about me and kill the fuckers,” Inara snarled.
“You’re not fine,” Lowen told her, dropping from my shoulder to land on my hand next to his consort. “You’re in no shape to fight.
He and Inara shared a glare before she relented. “Fine, you win. But leave me in the human’s care. You’ll be too distracted otherwise.”
I hesitated, reluctant to leave Deborah to make her way outside alone.
Right now, the hunters were preoccupied with Liam and his enforcers, but it wouldn’t be long before they noticed her. I didn’t think her status as a human would protect her either.
“She’s right.” Lowen lifted off my palm to hover in the air. “I’ll guide her to safety. They need your help.”
“Alright,” I agreed reluctantly.
Deborah extended her cupped hands and I put Inara in them, trying not to jostle her too much. Her pained grunt told me I wasn’t entirely successful in that endeavor.
“Get as far from here as you can,” I told them.
Deborah nodded as I rose.
I waited until she and the pixies slipped out of the gaping maw that was once the door before slinking silently along the perimeter. I snapped the neck of the human closest to me, divesting him of his rifle and magazines.
While patting him down, my hand knocked on a shape I was familiar with. I held up the grenade in front of me. “Hello, my old friend. What say we have a little fun for old times’ sake?”
I assessed the situation, watching as my lover and his enforcers battled the hunters. They were holding their own, but movement on the roof warned that reinforcements weren’t far away. With their arrival, this place would turn into a kill box.
From across the room, under the partially caved in section of the roof, Dominick watched the situation, being careful not to draw the others attention.
I pulled the pin, lobbing the grenade in his direction the way the military had taught me. Identify target. Pull back the arm. Release. Frag out.
Five seconds, more or less.
I counted in my head as the grenade left my hand and the pin released.
Five.
Movement on the unstable roof over Dominick’s head caught my eye. I found Ahrun clinging to a crumbling piece of cement like a bat, watching everything with a detached curiosity.
Four
At the same time hunters spotted Ahrun, someone yelling, “Contact above.”
Three.
They fired their guns at Ahrun’s position, bullets sending shrapnel flying.
Two.
Ahrun pushed off the roof, the impact sending his perch crashing to the ground. He glided, held aloft for a second that felt like an eternity.
One.
My back hit the ground, Ahrun’s weight on top of me and his fangs in my throat.
