She looked to the others and held up a finger, indicating they wait. Ian, Maggie, Ethan, Isabelle, Mike, and Brian nodded their agreement. Charlie turned her attention back to the cavern she’d spent so much time in; this underground world had been her home for three years, yet it felt foreign to her now.
When Jack whispered into her mind they were here and going in, Charlie pulled her knives free, waved at the others, and burst into the cavern. The Savages all jumped up when the two groups funneled in to trap them in the center.
Aiden was the first to reach them, and seizing one by the throat, he lifted the vamp before smashing it into the ground. Charlie pulled back her arm and let one of her knives fly. It whistled through the air before catching one of the Savages in the chest. The monster’s hands clawed at its chest as it fell back.
Jack kicked the knee out from another Savage as Liam and David took down two more. Charlie pulled a stake free and kept her other knife in hand as she circled the Savage she’d stabbed. When Maggie darted around to the back of it, the vamp spun toward her. With the vamp distracted, Charlie ran at it and launched herself onto its back.
She plunged the stake into the monster’s back and twisted it into its heart. Reeling back, the Savage stumbled across the cavern with her and bashed her into the wall. The breath exploded from Charlie as the lifeless vamp dropped out from under her.
Fury burst through Jack when he saw the Savage smash Charlie into the wall. As the Savage she sat on fell out from under her, another Savage spotted her and ran toward her.No!
“Jack!” David shouted and waved his hands in a give it to me gesture.
Jack shoved the wounded Savage he’d been battling to David who snapped its neck to the side. Free of the Savages, Jack raced across the cavern toward Charlie, but he wouldn’t beat the other vampire to her.
When she saw the Savage coming at her, Charlie rolled away from the vamp she killed and flung her knife at her attacker. It caught the monster in the shoulder, knocking him back a step.
Drawing on her blood and his need to protect her, Jack poured on the speed as the Savage recovered from the knife and went back at her. Charlie leapt to her feet and ducked when the Savage swung a large hand at her.
Before its outstretched fingers could grasp her, Jack lowered his shoulder and slammed into the vamp. Lifted off its feet, the Savage flew a couple of feet to the side before hitting the wall. Jack didn’t give it a chance to recover before he pounced on it and, grabbing the side of its head, battered it into the wall. The Savage’s arms swung at him, but Jack ignored the blows it delivered as he hit it again and again before releasing the vamp and jumping back.
Disoriented, the vamp staggered forward while Jack pulled a stake free and slammed it into its heart. He yanked the stake free as the Savage slumped forward and hit the ground.
Turning toward Charlie, he opened his arms to her, and she ran into them. Holding her close, he nuzzled the top of her head.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too,” he said before turning to face the others.
Mike staked the last Savage while the others gathered around him. Liam walked over to clasp Mike on the shoulder while Charlie pulled away from Jack to reclaim her knives before returning to Jack and taking his outstretched hand.
“It’s over,” she whispered. “It’s really over.”
Jack drew her close and kissed her. He rested his hand against her cheek as his tongue swept in to taste her in slow caresses that left her weak-kneed. Pulling away, he smoothed back her hair and tucked it behind her ears.
“It’s over,” he said and kissed her again.
“Let’s get out of here,” Mike said.
Jack wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close as they returned to the lighthouse tunnel.
Exhausted but feeling as if a huge weight was off her shoulders, Charlie said a mental goodbye to the tunnels before returning to the surface with the others. She blinked against the setting sun and lifted her hand as she inhaled deeply. Filled with the stench of the fire, the air was far from fresh, but it was the air of freedom.
The boats came to find them, and Mia shuttled the dinghy to shore to pick them up. They could have swum out to the boats, but everyone looked as exhausted as Charlie felt, and the last thing she wanted was to swim right now.
When she was finally back on the boat, Dylan threw his arms around her waist and buried his face in her belly. “It’s okay,” she assured him as she hugged him. “They’re dead, and we’re never going back there.”
When Dylan released her, they settled on the back seat with Jack. Miguel started the boat and steered it away as Mia and David curled up together on the side bench. Charlie couldn’t tear her eyes away until the island had vanished from view.
“I’m surprised the fire didn’t attract any attention from the mainland,” she said.
“When we escaped, I didn’t dare stay in the town closest to the island,” Mike said. “I didn’t trust the people there not to be in the pocket or under the control of the Savages running the island. I’m sure the fire drew attention, but they’ve all learned, been paid, or mind controlled into looking the other way.”
“What are we going to do now, Mom?” Dylan asked. “We can’t go home.”
“I’d like it if you came to stay with me,” Jack offered.
Dylan craned his head to look at Jack over his shoulder. His solemn, mismatched eyes were far too sad and knowing. Jack could never take away everything Dylan endured, but he would give the boy a much happier childhood for what remained of it, if Dylan would let him.
