That was helpful,Paige mused as shesurveyed the blood stained carnage of the hall. Two more bodieslittered the floor with one missing his heart. The other had agiant piece of wood, from a broken hall table, shoved through hischest. The scent of the blood caused her fangs to tingle as shestared up and down the strangely tranquil hallway.
Where the hell was Ian? She wondered as sheexamined the closed doors lining the hallway. She could feel himnearby; his mind brushed against hers as she moved down the hall insearch of him and the vampires she knew he battled. She may nothave any sort of instinctual pull to her piece of shit father, butshe could feel the incessant pull of Ian. The sound of crashes andbangs shook the walls and made the floor shake beneath her feet,but all of the different rooms made it difficult to pinpoint whereIan and the others were.
Another door creaked open at the other endof the hall, before closing again. A woman began to screamincessantly from one of the rooms at the end closest to her. Inthis area, some of the doors along the hall had been shattered toreveal the rooms beyond, but she didn’t go for one of those.
Instead, she stopped at a closed door,lifted her foot and smashed it into the door. Panic, and herenhanced abilities, made her far stronger than she’d realized. Woodsplintered and flew straight back into the room, tearing out partof the doorframe with it. The half-dressed woman within the roomscreamed, a man threw himself behind a couch. Paige snagged abroken piece of wood off the floor as she ran through the sittingroom to the bedroom beyond.
Blood splattered the room; the glass of thebalcony doors had exploded outward to allow the hot desert air toblow in. The breeze ruffled the curtains causing their blood coatedbottoms to flutter into the room. She ran through the bathroom andsmashed into the door adjoining the room beyond. The door gave wayfar easier than she’d anticipated. She stumbled and almost fall tothe floor, but her instincts helped her to catch herself intime.
Straightening herself, she spun to the soundof a fist pummeling flesh. Finally, blessedly, her eyes landed onIan fending off three vampires at once. His golden hair had becomea crimson color; blood dripped from it to splatter onto the bed hestood upon. The jagged tear marring his cheek was so deep she couldsee the white glint of his cheekbone beneath and some of his upperteeth. His skin had taken on the devilish, reddish-black hue she’dseen before. The whites of his eyes had veins of red leading intothe vivid ruby colored centers of them.
One of the vampires he fought took astaggering step away from him when Ian focused on him. Ian swungout with his arm, caught the vamp under the chin, and snapped hishead back with enough force to knock the vampire on his ass.Another vampire swung out and sliced Ian’s side open, spilling hisblood and revealing his ribs beneath.
A shout of rage escaped her. Adjusting herhold on her makeshift stake, she leapt forward to tear into one ofthe vampires attacking him. A blur of motion drew her attention tothe left a second before something hit her in the side with theforce of a charging bull. The cracking of her ribs reverberatedthrough the room before she was smashed into the wall. Whiteplaster rained down around her; it coated her lashes to the pointwhere she couldn’t see for a few seconds. Agony lanced through herside; she tried to inhale, but the broken pieces of her ribsscraping together inside of her left lung made it impossible forher to draw a deep breath.
“Paige!” Ian bellowed.
Her vision finally cleared as she blinkedaway the last of the debris. She found herself face to face with aset of brown eyes she’d despised for years. “Hello Paige,” the manacross from her purred. “How is my lovely daughter tonight?”
Years of training had taught her to retainher calm in a deadly situation, but violent images of leaping onhim and shredding the skin from his face danced through her mind.The anger filling her caused her fangs to extend of their ownaccord. A thud sounded behind her, the wall shook, but Paige heldher father’s gaze. To look away would only spell her death.
“You’ve definitely gone through somechanges,” he continued with an amused sparkle in his eyes. Paigeshifted her hold on the jagged piece of wood in her hand; her armhad bent behind her and become pinned when she’d been slammed intothe wall. “Did you honestly think becoming one of us would help youto beat me?”
Red filled Ian’s vision; the entire room wascoated in it, yet everything around him became sharper, moreenhanced. He could move faster, smell and hear better, and morethan that, he was stronger. The minute the man had laid his handson Paige, pure fury had burst over him, but so had a single mindeddetermination to destroy everyone who was a risk to her.
Grabbing hold of the vampire who had madethe mistake of being wary of him, Ian wrenched his head completelyaround. He snatched the man’s writhing body up and smashed itagainst one of the others. They fell back from the blow, tumblingoff the bed and onto the floor. The man in his hands kickedfrantically; strangled mewls of protest and panic emitted from him.Ian smashed his body down, placed his foot on the man’s brokenneck, and jerked forcefully back on the feet in his hands. Awrenching sound accompanied the man’s head being torn from hisbody. Blood sprayed across the room from the headless body as Ianheaved it away from him.
A loud grunt sounded from behind Paige,blood burst over the walls around them, turning the cream color ofthe room a garish pink color. Her stomach turned at the display,but her eyes remained on father. Ian’s mind danced across theperimeter of hers; he was injured and incensed, but alive.
“I didn’t think of you at all,” shereplied.
“Oh, Paige.” His index finger slippedunderneath her chin and lifted it up. “You’ve thought of me everyday of your pathetic existence.”
Paige’s nostrils flared, but she refused tolet him goad her into reacting recklessly. He leaned toward her,which was what she’d been waiting for. With him off balance, shelunged forward and smashed her forehead off of his nose. Starsburst before her eyes, but she’d been prepared for them. He hadn’tbeen prepared for his nose to be shattered or for her to attack insuch a way.
A snarl escaped her; she followed the headbutt up with an elbow that carried the full force of her weightbehind it. Her ribs may be broken, but she could feel them healingalready and rage fueled her now. She’d been waiting for years tokill this man; she didn’t care what it took, or how much tormentshe had to endure in order to succeed in doing so.
His left cheekbone caved beneath the forceof her blow; his eye bulged grotesquely from his broken eye socket.She leapt forward, pouncing on him and taking him down while he wasoff guard. She swung out with the piece of wood, driving it towardhis heart. It had just broken through the skin of his chest when heflung his arm up to block her. He knocked her hand away with somuch force her wrist went numb, and the makeshift stake flew fromher hand.
Her father grabbed hold of her numbed wristand squeezed with enough force a bone snapped in it. She bit back acry of pain, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing herscream again. Ignoring the pain, her upper lip curled into a sneeras she flung herself away from him. She pulled her foot back anddrove it into his face. Fresh blood spilled from his now pancakednose. When she went to kick him again, he seized hold of her footand shoved her leg back at her so hard her knee bashed off of hernose and caused blood to burst free. Twisting to the side, Paigemanaged to wrench herself from his grasp and shove herself to herfeet.
Ian grabbed hold of the last vampire tryingto keep him from Paige and drove his fangs deep into the man’sthroat. Blood gushed into his mouth. The vampire howled as he beatand clawed at him. The man’s anguish resonated in his head; heignored it as he continued to feed in deep pulls that rapidlydrained the man and replenished the massive amounts of blood he’dlost.
Thrusting the man away from him, Ian liftedhis foot and smashed it into his ribcage. The man’s bones crushedand collapsed beneath his weight compressing his chest. Arms andlegs flailed and beat at him and the ground, but Ian continuedrelentlessly onward until he’d flattened the man’s chest andcrushed his ribcage to the floor. Arms and legs stopped kickingwhen his heart was stomped beneath Ian’s boot.
He spun toward Paige in time to see herfather rush at her with his shoulders down. She slammed her clampedhands into his back as he wrapped his arms around her waist andpropelled her backward. They crashed into the wall with enoughforce that it gave way with a shuddery crash. Drywall and woodenbeams snapped like twigs beneath the force of their impact as theytoppled into the room next door.
Ian’s heart leapt into his throat when helost sight of her. He raced through the doorway to find Paige andher father rolling across the floor, both trying to get the upperhand on the other. They flipped in a rapid blur of motion acrossthe blood drenched cream carpet beneath them. Paige somehow managedto get her knees in between them; with a shout, she flipped herfather over her head. A loud grunt escaped him as he crashed downon top of the glass coffee table. The legs of the table flew intothe air; glass shattered under his body.
Paige bounded to her feet, grabbed hold of abroken leg and dove at her father. Adrenaline surged through Ian ashe lunged toward them at the same time Paige landed on her father.Spinning around, her father threw back his arm and slapped heracross the face. Her head shot to the side, the scent of her bloodpermeated his nostrils as her cheek was split open. Ian’s roarwould have made a lion cower, but the blow hadn’t knocked offPaige’s downward trajectory. She drove the piece of wood into hischest and twisted ferociously.
Her father grunted; his arms and legs kickedstraight up in the air. His hands snatched her hair and jerked herhead to the right as Ian arrived at her side. Drawing his footback, Ian kicked the man in the temple, caving the bone of hischeek and temple in more. Blood spurted from his blown out eyesocket and temple. Ian grabbed hold of Paige’s arm, but before hecould draw her away, she slammed her hands onto the piece of woodprotruding from her father’s chest.
She slid from her father’s slack grip as hebegan to shake and convulse from the death throes wracking him.Paige took a stumbling step back; he caught her before she couldfall to the floor. Lowering her down, Ian knelt before her. Hepulled her arms out to rapidly inspect her before grasping hold ofher chin. Blood trickled from her nose and cheek. Her breathrattled in and out due to her broken ribs and punctured lung.
“Are you ok?” he demanded.
Her gaze remained fixed on the man behindhim; the man whose feet still kicked out the rhythm of deathagainst the floor. The broken expression on her face tore at hisheart. Careful not to jar her ribs, he cradled her against hischest. “It’s ok baby,” he whispered. “It’s over now.”
