As we approach the cross road where I know Elina is, Marcus nods his head and his vampires spread out, a soldier in front of every door up and down the two intersecting streets, and knock simultaneously.
Door after door swings open to reveal humans and vampires, or both. The men at the doors ask various questions. Some step inside to search or smell. Our core group of family members stands in the street, near the hole where we found the blood, waiting.
Jack approaches the door of the old Hotel Royal and knocks. A woman of short stature, a human, opens the doors.
“Can I help you?”
Jack takes a sharp inhale as soon as the door opens andgrowls, low in his throat, capturing my attention. We all turn in his direction.
“She’s here. This is it,” he says, low and deadly. The woman’s eyes widen and the door smashes closed. I can hear the tumblers and locks engaging. A sudden rattling draws my eyes upward. One by one, metal shutters slam down over the windows. A fortress sealing itself shut. A trap—or a challenge.
Everyone falls silent, the air thick with tension and anticipation.
“Get ready everyone,” I growl. “They can’t keep usallout.” And we proceed to surround the building.
The assembled vampires jump onto the higher levels of the building, a person at every point of entry. Windows have vampires clinging to them. Marcus is working to destroy the metal shutter covering the front door. I approach him and slam my fists into the metal. I feel the flesh on my knuckles give way, splattering blood across my shirt. They heal quickly, only to re-split with every punch I lay against the metal.
The sound of tearing metal and banging fills the street. Vampires from the surrounding homes empty into the street, the humans barring their doors to avoid being caught in the melee. All of the windows are reflective, showing me, like a mirror, what is happening on the street. I can’t see into the building at all, I only know of the shutters covering the windows because I heard them close. And I can hear people running back and forth from behind the barricaded walls.
Marcus and my combined efforts finally result in a puncture straight through the metal of the door, and through the wooden door behind it. Tearing through the opening like men possessed, we finally breach the entryway. Walking at a fast pace, we each begin entering any rooms we come across.
In a billiards room to the left, I find two men waiting. They attack me simultaneously as soon as I clear the threshold.Throwing a blood covered fist in the first man’s direction, I hear his jaw break under my hand. As he stumbles back, I grab the second man. Holding his face between my hands, I twist his head until I separate it from his body, letting him fall in a heap at my feet. I put a hand out to stop the other man from advancing, punching through his chest cavity and pulling out his heart—the flash of light temporarily blinding me. I drop the heart with a thump and exit the room.
This pattern repeats until I have lost count of the amount of vampires that fall by my hand. They are strong and ruthless, but they are not prepared for the lethal brutality of my anger. My Elina is in this house somewhere and Iwillfind her. If the people here want to get in my way, then let death be their lesson.
