The fucking bloodsuckers ambushed me. They knew we were there. They were waiting for us all along. Was this another plan laid out by Katherine even upon her final death?
Some of the bloodsuckers decapitated heads laid on the ground beside me along with human bodies. The explosion destroyed their bodies, leaving barely anything discernible behind. We must have been just far enough for it not to turn us into ground meat.
I roared as I tried to put weight on my knee, then foot. Sharp pain shot up my thigh as I looked down to see the bone piercing through my flesh, exposed on the outside of my shin.
A compound fracture.Fuck.
“Inés!” I gritted through the pain. Another step and I fell over someone’s dismembered limb, falling onto my back with a groan. Where the fuck was Carson and Amir?
Dust kicked up and I stared into the greyish white smoke filled skies. The smell of burnt flesh, excrements and spilled innards were dulled by the combination of everything around us.
I should have seen it coming.
I did, but not until it was too late.
The crunching of boot steps stole my attention. I quickly turned to my stomach to give myself a better position while hiding behind two corpses piled on top of one another. The dead eyes of the vampire on top stares at me, it’s fangs a reminder of war at stake.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are. I can practically feel your heart racing from here. It was always going to come to this Vik, wasn’t it?” he cackled and the hair on the back of my neck rose.
There wasn’t enough room for two madmen in this world and I won’t be the one eliminated.
ChapterTwenty-Five
Otis kickedone of the decapitated heads until it rolled in my direction.
“Vik, Vik, Vik. You sorely disappoint me time and time again. Don't you know that my enemy's enemy is my friend? You see, the new age calls for a change of ideals,” he rambled. “In order to survive this world, one must rearrange the order of things.”
He chuckled as he kicked a dismembered limb out of his way. My sights darted around me, trying to see if I could find Carson or Amir’s body anywhere, but I didn’t.
“These vampires carry quite an interesting set of traits, don’t you think Vik? And to think, some of us even go as far as to create secret deals with the bloodsuckers.”
I caught sight of a rifle beneath one of the corpses about three feet to my left. I immediately began shifting movement in that direction slowly.
Otis leaned down and lifted the hair on someone's detached scalp, bringing it to his nose to inhale.
“Yes. The world needs a man like me. I have a calling, Vik. Despite what our parents believed, despite what you believed, you all knew it to be true. It was what drove me in my obsession—my mission.”
With my elbows, I pulled myself until I was an arm’s breath away from the rifle, but it would involve me exposing my position if I were to grab it. I listened to Otis drone on, allowing the sound of his voice to give me the coordinates of his location.
This thing between us was going to end. This bloodline was always bound for destruction.
“You see, Vik, unlike you, I’m willing to get my hands dirty. You have to in order to play the game wisely, in order to get things right. The last compound I experimented in ran out of pets, you see. Oh, and Vik. If only you knew the offer that came to my bunker’s doorsteps,” he laughed maniacally, kicking another decapitated head.
“You’ve lost your mind a long time ago, Leonard. I’m not surprised Ruby left you,” I pointed out, knowing it would hit him where it hurt. She was the only thing that mattered to him. The only thing that broke through his obsession.
I guess we were more alike than I realized.
“You dare bring up her name? You know nothing! She betrayed me. Left me! And now, I was going to make sure the consequences of her actions will be felt around the world,” he snarled as he grabbed a detached leg and threw it to the right of me.
I remained quiet. I shifted my sight to the small hand grenade on the dead body in front of me. This would have to do.
Grabbing it, I pulled the pin and threw it as far as I could, hissing when it shifted my wound the wrong way.
“You’re playing games, Vik. I can smell your fear from here. You and I both know that the age of vampires is coming to a close. The rise of men is here. Men like you and I. Men that see things for what they are—the truth about humanity.”
The bomb went off and I dove for the rifle, rolling sideways as Otis dove in a different direction, taking cover. He cackled as we both caught our breath and the dust died down.
“Ah, this. This was what I was missing, you see. Only you, Brother. Only you would play the same game I would. If only Katherine would have played the board better, she’d still be here.”
