Six rules undying book 2, p.36
Six (Rules Undying Book 2), page 36
The pair made it to the parking lot just in time to see Billy’s Winnebago rolling past. Irvine gave them a hearty salute before rolling out on the highway.
“He’s got them, doesn’t he?” Paige asked.
“Not for long,” Lorcan growled. He pulled out his phone.
“Kayleigh, there’s a Winnebago with Arizona plates heading north on ninety-five. Track it.”
“Can she do that?” Paige asked.
Lorcan stared at the caravan disappearing down the highway. A few seconds later, a motorcycle came blitzing up the highway from the south. As it passed through the Bust Stop lights, Paige could see a braid of reddish hair flying beneath her old-style biker helmet.
“Let’s get the cavalry and rescue our friends, Miss Paige.”
- 33 -
“So you’re a vampire, our ancient enemy, and you want us to help you stop other vampires so that we can save the werewolves that you’ve enslaved. Does anyone else see the crazy train pulling into this stop?” Bernard asked as he and his pack mates crowded onto the plush sofa of the visitors’ dressing room.
“It’s not about the vampire, Bernard. It’s about Morgan.” Billy sighed. “We can’t just leave him—”
“Irvine wouldn’t really sell out his only family to the bloodsuckers, would he?” Wesley asked. “Lincoln was his brother—”
“Look, I don’t know this Irvine guy too well, but I did have a run-in with the vampires that he’s going to deal with. I’m pretty sure it’s the cupcake killer again, and her friends were going to vivisect Morgan once they dragged him back to Hong Kong,” Kyle said.
“You didn’t hear Irvine downstairs,” Paige added. “He blames Morgan for his brother’s death.”
“But what do you expect us to do? We got our asses handed to us by the pipsqueak already,” Bernard whined.
Billy nodded sadly and said, “Bernard is right; we’re not an army. The closest thing we have to a tough guy is a part-time bouncer.”
“And he cries at cartoons,” Bernard noted.
“Everyone cries at Pixar movies!” Wesley cried.
“Please, just shut up, all of you!” Paige barked. The room fell silent.
Lorcan gave a little bow to the pint-size alpha. He raised a brow as even Kyle had bowed his head and clamped his mouth shut.
“I realize that you are not soldiers, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot help in the fight,” the vampire said in his most motivational British tones. “You all live in a time where you have mercifully been spared the horrors of your ancestors. I am offering you all a chance to prove, by deed, that you are no threat to me or to the people that I hold dear; and if you take that chance, I will give you my word that you will be protected from the Lung and from other vampires who seek your demise.”
“And what good is the word of a vampire?” Billy asked.
“A vampire’s word is his bond, my friend. I don’t make promises that I have no intention of keeping,” Lorcan answered. “I do believe in choice whenever possible,” he said with a pointed look at Paige.
“So I am offering you all one now.”
“And if we don’t bow to the bloodsucker?” Bernard dared to ask.
“Then I will shoot you with my tranquilizer pistol, and you’ll join Miss Paige’s father in the cage. I happen to know another bloodsucker with a penchant for erasing memories, and he loves collecting favors from me.”
Paige found herself in the awkward position of having five werewolves staring right at her. She looked deep into their pleading puppy eyes. “It’s your choice, guys, but I’m going to rescue Morgan and the girls, alone if I have to. Also, I’m going to punch Irvine in the nuts at any given opportunity.”
Kyle stood up and pulled a handful of syringes from his medicine bag. “I’ve got three vampire-lethal doses of antibiotics here.”
Wesley and Sammy both stood up. “I’ve got these discipline paddles, and we can make stakes from the chairs if we have to,”
Wesley said.
Billy sighed and stood up too. “I’m a pacifist, but I’ll drive,” he sighed.
Everyone turned and looked at Bernard. He tugged at his beard frantically, tapping his feet to the same ferocious rhythm. “For the record, I think this is a terrible idea, but I may have a few things in my truck that will help.”
Kyle took a moment to pull both Paige and Lorcan to the side while the werewolf army gathered their resources. “You guys are in no condition for a fight, especially if Ping-Pong shows up,” he said.
“You’re my doctor, Kyle,” Lorcan said. “Fix it.”
“Yeah, do you have one of those pens for bringing out the wolf like Nadia had?” Paige asked.
“I do, but you can’t use it. After your change yesterday, your body is completely depleted—”
“Just give it to me!” she barked.
Kyle looked over to Lorcan.
“Are you certain, Miss Paige?” the vampire asked.
“Only as a last resort,” she said. “I promise.”
“As the lady commands,” Lorcan sighed. He led them out to the parking lot and to the back of a rented subcompact import hatchback.
“A vampire drove a Rio?” Bernard asked incredulously as he ran by.
“I may have to eat that obnoxious clerk from the airport,” Lorcan muttered as he pulled a case from the back. “I could only get a small parcel from Las Vegas as I technically don’t control it, but a friend of a friend knew a few Italians who were willing to help.”
Lorcan pulled a shotgun from the case and eyed the two boxes of shells. “So we have this, a P-25, and the tranquilizer guns, but the ammo is low. Kayleigh said that the caravan pulled into a junkyard not too far north of here and that there isn’t too much risk of outsiders wandering in in the middle of the night.”
“A junkyard, really? First an abandoned warehouse, and now this,” Kyle said. “Those Lungs watch too much TV.”
“We need to hurry,” Lorcan said.
The werewolves and the lone vampire ended up piling into Bernard’s early nineties Bronco. As Lorcan passed out the dinky plastic tranq guns and kept the heavy firepower to himself, Bernard raised a brow.
“You mean the undead gets the shotgun and we get peashooters. How is this fair?” he asked.
They drove in relative silence until they reached a foreboding pile of car skeletons. Billy killed the lights and let everyone hop out a few hundred feet from the maze of decaying tires and scrap metal.
“It’s going to be hard to smell anything with all the rust and old chemicals,” their driver added.
“It will hinder them as much as it will hinder us,” Lorcan said.
“Listen, all you need to do is watch the perimeter and make sure no one sneaks up on us. If all goes well, it will be over before you know it.”
“When does it ever all go well, Grandpa?” Kyle sighed.
The group crept slowly to the chain-link fence. Bernard produced a couple of pairs of wire cutters, as well as a baseball bat.
“You know that bat is aluminum,” Lorcan noted.
“It still hurts if I hit you with it, bloodsucker,” the werewolf replied.
“What took you guys so long?” Kayleigh hissed as she slid out of a squished Cadillac. “The RV is here, and he made a call. From what I could make out, his buddies will be here any minute.”
Bernard’s entire face transformed as he took in the lanky, grease and dust-covered body of Kayleigh O’Hara. She wiped a smudge off her cheek as she hopped to the ground, revealing her secondary layer of adorable freckles. She shoved Bernard to the side to get to Lorcan and Kyle. Bernard clutched his chest and sighed with delight.
“Great, you brought the deadweight,” Kayleigh muttered as she stared right through her brother. “The blond old dude has Nads and Toy tied up and knocked out next to the Winnebago. There is another guy bleeding out pretty bad. He’s unconscious but not bound. The old guy knocked him senseless and just left him in the dirt.”
Paige bared her teeth and leaped for the pile. Only the combined efforts of Sammy and Wesley could hold her back. Lorcan rested his hand on Paige’s shoulder and said, “I know that you want to help him, but if we don’t put a stop to the Lung, they will just keep coming after all of you.”
“I hope they show up soon then,” Kayleigh muttered. She turned to the still starry-eyed Bernard. “You, fur-face, can you climb? I need another spotter.”
“I’ll do whatever you need,” Bernard sighed as she started climbing the cars.
“That’s kinda cute,” Wesley said as the two disappeared.
“Yeah, cute and futile,” Kyle muttered. “You two, why don’t you help me sneak around back so I can get to Morgan?”
Before he slipped away, Kyle passed a syringe and a pair of pens into Paige’s hand. “Syringe equals vampire death, white pen is a tranquilizer, and dark pen is full-moon fever, OK?” he said.
“Gotcha.”
They all perked up their ears as the sound of an engine approached from the north. Lorcan and Paige slipped through a few discarded chassis and found a perfect perch downwind and behind an old chest freezer. A very shiny black limousine rolled through the front gate that Irvine had so kindly crashed through before.
The doors swung open to allow three large gentlemen with automatic guns and bulletproof vests to step into view. All of them nodded in deference to the fourth member of their entourage—all four feet ten inches of lollipop-sucking, high-top-wearing, schoolgirl-impersonating Ping-Pong Lung.
“You interrupted my dinner,” Ping said between licks of her suspiciously red sucker. “You’re lucky you didn’t call an hour earlier.”
“No one interrupts Miss Lung at Cirque du Soleil,” one of the thugs muttered threateningly.
“Guns,” Paige whispered in horror. “What do we do about guns?”
Lorcan, on the other hand, seemed dreadfully calm as he took note of the driver and tinted windows. He set his shotgun on the ground and dutifully checked the number of darts in his dinky little nonlethal weapon.
“Are you crazy?” Paige mouthed.
Lorcan nodded before vaulting himself over the freezer and firing. Paige heard three little plinks and then an equal number of
meaty thuds. A moment later, the hollow remains of an Impala came crashing down onto the trunk of the limo.
“Oh, I hope you had insurance,” Lorcan quipped as he turned to face Ping.
Paige looked up to see a triumphant Bernard and Kayleigh already grappling another junker to hurl. Kyle and the boys made a move as well, leaving only Paige to make a beeline for the stunned older werewolf.
Ping smiled and gave the other vampire a little bow. “How cute!”
she cried as she yanked a knife out of her Hello Kitty handbag. “It’s the Lord Poo-Face himself come to scare wittle old me—”
Paige couldn’t hear the rest of the banter as she drove her shoulder right into Irvine’s sternum. He stumbled back but not nearly far enough. Paige reeled as his right hook landed squarely on her jaw.
“Didn’t we already do this, bitch?” Irvine asked as he slugged her again.
She collapsed to the ground next to the other girls, whimpering and simpering as the blood rushed to her swelling eye socket. She held the black injector pen in her trembling tiny hands.
“Oh, was that for me?” Irvine laughed as she brandished her pathetic weapon. “Were you going to knock me out, little missy?” he asked before getting close enough to kick her in the stomach.
“No, she is,” Paige wheezed before slamming the pen into Nadia’s thigh. She then slammed whatever was left of the adrenaline boost into Toy’s side before taking another boot to the back. This hit landed with enough force to crack bone.
Irvine’s triumph was short-lived as a pair of wide violet eyes snapped open. The purple-haired werewolf snapped her bonds and roared. Paige smiled as Nadia slammed her fist into Irvine’s smug face. A second later Toy roared and broke free as well. Irvine was forced to retreat as two furious females proceeded to beat him within an inch of his life.
Kyle rushed to Paige’s side as she remained firmly planted in the dirt. “Help Morgan. I’ll be all right—” she growled as she started crawling toward the limousine. Her spine complained terribly as she
grabbed the tire and began the frightfully slow climb to her feet. She braced herself with one hand and held onto the syringe Kyle had given her with the other.
The werewolves watched, dumbstruck, as two individuals moved faster than creatures had the right to move. The smaller form of Ping jumped, flipped, and danced about, continuously attacking Lorcan, who seemed to melt in and out of shadows—slower but always able to parry her attacks. The more he blocked, however, the more angry bruises and slashes appeared along his arms.
Finally, Ping had enough of dancing and took a running leap over the top of the limo. Paige couldn’t move fast enough to avoid being grabbed by the vampire. Lorcan held frightfully still as Ping pressed a knife against Paige’s throat.
“Oh, I see how it is,” Ping cooed sweetly in Paige’s ear. “He wouldn’t want to risk your pretty little neck, would he? I can see the fear in your eyes, Lorcan Pendragon. I’m gonna cut your—”
Ping’s words trailed away as she looked down to see a syringe plunged into her leg. The vampire let Paige go and yanked out the offending plastic. “Diu,” the vampire spat as her eyes turned from green to bloody red. She lunged at Paige, grabbing the werewolf’s tail. Paige howled as Ping was able to make one swift cut before dropping to her knees. The furry limb dropped to the ground.
Lorcan wrapped his arm protectively around Paige’s shoulders.
The other vampire looked up at Lorcan and begged. “You, you’re a Pendragon,” she pleaded. “Your family values life. I beg you—”
Nadia and Toy tossed the unconscious body of Irvine at Lorcan’s feet. Lorcan didn’t miss a beat as he pulled out the regular pistol and fired two shots to the head. Paige remained frozen, mouth open as the blood began to flow beneath her feet.
“I’m not like the rest of the Pendragon,” Lorcan said flatly. “And you threaten my family.”
He shot her cleanly between the eyes. He then motioned to the stunned Sammy, who was holding a splintered chair leg in his white-knuckled hands. The werewolf stumbled toward the gruesome scene. Everyone but Paige looked away as Lorcan took the makeshift stake and plunged it through Ping’s ribs. At this point the
driver of the limo shoved open his door and ran screaming for the cover of the scrap heap. Paige finally shut her eyes as she felt Lorcan draw a pistol again, and only opened them after she heard a whimper rather than a bang. The driver collapsed with a dart in his neck as Lorcan ordered, “Time to clean up.”
- 34 -
“Is he going to make it?” Paige asked softly. The interior of Billy’s Winnebago had been converted into a makeshift hospital, with wounded werewolves tucked in every corner. Morgan ended up on the prime real estate of the bed, while Kyle and Billy both tried their best to stitch him up and Paige watched helplessly from the couch across the cabin.
“He’s lost a lot of blood. I think we’re going to have to risk a run for the hospital—” Billy said.
“He’s not going to make it—” Kyle said as he took Morgan’s pulse.
“Give him my blood,” Paige offered.
“Paige, you’re AB+, and he’s fuck-if-I-know type,” Kyle snapped.
“Leave this to us.”
Paige’s protests were silenced by Lorcan pressing a finger to her lips. The vampire remained ever watchful at her side. Paige grabbed his bruised and bloodied hand. “Is there anything that you can do?” she whispered.
Lorcan extended his blood red claws and punched a hole in his wrist. “He’s not going to be happy about this,” the vampire sighed.
“He can yell at us later.”
Much to Kyle’s and Billy’s mutual protests, the vampire absconded with Kyle’s tubing and needles. He made quick work of fashioning a makeshift IV and handed the other end to his great-times-nine grandson.
“You don’t even know if it will work. The chances of rejection—”
Kyle muttered.
“Trust me on this one. I know it will work.”
True to Lorcan’s word, the young werewolf woke a few hours later. The vampire was forced to hide in the bathroom as the first rays of Nevada sunshine poured through the windows. Paige curled on the sofa, clutching her severed tail and praying under her breath.
“Why did I dream of Camelot?” Morgan asked softly.
Paige ignored the glare of her doctor and stumbled to Morgan’s side. He looked at her blackened eye and swollen jaw, and his eyes darkened. “Who did this to you?” he growled.
“It’s over now,” she said as she rested the unbroken side of her face against his.
Kyle eventually acquiesced to letting her lie down beside Morgan and even helped the two of them cuddle without causing further injury.
Once the two most injured were safely tucked in, Billy signaled for Sammy to start up the engine. “I think it’s time we head for home,” the werewolf said. After a few minutes of gentle swaying and road noise, Paige drifted off into a deep, peaceful, dreamless sleep.
- 35 -
“What did you mean when you told Ping that you weren’t like other Pendragons?” Paige asked as she once more sat at the bar at Mayweather’s Pub.
“I think you know that better than anyone, Miss Paige,” Lorcan said as he wiped down the counter. The smell of chicken and bacon filled the air as Tina and her waitresses handed plates around to the full tables of the bustling establishment. Her largest platters of food kept rotating out of a room marked “Private Party,” where Paige could just see Billy chugging a beer while Toy cheered him on and Nadia shook her head.
Lorcan passed the towel to the regular bartender before grabbing a bottle and two glasses. “Shall we go have a drink?” he asked.
