Roaring Dawn: Macey Book 3 (The Gardella Vampire Hunters 10)(51)

“You’ve taken so much from me that I simply have to return the favor.” Flora smiled, and her fangs were a stunning reminder that no, things would never be the same.

“I see.” Macey needed to buy more time so she could move closer in hopes of a better shot. Then all at once, she realized exactly how she could pull this off. “But I seem to have missed something. Why is she here?” She looked toward Savina.

“Why, she was simply a handy way to get Mr. Grady here, who in turn was meant to be the bait which brought you here. But I see that didn’t happen quite the way I anticipated. Still…” Flora’s smile was cold. “You’re here, and I’m the one holding the gun. Even a Venator cannot withstand a bullet.

“Thus, I don’t see anything changing from my plans. In just a moment, Mr. Grady here is going to help me awaken Rekk’s Pyramid. And you’ll be able to watch it all happen…very slowly and painfully.”

“When did you decide to steal the pyramid?” Macey took a half step closer. She held the stake partially behind her in hopes that Flora wouldn’t notice while she was so busy prattling on about her accomplishments and plans.

“Iscariot didn’t even know that it was here in Chicago until I told him. He’d already planned that sweet little episode at the girls’ school, but at the time, he meant to bargain for the Rings of Jubai. When I told him he no longer needed them, he simply changed the purpose of the hostage taking. But I had other plans. While he was so busy luring you to the school to save those girls, I was helping myself to the pyramid. I had no intention of giving it to Iscariot, and I was quite certain you wouldn’t either—and I was hopeful you’d take care of him for me as well. It was a winning situation for me in either case.”

“Nevertheless, you must have been very valuable to Iscariot.” Macey started to move forward again, but Flora’s eyes fixed on her sharply and she raised the gun.

“Not another inch closer. I see what you’re doing. I will use this.” She held the firearm like she meant it, and Macey knew what a good shot Flora was. They’d grown up using milk cans during target practice for shooting crows away from Flora’s family’s cornfield.

“Oh yes, Iscariot did find me very valuable. In fact, he did something for me he hasn’t done for another in more than two centuries.” Her smile was frighteningly wicked.

“What was that?” Macey was still trying to capture Grady’s attention, but she had to keep her eyes on Flora at all times, as well as the other six vampires waiting at the door. If Max and Chas ever made it here, she hoped they found a different way into the room.

“He fed on me and drained most of my blood one night…and then he allowed me to drink from him. I was already undead, but now I have Iscariot blood mingling with my own immortal blood, Macey…which makes me nearly as powerful as Nicholas himself! And when the pyramid recognizes me as its mistress, I’ll be even more powerful than he was.” Her pale lips twisted into an ugly smile. “I suppose I should thank you for ridding me of him—it might have been a battle between us for the pyramid after all.”

Then Flora turned and looked toward Grady. Speculation blazed in her fiery eyes, and she set the pyramid down on the table. “I think the time for talking is long past. You know everything you need to know, and I’m ready to have some fun.”

Still holding the pistol, as if for insurance, she picked up one of the knives. Its long blade glinted wickedly in the lamplight, and Macey tensed.

She was going to have to act now…but she wasn’t quite close enough, and Flora was standing in such a way that she didn’t have a good enough angle to whip her stake forward. And that form of attack happened to be one of Macey’s weaker tactics—as Temple had always reminded her.

Temple.

Macey remembered her friend and mentor with a sudden heave of grief, and she stepped forward determinedly. That knife was not going to touch Grady, and Templewould be avenged.

“I don’t think you planned any of this very well. You never were very smart about things like this,” Macey said in a sneering voice. Though it was painful to speak those words—even to someone bent on destroying her life—she kept on. She knew Flora better than anyone, and it wouldn’t take much to rile her red-haired temper.

“What are you talking about?” Flora turned, her voice icy, the knife trembling in one hand, the gun in the other. She raised the gun and pointed it at Grady, who hadn’t moved. He was still held by the vampires. “Say that again.”

“That would be you—shooting a helpless man. A coward and a failure. The only reason you have the pyramid is because I killed Iscariot for you. Otherwise, you’d be nothing more but his lackey. Vampire blood or no vampire blood.” Macey lifted her chin, still holding the stake, staring Flora down.

The vampiress’s eyes blazed, and Macey felt the tremor of its power. It shuttled through her like a lightning bolt, and she focused with difficulty to keep it from owning her.

Flora would not control her.

But the vampiress was strong. And she had Iscariot’s blood. Macey shuddered deep inside as she felt the thrall connecting with her…tugging at her breath, her heartbeat.

“How dare you say such things!” Flora’s voice was high and tight, and now the gun was pointed at Macey. And though it trembled a little in her hand, Flora held it firmly.

“You were never better than me, Macey, but you always thought you were. Just because you were small and delicate, and I was a tall, ungainly horse…that didn’t mean you had to treat me that way. And I’m not a coward. I’m braver than you could ever imagine—giving up my soul for this. You’d never do that, would you?”

Flora stepped closer, the gun still pointed at Macey, her eyes blazing wildly red…their alluring thrall coaxing, and teasing, at the edge of Macey’s vision. She felt herself softening, felt the edges of her gaze become murky. Felt the pull on her pulse.

She adjusted her grip on the stake, focusing on the center of Flora’s chest. She was still much too far away to hit her accurately, and the vampire knew it.

So Macey had to do this just right. She had to calculate perfectly: the right time, the right angle, the right words.

“That’s not brave,” she taunted. “None of this is brave. You’re only here because it was an accident that you discovered the pyramid, Flora. Everything you’ve done has been an accident. Even shooting Temple—and yes, she was my best friend. And you took her from me. You were probably standing right next to her, so you couldn’t miss…and that was the only way you could overpower her—a mere mortal—in order to tear her apart. You can’t even be a good vampire.” Macey forced the words out, forced herself to say the hateful things even though she knew how deeply they pained Flora.

For her friend was still inside that damned, soulless body. The friend she’d loved as a sister for so many years was still there…she still hurt.

But there was nothing to be done for it. Flora had made her decision. Her soul was no longer her own.

“We could have been friends together. Forever. We should have been,” Flora said, her words coming faster, tighter, more desperate. “But you had to betray me—”

Just as Macey saw a movement at the doorway, she let the stake fly, whipping it sharply through the air toward Flora.

The vampiress shrieked when it winged harmlessly past her. “How dare you!” she cried. “You tried to kill me!” She dropped the knife, aimed the gun with two hands, and pulled the trigger.

Macey was looking toward the doorway when the bullet struck her in the chest with great, shocking force. Pain shot through her, and she whipped back and onto the ground.





TWENTY-FIVE

~ A Man of Clear Heart ~



Max had just reached the doorway when he saw the bullet slam into Macey’s chest, and watched her tumble to the ground, stake falling from her lifeless hand.

“Noo!” he cried, and plunged into the room, Woodmore at his heels.

But as they breached the threshold, a swarm of undead surged onto them. Max lost sight of the red-headed vampiress as he thrust his stake at the closest undead, then spun and ducked in order to evade the next one. They came after him, one by one, as he kicked, dove, scrambled, and knocked them to the ground, finishing them off with well-aimed strokes to the heart.

He and Woodmore were shoulder to shoulder, then back to back for several minutes in a melee of undead before they emerged from the cloud of dust and vampire remains, and he saw Flora, on the ground, bending over Macey’s body.

“No.” Flora was sobbing, rocking back and forth a little. “I didn’t mean to do that.” She’d dropped the gun, and Grady had lunged forward to snatch it up—not that it would do any good against an undead. “I never meant to kill you…Macey, I didn’t mean it. You have to believe me…I didn’t mean to!”

Wild and mindless, Max leaped toward the red-headed vampire, only to be caught midair and snatched backward by none other than Woodmore.

He whirled, his vision red with fury, fist raised—but Woodmore blocked it, grabbed him by the arm, and said, “Look.”