In the meantime, no one moved except to serve to smother me with their protection. I didn’t mind at all. Pushed against a wall, I knew a wall of beasts stood between me and those who wished to take me. I just kept waiting for something to hit us, to explode around us, for some startling end of my life to come. Yes, they wanted me alive, but in the fight, I could be easily lost in the crossfire. Only, nothing happened outside of my worst case scenario thoughts. My eyes adjusted slowly, letting me see Nira’s face that looked even paler in the glaring light. Now she looked her part, like the ghostly skinned vampires on TV. She held me tight, sending pain shooting down through my arm from the grip she had there. I knew she didn’t mean it. Still, the fear making her do it was worse than any physical ache she caused me.
I tried once again to look out in front of us, but the light was too much, too insanely bright at its sources, which seemed to be in many corners of the room. Blinking furiously, glancing just a little toward the light, I managed to make out the flood lights, like the kind a construction crew working late at night to clear a bad accident would use, sitting at each of the four corners of the room. One was even aimed at our back, insuring that as we turned around, we would still be blinded.
I looked to my side, toward the wolf, my eyes aching from trying to at least place the source of the sudden light. I looked at the shiny glow of Alex’s fur, hearing the low growl that emanated from deep in his chest as he too looked around, waited. His stance was predatory, waiting to pounce. Then, forms moved between the farthest two lights, making us all look at once.
I, too, braced myself, widening my stance, straightening my arms, and clenching my hands into fists as the others did. I tried to count, looking as well as I could at the line of wolves that formed between the lights. I’d no idea where they’d come from. I guess they had been lining the far walls. We couldn’t see them in the dark or with this light until they stepped into the room to make themselves known. Counting, I got to eleven. The pack had been twelve, I thought, and they’d already taken out one. I did, however, take notice of the absence of the man in the black suit, unless he was one of the wolves there. I didn’t know if he was counted in the pack number or not. Still, I figured he’d assigned himself to guarding Lex.
I could still feel him as if he were breathing his last breaths. I knew him to be above us still. I couldn’t feel Vivian and Riker, though, even now. If they were even there, I wasn’t sure that I would or could. I had no wolf protector or intimate connection with either of them. Plus, here, I doubted I could replicate that spell used to open up my psychic whatevers and use my magic to track someone. Of course, that could have only been for use with Lex and our connection.
With Nira stepping to the side, almost undetectable, she moved me further into the room, behind the line of wolves as well as away from those treacherous stairs. The idea that she too had worried about being shoved down them as the fight began was not comforting. Wasn’t like I couldn’t be broken by being pushed back against this wall by two of their bodies battling it out. I watched as she took her small flashlight and signaled the three-flash SOS they’d established. We were outnumbered here, almost two to one, and needed back-up, as Nira would not leave my side, I knew.
I heard the metal steps cry out as six more came, vampire and then wolf, leaving the fight evenly matched even with Nira out of the battle. My stomach rolled, not wanting to even so much as witness what would come next. Whatever happened, good or bad, I knew that Nira would not leave me. In fact, what hit me hardest at that moment was the knowledge that she would take me to safety before she would trade me for Lex or Vivian or Riker’s lives.
I was currently what the man in the black suit wanted, and these vampires and werewolves around me would fight to the death to prevent him from getting me. While there was some small measure of comfort in it, it also brought about the horrible possibility of Lex being left behind to die. I didn’t feel he had much longer, whatever they were doing to him. I was so close now that I couldn’t imagine being forced to leave without him.
I had been, and planned to continue, to follow their lead, but faced with being forced to leave without him, it might just end up my breaking point. I didn’t know what I’d do. In my mind, I would sacrifice myself to be with him, even if just for a short time. It all terrified me, and left me trembling violently in Nira’s grasp.