Blood Warrior(23)

Again, he struggled against me as he consciously fought the pull of Oscar’s voice. “She is … she…”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “I don’t think it’s going to work. Maybe we should just shoot him again.”

“There shall be no need for that,” a feminine voice called from the entrance.

The entire group spun, guns up and trigger fingers ready.

There she was.

Somehow, I expected Korina to look like she had in the photo. But, I guess that I didn’t account for vampires changing with the eras. Instead of a crisp white gown, she wore blue jeans and a white camisole tank top. Outside her jeans were knee length, flat soled boots made of fashionable black leather. Her curly hair was much longer than I thought it would be, it hung down her back, in shining, dark brown waves.

Aside from her looks, none of us could help but notice that her right hand was tightly gripping my brother, Zander’s hair. “Step away from my associate,” she ordered.

I contemplated for only a second. I didn’t want the guy to get up, but he’d been shot by the UV so many times it was already eating him away. It wouldn’t be much longer until he was dead anyway, so, I released him.

I rose into full standing position, and trained my gun on Korina’s heart. I could probably hit her before she hurt Zander, but that would really be taking a chance.

Her eyes settled on me. “Go ahead,” she taunted. “Shoot me and your friend shall die.”

Zander met my eyes and saw my hesitation so he cried out. “For crying out loud, do it, Chloe!”

She moved Zander so that he was in front of her, efficiently covering her chest area. “Yes, Chloe, do it. I can snap his neck before I die, I guarantee it.”

I still hesitated. I knew Zander was willing to sacrifice himself, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be the one responsible, I was already responsible for enough death and destruction.

Korina’s big brown eyes scanned the room and finally she spotted Anthony among us. “Well, well, well, I suppose I should be surprised to see you here, but I am not.”

Anthony moved toward her. “Korina, let the boy go.”

Her lips spread into a thin smile and she shook her head. “Have you no courtesy, Anthony? You haven’t even said hello to me. After all this time, I would think that you have missed me even the tiniest bit.”

“Let him go and then we can talk.” Anthony ignored her taunting.

She shook her head again. “I do not think so. I know why you are here, why you are looking for me. So, no, I will not release this boy. She used her free hand to tilt Zander’s face up toward her so that she could look at his face. “As a matter of fact, I think that maybe I will keep him.”

Anthony took another testing step forward. She saw him advancing on her and moved backward with Zander.

“I’m not anyone’s pet,” Zander spat at her.

She ran her fingertips over the line of his neck. “We shall see about that,” she whispered and then turned her attention back to Anthony. “I am quite disappointed in you. I would think you so much better than consorting with such pathetic creatures. Truly, Anthony, humans? This is what you have lowered yourself to?”

Realizing that she had no intention of releasing Zander, I decided that I should probably chance shooting her. It looked like that was the only option. I breathed out slowly, and aimed at Korina’s head.

Zander saw what I was doing and closed his eyes. I could only thank God that Christina wasn’t in the room yet, she would have went after him and done everything she could to avoid this. Where was she anyway?

“I shall be leaving New Orleans now, so don’t bother continuing your search for me after I leave here. She backed out the door. We followed, the entire group moved as one, stepping forward slowly. “My bloodline shall never perish, I have worked too hard for centuries to build such a family.”

“We shall find you,” Anthony told her.

Shoot Chloe! Shoot her! I told myself, over and over again. She is going to get away.

“Oh hell, no,” Drew muttered. “We have lost too much to let her get away now.” He raised his gun and took aim.

“Drew, no,” I whispered. “Let me.” He knew I had the better shot. But, dammit, I had to take it soon or we were going to lose him.

She continued to back up and Drew nodded. “Last chance, Chloe, then I’m doing it.”

“Tell your friends goodbye,” Korina told Zander, her lips close to his ear. “It will be a…” Her sentence was cut off and she lurched forward, almost letting go of Zander.

Behind her, about six feet down the deck, Christina stood with an expression fiercer than I’d ever seen on her. She threw another knife, which lodged itself deep in Korina’s back. “You take your hands off of him!” Christina yelled holding another large knife.