I didn’t let up on my fire, I kept it going and moved forward slowly, a step at a time.
“Chloe!” I heard Drew’s voice on the other side of the fire. “Put it out, they’re down.”
Drew, thank God, he was all right.
I extinguished the fire quickly, but there were still flames flickering in front of me. I blinked a few times, wondering what the heck was happening and then realized that I’d been too close to the building and now it was on fire.
Damn old wooden structures. I turned back toward Anthony and Korina, there was nothing I could do now, even though the fire seemed to be spreading quickly.
Drew appeared at my side. “You didn’t have to set that on fire, you know.”
I made a face that said ‘ha ha, very funny’ but only muttered, “Smart ass,” as a response. The soldiers who were left had either crawled away or lay dead on the alley floor. Anthony and Korina were still going at it too.
I raised my gun, attempting once again to get a bead on Korina. Vampires were fast, and I fought vampires all the time, but two fighting vampires was like trying to watch a movie in fast forward. I’d never seen anything like it.
Gavin, Christina and Luke thundered into the alley behind us. “Hey,” I turned to them, not wanting to take my eyes off Korina and Anthony. “Is everyone all right. I heard so many screams.”
Luke was breathing hard and trying to catch his breath. “The screaming was the other guy. We did lose a few of Sarah’s people, but Alice had us protected.”
Just then, Christina spotted Zander. “Oh my God. No!” She ran to him and fell to her knees beside him. “No, no, no.” She repeated over and over again, pulling his head into her lap.
Grunts and curses came from Anthony and Korina. They had moved into a standing position and Anthony had her up against a wall, holding her secure by the neck. “Stop fighting me, Korina, you are not going to survive this, look around you.”
She didn’t care what he had to say, she just kept on struggling against him as she tried to free herself from his grasp. I realized that in the position they were in now, I could get a clear shot, so I took aim at her chest region and pulled the trigger.
Nothing.
Crap, I was out of ammo. I didn’t have time to check my clips and reload, so I pulled the bow over my head and nocked an arrow.
The fire picked up momentum, spreading from one building to the next. Great, that was all we needed was to cause yet another fire in New Orleans that would make history by burning the French Quarter to the ground. I glanced at the fire and then at Gavin. “Do you think you can put this out?”
“No problem.” He nodded as I drew back my arm and took aim once again.
“There, get them!” a loud voice called from the opening of the alley. I abandoned my shot and turned to see what was going on.
A mix of soldiers and vampires approached, held back only by what remained of our group. Oh no, we were all trapped in here like caged mice and Alice wasn’t with us. Christina saw what was happening and left Zander to help. She, Luke, and Drew began firing, just as the ground beneath us shook with the strength of an earthquake.
Gavin sat in kneeling position, his hands pressed against the cement, calling to his element beneath the floor of the city. His head bowed in concentration and he was somehow able to ignore the deadly commotion around him.
The soldiers fired back and the vampires surged forward. They stumbled over the shaking ground below them as they dodged the spray of bullets coming from both sides. Some of the soldiers who were shooting fell as their balance was thrown off.
And then, the cement cracked, the pavement broke apart in crooked lines and some of the sections raised up as tons water shot up from within them. The powerful bursts shot high into the air, taking some of the soldiers and vampires out with them.
The bad guys weren’t the only ones, Christina, who had been standing right on top of one of the cracks, was lifted into the air and thrown to the side, into one of the flaming walls.
Oh God, this was so bad.
I saw her bounce off the wall and land on the pavement. She let out a string of curses as she crawled across the wreckage while fumbling to find her gun. At least she was alive.
I turned and drew back again. This had to end.
Anthony had to hold Korina with both hands, so he was unable to defend himself against her, which meant holding her there was all he could do. It was up to me.
I tried to filter out the screams and shouts and gunfire behind me, telling myself that this was what mattered. This, was what had to be done.
Everything seemed to go silent around me. The chaos muted as water rained down on us and smoke billowed up from the extinguished flames, obstructing my vision. I focused, drawing the energy within me. It swirled and ebbed inside of my body until I mentally pushed it out, into the bow which I held in my hands.