“Fuck!” Dante exploded as anguish filled him. He’d failed someone else… again, but he would not fail Cassidy.
Another vamp burst out of the crowd and raced toward Cassidy. She leapt to her feet, spun, and kicked the vamp so violently in the head he faceplanted into the floor without having time to get his hands out. Blood spilled from his broken nose as teeth broke off and skittered across the ground.
Dante almost smiled as he held his hand out to her, but the sight of the woman’s body stopped him. However, Cassidy wasn’t kidding; she could take care of herself really well. When Cassidy slid her hand into his, he pulled her away from the body of the unmoving vamp. She’d knocked him out cold.
Turning back toward the door, he stifled a groan when he saw the brawling mass of vamps and humans. Most of the humans were trying to flee when they got caught up in the fight.
While Bull focused on trying to free a human from the vampire draining him dry, another vamp lifted a table and bashed it into Bull’s back. Unprepared for the blow, the bouncer hit the ground with a thud.
Bull got his arms under him and started to push himself up, but when the vamp hit him again, Bull collapsed. Zan emerged from the crowd, ripped the table from the vamp’s hands, and turned it around to smash the flat side into the vamp’s face.
Dante drew Cassidy against his chest and sheltered her there as he shoved his way through the crush of bodies. He couldn’t see the door, but he moved in the general direction of its location.
Cassidy clung to Dante’s shirt as she kept her head pressed against the solid wall of muscle beneath. Something hard and round under his shirt poked her cheek, but she didn’t have time to figure out what it was as he kept one arm locked around her while he used the other to shove vamps out of the way.
The place had erupted into chaos as screams and the scent of blood filled the air. Fighters and those trying to flee stumbled and ran around them as a growing sense of urgency pulsated through the building, along with the scent of smoke. Cassidy had no idea where the smoke scent was coming from, and she didn’t bother to look; she remained focused on getting out of there.
Cassidy gasped when a woman, hit by a staggering vamp, was thrown back and into a table. The table upended, and the contents slid off to crash against the floor. The humans who were hiding under the table scrambled to get out of the way. One of the women crawled through the glass as she tried to avoid more of the fighters.
“We have to help her!” Cassidy cried.
She lunged forward, but Dante snatched her back in time to avoid a stool that had become a missile. The passing projectile blew the hair back from her face before it crashed into the wall and shattered. Cassidy threw her arms up to protect herself from the shards of wood that shot out, but before they could hit her, Dante pulled her down to shield her.
The corded muscles of his arms and chest flexed around her as he grunted and flinched. Something had hit him.
Chapter Thirteen
“Are you okay?” she demanded.
“Fine,” he muttered as he released her and rose. “We have to get out of here.”
Yes, they did, because beneath the increasing scent of blood, she could now smell fire as flames crackled. It was only a matter of time before the vamps stopped fighting each other and stampeded for the door. She didn’t know if there were any other exits, and they couldn’t waste time trying to find them.
Keeping his arm locked around her waist, Dante propelled Cassidy forward as more vamps and humans pushed toward the door while others joined the fight. He ignored the grinding of bone created by the wooden piece of stool embedded beneath his shoulder blade. He would deal with it later.
Through the melee, he spotted Zan lifting Bull off the ground and throwing the massive man over his shoulder. Zan stiff-armed his way through some of the fighters as flames shot up the wall behind him.
The bartender jumped onto the plywood bar and over top of it to the other side. Someone swung a punch at her, but she ducked the blow and drove her fist into the vamp’s gut.
More humans fled toward the door, but many of the vamps were still so intent on killing each other they didn’t realize the fire was spreading. When Dante looked back, he spotted the red and orange flames spreading across the ceiling as thick, black smoke rolled toward them.
His grip on Cassidy tightened; he had to get her out of here. The crowd parted enough for him to catch a glimpse of the door only thirty feet away. The humans squashed against it, beat on its surface as they screamed.
“Are we locked in here?” Cassidy breathed.
He didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t deny what his eyes were seeing. However, he held out hope that in their terror, they couldn’t get the door open as the ones in front were crushed against it.
The vamps who hadn’t given in to their bloodthirstiness also crowded the door. Blood streaked the silver barricade as vamps and humans ripped the flesh from their fingers as they clawed at the door.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” he vowed.
Cassidy struggled against the panic rising to choke the air from her as more humans beat and hammered at the door. She doubted much sound escaped the building, and if it did, there weren’t many around to hear it. Besides, by the time help arrived, this place would be engulfed in flames, and it would already be too late.
“Zan!” Dante bellowed over the shrieks
