“This way,” Tawny yelled. The rest of my team took up the call as we headed out, making sure everybody knew which way to go.
I tried to keep it slow, stay with my team—I’d picked them, so they were my responsibility—but even trying to keep everything under control, my vamp speed kept kicking in. I had to stop and wait for them to catch up.
The tail packs loped past, weaving in and out of trees, knocking into each other, and howling and yipping like this was the most fun they’d ever had.
My team caught up and I started running with them again. I spotted Clarion and his pack coming up the middle. He barked, checking in with the rest of the packs. They answered him, and all the coyotes at once threw it into high gear, running in a dead sprint that even I couldn’t keep up with.
Gunshots followed us away from the headlights and into the darkness. I wondered how many humans had made it away from the barricade without getting shot. Even if they couldn’t see us, the foot soldiers were sending enough lead our way that some of it had to be hitting bodies on accident. Hopefully there weren’t any other blockades between us and Dark Mansion property.
We came out of the trees, crossed a terraced strip of field and a drainage ditch, then came up on the remains of the Dark Mansion. In the bloody reddish-brown light, I could see the silhouettes of the shot-up armored vehicles and burned-out helicopters that’d been dragged into a circle around the mansion’s bombed-out foundation.
I didn’t know if I actually saw the fallen angels or if it was a trick of the vamp senses, but I knew that they were waiting at the center of that circle. Most of them had their wings flared, too psyched to keep them folded.
That shot an extra jolt of energy into my system. This was where they’d hurt Desty, made her into something she wasn’t. This was where they’d hung Colt’s body up on a pole for the maggots to eat, where they’d cut my dad’s head off, and burned down my farmhouse and taken away everything good I could ever remember.
This was where they were going to pay for that shit.
A mine went off to my left, throwing dirt and droplets of human blood. I didn’t look to see who had stepped on it, just kept running. A second mine went off behind me. Dirt rained down everywhere, but no blood this time.
Someone up at the mansion let loose a war cry. Then the fallen angels were in the air, darting at us like pissed-off birds when you get too close to their nest. I hadn’t realized they could fly. I’d thought the wings were just for looks—that the tar somehow kept them from getting airborne—but they must’ve spread that lie so they would have the element of surprise during a battle.
A foot soldier slammed into my chest. It felt like I’d been hit by a train. I flipped backward and landed on the side of my left foot. The ankle snapped.
The vamp healing wasn’t working fast enough, so I hauled myself up onto my opposite knee and brought the shotgun to my shoulder.
Overhead, a guy screamed. He was dropping. A couple seconds later, there was a wet thud and the screaming stopped.
A winged shadow with a human body crossed in front of the moon. I squeezed the trigger, took a chunk out of its thigh and hopefully most of its nutsack, too.
More screams. More thuds. Some of the bodies got back up and howled or yipped as they shifted from coyote to human form. Some rolled up and cradled broken legs or arms. But most didn’t get back up.
Little black shadows swooped in and out of the bigger shadows, scratching and pecking at eyes, and tearing away weapons. The crows moved so fast that it seemed like there were a hundred of them instead of just twenty-six.
I took a few more shots at the angels overhead, but only hit one.
Finally, the vamp healing kicked in. My ankle popped back into place, barely loud enough to hear over everything else.
I couldn’t see Harper. Didn’t remember hearing her scream. But she had to be in this mess somewhere. I took a couple running steps with my shotgun up.
“Tough, we’re here!” Tawny was by my side. So were Jim and two of the four kids from my team. One girl was white-knuckling a can of hairspray and a lighter. A homemade flamethrower.
A foot soldier swooped out of the sky at Flamethrower. Without the vamp reactions, I couldn’t have made the shot. With them, I just barely managed to put a round in his face. He veered off to the side and dropped, holding his mouth and screaming through bloody fingers.
I whistled at what was left of my team to get their attention, then slapped my chest a couple times and pointed at the circle of vehicles around the Dark Mansion’s foundation.
“We’re with you!” Jim revved his idling chainsaw. “Lead on!”
Godkiller
Tears were dripping from my cheeks when I finished seeing Tough for what he truly was.
“I love him,” God said. “It cut my heart open when he left me. I just want him to come back. Every second of every day I follow him, hoping he’ll stop going the wrong way, just turn around and see me. And the second he does…” He smiled. “The very second he does…”
A lot of time passed before I was able to get myself under control enough to speak.
“So, now what?” I asked.
“Same as always,” He said. “You have the information. Now you choose
