And then the screaming started all over again.

Chapter 16

Helen yelled, “Celia, do something!” and shoved me forward. I would’ve turned around and slapped the shit out of her if I hadn’t been worried about the three crazies about to kill us. I pushed the linen cart toward the approaching vampires. But I was so weak, the toddler with the bandaged arm could’ve pushed it harder than I did.

The vamps didn’t exactly leap out of the way of the cart in terror of me. It was more like they took a step back, exchanged glances, and, oh yeah, laughed. One said something to the others in what I believed was Portuguese. I didn’t speak Portuguese; I spoke Spanish. But I understood enough to know he said something like, “That’s Shah’s holder?”

The werelynx swinging the nunchucks also seemed unimpressed. He stopped doing his Bruce Lee thing just to furrow his eyebrows at my nasty self. He shrugged, folded his nunchucks, and shoved them into his ninja belt. I guessed he felt I wasn’t worth soiling his weapons when he could kill a wimp like me with his bare hands. He moved forward, only to step into what remained of Edison. When he glanced at me again, I had already backed up halfway down the hall, far from the terrified humans. The bad guys hadn’t come for them. They’d come for me. I needed to put some space between us.

The ninja said something to the others while pointing to the clumps of Edison ash. The vampires’ amusement faded as it became clear that yes, they had the right gal. All three of them glared at me. I held tight to the bedsheet and bolted when they charged.

I faintly remember hearing what sounded like screeching tires and something crashing through the lobby before thick fingers twisted into my hair and wrenched me back. I was thrown past the horror-stricken crowd, their screams becoming muffled when my head and back smacked against something hard.

Stars swarmed my vision and everything hurt. Goddamnit, even my eyebrows felt the excruciating jolt of my impact. I opened my heavy lids only to find that I’d lost the sheet covering me and was embedded spread-eagle into a wall.

I was bleeding, I was hurt, and I was about to get torn to pieces by three vampires and a ninja werelynx. Terror should have gripped me by the throat. Fear should have chilled my bones. Horror should have released my screams. Instead my only thought was, Oh God, I’m naked!

It wasn’t a rational thought, but don’t judge me. I’d just been thrown across a room and embedded into cinder block.

The bad guys rushed me. When mere feet remained between certain death and me, three large and snarling wolves the size of my tigress collided with them like giant rams, shoving them across the Emergency Department and away from me.

Koda and Gemini had arrived.

I lifted my chin, forcing my lolling head to straighten. Shayna skidded around the demolished nurses’ station, her eyes wild as she took in the destruction around her. “Dude!” she yelled when she saw me.

My head slumped forward, and my body tried to convince me this was a good time for a nap. But the sound of splintering glass, growls, screams, and whatever other noises accompanied an Emergency Department being demolished insisted I should stay awake and try not to die.

Shayna hopped over the debris, shock whitening her pixie face as she took me in. “I’m okay,” I slurred.

Shayna clasped my left wrist and pulled. “Don’t worry, Ceel. You’re not alone. I’ll get you out.”

That was easier said than done. She had to prop her foot against the wall for leverage as she yanked. Each pull sent currents of sharp pain shooting into every nerve in my back. “Shayna, don’t,” I begged.

“It’s okay, Ceel. You’re almost out,” she insisted.

No, I wasn’t, and her efforts to save me were killing me. A sickening crunch filled my ears over the chaos in the ED. I hoped the sound was chunks of wall falling around me and not my crumbling spine.

From where I was rooted, I had a clear view of one of the Gemini wolves and a vampire destroying the inpatient pharmacy. The medication-dispensing robot whipped around as they duked it out. Clumps of bloody fur stuck to the windows and what appeared to be a hand crawled along the ledge.

Shayna was still trying to dislodge me when one of the robot’s arms jabbed Gem in the eye. The vamp used that moment to strike. He kicked Gem through the pharmacy’s glass wall. Gem landed atop shambles of metal and sheetrock. He flipped, narrowly dodging the ninja’s swinging nunchuck. Gem went after him, but the ninja threw something that temporarily darkened the ED with smoke.

I coughed and gagged; whatever he’d thrown burned my lungs and throat. The smoke cleared in time for Shayna to free me from my cinder block prison.

And for the ninja to appear in front of us.

“Shayna!”

She dipped and rolled out of the way before the blade could puncture her skin. Fortunately, she kept moving because the ninja didn’t stop. Unfortunately, she released me in the process. My body felt like rubber, but I didn’t exactly bounce when I face-planted into a pile of rubble.

“Ouch,” I whimpered through a mouthful of dust.

It took a great deal of effort, time, and a whole lot of swearing before I could push up onto my elbows. To my left, Koda was dodging bullets from yet another vampire who had arrived. He’d killed the one who had thrown me into the wall, but that one hadn’t been wielding a weapon. His howls echoed, rattling against the devastated halls, when a couple of bullets pierced his ribs.

Smoke wafted from his fur in tendrils. Koda could take being shot by gold, so long as the bullets missed his heart and brain. The screaming humans didn’t have that luxury. I scanned the area, searching for somewhere to stash them.

Twenty feet to our right was the medical supply closet. There wasn’t a lot of room, and the super-beasties could easily break through the keypad, but the door was constructed with thick metal and would provide protection from the barrage of shots being fired. I crawled forward, staying low mostly because I couldn’t stand.

“Helen. Helen!” I called louder when she continued to scream. “Get everyone into the supply closet!”

Helen didn’t hear me, but one of the nurse techs did. She ran to the door. It took her a few tries to open it with her trembling hands, but she managed. Another nurse urged everyone forward. They piled in, shutting the door tight behind them.

I pushed up on my legs, only to fall on my face again, narrowly missing the spray of bullets punching holes into the wall behind me. Another gun-wielding vamp had arrived because hey, why not? Collapsing into more broken glass, though horrifically painful, was the only thing that saved me.