Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [826]
Gunfire sounded from outside the cave, and it sounded close, as if the entrance wasn’t that far away. Then there was a sound like a roaring, and I knew what it was because I’d heard it before. The police had brought flame-throwers or found some National Guard to join the party. I wondered whose idea it had been. It was a good one. I hoped they all burned.
I stared up at him, his fingers keeping my face looking at him. “Does your heart really beat for me?” I asked.
“My heart beats. Blood runs through this body. You have given me life, and now you will give me immortality.”
The Red Woman’s Husband leaned over me like Prince Charming about to bestow the kiss that would make everything all right again. His mouth hovered an inch above mine. The memory of how Seth’s body had dried, died, was too vivid. I must have rushed to get the pen in position just above his heart. He pulled back a fraction of an inch, eyes questioning. I hit the button, and the blade took him through the heart.
His eyes flew wide, all that turquoise fire fading, leaving his eyes human looking. “What have you done?”
“You’re just another kind of vampire. I kill vampires.”
He rolled off the stone, fell to the floor. He held a hand out to Tlaloci. The priest rushed over to him. I didn’t wait to see if there was a cure for the “god.” I undid my left wrist and reached down for my ankles.
The Red Woman’s Husband collapsed to his knees, and the priest collapsed with him. He was crying. “No, no, no.” He pressed his hands around the hilt, trying to stop the blood from pouring out. His “god” fell into convulsions on the floor. He tried to hold his hands over the wound, to staunch the blood.
I got my ankles freed and rolled off to the other side of the stone. Call it a hunch, but I thought that Tlaloci would be upset with me.
He rose to his feet, bloodstained hands held out in front of him. I’d never seen anyone look so horrified, so desolate, as if I had destroyed his world. And maybe I had.
He never said a word, just drew the obsidian blade at his waist and stalked towards me. But the rock I’d been chained to was the size of a large dining room table, and I kept it between him and me. I kept the distance between us even, and he couldn’t catch me. The gunfire was coming closer. He must have heard it, too, because he suddenly rolled over the stone to slash at me with the knife. I ran away from the stone, out into the open, which was what he wanted.
I turned and faced him. He came for me in a crouch, knife held loose but firm, as if he knew what he was doing. I’d left the blade in the vampire. I faced him hands out from my body, not sure what to do, except not get cut. I thought of one thing. I screamed, “Ramirez!”
Tlaloci rushed me, blade slashing. I turned, feeling the rush of air as the blade passed. There were screams from the stairs, the sounds of in-close fighting. Tlaloci slashed at me like a madman. All I could do was keep backing up, trying to stay out of reach. I was bleeding from both arms, and one cut on my upper chest, when I realized he’d backed me up by the altar.
I tripped over Paulina’s body about the second I started looking for it, to avoid it. I went down on my side, her body trapped under my legs. I kicked out at him without looking to see where he was, anything to keep him at a distance.
He grabbed my ankle, pinning my leg against his body. We stared at each other, and I saw my death in his face. He tossed the knife one-handed so that the grip changed from slashing, to a downward stab. He had my left leg pinned, but my right leg was still on the floor. I braced my upper body with my arms, leaned my shoulders downward and drew back my right leg. I lined up his kneecap. Tlaloci started the downward stroke. I kicked the downward