Obsidian Butterfly - Laurell K. Hamilton [101]
Something jerked the vampire backwards. His hand curled in my jacket, and didn’t let go. His desperate grip nearly pulled me off my feet, but I got the gun out before I worried about staying on my feet.
A large, very Aztec-looking vamp had the skeletal vamp, holding him pinned against his body, only that one arm with its clutching hand not pressed to the larger man’s body.
Edward had his gun out pointed at the vampires. He’d gotten to his gun first, but then he hadn’t been shoved up against a wall and manhandled. Or would that be vampire-handled?
The big vamp jerked the thin one hard enough that he nearly pulled me off my feet, but that one clutching hand stayed curled in my jacket, catching on the shirt underneath. I had the Browning pointed at the vamp’s chest, though I wasn’t sure if the Hornady ammo was safe to shoot at arm’s distance into one target pressed directly in front of another person. I wasn’t sure if the ammo would go through the first vamp and into the second. The second vamp had saved me. It really wouldn’t be nice to blow a hole in him.
The other vampires were leaving the room in a hurrying line to get past us and up the stairs, out of harm’s way. Cowards. But it was thinning out the ranks, which would be great. Eventually, I’d care that there weren’t so damn many vamps in the room, but right now the world was narrowed down to the vamp that had hold of me. First things first.
The big vamp kept backing up, trying to get the skeletal one to let go of me. We kept moving farther into the room. Edward paced us, gun held two-handed pointed at the vampire’s head. I finally put the barrel of my gun underneath the vamp’s chin. I could blow his brains up without hitting the second vampire.
Obsidian Butterfly’s voice slashed through the room like a whip. The sound made me wince, shoulders tightening as if it had been a blow. “These are my guests. How dare you attack them!”
The skeletal vampire started to cry, and his tears were clear, human. Vampire’s tears are tinged red. They cry bloody tears. “Please, please let me feed, please!”
“You feed as we all feed, as befits a god.”
“Please, please, mistress, please.”
“You disgrace me before our visitors.” Then she spoke low and rapidly in a language that was sort of Spanish sounding, but it wasn’t Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish, but I’ve heard it spoken often enough to know it when I hear it, and this wasn’t it. Whatever she was saying, upset both vampires.
The big one pulled so hard that he finally jerked me off my feet because the other vamp was still holding on. I ended up on my knees, my jacket and shirt dangling from the vamp’s hand, one arm pulled up at an awkward angle. My gun was pressed into his stomach now, and again I wondered if at point blank range the new ammo would kill both vamps? It was a miracle that I hadn’t accidentally shot his head off. Edward was still there, gun pointed at the vamp’s head. The first hint I had that something else had gone wrong was a faint glow. The glow grew into something pure and white. My cross had spilled out of my shirt.
The vampire kept his grip on me, but started to scream in a high pitiful voice. The cross flared bright and brighter until I had to turn my head and shield my eyes. It was like having magnesium burning around your neck. So bright, it only got this bright when something very bad was near. I didn’t think the something bad was the thing still hanging onto me. I was betting the cross was glowing for her benefit, maybe others’ but mostly hers. A lot of things in