Amy Blankenship - Night Light стр 10.

“Look out!” Trevor yelled.

Kat raised her other dagger and gasped when the vampire took hold of her hand and drove the blade downward at an ark, directly into her inner thigh. The pain alone gave her the strength to push the vampire off her. She quickly stumbled backwards toward Trevor and managed to pull the dagger out of her thigh. Warm liquid quickly followed and made a path down her leg.

Trevor knew something had to be done. They were both injured now. He could feel the pain in his ribs and shoulder where he’d hit the wall and was finding it hard to breath. Looking up at Kat, who was standing protectively in front of him, he thought about their next move.

He needed to shift into something big enough and strong enough to fight them and survive. The downside was if he shifted, he’d give away his true nature to Kat. His kind had never gotten along with the other shifter tribes because of their diversity. They could blend in with any of the clans and disappear without a trace, sometimes for decades at a time. They were the perfect weapons in a war.

Because of this, any animal he chose would always be ten times stronger than that particular animal. In his human form the same rules applied, but it hadn’t helped them much so far. However, if he didn’t shift, their asses were goners.

Suddenly Kat dropped her weapon and hunched over. Because of her injuries, the change was seconds slower than normal. Her body shifted until she was on all fours. The clothes fell from her body and a beautiful tan and black spotted fur coat took their place.

One of the remaining vampires attacked and Kat rose up on her hind legs, blocking him with some kind of wrestling hold. Her claws dug into the creature’s shoulders and her long teeth were bared at him. Without thinking twice, Trevor chose that moment to shift.

The two remaining vampires hissed angrily when the human they were closing in on transformed into a Kodiak bear. Trevor swung a giant paw at the closest one and took the entire half of its body clean off, leaving the legs to fall lifelessly. Knowing the vampire wasn’t dead, Trevor ambled over to it anyway and crushed its head with his powerful jaws.

He rose up on his feet to help Kat when the last two vampires attacked him full force. Trevor stumbled back a few steps before roaring loudly and pulled one off, throwing him down the alley. He roared again when the last one sank its teeth into his shoulder blade. He heard Kat’s jaguar scream and felt the brick wall ram into the side of his temple before he fell from the impact.

*****

Quinn and Warren had combed the entire area in a five-mile radius from the club.

“There’s nothing around.” Quinn stated and tried to let go of his frustration. Something wasn’t right… he could feel it in the air.

Warren heard the tightness in Quinn’s voice. “After the fight at the warehouse, I’m not that surprised.” His phone buzzed causing both men to jump and realize just how tense they were. He pulled the cell phone out of his jeans pocket.

“Hello,” Warren said into the cell phone and then nodded after a moment. “Okay, we’ll go check it out.” He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket. “That was Nick, seems they found an underground tunnel under the church.”

“We should go check it out,” Quinn stated trying to ignore the fact that his skin was crawling with adrenalin and he hadn’t a clue where it had come from.

The distinct scream of a jaguar pierced the quiet night making both men freeze in their tracks. They turned their heads in the direction of the sound before looking at each other.

“Kat!” they exclaimed in unison.

Warren immediately removed the cell phone from his pocket and placed it in an elastic holster around his ankle.

There was no hesitation and a few seconds later the two men had shifted and were racing down the street. People screamed and ran to get away from the huge cats, causing quite a commotion. Quinn took the lead and ran out into traffic causing a car to slam on its brakes. The car behind it crashed into the first one from behind, creating a chain reaction.

Warren leapt onto the hood of the first car and glanced in to make sure the people were all right before chasing Quinn across the roadway.

The driver of the car was shaken by what just happened and picked up his cell phone.

*****

Jason was bored out of his mind. Nothing had really happened for the last few days and with Tabby and Envy out of town, he was going stir crazy.

When the phone rang he nearly jumped out of his skin and quickly reached over to answer it.

“Ranger station,” Jason said in a dull voice.

“Yes,” a shaky voice answered. “I’d like to report something unusual.”

Jason mentally sighed and grabbed a pen and paper. “Okay, tell me what you saw, sir.”

“The damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” the man said breathlessly. “I just saw a cougar and a jaguar running loose in the middle of town. I slammed on my brakes when the cougar ran out in front of me and a jaguar appeared on the hood of my car, looked at me, and then took off after the cougar.”

“It’s probably another escape from the zoo,” Jason said, even though that was a lie they told the public to hide the fact that the city seemed to be teaming with dangerous wildlife these days.

“No,” the man exclaimed. “The jaguar had a cell phone strapped to its hind ankle.”

Jason looked up at the other ranger in the office with him, Jacob Savage.

“So you’re saying the jaguar had a cell phone strapped to its leg?” Jason asked.

Jacob nearly choked on his coffee and set the cup down, wiping his nose indicating that some of the liquid had gone up into it.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying!” The man shrieked loud enough for Jacob to hear it.

Jason nodded, “All right sir, calm down. You said it ran off, so you’re safe. Thank you for calling, we’ll look into it.”

Jason hurriedly hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment like the device was going to jump up and eat him.

“Alrighty then,” Jacob managed after he cleared up his coughing fit.

*****

Warren finally caught up with Quinn just as they neared an alley were Kat’s scent was the strongest. Rounding the corner, they were just in time to witness Kat rip the throat out of one vampire and an enormous bear drive its huge claws through the chest of another. The bear claw came out the backside of the vampire, clutching the vampire’s bloody heart before squeezing it like a water balloon.

Kat blinked, realizing somehow during the fight… the vampires had multiplied. She barely had time to take a breath before she was attacked by one of the remaining vampires. She released a primal scream when the sharp fangs dug into her flank. Her claws pierced the back of the attacking vampire trying to pry him off. Suddenly, the weight on her side was gone and she fell over, passing out from pain, blood loss, and exhaustion.

Quinn saw the vampire attack Kat and felt rage well up in his chest. He ran down the alley not caring if Warren was with him or not. Tackling the vampire to the ground, he snarled menacingly in its face before ripping into its neck with his sharp teeth. He could feel its claws digging at him in panic but he didn’t care as he kept ripping. Tossing the head aside, he turned back to Kat and growled.