“Get in your car,” Pike insisted. “Damn it, I never should have told Constance to pull her people back, but I didn’t think you’d show if I had anyone with me.”
He thought a few vampires would spook me? I thought, then realized what he’d actually said. “Ah, those aren’t Constance’s people?”
Pike’s eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth, but I never found out what he was going to say, as his expression shifted to an icy, abiding anger and he shoved me so hard I went flying, my backside hitting the concrete with a painful jolt before I slid to the far end of the bridge.
“Hey!” I shouted, angry as I stared at him. Until I saw the quivering knife embedded into the cement railing where I’d been standing.
“Rache! Get off the bridge!” Jenks shouted, and my lips parted as Pike threw someone dressed in black into the pond. Water fountained up, followed by a bellow of anger and a gurgle as Sharps took him down.
“Get off the bridge!” Jenks exclaimed again, hovering so close I couldn’t focus on him. And then he was gone.
What the hell is going on? I scrambled up, half crawling until my feet were again on solid ground. David was out, looking asleep on the park bench. My eyes widened. Two vampires were headed right for me, unearthly fast like shadows before the storm. “Rhombus!” I cried, still crouched as my bubble rose up, gold and red in the sun.
But they raced right past me. My jaw dropped.
“They aren’t after you, Rache,” Jenks said, and I let my bubble fall. “And they aren’t Cincy vamps. They smell like coal. David’s okay. His aura says he’s only knocked out.”
I glanced at David, reluctant to leave him to fate, but he was down and Pike . . .
Pike wasn’t. Not yet.
I stood, trying to follow Pike’s living-vamp-fast motions as he blocked and kicked at the two vampires facing him. He clearly had some martial arts to his credit. Ten seconds without magic, I thought as I watched, reevaluating my chances as two more joined the first. If I’m lucky.
As Pike had said, there were five total. The one in the water had freed himself of Sharps and was slogging ashore only to fall back when Pike threw a second attacker at him. That left three on the bridge, and they all went at him at the same time. No movie-magic, wait-your-turn here. They were out for blood.
Scar-marked face twisting, Pike yelled, yanking the first past him to slam headlong into the concrete railing. Jaw clenched, he upended him, tossing him into the water to land facedown and unmoving. But the other two had scored on him in the interim, and I winced as the savage sound of flesh on flesh rose with the grunts of pain.
Once in the gut was all it took, and two grabbed his arms, fighting to keep Pike upright as two from the water finally regained the bridge.
He was caught, and I took a step forward at the familiar snick of a katana being pulled.
Not here, I thought, anger and adrenaline a hot mix. Not while I’m watching.
One of the vamps stepped forward, blade shining, his expression ugly with greed.
“Hey!” I shouted as I pulled heavily on the line. “I’m talking to him! Wait your turn!”
“Stay out of this, witch!” Pike shouted, and then, with a savage yell, he pulled one of the vamps restraining him into the katana’s descending path. An angry bellow thundered out as it thunked heavily into his attacker’s shoulder. The sword’s wielder yanked it out, and with no consideration of his comrade, he swung again.
“Look out!” I shouted, wincing when Pike took the hit on his arm before kicking out and sending the sword-toting vampire pinwheeling back. He must have been wearing Kevlar as there was no blood. Clearly it hurt, though, as Pike held his arm close and followed the man down to wrench the katana from his grip.
“Pike!” I exclaimed, aghast when he jammed the sword in the downed vampire’s gut.
And then the other two were on him, pulling him away and trying for the katana. Pike lashed inexpertly out with the blade, taking a hit but swinging to keep them at bay as they circled him. It was three against one, and my pulse pounded as he struck forward, then back, keeping them off-balance and on defense. He wasn’t good with it, but he didn’t need to be.
One of them jumped atop the railing. I gasped in warning as he flipped over his comrades and crashed into Pike. They went down. Two lurched forward, fingers crooked and savage.
“Should I do something?” I said as Jenks hovered beside me, sword bared.
“No, he’s got it,” Jenks said as two vampires went flying across the bridge. Pike rose, the third still clinging to him. Howling, Pike fell to the bridge floor, knocking the man atop him senseless.
It was two to one, and I inched closer, ley line power itching under my skin. I could hear sirens, and the need to flee began to grow. The I.S. would put me in jail under suspicion of riot, and with no charms to back me there . . . I’d be Constance’s toy.
Blood dripped from Pike’s face. The two men facing him were slick with it. One had bones sticking past his skin, and the other was bleeding from his eye. But they were gathering themselves for another go, and my breath caught as one scooped up the abandoned katana and they attacked together.
“This is my day!” Pike screamed, but, focused on the sword-wielding vamp, he missed the second vaulting over them both.
“Behind you!” I shouted, but it was too late, and thick arms wrapped Pike from behind. Eyes savage, Pike back-headbutted him, then screamed in defiance, shifting under the descending katana.
It struck his shoulder instead of his head. Blood flowed and, howling, Pike freed one hand, pushing himself forward with that vamp still clinging to him. Fingers crooked, he grabbed the man’s head and jammed his thumb into his remaining eye.
Screaming in pain, the vampire lurched away, katana falling.
There was still a vampire on his back, and as the man hammered at Pike’s ear, Pike reached up and pulled him over his head as if he was taking off a shirt. The vampire hit the bridge and rolled. He rose with that broken katana in his grip. The half-blinded vampire had gotten upright as well, and a third, previously knocked out, had regained consciousness. It was back to three against one.
And they weren’t stopping.
“Yeah, you might want to help him,” Jenks said as I stepped forward. I’d had enough. Not in my city. Not while I was talking to him, anyway.
“Hey!” I shouted, but they had gotten him against the railing, and Pike struggled as one slowly approached, murder in his remaining eye.
“I said, knock it off!” I yelled as I strode forward. Power grew in my palm, itching.
Pike’s low growl rose into a howl as, with an inhuman strength, he got a hand free and smashed one of their faces. Blood gushed, but the attacker didn’t let go, and the one with the katana lashed out, burying the broken blade into Pike’s shoulder.