Sakal had tried to kill Xavier. Chuy, too. But Xavier was hers now, and she, by God, defended what was hers.
Rage took a backseat to practicality as she snapped open the tent, and taking Xavier first since he was covering Chuy, dragged and shoved him under its cover. Her back twinged at the awkward motion and Xavier’s dead weight. He was a big fucking vampire, and doing a good imitation of a giant bag of sand.
“What the fuck?” That was Brian, sliding to his knees next to her, while Kerry and River were methodically taking single pot shots, trying to hit elevator blonde without destroying the elevator itself. It hadn’t escaped anyone’s notice that only one elevator seemed to be still working, and that none of the guards had appeared from any as-yet-unseen stairway going to the basement. Unlikely as it seemed, that there wouldn’t be basement stairs, none of Layla’s team were inclined to risk it.
Keying her comm, Layla spoke to Kerry and River. “I know you two probably have a bet going, but fun time is over. One of you get back down here and sneak up on that elevator bitch, while the other keeps her in hiding.”
“Spoilsport,” Kerry muttered. But a moment later, she slipped quietly down what remained of the stairs, edged along the wall, and the second, closed elevator, then ducked down, edged her Glock pistol around the open door, and fired.
The blonde screamed weakly as she fell face first to the elevator floor, unable to remain standing with what looked like a broken leg from Kerry’s shot.
Kerry was on her feet in an instant, standing over the blonde before she’d finished falling. She shot her twice in the back of the head, then kicked her over onto her back, just to be sure. Staring down at the dead woman for a moment, she said, “Pussy. Nobody ever taught you, you’ve got two legs?”
Blowing out a relieved breath, Brian took in the situation with the vampires, then swore softly and immediately ran back for the second tent. Returning, he opened it quickly, gripped Chuy’s limp body, then scooted backward into the tent, dragging the vamp with him.
He had to crawl over the limp vampire, since the one-man tent was too narrow to do anything else, but he managed to stand just as Layla snapped open one of the waterproof ground sheets and draped it over Xavier’s tent. She then zipped the flap closed, while Brian followed suit to protect Chuy.
Layla didn’t know if the sheets were necessary, but since they had them, she wasn’t taking any chances, especially with all the bullets that had been flying. There was no doubt in her mind that once the sun rose high enough, no corner of this fucking circus arena of a room would be safe for a vampire, and the tents weren’t designed to achieve blackout conditions. Usually, when she and her team fell into their tents after a battle, they were so exhausted they’d have slept anywhere.
With both vampires reasonably secure, she and Brian took up their weapons again, and edged slowly into the main room, where the only sound was chunks of wood hitting the marble floor. Kerry and River had already stacked the dead blondes like firewood in the open elevator. With no way of knowing if enemy reinforcements were likely to appear from who the hell knew where, it made sense for them to clear the area, plus if the reinforcements tried to come up from the basement and called that elevator, they’d be in for a “bloody rude shock,” as River would have said.
There remained the mystery of the second elevator, and the need to clear the basement. If they found that asshole Sakal sleeping down there, Layla was going to say to hell with the courtesies of vampire battle and dust the fucker while he slept. She wasn’t a vampire, and she sure as hell wasn’t bound by their rules.
Brian walked over and stood next to her, blood soaking through the upper part of his sleeve on one arm. “You okay?” he asked, his gaze raking her over, head to toe.
“Not a scratch on me,” she said, which wasn’t completely accurate, but close enough. “What’s that?” she asked, lifting her chin at his arm.
“Well, my captain lost her fucking mind and ran into the open, so I had to cover her.”
“What an asshole she must be.”
“Nah, she’s not bad. Will the vamps be okay?”
“I’d like to get them out of here, but I don’t know how we can do it safely.” She turned to stare at the elevators. “Maybe we could move them downstairs, but we’ll have to clear it first. You catch sight of anyone except the blondes?”
“Nope. Who else is there? Sakal has to be in dreamland by now, right?”
“If it’s really him,” she complained. “How the fuck can he be two places at once? That sneaky bastard Joaquim was at the farm at oh-dark-thirty this morning, and he confirmed that Sakal was there until about an hour before sunrise. That’s just enough time for Sakal to get back here and into safety. Meanwhile Xavier came here earlier, thinking to surprise Sakal when he returned for the day, and somehow found himself ambushed instead.” She sighed. “That’s all I got out of Joaquim before he couldn’t form coherent words anymore.”
“Would Joaquim betray Xavier?” It was River who dared voice the question they all had to be thinking.
Layla scowled. “I don’t know, but . . . they’ve been together for a long time, like centuries. Besides, if he wanted Xavier dead, why would he have sent us here to save him?”
“Last minute guilty conscience? Or a nice alibi, if he hoped Xavier would be dead before we got here.”
“Shit, you’re right.” She bit the inside of her cheek, thinking. “Well, we won’t know anything for sure until sunset, so . . . ”
They turned as one to face the elevators.
“Fuck. Shall we take a trip downstairs?”
“Might as well. If nothing else, it would be safer to move the vamps down there,” Brian agreed.
“Your arm good to go?” she asked, nodding to where a fresh, white bandage stood out against the dark tan of his wounded arm.
“Barely a flesh wound. We should move the SUV into the parking lot across the street, by the way. Less noticeable by a mile.”
“Good idea. What’s the status on that fucking door? Is it useable at all?”
River joined her in studying the front door. “I could close it, Cap, but you’d never get it open again. We’d do better to block it with whatever we can find in this place, and set a guard.”
“Okay, you and Kerry take the SUV, park it across the street. Brian and I will see what we can find to block the door. Did anyone find another stairway in here, like one that goes down?”