“Stay in the car and get ready to drive!” Ryder ordered me. Then all the doors flew open and the five enforcers leapt out, guns raised.
Holy fuck. Nothing like a front row seat. I was close enough to see the crazy anger across the humans’ faces. It was this glint of insanity that had true fear cramping my gut. There was no way to predict what a group of unstable people would do and I was panicking, not just for my team, but for the hogtied ash with guns to their heads. This faceoff was raising the danger of them being killed.
The Deliverance humans straightened as they got a good look at the boys in black. The maniacs at the rear, the ones with the larger guns, turned toward them. Oh hell no. I slowly climbed in the front seat, put my foot on the brake and slipped the car into drive just in case. I would mow these bitches down if shit looked like it was going south.
Ryder and the boys had left the doors open, so I could hear every word. The lead enforcer’s voice was calm as he pointed his gun at a greying woman, mid-fifties, who was short, stocky, and full of fire. She was standing center stage and Ryder had clearly surmised she was the one in charge. Not to mention she was the one clutching a Bible, her jaw set and her eyes angry. This bitch would kill for her beliefs. I could see it.
“Your actions are illegal. The human government has stated that unless provoked, ash must not be harmed. Walk away now!” Ryder’s voice remained calm but the unspoken threat was clear. If the old bitch didn’t walk away, shit was going to go down.
She smiled. “I follow one ruler! He is above all and His law states that you are an abomination that must be wiped from this Earth.”
Shit. Markus, who was the closest to Ryder, took a small step forward. “As a Catholic of many years, I don’t recall seeing vampires or ash in the Bible. We’re all humans too, just different. It’s nothing more than the results of a virus from infected bats. That’s it. Nothing to do with the devil or evil. No apocalypse. Look…”
Markus pulled a necklace from his shirt and dangling there was a cross. The woman’s nostrils flared, her mouth nearly foaming in anger.
“How dare you!” She reached into her jacket with her free hand and pulled out a gun. Now there was another human pointing their weapon at the enforcers.
“Stop right now or I’ll shoot to kill. I’m well within my rights!” I recognized the register of Ryder’s voice now. He was not messing around.
The woman wore a similar expression. I almost yelled out as I saw her finger flex on the trigger, and in that moment my movement must have caught her eye. Her face shuttered as recognition lit up her features.
“It’s her,” she whispered, but I could still hear her.
Shit. Out in the bright daylight, with silver eyes, I wouldn’t be mistaken for anything else. Female ash. Unicorn. Antichrist most probably. I clenched my hands even tighter around the steering wheel as I tried to destroy her with an angry glare. A glint flickered across her eyes, followed by a wry grin, then she swung into action.
The next sixty seconds was the worst minute of my life. The time went by so slowly, and yet it was over by the time I sucked in my next deep breath. I still don’t remember how everything went down—probably I had mentally blanked a lot of it out. The woman pivoted quickly and fired her gun like a drunken maniac, spraying bullets.
Through those first moments my eyes were locked on Ryder, who dived forward and away from the Humvee which would have protected him. Nope, instead it looked like he deliberately jumped in front of Markus, shielding the larger man. A scream froze on my lips as both men fell. Even with Ryder’s heroic act, both him and the Scottish enforcer—not to mention the ash hung up on the cross—received the full brunt of her spray of bullets. Kyle, Oliver, and Jared managed to take refuge behind one of the car doors and were already returning fire. My foot bounced on the brake pedal, but since Ryder had dropped in front of the car I couldn’t gas it.
I was just trying to figure out the best way to help the boys when the crazies holding the ash hogtied swung their weapons down and started firing—kill-shots to the ashes’ heads, all of them dead in a moment.
“Nooo!” This time I couldn’t hold back my panicked shouts. Shit. What the hell was going on here? How had this gotten so out of control!
Slamming my mouth closed, I breathed in short puffs. There wasn’t enough air left in the world for me right now. I couldn’t fill my lungs. Flashes of black and white crossed my vision and I knew I was on the verge of a panic attack. Ash were dead. Ryder and Markus had been shot. At least the other guys were okay, but I didn’t know how bad Ryder was. Maybe the bullets had just skimmed him? I quickly talked myself down from the full-on-panic mode I’d been slipping into, knowing that I had to help, and calm was what I needed to properly assess the situation.
First thing: I needed to get to Ryder.