Next came the Amber Kiss perfume. I hadn’t used it much lately as I hadn’t felt the need for stealth. I dabbed a few drops on all of my pulse points. Neck, throat, even a little on my inner thighs. Couldn’t hurt. The stuff was supposed to hide my scent from Others and help suppress their appetites. It might be the edge I needed to help me get inside enemy lines undetected.
Getting the armor on was a bit more difficult than usual. Painful, but nothing I couldn’t handle. A few curse- and grunt-filled minutes later, I was dressed. Knotting my hair in a bun to keep it out of my face and then tugging on my combat boots, I went to the makeshift armory Jack had set up next to his cot to see what weapons were left.
The pickings were slim in the weapons chests since everyone had stocked up for the fight tonight. All that was left were a few derringers and a couple of other bits and pieces. Lord knew what the hunters were doing with pansy guns like that. All the Desert Eagles, Colts, and Glocks were gone. So were the rifles. My guns were gone too, though the custom chest holster was still hanging where I’d left it when Jack had instructed me to store my weapons here.
The only suitable weapon I could find was a Smith & Wesson 500. The revolver was large for my hand, but it would leave a hole big enough to drive a truck through. As much as I didn’t want to use them, I took one of the derringers, too. Better to have two guns than none, I figured.
There wasn’t much ammo left, either. I scrounged what I could, but it looked like most of my fighting was going to have to be done up close and personal. Five bullets for the derringer and three for the S&W. That didn’t leave much room for error, and neither weapon was going to do me much good against something as tough as a vampire unless I was close enough that there was no chance I would miss.
The derringers would probably just piss the vamps off. They were more of a last ditch weapon. And there weren’t enough bullets for the S&W that I could rely on using it as a primary weapon.
Well. That should make the belt happy.
There was a small silver-edged boot knife that might come in handy, so I took that as well. Tucking the guns into the holsters and grabbing a small clip-on to keep the ammo in, I headed back upstairs to fetch the belt.
One thing I vowed as I made my way up the stairs was that I was not going to be responsible for any more deaths. I would save Sara, yes, and I would probably hurt some of the vampires very badly in the process, but I wasn’t going in there to kill anyone. Not even Royce. No matter how badly the belt wanted me to hunt vampires, this was a rescue mission—that was all.
And after tonight, I was done with the Others. Done with hunting. I’d turn myself in to the cops and come clean about everything.
It was entirely possible I would face prison—or death, if the murderer survived tonight’s battle and continued carrying out their mission to eliminate people attacked by Weres—but it would also mean my family and Sara would be safe. No more running. No more Lone Rangering my way through the mess my life had become.
I reached the landing, feeling pounds lighter than I had for a long time. The heavy load of guilt was a lot lighter when you decided to take responsibility for your actions.
The energy of the belt was so pronounced, I could feel it all the way from the doorway. With that in mind, I pulled the length of leather out of my bag and settled it around my waist. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said it was vibrating with anticipation.
‘About time,’ it said, anger radiating from the thing. Mental fingers worked through my thoughts, taking stock of the weapons I’d armed myself with and getting a feel for how it would need to compensate for my injuries. ‘Are you ready to kill that vampire or what?’
I took a deep breath, paying no mind to the twinge in my ribs, steeling myself against the inevitable outrage.
“No. No more death. Tonight or ever again.” There was a long silence.
‘I see. Time to change that.’
There wasn’t enough time for me to start saying “What?” before something... was different.
‘Let’s try this again. Are you ready to kill the vampire? ’
I lifted a hand to my temple, feeling an echo of pressure there. Felt like I was developing a headache. And maybe was forgetting something? “I ... I think so. Do I have enough weapons?”
I didn’t understand the satisfaction behind its next words.
‘There was another knife in the armory downstairs. Go get it, and then we’ll be on our way.’
Chapter 26
Outside the vampire’s apartment building, it was cold and miserable, with heavy clouds and a light rain that I had little protection against. The armor was built to stave off vampire and werewolf attacks, not ward off the cold, and I hadn’t thought to bring an umbrella or rain jacket with me. Even if I had thought of it, I might have left them behind. Umbrellas weren’t exactly chic stealth agent material.
Shivering, I remained crouched behind a car across the street for a time. The wait gave the belt a chance to help speed up my healing process so I wouldn’t be hurting too much to be effective during the battle to come. It also gave me the opportunity to see if anyone moved in or out as I waited for the right time to launch my attack.
Not that I was expecting to see much movement there, really. I had no plans to waltz in through the front door, and I wanted to wait until it was closer to sunrise before I made my way inside. The timing had to be perfect—when most of the vampires who worked in Royce’s other businesses would be gone, but it was close enough to daylight that they wouldn’t be able to follow Sara once I got her out of there.
Sunrise would be a little after 7 AM. If I waited too long, any remaining vampires wouldn’t be able to follow me, but I might lose the advantage of the use of the belt if the sun rose and find myself trapped. On the other hand, if I didn’t wait long enough, they might give chase. It was bad enough that my mode of transportation for rescuing Sara was a stolen car. Well, borrowed from one of the White Hats or werewolves who had left it behind in favor of carpooling to the fight against the Ravenwoods. I didn’t need cops and vampires looking for Sara tonight once I got her out of there.
Thus far, and hardly to my surprise, I hadn’t seen any sign of the vampires or donors using the front door. Most likely Royce had restricted them to using the underground tunnels when they wanted to travel, as he had after the battle with Max Carlyle. It kept their movements free of any scrutiny by the police, paparazzi, or rival Others.
It also meant I couldn’t be sure how many of the vampires were present.
There used to be thirteen leeches living in there. After the fight with Max, there were only nine left, unless Royce had pulled others from his various holdings to replace them. After spending a couple of hours strategizing with the belt out in the cold, I’d gone over what I could recall of each one who might be present. Mostly the oldest and most dangerous had survived. The belt liked that.
I didn’t.
Angus, Royce’s security specialist, was usually one of the last to return, so I wasn’t worried about running into the beefy Highland warrior. Clarisse hadn’t been around much either, to my recollection. They were two of the oldest and most dangerous. Ken and Reece were also most likely working the club set. Those two weren’t fighters, so I wasn’t worried about what would happen if I ran into them anyway.
As for Royce, there was a slight chance I’d see him in there. From what I’d observed in my brief stay with him, he worked from home now and then, using the home office he had set up next to his bedroom on the top floor. If he was inside, he would be the real challenge, and the first I should meet. If I could defeat him—a pretty big if, though the belt didn’t seem to think so—I could handle anything else that might be thrown my way.