He was there in front of her in what seemed like the blink of an eye, his own weapon swinging through the air and colliding with the barrel of the gun just as she got it pointed in his direction.
The force of the blow carried the rifle up and out of Katelynn’s hands. From several feet away Sam watched in dismay as the rifle went over her shoulder, disappearing into the darkness on the other side of the parapet, no doubt headed swiftly for the ground far below.
A wide smile crossed Blake’s face then, and he raised his sword for another strike at Katelynn.
“No!” Sam screamed, suddenly entering the fray by hurling himself directly into Blake.
Sam struck Blake just below his upraised arms, knocking him off-balance. Somewhere in the back of Sam’s mind he registered the clang as the madman’s sword struck the stone beneath their feet instead of Katelynn’s tender flesh.
With Blake locked in his embrace, Sam slammed him against the rooftop.
He landed badly, striking his head against the stone. Dazed, he could not summon the strength to prevent Blake from rolling them over, trapping Sam on the bottom.
Somehow Blake had retained his grip on his sword throughout the struggle and Sam looked up as Blake raised the weapon over his head, the pommel gripped securely in both of the old man’s hands, the sword ready for a sharp downward thrust to finish Sam off.
Oh, fuck,Sam thought, too tired and dazed to offer any resistance.
Two shots rang out and something hot and sticky splashed across Sam’s face, blinding him momentarily.
Seconds later Blake collapsed onto Sam, the sword falling from his grasp to clatter on the stone beside him.
Katelynn was suddenly at Sam’s side, wiping the blood out of his eyes so that he could see. He turned his head and saw Damon crouched a few yards away, one hand holding tight to the bleeding wound Blake’s sword had caused in his side, the other still holding the pistol with which he had just shot Blake. The pistol’s muzzle was held rock steady, not wavering from the old man’s body as Damon waited a moment to be certain he was out of the fight.
When it definitely looked like Blake was not going to get up again, Damon rose from his crouch and walked over to them.
Katelynn helped Sam get out from under the body, glad the man’s head was partially hidden by his arms so that she wouldn’t have to look at what must be a gaping wound in the middle of his face where Damon had shot him. They stood up just as Damon reached them.
“You two okay?” the sheriff asked.
Katelynn nodded, as did Sam. He was still a bit surprised to find himself alive and didn’t trust himself to speak.
“How badly are you hurt?” Katelynn asked Damon.
He grimaced with pain as he moved, but said simply, “I’ll make it,” and changed the subject. “We’d better check on the status of our weapons.”
Katelynn’s warning had allowed Damon an extra second to set his knapsack down on the rooftop before Blake’s charge had reached them, so the bottles of homemade napalm inside were still secure. Those inside Sam’s pack had been less fortunate; he’d been wearing the pack strapped across his back when he crashed into Blake, and the resulting fall had broken them all.
“Why don’t you take this, Sam?” Damon said, holding out the pack to him. “That way my hands will be free.”
Realizing Damon’s pistol was their only means of defense now that the rifle was gone, Sam didn’t disagree. He slung Damon’s pack loosely over one shoulder and they headed across the rooftop.
Damon moved slower than the others and was therefore a step or two behind them when they reached the door to the tower and stepped inside.
Damon called out to tell them to wait, but the heavy iron door suddenly swung shut in his face seemingly of its own accord, cutting him off from the others.
No sooner had it done so than a loud cry of surprise and fear reached his ears from the other side of the door.
The sound galvanized Damon.
He yanked open the door and moved quickly inside the room, his pistol held out before him, the pain in his side momentarily forgotten.
On the opposite side of the room, the Nightshade stood waiting.
41
ILLUSIONS
Katelynn and Sam were nowhere in sight.
The room was empty, except for the Nightshade.
Damon stared at it, taking in the details. It seemed larger than before, but that could have been a result of his fear.
The beast caught his gaze and stared back.
Damon could see the cold gleam of intelligence and hatred shining forth from its yellow eyes.
The room spun for a moment, and Damon swayed dizzily in response, his grip instinctively tightening on his weapon lest he lose it. He briskly shook his head, trying to shake off the feeling, then looked across the room to assure himself of the beast’s position.
To his horror, two other Nightshades had joined the first.
As he watched, the beasts began to spread out around him, moving swiftly in an attempt to cut off his retreat.
Damon glanced swiftly around, trying to keep all of them in sight at the same time, aware that if they rushed him, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. He couldn’t cover all sides, and when he turned to deal with one, another would try to close in on him from behind.
Where the hell are Sam and Katelynn?he thought. They’d come in only seconds before him, and he hadn’t hesitated when he’d heard Katelynn’s cry.Could the beasts have taken them so swiftly?
Yet, there were no bodies, no blood. Except for Katelynn’s cry, there hadn’t even been sounds of a struggle.
So where in hell were they?
One of the beasts took a step forward, forcing Damon to turn toward it to cover the threat, and behind him he heard an answering scrape of claws on stone as another of the creatures took that opportunity to advance a little closer to his back.
Damon swiftly turned to face the new threat, his heart hammering wildly. Other than the door through which he’d entered, now guarded by one of the beasts, the only other way out was directly opposite him on the other side of the room.
Unfortunately, he’d have to go through three of the beasts to reach it.
A thought struck him.Could Sam and Katelynn have already gone through the other door?
Damon estimated the distance from where he stood to the door to be about thirty feet. Maybe they had already passed through the other door before the Nightshades had decided to show themselves, and Katelynn’s cry had not been cut off by an attack but rather by the slamming of the heavy wooden door as it swung shut behind them.
Movement to his left forced him to spin in that direction, and he was forced to put the others out of his mind.
As he twisted around, doing what he could to keep them all in sight, Damon considered rushing the beast behind him and getting back out onto the rooftop, then just as quickly dismissed the idea. He would be leaving the others completely at the mercy of these beasts, and he wasn’t about to abandon them if there was even a chance that they were still alive.
His decision meant he must not only hold the creatures at bay but also destroy them somehow in the process.
He just wished he knew how.
Katelynn didn’t understand what was happening.
When she and Sam had entered the room and found the Nightshade waiting for them, she’d let out a not altogether involuntary cry of surprise, which had served to bring Damon rushing into the room behind them.
From there, everything stopped making sense.
Damon had stepped into the room, gotten maybe ten feet past the door, and had frozen in place, staring at the beast in what appeared to be dread fascination. Expecting him to start shooting, she and Sam had moved off to Damon’s right, out of the line of fire.
Damon had done nothing.