Willow saw the flames leaping into the air before she spotted the Savages. The fires of the torches they held sparked and jumped as the Savages rounded the corner and came into view. She felt like she was watching the villagers from an old horror movie coming for them. All they were missing were the pitchforks.
The few people who dared to venture outside earlier had retreated hours ago, but there were people mixed in with the vampires. Savages weren’t stupid; they knew they required the strength numbers provided them.
“What’s with the flames?” she whispered.
“Intimidation tactic,” Declan said. “And if someone refuses to let them in their house, they’ll set it on fire.”
“Shit.”
Hiding in the attic wouldn’t be enough this time. Before, only humans were doing the search, but Savages might detect their heartbeats or smell them. Some of the Savages broke off from the main group; they took some of the people with them as they approached two of the homes and knocked on the doors.
The booming thud of their fists hitting the door reverberated down the street and bounced off the houses. Those homes probably had doorbells, but battering on their doors like assholes was probably another intimidation tactic.
“I’m going out there,” Declan said.
He’d spent the past fifteen minutes trying to come up with a plan to get them both out of here, but their time was up sooner than he’d anticipated. Now he just wanted to make sure one of them escaped… her.
“No, you’re not!” she blurted.
His mouth quirked in a small smile as he cupped her cheek in his palm. “It has to be this way. I’ll go out there and draw them away. Once I do, you go out the back. Those Stepford fuckers are still out there, but I’ll create a distraction that will draw them away or divert their attention. As soon as you can, go out the back and run until you’re far from this town.”
He loathed the idea of her out there amongst these things without him, but it was the best chance she had of survival.
“I’m supposed to run away while you go out there and fight them or end up in their hands? That’s not gonna happen. Even if you weren’t my mate, I would never let someone sacrifice themselves for me.”
“I’m not sacrificing myself for you; I’m giving you a chance at freedom, which gives us both a chance to survive. We’re connected, and once you’re free and have reunited with Ronan and the others, you can use our connection to find me if they catch me.”
“And what if they kill you instead of capturing you?”
“They won’t. They need strong fighters on their side.”
“They had no problem killing Leonard and probably the rest of the Alliance I was with; they were all strong fighters. My life is bound to yours. If they kill you, or you get caught by them, and I can’t find you, I’m as good as dead anyway. I’d rather go out there and fight them with you than run away like a coward.”
“There are too many of them; the two of us can’t take them all. At least if we split up, we still have a chance of getting out of this.”
“I don’t know where the compound is; you do. If I can’t find you, and they succeed in turning you into a Savage, you’ll lead them to everyone there. Let me go out there and distract them while you run.”
“That might be true, but if they haven’t found Lucien, then Ronan’s already preparing to abandon the compound.”
Trying to reason with him was accomplishing nothing, so she decided to put an end to it. “I’m not leaving you behind to face them on your own. You wouldn’t do it to me, so don’t ask me to do it to you. I’m not going to waste any more time discussing it because it’s not going to happen, and they’re getting a lot closer.”
Declan’s protest died on his lips. She was right; he would never agree to run while she went out to face the Savages. While he preferred to keep her safe, she was a fighter and a member of the Alliance; she deserved the respect such an honor warranted. Many didn’t make it through the training she’d endured to be here.
“Fine,” he relented. “Then we need a new plan.”
Willow didn’t gloat over her victory. The only win she’d celebrate was getting out of this alive.
“And the only one I have is to go out the back and make a run for the woods,” he said. “We don’t have any other options.”
“How do we get past the people in the backyard?”
“Maybe the Savages have provided the distraction for us.”
“That would be fantastic.”
When Declan held his hand out to her, she took it and let him lead her out of the craft room, down the hall, and back downstairs. He stopped in the living room where Gus and his family were gathered in front of the window, watching all the commotion outside. The Savages were only a few doors down and closing in fast.
“What is going on?” Gretchen asked.
“I don’t know,” Gus murmured.
“We’re leaving now,” Declan said, and they all jumped at his voice. Before they could react, he calmed them as he continued speaking. “It’s okay; you’re all safe with us. When the searchers get to your door, do everything they ask of you, but don’t trust them. You’re not going to remember anything about us or this conversation. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. Take care of yourselves. Look back out the window now.”
The family blinked at them before returning their attention to the window.
“I wish we could stay and protect them,” Willow said as she followed Declan into the kitchen.
“If we stay, we’ll get them killed.”
“I know, but I feel awful that we got them mixed up in this.”
“We’ll come back to check on them. Now, we have to make sure no one sees us leaving here.”
They crept into the garage and peeked out the window at the man standing a hundred feet to the left of the house. The Savages hadn’t replaced the humans with vamps when the sun set, and curious about what was going on, the man had turned to watch as the Savages came down the street.
A woman a couple of hundred feet down from him was also looking the same way, and so was the man at the end of the road. With their attention distracted, Declan inched open the door and ducked outside.
Willow stayed low to keep behind the small rhododendron planted next to the door as Declan followed her outside and closed it behind her. Crouched low, they remained against the house as Declan pointed to the right.
Another man stood about a hundred feet to the right of them. Unfortunately, the same thing distracting the others was also drawing his attention. There was no way they could run across the backyard and into the woods without being spotted. Fortunately, there were no guards beyond the man as they were near the end of the road.
“You run for the woods while I take care of him,” Declan said. “And no arguments about this.”
“Okay.”
She was a purebred vampire and a member of the Alliance, but she wasn’t as fast or strong as him. He could make it to the man before her, and having two of them out in the open might draw the attention of the others.
“Go,” Declan said.
Willow didn’t bother to stay low as she pushed away from the door and sprinted for the woods. Speed was more important than stealth; she had to get to the woods before one of the other guards turned away from the Savages.
The woods were only fifty feet away, but she swore they somehow got further away with every step she took. Almost there… almost there…
She pushed herself faster as she waited for a cry of alarm to sound or a gunshot to resonate through the night.
The trees were getting further away. She was sure of it.
Almost… Almost! Don’t see us. Don’t see us, she pleaded with every step she took.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only seconds, she plunged into the woods. She glanced back at the guards still watching the Savages, before running toward the man Declan went after.
The trees blurred as she raced past them, but she still saw the man swinging his rifle toward Declan. Before he could pull the trigger, Declan grabbed the barrel, yanked it away, and seized the man’s throat before running with him toward the woods.
Declan set the man down as Willow reached him. Drawing on his power, he probed at the man’s mind, fully expecting to come up against a wall that wouldn’t allow him entry. However, though his current commands created some resistance, he broke through. Whoever had taken control of this man was a weaker vampire than him.
“You’re going to go back out there and act as if this never happened, do you understand me?” Declan inquired.
The man nodded.
“Good. You are going to continue your watch on the neighborhood, and if anyone notices you were gone, you’ll tell them you had to take a piss. Understand?”
“Yes,” the man muttered.
“Let me see your gun.”
The man held his rifle out to him, and Declan opened it to check the bullets. “Metal,” he said to Willow. “They’re looking to catch us, not kill us.”
She didn’t find that at all reassuring.
Declan handed the rifle back to the man. “Now, forget all about seeing us and go resume your post.”
The man rested his gun against his shoulder, walked out of the woods, and returned to his place on the lawn. The others hadn’t noticed his absence as they remained focused on the Savages who were almost to Gus’s house.
Declan held his hand out to Willow when the tendrils of her apprehension brushed against him. She slid her hand into his and squeezed it.
“That was easier than I expected,” she said. “We just have to get through the rest of the town.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” he said flippantly.
She smiled at him. “Not at all.”
“Let’s go.”