Chapter 187

I had never fired a gun. Aside from the guns that the security guards carried, I had never even been that near one before, not since Francium had been ordered to shoot me, but it was my only choice. Estella and Candido moved as if they had fought together all their lives. The longer I watched them, the more furious I was. The more jealous I was. If I let this go on, she’d get exactly what she wanted.

She’d take Candido from me. All of this, every moment that she’d stepped into seemingly save me had been a ploy to get closer to Candido, because she knew how important I was to him. She had to know. Candido would have told her no matter what. She was just like Sibyl, trying to get rid of me, and just like Sibyl, I wasn’t going to let that happen.

If only she and Candido did have such a good relationship. If only he could see her plan the way I did, but I couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t realized how much of a problem Sibyl was until it was almost too late.

I’d save him this time too. Estella was using their past to blind him.

I couldn’t let it continue. I grabbed the gun and hoped it was loaded. It was heavier than I expected. I lifted it and aimed it into the crowd in Estella’s direction and fired.

I heard it go off even as the force of it knocked me over. I couldn’t be sure I had managed to hit anything.

“Fucking, watch it!” Someone hissed a vampire that had come with us from Lunae’s Circle, I was sure. She snarled at me. “If you don’t know how to shoot, don’t—”

I aimed and fired again. She leaped out of the way as the bullet hit a far tree. Frustrated, I stood and braced myself against the truck bed and aimed again. The crowd seemed to part a bit, giving me a shot at Estella. My hands didn’t shake. I felt calm.

I had to do this for Candido. He would be upset, but he would come around. He would know that I had only done it for him.

Everything, I have ever done has been for him.

I pulled the trigger and the gun clicked. I frowned and pulled the trigger again and again.

Click. Click. Click.

It was empty. I growled searching for another cartridge to refill out some stray bullets. Then, something screeched and leaped over the truck bed at me. I saw the vampire’s eyes gleaming with light as it fell on me. Then, a gunshot rang through the air. Its head jerked back and it fell dead in the bed of the truck.

“Hedy!” Vanessa yelled as she and another werewolf, someone from Moon Shadow I was sure came over. “Let’s go.”

“I can’t leave—”

“He’s only staying here because you haven’t left! There are more coming. We have to go now!”

“He’s my mate, Vanessa! I have to stay!”

Her eyes darkened as the other person got into the driver’s seat. Another vampire showed up. She fired her gun again, hitting it in the head and another. And another. Then, she was out and she hit the next one in the face with the gun. The next lunged at me and she dove in front of me.

“Vanessa!”Candido called from much closer. I turned around, but she grabbed my arm and hauled me into the jeep, climbing after me.

“I’ve got her. Go!”

“No!” I cried, but it was too late. The jeep I was in lurched forward as another blast of light cleared a path for us and headed away from Candido and Estella who were driving in the other direction, to wherever Rendezvous Point B was. I couldn’t believe this.

I glared at Vanessa, whirling on her as she fiddled with the gun in her hand.

“How could you let them go like that? I’m his partner! I’m supposed to be with him.”

“You no longer hold the position of Pandora,” she said stiffly. “I might have disagreed at first, knowing how we could really use every single person we can, but your actions tonight served no one but yourself.”

“He’s my mate, Vanessa! You might not understand that, but she’s trying to take him from me and you just let her—”

The jeep jerked violently. She grabbed me and yanked me to the floor. She stood and fired out into the darkness around us as the jeep kept rolling down the road. Vampires were chasing us.

“If we turn, we can still catch up with them!” I said and yelled at the driver. “Go after, Candido!”

Vanessa fired again. “Keep it steady, so I can get a good shot!”

“Oh, fuck!”

I looked up as Vanessa turned. I felt her weight fall on me and push me to the floor. Glass exploded. The truck bumped, jerked and flipped, tumbling over. I heard Vanessa screaming orders, but I couldn’t make out anything. I couldn’t hear anything but gunshots when finally the jeep came to a stop. Somehow, I was still inside it.

For a long moment, I heard nothing, but the hissing of vampires in the distance. Vanessa grunted above me. I heard her moving and the slide of metal on metal before she fired into the darkness and silence fell again. “Dune? Apollo?” Vanessa asked.

I blinked. I recognized those names vaguely. Hadn’t they come with me and Candido into the caves?

“Dune?” Vanessa asked more urgently. “Apollo!”

I heard nothing. She climbed out of the jeep with a grunt. I heard the door creak open.

“By the moon…” She gasped and then, sniffled.

I heard rustling and she turned back to me. Her eyes hard and determined.

“Can you drive?” Vanessa asked. “I already know you can’t shoot.”

I set my jaw. “Yes.”

She snorted. “You’re a terrible liar. Help me with them.”

I didn’t want to, but she hauled whoever was in the driver’s seat out and lifted him to me in the back. I grimaced at the feel of blood and the smell of it. It didn’t even make my mouth water the way Candido’s blood had made my mouth water.

I turned and got out as she cranked up the car. She shoved me into the driver’s seat, and the other corpse slumped toward me. I reared back as she shut the door behind me and lifted herself into the back with a grunt.

“Put your foot on the pedal on the right, pull the lever towards you and shift it until the dial says R.”

“Why can’t you drive?”

“Because you can’t shoot,” Vanessa said.

I huffed. “Which lever?”

“The one that isn’t marked,” she said.

I grumbled. No car I had ever been in with Candido was set up like this. They had electronic screens and touchscreen buttons. What were all these knobs for? Even the cars I had been in when I was with Steven were newer than this.

I pulled one, but the windshield wipers started to move.

She groaned. “The one that’s not marked, Hedy.”

I pushed the other one back in place and pulled the other. It didn’t move easily like something was in the way, but the dial finally turned to R.

“Now, take your foot off the pedal.”

I did and the engine seemed to groan, or something did. Slowly, the jeep backed up slowly.

“Put your foot back on the pedal, turn the wheel to the left, move the lever until the dial says D, then take your foot off and press gently on the other pedal.”

“You don’t have to talk to me like I’m a child.”

“You don’t know how to drive. You don’t know how to shoot. So yes, I have to give you clear instructions. You lied about your age, you lied about almost everything on your application with Moon Shadow.”

I huffed and did as she asked. The jeep shuddered and turned, heading towards the path we had just been on.

“Head straight,” she said, when you’re on the road, push the pedal harder. We’re too far behind the others to hope they’ll hear us if we run into trouble, so hurry.”

“Which was is Rendezvous Point B.”

She huffed. “As if I’m telling you that so you can get us killed?”

I set my jaw and slammed my foot on the pedal. The jeep lurched forward and I turned back the way we had just come.

“Hedy, what are you doing?” Vanessa shrieked.

“I’m not going to let Estella take Candido from me!” I yelled, avoiding the trees.

“You’re driving into the vampire, you idiot!”

“Just shoot them!”

“You— fuck!”

Something hissed and the jeep jerked sharply to one side. I heard a bang and the jeep turned and rattled down a steep incline.

“Damn it, Hedy!” Vanessa yelled as the jeep slammed into a large stone. “What the hell—”