Building From Ashes

He heard Brigid scream as the bullet tore into him. He felt it ricochet in his chest, spreading and shredding his insides until it hit one of his ribs, cracked the bone, and stopped. Then the blood, the blood he’d shared with his beloved, began to pool where he sat.

She screamed and raged, her throat harsh from the wire that wrapped around her neck. Despite the moisture in the room, her skin began to heat. She had both her hands and one leg free, and Brigid lifted blistering fingers to her neck, trying to grab the metal that still held her. She felt it heat, and the smell of burning hair filled the room.

Jack’s eyes darted toward her. “Axel, you idiot! Keep that prod on her!” Jack stood and turned. “Steady now, Brigid. Lose it in this little room and your man is as likely to die as we will. That bullet won’t kill him, just slow him down a bit so my associate has time to arrive.”

Axel reached out and the cattle prod dug into her neck. She stilled, her heart racing as her eyes followed the blood that streamed from Carwyn’s chest. He hadn’t fallen. Hadn’t even moved much. He was still crouched in the corner of the cage, motionless as he bled on the floor.

His eyes met hers.

She mouthed, I love you.

Chapter Thirty-Two

“Aren’t you two sweet?” Jack said. “Who knew Brigid had it in her to be more than the Ice Queen?”

Carwyn held her eyes for a moment before he looked back at Jack, who had knelt down level with him.

“Those are hollow point bullets, by the way. Best thing on a ship if you don’t want things piercing through. They’re designed to spread out, create the most damage quickly, and stop.” Jack leaned closer and gripped the bars, his fangs falling as he curled his lips. “You know, my associate only insisted on meeting you. Brigid is pretty, but expendable. Imagine what those bullets would do to that soft, white neck… What do you think, Father? Think that might shred her spine? Should we find out?”

With a roar that surprised even his jaded captor, Carwyn leapt, bursting from his silent crouch as he tore the bars apart like wet paper. In one blurring motion, the two guards with swords rushed forward and Jack fell back. Carwyn reached out, ignoring the pain in his chest, and pulled the first guard into the cage, twisting off his head as he kicked the bars away. The roof of the cage fell in, trapping him for a moment before he knocked it to the side.

He saw Brigid free of the wires—she must have snapped the last ones during the commotion—and fighting the vampire with a gun. Within seconds, she had disarmed him and was bashing the side of his face in with the butt of the weapon.

He grinned. Oh, she was lovely when she was in a bloodlust. He turned, suddenly suspicious of the stillness.

“Where’s Jack?” he called out.

“Behind you,” said the vampire as he slashed at Carwyn’s neck. Carwyn ducked down and rolled across the room, tossing the guards into Jack’s way as he moved toward Brigid. He rolled past Axel, who was crouched in the corner, still holding the cattle prod.

Carwyn eyed it with interest.

Cattle prod… explosion… leaky rusting ship…

“Oh, she’s going to kill me…”

Good thing they were already married, and he’d have an eternity to grovel.

He rolled over to Brigid, smashing in the head of the vampire she was punching and spraying them both with gore.

She curled her lip and yelled, “That’s disgusting!”

“Beating him bloody wasn’t?”

“You were shot. Are you hurt?”

“I’m desperately hurt—”

“You are?” Her eyes were panicked.

“—by your lack of confidence, my darling.” He laughed and tossed two vampires to the side as they attacked. Then he snatched the cattle prod from a quivering Axel, and grabbed Brigid in his other arm. He swooped down on her mouth for a quick kiss before he winced. “But this bullet is taking its toll, love. We need to get out of here.”

“Well—” She stopped to grab the sword of the vampire who was attacking them, slicing her hand, but grabbing the blade in the process. “If you have any ideas, let me know. They’re blocking the door, and we have no way of knowing how many others he has with him, so—”

“Obviously, we need to make a new door.”

She glanced at him, confused. “What?”

Carwyn looked up, winked at Jack from across the room, then grabbed Brigid and darted toward the cage in the corner. The cocky water vampire’s eyes moved from the steel sheet metal to Carwyn to Brigid. He yelled something unintelligible, but it was too late.

Carwyn dragged her, kicking the vampire who lunged at them out of the way.

“Brigid, darling?”

“Yes?” Her eyes were racing around the room, evaluating it, taking in all their options to kill the remaining three vampires who blocked them. The one with the Taser was standing near Jack, eyeing Brigid nervously.

“Please remember just how much you love me.”

Her eyes widened. “Wha—”

He stopped her mouth with a kiss a second before he pulled the steel roof from the cage in front of himself, braced his back against the rusting hull, and turned the cattle prod on Brigid.

Oh yes, she was going to be furious.

His finger squeezed once. Just once. He hoped it would be enough.

It happened in the space of a heartbeat. A spark. The zing of the current as it connected. Then the explosion knocked him back into the hull, ripping it open as Brigid’s fire tore through the room. The rush of energy was astonishing, enough to suck the air from his lungs as he let the room fill with fire. In a split-second, every vampire in the chamber was incinerated.