She took a deep breath. “You been in anything like this before?”

“Not exactly.”

“What are our odds?”

He shrugged. “Tenzin says you should never try to calculate odds in a fight. Just win. That’s all that matters.”

Natalie let out a slow breath. “Win. Got it.”

He heard them approaching as they crouched in the tunnel. The vampires must have left the cars at the end of the mining road. He looked at Tenzin, who was closing her eyes and listening intently. After a moment, she looked up, then held up ten fingers, then three.

Thirteen? So someone wasn’t hunting. Carwyn and Brigid had tunneled around to the other side of the crater to lie in wait so they could attack from front and back. The idea was for Brigid and Carwyn to attack from one side as Baojia did from the other, Tenzin taking to the air to catch any stragglers or air vampires who could fly. Also, she said she’d try to pull as much of the storm toward them as possible. Baojia had doubts about how much the small vampire—even as powerful as she was—could manipulate the clouds. Still, the steadily increasing moisture fed his strength. Once the rain was falling, he’d be even stronger.

He glanced toward the crouched figures at the center of the crater.

Don’t let them get me. Give me time.

He’d give her as much time as he could. But he sure as hell hoped that Tenzin held up her end of the bargain if time ran out.

Shit, shit, shit. Natalie’s heart beat a staccato rhythm. She could hear growls and laughter on the air. They were coming. She crouched as she heard a swooping sound overhead, like a dark bird on the night air. Drops of rain began to fall and she gripped her gun closer. Ben held one weapon in his hands, another was ready at his waist, and still another was strapped to his thigh.

Natalie said, “You’re kind of frightening for a teenager, you know?”

Ben only grinned. “Aren’t you glad I’m on your side?”

She nodded as the growls came closer.

“Wait, Natalie,” he said in a soothing voice. “Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

She gave a jerky nod a second before she heard the collision midair. There was a popping sound, then a hoarse scream was cut short. A second later came a quiet thud as a blond ud d a sechead landed only inches from their feet. Its bright blue eyes stared at Natalie as its mouth fell open in an eternal snarl. She slapped a hand over her mouth to hold in the scream, then all hell broke loose.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Baojia saw Tenzin swoop down to intercept the wind vampire who had spotted the humans in the center. The enemy vampire dove for his prey, only to be interrupted by the fearsome woman who grabbed him by the neck and flew him up toward the clouds. With a quick twist, his neck was broken. With a swipe from her ancient scimitar, he was dead. The head fell to the ground as she tossed his body toward Baojia’s hiding place. Just then, dark shapes crested the hill.

He slunk out of the mouth of the tunnel, drawing his right sword as he crept toward the shadows. The hunters were taking their time, not being quiet. They wanted to elicit fear by toying with what they thought were defenseless humans in the center of the crater. Snarling and laughing as they came closer, none of them noticed the loss of their friend.

What they did notice was the sudden silence when two of their number fell through the earth. Baojia grinned.

Playtime was over.

Three down, ten to go. He raced around the perimeter, arm sweeping out to take the head of one shocked vampire before he was even spotted. A grab of the hair. A quick slice. Another thud. The body slumped to the ground and he tossed the head over his shoulder as the crazed vampires began to realize they had walked into a trap. Their attention immediately diverted from the humans in the center of the circle, all nine vampires suddenly went on alert. One took to the air and was out of his sight. One began to run, only to have his feet sink into the earth as Brigid burst from the ground and used what little time she had to turn the screaming vampire to ash.

The rain was falling harder. He felt a heavy sheet hit his back and reveled in the feel of it, cool against his skin.

Baojia took a deep breath and let out an angry roar as every eye turned toward him.

Two more dead. Only seven now.

Another headless body thudded to the ground.

Make that six, plus the driver.

His first real attack came as he heard Carwyn exclaiming from across the crater and two gunshots fired. The vampire ran toward him, hands out, directing a sheet of water at him as he tried to knock Baojia off his feet. Damn. His breath rushed out. These creatures—high on whatever Ivan had been feeding them—were stronger.

The drops turned to tiny blades under the other water vampire’s command. Baojia didn’t halt, though he felt his flesh break open in a hundred places from the impact of the driving rain. He ducked to the side to dodge another watery attack before he reached out with his amnis and grabbed the water, turning it on his attacker to slice into his face as the vampire screamed.

The immortal was dark-haired. Possibly Mexican, but not certainly. Baojia ran at him, letting his enemy get close enough to grab an outstretched arm, drawing him toward his body as Baojia ducked his head, bracing his neck as he rammed his forehead into the vulnerable underside of his opponent’s jaw. The vampire’s head slammed back as Baojia grabbed him by the hair and held, bringing his blade up to sever the spine with one efficient slice. He dropped the body and looked for the next opponent.

There was a blond vampire trying to run away. Too damn bad. His fangs long and gleaming, Baojia ran after him, jumping over scrub and/p>teoppo ignoring the sting of cactus as he raced to catch him. He caught up with him a few hundred feet from the crater. Not wanting to waste time, Baojia pounced on the other man’s back. A young one, he guessed, from the level of amnis. He was an earth vampire and tried to let the ground swallow him. Baojia was halfway sunk in the ground before a jerk and a swipe ended his enemy’s life.