Brandon and Jamie were engaged with Vampires as well, so I was on my own with this dark-haired, vicious woman. Her large claws came at my head, and I stepped out of the way just in time, bringing my knee up to the pit of her stomach. She winced and toppled to the ground, but she was up in a matter of seconds, and as I hit her with a roundhouse kick in the chest, I realized my sister was asking me how many Vampires they had left. It was hard to concentrate on that and beating the witch at the same time, but I managed to tell her she was down to three plus Carter just before witchy came at me again. This time, she scratched the crap out of my cheek before I punched her in the face and sent her flying back again.
She wasn’t a big woman at all, and I really thought if I could get her pinned, I could twist her head off. I heard a scream from Aaron’s side of the roof and was glad he had been successful. Brandon was double-teamed by two odd-looking twins in bowler hats and striped suits, and he needed help, but I realized the scream was from a different Vampire, and Aaron still had the hulk to deal with. Jamie had the other one, and witchy wouldn’t stay down no matter how many times I throat punched her.
I heard Jamie and Aaron talking right before another scream filled the sky. I was getting the upper hand now. Witchy was getting weary. I kicked her in the midsection again, knocking her on her back, and before she could get up, I flung myself at her.
“Cass, how many more are there?” Aaron asked, and I was flattered he thought I could multitask so well.
Holding the woman down with my knees, my fists clamped around her wrists, I said, “Only one. Dr. Psycho, but he’s too scared to come out and face us. There will be more coming, though. We need to get out of here.” Once I was satisfied I’d told him everything, I returned my attention to the Vampire. She was doing everything she could to get up, but that wasn’t happening. I scooted forward a bit so my knees were on her elbows, and I grabbed ahold of her head, the way Aurora had taught me. One hand beneath her chin, the other one on her crown. I’d never done this before, but I didn’t stop to think about it. I gave it a sharp twist to the right, heard the ligaments pop, and then twisted it back the other direction. Her head came off, and before I registered it was over, I was sitting in a pile of ash. Her scream hit me fully in the face, but I couldn’t help but smile. I’d finally killed one of these suckers, and I wanted more.
Unfortunately, Aaron was helping Brandon with the twins, and Jamie had slainslayed his giant, so that only left Dr. Weirdo. I got up, dusted off my hands, and ran toward him, wondering if he would tell me anything if it meant I’d spare his life. I wasn’t even sure why he was here if he wasn’t going to help his teammates.
I heard footsteps behind me and knew Jamie was following me. I ran through the fog, which had thickened since I’d been too distracted to block any of it, and came to a screeching halt in front of the crazy doctor. I could see fear in his dark eyes. The side of his face was burned from the grenade.
“Who are you?” I asked, using my telepathy.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “You know you can’t win this. You know she’s coming. She’s nearly here already.”
I hadn’t been keeping tabs on Holland, but he was right. She was closing in, and she wasn’t alone. I realized, while I’d been fighting, she’d been getting an entire ghoul army into place. They weren’t just coming from behind the building either. They were coming from every direction. Hundreds of them. There’d be no way out if we didn’t hurry.
“You’re a despicable coward!” I shouted at him.
He giggled like a crazed hyena. “You may have won the battle, child. But you haven’t won the war.” He took a few steps backward, and I realized the clock was ticking again. This time, we only had a few minutes.
“Let’s get him!” Brandon shouted, coming up behind me with Aaron at his side.
I put a hand out as the doctor continued to back away. “We can’t. We don’t have time. He said we may have won the battle, but we haven’t won the war.” Dr. Hines—I knew that was his name—stepped off the edge of the building, hovered for a moment, and then began to float away.
“What does that mean?” Aaron asked me, referring to what he said.
“It means… Armageddon is coming,” I replied, turning to face him. I know it was killing them not to chase Hines down, but the doctor was powerful, even if he wasn’t brave, and it would’ve taken more time to kill him than we had. I was already rushing to the fire escape. I hated running away, but we were not prepared for this.
“Cass?” Aaron asked, getting ahead of me. “What does that mean?”
“Holland is coming, and she’s bringing everything she’s got. They will stop at nothing to get me, to take me prisoner. Maybe you and Cadence, too, but right now, I am their main objective.” Her thoughts were filling my mind fast now, and I could see her flying through the air on her way to snatch me up with her long, talon like nails. I hadn’t been scared when we’d first walked into this, but the images she was filling my head with seemed so real, I knew I had to get away now before the Vampire Queen did her best to end me.