Ginny’s pain finally subsided, leaving her gasping and weak on the sticky ground, shaking violently. She couldn’t even speak to tell Roksana that she was fine. She wouldn’t have had time to say a word, anyway, because that’s when the door of the bar blasted open and pandemonium ensued.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“What a pair of goddamn idiots,” Roksana muttered.
Ginny struggled into a sitting position and only caught the quickest glimpse of Elias and Tucker in the entrance of the bar when Roksana dragged her into a corner and ordered her not to move. With her jaw in the vicinity of her lap, she watched every slayer in the establishment whip out a stake.
“Oh dear,” Ginny whispered. “Those are terrible odds.”
Had Elias and Tucker come to Enders because of her? What could they possibly do to alleviate whatever was wrong with her? Surely she needed a human doctor and not two vampires. Even as the thought ran through her mind, she was levering herself up to see the door, hoping Jonas would walk in behind them. Begging him to.
He didn’t.
She ignored the rush of disappointment and focused on the here and now—and the very real possibility that something horrible was about to happen. Her friends could be hurt because of her. Surely they couldn’t take on an entire room of professional vampire slayers between the two of them.
The room was divided in two.
Vampires on one side, slayers on the other.
Roksana stopped in between the two sides and hesitated, her gaze swinging from the the pair to her colleagues. So to speak.
“Go,” Elias rasped, his face partially hidden by a low-brimmed baseball cap. It was clear to Ginny he was speaking to Roksana, but the slayers around her muttered their speculations. “Go!”
Roksana remained frozen.
A male slayer with myriad piercings in the front row lunged, his stake raised high above his head and a battle cry pierced the air. He was headed straight for Elias when Roksana blindsided him with a kick, sending him crashing into a row of tables, sending bottles and candles crashing to the ground.
Roksana stared at the stunned slayer with a torn expression, slowly shifting her attention to the crowd of disgusted slayers.
Luther stepped out of the pack, betrayal etched into his features. “Am I reading this correctly? You protect…a vampire?”
Going from nonplussed to bored, she shrugged. “Just trying to even the odds. No one likes a shutout.”
“You’re not welcome here ever again,” Luther spat.
Roksana sighed. “Does this mean the offer to meet your parents is off the table?”
Elias released a low growl and stepped in front of Roksana.
The slayers bristled.
Ginny slowly got to her feet and made eye contact with Tucker. He shook his head at her almost imperceptibly, so she stayed put, even though her instinct was to sprint toward the exit. That way they could follow her and avoid what was sure to be a deadly altercation. If anything happened to her friends because of her, she wouldn’t be able to live with the sadness or guilt.
What could she do, though? She didn’t have superhuman capabilities and probably couldn’t beat someone whose professional job title was vampire slayer on their worst day, unless maybe they were playing checkers. She had no choice but to wait and watch.
Luther pointed in her direction. “That one arrived with Roksana. Bring her to the back room.”
Change of plans.
Ginny had no time to think as two glowering slayers started closing in immediately. She’d never wished for athleticism harder in her life as when she took a running jump, leapt onto her vacated bar stool and ran across the bar. She only made it five feet before her ankle was captured. She was just gearing up to kick her assailant in the face—probably while apologizing—when a blur of color snatched her off the bar and transported her to the exit.
“Hang on, sweetheart.”
Tucker.
He set her onto watery legs and pushed her toward the door. “Go. Run home. We’ll meet you there.”
Without waiting for her response, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and swaggered up beside a battle-ready Elias and Roksana. “Been a while since I had a decent bar fight,” he drawled. “Who’m I fuckin’ up first?”
All hell broke loose.
The explosion of the battle threw Ginny’s back up against the wall and for a moment, she could only gape and marvel at Roksana’s skill. She took on slayers two at a time, fighting back to back with Elias, her limbs moving in graceful and deadly blurs. Tucker whooped his way through a string of bar patrons, twisting and dodging with the speed of a hurricane. He plucked stakes from their hands and launched them up at the ceiling where they got stuck, enraging the slayers.
I should go.
Tucker had told her to go, but she couldn’t seem to move. All three of her friends were there because of her. Roksana had come to celebrate Ginny’s birthday and Jonas’s friends were there because of her mysterious illness. She couldn’t just leave them to their fate. Not without trying to help.