"The blonde was trying to choke me out," Thane explained. "Well, she wanted to rip my throat out, but I grabbed a handful of her hair, holding her head off me. She had my neck. I tried to knock her off a few times, and then she slipped. I had the perfect shot at her chest, a clavum in my hand, and everything. Tried to take a swing, and the second one slammed into me." He pushed out a heavy breath. "One is almost impossible. Two? The only reason I'm alive is because of the priest."
"I'm his brother," Laird explained. "I saw the vampire trying to smash my brother's head in, and the Words I was using weren't working, so I went for the ones I'm only partially trained on."
"That was risky," the Bishop pointed out.
"It was," Laird agreed. "The only people in range were myself, Thane, and the two demons. I felt the risk was justified."
"Thane?"
The voice was so rough that Thane couldn't recognize it. The man also didn't seem to notice who he was talking to. Still, Thane turned to see Brice heading his way. He looked like shit, but all of his limbs were still attached and seemed to be working. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Thane turned and gave him a back-thumping hug - of the gentle sort.
"I heard Lucas is hanging on by a thread," he told the guy who'd been his partner for the night.
"Yeah," Brice said. "We had about five that were hurt too bad for the church medics." Then Brice looked up and his mouth dropped open. "Pardon me, Bishop. My apologies, Cardinal. I didn't even see you there. I'm sorry to interrupt."
"You're fine," the Cardinal assured him. "Hunters, you both need to head back and get checked over. We'll have a team come up from Austin to help until our ranks can be refilled. Brother Laird? Why don't you drive me back to the Church so we can see how much of our forces are left, hm?"
"It would be my pleasure, Cardinal," Laird said.
"I'll want a full report from you both," the Bishop added before turning to show the Cardinal the way to a vehicle.
"Oh, I fucked up," Brice groaned. "He's going to ask how I lived through that." Brice paused. "And speaking of that, how did you live through it?"
"Laird got there just in time," Thane said.
And yet he remembered Dahlia's voice begging Mei not to kill him. He had a feeling that was more the reason why, since his brother was still alive. The bigger question was why Mei had listened. She'd lost it when she thought he was going to kill Dahlia. Mei knew he'd fucked Dahlia more than once. She had to be jealous of him for making a move on her girlfriend, then livid that he'd even consider killing her. If the situation was reversed, he would be. Then again, those women probably just saw him as a meal. Something easy to forget.
"How did you survive?" Thane asked.
Brice shook his head. "Craziest shit in the world. The Asian girl hit me from the side. The blonde kicked at me, and then I woke up. I swore she recognized me, though. The blonde, I mean. It was like she was picking and choosing who got to live and who got to die."
"Fucking valkyrie," Thane breathed.
"What?" Brice asked.
"When I was alone with her in that abandoned building, I asked her what she was. She'd drained me with a kiss, but she'd also drunk the blood of the priests. That's both a succubus and a vamp, so I asked. I didn't expect her to answer. She told me she's a valkyrie, and I thought she was being a smart-ass, but look at what she just did. She picked who lived and who died!"
"That's a completely different religion," Brice pointed out.
"I'm just telling you what she said," Thane told him. "The Bishop says she's a vampire. I'm not sure what the Cardinal's stance is."
"That woman is not a vampire," Brice said under his breath. "But if she is a valkyrie, how does that fit into what we know? I mean, it pretty much invalidates the whole theory that all of them are demons, doesn't it?"
Thane stopped hard, grabbing Brice so he had to turn toward him. "Do. Not. Ever. Say. That. Not out loud. Not to me, or Dale, or anyone else. Right now, your head is scrambled, and you aren't thinking clearly. The Bible is clear. The Church of the Holy Inquisition has taught us that these monsters are Satan's minions, they work for the Devil, and whatever form they take is nothing more than the kind of demon he has sent to torment us with this time. Am I clear?"
"Yeah," Brice agreed. "Just... What if we're wrong, Thane?"
"Then we'll be the best wrong hunters this church has ever made. It is not our place to question the priesthood. God didn't even find us worthy of creating the next generation. We are nothing more than tools to be used to save the Earth, so let us be the best tools possible, Brice."
He nodded. "Yeah. It's just that my thoughts are all jumbled right now."
"I understand," Thane assured him.
Brice said nothing else until they reached their team's SUVs. Dale stood in the open driver's door of one, staring at the ground before his feet. When the pair walked up, it took a moment before he realized he wasn't alone. When he did, he scrubbed at his face first, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"So I've got two men left walking," he said, trying to force out a laugh.
"I heard about Lucas," Thane said, "but that's it."