ChapterTwenty-Five
Sweat dripped down Leo's face and back, but he paid it little attention as he ducked another blow meant for his head.
While he'd taken down two vampires so far, and his team three others, even more had joined the fray a few minutes ago.
If there had been a chance of fleeing to regroup, Leo would've taken it. However, he and his team were surrounded by approximately twelve vampires, all in their frozen states and speaking French.
All he could do was dodge, shift, strike, and repeat until there was some kind of opening to take. The fight haze was one he hadn't endured since his army days, but thankfully it seemed to return as easily as if he'd been fighting battles a week ago. There was no hesitation, just pure instinct driving his moves, knowing both Ambrose and Yesenia's lives depended on his survival.
And the fucking French vampires would take them over his dead body.
Leo had no idea how long he'd been fighting when something dropped from above. A net settled over the majority of the French vampires but stayed clear of Leo and his team. In the next blink of his eyes, another net dropped on the remaining Frenchies behind him.
With only one Frenchman remaining, John knocked him unconscious while Leo studied those trapped in the net in front of him.
Their knifes couldn't cut it, and even when one tried to fire a pistol, the bullet bounced back from some invisible source and hit the shooter in the shoulder.
It was a magic-infused net, one meant to contain anyone or anything and was nearly unbreakable. He'd only heard of such things in the legends of the fae witches but had never seen one before.
Worry about where it came from later.He had no idea why or how the net had appeared, but Leo knew more enemies could be heading their way. A quick survey told him his men were still all upright and conscious, although a few had more than a few cuts bleeding through their clothes.
He gestured a few flicks of his hands to ask, "Can everyone keep going?"
Once they all nodded, Leo listened to judge if they could keep going safely, or if more surprises lurked nearby.
However, the only sounds apart from those growling inside the magical net came from above, in the main warehouse floor. Which meant their best choice was to keep heading through the tunnels, looking for Ambrose. The entire Parisian vampire horde could be hiding inside this building, true. And if retreat was the only way to keep his men alive, he'd take it. But they were far from him having to give that order just yet.
If they did have to retreat, Leo would form a better plan, one maybe involving the fae witches and shifters this time.
For years, he'd relied on his own kind. But that might not be possible any longer, especially if this ended up only being the beginning of a war with the French vampire bastards.
Leo motioned for his team to follow him down the hall. Given where his now-contained enemies had come from—the right fork up ahead—it helped to narrow down his choice. Strategically, they couldn't defend the entirety of the tunnels and would have to group together in one section to hold their territory. Especially since all the old smuggling tunnels could wind for miles.
As they moved down the right fork, Leo's heart slowed a little and he noticed the burning pain of a knife slice on his chest for the first time, but he pushed it aside. He'd faced worse, much worse, and even if he wasn't in his frozen state any longer, a few cuts wouldn't kill him.
Keeping his eyes, ears, and nose alert, Leo also looked up toward the ceiling a few times. He had no bloody idea who or what had sent those nets back there, but they could just as easily appear to trap him and his team too. The whole thing reeked of fae witch magic, but he'd have to figure out whose later. For all he knew, the French vampires had formed an alliance with some of the French fae witches. Not bloody good ones, if they'd captured their own people, but still something else to worry about.
As he and his men dashed quickly but quietly down the corridor, a noise caught his ear, faintly at first—low and deep. But then a male's voice speaking in French became clear enough to decipher. "I say wake him up. He can take quite a bit more without dying, and I want to break him, especially since he can't scream and alert anyone to me being a bit rough, it really gives me a lot of room to play."
He glanced at John, who nodded—Ambrose couldn't scream, and it was most likely his nephew the male discussed.
Pushing aside the anger at anyone hurting his nephew, Leo focused on their mission. Emotions would only fuck it up and maybe even kill Ambrose in the process.
He gestured to each position his team members would take, including who would enter with him and who was to wait and play both lookout and be ready to act as reinforcements, if needed.
Once everyone understood, Leo stopped the closest to the door, since he'd lead the charge.
Leo listened to see if there were more than two people on the other side, but no other voices appeared. Just the same two going on about all the ways they wanted to torture and maybe even rape the English vamp.
No fucking way I'm going to let that happen.Getting Ambrose away from the sadistic bastards was all that mattered.
Just as he debated signaling John to move with him, Leo heard something that made him pause: "I paid good money for this blade. Unless you want me to use it on you, and scar your pretty frozen face, wake the bastard up. Now."
Fuck.Since vampires in their frozen states healed fast, they rarely scarred, unless a bit of magic was involved, meaning the Frenchman possessed a magic-infused knife.
Still, it was two against his team of five—one of his fighters was barely hanging on to consciousness and could only stand watch.
He signaled John and the others to follow and strike at the opportune moment. Leo would take the lead, two were to stay right outside the door, and the other two would follow on his heels. Instructions acknowledged, he rushed into the room, knife drawn, and tackled the nearest male. He had no weapon and was surprised, and all it took was a right hook and then butting the back of his head with his knife hilt to make the vampire unconscious.