Left for Undead by L. A. Banks Page B

done nothing to provoke them.”
    “Of course not,” Sir Rodney said, dismissing the
concept with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “But I am smiling because that
means there is a shadow of doubt regarding your guilt that the Vampires must
take into consideration. The Fae are not the only suspects in this travesty,
and our wolf allies have found out something that should give everyone pause.”
    “Let us hope so,” Hunter muttered as he looked up at
the waning sun through the heavy canopy of trees. “We have perhaps a half hour
of daylight remaining, and it is my strong suggestion that we all take cover
until we hear that the Vampires accept a truce during our investigation.”
    “Couldn’t agree more.” Sasha whipped out her cell
phone and began dialing with all eyes on her. “I’m going to leave a message at
the Blood Oasis,” she said, waiting for the call to connect to voice mail. As
soon as it did, she began speaking. “This is Sasha Trudeau with an urgent
message for Elder Vlad. Tell him we found an Erinyes wreath serpent skin at the
site of Monroe Bonaventure’s mausoleum today and he can check with the grave
guards at Golden Estates. They know we were there, since they tried to kill
us—just saying. We’ve also entered the find into the hall of records up here at
UCE, so before they blow—”
    A Fae archer’s scream stopped Sasha’s words
mid-sentence. The entire group pivoted quickly just in time to see a muscular
stone-hued gargoyle rip open the man’s chest cavity, spilling vital organs and
entrails. Garth pulled out his wand from his robe sleeve in unison with Queen
Cerridwen, each respectively sending blasts of white hot light and ice as they
ran for cover.
    Chaos reigned high in the branches. Fae archers
attempted to ward off the gargoyle onslaught with silver-tipped arrows,
alternately ducking and then crouching to fire. But the sky darkened with an
incalculable number of beasts. Sir Rodney was a blur of Fae motion, leaping
into the battle high in the branches, blade drawn to protect his men, and
sending up sparkling shield pulses to ward off the aerial attack.
    For a few seconds, Sasha and Hunter could only look up
at the battle taking place above their heads high in the trees. Then several
beasts narrowed their red glowing gazes on Sasha and Hunter, spread their
leathery wings, screeched, and dive-bombed toward them with vicious talons
outstretched.
    In less than the time it took to blink, Sasha and
Hunter transformed out of their human forms and into their wolves to leave
their clothes pooled on the ground. Oddly, the gargoyles stopped their aerial
offensive mid-air and simply screeched at both snarling wolves, then turned to
fly off to attack the retreating Fae.
    Bounding toward a fallen archer drawn between two
gargoyles, the pair of wolves rushed in trying to save him. But it was too
late. The moment the hissing creatures saw Sasha and Hunter, they flew off in
different directions, ripping the archer in two.
    Gore pelted the ground from the air. Sasha’s pristine
silver coat became matted with blood splatter raining down from the trees as
the gargoyles decimated the archers. Hunter moved in and out of the shadows
with Sasha like black lightning, his onyx coat wet with Fae blood, their
mission to cover Sir Rodney, Garth, and Queen Cerridwen while trees fell from
Fae monarch blasts.
    Then suddenly the gargoyles pulled back, lifting the
darkness from the bayou to allow in the light of the full moon. Five platinum
blond Vampire sentries touched down silently, protected by translucent dark
energy shields. Their long, flowing tresses lifted off their shoulders from a
supernatural source as static fury coursed down their arms and along their
billowing black leather coats. Then one dark-haired female Vampire baring fangs
slid out of the folds of nothingness to stand by the lead male.
    “A message!” the lead Vampire shouted. “Know me as
Caleb, the destroyer! I have been sent to deliver word