Refugee (The Captive Series Book 3) by Erica Stevens Page A

one building to another. “I’m going to
kill her myself.”
    “Well let’s worry about getting to her,
in order to kill her first,” Gideon muttered.
    Braith’s attention was brought back to
the street and the creature’s filtering down it. He would have to
get through them in order to reach her, and he had no problem doing
just that. They were the sickliest looking vampires he’d ever seen,
but their desperation made them far more volatile than many things
he had encountered.
    The streets echoed with screams, the
scent of blood hung heavily in the air as the creatures stalked
through the town, looking for more victims. Most people had already
fled to safety, taking shelter in the buildings. Some still
scrambled to get out of the way, others had not been fortunate
enough to escape. Some of the creatures were trying to drag their
victims behind them.
    Their eyes were a glowing red. Braith
assumed it was a permanent condition, one caused by their desperate
need for sustenance. Two charged at him, one broke away, squealing
as it raced down an alley after some unknown quarry. The other one
was so pale that it was nearly transparent. These creatures seemed
to no longer move about in the day, but remained hidden until
nightfall when they searched out whatever kill they could find in
these desolate lands.
    It launched itself at Braith with an
eager screech; its overgrown fingernails were hooked into lethal
claws. Braith managed to catch its arm and pull it swiftly down. It
bounced off the roadway with a sickening crack of bone. He found no
pleasure in the mewl of pain it released; in fact he was hesitant
to kill the thing. He didn’t know what it had done to merit
banishment, knowing Gideon the punishment had been deserved, but
this thing was pitiful.
    And it was deadly.
    Bracing himself, he knelt to drive his
fist through the creature’s chest for the final blow. Its ribs gave
way far too easily. He didn’t know that it had been a woman until
he felt the clammy fleshiness of her breasts against his wrist.
Disgust curled his upper lip as he ripped the heart from her
chest.
    He rose slowly, standing over the
remains of the unfortunate creature. He didn’t have time to process
the fact that this was what they could all become as more were
already emerging. They ran down the streets in a savage frenzy,
clawing over top of one another in their enthusiasm for blood.
Panic tore through him as he threw himself into the madness,
fighting his way toward where Aria had disappeared.
    Gideon stayed close by his side as they
grappled to control the melee around them. Braith caught glimpses
of other vampires in the crowd, Gideon’s vampires, trying to
control the chaos, but the creatures kept coming. It was a never
ending wave of pale, almost slimy bodies with vivid red eyes. Aria
was fast, she was resourceful and a fighter in more ways than most
humans, but she was also just that, human. And there were so many
of these things.
    If they got their hands on
her…
    He shuddered, breaking the thought off.
It wasn’t possible; he would not allow it to happen. He shut down
all his pity for these creatures and turned to deal with the
commotion at hand. Braith heard Gideon grunt loudly, he realized
that they had been separated and Gideon seemed to be the main focus
of the creature’s attention. Gideon had been the one to banish
them, the one that had forsaken them and now they required
payback.
    Gideon was being pushed back, swamped
by their weight as they piled on top of him. Braith grabbed hold of
the shoulder of one and pulled it back. Animalistic sounds ripped
out of its throat as it fought to get back at Gideon. He drove his
fist through its back, and crushed its heart within his grasp.
Gideon was fighting to get out from beneath the crush upon him.
Though as one fell, another one swiftly took its place.
    He heard the whistle of the arrow
seconds before it shot a hairs width past his ear. Gideon let out a
gurgled shout of surprise as