“Old woman, I've about had enough of you.” Ethan lunged to grip her arm.
Prosper marched toward Ethan. “She's an old lady with not much time to live. Let her be!”
Innocente's eyes met Bianca's glowing ones.
Come to me, Bianca.
Rachon cupped the young woman's face between her hands, trying to make eye contact with her. “Bianca, why aren't you obeying me? Do as I say!”
The young woman abruptly shoved Rachon away, sending her sprawling among the graves. With a soundless cry, she ran to Innocente.
“What the hell?” Ethan gasped.
“Innocente, watch out!” Pete cried out in terror.
Stumbling forward, Innocente met the girl in the midst of the broken tombstones and dry grass. The slender young thing fell into her embrace, clutching her tightly. Enclosing Bianca in her arms, Innocente felt the vampire trembling.
“It's okay. Just help us escape now...” Innocente whispered in her ear. “Bring the dead up, but have them protect us!”
“Bianca!” Rachon roared in anger. “Bianca, come here!”
Prosper was closer, so he stomped toward them. “I told you she wasn’t right in the head, Rachon.”
Bianca twisted in Innocente's arms and flung up one hand. The dead shot out of the ground, cutting off Prosper. Gasping, he stumbled back, surprised by the turn of events.
“Good girl!” Innocente said with delight.
Bianca raised another hand and more dead sprung up between them and Rachon. The vampires stared in surprise at the young woman.
“Bianca, obey me!” Rachon said, moving to rip the dead apart and descend on them.
“Pete, come here,” Innocente said. “Hurry!”
Ethan moved to cut him off, but more dead burst forth from the ground. The dead creatures grappled with Ethan, allowing Pete to slip past them.
“Good girl, Bianca,” Innocente said proudly. “We need to get Sergio, then we can go.”
“I’ll get him!” Pete dropped into the grave where Sergio had collapsed earlier. “He's still alive!”
“Hurry, Pete!” Innocente cried out.
Rachon lunged forward, her hands shredding the corpses, but more sprang up to block her way. This time they attacked her, wrestling with her.
“Rachon!” Prosper leaped past the dead impeding him to rush to her defense.
Nearby, Ethan struggled with the corpses trying to wrest his gun from him.
Pete dragged Sergio out of the grave, grunting. “I need help.”
The power around Bianca was growing. Innocente could feel it swelling as the girl faced the people who had kept her trapped for so long.
“Bianca, raise the graveyard,” Innocente instructed. “They will be too busy with the zombies to come after us. We have to help Pete with Sergio.”
Pivoting toward Innocente, the glowing white eyes of the young woman seemed to grow brighter. Innocente felt her own power mingling with that of the necromancer vampire. Bianca's appearance was deceiving, for Innocente sensed the great dark majesty of the girl’s power expanding over the graveyard like a great cloak. Her appearance spoke of fragility and innocence, but her power was vast, great, and...
Innocente gasped.
…evil.
Bianca smiled.
“You!”
Bianca tilted her head, her fingers grazing Innocente's cheek. “No one defeats me. No one lives who defies me.”
Innocente tried to jerk away, tried to scream a warning to Pete who was still grappling with her unconscious grandson, then she felt the delicate fingers of the girl's hand grip her arm. A gasp erupted from her lips seconds before she was tossed through the air, her body suddenly weightless. The world whirled around her, the cloudy sky tumbling about with the earth. Then she was falling, her body crashing through branches, her body spinning about. As the ground rushed up to meet her, she saw her husband standing in the darkness below her.
“Everything is going to be all right,” he said.
The earth met her with an agonizing embrace that devoured her last thoughts and extinguished her life.
Chapter 24
Jeff barely grabbed hold of Samantha before she could plunge into the terrible scene before them. His hand clamped over her mouth to keep her from crying out while they watched Innocente's body vanish into the woods beyond the graveyard. The young woman with the glowing white eyes stood with a triumphant smile upon her face as the vampires gawked at her in shock.
Pete hadn't seen what occurred and continued to struggle with Sergio's unconscious form.
“Bianca?” Rachon’s voice was rough with emotion.
The towering man who had come to her defense against the zombies positioned himself between the pale young woman and his mistress. The risen dead shambled away from the vampires, moving toward Pete and the other struggling man.
Samantha twisted in Jeff's arms, her eyes wide with anger and fear. He felt her bite down on his fingers and he gasped. She frantically motioned toward the area where Innocente had fallen.
Sighing, he nodded. He had misjudged Samantha, assuming she wanted to challenge the vampires. He motioned for her to go without him and was a little surprised when she quickly agreed. Feeling a little abandoned, he watched her scramble away into the darkness.
“Bianca?” Rachon’s voice repeated, pulling Jeff's attention to the scene in the graveyard.
“Are you afraid, Rachon?” Bianca answered, tilting her head. Her glowing eyes were eerie.
“Why is she talking? She wasn't talking before!” Prosper exclaimed. He kept Rachon firmly behind him, a silver knife glittering in his hand.
Jeff could see that Rachon was startled and a little afraid.
Pete and Ethan finally became aware of the dead encircling them.
“Innocente?” Pete called out, his head whipping back and forth trying to find her.
“She's dead,” Bianca answered. “Fucking bitch deserved it after what she did to me.”
“She never did nothing to you! Who are you?” Pete said, his voice quavering.
Scooting forward, Jeff ignored the protest in his thighs and his calf. His back was spasming from crouching for so long, but he gritted his teeth. Drawing his pistol, he studied the standoff before him, trying to ascertain how he could intercede and protect Pete.
Ethan finally broke free from the dead and stumbled to Pete's side. Crouching, he drew a smaller firearm from his boot. “Rachon, what’s going on?”
“I don't know,” she answered. “Bianca, you're not making sense.”
Walking at a leisurely pace toward Rachon and Prosper, Bianca touched the desiccated forms of the zombies around her. They shuddered at her touch, as though in pain, but then visibly took on a more human form, becoming stronger.
“I have to admit it's been fascinating watching all your little plots unfurling. I thought more highly of you when I didn't realize how mired in the human world you remain. I knew your family was your minions, but you actually retain human attachments to them,” Bianca said, her tone mocking. “Where is my bloodthirsty love? Oh, yes. Living a cozy life with her mother.”
Jeff froze as he listened to the words of the young woman. Closing his eyes, he felt his breath leave him. The world was tilting around him and fear clamped tightly around his chest.
“You...” Rachon managed to say, aghast. “You...”
Opening his eyes, Jeff saw that Bianca was almost to the two vampires, her zombies crowding in behind her.
“Rachon, what's happening?” Prosper demanded.
“Are you afraid of a pasty little white thing like me?” Bianca taunted.
“Fuck me,” Prosper gasped. “Fuck me! It's him!”
“Did you really think I would die so easily?” Bianca asked, then her form was a blur of white.
Rachon screamed, blood splattering her face. Prosper grunted once, then tumbled to the ground. Bianca stood over his fallen form clutching his heart. His dark vampire blood spotted her white dress and pale skin.
“No!” Rachon cried out, falling to her knees.
Tossing the heart over her shoulder, Bianca stood over Rachon. “You disappoint me, Rachon.”
Skirting the edge of the graveyard, Jeff headed toward the part of the fence that had fallen down. Pete and Sergio were near that area. Ethan was already on the move, using the confrontation between the vampires to make his escape. The zombies that had been keeping him trapped paid him no heed, their attention on their mistress.
Rachon’s terrified protests and Bianca's mocking responses filled the night air. Jeff watched Ethan jump the fence and dart across the field toward the hotel where his truck was parked. Jeff was glad to see him go. One less bad guy to worry about.
Taking a deep breath, Jeff went in the opposite direction, scrambling over the fallen fence, trying to avoid catching his prosthetic leg. Pete tugged on Sergio, trying to drag him away, but Amaliya's cousin was too big for him to handle alone. Jeff ran to his side, crouched over, and gripped Sergio's other arm.
Pete looked at him in surprise.
“I'm a friend,” Jeff whispered.
Together, they dragged Sergio past the motionless zombies and toward the truck.