Gun fire suddenly sounded on the street level from his left. He tried to peak his head up over his cover only to be forced down again by gunfire that ricocheted off the building close to his face. He forced himself to breathe and not to concentrate on the pain that was enveloping his leg. He wouldn’t be able to run on it. He had been shot before. Somehow this pain was not as sharp as it should have been. Looking down at his wound, blood was flowing freely from the hole in his thigh. The bullet had ripped through an artery. If he didn’t get healing quickly, he was going to die from blood loss.
He was alone and isolated on a roof with no real way for him to escape. His leg wound made it impossible for him to try to outrun a normal human, much less a vampire. He blinked his eyes hard and tried to focus.
He clamped down on the hole with his claw and squeezed as tightly as he could. Meanwhile he grabbed his upper thigh and put as much pressure on his artery as he could. He couldn’t fight like this. He couldn’t run like this. Maybe he could hold on till a healer found him.
He looked down at his weapon. It was a few feet from him. With his elbows and his good leg he positioned himself near the assault rifle. He wasn’t dead yet. Help would come, or not. He wouldn’t let himself die uselessly. He struggled mightily to put himself in a position that allowed himself to sit upright, with his rifle in his lap. If they were going to try and finish him, he would gladly show them their end before his time came.
Back on the street level, having no real idea what was going on on the rooftops above, Alexiares split his forces in half down either side of the street as was the plan. The vampires would then be forced to split off and follow them. He was being covered from above by Billy and Efraim.
He went left and led his group on a sprint down the alley with a series of short turns that cut back and forth through the city. He needed to get around and behind the group that had followed after him.
After a few turns at speed, he slowed to a stop. There was no gunfire. There was no scent of vampire in the air around them. He looked back over the group that followed him.
“Charles? Do you smell anything?”
The Tracker inhaled deeply and shook his head, “I don’t smell any vampires at all. The smoke is getting worse, that may have something to do with it.”
Alexiares shook his head. Realizing the mistake he had fallen into, he turned and bounded up the nearest building. Aceso and the rest of the werewolves with him followed. The flowed up and over the obsidian building and bounded back in the direction they had come.
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Just as they had crested the building, they were welcomed with gunfire that ripped through their ranks. William grabbed Aceso and Katherine and pulled them down into cover. Nicolas and Charles were face down on the rooftop as well.
“That was a great plan,” Nicolas spat. “Did we have a spy in the meeting with us when Jacob and Efraim hatched this crazy idea?”
William had never even entertained the thought of a spy being among them. For the first time he began to wonder. The city had been infiltrated quickly and quietly. If it hadn’t been for that flair in the west, they wouldn’t have known about any of this. Could one of their own have sold out the City Under the Mountain? He didn’t like the idea but it wouldn’t go away.
Alexiares was shouting over the gun fire. He wanted Aceso and her pack to move out and flank the attacking group of vampires. Aceso moved her pack to the south. William and Nicolas began firing almost blindly from behind cover just to put some pressure on the vampires.
The tactic seemed to work. The vampires slowed their gun fire and the rest of the pack was able to move into position.
William looked back as he loosed another random, almost blind, volley of bullets into the vampire’s position. He saw a few people and wolves not moving. If he needed any proof of death the pools of blood that were rapidly collecting under the bodies was proof enough. He counted three, three more to be added to their dead. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for long moments. He let his rage grow and with it his body was flooded with adrenaline and endorphins. He felt no pain and any fatigue that he might have felt evaporated from him.
He launched himself to the side coming up from a shoulder roll. Taking aim while he moved, he let go a burst of five shots, two found their mark. The vampires returned fire almost immediately. William finished his roll back behind cover. He howled in fury. His call was answered in the distance by three or four howls. He smiled as he shot blindly behind him during a lull.
“Aceso!” William called, “Can you see anything? How many of them are there?”
“I can’t see from where I’m at,” she replied.
“I think I counted about seven or eight,” Katherine said, “William knocked down two of them though. It’s too tough to tell if they’re dead or not.”
“I hope Jacob and Keva’s group had better luck then we did,” Nicolas said dryly.
* * * * *
Jacob was running up through a building to get to the roof. There were no vampires on the street level. They were, however on the roof with a superior position firing down on them. He should have known better. The plan was a good one. The smoke was messing with their sense of smell and they couldn’t detect the vampires at any real distance, not through any natural odors anyway.
He stopped short and looked out over the street from and open doorway. He put out his arm to signal those that had followed him to stay back. After he was certain that it was safe he beckoned them forward.
He grabbed Keva’s shoulder and pointed out over the street to another building, “See that crest right there?” The reddish brown werewolf nodded. “I want you to get over to that position and set up an over watch for us. Put down covering fire until we can get up there and join you.”
Keva nodded. She gripped her M240 tightly in her claws. She backed up a few steps and running forward launched herself across the street. Her landing was a little sloppy and she took a moment to regain her balance. Just as she was about to turn, gun fire forced her to disappear around the corner of the building.