At Grave's End (Page 6)

"We take them out one at a time and store them in the trunk," another added. "It’s cool enough this time of year, so they don’t die and go stale, and with a flash of the eyes, they stay quiet while they’re there."

My hand tightened on Ethan’s until he let out a yelp. I loosened my grip, fighting to keep my eyes from glowing out of pure rage. I couldn’t kill these guys soon enough.

Belinda smiled. "A vampire in a Chuck E. Cheese costume? That I have to see."

The vampire returned her grin. "Wait right here, honey. You’ll love the show."

As if on cue, the robotic figures in the theater came to synthetic life. The kids squealed in delight. I watched as one of the vampires followed the employee they’d pointed out behind the stage. My intention to follow as well was cut short by what I heard next.

"…hungry now, I’m getting someone to eat," the russet-haired vampire said, sauntering away from Belinda and the others.

I let go of Ethan’s hand. Belinda had pointed him out as hers; he was the safest kid in the place at the moment. I knelt down until I was eye-level with him.

"See that game?" I asked, pointing to the one closest to us. "You play that and you don’t move from it until me or one of the other guys you met earlier comes to get you. Promise me."

Ethan nodded. "Promise."

"Good boy," I murmured. Ethan went over to the game and set all his tokens down by it. Cold fury seized me as I watched the other vampire hunt for his prey.

"All units, stand by," I whispered into my cell phone. This could get ugly real fast.

I discreetly kept him in sight as the vampire wandered through the room, his sharp eyes picking out which kids were being supervised and which weren’t. There was a young boy by the change machine, gathering up his tokens. The vampire watched him, sidling up behind him as the boy started to browse the games. Then he waited until they were near a corner, and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

The boy looked up-and that was all it took. The vampire’s eyes flashed green for a moment and he murmured something, too low for me to catch. No one else noticed. The boy followed him into the next room without a pause, disappearing behind one of the partial walls.

I went after them, noticing the vampire had picked the least busy place, where all the out-of-order games were kept. He was kneeling, the little boy in front of him. I could see the green light of the vampire’s gaze reflecting off the skin of the boy as he stood there, making no attempt to run or scream.

He’s going to bite him right now. Right here, and he could have his body stuffed behind one of those broken machines in less than a minute. His parents will never even know he’s in danger until he’s already dead…

The russet-haired vampire leaned down, no fear of parents or God or anyone else stopping him. I pulled out a silver knife from my sleeve and crept forward.Say hello to my little friend, ass**le!

"What the-?"

I whirled, feeling the inhuman power at my back even as I heard the voice. The vampire wearing the Chuck E. Cheese costume stood behind me, his big fake mouse head tilted questioningly to the side. The other vampire dropped his hands from the little boy, and his gaze narrowed on my knife.

"Silver," he muttered.

The gig was up. "Deploy!" I screamed, knowing Bones would hear me, and flung the knife.

It buried into his chest to the hilt. I leapt on him in almost the same movement, knocking him over to give a few rough twists of the blade. At the same time, something heavy landed on me. And cushy. It was the vampire in the Chuck E. Cheese getup.

I rolled over, crunching my legs up and then kicking the vampire off me. He hit a video game hard enough to make it crash through the window. I heard Tate shout, "Homeland Security, nobody move!" as I palmed more knives and then flung them with perfect accuracy into vamp Chuck E.’s chest. He staggered back, but didn’t go down. Damn costume must be too thick.

I grabbed more knives from under my clothes and tackled him. He fought as hard as he could-while being encased in a large mouse suit. Our struggles had us rolling, me attempting to stab deep enough to penetrate that costume, and him trying to beat me while seriously hampered in his movements.

"Leave Chuckyalone!" I heard a child wail. Several more screamed.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, talk about emotionally scarring these kids, watching what must appear to be a crazy woman trying to stab their beloved icon to death. They’d have nightmares for years unless Bones wiped their memories.

I didn’t focus on that, however. I kept hammering away with my knives, hearing another fight break out. The other vampires. I finally got a deep enough slant on the knife under me to have the vampire go limp, and I gave the blade a final twist.

I got up to the horrified gaze of children and parents alike, but there was no time to explain that Chucky wasn’t Chucky, but his evil twin instead. The blond vampire came roaring across the room to me, almost kicking people big and small out of his way. I reached for another knife, found I had only a few left, and went toward him as well. I couldn’t risk throwing my knives at him-if he ducked, whoever was behind him would get hit. No, this would have to be a brawl. My eyes blazed green.Come on, Blondie, let’s see what you’ve got.

Seeing my eyes glow made him falter, but only for a moment. In my peripheral vision, I could see Belinda wrestling with the dark-haired vampire. We hadn’t given her any weapons, for obvious reasons, but it was a relief to see her fighting for us instead of against us.

Behind the blond vampire, the last one appeared. He snarled and started toward me, too. Then his gaze flickered to the door.

"Oh shit," I heard him say right before he turned and ran behind the stage.

I didn’t have to turn to know what had scared him; I could feel Bones enter the place. But the other vampire hit me at the same time, so I couldn’t enjoy the view of that one tucking tail and running.

"You take him, I’ve got Blondie," I called out, avoiding a set of fangs aimed for my throat.

"I’ll get the sod," Bones growled, disappearing behind the large, fuzzy, robotic figures that still sang and joked among themselves on the stage.

"Let’s move it outside, people!" I ordered in between receiving and giving brutal blows. Fast, before any parents or kids became hostages.

A quick glance showed Belinda roughly handling the dark-haired vampire, moving him outside by almost bear-hugging him. She seemed to be speaking to him, too, but with all this racket, damned if I knew what she was saying.

A hard swipe brought my attention back to the blond vampire in front of me.Just a little farther, I chanted in my mind.I don’t want to kill you, too, in front of dozens of children. They’ll have nightmares as it is.