Read Online Blood Warrior (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #4) by Jennifer Malone Wright - Free Book Online Page B

someone
had already shot the soldier I’d hit with my gun. The one beneath
me grabbed hold of my arm and rolled me over until he was on top of
me. The rough pavement scraped against my skin and I dropped the
gun in my right hand.
    The soldier grunted as he easily
pinned me beneath him. One of his hands pushed down into my left
bicep and the other slid up to the base of my throat and
squeezed.
    I looked into the man’s eyes as he
choked me and saw that he was enjoying it. Below his eye, his
dragon tattoo stretched as a smile spread across his face. This
just pissed me off even more.
    I wasn’t scared. That’s the thing with
knowing you have your own back up. I let the heat swirl inside of
me and then pushed it outward. I couldn’t wait to see this jerk off
go up in flames. If it wasn’t me who he killed, it would have been
someone else that he got his murderous jollies from. This wasn’t a
guy who was forced into what he was doing, he did it because he
wanted to.
    Whoosh .
    Not just my hand, but my whole body
erupted. The soldier screamed, practically flying backward as he
tried to get away from me. He stumbled on a chunk of raised cement,
landing on his back.
    Whoever was behind me in the alley now
had a clear shot and took it. The bullet hit him in the head and he
dropped the rest of the way to the ground, a splatter of blood
following him down.
    I closed my eyes and extinguished
myself.
    “ What in the hell
was that ?” Travis
stood about six feet away, mouth open and eyes wide with
shock.
    Drew, Gavin and Christina stood beside
him and the others from the group were lingering at the opening of
the alley.
    I turned away, leaving him to stare at
me with his mouth hanging open, and snatched my gun up from the
alley floor. “I can light myself on fire,” I told him. “Thanks for
that.” I indicated the dead soldiers and then dusted off my jeans.
“Let’s move, these can’t be the only ones waiting for
us.”
    Travis shut his mouth, but followed
along after me. He probably didn’t even know how to start that
conversation and I didn’t offer any more explanation for
him.
    Within two hours, we had three more
incidents involving soldiers and two fights with vampires. Luckily,
we didn’t lose anyone else.
    Sarah had decided to leave the guy who
died earlier where he was. She was going to come back later in the
daytime with a crew and then give him a burial. “We are going to
take him out to the swamp. It’s where he’s from and where he would
like to be laid to rest,” she explained. “I feel bad leaving him,
but we can’t stop a mission every time we lose someone.”
    I understood that. This was war and
casualties were a part of war. At least she was going to come back
and get him. I admired her for wanting to give him what he wanted
in death, while trying to give life to the rest of the
world.
    Before I knew it, we were hunched over
across the street from the Le Pavillon Hotel. The Vampire Council
had set up shop in the historical building which sat on the
outskirts of the French Quarter.
    The hotel was well lit and had plenty
of traffic. Vampires, soldiers and the pledged could all be seen
entering and exiting the building.
    I sat crouched against the shadows,
holding both my guns, ready to fire if I had to, when suddenly a
shiny black limousine pulled up to the front entrance. I turned to
Drew who was directly to my right and made a face that clearly said
“what the heck?’
    He shrugged that he didn’t know and
faced the hotel again to see who in the world would be arriving at
the Vampire Council headquarters in a freaking limo.
    The driver slid out from behind the
wheel. When he turned toward us, I saw his dragon tattoo clearly
illuminated in the light of the gas torches. He rounded the car to
the side facing the hotel and leaned down to open the door. He
rose, grasping the delicate hand of a pale blonde woman, who was
dressed in a pin-up style pencil dress.
    I’d know that pasty skin and
shimmering