“Let her go,” Peter commanded. He made it closer to us than Leif had, but he stopped just below the steps leading up the altar. Gunnar had us stationed right below cross. When I looked straight up, all I could see was the emaciated corpse of Jesus. It was rather disturbing, and it didn’t help that a vampire was about to tear open my throat.
“Why would I do that?” Gunnar laughed. “It’s just so much fun watching you suffer!”
“I know what you’re doing,” Peter put his foot on the first step of the altar. “You still think that you’re going to get out of here alive, but you don’t really care if you do. You only care about winning, and winning for you is destroying me.”
“Very true,” Gunnar admitted, then nodded at Leif. “Then destroying him. The rest of them don’t really matter to me.” His grip tightened on me. “But you know why I can’t let her go.”
“She’s the means to destroying me,” Peter took another step up, and Gunnar pressed his nail into my vein, breaking the skin just enough to draw a little blood, and Peter froze. “You want to make her suffer, so you can make me watch. Killing her is your way of torturing me.”
“Yes, and so far it seems to be working,” Gunnar smiled, but there was an unease behind it.
“If I die, you lose.” Peter bent down, picking up a titanium arrow off the top step of the altar. Olivia had been shooting them all over, and a stray one had landed a few feet from us. I felt Gunnar’s confidence falter for the first time. “I want to die. I’m suicidal. If I die before she does, I don’t see anything. I don’t suffer at all.”
“I’ll still kill her,” Gunnar insisted nervously.
“You’re gonna kill her either way, according to you.” Peter pointed the arrow towards his own heart, pressing the tip against his chest. “But this way, I’m not destroyed. I’ve gotten exactly what I’ve wanted, and you haven’t.”
“You’ll die knowing she’s going to, and that might be enough for me,” Gunnar said with false cheer.
Peter’s idea unnerved him. Testing him, Peter pushed the arrow into his chest, not deep enough to hurt him, but enough to draw blood. “How do you propose I make you suffer than?”
“Let her go, and we’ll battle it out, hand to hand,” Peter suggested. “The way real men fight.
If you catch me, then you can hold me back, and let your surviving henchman do away with her while I watch. Then I’ll suffer even worse because it’s my idea.”
It was a horrible idea, and that’s exactly why it appealed to Gunnar. I saw no way that it could work out where either of us lived, but Peter was mostly just buying time. He really didn’t care if he lived or died, but he wanted give me enough time to run away. I wouldn’t, though, not when he and Jack and everyone were still here risking their lives. I would never leave without them.
“Peter, no! This is stupid!” I insisted, and before I had been fighting Gunnar, but now I hung onto his arm, trying to keep me to him.
“That’s why I liked you, Peter,” Gunnar laughed. “You were brilliant. If only you hadn’t killed my right hand man. We would’ve been so happy together.” With that, Gunnar threw me into the church and I landed roughly in the pews.
Leif helped me to my feet, and I shook off the pain. It faded quickly, but things still hurt.
Peter and Gunnar were still squaring off, staring at each other as Gunnar taunted him. Peter showed little emotion, and I hoped that he was planning something. The noises in the balcony hadn’t gotten any better, but from what I could tell, everyone was still alive. Leif and I stood unsurely in the broken pews, neither of us knowing how we could really help the situation. He seemed to be relieved that I was safe, but I didn’t have that comfort.
Everyone I loved was still battling to the death.
“Oh, come on, Peter!” Gunnar groaned. “I didn’t spare the girl so we could have a staring contest.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Peter said dryly.
Peter was still standing on the altar steps. Ideally, Gunnar wanted Peter to come to him, but when he wouldn’t, he tired of waiting. He dove at Peter, more to get the fight going than to actually hurt him, and Peter deftly jumped out of the way. He jumped over the sacrament table, and as soon as he landed, he jumped up again, grabbing onto the giant cross hanging on the way. He scrambled to climb up, using Jesus as footing, and Gunnar just stared at him.
“Really, Peter? Are you that much of a coward?” Gunnar looked dubiously at him, and I was wondering the same thing. “I had expected so much more than this.” Gunnar had his back to us, so I took a step forward, planning to attack him, but Leif put his hand on my arm. I looked at him questioningly, and he mouthed “not yet.” Apparently, he had a better understanding of Peter’s plan than I did.
Peter climbed higher up the cross, and to my confusion, he started pulling at the bolts that held it to the wall. He started on the right arm of the cross, and then when they were free, he moved onto the top.
“What are you doing?” Gunnar asked. “Is this some kind of suicide attempt?”
“Something like that,” Peter allowed, and climbed to start loosening the left arm.
“I can slaughter the girl right now, if you like,” Gunnar offered. Peter glanced back at me, but he didn’t stop trying to free the bolt. The cross tired to sag and groan, but he kept pulling at. He was hanging on the arm, with his feet pressed against the wall. He was pushing off the wall, and I still didn’t understand.
Gunnar started to take a step back, so Leif growled and jumped towards him. He didn’t actually attack Gunnar, but Gunnar stepped closer to the again, and his attention was momentarily fixed on Leif. Peter pushed hard against the wall, and the cross groaned and squeaked horribly. Then it started swinging down and out, like a crazed pendulum. Peter jumped off it, and Gunnar turned around to see what was happening just as the top of the cross flew threw his neck, cutting his head off. I shrieked as his head flew across the room, and his body collapsed a moment letter. Peter barely jumped out of the way as the cross swung back, and ran over to me and Leif.
“Gunnar!” Stellan shouted in his accented voice. He paused momentarily, and Olivia fired another arrow at him, but she narrowly missed. He made a play for the edge of the balcony, and Ezra tackled him before he could jump over.
While Ezra held him back, Jack jumped off of the balcony. He landed on the ground and did a roll thing, that made him look much more badass than I ever knew he was. When he stood up, he was holding one of Olivia’s metal arrows in his hand, holding it pointed towards the balcony. I didn’t understand why until a second later.
Out of nowhere, Stellan came to a halt next to Jack, the arrow protruding right through his chest. He had jumped down from the balcony with his eyes fixed solely on Peter, meaning to avenge Gunnar’s death, and he hadn’t been paying attention to Jack standing in the middle of the aisle. He had impaled himself on an arrow, and he sputtered, blood coming from his lips, then collapsed back on the ground.
I rushed over to Jack and threw my arms around him. He hugged me tightly to him, and I pressed myself even more tightly to him. Olivia jumped off the balcony and walked over to Stellan.
She kicked him once with her foot, then pulled a machete out of the back of her belt. With one fell swoop, she sliced off his head, and blood splattered onto Jack and me.
“Sorry,” she smiled meekly at me. “I just had to sure. You don’t want any damn vampires coming back on you.”
Honestly, I didn’t even really care. I could feel Peter’s eyes on me, and he had saved my life.
I wasn’t angry with him, but I didn’t love him. I loved Jack and I was thrilled to be in his arms again.
All I wanted to do was kiss him, and if that hurt Peter, he’d just have to learn to deal with it. We were going to be together for a long time. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed Jack softly.
“What the hell happened?” Bobby shouted, and Jack laughed, pulling away from the kiss. I didn’t mind, though, because I loved hearing him laugh. Apparently, Bobby had just woken up, and he was surveying the carnage in the church. “Hey. That guy tried to kill me! Why is he here?” Bobby pointed to Leif, and Milo tried telling him that Leif was our friend now. The answer seemed to satisfy, but he still looked confused. “Where is Jane?”
After scouring the cathedral, Milo stepped out the front doors, and that’s what had needed to do all long. Jane was lying on the front steps. She was shivering and completely out of it, but she was still alive. The park across the street was swarming with cops and ambulances, thanks to the mangled body the lycan had left there. Milo had on a zippered hoodie over a tee shirt, so he took off the hoodie and laid it on top of Jane.
Then he called and left an anonymous 911 call saying there was an injured girl on the front steps of the Basilica. This time, I thought the best solution for her was staying away from vampires. She needed more help than we could give her.
After that, we had to leave in a hurry. Olivia went back to her place, and Leif disappeared into the night. I’m not sure where he’d go, but he assured me he’d be alright and he’d see me again someday. Peter had driven his Audi, and Milo and Bobby volunteered to go with him. It was only a two-seater, but Bobby didn’t mind sitting on Milo’s lap. Since Jack had taken the Lexus, Ezra had been forced to take the Lamborghini, which he generally thought to be too flashy to drive around. Jack sat shotgun, and I curled up on his lap, resting my head against his chest.
On the ride home, I realized that the cathedral had constant staffing. Ezra explained that when he’d arrived, he’d “charmed” them into leaving. It was better for their safety. When Ezra wanted to, he could convince people of anything. I hadn’t know it that before, and I would’ve found it disturbing. But he used it sparingly that I didn’t even know he was capable of it. It only worked on humans, though, which was the way most vampire powers seemed to go. As seen by me fighting the lycan. Despite my superior strength, I had been no match for them. I was a total fail as a fighter.
“Oh my god, it’s never felt so good to be home,” I sighed when we walked into the house.
Jack grinned at me, squeezing my hand. The night had felt longer than any other one before, and I felt so tired. I just wanted to go up to bed with him.
“Tomorrow is going to be another long day,” Ezra said, following us in. “I’ll have to spend all day trying to convince the police we had nothing to do with this.”
“Why would they even think were involved?” I asked. Ezra went over to the fridge and got a bag of blood out of the bottom of the drawer of the fridge. All the blood used to be kept in the basement, but Milo and I were pretty lazy. I had my back to Jack, and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I leaned back against him, and he kissed the top of my head.
“Because the Lexus is still there.” Ezra opened the bag of blood and took a long drink. “I’ll have to get it from the impound. I just hope that I have chance to sleep before they coming looking for us.” His expression changed, growing perplexed. “That’s funny. I saw Mae’s car in the garage. I thought she’d be wondering where we all were.”
“Maybe she’s in bed,” I shrugged. The sky had already started to lighten slightly already, so it was about time for us to head to bed.
“Maybe,” Ezra didn’t look convinced. He finished his blood quickly, then cocked his head. I listened, but I couldn’t hear anything. Not even Mae, but the night had left me exhausted so all my senses were dimmed.