Valen

Chapter 20

Valen

I jumped from the BMW and quickly ran behind a brick building, and out of sight. That's when I realized there was a row of brick buildings, and they just happened to have a railroad yard placed directly behind them. It was more of a railroad graveyard, and it was the perfect area to take out the carload of Stredviks one by one. If I can get them to split up that is.

Once I heard the Explorer get closer, I jumped out into the open so they could see me. Then I quickly ran to the abandoned trains that were sitting inactive on the tracks. It was obvious these tracks hadn't seen any action in a very long time. I ran in between two of the trains before jumping into one of the empty boxcars. I waited patiently and listened for the Stredviks to make the next move.

I could hear four different sets of feet moving, but the people they were carrying weren't talking. I assumed that they were using hand signals, making sure I couldn't hear their plans. They split up just as I had hoped.

I could hear one set of footsteps come closer to my train car, and I got in position to attack. I stood close to the edge of the open door, which would make it easier to grab the Stredvik as soon as he or she came inside. Luckily, that is just what he did. He came to the door with his gun pointed out in front of him. I quickly grabbed the gun from his hands and broke it in half. Then I had a sudden urge to feed and I could feel the sharp fangs appear inside my mouth. I took a huge bite out of the Stredviks neck. Blood gushed from the wound. I swallowed a mouthful of blood and immediately felt nauseous. The salty iron combination wasn't tasteful to me at all. I let go of him and his body landed on the floor with a loud thud. I'm sure he bled out within a matter of seconds, but I broke his neck just to make sure he was dead. I immediately felt saddened. Before Ronnie Schaffner, I'd never hurt any living being much less killed someone. I realized in that moment, I don't want to kill anyone unless I absolutely must.

About three minutes later, a second Stredvik came into my car and I banged his head against the side of the train car, knocking him out. He's sure to have a concussion when he wakes up. I could hear that the other two were further away, so I decided to go to them instead of waiting. I quickly climbed to the top of the train, and once I reached the top I stooped down as low as possible, attempting to stay out of their sight. I scanned the area where I heard their steps and I spotted one of them almost immediately. He was creeping along slowly, searching under the train cars, and his back was to me at this point. Like a lioness stalking her prey I ran to where he was and jumped from the top of the train, landing right behind him. He quickly turned to face me, but I punched him hard in the face before he knew what was coming. The guy immediately fell to the ground, and I knew I broke something on his face from the loud cracking sound.

"Freeze Valen!" A familiar voice ordered from behind me. "Put your hands in the air and slowly turn around."

I did as he said. I put my hands up, and slowly turned around. Turner was now standing in front of me pointing a high-powered rifle straight at my chest.

"Hi Rob."

"We were going to try to help you Valen, but then you had to go and do this," Rob said while motioning to his friend who was still laying on the ground next to me.

"Help me?" I asked, confused. "How could you possibly help me?"

"You have no idea the danger you're about to be in, that a lot of innocent people are going to be in," he said without answering my question.

"Why don't you enlighten me then?"

He shook his head. "No, I think I'll just avenge my friends by finishing you off and then the rest of us can come up with a different plan."

"Drop the gun Rob," Liam demanded from behind Turner. I had smelled his sweet scent from a mile a way, but was hoping he would stay hidden and let me handle this. I should've known better.

"Ah, your boyfriend came to your rescue. How sweet," Rob said sarcastically.

"You've got three seconds to drop the gun. I won't tell you again," Liam said through clinched teeth.

Rob turned suddenly with a roundhouse kick that knocked Liam's gun from the grip of his hands. He was just about to hit Liam in the face with the butt of his rifle when I grabbed it from his hands. I grabbed hard onto the back of his neck with my free hand forcing him drop to his knees.

"Now, are you going to tell me about the danger we're all in?" I asked Turner.

"Go to hell!" He snapped.

"Not yet," I told him before hitting him in the back of the head with the same part of the rifle that he almost used to hit Liam. Rob's body instantly went limp.

"Is he..."

"No, I only knocked him out," I interrupted Liam's question before he could even finish. I picked Rob up, tossed him over my shoulder, and carried him to where Graciela sat in the BMW.

Graciela jumped out of the car as soon as she saw us. "What are you doing with him?" She asked.

"He's coming with us," I answered. "Pop the trunk open please."

"Why would you want to bring him? He's only going to make things worse," Graciela said.

"He knows something, and I want to know what it is," I told her.

Without another word, she got back into the car and popped open the trunk. After I stuffed Turner into the trunk of the BMW, Liam and I got into the car. We headed toward the mountains of Townsend.