Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series, Hayley Lawson [books you have to read TXT] 📗

Chapter Twenty-Three

Murray watched as Ryder and the others headed up the stairs to rescue their friend from Afana. Did I just send them to their deaths? Did the man Afana turned me into betray them? There is no way they will live in a fight. Two men and two women against him? They don’t stand a chance in Hell. What have I done?

Some of the women from Level Six had gone back down to their level to make sure all the women and children were out, along with the men who had fought alongside the women. Also to make sure that the Mad stayed down there. The other women kept a close eye on the generals and hunters who would shortly be moving into Level Six. Murray thought their punishment was fitting. He didn’t care that his punishment was only that he do the right thing until his death.

Mama Lou, Peter, and Terrier had the situation under control, so they didn’t need him, Ryder did. Murray headed toward the stairs.

“Where are you going?” Terrier asked. Everyone’s eyes were on everyone’s movements, so there was no way he was going to be able to sneak out. Also, that was no longer him, if he were honest.

Murray paused. “To help Ryder and the others. You’ve got this in hand.”

“I’m going with you,” Terrier told him.

Leandro ran up the stairs as quickly as he could. Ryder was safe now, and he needed to make sure Massimo was okay. His thigh was killing him. He’d never been shot before. His leg was already healing, which was another good thing about being a werewolf.

Luckily all the doors were open, because if they weren’t, he’d be trapped. There was a downside to the doors being open—there were two Mad on the stairs.

The Mad’s hands went for Leandro and he growled as he ran by, but it didn’t stop them. The Mad were fast, and on a good day Leandro would be faster than them, but today wasn’t a good day.

He needed to think on his paws and get the Mad before they could get him, since he knew he couldn’t risk biting them and contracting the Madness. Leandro went for one Mad’s legs and knocked it down, then leaped over it and bounded up the stairs.

Leandro had left Pops on Level Two. Leandro glanced over his shoulder and saw the Mad he’d leaped on stumble onto Level Three to search out its next meal, the other Mad following it.

Leandro wanted to go make sure there were no civilians on Level Three for the Mad to snack on, but if he did he’d have to leave his Pops for even longer with Afana. Leandro made his decision. He would save his Pops.

When he got to Level One, he could hear equipment crashing to the floor before he could see what was causing it.

Massimo and Afana were having one hell of a fight. Leandro sprinted over to his Pops. A scalpel flew toward Leandro and landed in his thigh. Holy schnikes! Why is everyone attacking my thighs?

Leandro turned to face the direction from which the scalpel had come and dragged the scalpel out of his thigh as the advisor threw more at him. Luckily for Leandro, none of the others hit the target.

Leandro ran at the advisor and knocked him to the floor, then leaped on top of him and sunk his teeth into the man’s neck, stopping him from harming anyone else.

Leandro sprinted to Massimo, who was fighting Afana in the lab. The place looked like two Tasmanian devils had been in there. The lab was trashed; beds were flipped over, and other pieces of equipment were bent and scattered around the room.

Leandro jumped at Afana and sunk his teeth into Afana’s flesh. The vampire’s skin was tougher than a normal person, so Leandro couldn’t get a grip, and Afana swung around and threw Leandro off him. He landed on his paws and went for Afana again, this time at his ankles. He pulled at Afana, unbalancing him.

Massimo used this weakness and swung at the other vampire, landing a punch on Afana’s chin.

Afana spat blood. “Is that the best you’ve got?” He laughed at Massimo. “You should have stayed forgotten.” Then Afana breathed in and out deeply. He was out of breath and appeared to be weaker than Massimo.

“Why couldn’t Bethany Anne have found you and killed you before the WWDE?” Massimo replied.

“I would have killed her as well,” Afana said happily.

Now it was Massimo’s turn. “Don’t make me laugh. A pissant like you couldn’t have killed Bethany Anne.”

Afana laughed. “She’d just be another addition to my cattle, a toy for me to experiment on.” Afana looked at Knuckles, who thrashed around in his restraints, and Tank’s headless body, which was on the floor after the vampires had slammed one another against the bed. “Now I have a new test subject. You!”

Afana quickly turned and sprinted out the door, and input the codes on the keypad. The door slid closed before Massimo and Leandro could get out.

Massimo pounded his fists against the door and Leandro clawed at it, but it made no difference; it was made from unbreakable glass. They had to get out of the room.

Advisor Robert came up alongside Afana from wherever he’d been hiding while the fight had been happening. “What would you like to do next?” Advisor Robert asked Afana.

Afana didn’t answer. Instead, he stared at the wall. He wasn’t looking at anything, which concerned Advisor Robert. He scanned his immortal leader and noticed rips in his clothing that revealed bite marks. Fear flooded through Advisor Robert’s veins at a frantic pace, just like the Madness in Afana’s veins.

Advisor Robert stepped away from Afana. “Were you bitten?”

It took a moment for Afana to answer. “Yes, and I can feel the Madness inside me.” He growled. “I need blood.”

All this running up and down the stairs was way more