Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire (Love at Stake) by Kerrelyn Sparks

Author:Kerrelyn Sparks
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-12-29T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

When Russell arrived with Jia, the courtyard of Tiger Town was bustling with activity. Angus and about thirty of his employees were there. Most of the were-tiger villagers were lurking about, curiously watching the proceedings. They greeted Jia’s sudden appearance with cheers and waves.

Russell gave her a wry look. “They’re glad to have their princess back.”

Rajiv ran up to them and gave Jia a hug. “Thank God you’re back.” He nodded at Russell. “You did the right thing.”

“We have bad news.” Russell waved Angus and his men over and switched to English. “I just talked to Wu Shen. Han’s army is preparing to march on Tiger Town.”

“What?” Rajiv turned to Jia and asked in Chinese, “Han is coming here?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “We need to evacuate the women and children.”

A series of gasps echoed around them, then a flurry of whispering as the news spread among the villagers.

“This is rotten timing,” Rajiv muttered. “Your fiancé is supposed to arrive in a little over a week.”

Jia winced. “Can we postpone his visit?”

Rajiv sighed as he looked around Tiger Town. “We’ll wait to see how the battle goes.”

“How long before Han arrives?” Angus asked in English.

“He plans to lead the attack in four nights,” Russell replied. “This isn’t like Beyul-La, in the middle of the Himalayas. There are roads here, and his army has transport trucks, so they’ll be moving faster.”

Angus nodded. “I’ll call in reinforcements. About a hundred of the soldiers we saved over the last year have promised to help.” He turned to J.L. and Dougal. “Can ye contact them?”

Dougal nodded. “My wife kept a record of all their names and villages.”

“If we divide the villages up, we can reach most of the soldiers tonight,” J.L. said, and the two Vamps dashed to the clinic.

“We have three nights to get prepared,” Russell said. “Wu Shen said they would be mutating new recruits tomorrow.”

“Any idea how many?” When Russell shook his head, Angus continued, “Over the last six months, we’ve taken eighty soldiers prisoner. Thirty more last night. We figure Han has close to three hundred.”

Russell frowned. Even with the hundred rescued soldiers, Angus could pull together a force of less than two hundred. “You should continue attacking Han’s camps for the next three nights. We need to deplete his army as much as possible.”

“Agreed,” Angus said. “We’ll start after we evacuate the women and children.”

Something nagged at the back of Russell’s mind. He was forgetting something. Something Wu Shen had said.

Angus turned to Rajiv. “How quickly can ye coordinate the evacuation? I’ll lend you as many Vamps as I can for teleporting.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Rajiv bounded halfway up the stairs in front of the palace and called in Chinese for the villagers’ attention. They gathered around the base of the stairs, complaining.

“We don’t want to leave!” an elderly man shouted.

Rajiv lifted his hands, but the grumbling increased.

“You can’t make us leave our homes!”

Jia rushed up the stairs to be by her cousin’s side. When Russell followed her, he was jostled by angry were-tigers.

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