I was happy to be back in our little compound. I missed everything about it, but mostly I missed how safe I felt inside. A few weeks beforehand, I had been certain that we were going to face our death and that I would never see the place again. Now that we were back, I was even more grateful for it than I had ever been before.
Drew and Gavin weren’t having any strange side effects from the Warrior Angel healing them, but Zander was another story. He acted like he was depressed and hid out in his room all the time. I knew that I would have to make a point to talk with him soon. I had a feeling he was hiding something from us.
“Chloe,” Drew strode into the gym, where I was on the treadmill, with a cell phone in his hand. “You are never going to guess who is on the phone!” he hissed.
“Who?” I slowed the treadmill down to a walk.
“It’s the freakin’ Secretary of Defense! They spoke with the board at Arcadia Falls and found out that it was us who discovered the secret of the bloodline and took out Korina. He wants to know if we will meet with him to discuss being a consultant on vampire affairs.
I wrinkled my nose. “Really? That is so weird.”
He nodded. “It’s true. Are you in?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I’m in. Why not? I guess our biggest mission ever is going to be to train the world how to fight vampires, huh.”
Drew laughed and closed the door to the gym as he lifted the phone back to his ear.
I turned the treadmill back up and sped back into my happy thoughts of being home, of Drew and of everything I’d almost lost.
The Arcadia Falls Chronicles
Book 5
Winds of Fire
Drew
I died.
I don’t remember much about dying except the pain and then the darkness. There was no going into the light as you hear in tales. The space between my death and the Warrior Angel bringing me back to life was filled with empty, black space and that was what made me afraid of dying again.
Before that time, I had never been afraid to die. I am a Vampire Hunter. I am a fighter and death is only a step away from me every day. But now, I fear that empty darkness more than anything else.
What if that is all there is in the afterlife? I don’t think I could handle the shadowed expanse of nothingness for all eternity. But, I’d been given a second chance and my intention was to make the most of it, but most of all ... not to die again.
Society was just starting to put itself back together again. The Vampire Apocalypse was over, but vampires still existed and now, the entire world knew it. The process of re-forming the governments and the military now involves how to prevent another vampire takeover and also how to fight them.
The Hunters had been recruited by the government to help teach them about vampires and to train the military how to fight and kill vampires. After the events in New Orleans, the officials over at the White House contacted The Board at Arcadia Falls to see if we had been a part of it.
The Board, of course hadn’t known we were part of what happened in New Orleans. Luke had insisted we keep it quiet since he didn’t think the Hunters would agree with our plan.
Eventually the secret of our trip was discovered and the next thing I knew, I was on the phone with The Secretary of Defense making plans to head out to the Pentagon for a sit down with the Generals and a bunch of other people with fancy titles.
There was something inside me that screamed, no, the Hunters are a secret, keep the secret. But, in order to help the country, we had to come out into the open and help our people. We had to make sure that people could defend themselves against vampires so that this never happened again.
Chloe felt the same way, she had agreed to be a part of this, but I knew that all the hype and big wig officials made her just as nervous as they made me. Besides, we were just happy to be home. We hadn’t realized how comforting it was to have a place to be, a place that was ours, and a place that was safe from the outside world.
Anthony Christos would say that it was time for yet another chapter in the history books was about to be written.
~~~***~~~
I strode into our home gym and wanted to cover my ears to block out the terrible music. “What the hell are you listening to?” I yelled over the screaming heavy metal.
Zander grunted underneath the weight he was holding and began to lower it back down to the rack. Once the weight was safely replaced, he sat up, a leg on either side of the bench. “If you don’t like my music, come back later,” He growled.
“Your music isn’t music,” I told him and then headed for the treadmill. I wanted to warm up with a run before I hit the weights.
“Call it what you will,” Zander stood and stretched, “but, I was here first.”
I started the belt at a fast walk. “I didn’t ask you to change it. Calm down.”
He made a face and went for pull up bar. I had just sped up the machine to a nice running pace when the door of the gym flew open and Chloe burst in with workout clothes on. “What the hell is that noise?”
I wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead and smiled. “Your brother calls it music, but I agree with you.”
She stepped up on the treadmill next to me and hit the start button, like me, starting at a slower pace to warm up. As she walked, she reached up and twisted her ponytail of dark hair into a tight bun.
There was another grunt from Zander as he lifted himself up until his chin touched the bar. Not that I was checking out another dude or anything, but it was hard not to notice how much bigger his muscles had gotten since the Warrior Angel revived him, as he did with Gavin and I.
Zander’s angel wing tattoo covered the full expanse of his back, only now, the wings weren’t all black like they were before, now they had flecks of white spread throughout the feathers. The wings of ink now replicated the actual wings of the Warrior Angel.
Black and white.
Good and evil.
The sword in the center of the tattoo had not changed, like the wings had, but it was a symbol of the warrior. The angel had said that Zander was to take his place, that he was also a Warrior Angel.
Zander had the tattoo long before we had ever met him, so it made me wonder if his destiny had been written before he was even born. At this point, I was pretty sure we all had something we were meant for in this life or we would have all perished by now.
The Warrior Angel brought, Zander, Gavin and myself back from death and he put Anthony, one of the original vampires, under his protection to save Chloe from her own death. No one gets these kind of chances for no good reason.
“Hey.” Chloe had sped up her machine and was now running at a good pace without even breathing hard. Sometimes that irked me. I trained her and taught her so much, but her half vampire endurance had her outdoing me in everything. I know it was almost chauvinistic to think that way, but I couldn’t help it.
“What?” I pushed the button on my treadmill up so that I could match her pace.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?”
I waited a beat before answering. I preferred her to think that I wasn’t nervous about anything, but that ship had sailed long ago, she knew me too well. “Yeah, I am. Hunters have always been kept secret from the rest of the world and now we are exposing ourselves. That’s what makes me uneasy.”
She crinkled her nose. “It’s all the official stuff that bothers me. I mean, who would have ever thought we would be meeting with military generals?”
She had a point and that grated on my nerves too. The Secretary of Defense was flying us out to the Pentagon where we would be meeting with General Ahlman. Ahlman had stepped in as General of the Army, since the previous General had been murdered during the Vampire Apocalypse. This trip was definitely going to be something neither of us had experienced before.
As nervous as I was, I felt like us helping out the military would be a good thing. They would learn how to defend our country against vampires, and citizens would feel safer knowing that the possibility
of another vampire takeover was minimal.
In addition to the military taking action, the training centers have stayed open. During the apocalypse, the Hunters went into the city and began training the survivors on how to defend themselves. These centers have stayed open. The ones in our city are run by the Hunters from Arcadia Falls.
It was a slow process, but society would eventually be normal again. Well ... as normal as it could be with the knowledge of vampires.
Chloe and I ran in silence for a while and then I shut down my treadmill so that I could hit the weights. Zander was still with us in the gym, but he had moved on to the free weights. I watched him work his biceps while I stretched. He wasn’t my favorite person in the world, but I was worried about him. I couldn’t pin point what was going on, but he was different, for sure.
Chloe finished her run and started her yoga stretching. I was totally fine with the yoga because that meant that I could stare at her instead of Zander, which was way more preferable.
“Anyway,” Chloe said as she moved into the warrior pose, “I’m already packed to leave in the morning, are you?”
I shook my head. “No. I haven’t even started yet.”
“Well, you better get it done, you won’t have time in the morning.”
I rolled my eyes at her before leaning back onto the weight bench. “I don’t need that much. I’m a guy. All I need is a clean pair of underwear and socks, possibly some jeans.”
She chuckled and changed positions. “Whatever works for you then.”
~~~***~~~
The next morning, we drove Chloe’s Escalade right up onto the tarmac where a private plane was waiting for us. This was definitely a first for me. I had actually never been on a plane at all, never mind a private plane.
I parked the SUV and checked out the area. The plane was parked, steps down and waiting for us. Surrounding the plane, were at least six soldiers that I could see. They carried weapons and wore flack vests.
I suppose that should make me feel better about the situation since they were prepared for attacks and ready to fight if needed, but all it did was feed my unease. This whole private escort thing creeped me out. I would have been just fine driving to the Pentagon.
“Dang,” Chloe murmured from the passenger seat. “I didn’t think that there would be this much man power here.
I opened my door. “Me either.”
Zander, Christina, and Gavin were in the back seat. They would be going with us for this trip. We had decided that it would probably be best if Alice and Oscar stayed home this time. Yes, they were an asset in battle, but they weren’t true Hunters and we were on Hunter business for this trip. Luke also stayed home, he was our contact with the Board over at Arcadia Falls and we needed him there.
I stepped out of the vehicle and heard everyone else follow. Our bags were in the back so I went to the rear and lifted the back window.
Zander reached in to grab his bag. “After dealing with all of the soldiers who were with the Vampire Council, these guys freak me out.” He moved his gaze in the direction of the uniformed men.
“Me too,” Chloe agreed.
I didn’t say anything more. I just wanted to get this show on the road.
“They better not take our weapons from us,” Christina growled, not loving the sight of these guys either.
“We won’t let them,” I told her. “But, they may take them when we get to the Pentagon, I won’t be surprised if they try.”
She tossed me a glance that said, ‘let them try, I will cut a bitch.’
Zander laughed, “They won’t take our weapons. We are here to help them learn how to kill vampires. They need us more than we need them, so if something happens we would probably be the ones saving their asses. Not the other way around.”
“That’s true,” Christina nodded.
“We’ll see what happens,” I whispered as one of the soldiers stepped forward to greet us. “Come this way please.” He gestured in the direction of the plane.
I shouldered my bag. “What about the car?”
The soldiers face remained expressionless. “We will have your car parked in the lot and it will be waiting for you here when you return.”
Letting someone else have the keys to our vehicle made me uncomfortable. It’s not like it was the keys to our house or anything, but I still didn’t like it. Instead of protesting that I could go ahead and move it, I glanced at Chloe and tilted my head as a signal to board the plane.
I went up first, with Chloe and the others following. The inside of the plane didn’t look like the pictures of planes I’d seen before. There were two rows of seats with an aisle in between. The seats were large and had plenty of space for leg room. At the front of the seating area, a big, flat screen television was mounted on the wall. Behind the seats, there was a leather couch and coffee table situated so that whoever sat on it could relax on it and still see the flat screen.
So weird. I had a feeling I was going to be in one of those seats gripping the arms in fear until we landed. I wasn’t afraid of much, but I’d never flown before and I was totally all right with leaving it that way. I preferred my feet on the ground.
I chose one of the seats toward the rear of the plane. The overhead compartment was open above me, so I shoved my bag into the space and turned to get Chloe’s bag too.
“Here.” She held it out. I placed hers next to mine and then slammed the compartment door shut. “Do you want the window?” she asked.
Hell no, that was the last thing I wanted. “No, you can have it.”
She smiled and slid past me so that she could have the seat by the window. While we got comfortable, Zander and Christina took the two seats across the aisle from ours, and Gavin chose to sit right in front of us.
A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have wanted Gavin with us at all, but the Warrior Angel had brought us both back from the darkness of death and an understanding had formed between us. Neither of us wanted our lives to be in vain. Fighting and hating each other was only a waste of time and never accomplished anything in the end.
Don’t get me wrong, he still ogled Chloe all the time and it pissed me off. Even before New Orleans, Gavin had gotten better about Chloe and I being together and toned it down a lot, meaning that he didn’t hit on her every chance he got, but Chloe and I both knew that his feelings were still very strong.
The two of them had some sort of connection that I didn’t have with her and that pissed me off too. Of course there was nothing I could do about it except tolerate their friendship.
He and I were still far from being best buddies, but he is my brother and I now acknowledge that. Our mother, on the other hand, still didn’t give two sticks about me, but she treated Gavin like he was made of solid gold.
Oh well, drama that I really didn’t need. I had Chloe, I had Luke, and I had hunting. That was all I needed.
I was so lost in thought, I was barely aware until the plane began to move forward and taxi down the runway. I glanced at Chloe and saw that she had a big grin plastered across her face.
“What are you smiling about?”
“This is fun. I’ve never been on a plane before.”
I frowned. “Me either, and you are an adrenaline junkie.”
She laughed. “And who’s to blame for that, you created this monster.”
The plane began to pick up speed, forcing me back against the seat. I tightened my grip on the arm handles and closed my eyes as the front of the machine lifted off the safety of the earth, into the air.
Chloe’s right hand slid over the top of my left one. She knew flying was making me nervous, but thank God she was kind enough not to say anything about it. Her touch helped so I concentrated on that. Several moments later I felt the plane level out and finally opened my eyes.
Nothing crazy happened during the flight. There was some slight turbulence, but we stayed in the air. When it came time to land, I was just as freaked out as when we took off. The worst part of all of it was during t
he landing, when the wheels of the plane connected with the runway. Finally, I was able to look out the window and enjoy the sight of solid ground.
The soldiers who had ridden with us stood up, weapons still in hand. All of them except one exited the plane immediately. The guy who hung back was one burly dude. His hair was buzzed and he had dark brown eyes that were unreadable. The name tag above the right pocket of his uniform said that his last name was Daniels.
“All right!” Daniels hollered at us as he pulled his patrol cap onto his head and slid his sunglasses over his eyes. “We are going to exit the plane and head straight to the cars on the tarmac. Got it?”
We all nodded, but the security involved in this trip rubbed me wrong. It couldn’t be vampires they were worried about, it was broad daylight out there, so that led me to believe that they were having problems with the people who had pledged themselves to the Vampire Council.
These days, anyone who was found bearing the dragon tattoo was imprisoned and given a trial where they would receive their punishment for treason against the United States of America. Many of these people who had pledged themselves had done so simply out of fear, but the government wasn’t giving any leeway for them. You have the tat, you pay the price.
There were those, however, who didn’t join the vampires out of fear, they did it because they wanted to. And even though there were a lot less vampires out there than before, some of those who pledged themselves were still loyal to the enemy.
Chloe and I stood up and retrieved our bags from the compartments and then lined up in the aisle with Gavin, Zander and Christina.
“You all ready?” Daniels asked from the door of the plane.
Once again we all nodded. With his weapon at the ready, Daniels descended the steps of the plane. We followed him down onto the tarmac. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun was beating down, but a light breeze offered us some relief from the heat. Even though it was the end of summer, and fall was quickly approaching, it was still wicked hot most of the time.
We did as Daniels instructed and followed him directly to the three black cars which were waiting for us. “You two,” Daniels pointed at Chloe and I, “get in this one. And you three, in that one.” He pointed where he wanted us to go. “Move!” he snapped, waving his hand urgently. Apparently we weren’t moving fast enough.
The Arcadia Falls Chronicles: Omnibus (Books 1-6) Page 31
