Outrun

by Annabel Chase

  “Too right, Reginald,” the vampire to my right said.

  I continued lockstep with the vampires until we reached the pool. It was only then that I realized the pool was completely devoid of water. As they walked down the steps, the bottom of the pool slid open to reveal a gaping black hole.

  The enclave entrance.

  I continued down the staircase with the group and felt a chill as the remaining sliver of moonlight disappeared above our heads. I tried to steady my thumping heart. They might not be able to see me, but they could certainly smell fear. Lucille had taught me that.

  I broke apart from the group as they lined up to greet two vampires. It appeared to be some kind of receiving line. I spotted Gray across the room, already deep in conversation with a white-haired vampire. I had to look twice. It wasn’t often I saw a vampire that looked as though she’d aged. This woman wore her white hair secured in a French knot at the base of her neck. Her red cloak was trimmed in white fur and the bottom skimmed the floor. Gemstones sparkled on her earlobes. Rubies or garnets, I couldn’t be sure from this distance. I moved closer in order to eavesdrop.

  “I don’t know, Harriett,” Gray said. “My intel is no better than yours at this point.”

  So the white-haired vampire was Harriett, she of indefinite droning.

  “I want to have something more to report,” Harriett replied in a low voice. “The community is already buzzing and I don’t want inaccurate information making the rounds.”

  “I agree, but they’re vampires,” Gray said. “They thrive on rumors and gossip almost as much as blood.”

  Harriett smiled. “I enjoy your attempt to distance yourself, as though you aren’t one of us. I believe you attended the Sentinel, did you not? It doesn’t get much more vampiric than that.”

  “I’ve spent enough time away from the fold to see the situation clearly and act accordingly.”

  Harriett’s smile faded. “You think we shouldn’t have called an enclave.”

  “I think it could do more harm than good right now,” he said. “The AMF doesn’t need vigilante vampires taking matters into their own hands.”

  “What matter could we possibly take into our own hands other than to study the toxin?” Harriett’s innocent expression suggested she’d be willing to do much more than play scientist, should the opportunity arise.

  Gray’s gaze darted around the room. “You should get started. They’re getting restless.”

  Harriett nodded and moved toward the far end of the room. I scurried across the floor for a better view. There were at least a hundred vampires gathered here. The room was ornately decorated for an underground meeting space. Bronze sculptures lined the perimeter and tiny fey lights dotted the ceiling, allowing sufficient illumination for the sharp-sighted vampires. A small fountain sat atop of pedestal in the center of the room. I wrinkled my nose at the sight of blood cascading from the top. A vampire stopped to fill her glass from the fountain before rejoining her friends. I could understand why Gray didn’t want me to accompany him as a faux vampire. The space was far too close for comfort. I wondered whether the swimming pool had ever been used or whether it had always served as camouflage for the vampires’ secret hideout.

  Harriett stood at the head of the room and lifted a hammer, which she used to bang a gong. She waited for the crowd to quiet before addressing them. “Welcome and thank you for coming on such short notice. You know we would not summon you in such a fashion unless the circumstances were dire.”

  I moved between two bronze statues of a bull and a stag so that I could watch Harriett and still observe the reactions of her congregation.

  “As you may have heard, we recently lost a number of brothers and sisters to an unknown toxin. They were all guests at a fundraising event hosted by the Vampire Alliance, an organization some of you are members of. Their systems were attacked and they all died within a week after falling ill.”

  The vampires began to murmur to each other and I sensed their distress. Images of Lucille flashed in my mind. Her desperate expression when she tried to bite me in the elevator. Her effort to crawl to freedom. Her lifeless body. She’d been a brave warden and didn’t deserve to die such a horrible death. I pushed the thoughts from my mind and steadied my heartbeat.

  “We’re supposed to be immune to most diseases,” a voice called from the crowd. “How is this even possible?”

  “The toxin seems to mimic a disease or an infection, but, by all accounts, it isn’t one,” Harriett replied. “Unfortunately, that’s as much as we know right now.”

  “So we’re all at risk!” someone else cried.

  “Where’s Xavier?” a deep voice rumbled. “He would know.”

  “Xavier knows no more than I do,” Harriett assured them. “He and I have been in constant contact. Trust me when I tell you that we are both working every angle we can think of to unearth the cause of this tragedy.”

  “How do we know it won’t happen again?” asked the vampire closest to me. “We’re all vulnerable until the mystery has been solved.”

  The vampires’ voices rose to a fever pitch. Harriett picked up the hammer and gave the gong a ferocious beating. “Enough!” The room fell silent. “I am as concerned as the rest of you. The AMF is investigating, as is the League. Even the Order of the Edge is being cooperative. No one wants this to explode into an epidemic.” She lowered her voice. “We all remember the Red Plague. No one wishes to relive those days.”

  “Are there any leads?” a vampire called—the one referred to as Reginald on the way in.

  “None that I am aware of at this time,” Harriett admitted.

  “What are we waiting for?” Reginald demanded. “We need to do something.” He slammed his fist into his opposite palm. “We have a right to protect ourselves.”

  Harriett held up the hammer in a threatening manner. “The last thing I want to do is interfere with an official investigation and risk losing valuable information. This enclave is not a call to arms. It is merely informational, to stop the flow of inaccuracies.”

  “The AMF doesn’t have our best interests at heart,” the vampire nearest to me said. “We should conduct our own investigation. Vampires are the ones dying. I haven’t heard talk of any magic users or shifters. I bet they’ll sit on their hands and wait for the lot of us to die.”

  I blinked and Gray was at the front of the room, standing beside Harriett. “As a Warden of the West, I can promise you that the AMF is dedicated to getting to the root cause and preventing any further deaths. We’re still grieving the loss of a fellow warden and we’re not going to rest until we understand what’s happened and put an end to it.”

  “Warden Mappleworth will provide periodic updates,” Harriett said. “In the meantime, be vigilant. Stick to your routine. We recommend that you avoid any unknown locations or large gatherings until further notice.”

  “Like this one?” Reginald quipped. “Perhaps we’ve been lured here to our detriment.”

  Harriett squelched the chatter with a single, penetrating look. “This has always been a safe space. Nonesuch was a rental property, I’m told. Outside caterers were brought in. The risk of exposure was far greater there.”

  “So we’re to be prisoners in our own realm?” someone said, aghast.

  “Not prisoners,” Harriett replied. “We simply recommend that you take precautions. Use common sense.”

  “What about the Vampire Alliance?” Reginald asked. “Have they been exonerated in this matter?”

  “Our own organization?” someone murmured.

  “Nonsense!” another vampire replied heatedly.

  Harriett’s gaze flicked to Gray and back to the crowd. “At the moment, we believe the alliance’s event was either an unfortunate coincidence or the perpetrator used the event to attack a group of vampires at the same time, which is why we recommend avoiding large gatherings. It would hardly make sense for the alliance to attack its own members.”

  The vampires seemed to agree, bobbing
their heads and making sounds of assent.

  I’d seen and heard enough. The vampires knew no more than I did and I felt comfortable they would heed Harriett’s words and not take any action.

  I stuck to the perimeter and headed toward the staircase. I began to ascend, but the door above failed to open. I assumed it would register my weight on the steps, despite my invisibility. I wondered whether a motion detector was involved. I walked up another two steps but nothing happened. Great. Now I had to wait for the first wave of vampires to depart. I stood against the wall and watched a group approach the staircase. As soon as the door slid open, I took the steps two at a time in an effort to get ahead. I wanted to grab my broomstick and head home before there was any chance of becoming visible.

  I hopped over the tangled vines and threaded my way through unkempt bushes until I reached the broken gate. I realized my mistake the moment I crossed the threshold onto the pavement, but it was too late. I heard the crunch of stone as the chimeras turned their massive heads in my direction. Not just for decoration then. I must’ve managed to avoid their detection on the way in because I’d been flanked by so many vampires. Why had I been so intent on running ahead?

  I turned around and locked eyes with the chimera on the right. I swear I saw it smile before it cracked open its jaws and roared.

  The vampires gathered in front of the statues and the chimera on the right lifted its paw and pointed at me. I stood affixed to the pavement, my pulse racing. My broomstick was only five feet away. I had to make a run for it, but I knew the vampires would be able to sense me. I couldn’t run without increasing my circulation. Pumping my blood was a surefire way to get their attention.

  “There’s an intruder,” one of the vampires said, peering into the darkness. “I see an outline there.”

  Terrific. A vampire with psychic senses. Just what I hadn’t anticipated.

  I made a beeline for the broomstick. Unfortunately, vampires are faster than witches and they formed a circle around me before I could reach it. They couldn’t all see me, but it only took one pair of eyes to direct them.

  My magic began to slip. Fear was eroding my hold on the spell. I could tell by the angry expressions around me that I was now visible.

  “The enclave is a sacred gathering,” one of the vampires hissed.

  “I was only passing by the front gate,” I said. “I don’t know anything about an enclave.”

  “And do you often travel whilst invisible?” another vampire asked.

  “Yes,” I said without hesitation. “It’s how I practice.”

  “How did you come to this neighborhood?” a vampire asked. I counted fifteen vampires around me. More would join them in a minute if I didn’t manage to get out of here.

  “I had trouble with my broomstick,” I said. “It was a forced landing.”

  A vampire picked up my broomstick from against the tree and examined it. “Why the forced landing?”

  “Maybe she’s involved in the plot to kill vampires,” someone yelled.

  “No, no!” I said, waving my hands. “I’m a huge fan of vampires. I would never want to hurt one.”

  Part of me wanted to call for Gray, but the other part of me knew he’d be furious to see me here. Then again, I’d rather be alive and at odds with Gray than torn to pieces by a swarm of angry vampires.

  “Take her!”

  No time for Gray. I focused my will and called to the air. Wind circled around my ankles and traveled upward until I was encased in a mini tornado. Vampires lunged from all angles but were quickly blown back by the sheer force of the wind. Levitation wouldn’t take me far enough. I needed to put miles between us.

  A vampire got caught in the spiral and whipped around me in a circle. At first I thought he’d entered the cone by choice, until I glimpsed his bloody nose and blackened eye. There was no way my tornado caused those injuries. I heaved him out of the center and rose a few feet off the ground where it was safe to slow the wind and look down.

  A familiar figure in a brown coat fought a dozen vampires. He seemed equipped with a multitude of weapons and handled each one with the ease of a practiced warrior. He’d skillfully maneuvered himself between the vampires and me.

  “Declan!” I yelled.

  He glanced up and winked before slicing at an encroaching vampire.

  “Stop!” Gray stood on the pavement, his body coiled to strike. “Stop now or I will apprehend every one of you and toss you into an AMF containment cell.”

  The fighting subsided.

  Gray’s eyes fixed on me. “Come down.”

  I let the wind calm and drifted to the ground.

  “Everyone go,” Gray said. “I’ll deal with the interlopers.” He maneuvered us across the street as more vampires continued to stream out of the secret space.

  “What were you thinking, Mia?” he hissed.

  “That I needed to witness the enclave for myself,” I said. “I’m still on this case. It’s Nick who’s on suspension.”

  “I told you I would handle it.” Gray was fuming and I didn’t blame him. “You could have been killed.” He turned his attention to Declan. “And who in the devil are you?”

  “Declan,” he said. “I was passing by when I saw the young lady in a quandary. I was only trying to help.”

  Gray gave Declan the once-over. “You’re Brown Coat.”

  I groaned. “Does Bryn have to tell you everything?”

  “I can make the same argument,” Gray shot back. “The two of you need to get out of here before one of these vampires decides to take his anger and frustration out on you.” He stalked off, his posture still rigid as he went.

  “I’m sorry I put you in that position,” Declan said. “I should’ve realized it was too risky.”

  “Is that why you came?” I asked.

  “I figured I’d hang around and talk to you after everyone had left. I didn’t expect a mob scene.”

  “They’re upset and scared,” I said. “I can understand how it must’ve appeared to them. A spy when they’re feeling vulnerable.”

  I retrieved my broomstick.

  “I’m not riding on that,” Declan said.

  “I didn’t ask you to,” I said. “I guess we’ll go our separate ways here.”

  “I didn’t peg you for the stubborn type,” Declan said.

  “I’m stubborn because I want to ride my broomstick home?” I queried. “I’m a witch. A broomstick comes with the territory.” Not to mention as an air witch, I’d choose the sky over the ground any day of the week.

  “I have a perfectly good mode of transport,” Declan said. “We can drive and talk. You can give me the details on what went down here tonight.”

  “I think you can probably guess,” I said.

  “I don’t want to guess. I want to hear the facts.” He motioned for me to follow. “Come on, let’s go before any more of our fanged friends decide to join us.”

  Reluctantly, I tucked my broomstick under my arm and kept pace with him until we reached the low-riding vehicle. I could tell it was insanely fast simply by looking at it.

  “Gray rides a motorcycle,” I said.

  His brow creased. “And?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I pictured you on something similar.”

  He broke into a grin. “You pictured me, huh? And how often have you done that since our first meeting?”

  My cheeks burst into flames. “That’s not what I mean.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “No? Well, that’s disappointing.” The passenger door popped open. “Your chariot, m’lady.”

  The interior of the car was equally soft and shiny. Luxurious.

  “Mind if I roll the window down?” I asked.

  He pulled onto the road. “You like the wind in your hair, I take it?”

  I smiled into the darkness. “I like the wind everywhere.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Declan waited for me outside AMF headquarters, where I’d received a stern lecture from Gray and Herb abou
t biting off more than I could chew. I felt like vampires shouldn’t be allowed to use that expression.

  “Everything good?” Declan asked. “You’re still on track for Keeper of the North?”

  I gave him a thumbs up. “They actually sprinkled a little praise in between their bouts of harsh judgment. They were proud of me for having the confidence to put myself out there.”

  “Did they ask about me?” Declan asked.

  My stomach knotted. “Why? Should they have?” I’d decided to trust Declan. Standing on the steps of the AMF wasn’t the time to find out that trust had been misplaced.

  Declan grinned. “Relax. I only meant that your vampire friend seemed unsure about me last night. I was wondering if he shifted into full father figure mode.”

  “No need,” I said. “I have a dad.” Of course, my father had always been too preoccupied with my superstar older brother to worry about me. Even when my brother left home for Spellslingers, my father wanted daily reports of his achievements. I was an afterthought—when I was given any thought at all.

  Declan stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. “Any updates?”

  “I think we should go back to the gallery,” I said.

  Declan balked. “After we destroyed it? I don’t know how wise that is. Besides, if I were Sela, I’d be steering clear of that place. She must have heard about the toxin situation from her contacts at the Vampire Alliance.”

  “Herb told me he sent a couple of wardens back yesterday to question her again, but she wasn’t there and the gallery was closed.”

  “See? Then why bother?”

  “Because he also said that the gallery appeared fully operational and that the closure seemed temporary.” I inclined my head. “I would think you’d be interested in chatting with her again since you still don’t know why the oracle wanted you to find her.”

  “I highly doubt Sela is going to be eager to talk to us after our last visit.” Declan regarded me. “Are you sure this is about the investigation, or do you just want to shop for another painting? If you keep those grades up, young lady, I'd be happy to purchase one as a graduation gift.”