“Chloe, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Alice came up to the bars and stood on the other side, straight across from me. “I came down here to let you out. You have to get out of here.”
“Yeah! You think?” I yelled at her.
Drew put his hands on my shoulders. “Calm down.”
I shrugged him off. “No, I don’t want to calm down! How the hell am I supposed to trust her anyway? How do we know she’s not just trying to lead us into a trap or something?”
“Who cares, Chloe? She's letting us out.”
Alice nodded and withdrew a set of keys from her pocket, searched for the right one, and then turned the key, releasing us from our prison.
“Which way?” Drew asked.
Alice pointed the same direction she had come. “This way,” she told us and sped off in that direction.
I grabbed Drew’s hand and bolted after her. We ran through the stone hallways as quietly as we could, knowing that even footsteps echoed loudly.
Suddenly I heard a whimper. “Stop!” I hissed at both of them.
“What?” Drew asked. “What is it?”
“Shh.” I held up my hand. “I heard something.”
I heard it again. I followed sound. I turned a few corners and found more cells. Finally, at the end of a hallway full of cells, I found the source of the noise.
“Oscar!” I rushed toward the door and realized then why he had never come for me. He hadn't been a traitor. “Why are you in here?”
Oscar tried to stand, wobbled, and then fell to his knees. He crawled to the bars and lifted himself to stand with the help of the bars. “They locked me up as soon as I left your room. I guess they figured I might be a problem.” He coughed and gave a little laugh. I looked closer at him. There were bite marks all over his neck and arms.
“They’ve been feeding on you?” I asked him.
He only nodded and turned his head away.
“Alice, let him out,” I told her.
Immediately, she had the key in the lock. I’m sure she had it ready before I even asked.
“Who is this?” Drew asked “Can we trust him?”
“Drew… look at him. Does he look like he is on Trevor’s side?”
Drew nodded. “Good point. Let’s go.”
As Oscar exited the cell, Drew grabbed him around the waist to help him walk.
“Oscar,” I looked him in the eye. “I know you’re hurting, but we are trying to get out of here, and I need you to be as strong as you can so that we can move quickly.”
He nodded and we ran again, not quite as fast as before, but hopefully quickly enough.
We ran until we reached a narrow door. Alice whipped out a key and opened it. “Down here is a tunnel. The tunnel is for Trevor, only. I only know about it because I’ve seen him use it. It comes out in a parking garage down the street from one of his night clubs. But there are exits along the way that are closer.”
Seriously? Wow.
“Alice.” I looked her in the eye. “You can’t stay here.”
She accepted my stare and our eyes locked. “I know. I’m coming with you.”
I felt like jumping for joy and decking her at the same time. She finally decided to leave Trevor, but only after she had ruined my trust. I couldn’t leave her though. She would die for letting us out. We had to repay her.
“Let’s go, then.”
I turned and lowered myself on the ladder Drew had already descended and had help Oscar climb down. Alice followed me, shutting the door and latching the top of the tunnel hatch over us, surrounding us in complete darkness.
THE VAMPIRE HUNTER’S DAUGHTER
PART VI
ARCADIA FALLS
It was so dark in the tunnels I was positive I was the only one who could see anything at all. For about ten minutes, we stumbled through the tunnel, hanging onto each other’s hands and bumping against one another.
“I can’t do this anymore.” I was at the head of the line, and I stopped so quickly it caused Alice, Drew and Oscar to bump into me and each other from behind.
Drew moved from the back to stand beside me. “Do what? We have to keep moving.”
“I just can’t walk in the dark like this anymore. Give me a second.” I flexed my hand a couple of times and after a few deep breaths, I managed to pull up a little flame, similar to a candle flame, in my palm. “There.”
In the glow of the small flame, I saw Drew grin. “Nice.”
“Now we can keep moving, but we have to be quick. If we linger too long, Trevor will figure things out and catch up to us. Once we get above ground, we can figure out where to go from there.”
Drew nodded but looked nervous, something I wasn't accustomed to seeing. I figured it boiled down to the fact he wasn’t used to being defenseless; he usually had his guns.
“You okay?” I asked him.
He nodded again. “Yeah. Let’s move.” He encircled Oscar’s waist to help him walk. “You doin’ okay?” he asked Oscar.
“Yes,” Oscar croaked out.
I turned to lead the way again, my little flame guiding the way. We had only been walking about five minutes when Alice cried out, “Oh!”
Every single one of us halted to a stop and turned.
“I totally forgot!” Alice said.
“What?” Drew and I demanded at the same time. I expected it to be something bad, like she forgot there was no exit or something.
“This!” She reached into the pocket of her jeans and extracted a cell phone.
“Oh, my god! Alice, I love you!” If my hand hadn’t been occupied by flame, I would have hugged her.
Oscar shook his head and croaked. “It probably won’t get a signal down here.”
Drew shrugged, “You’re right, but I’m still trying.”
It powered up and Drew turned it around for us to see. “He’s right, no bars. Let’s go.”
We moved on with renewed energy. We walked for what seemed like hours, until I saw a ladder that reached to the ceiling with another hatch, like the one we came down through.
“There!” I pointed.
We rushed for the ladder.
“I’m going first,” Drew told us, letting go of Oscar. He shimmied up the ladder quickly and lifted the hatch. We waited patiently while he went up and inspected.
“Drew?” I called after a few minutes.
He stuck his head down. “It’s all clear. Come on.”
I turned to Alice. “Let’s get Oscar up first.”
“I agree.” She nodded. “Yeah, it will be easier for him if we help. Come on, Oscar.”
I extinguished my flame and then we helped him off the floor where he’d practically collapsed after Drew had released his hold. It took both of us to push him up the ladder and Drew pulled from the opening, once he could reach him, to get Oscar out of there.
Once he was safely at the top, I called out, “Drew, see if the phone works now.”
Alice and I climbed up and out.
“I already did. Our ride is coming.”
Above ground, darkness surrounded us. We were in the woods. How deep in the woods, I had no idea, but the thick forest of trees blocked out any moonlight we would have seen otherwise. I shivered against the chilly fall air and wished I had a jacket.
“How will they even know where we are?”
“I just told them to follow the road to your father’s and look for us on the way. You should be able to hear them, right?
I sighed. Crap, now everyone is depending on me. That’s the last thing I need.
Because the night was already upon us, vampires could come out. I was positive Trevor had either realized Alice wasn’t around, found out we had escaped with her, or both. He could put two and two together pretty quickly. “We have to go, you guys. It won’t be long before Trevor finds us.”
If it were possible to become any more scared, I was. Any head start we’d had on Trevor was pretty much gone. I lit the flame in my hand again, and we traipsed through the woods, over fallen logs, crunchin
g leaves, pushing through tree branches. It was a given that Trevor, or any vampire, would hear us or smell us before they saw my little light.
“Drew, what time is it?”
I turned to see him glance at his watch. “Four fifteen in the morning,” he answered. “Man, I had no idea it was so late…er, early.”
Thank god, at least one thing is running in our favor.
We pressed on in search of the road. Oscar looked pretty ragged. Alice and Drew both had to help him. He was so pale he seemed to glow in the darkness. He mumbled phrases like: “Never should have listened… Don’t go into the water...” I was pretty sure he was hallucinating.
“Don’t worry, Oscar,” Alice whispered. I looked back and saw she was whispering in his ear and smoothing back his hair while they walked. She provided comfort for him, despite the fear shown in her eyes.
“The road can’t be much farther. I hear cars, so it can’t be that far away.”
“Are you sure it’s a car?” Drew asked me..
“I know what I heard, Drew.”
“Just asking, Chloe.” Tensions obviously were running high.
I swiped a branch out of my way, so I could pass. “I don’t know. Maybe we're going the wrong way.”
Suddenly, the leaves and branches stopped their crackle beneath their feet, signaling they had stopped. I looked back at them.
“It’s possible.” Drew turned in a circle and assessed the area. “There probably aren’t many cars on the road at this time of night. We’d have been lucky to hear one at all.”
Not knowing what step to take, we just stood there in silence for another moment. Only Oscar’s raspy breathing made any noise.
“Let’s just keep going the same way.” I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice. The last thing we needed was to be lost in the woods. I headed out in front to lead the way.
After about five minutes, I heard it more clearly. “A car!”
“I don’t hear anything,” Drew complained.
“But I can. Let’s go!” As fast as we could with Oscar in tow, we plowed through the forest.
“I hear it!” Alice exclaimed, when we saw headlights flash their bright light through the trees. I flexed my hand and extinguished my flame, and then I bolted for the road.
“Chloe, wait!” Drew must have released Oscar because I felt his arms wrap around my waist and lift me off the ground. “It might be Trevor or one of his vampires.”
Oh. That never occurred to me.
“Don’t move,” he ordered while the car passed. Then he whipped out the phone and dialed a number. “Yeah, it’s me. Where are you?” He grunted and then clicked off.
“Where are they?” Alice asked. I sensed the urgency in her voice. She, of all of us, knew Trevor best. I didn’t even want to think of the things he would do to her if we were caught.
“They aren’t far, hopefully. It’s hard to tell because we don’t even know where we are. We're going to have to take the chance of going out into the road.”
None of us wanted to go out there. The woods weren’t exactly safe, but they were safer.
“Come on.” Drew signaled us.
My heart pounded as we noisily crept out of the trees and onto the hard cement of the road. It felt good to be on the flat surface instead of fighting our way through the woods. If anything, it would be a lot easier to walk with Oscar.
Once again, we had to decide which way to go. Drew and I discussed which direction we thought we had come from and agreed to go left.
While we walked, Drew made another call. “Hey. We’re on the road now.” A pause. “Yeah, she’s fine. Just hurry up.” He clicked off and pocketed the phone.
“Who was that? Who’s coming?”
Drew rolled his eyes. “Who do you think? The one you wanted to save you.”
That wasn’t true. I’d never really expected anyone to save me. I’d always figured I’d do it on my own. “That’s not fair, Drew. It’s not true, either.”
He turned away so I couldn’t see his face. “Well, all that matters is that you’re safe and we’re going home, right?”
I nodded. I just didn’t understand why he was always so back and forth about everything. One minute we were kissing and the next he was almost shoving me at Gavin. I pushed back the tears that threatened to surface and clamped my mouth shut. I wasn’t about to say anything to him in the middle of the road while we attempted to escape evil vampires.
I’d already chosen. Drew had come for me. No matter what the cost or who he had to defy to do it, he was the one who chose me over all else. I couldn’t deny that. I didn’t want to deny that. Yes, Gavin probably would have come, but only after he had a guarantee of safety. I wasn’t mad at him or anything, but it just wasn’t the same as someone risking everything, including his life, for me.
Not to mention I could practically still taste Drew’s lips.
A low hum sounded in my ears, and I realized what it was: car engines. “Guys! Stop! There’s a car coming.” I listened harder. “No, there are two cars coming, one from each direction.”
Drew looked at Alice. “Take Oscar to the trees. Now!” he ordered.
“I’m going!” she answered back. She dragged Oscar into the darkness of the trees.
We could see the headlights of the first car from the direction we had been walking toward.
“That has to be Gavin.” Drew was squinting toward the headlights. “It’s his Jeep.”
I heard the other motor in the distance. I knew the sound of that motor.
“It’s him,” I told Drew. “Trevor’s coming from the other way.”
Drew walked to the middle of the road, in plain view of the oncoming cars. I followed him, and we stood there, weaponless, defenseless and vulnerable. I didn’t have a good feeling about what was about to happen.
“He probably has guns,” I told Drew quickly. “He tried to shoot me before.”
Drew smiled. “Well, how else would you kill someone you couldn’t touch?”
I didn’t smile back. “Yeah, you laugh now, but it was my gun.” That comment caused his smile to fade. He knew how much I loved my gun.
The Jeep stopped mere feet behind us after it skidded sideways in the middle of the road. I watched as the doors flew open and Gavin appeared. He had his arms full of guns while he ran toward us.
Christina popped out of the other door, and she also ran toward us. She wore jeans with heavy leather chaps over the top and a long-sleeved, tight black top. I’d never seen her decked out in hunter gear. She wore it well, unlike her hooker dress. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she wore a double holster. In addition, her outfit boasted several sheathed knives. I could see the dark wood of the hilts with inlaid brass that glimmered in the headlights.
“Great,” I mumbled.
“Let it go, Chloe. No time for that,” Drew told me.
The Mustang arrived not nearly in such a hurry as Gavin and Christina had arrived. I glanced back and saw Gavin toss Drew a gun.
“Ammo?” Drew called, checking the gun.
“It’s loaded. Just check the safety. Here’s extra.” Gavin hurled a magazine at Drew, which he caught easily.
The doors on the Mustang popped open. In an instant, Trevor and Constance swept from the car, leaving the doors open. I held my hands in front of me and called up the fire. Two huge flames appeared in my palms. Just when the flames burned brightly, another vehicle pulled up behind Trevor's, and Vincent and my guard goon scrambled from the doors and moved behind Trevor and Constance.
I shot my flames upward in warning to the vampires.
“What the hell?” I heard Gavin’s obviously shocked voice call out.
Christina flanked my right side. “Well, someone’s been keeping secrets. Here’s a gun too.”
I did my best not to sound ungrateful. I was going to need that gun. I wished they’d had two for me. “Can you stick that in my pants?”
I wasn’t looking right at her, but in my mind, I
could see her raising her eyebrows and coming up with some snarky comment.
“Just do it, Christina,” I said.
I felt her slide the gun into my waistband and give it a pat. “I hope it was good for you, too.”
“Knock it off, and get ready to fight.”
“I’m ready,” she said. I heard her pull back the slide mechanism and the cartridge shifted into the chamber. “Let’s kick some ass!” she yelled.
Trevor and his vampires stood in a line of four, just like us. I was right. He had my gun. It didn’t look like any of the others had a gun, but there was no way to tell for sure.
It appeared as if we had ourselves a regular standoff. Both parties were simply waiting for the other to draw.
“Come with me now, Chloe,” Trevor called out, “and I’ll let the other hunter’s depart alive.”
“Don’t you dare!” Drew nearly hissed the words at me.
Not that I paid much attention because at that same time I yelled, “Go to hell, you freak,” and revved my fire again.
“I am not sorry for what is about to happen, Chloe,” Trevor shook his head, “since you insist on having it your way.”
Then he shot at me.
Time seemed suspended. I literally saw the bullet leave the barrel. I side-stepped in front of Christina and let the bullet pass. There was no time to think or try to watch every bullet, but it suddenly occurred to me that I was the only one he wanted alive, and I knew it was up to me to protect the others.
“Get behind me,” I ordered them.
“Are you crazy?” Gavin exclaimed. “You’ll die.”
“No, he wants me alive.” Yeah, so the worst that could happen was that I would be shot and not die.
Yay.
“Just do it,” Christina yelled out from behind me. “She’s right.”
Trevor advanced and fired a shot that whizzed by Gavin’s head. Quickly, Gavin fell behind me, but Drew still refused. I shook my head. I should have known he would never stand behind me.
I pushed the fire up and out. The result was probably beautiful from a distance. Droplets of fire rained down onto us like the falling tracers on the Fourth of July.
“Get back!” I screamed, meaning both Drew as well as Trevor.
The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection Page 18
