by Cas Martin
Where they were moving was just out of reach of the security cameras. Most of the back of the building was just brick wall anyway. The cameras covered the area underneath the trade entrance, and from the surveillance photos she had been shown earlier that day, she didn't think the door had been opened for a while. The hinges were thick with grime and the beginnings of rust. If that was the case, they were not going to be able to use it to get in, but at least no one would use it to come out.
Below the CCTV camera was a motion sensor, which would most likely trip a flood light. She could see one high up on the wall above the entrance, but had no way of guessing how powerful it was, or just what its range could be.
Up ahead, she could see the side of the building, deep in shadows and unappealing. She could just make out the fire escape, the ladder ten feet from the ground, removing the temptation for neighbourhood teenagers to go climbing.
Not that they had any intention of using the door at the top of the stairs to enter the building. For a start, it was too damn obvious. It was the first door you would alarm when installing security for the building. Plus if anyone walked past, seeing three figures silhouetted thirty feet up the side of an office building would have them calling in an attempted burglary. Or at the very least, go round to the front of the reception and tell the security guard to wake up and do his job. The last thing they needed was a pissed off vamp when they were two stories up.
Elizabeth could feel it then, more than ever, an empty knot in the pit of her stomach. The one that told her to turn around and run. Instead she froze, rooted to the spot, so much so that Garth bumped into her.
'What is it?' he hissed.
'Over there,' she replied through gritted teeth, as the shadow of a bush turned into the shadow of something much more ominous indeed.
25
Monica had known she would be unable to speak to Elizabeth once she was inside The Cave, but that didn't stop her repeatedly checking her phone. She didn't know what she would do if Elizabeth decided to call her back. After all, she could hardly have an open and frank discussion with her now, not with Ivan in the room.
She and Dennis had shared dinner in a near silence, neither trusting themselves to speak. Monica was sure everyone else in the room must be able to feel the tension. When Elverez had come over to see how she was, just to make polite conversation, she had a feeling he knew something serious was playing on her mind. She had told him that she was fine, just a particularly stressful day at work that had managed to wipe both her and Dennis out.
He had given her a rueful smile that said he didn't believe her in the slightest, but that here was neither the time nor the place to be having such discussions. Monica was touched he cared so much. Having the old man on her side made her feel marginally better about all those other people who hated her guts for no apparent reason.
As she ate, she looked around the room, as casually as she could without drawing attention to herself, to see if there was anything else going on she should know about. She should be able to rely on everyone and instead she felt like she could trust no one. To be honest, it was starting to tick her off.
As her eyes flicked around the room one more time, they briefly connected with Ivan's and she had to force herself to finish chewing and swallow. There was his usual dislike of her there, plain on his face, so she presumed that everyone else could see it as well, but tonight there was something else. The man was talking to another of the elders and he looked smug as hell.
Any lingering doubt about Dennis's contact immediately vanished. No one looked that close to victory if they weren't fighting for something. She glanced down to the screen on her phone again, hoping the sinking feeling she had wasn't right. If he'd done something to Elizabeth, when she had done nothing to harm or threaten them in any way, then he had gone against everything the family stood for. It could not pride itself on being better than the other families if its members decided to behave just the same. There was no room for double standards. They had become strong and successful for these reasons, and Monica was not prepared to let that change now.
She could tell he knew he had her attention when his voice went up a notch louder, still talking directly to his companion, but clearly putting on a performance. She looked down at her plate, worried her face would betray her. She wasn't sure she would be able to hide her true feelings when she heard what he had to say.
She stabbed her fork into another piece of steak, suddenly tasteless and flaccid, and popped it into her mouth. Nerves fluttered in her stomach, as the conversation drifted across the room and into her ears.
'Well, I have no idea why he would do something so foolish obviously,' came Ivan's voice, snide and nasal, and Monica knew he was waiting for a reaction. 'Especially as one of Professor Hastings’s very own students. No one goes to a family's main head quarters in the middle of the night, it's asking for trouble. And we all know that the Sekhmets aren't as civilised and friendly as we are. They are more of the 'bite now, ask questions later' sort.' He chuckled and his companion joined in. It wasn't unusual to have a dig at one of the other families. As long as you didn't do it in front of them and start some kind of feud. She felt sick to her stomach. It felt like the steak had turned to lead in there. He paused for dramatic effect, and she waited for him to continue.
'He obviously thinks he's been discrete, watching them for weeks. But last night apparently they could smell he'd actually set foot on their property. Not a wise thing to do. It stands to reason he's probably going to try it again. I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't drawn that young girl in with him too, which would be most unfair. Her father didn't die for her to end in exactly the same way. Especially not through the foolishness of some young man who should know better. Poor, poor girl.'
'But, like you say,' replied his companion, pausing briefly to take a sip of wine, 'why on earth would they go there in the first place?'
'I haven't got the faintest idea, I can assure you. The only thing I can think of is that they've been led to believe there was something in the building of great importance. Important enough to die for…' he trailed off, the corners of his lips turning up into a smile. This time he looked directly at Monica. She knew what he was doing.
In that one small conversation, not even to her, he had thrown down the gauntlet. Monica looked across at Dennis, his back to Ivan, but his face so tight she could tell he had been listening to every word as well. In amongst the anger and the fear was guilt. He had told her she had been worrying about nothing when she had been unable to get in touch with Elizabeth.
More importantly, no matter what anyone else thought, she knew Elizabeth was going to be an important ally in the long road ahead. She couldn't be important and useful if she was too busy being dead. Besides, even though they'd only met once, Monica liked the other woman. After the stuffy formality of the elders, Elizabeth was a breath of fresh air.
If she let Ivan get away with this, he would win the first battle. For someone like him, that would be incentive enough to continue the war. In fact, he would probably move faster if he thought he had her on the back foot, and she just couldn't sit back and allow that to happen.
She stood up, pushing the chair backwards and her plate away from her. She saw the look of alarm in Dennis's face and gave him a tight nod. She hoped they had been friends for long enough now for him to know what she was thinking.
'I'm going to head out for a little while,' she said, not adding 'alone', but meaning it with every word. He nodded, and in his eyes she saw his reply: 'Go. I've got your back'. It was all the encouragement she needed and she didn't look back, not even as she felt Ivan's eyes track her movements across the room.
She left at a steady pace, not too hurried, nothing too dramatic, and only picked it up slightly as she made her way across the main bar. She nodded to people politely but made sure she didn't get caught up in idle chat. It was only when she was outside that she broke into a run, grabbing the keys from her purse for the car she kept par
ked around the corner. One of the perks of the job she never used. Never until now anyway.
She got behind the wheel and told herself not to go too fast and draw attention to herself, even as she was slamming her foot to the floor.
26
Elizabeth was kicking herself that she hadn't listened to her gut, rather than worrying that the boys would think she was a coward if she didn't want to play. Now they were surrounded, or at least three against three, and she didn't like those odds at all.
The shadows had become much more solid, stepping forwards and into the beam of the motion sensor, triggering the bright security light. Elizabeth was now completely aware of how bright it was, and how far reaching, as the darkness they had been hiding in was entirely illuminated. Their initial response had been to freeze then draw weapons. Now things had turned into something of a stalemate.
Elizabeth knew it wasn't because the three vamps in front of her were too afraid to make a move, but because they were in no rush. They were biding their time and savouring the moment. She could see it in their faces. Even if they had been regular men, Elizabeth would have been alarmed. Not one of them was under six feet tall, and Garth may have matched them in height, but his body was stringy and rangy, whereas they looked like they were solid muscle.
Must be a high protein diet, she thought wryly to herself, a nervous smile twitching at the corner of her lips before a stern internal voice told her to concentrate.
The vampire standing directly in front of her saw the smirk and mistook it for some kind of insolence. It motivated him into action, and he took a step forwards. It would not be an understatement to say that it was a menacing step; Elizabeth was fairly certain that he could make ballroom dancing look threatening if he ever decided to give it a go.
She licked her lips and weighed up her options. She would not be able to forget about David and Garth completely and focus on her own fight for survival.
The man who had stepped forward had not moved and she could feel his eyes roaming her throat. Her first thought was one of disgust, but then she realised he was not trying to gauge how tasty she would be as a midnight treat. No, the Pendant of Lazarus at her neck had come free from her collar when she had pulled the long blade from her pocket and his eyes were on it, trying to recall where he had seen it before.
She thought she could see the moment when the penny finally dropped. After all, a man who had that much brawn couldn't really be suffering from an excess in the brains department.
Despite initially assuming he had the advantage, he was now reconsidering whether that was really the case. She did not look like much of a threat, she knew that, but she was wearing something that told the whole vampire world she was not a foe to be taken lightly. More than that, it told him exactly who she was.
She could feel Garth shaking at her side, but when she chanced a glance in his direction she could see he was just stiff with tension. His legs were poised to leap forwards the moment the time was right and he too had a blade drawn, a sharp point made for tearing through skin. Get the knife in and try to get them to bleed out, that was what she had learnt.
Vamps bled with surprising speed. Their big weakness.
At least she wouldn't have to waste precious time and energy protecting Garth. She could tell by his stance and the way he held his knife that he had done this kind of thing before. It was a relief, but it also made her wonder just what the poor boy must have gone through as a child to make him like this. If she made it through this, if they both did, then she swore she was going to sit him down and have a long heart-to-heart with him.
She had no other chance to think about what she would do in some distant tomorrow. The guy in the middle started to move and Garth sprang forwards.
Garth took Elizabeth by surprise, breaking the natural pairing that had lined up. She had expected him to lunge at the vamp directly opposite him, but instead he swiftly moved in and to the centre, taking on the guy that was supposed to be hers. It took the vampire by surprise even more so when Garth rolled down and forwards with surprising agility for one so tall. He slid his knife into the vampire's groin and sliced down his leg, rolling out of the way once more to the other side, closer now to David. Fast enough to slide out of the vamp's grip, but not fast enough to avoid the warm spray of blood that erupted as the knife came out clean and smooth.
It was first blood to them.
All hell broke loose. The guy grabbed his thigh with an anguished groan of pain, half scream, half moan, as the two flanking him launched their own attacks. Elizabeth hit the wall with a thud as one of them ploughed into her, winding her with enough force to almost make her drop the knife. She felt the air forced out of her lungs and the sickening crack as one of her ribs gave under his weight. Adrenalin kicked in to override the pain and she slid her arm round his back to slice the knife in. It was nothing more than a surface wound. She had no leverage to cause anything else, but she needed him to pull back. She had to do anything to keep his teeth away from her neck.
They had all revealed themselves now, their fangs on display. It was a vampire's instinct to kill with their teeth no matter what other tools they had at their disposal. She really needed to make sure that he didn't get any kind of purchase on her skin. She felt the pressure lessen enough to push back against his body.
She knew it was time to use the tried and tested methods that were always taught in women's self defence classes; she rammed her knee with as much force as she could muster into his balls.
She heard his curse in her ear — closer than she liked — but it did the trick as he let go of her to bend over and cup between his legs. She tried to land a punch on his neck, but with her back against the wall, she didn't quite get the power she needed.
She heard David cry out next to her and looked over to see the vamp had him in a headlock, pulling tight on his hair, fangs out and ready to rip his neck wide apart as soon as it could get him to be still. David was fighting with all the strength he had, but at some point in the scuffle he had lost his weapon. Now, in a fistfight, he was nowhere near as strong.
Elizabeth tried again to frantically land some serious blows on the vampire who was now starting to recover from the shock of finding his testicles somewhere in the region of his lower intestine. She managed to grip the knife at an angle and slice the skin in a few places. Enough to make him stagger back, but he would soon realise that she hadn't done anywhere near enough to endanger his life. She took a painful deep breath as she pushed away from the wall, using her runner's legs to pick up as much speed as she could as she covered the short distance between her and David.
He was struggling a lot less now.
With a cry of pain as her rib protested loudly, she barrelled into the two of them as hard as she could, knocking them all off balance. The vampire let go as he attempted to block his own fall. They all hit the ground with a whoomph, and it was Elizabeth who was on her feet first. She felt bile rising up in her throat from the pain.
Then, the sick feeling came not just from the pain.
The security guard appeared, his peaked cap looking like a ridiculous extra from the props department as he marched towards them, teeth already bared. He had probably been watching them on the security cameras, and had decided he didn't like the way things were going. He was here to finish the job.
He marched towards her, determination in every step. Then he went down as if clubbed in the knees by an invisible foe. Elizabeth was confused, unable to get a clear view whilst he was still partially in shadow. He rolled out into the beam of the security light, fighting and scrabbling against whoever was on him, animalistic growls coming from the back of his throat as the blur of bodies punched and kicked at each other.
Then came the resounding crack of his neck being broken with such ferocity Elizabeth thought it would be ripped right off his shoulders.
Monica heaved him off her and pushed him to the side, half-smiling, half-grimacing at Elizabeth as she got back up to her feet. She too had her
teeth out, and it was clear from her eyes that she meant business.
What was not clear, at least not to Elizabeth, was just why the hell she was here.
Not that she was complaining. Far from it. Not when Monica appeared to be on their side.
Before she could voice the question, she felt a dull but intense pain as she received a full-on punch to her right kidney. She dropped to her knees in surprise, only at the last minute remembering she needed above everything else to keep a hold of her knife. She cursed herself for getting distracted while the fight was still in hand. It was exactly what she had told herself that she wouldn't do. She watched Monica make another move, so fast it was almost a blur — although that could be her eyes watering and the dizziness she was feeling — but not before a boot connected solidly with her side and she felt another rib crack. It was even more painful this time, and she found herself suddenly unable to get a deep breath in.
Or barely any breath at all for that matter.
The world began to spin as she struggled to get up. Everything seemed tilted as the people in front of her came in and out of focus. She could taste blood on her tongue, and was unable to work out who was who, even less who was winning and who was losing. There was a scuffle and a huge dark shadow came towards her, almost scrabbling in desperation to get to her, landing another heavy blow on the side of her head before he was pulled off.
It was enough to send Elizabeth completely into the darkness that had been threatening to engulf her. Unable to hold on any longer, she blacked out into a peaceful oblivion where the pain finally melted away…
27
It wasn't the movement that woke Elizabeth up as much as her ribs screaming out in new and fresh agony as she was heaved into the air by David. She let out a scream, burying her face into his shoulder as she did so to muffle the sound. It all came back to her in a flash and nearly made her scream again, before the adrenalin did its job and took the pain down a notch. Not by much, but enough so that if she bit her bottom lip, she didn't groan out loud with every step.
