Standing, she looked towards the door and had to sit back down as her mouth practically fell open. She watched with rapt attention as four male vampires strolled into the room. To say they were impressive would have been an understatement.
Her eyes followed the four men as they made their way to a booth directly across the room, giving her a perfect view. So intent on watching the newcomers, Layla didn’t notice Jasmine and Rachel approach.
“Holy shit, Layla. I was going to ask if you saw them, but clearly you’ve already gotten a better look at them than we have,” Jasmine whispered though the other patrons were far enough away and the music loud enough to keep anyone from overhearing their conversation.
“Commander Claesson must be calling in the other bases after what happened today,” Rachel added assuming the four men were Elite, based on their size and apparel.
“Text Martinez and see if he’s heard anything on base about the new arrivals,” Jasmine said sliding in next to Layla to enjoy the view. “They have to be from up north; look at how pale they are, and what’s with the sunglasses?”
Rachel pulled the cell from her pocket and quickly sent off the requested message.
“They’re probably just trying to fit in with the human crowd in the other room. Half of them have shades on even though they can barely see in the dark as it is,” Layla added as she finished her fourth drink.
“Hmm; that’s strange. My text doesn’t seem to be going through,” Rachel said as she hit the first number in her speed dial.
After several rings, she gave up and slipped the phone back into her pocket. “He’s probably asleep; throwing camouflage wears him out.”
“Oh, yeah; I bet that’s not all he’s recovering from right now,” Jasmine teased as she signaled their waitress. “I could smell him all over you as soon as you got in the car.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Rachel replied as her cheeks flushed. Even after being married and bonded for nearly a year, she still got shy when her friends talked about, or even hinted at, sex. Lucky for Martinez, behind closed doors was a whole different story. “He just wanted me to feed before we went out.”
“I’m surprised he lets you come here at all anymore; you know how possessive bonded men get. I’m guessing that’s why he made you feed first; he wanted to make sure you weren’t hungry enough to be tempted.”
Rachel and Martinez had been pretty much inseparable for the last ten years since he joined The Elite, but only as friends until about a year ago when they finally realized they were in love with each other. Since then, Rachel filled the bulk of her blood needs with her mate; but as with any vampire couple, they needed to feed from humans occasionally to keep their blood strong.
Rachel had never been able to stomach the taste of bagged blood, so she had to drink it straight from the source. To keep Martinez from going absolutely crazy with jealousy, she promised to feed only from women, and since it had only been a couple of months since she’d last had human blood, this particular night out was only about unwinding after the mess they’d dealt with on their last mission. Still, with her going to a club where fresh blood would be flowing all around, Martinez insisted she go on a full stomach.
“Well, looking at those four, I don’t need to be all that hungry to be tempted,” Layla said with a mischievous grin.
“Damn, Layla; how many drinks did you suck down already?” Jasmine asked just as the waitress reached their table. “Never mind; you still need at least one more,” she added gesturing to their empty glasses.
When the young vampire returned with their drinks, Jasmine pushed Layla’s glass forward in encouragement. “Drink this fast; you’re going to need it in a minute.”
Layla eyeballed her suspiciously for a moment, but then shrugged her shoulders and drained her glass.
“All right; let’s go,” Jasmine said pulling Layla up from her seat. “We need to go welcome our new guests to Boston.”
“Good luck with that,” Rachel responded watching her friends make their way across the room while she nursed her drink.
Even in her intoxicated state, and being dragged by Jasmine, Layla glided effortlessly across the room, her blonde hair swaying across her back in sharp contrast to the black tank top she was wearing, drawing the eyes of the four mystery men and every other being in the room with a pulse.
“Good evening, fellas,” Jasmine purred, sauntering up the edge of the table and placing her hands on the smooth surface. “I was hoping you could settle something for me and my friends,” she said cutting her eyes to Layla, who though she was smiling and a little drunk, looked uncomfortable. “We were wondering which compound you boys were in town from?”
“Compound? Not sure what you mean,” responded one of the men on her left. She drank him in as he smiled up at her with shaded eyes and neatly-trimmed, honey-blonde hair. Peeking out from the collar of his fitted black t-shirt was the top of what had the potential to be a pretty badass tattoo which she definitely wanted to see more of.
“Oh, come on; it’s cool. You’re Elite, from out of town, right? My friends and I are stationed here in Boston.”
“So you’re Elite?” a black-haired soldier sitting next to the wall asked casually as all four men eyed them carefully, though it was difficult to tell through their dark shades.
Jasmine nodded, never taking her eyes off the blonde vampire who’d initially caught her eye.
“Well, why don’t you let us buy you a drink then,” he asked moving his legs from under the table to stand. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jasmine slipped onto his lap before he could get up, flashing him a bright smile.
“A drink sounds perfect,” she responded simply as she looked at Layla and gave her a hard stare as she inclined her head towards the two men on the other side of the table.
Layla shrugged and dropped down into the lap of the dark-haired man closest to her. Between all the alcohol she’d basically chugged and her frustrations over Dante, she felt like doing something crazy. All she had to do was follow Jasmine’s lead. The visitors would no doubt be staying on the compound, so a little voice in her head even whispered something about using them to make Dante jealous. That voice was quickly followed by another which reminded her he had to care to get jealous. She’d been with other men before and he hadn’t seemed to notice.
“So, guess we should introduce ourselves. I’m Layla,” she said trying to relax as the muscular vampire slid his hands around her waist. Jasmine would have been fine skipping the names, but Layla hadn’t mastered the art of casual sex as well as her friend. “I’m Vic,” he replied with a smile which revealed his fangs. “That’s Dillon, Tony, and your friend is with Mason,” he said pointing to each of the other men in turn.
Across the table, Jasmine leaned into Mason’s neck and inhaled deeply, her fangs elongating as she took in his scent and zeroed in on the steady beat of his pulse. She kissed him softly on the thin skin covering his vein, then grazed one sharp fang over the surface gently. Mason pushed his hand into her thick hair roughly, turning her head and capturing her mouth in a rough and demanding kiss.
Jasmine tried to pull back, wanting to tell him to take it easy, but he held her tightly as she struggled. Suddenly feeling a sharp pinch in her upper thigh, her hand shot down to the source of the pain and met with the syringe jammed into her leg as she finally broke away from Mason’s mouth. “What the fuck,” she tried to yell, but it only came out as a whisper.
Already feeling as if her hand weighed a thousand pounds, she yanked the needle free and reached for the silver blade strapped to her inner thigh. As her fingertips grasped the handle, Mason’s strong hand wrapped around her wrist, holding it in place.
“There’ll be none of that, lovely,” he whispered as she used her free hand in an attempt to strike his face, but as the tranquilizer took effect she only managed a weak swipe which knocked his shades down revealing his glowing, blood-red irises.
Hearing the eerie tone of Mason’s voice, Layla turned h
er head to see Jasmine slumping down in his arms and reached for her dagger, but was met with Vic’s strong grasp as he jammed a needle into her arm. Unable to pull it out, she received the full dose and went out immediately.
Observing from across the room, Rachel noticed Jasmine struggling and jumped up from her seat, yanking her trusty Glock from the holster hidden under her jacket as she moved forward and took aim. Somewhat shy in all other areas of life, Rachel excelled as a soldier; moving with grace and surety as she sped across the space separating her from her friends.
The four men stood, rushing for the door with Layla and Jasmine in tow, unaware of Rachel’s fast approach. Uncertain of what was happening, Rachel aimed low with her first shot, clipping Mason’s thigh. He fell forward to his knees, dropping an unconscious Jasmine to the ground with a loud thud. He roared out as the path left by the silver bullet seared with pain. The loud pop of the gunshot had already sent civilians and humans alike screaming with panic as they scattered towards the exits and away from the danger.
Vic jumped over Mason and Jasmine, making his escape with Layla slung over his shoulder as Rachel took aim again, but the other two men fired back, forcing her to roll to the ground as she squeezed the trigger, sending her second shot wide while Vic disappeared down the dark hallway. Rachel’s third bullet found its mark, hitting Dillon in the chest and sending him flying into the wall. While the shot wasn’t enough to kill him, he was out cold and the silver would keep his infected body from healing until the bullet was removed. A rush of terrified patrons passed, blocking her shot and her view. She leapt up as they passed, prepared to fire again only to find that the four men and Layla were gone.
In an instant, she passed Jasmine lying prone on the dirty floor; assured by her acute senses that her friend was alive as she sped down the hallway to the backdoor and kicked it open. Cautiously stepping out into the alley, she focused her senses, drowning out the chaos inside the club as she zeroed in on her targets. Hearing a car door slam, she rushed down the alley to the street as the dark-blue SUV peeled away. She fired several rounds at the driver’s window, each bouncing ineffectually off the bulletproof glass.
Rachel took off after the fleeing vehicle on foot, gaining ground until the back window slid open and bullets sprayed out at her, the light from each shot like the flash of a firework in the dark. Unable to effectively return fire running at that speed, she ducked behind a parked car and took aim, hoping to blow out one of the tires, but the vehicle took a hard right and disappeared from view.
Heart pounding in her chest, she slid her cell from her pocket and tried to dial the compound but, like before, the call wouldn’t go through.
Running back into Blood Runners, she sped around the bar to the hallway there, slamming into Winslow as she rounded the corner on her way to his office.
“I need your landline now,” she said offering no further explanation. None was necessary since he’d witnessed most of what had occurred through the surveillance footage which was fed to the monitors in his office.
Winslow entered the security code and pushed the door open, letting her inside his private space.
Picking up the phone on his desk, she dialed the central number for the compound.
“This is Rachel Lehman. I need the commander now,” she said without greeting the operator on the other end. Rose, one of the two women who took turns manning The Elite switchboard, immediately put her through.
Several seconds later, Commander Claesson came on the line.
“Sir, we’ve got a big fucking problem.”
✧
“Winslow, my man; you’ve got to give us something here,” Dante pressed as he stared down the bald vampire.
“Come on, Dante, you know the drill; my policies are half the reason you even come here. We don’t ask, and we damn sure don’t tell. You guys in here like this, asking people all these questions, is really going to fuck up business for a while,” he said pointing to where several Elite soldiers were interviewing civilian vampire customers.
Humans were being questioned in the other room, in a far more discreet manner, though most of them were too drugged up to know their own names let alone notice that they had likely just been caught in the midst of a vampire war.
“Like I told Rachel, all I can tell you is no one’s ever seen them here before.”
Dealing in the trade of blood and women, Winslow’s clientele expected a certain level of anonymity and confidentiality when they visited his establishment. While most civilians would be trembling under the interrogation of a vampire like Dante, Winslow took it in stride. He’d been in the business way too long and had seen way too much shit to fold under a little intimidation.
“What about those?” Dante asked pointing to one of the surveillance cameras mounted in the corner near the ceiling.
“Surveillance only; they don’t record.”
“Fuck,” Dante spat.
“I’m sorry, man. I really wish I could help you out, but I just don’t see what else I can do,” Winslow said genuinely.
“Yeah, all right, Winslow. Thanks,” Dante said placing a hand on his shoulder before walking off to go tell the rest of the team to pack up.
Before he moved, Winslow stepped closer and whispered, “So is it true then? This all have something to do with Lucias?” Dante raised an eyebrow at him curiously. “Come on, you know word gets around; especially in my business. People are scared, like before. I’ve even heard talk about the child, you know, the one Lucias has been after all these years.”
“Rachel is pretty sure their eyes were red which explains the shades and from what I know, irises that color mean one thing, but you can draw your own conclusion. As far as the rest of it goes, I honestly don’t know. The only thing I’m concerned with right now is getting one of ours back in one piece,” Dante replied walking away.
Motherfucker. Why didn’t I just stay? Dante thought to himself angrily, but he knew why and in that moment, he hated himself for it. He was a coward and when he’d heard Layla asking for him earlier, he hadn’t thought he could get away fast enough. Just thinking her name, he suddenly found it hard to breathe.
“Hey; you all right, Dante?” Rachel asked, walking over to where he was hunched over with his hands on his knees.
“Yeah, just overdue for some blood,” he lied, standing upright and trying to shake off the feelings threatening to overwhelm him.
“You want me to take over so you can deal with that?” Rachel asked eyeing him suspiciously. She knew he was lying. When she’d arrived there with Layla and Jasmine earlier, it had been almost impossible to miss the evidence of Dante’s feeding and there was no way he wouldn’t have taken enough of the human’s blood if he’d been so blood-starved that it was still affecting him.
“No; I’ve got it,” he responded. “What did the doctor say? How long before she wakes up?” he inquired about Jasmine; having sent Rachel to speak with the medical team before they transported her back to the compound.
“Best guess was within a couple of hours, but the doc said he’d know more once they got her blood to the lab.”
“All right; I want to be there when she comes around. She might be our only shot at finding,” he swallowed hard, finding it hard to even say her name, “Layla,” he finally forced out, feeling as if his heart was being squeezed by a vise.
“We’re going to get her back, Dante,” Rachel said trying to offer some comfort.
“Yeah; I know,” he replied, unable to let himself even consider any other possibility.
Finally reining in his emotions, he addressed the soldiers who were still interrogating a small group of witnesses who hadn’t fled the scene before The Elite arrived.
“I think we’ve got all we’re going to get in here. You can let all these people go home.”
He watched for a few seconds as the civilians started to file towards the doors then turned to Rachel. “Walk me through what happened after they got outside again. Probably a long shot, but it�
�s all we’ve got to go on right now,” he said knowing he needed to focus on his mission, on getting Layla back, to stave off the growing ache in his chest.
Redemption of Fate (Fate Series Book 2) Page 19
