by S. L. Eaves
Ouch. Damn.
He locks his jaw around my shoulder and even when I finally manage to stake him with my free arm he continues to hang on, screaming through clenched teeth until he disintegrates.
Once again I turn for the door and go after the one I'd shot in the leg who’s limping quickly across the sand. He's a big guy and he turns to intercept me when he hears my approach. I respect that. I'd be looking to take a swing at whoever shot me, too.
He grabs my arm as I strike his chest and flips me into the hard sand surface. I'm reminded that I'm not completely recovered from the night before. He picks up the stake and swings it down. I dive for his legs and we both roll on the ground, clawing at one another as I try to disarm him and he tries haphazardly to impale me with the stake.
The ground vibrates as a vehicle approaches. I risk a look around. An ambulance is racing towards us. I let the vampire pin me, pulling the stake towards my chest as I bring my knees in and kick out. He flies back and smacks into the ambulance as I roll out of its path.
When he hits the windshield, I'm on my feet; when he hits the hood, I'm running to the back of the ambulance; and when he falls off the back I'm waiting, stake in hand.
The ambulance slams on its brakes. I slide the gun from my back ready for whoever emerges.
The door swings open and Hailey emerges. I immediately lower the gun and my jaw.
“Hailey? What are you doing here? How did you—”
The passenger side door opens and Dade steps out.
“Dade!”
I run over to him, “You're awake. You shouldn't be here.”
He smiles. “And miss all the fun? I may be a bit worse for wear, but I'm not down for the count. Not yet. Where's Quinn?”
“Inside. There's—”
Dade's eyes go past me, there's a handful of vampires with fresh bullet wounds stumbling out of the house.
“I know. I promised Hailey I'd take her to the humans. But first I need to check on Quinn, find me inside.” He breaks for the house. Other than a slight limp, he looks remarkably like his old self again.
Hailey opens the back door of the van and pulls out a duffle bag. The silver cross around her neck gleams in the moonlight.
“Crina texted me from your phone. Said you could use the help. That they had human captives. When I showed up at the address she gave me, I found – Dade is it? Found him limping into the ambulance.”
“She shouldn't have done that. How's Ari?”
She smiles. “She's good. She's at my parent's. After everything that happened, I couldn't sit at home idly. I want to help. For Zach.”
I examine the double-pointed stake she has strapped to her forearm.
“Well with that you certainly will. What's in the bag?”
“Medical supplies.”
“Good. Let's go.”
We start towards the house.
“How will I know which vampires are with your clan?”
We reach the doorway to the hut. Dade is by the stairwell standing on a vampire. He rips its head off by its jaw.
“You'll be able to tell.” I nod at Dade as she cringes.
We bolt down the stairs. Hailey is fast enough to keep in stride with us. The stairwell spills out into a huge room with a long curved bar along the side, a number of doorways and a wire cage at its epicenter, surrounded by several rows of metal bleachers.
A thick layer of haze fills the room. Dust and blood coat every surface. Hailey coughs, covers her mouth.
“It's from all the dusted vamps,” I explain, though I'm sure she's figured that much out. We follow Dade to a set of large double doors. I tap my comm, “Hey we're inside, I've got Hailey and Dade with me. Anyone there?”
Before we can open the doors, a vampire bursts through. Crina jumps onto his back and stakes him, then regards us with a smile.
“Took ya long enough,” she says to Hailey. “I got the exit covered. Go get your humans.”
She gives Dade a quick kiss on the cheek as she passes, “Good to see you back on your feet big guy. Stay that way this time.”
It's dark and dusty and every hallway looks the same. At one point this must have been a pretty large base of operations for the government. The doorways are airtight and the place is not lacking technology, I eye a keypad as we go down another flight of steps. This bunker was designed to withstand the kind of attack you hope to only see in dystopian science fiction movies.
“Dade! Is he on the comm?” I hear Quinn's voice in my ear as we make our way through the corridors.
I look to Dade and tap my ear. He shakes his head.
“No. Where are you?”
“A hallway full of metal doors. I dunno.”
Then Xan adds, “Downstairs.”
Helpful, man, really narrows it down.
“Where is she?” Dade asks.
“Close, I think.”
“This way,” Dade pushes open a door. There's another a few feet past it. He points. “They should be in there.”
I sniff the air, I can smell human blood. We're at the right spot.
Hailey tries the door handle. It's locked. The keypad blinks red. I start to offer to break it, but Hailey is one step ahead, she rips the keypad off the wall and pulls the doors. Something metallic snaps. Striden wasn't wrong about her abilities, not that I needed confirmation.
“You two got it from here? I'm going to find Quinn.” Dade takes off down the hall, not waiting for an answer.
“Holy shit,” Hailey gasps.
I turn my attention from Dade to the doorway Hailey occupies, hand to her mouth.
Taking in the sight before us, even I want to grimace. Roughly a dozen humans are chained to the wall, tubes running from their arms. Water bottles, food wrappers and buckets sit between them.
Immediately my eyes fall to the corner where a vampire is crouched over a body, feeding. Hailey follows my eye line and runs over. The vampire looks up from his meal as Hailey descends on him. She rips him off the human, slams him against the wall and drives her double-pointed stake into his chest.
I circle the room checking for heartbeats. They're alive. Hanging on by a thread. All but the one we’d found the vampire feeding from.
“They're alive, barely,” I confirm as she begins examining the chains, tries to yank them from the wall.
There's a desk by the door. On it I find a key resting by a case of water bottles.
“It's okay, don't be afraid, we're here to help,” Hailey whispers reassuringly. I toss her the keys and she begins unlocking the cuffs. As I tear chains from the wall, several are able to stand up without assistance. I help the remaining to their feet and direct them to Hailey. She removes the rest of their shackles as I distribute the remaining bottles of water.
“We're going to get you out of here,” Reiterating her assurances as I help them remove tubes from their arms.
Many can't walk, or at least not well enough to get out of here on their own. It's going to require several trips to carry them all to safety.
Hopefully by now most, if not all, the vampires have been wiped out. I'm worried that with the door now open the smell of blood is going to bring trouble.
My concerns are validated when I feel something sharp sting my thigh. I look down to see an arrow head sticking out from my leg.
Son of a bitch.
I turn and see the party responsible reloading the crossbow. I recognize the scope on the crossbow. It's Crina's. Remind me to thank her for leaving it lying around for any vampire to get their hands on.
The vampire holding it towers over the rest of us, the bright red mohawk he's sporting nearly scrapes the ceiling. His leather jacket is two sizes too large. He's got a little posse of vampires behind him wielding homemade weapons. They look like a punk rock band.
“I didn't care much for Malik and I don't think anyone of us is going to morn Nico, but you can't have our humans.”
Despite the scope, he still missed my heart by a long shot. Which tells me I'm not up
against much of a threat. Hailey looks from my leg to our assailant. Several of the humans huddle behind her. I'm closer to the door and I step towards them.
“Was this a warning shot or is this the best you got?” I ask, pointing at my leg. “I have a feeling it's the latter.”
A vampire behind him charges me with what I think is a pencil. I intercept, breaking his arm as I free it of the “stake” and place one of my own in his back.
“Who's next?” It's cliché but I can't help myself.
“That ain't nothin'.” The mohawked vampire raises the crossbow. “I tried asking nicely, now I'm pissed.”
“You're pissed? I have an arrow in my leg.”
Gun shots erupt behind me. I turn to see Hailey opening fire. The vampires retreat and scatter.
“Hey, I was having a dramatic face off over here.”
“We don't have time for this.” Hailey lowers the gun, the humans remove their hands from their ears.
“Fair enough. I'll go finish them.” I toss her the case of water and dash off after the wounded vampires.
***
Hailey, Dade and Quinn are loading unconscious humans into the back of the ambulance when I step out from the bunker with a human slung over my shoulder.
“He the last one?” Hailey asks, as I lower him into the crowded ambulance.
“Last from that room. I'm hoping we got them all out.”
“Seen the others?”
“Xan went back to rummage through their supplies. Salvage anything worth taking. Rex is doing one last sweep. I haven't seen Crina.” Quinn taps her comm. “Or heard from her.”
“Thought she came up here to guard the exit. That was a while ago though, before we began extracting the humans.” I fix my hair tie and slide a cigarette behind my ear. “I'll go back inside to check.”
“I'm going to drive these humans to the nearest hospital,” Hailey points at the ambulance, “Some of them might not make it much longer.”
“I'll go with, I know the way,” Dade gives Quinn a long kiss before jumping in the passenger side.
“Hey hunter, better not try anything with Dade.” Quinn’s tone is friendly, but the threat is real. She turns to me, “You've turned him into a bleeding heart. Helping humans and all. If I weren't so happy to see him healthy I'd be giving you a harder time about this.”
We watch the ambulance speed off. Quinn takes a stake from the small of her back. “Come on let's go find our fearless leader.”
I'm starting to regret being pissed at Crina for discarding her crossbow. It never occurred to me she may have been forcibly relieved of it.
Xan bumps into us on the stairs. His clothes are ripped and bloody, but he seems to have survived the attack otherwise unscathed. He holds up two bags.
“Got us some new toys,” he smiles. “How'd you guys fare? I haven't seen another vampire. I think we got them all. At least all that were here tonight. Had to be the majority of them though.”
“We're alright, trying to track down Rex and Crina.”
“I'm here,” Rex voices across the comm. “And I've got Crina. We're heading into the main room now.”
At that we all turn from the stairs to the arena.
“Xan why don't you take those bags upstairs and keep watch. Hailey and Dade left with the humans so no one's up there,” Quinn suggests.
“Sure thing. Gonna bring the bikes around.” Xan heads upstairs.
Rex emerges from the doorway off the bar. He is carrying Crina. We join them as I help slide the bow off his shoulder.
“I'll be okay,” Crina mumbles from his arms before we have a chance to ask. There's bone sticking out from her arm, her clothes are torn, and blood is streaked across her face. Overall she seems pretty banged up.
“Did you see what happened?” Quinn asks Rex.
“She had four vampires on her when I found her in one of the rooms.” Rex explains.
“I stumbled onto a bunch hiding in a room. They jumped me the second I opened the door.”
Quinn runs over to the bar and returns with a couple of bottles.
“This should help until we can get you some blood. Untainted blood.”
“Thanks. Let's get out of here. I'm over this place. I don't want to see another damn crossbow for a long time.”
Chapter 32
Their base in Henderson is tranquil. It's late afternoon and they're all slow to rise after last night.
Crina enters Rex's room, leaning on the doorframe, her injured arm rests in a sling.
“Packing up?” She asks when she sees Rex hovering over his suitcase.
“Hey, how are you doing?” He turns, wearing a warm grin on his face like a shield.
“Much better. The bone's reset. Cuts have healed. May be a day or two before the arm’s completely functional, but I'll be fine.”
“Good. Between you, Lori, and Dade we've had too many close calls lately.”
“Agreed. And hopefully that'll be the last of them for a while.” Crina picks up a jacket from Dade's bed and hands it to him. “I was hoping you'd hang around a little longer. We got most of them last night, but you can be sure we didn't get them all.”
Rex rolls up the last of his shirts and stuffs them in his bag.
“Lori told you?”
“No, she didn't. She didn't have to. I sensed it, you've been somewhat disconnected and after Malik...you don't have the same fire in your eyes.”
“You aren't mad?”
“No, of course not. Sad sure, but not mad. Never mad. You got to do what's right for you. It's been a privilege to have you in our clan. You will always have a home with us.”
He smiles and hugs her. “Thanks. That means a lot. Right now I've done as much as I feel capable of doing and if that means the Purebloods condemn me to the light, that's their choice. But I know I did what was asked of me and while there's never going to be a good time to step away, this is probably the best opportunity I'm going to have.”
Crina places her hand on his chest. “I'll never forget the time we spent together at the mansion. You were there for me during a dark time. If you ever need me to return the favor, you just say the word.”
Rex smiles, “You've already returned it. In spades. I've been grateful for every second I've been with you and your clan. It's just time for a change.”
“Will you go to one of Vega's safe houses?”
Rex holds up a key fob. “Lori's place. So you know where to find me if you need me. Or just want to keep me company.” He winks at her.
“You’re staying with Lori?” Crina doesn't hide her confusion.
Rex shakes his head. “No, she said she's not going back there...” He looks perplexed. “She didn't tell you?”
“She's not at the DIA, is she?” Crina realizes, stepping back. “Last night she asked for the daylight suit. Said she was going to check on the humans we rescued and then pay Abrams a visit. We need his help keeping this incident out of the news.”
Rex shakes his head, “She put me in touch with Abrams. I'm heading to the DIA at sundown to meet with him. I'm going to offer them some help - consulting he called it - in return they'll help us stay out of the headlines. He has a team meeting with the humans at the hospital.”
Crina nods slowly as she absorbs his words.
“Okay...then where did Lori go?”
Rex fumbles with the zipper on his suitcase.
“Rex?”
“She went to meet with Vega.”
“Shit.” Crina rubs her forehead like she's fending off a migraine. “Where?”
Rex shrugs. “Wasn't privy to specifics. She has her own demons to work through, Crina. I was at Vega's side for years, he'll protect her, he wants to help. Trust him to do right by us, way I see it he's our best shot at survival. I for one don't want to end up in a glass coffin again.”
“I'm sorry but I don't trust Vega. I want you to be right about him helping us, but he was close to Malik. And I'm finding it hard to trust Purebloods lately.”
&
nbsp; “I respect that decision, I even understand it, but I still trust him to do right by us.”
“So you let her leave and now you're fleeing to L.A.?”
The words come out harsher than she intended and she immediately backtracks, “I'm sorry. I'm venting. It's been a rough few days.”
Rex nods. “Yes, it has. We could all use some time apart to decompress. We've all been on edge since Europe.”
Crina hugs him, wrapping her arms around him tightly this time.
“I'm sorry. Good luck in Los Angeles. Be careful around those humans. Keep them at arm’s length at all times.”
“I'll be careful if you will.” Kissing her gently, he says, “Take care of yourself.”
Chapter 33
When I arrive at the foot of the mansion's enormous wooden doors, I'm surprised to discover them unlocked. They ease open without a fight and I soon find myself standing in the entryway with expectant eyes.
“You got my message.”
I hear him before I see him. His voice echoes off the wooden walls of the two story foyer. Spinning, I spot Vega as he emerges from the library.
He summoned me telepathically the night before. It's the call I'd been waiting for.
“It was hard to ignore. Thanks for sending a plane.”
“How did everything go in the states?”
“As well as it could, all things considered. We eliminated the bulk of Malik's followers, with the exception of a few strays I don't doubt the others will deal with in time...if they have time. Part of what I’m here to discuss.”
Tapping the side of my eye, “Am I supposed to believe you didn't see it? You, like your brethren, have unfettered access.”
“Some of it, yes. It's not quite that easy.” Vega gestures for me to follow him as he returns to the library.
Looking around, I can tell the mansion's been cleaned. While I did some rudimentary housekeeping after the attack, it appears that Vega went to the trouble to replace broken furniture and cracked light fixtures.
