Embers (The Slayer Chronicles Book 2)

by Val St. Crowe

Doyle went to the door. “Who’s out there?”

  “It’s me,” said the voice. “It’s Shay.”

  “I’m out here too,” said someone else. “Kinsie. And Rose is here too.”

  Doyle and the rest of us moved the table away from the door to let the women in.

  Once they were safe inside, we barricaded the door again.

  “Is anyone else out there?” said Doyle.

  “No one alive,” said Kinsie. “We saw Sven, Cam, and Ruby get ripped to shreds in front of us.”

  “And Emma got burned to death,” said Shay.

  Rose was hugging herself, her eyes wide.

  “Wait,” said Jameson. “That’s everybody.”

  “What are you talking about?” said Shay.

  “If Sven and the others are all gone, and you factor in the people we saw get killed, then that’s everyone,” he said. “There’s no one else alive except the people in this room.”

  Shay patted him on the arm. “Hey, hey. Calm down.”

  “Calm down?” he said. “Anything about this situation seem like something we should be calm about?”

  “Are you two really together?” said Foster, furrowing his brow. “Because if you were, it seems like Jameson here should have been more worried that you weren’t dead instead of going on and on about the killer.”

  Jameson swallowed, not meeting Shay’s eye. “Sorry, baby, but I’m losing it. I just… I panicked. I should have waited for you. I should have gone back looking for you.”

  Shay shook her head at him. “You need to stop panicking. You need to try to think clearly.”

  “That’s the thing,” said Jameson. “I am thinking clearly. And if everyone is either dead or in this room, then that means that the killer didn’t get away. The killer is in this room with us.” He looked around at everyone in the room, his face a mask of dread.

  “What?” said Rose in a quavery voice. “What do you mean?”

  “Look, someone let those dragons out,” said Jameson. “And whoever did it is in here with us.”

  “Jameson,” said Doyle. “This isn’t helping matters.”

  “You don’t want us to talk about it because you’re the one who did it,” said Jameson.

  “I would never let those dragons out,” said Doyle. “Never. Now, I think Clarke’s right that we’ve got to focus on fixing what happened, not on how it happened.”

  “It’s all part of your plan,” said Jameson. “You got us all stuck together in one room, and now you’re going to sneak off and lead the dragons to us. Once we’re all dead, you’ll escape, the lone survivor.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” said Doyle.

  “Jameson,” I said. “Accusing people like this isn’t helping anything.”

  Everyone in the room was peering around at the others with worried expressions on their faces.

  “I’m telling you,” said Jameson. “The killer is in here with us.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I stepped into the center of the room. “Look, we don’t know that there’s any killer.”

  “So, what happened to Ezra, then?” said Celia. “He wouldn’t have been careless with the cages. I know he wouldn’t have. He was always really sure to do that right.”

  “I don’t know what happened to him,” I said. “But that doesn’t matter. What matters is surviving.”

  “You think we’re all going to die, don’t you?” said Kinsie.

  “Of course not,” I said. “We’re not dying. I’m going to stop those dragons.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it yet. I typically took them on one at a time. I rarely faced more than one. Naelen was here, and maybe with his magic, we could come up with some kind of plan to get rid of all the dragons. But I couldn’t think about that if everyone was spending all their time worried about some killer.

  “You can’t kill them all,” said Beverly.

  “No,” said Doyle. “We need at least some of the specimens to be preserved. It’s the only way we’ll make any progress.”

  “We’re barely making progress as it is,” said Celia.

  “It’s true,” said Nicole. “And Ezra was worried about that. It’s probably why he was so absent-minded about keeping the dragons in their cages. He was preoccupied with the lack of headway.”

  “That’s not true,” said Celia. “He wouldn’t have done it, regardless.”

  “I’m his wife,” said Nicole, staring Celia down. “I think I know him better than you.”

  Celia folded her arms over her chest. “I observed his work. You were only here to do whatever it is that you’re doing.”

  “I’m working on my thesis,” said Nicole. “I actually grew up in this part of the country, and it seemed like a good place to be isolated and get work done while also getting to spend some time with my husband.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re awfully hostile toward me, little girl.”

  Celia shrugged. “Am I?”

  What was this all about? Why were Nicole and Celia at each other’s throats?

  Jameson spoke up. “You think he was murdered, right, Celia?”

  Celia studied her fingernails. “I don’t know what I think. But he didn’t accidentally let them out. I know that for a fact.”

  “He was murdered,” said Jameson. “Doyle did it.”

  “Or maybe it was you,” spoke up Foster.

  “If I killed him,” said Jameson, “then why wouldn’t I be satisfied with the explanation that it was an accident?”

  “Maybe you’re trying to throw us off,” said Foster.

  “Or maybe you’re the killer,” said Jameson.

  “What?” Foster shook his head. “That’s insane. You’re blaming me because I’m the black guy. I see how it is.”

  “It’s got nothing to do with that,” said Jameson. “But you can’t deny you had a motive.”

  “I didn’t,” said Foster.

  “I heard the two of you in his office one day when I was cleaning,” said Jameson. “He was telling you all about how he wasn’t going to sign off on your college credit if you kept slacking off.”

  Foster’s nostrils flared. “Look, Ezra could be a dick. We all know that. And his idea of not slacking off is working a twelve-hour day. Plus, he uses us interns like slave labor. I’m supposed to be learning and I spend half my time making coffee and washing test tubes. So, yeah, maybe I’m annoyed at the fact that I’ve been paying for this experience, but I didn’t kill Ezra.”

  “No?” said Jameson. “Maybe you knew that Doyle here would be easier to get a passing grade from.”

  “That’s bull,” said Foster.

  “Stop it,” said Celia. “Stop it. You’re all calling him names and saying these terrible things about him. He’s dead, for goodness sake. Can’t you let it alone?”

  “Yeah, I bet you’re upsetting Nicole,” said Kinsie.

  But Nicole didn’t look particularly upset. Still, she nodded. “I don’t think there’s any point in discussing this.”

  Foster looked her up and down. “Maybe you did it.”

  “Me?” said Nicole. “He was my husband.”

  “Isn’t that the way it usually goes, though?” said Foster. “Aren’t most people killed by someone close to them?”

  “Why would I kill him?” said Nicole.

  “Oh, there’s always a reason to kill your husband,” said Foster.

  “Come on, Foster,” said Doyle. “You’re out of line.”

  Foster pressed his lips together. He didn’t say anything else.

  “I wonder if we could switch gears,” I said. “I think we need to focus on how we’re going to stop these dragons.”

  “You want to kill them,” said Jack.

  “And we can’t let you do that,” said Beverly.

  I sighed. “So, we’ve got to have this out again before we can move forward?”

  “No,” said Naelen. “It’s decided already. We’re killing the dragons. End of story.”

  “Who says you get to make that call?” said Doy
le.

  “I built this damned lab,” said Naelen. “And you might not be aware of this, but I happen to be the kind of person who always gets his way. So, it’s pointless to oppose me.”

  “You sound like a child,” said Doyle. “A spoiled, rich child who thinks of everything like a toy. Let me tell you something, those dragons are not toys. They are people.”

  “They used to be people,” said Naelen. “Now, they’re not even animals.”

  “Regardless,” said Doyle, “you can’t make decisions about what will be done in this facility. You aren’t in charge here.”

  “Then why did you call me for help?” said Naelen.

  “I went up the chain of command,” said Doyle. “No one knew what to do, so they kept sending me higher, and eventually, I got to you.”

  “Well, then I’m in charge.”

  “No, you’re just someone who’s thrown money at this place.”

  “This place was designed for me,” said Naelen. “And none of you should even be here. Ezra went behind my back to open this place after I’d decided I didn’t want to pursue this. So, now, here we are, barricaded in a laboratory, our lives in danger. At any rate, you had better believe that I will do whatever is in my power to put this all right. I will tear this place to the ground if I have to.”

  Whoa. I’d never seen Naelen angry in that way before. It surprised me, because I was used to seeing him as an easygoing playboy.

  I often forgot that he had built his financial empire from the ground up and that he was tenacious and stubborn.

  Standing there, his blue eyes flashing, smoke practically coming from his nostrils, he was steely and ferocious. Appealing in a way that spoke to something primal in me.

  I swallowed.

  Doyle stepped back.

  Everyone was quiet.

  Naelen took a deep breath. “All right, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re all going to take tonight to think about what we need to do in order to help each other survive. Not tear each other down and accuse each other of murder or get into some argument about preserving the creatures that are trying to kill us. None of that. Instead, we are going to do something productive.”

  You could have heard a pin drop.

  Celia raised her hand, like she was in elementary school.

  “Yes, Celia?” said Naelen.

  “Um… well, what would really help me think right now would be some food.”

  “We just ate dinner,” said Nicole.

  “I know,” said Celia. “But that was hours ago. And none of us are going to be able to sleep, because we’ll be too full of adrenaline. If we’re going to keep functioning with no rest, we’ll need food. Lots of protein. Lots of complex carbohydrates. And there’s nothing down here.”

  Shay sighed. “There’s lots of food in the kitchen. Maybe we should barricade ourselves in there instead.”

  “No, there’s tunnel access in the kitchen,” said Doyle.

  “Okay,” I said. “Well, then good. I’ll go up through the tunnels and get some food.” I thought maybe I might find a few dead dragons on the way with my arrows sticking out of their carcasses. I could use some arrows.

  “You’re not going to my kitchen without me,” said Shay. “I’m coming along.”

  “So am I,” said Naelen.

  I considered fighting with them and trying to go alone, but the truth was, I could use the extra hands to carry down the supplies. “Fine,” I said. “But that’s it. Only the three of us.”

  * * *

  “What is this stuff?” said Naelen, holding open a big canvas bag as Shay chucked shiny labeled pouches inside. She said they were mylar bags.

  “Most of the food here is freeze-dried,” said Shay. “It’s lightweight, retains its nutrients well, and it keeps for ages.”

  “That’s what they give astronauts,” I said from the doorway to the kitchen. I was standing guard, looking out into the corridor. I could see the open door to the rec room, and could see inside. The light was still on in there.

  “Right,” she said. “Anyway, this should be enough for three meals or so. After that, we’ll have to come back. If we’re even alive.”

  “We’re not dying,” I said. I couldn’t see anything in the rec room except the corner of the pool table. No movement. If there were dragons up here, I didn’t know where they were.

  I wondered if all the dragons had headed up to the top level, like the three before. Maybe they were instinctively going up, looking for a way to fly out of here.

  Or maybe they were all lying in wait for their next prey.

  I turned back to Naelen and Shay. “I’m thinking I might go dash into the rec room to get some of my arrows back.”

  “What?” said Naelen. “No, that wasn’t the deal. Up the tunnels, down the tunnels. That’s it.”

  “Well, if we meet a dragon, I’m not even going to be able to defend myself,” I said.

  Shay gestured to a row of big meat cleavers and knives hanging on the wall. They glinted, winking at me.

  “Better than nothing,” I muttered, heading over. I selected a meat cleaver with a wicked blade. I made a few slashes in the air with it.

  “Hey, watch it,” said Naelen, even though he was nowhere near me.

  I lowered the cleaver. “Fine. We got everything? Let’s go then.”

  Naelen and Shay each picked up a canvas bag and hauled it over a shoulder. They looked at me expectantly.

  I needed to take the lead.

  Right.

  I nodded once and then I headed back into the tunnel. I still didn’t like these tunnels, not one bit, but it was better to be inside one with company than to be in one alone.

  It was quiet and dark in here. Cold. The only sound was the echoes of our footsteps.

  “Walk softer,” I ordered in a low voice.

  “Can’t. Tried,” said Naelen. “Sorry.”

  I held the cleaver out in front of me. All the dragons in the entire facility probably heard us coming.

  And I wasn’t sure how well this cleaver was going to do against a dragon, anyway.

  I imagined one appearing around the next bend in the tunnel. It would be sleek and black in the darkness, just a whisper of scales and wings. Its dark eyes would glow, though. A horrid, blackish green glow that would both sink into the darkness and stand out.

  My palms started to sweat.

  We couldn’t be in this tunnel for much longer, could we?

  I tried to remember how long this had taken before, all the while imagining the dragon lunging for us, spewing blue-green fire at us down the tunnel.

  We’d run, but we wouldn’t be fast enough, and we’d go up in flames, and the last thing I would smell would be the scent of my own flesh burning.

  Now there was sweat bursting out on the back of my neck and above my upper lip. I felt clammy and nervous.

  Damn these tunnels.

  We walked.

  I forced myself to stay as calm as I could. I needed to fight this irrational fear. I wasn’t afraid of dragons. I killed dragons.

  And there was no reason to be afraid of small, enclosed spaces. There was nothing here to be frightened of.

  I needed to snap out of it.

  “Clarke?” said Naelen.

  “What?” I said, but my voice was high-pitched and terrified.

  “You’re going past the opening to the lab,” he said.

  “Oh.” I stopped short, turning and backtracking.

  Shay was already going out of the tunnel. I guess I’d missed the opening because there was no light there. It was practically invisible unless you knew to look for it.

  “Hey, you okay?” Naelen asked me.

  “Fine,” I said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You look… pale,” he said.

  “You can’t tell that,” I said. “There’s no light out here.”

  “If something is wrong, you can tell me,” he said. “You know that, right?”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” I said, and
flounced past him.

  * * *

  “All right,” Doyle was saying, “now we can’t all just start eating this food. We need to be smart about it, ration it a bit. Shay says there’s enough here for three full meals, so—”

  “Where are Beverly and Jack?” I said.

  “I was wondering how long it would take for you to notice that,” said Kinsie.

  Doyle sighed. “Listen, I can’t say that I think what they’re doing is a good idea.”

  “Oh, come on, you were all about it,” said Kinsie.

  “If I had been, I would have gone with them,” he retorted.

  “Gone with them where?” I said.

  “They went out with the cattle prods,” said Kinsie. “They have some crazy idea that they’ll be able to round up the dragons all by themselves. Get them back into the cages and save the day. They were determined that no more dragons should die.”

  My heart sank. “They left? They went to hunt down dragons? Why didn’t you stop them? Any of you?”

  “How is it our problem?” said Jameson.

  I raised my eyebrows at him. “I would have thought you’d be convinced that they were the killers and they’d gone off to find some way to kill us all.”

  His eyes widened. “Oh, shit. You don’t think that’s true, do you?”

  “No,” I said. “I think that they’re idiots, and that they’re going to get themselves killed. I’ve got to go after them.”

  “Not alone, you’re not,” said Naelen.

  “Naelen, you have to stay here and make sure no one else leaves,” I said.

  He sighed. “All right, fine. But if you aren’t back within twenty minutes, I’m coming after you.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Luckily, Beverly and Jack hadn’t taken the tunnels, so I didn’t have to go back in there. Instead, they had gone up the stairs to the next level up, the level that contained the rec room and the gym and kitchen. The others told me that Jack and Beverly figured the dragons would still be there, considering that was the last place we’d seen them.

  But I hadn’t seen any up there.

  Still, that didn’t mean there were none.

  I hurried up the steps in the stairwell. The lights were on overhead, fluorescent and almost cheery. It should have been reassuring, but I found myself still as worried as I’d been in the tunnels.