Right before I made it to the bottom, another vampire tried to grab me from behind. He suffered the same fate as Bob. I could smell his flesh as it burned from touching the electrical field which surrounded my body.
When I opened the door, the vampire’s hand was in the path of the sun. It sizzled before he could move his hand back into the shadows. Without even thinking, I grabbed him and struggled to bring him into the light.
He screamed as my electricity shot through his entire being. It only took a couple of steps, and he was half-way in the sunlight.
The vampire’s body burst into flames and almost burned my hands. If I hadn’t had my protective charm bracelet on, the magical flames would have burned my body as well.
I was breathing hard when someone wrapped their arms around me from behind. Without even thinking, I grabbed their arm and threw them over my shoulder. A body thunked against the storage facility wall.
My eyes popped open wide when I realized I had thrown a human guy into the wall. I didn’t recognize him. He could be another acolyte or just someone in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I had to get out of there before any more acolytes showed up. The electric shock charm must have worn off since the guy didn’t get electrocuted when he touched me.
With one last look over my shoulder, I ran as fast as I could out of the place. The vamps destroyed my phone so I couldn’t call Rico. My only option was to hightail it back home and hope I made it.
Chapter 20
Jenna
I made it as far as Uncle Wong’s before I almost passed out. Distance running was not my thing. Especially at such a fast pace.
“Jimmie… Help!” I collapsed in the entryway of his restaurant.
“Jenna, what happened? Jenna?” Jimmie ran to me and cradled me in his arms.
“Sue, grab my phone and call Rico. Tell him Jenna’s here and she passed out.” Jimmie picked me up and carried me to the closest booth.
“Water.” It was all I could get out.
“Oh! Jenna, you’re awake. Good, good. What happened?” Jimmie patted my hand after he laid me down on the red vinyl booth.
“Vampires…storm girls.” I continued to try to get my breath.
Someone put a water bottle in my shaky hands. I spilled some trying to get it to my mouth.
“Mmm.” The water was sweeter than nectar from the vine.
I continued to sip the water while trying to catch my breath.
The bell over the door signaled someone entering Uncle Wong’s.
“Jimmie, is Jenna here? I picked up her scent outside and it’s fresh.” I recognized Luke’s voice.
“Yes! She ran in here out of breath and mentioned vampires and storm girls. I had my wife call Rico.” Jimmie sounded so relieved to have one of the wolf-shifters here.
I know I was relieved to have Luke here.
“Hey, Jenna. How are you? Are you ok?” Luke’s soft voice could be heard over the loud sound of the vinyl creaking when he slid into the seat across from me.
“I…think…so.” Breathing was still tough, but I was finally getting enough air into my lungs.
“Castle Storage. Vampires and storm girls.” I opened my eyes and drank some more water.
“I’ll call Rico and let him know.” Luke pulled out his phone and dialed.
“Rico. I’m at Jimmie’s and so is Jenna. She’s safe. I smell vamps on her. Multiple.” Luke nodded his head while Rico spoke. I couldn’t hear what he was saying.
“Of course. I’m not leaving her alone. I think she was at Castle Storage. She said vampires and storm girls in the same breath as the storage place.” Luke nodded some more and then hung up.
“Rico was already on his way to the storage place with some of the pack before coming here. You’re stuck with me for a while.” Luke smiled at me before yelling out, “Jimmie, you’re going to have a large party here soon. Once Rico’s done he’s bringing everyone here. Fire up the wonton soup maker!”
I smiled. Wonton soup did sound fantastic. “I want soup.”
Jimmie came out of the back with a tray. When he set it before me, I relaxed my shoulders and sighed. “Wonton soup and tea. Drink up. It will help you feel better.”
“Thanks, Jimmie.”
“Luke, can you call my sisters and let them know I’m here. My cell phone broke. I’ll have to get another one.” After I took a couple sips of the soup, I was done.
“I need a nap. Either using those spells took a lot out of me, or the entire experience of this morning did.” Jimmie’s restaurant was slow, so I laid on the bench and dozed.
Chapter 21
Rico
“When is she ever going to learn?” I couldn’t believe the trouble Jenna could get into. Even in the middle of the morning. I’m just grateful she was able to get out of the place before her magical charms wore off.
I wanted to head straight to Uncle Wong’s and check on her, but I had to go to the storage facility first. Jenna was safe and protected. Those poor girls were not. I just hoped the vamps left me some evidence.
“Damien, how long until your group arrives at the storage lot?” I was on the phone now with Damien who had a van full of anxious wolves. Everyone wanted to rip into a vampire.
“Almost there, maybe ten more minutes. Have you heard from Jenna?”
“Luke called. He’s with her. They’re at Uncle Wong’s. He’s going to stay with her until we are done with the vamps.” I hoped they were still there packing, but if Jenna got away, they have most likely left town already.
“I’ll see you there.” Damien hung up, and I focused on the road. As soon as I got her message this morning, I was out the door and barreling down the road. Damien rallied the troops and followed not long after.
Once I arrived at the storage facility, I parked and waited. The proper thing to do would be to wait for my back-up, since Jenna was safe and sound, but my wolf was itching to come out and play. He rarely got out anymore.
I needed to take a day or two and go camping somewhere. Maybe even find a place I could stay in wolf form for a couple of days. It wasn’t good to hold your inner wolf back for long. If he didn’t get out regularly, he ended up forcing his way out. Which never went over well.
I rolled my window down as I waited, and the breeze blew in a scent I knew all too well. Vampires.
My wolf was screaming to get out. Damien was almost here, it wouldn’t hurt to shift and run the perimeter.
I got out of my car and locked it. After I pocketed the key, I casually walked to a large magnolia tree. I took a quick look to make sure no one was watching and then shifted.
My wolf sighed his pleasure at being let out.
It was easy to hop the fence in wolf form. I began running the inside perimeter and sniffing for any familiar scents.
Halfway through the facility I picked up vanilla, cherry blossoms, and a hint of cinnamon. My wolf went nuts… Jenna. I had lost control. The wolf followed her scent, no matter what I said.
Come on, we have to wait for backup. You know this. Jenna’s safe. Let’s just focus on the perimeter.
My wolf wasn’t listening to me. Honestly, it was my own fault for keeping him leashed up for so long. It felt really good to be in wolf form and searching for vampires to tear apart.
Maybe, just maybe, my wolf wasn’t totally uncontrolled. It could be I wanted to rip them apart as well.
I stalked through the small walkways between the buildings, following a scent I would know anywhere. I found it to be weak, meaning she hadn’t been here for a while, and she probably wasn’t in this part of the complex. The wind was blowing her scent all over me.
I growled as soon as I crossed a male scent. Human. I moved even faster.
It looked like I was in the front of the complex. I could see the office from my location. Jenna’s scent was stronger, but it was mixed with two males now.
“Grrr.” Mate.
My wolf recognized Jenna as our mate. Any other male scent mixed with hers
would cause my primal instincts of possession and protection to kick in. If those human men hurt her, I doubt I could stop my wolf from tearing them apart.
Vampires, at least five distinct scents of death.
Jenna’s scent now intermingled with three of the vampires.
There was also a trail of human female scents moving away from the building. I wanted to follow those scents since I knew Jenna wasn’t here, but my wolf ignored me. It wanted, no it needed, to follow Jenna’s scent and see what happened.
Her scent led to a door, which was open. The door opened up to a set of stairs going up. Under my paws was dust. I lowered my head and took a deep sniff. Vampire ash.
Good job, Jenna. At least one down now.
I continued to scent the air as I prowled up the steps. My nose picked up Jenna’s fragrance mixed with blood.
The hackles on my back rose, and I howled. They had hurt Jenna enough to draw blood. None of them would survive, not even the acolytes.
I heard at least ten wolves respond to my howls. My pack had arrived. Good.
I think the vampires had all left. If those other scents I discovered, before coming into the building, were the missing storm girls, I could send half my pack after them while I continued to investigate what happened here.
I heard someone running up the stairs, it wasn’t a wolf.
“Rico, what happened? Are they gone?” Damien ran into the hallway where I was sniffing out the action from not long ago.
I changed back to my human form so we could communicate.
“Have half the pack follow the female scents leading away from this building. I think those will lead us to the storm girls. Jenna was here and fighting. They drew her blood.” I ground my teeth before turning to get a better look at the space.
“Your wolf must be going nuts! How are you controlling it?”
“We know Jenna is safe at Uncle Wong’s. I think it’s the only thing keeping me sane right now.” The wall next to us had scorch marks.
“Look, she must have used some of the charms on them. Does this look like the discharge from an electrical bolt?” I pointed to a wall with a pointed scorch mark in the shape of a lightning bolt.
“Rico, there.” Damien pointed down the hall, and I saw more scorch marks on both sides of the walkway.
“She used the force field. Smart girl. I wonder how many vamps she held back?” Even in human form, I could pick up the nuances between vamp scents.
“Three.” I continued to smell the area.
“I smell a total of five vamps. She dusted one downstairs. So, four are left.” Damien confirmed what I had already sniffed out.
“She was here just a couple of hours ago. How did four vampires leave during the day?” Damien began searching each of the open storage units.
“They had to have a bolt-hole. There’s no way they walked out with those girls.” In fact, I didn’t pick up strong vamp smells when I first noticed their scent. I did scent one human male with them.
“If they didn’t walk out the front, is there a back exit?” Damien went further into the building and I followed him.
We each took a side and rolled up each door without a lock.
“Rico, the girls were held in here. I can smell them the strongest in here. Plus, there is a lot of blood drops on the ground in here. They must have fed on them in here, too.”
“Poor girls. Had to watch as each was eaten, knowing they would be next.” I walked into the unit and looked around.
It was a small space, maybe five feet wide and seven feet deep. With all of the girls in here, there couldn’t have been anywhere to look without seeing their fellow captives debased in such a way. The sheer terror, knowing your neck was next.
Did they watch as the two girls were murdered? What horrors they must have experienced.
Disgusted, I walked out of the unit and continued to search. There weren’t many open units.
“How did they leave? I don’t see a back door.” The vamps’ stench was everywhere. I needed to find one scent and follow it.
“Damien, I’m going back to my wolf form. I need to isolate one vamp scent and see if I can follow it and find out where they went. For all we know, they’re hiding behind one of the locked doors.” Wouldn’t that be perfect?
“If they were still here, we would sense them.” Damien was right. I was reaching for a quick solution.
After I shifted, I picked out one scent and followed it. In my wolf form, my senses were intensified. Even when I was in my human form, I still had excellent senses, but the wolf was a step above. He could pick out one scent and follow it, better than a hound could.
However, a wolf didn’t lower himself and put his snout on the ground. We could pick up the scent in the air and keep our heads held high.
The scent I picked up was burnt wood and decayed animals. This was the scent of an older vamp. It also had a tiny hint of cinnamon mixed with it. Was this the blood-sucker who hurt Jenna?
I followed the putrid scent and walked back and forth along the path several times. The vamp, a male, had been in and out of the room of girls several times over the past twenty-four hours or so. Their scent didn’t linger much longer than a day.
He also went inside of three, open storage units. Two locked units caught my attentions where the vampire scent seemed to linger. One of them, had multiple vamp scents. I went back and forth between the two locked units. One of them had the smell of death.
It was time to shift back so I could open these two doors.
“Damien, this one smells of death. We have to open the door. The other one, I pointed two doors down, had all of their scents. We need to open both doors.”
Jose joined us with bolt cutters and cut both locks before standing behind me. I pulled off the first broken lock and rolled up the blue metal door.
“Oh! That’s disgusting!”
“We have to call the cops. I’m sorry, Rico. I know you wanted to find them all alive.” Damien turned around and went outside. I hoped he was calling his detective friend.
Inside the unit was death. Two male bodies had been drained of blood and left to rot. One of the storm girls was there as well.
“I think it’s Gina. Can you tell?” I didn’t want to go inside, not with the cops coming to investigate.
Jose put a hand over his nose. “Yes, I’m afraid it’s Gina.”
Gina was the blonde girl who went missing the day of the storm. She and Lisa had both been abducted around the same time, even though they didn’t know each other.
The strength of the decay led me to believe they had been dead at least a day, maybe longer. Or, at least one of the bodies had been dead for a day. With all three scents it was difficult to pinpoint time of death.
“Let’s open the other door.” I walked over to the roll up door where I detected all of the vampire scents.
Jose rolled it up and stepped back.
We both looked at each other and smiled. It was a secret freight elevator.
“This must be how they got out. Is there a tunnel underground? If so, where does it lead?” I needed to grab a few more wolves to join us.
When I walked down the stairs, there were four wolves standing by waiting for my orders.
“All of you, come with me. We found a secret elevator. We need to follow the scent of the demons and pray the rest of the girls are still alive. Damien, you joining us?”
“I’m going to wait for Detective Adams. He said he would be here in less than ten minutes. Someone needs to stay and let him know what we touched.” Damien could handle the cops. If I needed him, I could always call.
We all headed up and went straight for the hidden elevator. It was a good size, but not big enough for all of us in our wolf form. Everyone shifted to their human form before loading in. The elevator went down two levels. There must be an extensive tunnel system here. One we didn’t know about.
We splashed down into at least six inches of water. It smelled like a garbage dump. The ammonia sc
ent of decay was very strong and made my nose twitch. I couldn’t be sure, but there might even be bodies down here. This was something for the medical examiner to investigate. I wanted to find the vampires.
We walked into a tight tunnel. It was so small no one could stand up straight. We all had to bend over and practically crawl through the loose dirt tunnel. I put both my arms out and had to bend at the elbows because the walls were so close. Good thing none of us were claustrophobic.
“Boss, I see a light up ahead.” Jose had taken point, and we followed him single file. I took up the rear.
“Good, but be careful.” Something slithered by my leg, and I knew I didn’t want to know what it was.
The path snaked its way up above the water level, and once it flattened out, we found ourselves in a garage. There was one van parked and an open spot. The roll up garage door was down.
“Jose, the windows on the van have been blacked out. I think we found our bolt-hole for the vampires.” I also observed there were no windows in the garage. Or at least, no visible windows. Junk was piled up against the walls. It could have been covering a window.
“Be careful not to touch anything. Use your shirt to roll the garage door up. The cops will want to investigate here as well. Better not to leave our mark.” I had contaminated too many crime scenes in my past. These days, I was extra careful when I could be.
The vampires’ stench was fresh. I counted four different rotting corpse scents. Jenna’s scent wasn’t here, neither were the storm girls. They must have left the storage place in another car.
Once the garage door was rolled up we all walked outside and realized we were less than 2 blocks away from the storage facility. This was a normal neighborhood, one we had not investigated before.
“The vamps chose a great place. Look, it’s been foreclosed upon. I bet no one other than our blood-suckers have even been inside the house for weeks.” Jose pointed to a sign in the window telling people to stay out. If anyone wanted to view the property, it would be listed for sale shortly.
I lost their scent. They must have had a car here waiting for them. They could be anywhere by now.
Hurricane of Magic Page 12
