by Gaja J. Kos
He leaned forward, lips brushing against hers in a fervor of promises and passion, but when he pulled back, the worry on his face gradually gave way to something far more pragmatic. He sighed.
“How is it possible that a group of vampires got the best of three deities?”
“Because we’re deities who care,” she answered in a whisper, and saw his agreement visible in the depths of his black-rimmed eyes.
It was the love and affection for her subjects, for her wards, that led her to finally accept who she was. It was what had made Veles mourn that day in Istria, when an unexpected burst of power had snatched the villagers’ mortality. And what had made Morana’s confinement in her realm of ice a punishment that perhaps would not have been so severe.
They were all connected with death, but it was life they protected. And the vampires knew it as well.
Veles glanced towards the street where the rest of the pack and Tomo were huddled around the hood of a car, his lips pulled into a tight line and small flares of energy travelling down his skin. “I think the schematics of the building came through.”
“I think you’re right,” Rose said, a tight smile resting on her face, then nudged her chin to a solitary figure approaching from the right. “Fill Rorik and Enyan in, will you? In case there are Upirs in there and the amulets don’t work, we’ll try to draw them out to them.”
Veles nodded, but before she could turn around, his arms snaked around her and drew her to him. The kiss was tender, almost as if he were afraid even an ounce of emotion could shatter what little composure they both still had. He was right, too. Rose blinked away her tears as she pulled back, locking her gaze with his.
“Draw on my strength if you need it, Rosalind. If you break the protection surrounding the building, Morana can steal their souls even if I’m unable to.”
Her gaze skipped to the goddess, and she gave her a curt dip of her chin. She didn’t doubt the two deities would handle their part. She only hoped the pack would be as successful.
Without another word, she left her consort behind and strode towards the long line of police cars. Voices assaulted her senses—commands, tactics, and fear—but she ignored them all, aiming for the single group of people within the perimeter who weren’t in uniform. She squeezed herself into the sliver of space between Zarja and Jens.
There were several sheets of blueprints stacked up on the hood of the vehicle, the one the pack was looking at now belonging to the ground floor. A single room was marked with a red X, and Rose didn’t need to hear Tomo’s explanation to know what it was—security.
“Even if they have vamps patrolling every corner, the building still has a minimum of three blind spots where we could gain entry,” the officer said. “If you take out the cameras, you’ll not only disable them from monitoring your movements, but you’ll give us the chance to send people in after you.”
Mark thrust a hand in his hair. He still looked a little pale from the explosion and brief spell of unconsciousness, but his voice was firm, all business, as he asked, “That’s kind of a risk, don’t you think? If any of them spot you and raise the alarm, they could kill all the hostages before we can even reach them.”
“That’s why we’ll only go in after you secured their release.” Tomo’s hand balled into a fist, crumpling the edge of the paper. “Damn it, no matter what you think, I’m not letting you face them alone. I’m not—”
His phone beeped. The pack waited in silence as he scanned the incoming message.
“It’s Dragan,” he said, eyes still on the screen. “From what he could gather, the majority of the vamps are on the top level. He couldn’t get an exact reading, but there are at least two guards on every floor.” He stashed the phone back in the front pocket of his bullet-proof vest. “Look, if you reach their base and get them to release the hostages, we can sneak in and take down the rest of the patrols.”
“And just who do you intend to send in?” Zarja crossed her arms. “They’re still vamps. Your officers will be carrion before they even have a chance to blink, let alone fight.”
A grim smile touched Tomo’s face. “You remember that buddy of mine who works for the cleanup crew? The one dating a were?”
They all nodded. While the pack could hide the bodies with fair ease, Marcel had been the one who took care of the blood and gore they left behind. On several occasions, actually.
“He convinced his pack to help. They’re hiding two blocks northwest, waiting for my signal.”
Zarja cocked her head to the side, while Jens loosened a long, low whistle.
“And here we were, worried about how you’d fare, given how deep into this shit we’ve dragged you into,” she jested, but the light tone of her voice didn’t mask the underlying tension completely. “But you already have your ass covered, don’t you?”
Tomo offered her a weak smile. “When you live for the badge, you learn a thing or two along the way.”
“So you wouldn’t actually send any humans in?” Tim intervened.
“This action would be completely off the record.”
The werewolf nodded. “Good. It’s bad enough that Tater knows even the basics of what’s going on.”
“Fuck knows,” Jürgen growled, showing the sharpened edges of his canines. “The bastard probably set this whole thing up.”
“That, I’m afraid, is a distinct possibility,” Tomo agreed. “I was the responding officer only because there was a last minute change in my shift.”
Rose frowned, catching Tomo’s attention. “You’d think he’d be smarter than that… I mean, any other officer from the force would equip us with bulletproof vests and wires and send us in—or cut us out of the situation entirely.”
“I believe he didn’t want to risk the latter, which would be the more likely scenario, since in the eyes of the force, you’re civilians. Besides, while Tater’s aware that I used some of you as my consultants, I don’t think he know just how informed I am of the wider picture. I am, after all, only human, and as such not equipped to play with the big guns.”
While she couldn’t disagree with his logic, Rose wasn’t exactly sold, either. The Upirs had been far too cunning so far to let even the smallest detail to chance. But dwelling over Tater’s motives right now would get her nowhere. She looked over her shoulder, taking in the building once more, then met the hard set of Tomo’s eyes.
“I suppose we’ll communicate via earpieces?”
He tipped his head towards the car. “They’re inside. I’ll hear you, but you won’t hear me unless you press them twice and open the two-way channel.”
Rose’s admiration for the man only grew as she nodded. The pack needed as little distractions as possible when they were inside, and the officer had already taken it into consideration.
“Alert me after you disable the cameras, and then when they let the hostages go. Just assign a code word you can use in dialogue that won’t tip the bastards off before you go in, and we’ll be set.”
Rose blew out a long breath and skimmed the hard but ready faces of her pack. No doubts. No hesitation.
They didn’t like it, but they wouldn’t back away.
“All right.” She lowered her gaze to the schematics. “Let’s do this, then.”
Chapter 27
The entrance is clear, Jens broadcasted as he and Jürgen turned right in the abandoned lobby, hoping to every force in existence the message would get through. If whatever the vamps had used to block the deities from sensing them was the same magic-laced iron the Vedmaks had put around Rose, their connection was lost. But if it was only what the warlocks had used in the chamber, not the chains themselves, there was still a chance the ethereal paths binding the pack would work.
At least they hoped they would.
Although there was no gaping hole to indicate they had been cut off from the pack, it didn’t mean the Upirs hadn’t found a way to jam the signal while making it appear as if nothing was amiss.
He glanced at his twin, then
prowled down a dim hallway and away from the security room that lay concealed within the marble-floored lobby next to the elevators. They would have easily missed it if Tomo hadn’t brought the schematics, the faint scent of vampire that permeated the air around the hidden door written off as nothing more than the lingering traces of those who had passed through during the initial phases of the attack.
Going in now, Zarja answered, and a phantom weight rolled off Jens’s shoulders. The bond worked. First half of left corridor clear.
Entering in thirty, Tim announced just as Zarja’s words faded, but his voice was soon drowned in the clatter as Jürgen smashed another camera.
All senses on alert, Jens listened for any sign of movement from the vamps hidden in the security room. Nothing stirred. Looks like the pricks are confident.
And it isn’t like they can’t trace our movements based on the cameras we keep destroying, Zarja rumbled in agreement.
Jens hid away a smile. Don’t you just love cocky bastards like that?
Oh, yeah. The cocky ones are the most delicious prey, after all.
Amusement briefly flickered through him, alleviating the tension. He shared Zarja’s sentiment wholeheartedly, and, given the progress they were making, vamp flesh would soon be on the menu.
Disgusting, Jürgen commented on the thought that slipped through the bond.
Jens shot him a concealed grin, but his expression died down as they fell into the radius of the camera set at the far end of the corridor. He padded forward and threw one of the rocks he’d stuffed in his pockets straight at it. The glass cracked and shattered, raining down on the floor. But even as the final pieces broke off from the plastic, Jens lunged into the air and swiped his claws across the wire and wall mount, bringing the whole thing down. Just to be sure.
If Tomo’s men did come inside, they had to be certain security wouldn't pick them up. At least not immediately.
His twin was already moving ahead, the stairs to the upper levels now in sight. Light on his feet, Jens caught up and prowled alongside him, then stopped about halfway down the path, waiting for Zarja’s signal.
She voiced her movements not a second later. Entering the first floor now.
Tim’s mental notes fluttered on the heels of the thought, confirming that he was following suit, mere moments before Rose’s warning echoed. She’d cleared the revolving doors in the lobby. All according to plan.
The twins exchanged a quick glance, then set up the stairs, leaning on their preternatural speed, but not as much as to compromise their safety. They slowed as they reached the landing, then split up, each taking a corridor and destroying the cameras as they went.
Mark’s voice came to life inside Jens’s mind just as they both doubled back and took the next flight up—the last level before they would reach the first of the live vamp patrols.
I’m in, the were said. Taking the right side.
Quickly, Jens conveyed their exact position to the pack, then continued with the plan. Once again, they swept through the corridors, destroying all surveillance in sight, before they returned to the stairs where Rose already waited. She looked like a wraith in her pitch-black clothes and hair tightly braided, the only color the midnight blue and gold of her eyes—still without the touch of divine energy. Just as they had practiced.
You good? she asked, meeting first Jürgen’s gaze, then his.
Jens nodded. Kind of eager for the fun to start.
Aren’t we all, she agreed, though the words held a bitter undertone. Something he had no difficulties relating to.
With a curt nod, he entered the dimly lit stairwell, but instead of going up as the vampires would expect them to, he and Jürgen went down. They passed Mark on the first landing, the werewolf moving with liquid grace as he hurried to join Rose and take on the task of eliminating surveillance from afar to keep up the charade.
Jens only managed to briefly meet the werewolf’s deep brown eyes before he was leaping two, three stairs at a time once more, not stopping until he reached the ground floor. A second later, he felt the heat radiating off his twin’s body lap against his skin as Jürgen appeared by his side.
They stood still for a moment longer. Listening. Smelling.
All good.
The corridor to the lobby was as deserted as he’d hoped it would be, but it wasn’t the path Jens took. His gaze fell on the door pressed into the wall right in front of them, and he braced his shoulder against it, infusing just the right amount of werewolf strength into the push. Jens steadied the door with one hand as the hinges gave way with minimal resistance, then propelled himself forward, his twin following him like a shadow.
They rushed down the narrow maintenance corridor single file, the space ensconced in darkness, with only the emergency lights keeping it from being pitch black.
Thank the gods for good night vision, Jürgen rumbled in his mind.
A smile tugged at Jens’s lips. At his brother’s remark. At the fact that he smelled nothing but stale air and the oily metal of the elevators down at the far end. Unlike them, the vamps hadn’t covered all their bases.
If there was one thing he learned from his time with the pack, it was the fact that it was always better to be paranoid than sloppy.
The bastards would pay for their mistake.
Even as a rush of satisfaction and anticipation swept through his body, Jens pushed forward, his steps deathly quiet against the rough concrete. Once a solid iron door came into sight on the left, he eased down and took a deep breath.
Ready? he asked his twin, but sent the message wider through the bond as well, reaching out to every pack member present.
A distinct snort rumbled in his head. Jürgen. You know I was born ready.
Then let’s put all that natural talent to good use, shall we?
With that, Jens took two steps back—the most the hallway permitted—and rammed into the door full force, tearing it off the hinges.
He flung the bent metal at the vamp sitting behind the com-unit before the bastard even knew what hit him, then threw himself on the brown-haired female on his right, while Jürgen took care of the middle-aged vampire on the left. The warm spray of blood coated his skin as his canines sank into the female’s neck, and he pulled, tearing veins and tendons alike. The lifeless body thudded onto the ground.
One down, one to go.
He spun towards the vamp he’d knocked out, a bloodied Jürgen coming to stand beside him, and motioned to the scrawny looking vampire tucked in an uncomfortable position on the floor. Do you want to do the honors, bro?
Jürgen grinned, but his advance was cut short as one of the radios crackled with static. A cold voice he didn’t recognize filled the room. “The pack is inside the building. I confirm, the pack is inside the building. The Easter Eggs are set and ready to go.”
Jens sneered, but when another reply filtered through, a single reply that changed everything, the expression on his face froze. As did his entire body.
All he registered was the horror contorting his twin’s features, a mixture of rage and helplessness that echoed in his all too silent, “Fuck…”
Useless. It was useless to hide when they were already inside.
Katja swore.
She had felt their presence long before the vampires had breached the perimeter of the house, but with only her and Evelin here, there wasn’t much she could do, aside from moving the were to some moderate safety. And even that would have proven to be an impossible task if Veles hadn’t shown her the armory beforehand—as well as told her how to unlock it.
The entire basement area was fortified enough to at least keep the vamps from swarming them at once, but even more so, it harbored a sufficient amount of weapons between its walls to give her and Evelin a fighting chance. Literally.
She scanned the wide chamber, halting briefly on the military-grade artillery and explosives sectioned on the far side. While a part of her was tempted to just roll a couple of grenades down the hallway and bury the v
amps under the weight of the house, she didn’t know whether the weapons’ vault would withstand the weight of such destruction.
Given all that was stored inside, it wasn’t just being crushed under the ruins that worried her.
So she armed herself with as many guns and knives as she could instead, grateful that she had learned how to use a variety of weapons a long time ago.
Although vampires were somewhat harder to kill than humans, emptying an entire magazine into their hearts tended to do the job just fine, as long as the shooter’s aim was true. But given there were at least fifteen of them on the premises, Katja needed all the ammo she could stuff on her person. And then some.
She swore again, fangs nicking her lower lip. She glanced at the injured werewolf resting by the far wall, cradling a semiautomatic in her lap. Evelin wanted to fight—Katja could see it in those emerald eyes as clearly as she felt her own wrath at the bold intrusion. But no desire was strong enough to overcome the bitter fact that Evelin’s body was still healing from the Keepers’ attack. The were could walk on her own, but even coming down here had been a far too taxing experience, leaving her skin ashen and sweaty from the strain.
There was no chance in all the realms Katja was going to allow Evelin to go against a group of vampires at full strength. Not when she knew their presence here could mean only one thing.
The bastards wanted to take out the entire pack.
She didn’t allow herself to think of Jürgen as she positioned herself between Evelin and the door. She simply breathed, her senses on high alert and pinpointing the exact location of each vampire within the building as if they were just another mark.
Judging by their pattern of movements, they were still searching the levels above, but it wouldn’t take the bastards long to realize there was nothing up there and venture downstairs instead, following the signal Katja’s vampiric senses emitted. She couldn’t shut down her essential self, but she could make sure that when they finally came through those heavy doors, by cunning or force, she would bury them under a hail of bullets until the bodies wept lead.
