Blood: Under the Skin Book 1

by K. B. Ladnier

  “Gangly one with the hair that fell in his face all the time.”

  “Ah. Thomas. He had a soft spot for you. I should’ve known.” Vex had given me a look of pride for that shot.

  After showing them that I could handle it just fine, and some more arguing on my part, they’d finally relented and agreed for me to join the fight. So long as I stayed by at least two of them at all times.

  We made it to the station and walked into a room I hadn’t been in before. It was massive and had weapons of all shapes and sizes lining the walls. Ammunition and smaller guns were placed on a few tables that sat in the middle of the room. All-in-all, this room looked more like a military establishment than a police force. Hell, these guys made the military look like a regular old SWAT team with the types of weaponry they had holed up in here. But I guess when the targets you’re aiming at are faster, stronger, and heal from most anything; you need bigger, badder weapons to fight back with.

  There were at least eighty agents scattered around the large room, all either cleaning weapons or gearing up in tactical vests. Some of them nodded their heads or greeted Hollis as we entered, paying no mind to little ole me walking between my three massive men.

  Bishop Bentley was speaking to one of the men at the back of the room in hushed tones, but glanced up when we arrived. He excused himself and made his way to Hollis, shaking his hand when we approached.

  “I gathered extra men from some of the stations in the other burroughs,” Agent Bentley explained. “Safe to say New York City itself is the prime target, after reviewing your information. He takes this city; the others will fall not long after.”

  “I don’t doubt you’re right,” Hollis replied. “This is Vex,” he motioned at my maker. “He’s responsible for the information feed. If anyone will know Bellamy’s tactics or how he organizes his vampire army, it’ll be him.”

  I looked at my maker and wasn’t surprised to see him looking excitedly at the explosives. I elbowed him, noticing he wasn’t even paying attention to Agent Bentley as he started talking to him.

  He rubbed the spot and tapped my nose in admonishment before addressing the agent. “Sorry, distracted by all the fun stuff. What did you want from me?”

  Agent Bentley cast a glance at Hollis in a way as if to ask, ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’

  “I need you to address the teams and fill them in on what ways we’ll need to fight Bellamy and his vampires,” Agent Bentley snorted out in disdain.

  I was half expecting smoke to actually flow from his nostrils. Vex was either really brave or really indifferent to the intimidating agent. I chalked it up to his ability to find entertainment in violence that overruled his ability to be intimidated.

  “Yes. I suppose I could do that.” He kissed my cheek. “Time to go play teacher, pet. Keep out of trouble. Or at least, don’t do anything I would do.”

  I shoved his arm with a giggle, telling him to follow the bull shifter and play nicely.

  “Lucy, you go with Sloan to the station’s gun range while I debrief my team and get ready. I want to make sure that shot you fired wasn’t just lucky. These targets will be moving and will also be faster in more unpredictable patterns. If I’m putting a gun in your hand, I wanna make sure you are the best shot you can be with it.”

  I gave him a two-finger salute and winked. “Aye, aye captain!”

  He smirked and kissed me, giving me a seat on my behind as Sloan and I turned to head to the gun range. “Smart ass,” Hollis quipped at me.

  “Come on, Rambo,” Sloan said putting my head under his armpit in a playful headlock. “Let’s see what you got.”

  I laughed and shoved him off me, feeling a little less nervous about tonight than I was on our way here.

  I successfully proved that I was actually pretty decent with a gun. I didn’t know how, but apparently my coordination and steady hand from tattooing were a major part of it.

  Claudia and Abraham had come to find me and Sloan when it was time to start getting ready to go. Claudia would stay behind with the technical support, helping to keep tabs on all our locations when we arrived on scene.

  When we got to the room where everyone was gathered before, I was a little intimidated by the sight of so many geared up STF agents. All of them were in the usual black uniform; tactical vests, black military style boots, fatigues, and their badges hanging from their necks. This time, however, they were all loaded completely with tons of weapons. I saw some with swords strapped to their backs, a couple with small rocket launchers, some heavier machine guns and even one with damn ninja stars. It was like walking onto the set of an action movie.

  Hollis saw me and came over, grabbing my elbow and hauling me off to a room attached to this one. It was filled with benches and lockers, reminding me of my high school gym days in a way. He walked me to the back of the room to a bench, a pile of clothes sat there.

  “This is the women’s locker room. These should fit you. If any of it is too loose, let me know.” He dug between the piles and pulled out a serrated dagger, turning it so the handle was pointed at me. “The dagger is just for emergencies, because I’d rather you not have to get up close and personal fighting any of these vamps should we lose sight of you.”

  I took it in my hand and tested the weight of it. It was a lot lighter than it looked like it would be and fit comfortable in my hand. I tapped the side of the blade. The burning sensation made me smile. It was silver.

  “This I like,” I said with an appreciative smile.

  “It’s not a toy, Lucy,” sighed Hollis.

  “Says who?” I jested at him.

  “Dear god, you really were made by Vex. How am I just now seeing this?”

  I playfully punched his arm. “I know it’s not a toy. Go. I’ll get changed and meet you back out there.

  “You’ll be the death of me Lucy Bryant.” He kissed my forehead and left.

  I eyed the uniform, not liking that I had to wear it. I’d felt Hollis’ uniform and the material was extremely constricting. I guess tighter clothes were needed for some reason.

  I quickly changed, happy when I realized the inside was a lot softer than the outside. The vest was heavy, but not too much so. I strapped everything on then sat and looked at the boots. They were large and clunky, making me dread walking in them. I looked down at my boots, not many differences in the two, but mine were smaller and more worn. I ended up deciding to stick with my own. A good pair of shoes was always necessary when running and I could run in these babies faster than most people could run in tennis shoes.

  I slid the dagger into my boot and stood, walking over to one of the floor length mirrors. I was a little surprised how badass I looked. This uniform hugged me in all the right places. I grabbed my clothes and stuffed them in a locker, keeping my leather jacket out. As I took one last look at myself, my gut twisted. The time to fight was getting closer and my nerves were finally coming back to bite me in the ass. I’d managed to keep a cool head the last couple of days, high on life with my three lovers and just enjoying them. But now, standing here in the uniform and picturing all the others in the next room over loaded up with an assortment of killing machines, I felt frozen.

  I could die tonight. My men could die tonight.

  The weight of that suddenly become constricting. I started to hyperventilate and had to sit down. I rested my elbows on my knees and held my head in my hands, counting backwards from ten to calm down my racing heart.

  “You can do this, Luce. Get your shit together,” I mumbled to myself.

  I couldn’t let myself lose it right now. I needed to concentrate on making that son of a bitch pay for what he’d done. Not only to me or Vex, but to all those vampires he took that probably wanted nothing to do with this. They would die tonight for being forced into this and not of their own volition.

  The longer I sat there and thought about all those vampires and of the way Vex looked when he tried to kill me in his drugged state, the more I became pissed off and wanted to
make the asshole suffer.

  When I stepped back into the weapons room, I had a clearer head and an unwavering determination to win this. I would keep my cool and not back down or let my fear of the possible rule me.

  Two whistles came from my right. I looked over and saw Vex and Sloan watching me walk with appreciative smiles lighting their faces. I laughed and did a little spin, trying to keep everything as light as possible with them until I had to put my game face on.

  They both were wearing the STF uniforms, yet Vex looked extremely uncomfortable in his by the way he kept shifting while he sat.

  Sloan jumped from his seated position and pulled my face to his, giving me a deep and passionate kiss. When he let me go I looked around the room with flushed cheeks, only to see no one was paying any attention. I was all for PDA, but this room was way too intimidating for that.

  Vex decided on a lighter approach, kissing my temple and grabbing my hand to make me turn again. “Now this is a look I could get used to on you, pet. I may have to convince Hollis to let you keep it.”

  “I second that,” Sloan added, giving me some serious elevator eyes.

  “Okay, you two. Focus,” I halfheartedly chastised them.

  “Oohhh, I am.” Responded Sloan.

  “Listen up, everyone!” Agent Bentley shouted over the room. “At 1700 we are to be getting into position surrounding Central Park on all sides. The attack will most likely come around 1730, so I want all of you to be on alert at all times. There will be fourteen teams of six. Your team and location will be given to you upon departure. I will be with Agent Grey, Miss Bryant, Mr. Jenkins, Vex and Abraham. You are not to leave your location unless given a direct order by either myself or Agent Grey. So, get your weapons, fill your ammo, and get your ass to the hummers. Let’s move out!”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” Everyone but me, Sloan and Vex yelled. They all scattered like cockroaches, making last minute load ups on everything they needed.

  Hollis came out of the crowd holding a few extra guns, his agent face fully in place. When he got to us he strapped on my holster and slipped in some clips of ammo into some pouches along the belt. “This is a Glock 22,” he explained, holding up the gun for me to see. It was a lot bigger than the one I’d used in the range. He showed me where the safety was then started explaining the clips. “Do not lose your ammo. They’re in there tight, but accidents happen. There are three magazines here and there are fifteen rounds per cartridge. So, keep count, because knowing how many bullets you have or don’t have is vital. The bullets are wood with a silver core, so just aim for the head or heart and they’ll die. Do you understand me?”

  “I think so,” I replied, replaying all the steps in my head on how to do everything.

  “Alright, you three. Let’s head out,” Hollis said to us.

  “I got you, vampy babe. You may not even need to use your gun,” Sloan said, slinging an arm around my shoulders as we walked.

  “Oh, she’ll use it. Knowing Bellamy, he will have more vampires than we have team members. This is going to be a blood bath,” Vex said beside me excitedly. It was really kinda scary how Vex switched from kind of a normal dude, to completely off his rocker faster than the road runner gets away from the coyote.

  Sloan reached around and cuffed him on the back of the head. “Dude! Really? Blood bath? Bad! Calm Lucy? Good!”

  “Lucy is calm. Sloan needs to stop being a bully,” I replied to him, poking his side.

  “Hurry up you three. They’ll leave without us if we don’t,” Hollis called over his shoulder ahead of us.

  “Yes, dad!” Sloan and Vex responded simultaneously.

  It really amazed me that those two really didn’t notice how alike they really were.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  It took a good thirty minutes to make the drive to where we would be set up at. We would be in the actual park itself, looking out and signaling to the others scattered around the massive park when they made their appearance.

  The NYPD had subtly as they could, removed the humans from the park, hoping if any vampire was watching they wouldn’t notice anything. The police were told to block off all streets that lead to the park, leaving the main fighting to the STF and only intervening if they were to get past us.

  Agent Bentley parked the hummer we were piled in a couple blocks down from the park, keeping it well out of sight. We all piled out, the men all grabbing their bigger guns from the trunk of the vehicle, before we all began walking.

  We were an interesting looking group. Agent Bentley and Hollis lead the way with Vex and Sloan on either side of me and Abraham bringing up the rear. Abraham had foregone any sort of weapon that involved firing and stuck with a blade not much longer than my forearm. The sun was still up, but it was low enough behind all the buildings that we were shrouded in twilight shadow. All of the joking around was out of our system now, so it was completely silent as we walked.

  Cars were still driving by and humans were still on the sidewalks, slowly making their way home as the police diverted traffic away from the park.

  “Do you really think he will stick to his original plan?” Sloan asked Vex over me.

  “I do. But I’m also getting a weird feeling in my stomach that he will somehow get one over on us. That’s how he works.”

  Hollis slowed his step to fall back with us. “You think he has something else planned as well?” He asked him.

  “I don’t know for sure. But Bellamy has mastered the art of manipulation. I could’ve easily been given wrong information. He knew Lucy was with me the whole time she was at the compound, but he was waiting to use her against me. He played me like a fiddle then turned the tables on everything. He knew she was in the city before I even took her away. It’s very well bloody possible he fed me false information. Well, maybe not false, but possibly only a half truth.”

  “Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

  “Less talking, more walking,” Agent Bentley grumbled ahead of us, instantly silencing us all.

  We stayed this way, especially once we hit a block that was completely dead silent, the humans having been cleared out or told to stay in their homes if they lived here. We walked silently, Central Park just around the corner from the street we were on. Out of the silence, a shrilling ring startled all of us. Well, all of us except for Agent Bentley who stopped and sent a glare over his shoulder.

  “Shit!” Sloan whisper shouted, his hand fumbling around in his pocket for his phone.

  “Seriously?” Hollis asked, his brow arched in utter disbelief.

  “It’s Sawyer. She never calls me,” Sloan said in surprise when he saw the caller ID.

  “Your sister Sawyer?” I asked, having not heard him say her name in a long time.

  Pack life was a hard road to go down. Sloan left the moment he turned eighteen, shunned from his pack and family for life. But Sawyer was his twin sister and had run away at sixteen. From what he told me, she had almost as much violence in her blood as the pack they came from, letting her beast take over far more than her human side. She lived and breathed her wolf. Sloan only had minor setbacks when something made him truly angry, but Sawyer was pretty much angry all the time. Think the Hulk, but female and not green. At least, that was Sloan’s description for her. We never talked about her again.

  “You have a sister? How come I didn’t know that?” Hollis asked after Sloan turned off his phone and pocketed it.

  “Because we aren’t close. Not like twins should be, at least. She’s not a very nice person and I’ll leave it at that.” Sloan’s usual happy facade was gone. He continued walking, positioning himself behind Agent Bentley, but ahead of the rest of us.

  This was the reason I never asked about her. He was still hurt by her abandonment and would close up instantly when something reminded him of her. Her calling in the middle of us getting ready to fight could only just make Sloan’s mood worse.

  We finally made it to the edge of the park, but Agent Bentley halted us with a hand
in the air and motioned for us to rest up against the wall of the building. His hand reached around and grasped the large gun he had strapped across his shoulders, bringing it up with his finger rested near the trigger.

  Turning to us, he said, “We could be early or they could already be above ground, either way, we can’t be sure. I want all of you to get your weapons out and ready. Do not fire unless I or Hollis tell you to. You got it?”

  We all agreed, pulling our weapons out.

  My stomach tightened as I clutched my gun, placing my finger above the trigger at the ready. Agent Bentley waved us forward, urging us to go as fast and quiet as we could across the street. It was eerie that not a single sound other than our footsteps along the asphalt and distant sirens could be heard. Otherwise, it was vacant of anything else. Deserted and quiet.

  When we got to a large set of bushes at one of the entrance walkways into the park, he stopped and crouched low. Hollis pulled his radio from his belt and tapped the button on the side.

  “Check in. We are in position at the entrance. Everyone stays hidden until further command is given,” he said. Someone from each of the fourteen teams replied with the usual acknowledgement.

  “We stay low, we stay quiet.” Commanded Agent Bentley. “And for the love of god, turn off your fucking phones,” he added, giving a pointed look to Sloan.

  I felt like I was in a James Bond movie as we bobbed and weaved throughout the park, making our way to the center point of the entire area where the main exit from the sewers below was hidden. The only source of light we had was from the old-fashioned lamp posts along the sidewalks that led through the park. It was lucky we had such amazing night vision, otherwise when we ventured into the darker parts of the park, we’d be screwed.

  When we came to another stop behind one of the sidewalk walls, a loud bang was heard from the direction we were headed just before a fire ball billowed into the air. We all took cover as the explosion ignited the edges of some of the surrounding trees with fire and the aftershock of the bomb blew passed us. Someone landed on top of me, covering me with their body. It only took me two seconds to realize it was Vex protecting me.