Hunter Trials (The Vampire Legacy Book 2)

by Rita Stradling

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  A faint echo of voices reached my ears, muffled syllables that made no sense. The metallic taste of blood splashed down my throat, but it was too little and too slow. My bones ached and eyes burned, and there was only one desire raging through me—blood. I tried to turn my head toward the source of the blood, but a thick length of material wrapped around my forehead and held it still. When I writhed, trying to push my way up, thick straps bit into my shoulder, wrists, and ankles, holding me tight to a taut, plastic bed. I fought, trying in vain to get closer to the dripping blood, but my skin only burned under the straps, raw and tender. When I forced my eyes open, the world was a blurred mess of light and darkness.

  More blood splashed over my tongue, and I swallowed so fast that it stuck in my throat, and I gagged.

  "She's awake again. How much longer is this going to take to work?" Hearing Sebastian Holter’s voice made my stomach clench to the point of pain.

  “It should have worked already, and we're almost out of anesthesia. I told you that this might not work as she drank hybrid blood only seven days ago.” The male voice was vaguely familiar. "If this were a vampire transformation, she would have drunk every last drop of your blood to the point of death, mingling all of her blood with yours before feeding you your converted blood."

  “You don't need to explain basic concepts to me,” Sebastian growled. “You told me that this would work. Aside from one feeding a week ago, she’s drunk two bags of my blood every day for two weeks without a break. Her blood is mingled with mine.”

  Suddenly, the blood slipping down my tongue burned like poisonous acid sliding into my throat. Sebastian Holter had been mingling our blood in some sort of sick plot? I gagged, trying to spit it out. "Get it out of me," I sputtered. "Out."

  “She’s choking,” Sebastian said, and a second later, his blurry features moved before my eyes.

  “Dhampirs can’t choke. They can drink in their sleep.”

  “Well, she’s choking,” Sebastian snapped. "This won’t work if she’s dead." He reached forward, and his nails scraped across my chin. Tape ripped away from my skin, leaving a raw line from my lips down to my throat.

  Spitting out the rest of the blood, it dribbled down my chin, and I gasped air into my burning lungs.

  “It’s because she’s awake.” The unknown man stepped over me as he talked. Like his voice, his features were vaguely familiar. He had bushy eyebrows that connected at the center and dark, military-short hair. When he leaned in closer, I realized who he was. He was the medic that showed up at my room after the scion attack, right after I drank from Justin and before Justin vanished. “She needs to be drinking blood while this is happening. Otherwise, her heart will stop before you can pull out all of her blood. Fuck. The anesthesia is wearing off.”

  As my vision cleared, the water-stained and peeling ceiling above came into view. A repetitive beeping blared from my left, sounding like a heart monitor repeatedly echoing through a long tunnel. Beeping. A pinching feeling stretched up the length of both of my forearms. The air felt damp and cold, but it reeked of old blood and decaying bodies. I could taste the decay on my tongue. When I tried to see more, the strap around my head bit into my skin and wouldn’t let me so much as turn my head.

  “What are you doing to me?” I rasped. My fangs cut into my lips as I spoke, and hot blood dripped down my cheek.

  Sebastian stared down at me, his demon eyes filled with more life and vitality than I’d ever seen before. “Put her under again.”

  “This is the last of the anesthesia. I’ve been pumping it into her nonstop since we left the Academy. The problem is that her body is treating it like an injury and healing it.”

  "Put her under and pump the blood in and out of me faster."

  Exhaustion trickled down my face and suffused through my limbs, as if my energy drained out of my body, leaving me empty. My eyes forced themselves closed, and the world slipped away once more.

  My eyes snapped open, and this time, I was completely awake, and hot fury boiled in my chest. I bared my fangs and screamed. Other voices filled the room, but my scream drowned them out. I would not give Sebastian Holter my blood. He was not going to have a single drop of it. I fought against my restraints, knowing that they weren't enough. They were fabric, and I would cut right through them. There was a loud rip, and then my arms were free. Fingers wrapped around both of my wrists. One set of hands were strong enough to hold me down; the other wasn't even close. I broke out of their grip, wrapped my fingers into the strap around my head, and tore it like tissue paper.

  I rose, feeling like I was emerging from under a tide. We were in a dingy room with peeling walls and stained carpets. There were beds with straps and other bodies. Sebastian and the medic struggled to hold down my arms. Red tubes ran from my forearm and into Sebastian. More tubes ran out of him, filling a large bag with blood. Sebastian had paled, his skin turning waxy.

  "Get off me," I yelled as I lifted my hand and shoved the doctor. His hands ripped away from my wrist. A loud crash rang through the room from the direction I'd pushed the man, but my attention was all for Sebastian, who gritted his teeth as he held down my arm. Reaching over, I ripped out my IV. Blood squirted from my arm and splattered onto Sebastian's forearm. His eyes fixed on it and widened. His nostrils flared, and his hand reached up and squeezed around my forearm, fingers dripping in blood.

  "That’s not your blood, you sick fuck."

  Sebastian's demon eyes met mine, and he bared his teeth—his fanged teeth. Two long fangs led down from his teeth, just like mine. He'd stolen my blood and made himself into a dhampir.

  "You would have never been strong enough to take on the vampires,” he said as his hand squeezed around my wrist. “Your sacrifice here today will save thousands of humans—"

  "Liar. You just want my powers." I reeled back and swung. My fist smashed into his chin, and his jaw cracked to the side. The reverberation ricocheted up my arm.

  Sebastian's hands ripped away from mine, slamming my elbow the wrong way. A loud crack ripped through the air, followed by the thud of Sebastian Holter hitting the cement. The IV stand and blood bag toppled forward, and I just managed to grab the plastic edge of the bag. I ripped the tube free from Sebastian with numb fingers. Blood squirted from the end of the tube, Sebastian's blood. My throat involuntarily gagged as I brought the end to my lips and started drinking like a straw.

  My left arm was useless, and I couldn't move my middle finger of my right hand, but I scooted down and fumbled with the straps at my ankles.

  Fire licked through my body, spreading up through my injured elbow and hand in a blaze of agony and then vanishing. Blood. The need for it consumed my mind, and I drank faster and deeper, inhaling the bag. The plastic crinkled, sticking together and turning transparent. My hands ached as I pulled at the straps around each of my legs. The strength that had allowed me to snap my wrist and head bindings deserted my fingers. Both men were stumbling to their feet beside me. The medic rushed over, and his rough hands wrapped around my wrists and squeezed until my fingers tingled.

  I twisted furiously, trying to break his grip.

  The man gritted his teeth and called over to Sebastian, "Get the chains."

  Sebastian paced over slowly, his chin dripping blood. He wasn't looking at me. His focus was entirely on the medic. Sebastian stepped behind the soldier-looking man, leaned in, and sniffed the medic's neck.

  "Wha—?" The man didn't even have a chance to finish the word before Sebastian struck like a cobra, burying his fangs into the medic's neck. The medic screamed and released me, and his fingers fumbled at a holster at his waist. His hands shook as he struggled to pull a black revolver free. Sebastian continued to feed, biting down again and again like he was trying to chew through the man's neck. Blood sprayed, soaking the medic’s shirt. My mouth filled with saliva, while at the same time, my stomach churned and threatened to expel its contents again. The medic kept screaming and jerking. He final
ly managed to pull his gun free, but his arms spasmed as he raised his gun and pointed it back over his shoulder.

  The medic's finger moved, and an earsplitting bang echoed through the room.

  I ducked, throwing my arms over my head, and when I looked up, neither man stood there.

  Blood pounded in my ears as I scooted forward on the bed and peeked past. The moment I saw the blood and gore, I slammed my eyelids shut. I wanted out. Out of these binds, out of this place. Why couldn't my stupid super strength work on my command? I leaned in as much as I could and felt around under the table. I pressed my finger on every ridge, pulled at everything that wasn't attached, and then finally my fingers wrapped around a metal box that flipped open. Inside, my fingers found a stiff metal switch, and I flicked it open.

  The binds released, and my feet tingled and ached as I pulled them free. I slipped off the table, and the moment I put weight on my feet, my ankle threatened to roll. Laying halfway on the table, I caught my breath, and then I stumbled away from the plastic hospital bed. The office building swayed around me.

  The smell of decayed flesh was almost unbearable as I stood straight. There were seven tables in the room, and there was a vampire on every one of them. Their chests rose and fell. Their ears were pointed, and faces were leathery and gray. Only slits remained where noses should be. Masks covered the vampire’s mouths and connected to thick red tubes. More tubes connected to their arms led away from them into one long metal box. On that box, the word "Alphastrain Blood XNFSB" was printed in thick black letters.

  At the end of the bed, I crouched down and did my best to ignore the state that Sebastian and the medic were in as I grabbed a set of keys and a phone from where it had spilled out of the medic’s jacket. Then I reached forward and pried the gun from the medic's twitching fingers. He tried to fight me for a second but gave way.

  "Don't kill me," the medic whispered through a gasp. "Please."

  The man peered up at nothing through glassy eyes, but breath still rasped in and out of his lips.

  I pointed the gun down toward the man's head, but he didn't so much as flinch. "Where is Justin?" I asked through gritted teeth. "Did you turn him into that?"

  "Help me," the man whispered. Frothy blood trickled out of the man's lips as he spoke. "Call Jameson Holter."

  I pointed the gun straight between the man's eyes. I didn't know how to shoot, but I doubted that the man could observe much in the state he was in. "What is Alphastrain? What did you do to Justin?"

  "We make Alphastrain XNFSB," his words were so slurred, I could barely understand them. "Take hybrid humans ... turn into vampires. Elites. Make Elites."

  "You take hybrid humans and turn them into vampires, and then bleed the vampires to feed to the Elites?"

  "No ... no. Program ... Holter ... inject the fetus to ... " His breaths quieted, and chest fell still.

  "Hey. No. What did you do to Justin?" I nudged him with my foot, but he only flopped over and remained still. His eyes stared at nothing as a widening blood stain spread over Sebastian's collared shirt. He was dead. They both were.

  I pointed my gun at them and backed away. Hell no. After three steps back, I sprinted across the room. The door opened, and I shot one quick glance over my shoulder, only to see Sebastian still lying there, dead.

  I rushed through the door and slammed it closed behind me. The pitch-black hallway immediately glowed to my dhampir vision. The peeling walls were a soft purple color, and the cement floor beneath was a deep blue. Little yellow bugs skittered across the floor at my feet. I ran, opening every door. Most rooms held plastic bins of medical supplies and machinery. Some sat completely empty. As I ran through the halls, I slid my finger over the touch screen of the man's phone to the emergency calling and dialed 9-1-1.

  The phone didn't even ring once before I heard a voice on the line, "Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?"

  Their voice seemed to echo around the empty hallway. "My name is January Moore. I've been kidnapped, and..."

  There was a click, and then the line went silent.

  "Hello?"

  "January? This is Agent Commander Miller with the Hawthorn Group," the vaguely familiar female voice came over the line. "We're tracing your location. Are you in immediate danger?"

  I remembered the agent. She'd been the one to tell Mitch that no one was above the HG laws, but from what the medic said, this was how the Hawthorn Group made Elites under the control of the Holters.

  "January, are you in immediate danger?" Agent Miller asked again, and this time, her voice was much softer.

  "I'm trying to decide if I can trust you." I wrapped my hand around another door handle and turned the metal, only to find it locked. Quickly, I went through the medic's keys.

  "Why wouldn't you trust me? Is it me personally or all of the Hawthorn Group?"

  I didn't answer, instead, focusing on maneuvering one key after another into the lock. Finally, one turned, and I pushed the door open. A staircase glowed a deep blue, leading down into a basement.

  "January. We need to know what we're heading into," Agent Miller said over the phone speaker. "You're calling from the last number that called Justin Roberts before he disappeared. Is it your father's number?"

  "No," I said.

  "Did you recognize the people who took you?"

  "Yes."

  "January, did ..." she paused for a second, and then asked, "Did Sebastian Holter take you?"

  "Yes," I whispered.

  "Are there vampires on the premises?"

  "Yes."

  "Are you somewhere safe?"

  "I don't know," I whispered before hanging up and pocketing the phone and walking down the stairs. I lifted up the gun. It was tacky with blood, and I didn't slip my finger around the trigger for fear it would slip. Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, I pressed my shoulder into the wall and peered out of the stairwell into a dark room. On the other side of the space, six figures stood, all of them glowing in reds and yellows.

  "Where the fuck is she?" a male voice bellowed out.

  "Mitch?" I called. "Is that you?"

  All six of the figures rushed forward and stopped when long purple glowing horizontal bars blocked their approach.

  "January," both male and female voices called at once.

  "How many of you are there?"

  "There are six of us." The voice sounded like Lucas', and from the person's size, it very well could be. I searched the wall for a light switch, finding one a few paces away from the stairwell.

  I checked that the stairwell was empty once and examined the room, and then I called, "I'm turning on the light."

  Long industrial lights flickered on over the space, illuminating a concrete basement room. Horizontal metal bars bisected the room. Standing behind them, Mitch, Lucas, Zack, Mia, Susie, and ...

  "Holy shit, you're okay," Mia called as she reached one hand through the bars.

  I couldn't answer her, because a knot caught in my throat as my eyes landed on the sixth person standing in the cell. His golden eyes caught on mine, and his lips fell slightly apart and eyes wide. He looked at me like he couldn't believe his eyes, as if he knew I was a mirage and would vanish at any second.

  Hot tears coursed down my cheeks as I stumbled across the room and fell into the bars. "I thought they killed you ... that I ..."

  Justin reached through the bars and wrapped his arms around me while I sobbed.

  "Hey," Justin said, reaching up and wiping my tears away with his thumbs. He pressed his forehead against mine.

  “January,” Mia said, "let's get out of here and back to somewhere safe."

  "Yeah. Sorry. I ..." I handed off the keys to Mitch who stood a short distance away. His face was purple and yellow from bruises. When I glanced around, I realized that Susie's eye was swelling, Mia had a split lip and bleeding eyebrow, and both of the Baldwin brothers had swelling eyes and noses. A bandage covered the claw marks on Lucas' cheek, but it was stained red with blood.

 
; "What happened?" I asked. I couldn't seem to let go of Justin, and I couldn't stop the tears that dripped from my eyes. He held me too, touching my arms and sides as if he couldn't quite believe I was real.

  "These guys tried to stop the vampires and my brother from shoving us into a van," Mitch muttered, while his concentration was fixed on the massive lock between two bars. "So, we were all shoved into a van together."

  "And my dad?" I asked.

  "Your dad?" Mia asked. “Was he there?”

  Aside from Justin and Mitch, they all peered at me expectantly, as if they had no idea who I was referring to. With all that had happened in the stadium, it seemed impossible that the identity of my father could remain a mystery, but clearly, it still was.

  “No,” I said. “Never mind.”

  A crashing came from upstairs followed by the sound of boots thundering down the stairs. The footfalls ceased suddenly and simultaneously.

  "Hawthorn Group," a familiar female voice called down.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The Blackburn Academy staff had completely transformed the school chapel. Black draperies covered the hellish graveyard battle paintings along the wall matching the long tables overflowing with cakes and punch. Pop music pumped through the air, and multicolor lights flashed over us.

  Central on the floor, Mia, Susie, Lucas, and I danced around each other in our dresses and tuxes, singing along to a pop song at the top of our lungs. I didn't even know the words, something about rain and love, and I didn't care. After the month I had, all I wanted to do was dance with my friends, sneak my boyfriend up to my dorm, and pretend that I was a normal human.

  A week had passed since the Senior Hunt and everything that came after, and somehow, my life had remained strangely the same. I visited my mother and grandmother last weekend, as usual. I attended classes, and after school, I headed off to the Hawthorn Group. The only major difference was that instead of undergoing tests at the Hawthorn Group in Sebastian Holter's penthouse, everyone who’d been kidnapped went together each day and talked for hours with Agent Commander Miller. At first, they tried to separate us, but we’d stood strong. They’d interview us together or not at all. We sat around a large oval table and explained every detail of our past month.