The Arcadia Falls Chronicles: Omnibus (Books 1-6)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  But, even that didn’t come close to how I felt right now. I wanted to go back to that place and try and get her on my own. But, the Hunter in me knew that would be a suicide mission. I had to wait for back up ... for both our sakes.

  Daniels threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes. “Try to get some sleep.” It wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order, and he was right, we would all need to be well rested when it came time to go back into that place.

  Sarah settled in on the other bed and then patted the spot next to her. “Come on, Drew, I’m not gonna take advantage of you.”

  Feeling strange, I hesitantly lay down next to her, wishing I had a clean set of clothes before I lay down on the crisp bedding. I had only just closed my eyes when Daniels sat straight up in bed and slapped the comforter. “Dammit,” he cursed loudly.

  “What?” I sat up too.

  “I forgot.” He got up from the bed and went to the table where he had dropped some of the bulkier items he had been wearing. “I still have my radio.”

  I raised my eyebrows, signaling for him to continue.

  “We can listen to what’s going on there. Maybe they will say something that can help us when we infiltrate.”

  Sarah’s eyes brightened. “Maybe we will hear something about Spike and John.”

  I really hoped those two had been left out of all of this. The government really didn’t have any reason to keep them detained as prisoners, so I assumed they were all right. But, you never knew with this particular group we were dealing with. “I’m sure they’re all right,” I tried to assure her.

  She nodded. “I hope so.”

  Daniels switched his eyes back and forth between us. “Who are you guys talking about?”

  “Sarah came here with two other guys, Spike and John, they specialize in building ammunition ... and they know how to make ultraviolet rounds that can kill vampires.”

  “I can’t say I’ve seen them around, but the Pentagon is also a big place. They could be anywhere in there. But, we do have a section we set up during the apocalypse for weapons and ammunition manufacturing. We wanted to make sure that we could recycle as much as we could ... just in case we ever ran out.”

  Sarah appeared comforted by his words. “Yeah, I’m sure they’re fine. But, I still want them out. Those assholes saw me with you guys, so now that they know I’m with you, they may try and use Spike and John against us.”

  That hadn’t occurred to me until she mentioned it. “Oh crap,” I muttered.

  “That’s true,” Daniels added. “I wouldn’t put it past ‘em.” He switched the radio on. “We’re going to run out of battery eventually and will have to find some more, but we can leave it on for now.”

  With that, we all headed back to the beds where we lay for hours, listening to the radio, unable to sleep. Nothing important came across the waves, it was all normal stuff like shift changes and security point check in’s.

  Eventually, my body couldn’t resist anymore and my lids fluttered shut, sending me into a darkness with no dreams.

  ~~~***~~~

  I woke to sunlight streaming through the crack in the heavy hotel curtains and Daniels sawing logs on the bed beside us.

  Turning my head away from the window, I found Sarah laying there wide awake, staring at the ceiling. “Couldn’t sleep?” I asked.

  “I’m surprised that you could with that ruckus over there.” She jerked her thumb at Daniels, who snorted and then turned on his side.

  I rolled my eyes. “I’ve learned to sleep through pretty much anything when I have to. Anything come over the radio?”

  She shook her head. “You know I would’ve woke you if anything did.”

  I let out a long sigh and rubbed some of the sleep from my eyes. “Dammit.”

  “Yeah,” she whispered, letting out her own sigh.

  Quietly, I rose from the bed and headed to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands and staring at myself in the mirror, I caught sight of the coffee pot sitting on the counter beside the little tray scented soaps wrapped in paper. If Chloe were here, she would have already had that thing brewing. She loved coffee.

  A simple thought like that reminded me how much I loved her. The fact remained, I was not going to lose her, not now ... not ever.

  “Hey,” Daniels hollered, pounding on the door. “You gonna be in there all day?”

  Shaking off the emotions, I turned and pulled open the door. “Sorry.”

  “No worries, man, if I didn’t have to piss so bad you could stay in there all day for all I care.” He passed by me and then shut the door behind him.

  The clock beside the bed said that it was five in the evening, so the team should be arriving sometime in the next few hours. I turned to Sarah, “Let’s get the others and start forming a plan.”

  ~~~***~~~

  Darkness fell around eight thirty and I still sat by the window, staring down at the parking lot, watching for the Luke and the team to show up. I’d been staring at the almost empty lot for two hours and my patience was starting to wear thin.

  While I waited, I half-heartedly tried to move the curtains by using the air. I closed my eyes and concentrated, trying to pull the air into my body so that I could push it out, like what happened back in the cell. When that didn’t work, I opened my eyes and tried to push the air with my hand. No matter how much I concentrated, nothing happened.

  I gave up quickly. The incident back in the cell was probably just a fluke, anyway. People displayed supernatural acts all the time when it was needed, like lifting cars off of a person, things like that.

  Not only was my patience starting to wear thin, doubt was also starting to set in. Maybe they weren’t going to come after all. Maybe the Board had shut down the idea, they had done it before. When Chloe was at her Dad’s they refused to send a team to go get her and that was just one vampire they would have been going against. This time, it was pretty much the entire Department of Defense we were talking about.

  I just hoped they would remember who was responsible for ending the Vampire Apocalypse and help her in return. Chloe had risked more for the community than most of the Hunters who had lived there their entire lives.

  Daniels kept glancing at me, doubt also beginning to form within his expression. Sarah switched her gaze between me and him. “Oh stop it you guys, they’re going to come. Have a little faith.”

  Just as she was scolding us in her Louisiana twang, two motorhomes slowed and turned into the parking lot. They parked haphazardly on the backside of the lot and then the passenger door on the first one burst open.

  Luke stepped down onto the pavement, dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, with more weapons strapped to him than I had ever seen on him before.

  Thank God.

  “They’re here!” I hollered, jumping up and scaring the crap out of Daniels and Sarah. “Let’s go.” I didn’t have anything with me to pack so I hurried over to the room beside ours and rapped on the door. “The team is here, let’s go.” I called to them, then ran the stairs and out into the parking lot.

  Luke saw me coming and smiled a weary smile. “Have you checked out yet?” he asked.

  I shook my head, “Not yet, I wanted to let you know I knew you were here first. You better get back in the motor home, you have on too many weapons to be walking around like that in public.” I called the last part over my shoulder as I jogged back in to check out of the hotel.

  Once all that was done, I ran back outside and found that the rest of the group was in one of the motorhomes. Daniels had already introduced himself and was briefing the Hunters on the situation at the Pentagon.

  Luke and Sarah had already met in New Orleans. I could tell he was surprised to see her, but I also knew that he was more than happy to help get her guys back as well since he had met them in Louisiana too.

  I was happy to see that Alice and Oscar were also among the team of Hunters crowded into the recreational vehicle. Thank God they came along, Alice’s magic and Oscar’s ability to comp
el people was going to come in handy, for sure.

  Alice squeezed her way toward me and gave me a big hug. “It’s going to be all right,” she whispered, “We’re going to get her back. I promise.”

  I nodded. “Thank you for coming.”

  She smiled as Oscar appeared beside her. “As if we wouldn’t have come,” she said. I glanced up at Oscar and gave him another nod, he acknowledged with his own and then rested his chin on Alice’s head.

  Daniels was bent over a table, scribbling on a large piece of paper where he had drawn a sketch of the Pentagon. “We will go in this entrance, take out the security there and then take this hallway to the elevators. They are probably keeping Chloe on the very bottom floor, but as for Spike and John, they will most likely be somewhere in this area.”

  Gavin, who wore a grim expression, closed his eyes and then opened them again. “I hate that we are going to have to shoot at people. So many are going to die during this mission.”

  Luke clapped Gavin on the shoulder. “I thought of that already.” Luke turned and wedged his way through all the Hunters and then reappeared shortly with two large black duffle bags. He threw them on the table, right on top of Daniels’ drawing and unzipped one. “We have tranq guns,” he explained as he lifted one out and held it up for us to see.

  Normally, I wasn’t one for having to shoot anyone who was human, but at this point I didn’t care if we did. They had Chloe. Period. I would kill whoever I had to in order to get her back.

  “Nice,” Gavin smiled.

  Christina and Zander appeared to share my opinion about the tranquilizer guns, but Daniels and Sarah looked like they were happier about not having to kill anyone.

  Daniels continued to speak. “The only major problem we are going to have to begin with is that my keycard has probably been deactivated, so it won’t work anymore, we’re going to have to hit this security here,” he moved aside a black bag and pointed to a section on his drawing, “and take them out quietly. Then we grab their cards and weapons.”

  Everyone nodded that it was a good starting move, and continued to listen, sometimes asking questions. Preparing for the mission went on for about an hour. We absolutely could not go in there blind, if we did, we would lose people and that wasn’t an option.

  Once the plan was set, we split into two groups and divided into the motorhomes. As soon as the engine fired up and the vehicle began to move, anxiety started to kick in, so I headed for the back and found the area where all the weapons were stashed. I grabbed a couple of guns and knives and found a few smoke bombs sitting in a box beside the grenades, which I also snatched a couple of.

  The knives had sheathes with them that strapped on, but the guns didn’t and the soldiers back at the Pentagon had taken mine, so I was reduced to having to tuck the handguns into the back of my jeans. After I had everything securely placed on my body, I opened one of the black duffels and picked out a tranq gun for myself.

  By the time I finished, we were nearly there so I squeezed my way through all the people, smiling at my fellow Hunters whom I’d known my whole life and made my way all the way to the front so I could be one of the first ones off.

  Both vehicles slowed and pulled to a stop about a quarter mile away from the Pentagon property. We wanted to go in quiet and that wasn’t going to happen if we rolled up in a big ass motorhome.

  We parked off road in a deserted parking lot and the driver killed the engines. I already had my hand on the door knob and flung the door open practically before the thing even stopped.

  “Drew, hold your horses, son.” Luke was right behind me, sporting his own tranq gun. “We stay together for now, remember?”

  I nodded, but looked away. “I can’t help it,” I explained.

  “I know,” he said. His voice was soothing to me, since Luke was the father to me that my biological one couldn’t be. “Be patient, we are almost to the hardest part.”

  Reluctantly, I stood back and waited for the rest of the team. I didn’t have to wait long though because a few minutes later we were creeping silently through the darkness, keeping our movements slow and deliberate. It was killing me to move so slowly, but I knew it had to go this way for the mission to succeed.

  Alice was with me, near the front of the pack, so that she could provide a shield if things went wrong. Of course, Oscar was close at her side. He wasn’t a bad asset to have either, all he had to do was talk and anyone he wanted to would follow his instructions.

  We reached the first security check point with no problem. Normally there would have been guards in the little kiosk located at the entrance to the property, but with the risk of vampire attacks so high at night, they didn’t have anyone on watch.

  Our first obstacle was the check point at the entrance to the building itself. As we drew closer, I moved ahead, along with Daniels and Luke. Alice was with us, but stayed right behind, just in case. As soon as the soldiers on watch came into view, the three of us lifted our tranquilizer guns and fired.

  We all struck our intended targets and the three uniformed men had no idea what hit them. The one at the desk slumped over, his head thumping hard against the shiny, unyielding surface. The other two were leaning on the wall beside the desk, one of them instantly slid to the floor, unconscious while the last one reached up and slapped his neck as if he were swatting at a mosquito. He pulled the dart from his neck, stared at it for a split-second before he toppled forward.

  As one, the team surged forward, filing through the entrance and heading toward their intended areas of infiltration. Daniels stooped to grab one of the guards’ keycards and radio sounded with static. A female voice came over the waves. “Code red, engaging, more than I can count, three down.”

  “Shit,” Daniels grunted, sprinting alongside me toward the elevators. “They know we’re here.”

  I nodded. “We knew that would happen.”

  “They’re going to lock the elevators, let’s go for the stairs.”

  Daniels hit the door to the stairwell, slamming into it and practically knocking the soldiers coming up the stairs, back down.

  “Stop! Right there,” the guy at the front of the pack demanded, regaining his composure.

  I felt the magic engulf us as Alice’s shield slid down between us and the soldiers. “You stop,” I told him and then pushed through the shield so that I was on the outside. The first soldier stood on the landing of the stairs and I charged him, ramming my shoulder into his chest, he fired but it went in a random direction, as did all the other shots that were fired when all those soldiers went down the stairs like dominoes.

  Our team began firing their tranq guns all at once. They moved forward, hitting any piece of flesh on any person that they could. The gun fire from the enemy gradually became less and less until all of them were unconscious.

  I took in a deep breath and then released it. Well, that part was over, we were making progress and we were still alive, so that was good. I stared at the bodies piled in a heaps, trailing down the stairs and glanced at Luke, then Daniels.

  “We have to.” Luke said.

  “I know.” I replied grimly, moving forward and holding onto the side rail as I stepped onto a soldiers back.

  From behind me I heard Alice mumble, “I’ve done a lot of really strange things in my life, but this is probably in the top five.”

  “At least they aren’t dead,” I told her. “That would have made it really creepy.”

  “True that,” she agreed.

  We climbed our way over the bodies until they ended. I breathed a bit more easily when the solid steps were under my feet. “This way.” Daniels motioned the direction we were supposed to go and led the way.

  Our group consisted of me, Luke, Daniels, Alice, Oscar, Zander and several other Hunters from Arcadia Falls. Christina and Gavin had taken a portion of the team to search for the section where Spike and John might be.

  We ran into more soldiers along the way and took them out with an easy shot from the tranq guns.
I was just beginning to think that this mission might be easier than we thought when things started going downhill. We were only feet from the stairwell that would take us down another level, when the thunder of booted feet reverberated through the halls.

  With the echo, it was hard to tell which way the sound was coming from. I turned one way and then the other, preparing for the appearance of our enemy at the moment. My lips opened to form the words, to ask Alice to put the shield around us, when a loud crack echoed in my ears.

  Alice screamed, lurching forward and grabbing her thigh. Oscar, reached out and caught her before she hit the floor. It was suddenly like it was all in slow motion. I was torn between searching for the enemy and eliminating the threat, or pushing my way through the group to help Alice.

  Oscar pulled her arm around his shoulders and held her by the waist. She still had one hand pressed to her thigh, where blood seeped out from between her fingers.

  Turns out, I didn’t have time to do either of those options because the thundering stopped and a group of soldiers appeared on each side of us. They had trapped us, and apparently they had spotted Alice and what she could do so they took her out first.

  Ok. Hardball it would be.

  Through her pain, Alice saw what had happened and I felt the slight shimmer of magic around me, but the full protection of the shield never rose. She was injured and her body was putting all of its energy into that, no matter how hard she tried.

  Oscar murmured softly to her, “Don’t. You can’t help right now.” He gazed down at her with worry in his eyes and then reluctantly tore his gaze away and in a loud, but firm voice addressed the enemy. “Go. What you are doing here is hurting innocent people. Lower your weapons and leave this place. Walk away and keep walking until daylight breaks. When the sun shines upon your face, you will feel better than you have felt for a long time, but you will not remember this place. The Pentagon and the Department of Defense will become a lost memory.”

  I’d seen Oscar’s gift at work, but never like this. Every single soldier surrounding us lowered their gun and glanced around, appearing confused. That confusion was soon replaced with a determined, almost robotic look in their eyes as they wordlessly turned and marched toward the exit.