by SGD Singh
Jax shook her head. Watching Lucas on the screen, she felt ice trickle down her spine. Something about him seemed… wrong. Then the screen changed, and she thought she might have imagined it.
Still.
“Are you sure that was him?”
“You tell me. How many people look like Lucas?” Esteban smiled, his hands moving across the keys. “Where are you, Lucas? There!” He hit some keys, leaning back in triumph, and every screen filled with the image of Lucas walking down a hallway, smiling and talking with a group of stunningly beautiful people.
“Huh,” Esteban mumbled. “Apparently more people look like him than I realized.”
As Jax watched the video loop, she felt the ice settle in her gut. He looked like Lucas, but the person on the screen didn’t move like Lucas. Didn’t smile, walk, gesture, didn’t anything like Lucas.
“This is right now? Tonight?”
“Yep. Outside the Four Season’s six thousand square-foot price-upon-demand suite. Looks like a party.”
The Lucas on the screen turned to the gorgeous person next to him with a gesture Jax had never seen him use, and the group burst into silent laughter before disappearing through the suite’s wide double doors. Esteban punched some keys. “As of right now, he’s still there.”
Jax got up, gripping the older man’s shoulder and slapping it once to cover up for the fact she couldn’t feel her legs. “Thanks. We’re even.”
He held Jax’s arm, stopping her, and studied her face. “Tell me.”
Don’t lie to him. He’ll know it.
“Something’s—off,” she shrugged. “But at least he’s alive, right?”
Esteban’s expression was searching, but he let go of her arm. Jax slapped his shoulder again, and rushed to the door.
“Take it easy,” Esteban called, already turning back to his monitors.
Back in the parking lot, Jax took out her cell phone. Three thirty-one in the morning. Maria would be finishing her shift in exactly twenty-nine minutes.
She got in a taxi line and told the driver, “The Four Seasons.”
Chapter 3
“No way, Jax.” Maria shook her head. “You’re going to get me fired.”
“You won’t get fired. I’m just gonna make sure Lucas is all right. I’ll be the most perfect room service employee ever, I promise.”
“It’s a party. He’s more than all right. Can’t you just wait for him to come home? You’re like a nagging mother.”
Maria looked determined.
Jax was more determined.
“Don’t make me bring up the thing with your cousin.”
Jax had helped Maria’s cousin delete his record so he could see his daughter, who happened to also be Esteban’s granddaughter.
The older woman flushed, and Jax felt dirty using someone’s misery against them. But the memory of Lucas who wasn’t quite Lucas gave her the strength to hold her hand out. “Just give me the uniform and the key card and I will never bother you again. You have my word.”
Maria’s dark eyes filled with equal parts disgust and disbelief as she reached into the cart overflowing with towels, sheets, and tiny bottles of soap and shampoo. She shoved a uniform roughly at Jax’s chest, and ripped her keycard off her neck. “Fine. Here.”
“I’ll leave these at your mom’s,” Jax said, but Maria ignored her.
Jax put the tan jacket over her own clothes and, using Maria’s keycard, took the service elevator down to the kitchen. With a confident wave and a smile, she grabbed the first room service cart she saw, and took it to the top floor.
Following the corridor from the service elevator, she approached the landing outside the private guest elevator just as it opened and Esteban walked out.
“Esteban? What—”
He barely noticed her, moving quickly toward the door of the suite.
“Something happened. One of the servers got a call out, but her phone went dead. They don’t want trouble for the hotel, so they called me to check it out.” He moved past her, dismissive, but Jax followed him. Esteban reached for his taser. “This isn’t about Lucas. You shouldn’t be here.”
“Let me go in first. I’ll see—”
“No. Go home. This isn’t—”
A scream exploded from the other side of the double doors to the suite, and the two of them turned, their argument forgotten.
Esteban replaced his taser with a gun as Jax shoved the trolly down the hallway and rushed to the door.
“Jax, get back!” Esteban shouted, reaching for her just as the doors were jerked open from the inside.
A tall woman, her sequined clothes torn, stood framed in the doorway for a second before she disappeared, yanked violently backward into the room, and Jax heard something hit marble with a sickening crunch.
She moved through the door without thinking, and saw Lucas, crouched on the floor. His beautiful face was buried in the neck of a woman, half sprawled on the floor before him.
Jax’s mind clung to insignificant details in a futile attempt to shut out the impossible. The woman’s silver dress, bunched up around her long, twitching legs. A silver anklet. A dangling rose charm. Red suede platform shoes. Painted toes.
Then the woman stopped moving.
Lucas brushed the woman off his lap like so many crumbs and leapt to his feet.
His eyes fixed on Jax, and she felt her heart come to a screeching halt when he smiled. His teeth were pointed… and covered in blood.
Oh, God.
There was no recognition in his eyes as he tilted his head, his skin even paler than the last time she had seen him. His nostrils flared, and his grin widened. Lucas—her brother—advanced toward her.
“Welcome to the party, beautiful.”
This can’t be happening.
Jax’s knife was in her hand before she could think, but Lucas’s hand, cold as ice, was already around her wrist, crushing the bones until the knife fell to the floor.
Jax barely felt the pain. “What happened to you?” she whispered. What are you?
Esteban fired his gun, the sound deafening within the confined space, and Jax flinched. Lucas didn’t.
Not letting go of her wrist, Lucas turned his body to the other side of the room, wrenching Jax’s arm painfully. The luxurious suite of gilded gold and opulent sky blues behind him lay in ruins, splattered with the blood and the broken bodies of at least three women.
As Jax watched helplessly, five more terrifying figures—Lucas’s gorgeous companions she’d seen on the cameras—appeared in the bedroom door. They closed in on Esteban in the blink of an eye, even as he emptied his weapon into their faces. And before he could blink, one of the creatures reached out and ripped apart his throat in one blurred movement, and Jax heard herself scream as the blood of the seemingly invincible veteran washed down his chest, and his legs collapsed beneath him.
Lucas made a strange hissing noise, and the others turned to him with inhuman, reptilian speed. Then they were all looking at her.
Musical laughter filled the room as they surrounded her, their nostrils flaring hungrily.
“You have to share this one,” a dark haired woman purred, touching Jax’s hair with icy fingers.
“She knew my human,” the thing in the Lucas-body said, and his ravenous smile froze her soul. “I think that makes her all mine.”
His accent was strange, as if the words were foreign to him. As if his mouth was foreign to him.
“Since when is that a rule?” someone behind her said, and Jax felt cold hands graze her neck. Nausea flared in her throat, battling the pain in her wrist, and Jax’s mind scrambled for impossible escape. More of the things were entering the room from the bedrooms, blood-covered lips standing out against pale skin as they gathered around her. Jax closed her eyes, falling to her knees in defeat as her mind screamed one impossible word.
Vampires.
And then teeth, sharp as razors, were on her neck.
Jax felt arms of familiar shape with none of the
ir familiar warmth, crushing her, and as her consciousness began slipping away with her blood, Jax accepted death with exhausted relief.
Jax accepted death with exhausted relief.
“Lucas.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I’m so sorry…”
Abruptly the cold arms released her, and Jax fell to the floor, wondering for a brief second if somehow Lucas was back, had heard her apology and magically returned. She stared through her tears to see bursts of flames filling the room, leaving the floor charred and the air full of the smell of burning sulfurous-plastic.
The Vampire wearing Lucas’s body screeched like a creature from hell, the sound like claws on her heart, and Jax’s hands flew to her ears as she saw him rush for the door.
A girl who looked no older than Jax emerged from the smoke in front of him, spinning, her blonde hair fanning out behind her, and an enormous sword flashed in her hands.
Lucas’s head rolled from his shoulders.
An instant.
An eternity.
Jax couldn’t breathe as horror threatened to crush her lungs. Her eyes felt glued open as she watched a towering boy wearing a black turban plunge something into the decapitated body, and both pieces of what used to be Lucas burst into flames.
Dead. And dead again.
Jax lay against the legs of a silk-cushioned chair, frozen in place. Flames flickered out around the suite and she watched six figures move toward her through the quickly dissipating smoke, as if in slow motion.
Saved from Vampires, only to be killed by teenaged ninjas with swords.
These new intruders all wore matching black clothes with green arm bands, their long shirts trailing below belts weighed down with weapons. Their upper legs were strapped with knives and stakes, and bands across their chests carried weapons Jax had never seen strapped to their backs.
Moving with synchronized, cat-like grace, they surrounded her.
Are they smiling?
The tall blonde girl gave another girl a high five, and Jax flinched as if she’d been slapped.
They’re enjoying this.
The huge one wearing a turban spoke in a strange language to a boy with long hair held mostly out of his face in a high ponytail, who held up seven fingers.
Then they all moved aside as a small girl stepped forward and knelt beside Jax. Her eyes were of such vivid blue-green, it was almost as if they glowed. A boy with olive skin and messy hair moved to stand behind her, and the others grew still. Something dark dripped down the boy’s cheek, and he shook his head almost imperceptibly, crossing his arms and frowning down at Jax.
Jax got the impression the group was waiting for the girl with the creepy eyes to do something.
The girl reached out with a heavily-ringed hand, and Jax cringed before she could stop herself, wincing as her head hit the chair behind her.
The girl gripped Jax’s fingers like warm iron, her jewel-like eyes unreadable as a feeling of calm washed over Jax. Pain in her wrist and ribs faded as if it had never existed, and Jax reached for the place where Not-Lucas had bitten her neck, feeling only smooth skin underneath drying blood.
“How…?” She heard her voice shake, and wondered how much blood she’d lost.
“Are you okay?” the girl asked, her voice full of compassion.
Turning to the boy with messy hair, she said as if he had spoken, “No. One of them used to be her… family.”
How could she know that?
The girl who had seemed so kind now seemed terrifying. Jax tried to pull her hand free, but the girl closed her fingers with surprising strength. Warmth once again spread from her hand up Jax’s arm, filling her chest.
“It’s okay,” she said, and the way she said it, Jax almost believed her. “I’m sorry he’s gone.” The girl was quiet, still smiling sadly at her. After a long pause, she said, “You can come with us.”
The blonde stepped forward. “Asha, are you insane? She’s a civilian, for fuck’s sake!”
The huge boy in the turban hissed, “Lexi. Language.”
The messy-haired boy crouched down, his leg against the girl apparently named Asha, and they glared at each other. Jax had the impossible thought that they were having a silent argument. Not a silent argument like other couples, because they were obviously a couple, but an actual silent argument.
Finally the boy shrugged and stood. Jax saw him smile up at the serious-looking boy with the ponytail, and then he crossed the room and peered out into the hallway.
“Asha?” The third girl, who Jax realized had unnatural yellow eyes, looked at Jax with concern. The blonde—Lexi—sighed with dramatic exasperation.
Asha looked around at the group, unfazed. “She comes with us,” she said.
Something about Asha’s voice held finality. Command. Jax felt her panic rising.
They’re kidnapping me.
The girl’s fingers tightened around Jax again, and her peculiar eyes glowed brighter. This time, instead of feeling calmer, Jax felt herself losing focus, her consciousness fading as Asha’s voice said, “’Lakha. Carry her.”
“Me?” a low voice answered, and Jax looked up to see the pony tailed boy step forward as laughter filled the darkness.
Chapter 4
Jax opened her eyes against black fabric. Strong arms held her, and she jerked, trying to pry herself free, and pushing at a muscled chest.
“Can you walk?” A deep voice vibrated in the chest against her ear. Jax felt herself gently released.
When her feet were on the floor, she looked up at the boy with the samurai hairdo. He was tall, maybe six foot two, his handsome features Middle Eastern or Indian, his eyes even more striking than Vodka Boy’s.
“I’m Kelakha,” he said.
Looking around, Jax recognized the hotel hallway.
Kelakha motioned her to follow the group and stayed by her side as they moved forward.
Someone behind them called, “Can you imagine if the power went off in a place like this?” and Jax recognized Lexi’s voice. “It would be pitch dark. A good place to start a Zombie apocalypse, definitely.”
Asha said, “Shut up, Lexi. You’re freaking her out.”
“So let her go back to her safe little civilian world,” Lexi snapped.
A burst of noise came from around the corner, and the turbaned boy said, “Here they come! Yaar, they look pissed.”
Kelakha stopped and turned, holding an arm in front of her, and Jax followed his gaze down the hallway to see another group of armed, black-clothed teenagers running toward them. Three boys with long, straight hair, who had to be Native Americans, were closely followed by two Asian boys, one with spiky blue hair and the other almost as enormous as the boy with the turban. Jax sucked in a breath when she saw his long spear, with its wide and curving jagged blade on one end, and she wondered how the hell these kids had gotten so many weapons into the resort.
Kelakha said, “It’s all right. They’re friends.”
Oh. Well that makes me feel so much better. Friends of murdering kidnappers. Yay.
Trailing behind them at a casual jog was a round boy with skin almost as dark as his clothing and thick blond-streaked hair that fell in his face. He, like the rest of the new arrivals, had a blue band around his arm.
He made a hand gesture that could only be interpreted as rude, and the group with Jax burst into laughter.
“Don’t be sore losers, boys!” Lexi called. “To only the very best goes the prize.”
The three Native boys crossed their arms in unison, and up close Jax could see that except for the tattoos around their wrists—a badger, a bear and a ram—the boys were perfectly identical.
“Care to test that theory?” The middle triplet, Badger Tattoo, said. “Double or nothing.”
“Tempting,” Lexi said, grinning widely.
This is just a game to these people.
“Very.” The girl with cat eyes smirked at the sixth boy. “But Asha here decided to adopt a civilian, so we have to go. You’ll just h
ave to accept defeat, Kai.”
“The night is young,” said Bear Tattoo, glaring. “We’ll beat your number.”
The boy standing with Asha spoke out loud for the first time. “Not here, you won’t.” His voice reminded Jax of distant thunder. “Your best bet would be Los Angeles. Before dawn. But with our numbers?” He shook his head. “Can’t be done.”
Ram Tattoo turned to Kelakha hopefully. “’Lakha?”
Kelakha shook his head. “Two hundred. Sorry, Koko.”
The round boy lunged toward Kelakha, and Jax flinched away, but the boys were just slapping shoulders and performing some complicated handshake. “Two hundred?” He looked at Asha’s boyfriend. “Are you fucking shitting me, Aquila? Two hundred in forty-eight hours?”
Jax felt sick.
Two hundred deaths? What the hell kind of monsters are these?
The air changed, and Jax realized that everyone’s attention had turned to her. The triplets cocked their heads in unison, and she was strangely reminded of birds.
The round boy crossed his arms. “You can’t just bring a civilian into Central Headquarters, Asha.”
The boyfriend, Aquila, looked almost proud. “Don’t waste your breath. She’s made up her mind.”
Jax stared at the teenagers—warriors—surrounding her, and studied their faces with mounting fear. How could she escape when there were so many of them, and they were so heavily armed?
They turned away from her then, a synchronized unit, and argued in a language she didn’t recognize as the group continued along the hallways, their banter easy.
Jax felt a kind of cold resignation fill her mind. There was no escaping anytime soon. If ever.
And Lucas. Lucas is dead.
It was as if her mind were fighting with itself, forgetting and then remembering, over and over again, his irreversible absence from her life.
Jax felt tears burn her eyes, and she began to tremble as she was led up a fire escape and onto the roof, Kelakha staying at her side.
A black helicopter gleamed in the city’s glow, and Jax’s mind distracted her again with insignificant details. Six passenger AW119KE Koala. Good to know I’m being kidnapped in style at least.