by Leia Stone
Noises were still muffled; only the occasional high-pitched sound was making it through, but I felt him groan beneath me. His body started to lift and we were running. I sensed there were others around us, but I couldn’t see anything from where he had me pressed down. Fighting and screaming as hard as I could, I found a gap in his ninja outfit and gouged at the skin. Biting and clawing was chick fighting, but I wasn’t in the best position for anything else right now.
Or was I?
Markus had shown me a few self-defense moves for situations like these, but it was so hard to remember with the cloudiness of my head and the adrenalin coursing through my veins. I knew my life depended on it though. Once Sanctum were through delivering me to whomever hired them this time, I’d be dead. I had to fight now while I still had a chance.
Giving myself a second, I let my body relax, almost as if I’d passed out. The grip on my body did not ease; these guys were professional through and through. Dropping my hands, I grabbed a hold of the material below, hoping like hell this wasn’t a one-piece outfit. A sob of relief left me when I felt the give as the material rose. I kicked out again, utilizing the small movement I had in my legs. My hope was that he’d focus on my kicks and not realize what else I was doing. Kicking again, I pulled up the back of his shirt as hard as I could. When I had it near his neck, I snaked my arm along the front of his throat, and grabbed onto the shirt on the other side, effectively freeing my upper body so I could lock my arms and start to choke him, using his own shirt as leverage.
He ground to a halt and we struggled for a few moments. I kept my grip as tight as possible around his throat, and at the same time kicked off hard from his shoulder and surprisingly enough he released me. I slammed into the ground. Scrambling on the road, I looked about, hoping like hell someone was around to save me. But there was nobody but the five ninja dudes now circling me. Shit.
Yep, five. Because I had a chance to even take down one of these highly trained mercenaries.
The one I’d choked out was straightening his clothes, glaring at me. He had a mix of Western and Asian features, and I would classify him as beautiful but deadly. He opened his mouth, saying something, but my ears still weren’t working properly. All I could think was escape, get away.
I didn’t scream again, no point really; the explosion would have been heard for miles and any help was heading in that direction. Instead, I got to my feet, as steadily as I could. None of the mercenaries moved closer, and the beautiful one was still trying to talk to me.
Screw this. “I can’t hear you because you decided to blow up a house that I was inside.”
No idea if I’d shouted that or just spoke. I did know that anger had my chest heaving, and fear had the blood in my veins running icy cold. Were the other guys okay? The enforcers. No one had followed us, which gave me a very bad feeling. Shit. I really hoped Ryder and the others got back soon; there was every chance that if they could get medical attention and blood to the boys, they’d be okay. They had to be okay.
After my shouted statement, and flipping him off, the Sanctum guy stepped forward. I raised my hands up and prepared for a fight. Of course, I should have known he was nothing more than a distraction, as a small prick hit the side of my neck. I brushed at the jabbed area, and knocked off whatever little dart had hit me.
Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap. This was going to kill Ryder. My heart stilled then, and as the sedative pumped through my veins, I let the enforcer’s image enter my mind. I couldn’t leave Ryder; we had such a short time together and I wanted more. So much more. I wanted forever.
I held on to his image as long as I could. Tendrils of foggy darkness closed in around it and I fought with all my will. But there was nothing I could do, and as I slumped forward, a single tear trickled from my eye as the blackness took me.
My first thought upon waking was, “I’m not dead!” Then a raging headache slammed into me and I groaned, fighting through the fog like a thick blanket. Wait … I’d heard that groan. My hearing must have healed in the time I’d been unconscious. How long had it been? Damn, I hoped my boys were okay. I wondered what the odds were that I’d see any of them again.
Ready to bust out of wherever I was being held, I struggled to open my eyes and finally managed to do so, sitting up.
Okay … what the eff? I was in a super fancy hotel room suite. Weird place to bring someone to kill them. Death in style, what a way to go.
The door was open a crack and I heard the TV on in the other room. My eyes darted all around as I tried to plan my escape. The idiots hadn’t tied me to the bed! I wasn’t even cuffed. I assumed the window to the left of the bed would be sealed shut. All hotels were. Probably for this very reason … they didn’t want me jumping out of it. The bathroom to my right was windowless. Crap.
Should I rush whomever was outside the room, hoping to take them by surprise? Or pretend to still be passed out, and when they checked on me rise from the dead and take out as many as I could?
“Princess is up.”
Eyes appeared through the crack in the door and I groaned. Element of surprise gone already.
Popping to my feet, I stood on the bed, fists raised. No one took down Charlie without a fight. One of them kicked the door open, and upon seeing me on the bed he smiled. They all shuffled in one by one, dressed in black, and I realized I was still with Sanctum. Were they retrieving me for someone or was this my last stop?
A figure stepped forward and I recognized Laz, the creepy shithead who had kept Jayden captive in my apartment. That POS was on my list. And my list was not a place anyone wanted to find themselves.
Black eyes with a sliver of silver flashed at me. He threw both hands up in front of him. “Calm down, Princess, we’re here to talk about a truce,” Laz said.
I wasn’t falling for that shit. I didn’t lower my hands. “Yeah right. You want the millions the vampires put on my head.”
He nodded. “I won’t deny that in the past that was true. We’re mercenaries. We work for whomever can pay us the most money. It’s what we’ve had to do to survive in a world where vampires dominate. But now … well, now we know you’re the cure.”
Shit. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I don’t know how long I was passed out for but I needed blood soon.
“I’m the cure … so what? If you wanted a truce you wouldn’t have blown up our house. You could have done something civil like … I don’t know, knock on the damn door!”
For the first time frustration crinkled his face, and with a sigh he ran his hand through his hair. “We tried that in Alaska and you killed our scout.”
I saw red again, anger bursting from me in a torrent of curses. “You set fire to our friend’s barn! Stop destroying shit and we might stop killing you.”
One of the other guys stepped forward. “So if Toby had knocked on the door you would have welcomed him inside for a chat?”
Well, shit, he had a point. I didn’t reply, just groaned. We had such bad beef with these guys that anytime we saw them we just killed on sight. My head was pounding way too hard for this conversation, and I was really worried about the sexy six. If these morons had hurt any of them, they could forget a truce. We’d have a damned war.
Laz opened his hands. “Here’s the deal. We’ve heard about your plan on the network and we want in.”
Fucking Sanctum was on the network? FAIL. Zack needed to rethink his security measures. I knew it was supposed to be for ash, but these guys were not the sort of ash you wanted to share secrets with.
“Why should I trust your bullshit? Last time I saw you, you had a gun to my best friend’s head.”
He shrugged. “Last time you saw me it was in my best interest to capture you for millions of dollars. Now it’s in my best interest to help you take out the vampire race.”
“Why?”
Everyone had a motive. I wanted to know his.
He gestured to his buddies. “It’s clear that the ash are t
he superior race. Vampires can’t go out in the sun, can’t eat food, and need too much human blood to survive. I want to be on top of the food chain, where I belong.”
Okay, I didn’t exactly agree with that motive, but we could use all the help we could get.
“You’re going to have to prove your loyalty then.” I crossed my arms, tilting my chin in defiance. I wanted these ninja bitches to work for it.
He nodded. “We are up for any task you assign.”
Okay, now that’s the kind of talk I liked to hear. Was this really happening? Was I partnering with the Sanctum? I searched my brain for what we really needed help with. “We need to infiltrate Cellway, lace the bottles with cure, and then be able to deliver them to the Hive-approved blood-distributing hospitals. The Californian and Texan ones, plus all the international. Can you help us with any of that?” With the Sanctum’s help, we might be able to do all this with minimum human casualties, and much more smoothly.
He nodded. “We already have a man in management of Cellway. He will start the paperwork for the enforcers as warehouse workers and delivery drivers. That part is easy.” Apparently Sanctum was both evil and resourceful. “It will take us about a week to get our men into the Hive-certified blood banks and hospitals around the world. But it won’t be a problem.”
As easy as that, apparently. We’ll see.
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone and tossed it up toward me. I caught it. “It’s untraceable. We’ll be in touch,” he told me, and they parted, making room for me to step down.
“One more thing,” I said. “If any of my boys are hurt, you’re dead.”
Laz suppressed a grin as if he thought I wasn’t capable of killing him. “None of your pretty boys are dead.”
Relief exploded in my chest. This whole thing was really unnecessary. Couldn’t they have, like, taped a note to the door or something?
He stuck out his hand. “On my honor, I call a truce on behalf of the entire Sanctum. Don’t try to kill us if you see us around.”
I reached out and shook his hand, not sure how much honor he had. “I accept your truce and I expect you to pay for rebuilding my friend’s house.” I kept his hand in a firm grip.
“He’s just a human. A bottom feeder.”
Oh hell no. This guy was a mini-Hitler in the making and I had just aligned with him. Fuck.
“Leave the bottom feeders alone,” I stressed.
Our eyes remained locked for many moments; he was sizing me up, but I would not break. Eventually he just nodded and we broke apart.
Why did I have the feeling this might come back to bite me on the ass in a couple years? Oh well, I’d worry about it then.
“Where am I? I need to get back to my boys,” I said as they started to head for the exit.
Laz turned back to me. “You’re at a hotel about five miles from the surfer’s house. Your boys are in room 514.”
My eyes widened. “We’re in the same hotel as them? Do they know?”
He just grinned. “Nope.”
Shit. These guys really were a force to be reckoned with. They freaking kidnapped me, followed the enforcers to the hotel, and then set up shop right next to them while I slept off my dart hangover. If anyone was going to have the skills and resources to infiltrate the hospital, it was Sanctum. I did not like or trust them, but we had a common goal, so we would tolerate each other. Despite everything that had happened, this might actually be our lucky day.
“We’ll be in touch,” he said, tapping the phone in my hand.
I just nodded, mentally urging them to GTFO. I needed to see Ryder and everyone. Make sure they were all okay. As soon as they were gone, leaving behind no trace that they’d even been there, I left the room. In the hall I saw that I was currently on the sixth floor, room 614. I chuckled. These smooth-ass fuckers had even got the room right above Ryder and the boys. Probably spying through the vents or some shit.
I started jogging down the hallway, sluggish and thirsty as hell, trying to keep my eyes down in case I encountered a human. Finding the exit door I plowed through it and pretty much threw myself down the stairs, emerging onto the fifth floor. It took me no time to find room 514.
I banged on the door like a cop about to do a raid. “It’s me!” I shouted, and one second I was banging and the next Ryder was filling the doorway, assaulting me with all of his hotness.
I drank in the sight of him, his rugged features, sexy tousled hair and blazing silver eyes. For a few moments today I’d been sure I’d never see him again, and standing there, both of our gazes locked, I drank in every inch of him. My heart swelled, and it almost felt like it wasn’t large enough to contain all of the emotions exploding through me.
Ryder reached out a hand then; his eyes were wide. He looked speechless. His thumb brushed down my cheek and his lashes fluttered, as if he couldn’t believe I was standing right in front of him. I almost couldn’t believe it. Without a sound his arm lowered and his hand cupped around my shoulder as he pulled me into his body. His palms began running over my back like he was inspecting my body, making sure I was all in one piece.
I tried to reassure him: “I’m fine. Sanctum didn’t hurt me. They want a truce,” I said.
He still hadn’t said anything and something told me he was too pissed to speak. He just pulled me tighter into him and squeezed me within an inch of my life, burying his face into the side of my neck. I was pretty sure he was smelling my hair.
Finally, after we stood like that for many moments, he said, “I’ll kill them all.”
I heard murmurs from behind him, and knew the other boys were back there and in full agreement.
I sighed and he released me. “You can’t. We need them.”
Another voice broke through the tension between us: “What happened? Tell us everything.” It was Sam. The enforcer seemed to be thinking a little more clearly, and with one last brush of my hand along Ryder’s arm, I stepped into the room. My eyes alighted on five faces. Each and every one of my family was unharmed.
“They blew a hole in the side of the house and kidnapped me. Tranq-darted me with what I can only assume was that AT20 stuff you guys were talking about.”
Ryder was pacing now, fists clenched.
“And then I woke up—”
“Where? Where are they?” Ryder was seeing red, his anger too large to be contained. I had to find a way to get through to him.
Before I could say anything else I finally noticed the room beyond the enforcers. The far wall, which must have been where the television and chairs were originally situated, was now completely stripped and had been turned into a board of Charlie. Surveillance shots of my face were seriously everywhere, along with lots of maps, papers, and other paraphernalia. There were these long strings connecting things across the place, and large red dots which were clearly checkpoints.
Seriously, I could have only been gone a few hours and already they had the mother of all police boards going on there. I took a few steps closer.
Markus’ brogue washed over me: “Sam was hacking into all the security footage around the streets where we were. We had narrowed it down to this area, which is why we checked into this hotel. We were regrouping before tracking them down.”
I couldn’t stop myself from crossing to the burly enforcer and throwing my arms around him. My voice started in a hurry, words spilling over each other: “I’m so glad you’re all okay. I was so worried. You guys were definitely tracking them in the right direction – they had me one floor above you.” I barely stopped to breathe, it was so important to get it all out.
“They knew I was the cure. Probably before half the vampire world did. They sent that guy out to Alaska to draw us out, to discuss a truce. He was supposed to get us out in the open so we didn’t go nuts and attack him before he could talk to us. Of course that didn’t exactly work out when we totally freaked about the barn and hunted him down.” Releasing Markus, I turned and sank ti
redly onto the couch. It had been a long day. “Then they saw our message on the network. They want to help take down the vamps.” I pulled the cell phone from my pocket and gently laid it on the small table off to my right. “This is the phone we’ll use to communicate with them.”
Markus groaned. “That Sanctum spy in Alaska, he kept saying ‘ally’ to me.” I did remember the spy murmuring something. “So that’s what he was talking about. I thought he was faking, that it was a trap.”
Ryder seemed to relax a little. “I did wonder why they left Markus alive. That wasn’t their normal MO, and the scout could have easily taken him out. Still, why would we truce with the devil? Sanctum should never be trusted.”
Okay, it was clear Ryder didn’t think too highly of them. And since he was the one who knew them the best, I felt we needed to heed his warnings.
Kyle crossed the room to crash in next to me, his long arm slung around me. “This isn’t the worst thing that could have happened,” he said. “We’re wanted criminals within the Hives. Sanctum have stealth and the numbers to get around easily. They also have many more connections than we do. But why are they helping us?”
Ryder was the one to answer: “They’re elitists. They have always seen the humans as the bottom of the food chain and the ash on top.”
I nodded. “That’s pretty much what Laz said. He believes ash are superior even to vampires, and he hates the way they control us.” Ryder locked eyes with mine, and even from across the room the air practically sizzled between us. He was still furious about what happened, and only time was going to allow him to release the fury. “Sanctum has a man in Cellway. They’re going to get us in as workers and delivery drivers. So that part of the plan should go smoothly. Laz also assured me that his people can infiltrate the hospitals. They have the skills and numbers, and that was always the biggest risk in our plan, the part where failure was a true worry. Someone noticing the cure in the bottles and informing someone.”