by S. L. Eaves
“How the hell did you do that?” she exclaims, shaking from adrenaline. I can hear her heart pounding rapidly.
“Huh?” I regard her quizzically. “Vega has a flare for the dramatic. If he was going to resurface, it couldn't have been at a better time.” My voice is hoarse and weak. I'm drifting in and out of consciousness. Mumbling about Vega's knack for timing.
The sound of a gunshot rings out behind Hailey. She jumps and turns. I arch my neck to see Crina standing over Striden's body. He's in human form, they all turn back after death. A thin stream of smoke emanates from his head. She's placed a silver bullet in there to be sure.
“That was crazy impressive,” she says as she approaches us. She slows when she sees how bad of shape I'm in. “Even more so now that I see the severity of your wounds. Jesus.”
“Does the name Vega mean anything?” Hailey asks her.
“It was Vega.” I insist through gritted teeth as I try unsuccessfully to get up.
Did no one else see Vega?
“Vega? What I saw through the scope of my rifle was all you.” Crina looks around, “Vega isn't here, Lori.”
Hailey nods in agreement.
Can he project through me? Are their powers that immense?
Malik was right, I really am their puppet. What he did saved us. He did what I couldn't. It makes it really hard to villainize him after what I just witnessed.
What did I just witness?
I feel a light tap on my cheek.
“Hey wake up.” Hailey tries to shake me awake.
“I'm paralyzed,” I say, blinking my eyes back into focus.
“Shit. Maybe that was Vega,” I hear Crina mutter. I notice her jacket's missing and her shirt is torn.
“What happened to you?”
She looks down apologetically, “Wolves. A couple of Striden's jumped me. Must've followed me across the street.”
I smile, “I knew something happened. You never miss a shot.”
“Damn right.” Crina then turns to Hailey, “You okay?”
“Been better, but yeah I'm fine I guess.” She wipes blood off her face. “I can't get the image of Zach out of my head. I started to leave, then saw him in the stairwell and knew I had to do something. As much as I want to see my daughter...I had to make sure Striden didn't escape.”
She sounds as if she might cry. Crina places a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“I'm sorry. He didn't deserve to go out like that. None of you deserved what he did to you...But right now we need to keep moving. The rest of my clan is still missing.”
Crina bends over me, examines my legs, “We can carry you downstairs to a hospital bed. Find you some blood and supplies. But there's a quicker solution if you'll entertain it.”
She looks to Hailey. “It's a lot to ask.”
I instantly realize what she's implying. We both do.
“Leave me. Go find the others. I'm just going to slow you down anyways.”
A helicopter is approaching. I can hear it in the distance, so do the others. They look to the skyline. It's the DIA. The phone Abrams gave me – the burner with the tracker – it's still on me.
They'll have Hailey's daughter. But they'll also potentially cause us a lot of problems. There are a lot of dead bodies here.
“I'll do it.” Hailey's voice cuts through the tense moment. “We both know how quickly I can heal. Striden said my blood has regenerative properties. Pair that with a vampire's healing abilities and it could accelerate your recovery.”
“Striden already drained some. I'm not taking more,” I protest, shaking my head.
Hailey pulls a knife from her pocket.
“Crina stop her. I killed the last human I drank from.” It's as much a warning as it is a confession.
“We don’t have time to argue,” Crina stands, watches the helicopter in the distance.
With one swift movement Hailey slices the blade across her arm and brings it to my mouth. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I don't need any encouragement to do what comes naturally. Her blood tastes even better than it smells. After a moment she rips her arm free, backpedaling before I can grab her for more.
When I get control of my senses, I wipe the blood from my mouth and retract my fangs.
“Thank you.” I'm looking down, unable to make eye contact.
“Don't mention it. Least I can do,” Hailey insists.
I sit up as the warmth radiates through my body, my spine is healing and a new pain overtakes me. I can now feel my broken legs. The high from Hailey’s blood quickly fades as I lean forward, grabbing my legs in pain, pushing the bones back into place. Willing them to fuse back together.
Crina, who had to step away when she caught wind of Hailey's blood, returns with scraps of cloth. I recognize it as some of Striden's ripped clothing.
“Thanks,” she hands Hailey one to tie off her bleeding arm before bending down to tie the fractured pieces of cartilage together.
“We're going to get you walking,” she assures me.
The helicopter is closing in and descends when it reaches the end of our wing of the building. The letters stenciled on its side confirm my suspicions. As the chopper lands, Sullivan slides open the door and a girl screams and jumps down onto the roof.
Hailey gasps and runs towards her, scooping her up in her arms. Arianne cries with glee. Hailey holds her tightly, stroking her blonde hair. Sullivan escorts them into the chopper as Abrams steps off, flanked by two heavily armed men in tactical gear. He gestures to the body along the wall at the far end. The men jog over to examine Striden.
“Is that Striden?” Abrams asks me as he approaches.
I prop myself up against a nearby vent and try to test my legs. I still can't stand so I settle for sitting against the vent.
Crina puts her hand out, steps between us. “It is. Leave us to clean this up, this isn't your concern.”
“He tried to blow up a government facility. And we've recently learned of several werewolf attacks throughout Los Angeles and surrounding counties. His wolves are proving to be more problematic than your kind as of late. So I would argue that yes, it is most definitely our concern.”
The men bring a body bag from the chopper and begin to place Striden in it. Crina watches, trying to decide the best play.
“Well then you should be thanking us. Now leave us to finish the job. We're infinitely more qualified to take care of the remaining wolves.”
“Lori, are you all right?” Abrams gives up arguing with Crina and attempts to move past her to talk to me. That doesn't sit well with her. She draws her gun. The men lower the body bag and run to Abrams' side. Hands on their weapons. This could escalate quickly.
“I will be Abrams. Just get Hailey and her daughter to safety till this blows over, okay?”
“Of course. Come with us. We can help you,” Abrams persists.
Shaking my head, “Listen to Crina, leave us.”
Abrams steps towards me, as do his men. Crina raises her pistol. They do the same.
“I've been ordered to bring you in. It's simply a debriefing situation after everything that happened today. Plus, we can get you back on your feet.”
“You're not taking her,” she hisses, baring her fangs.
“We have resources, we can help.” Abrams signals for his men to lower their weapons.
“You've done enough, Abrams. You've known Striden was alive for years. You could have prevented this.”
At that Abrams sighs, shakes his head. After a long tenuous moment, he motions for his men to load Striden's body. Crina keeps her gun trained on his head.
“If I were you I wouldn't trust me either,” he consents. “You two should clear out. DIA will be sending in a recovery team to sweep the building.”
With that he retreats back to the chopper.
Crina doesn't move until the helicopter has cleared the facility. Arianne waves down from the window.
“Man I could really use a smoke right about now.”
At that she turns to
me. “Let's get you off this roof. We need to find the others.”
Leaning heavily on the vent, I manage to get to my feet. She slides my arm around her neck and we start for the stairwell.
“Crina?”
“Yeah?”
“We got him.”
She lets a smile slip out.
“I can't believe you missed that shot though.”
“I will push you down these stairs.”
Chapter 28
The hospital looks like a war zone. We wade through the carnage to a wing that hasn't been privy to our earlier rampaging. Crina gathers a couple bags and begins stuffing them with medical supplies. Our comms beep. Crina reaches for her ear.
“Finally,” she says. “Where are you guys? Rex? What happened?”
She walks over to where I'm sitting bandaging my legs.
“We were attacked. A small army of wolves jumped our van. We were out numbered at least three to one.”
Rex's voice sounds rattled.
“Everyone okay?” Crina shoots me a nervous glance.
Tires screech through the comm.
“Not exactly...where are you guys? Is it safe to enter the hospital? I'm pulling into the garage now.”
“Yeah all clear here for the moment, but humans are en route so we gotta keep moving.”
“They got any supplies there?”
“On it. Stay put, we'll meet you in the garage.”
Crina dumps out a box of stethoscopes and begins throwing in bandages and suture kits. I slide off the bed and hobble down the hall using a crutch as a cane. Crina starts to object, but I toss her a box of gauze wraps and she resumes packing.
A few minutes later I return with packets of blood.
“Most of what he had was lycan, but there's a few human. Could be Hailey's.”
“Good. Sounds like they'll need it.” She takes the packets, hands me one back, “You okay to walk?”
“Yeah go ahead of me, tend to them. I'll catch up.”
She gathers the supplies and disappears down the hall.
On my way past what used to be the front desk area I notice a bag of keys marked ambulance and grab them. If the van's in bad shape, we'll need an alternate mode of transportation.
The van is parked right outside the entrance. The roof is caved in, sides scratched to hell and riddled with bullet holes. At least one tire is flat. The back doors are open. Quinn sits, legs hanging over the edge as she wraps her arm. She looks up at me and shakes her head.
“Doesn't look like you guys fared much better.”
Rex hops out from the back, patting Quinn on the shoulder as he passes her. His clothes are soaked in blood. And it's not all werewolf.
“Hey-” he pauses when he sees me. “...was going to run in to look for more blood, but I'm guessing if there was more you'd be drinking it right now.”
He puts his arm beneath mine and helps me to the passenger door. Xan has the hood open and looks up from the engine.
“I don't think this van will get us out of the city.”
I hand him the bag of keys. “See if you can find us new wheels.”
He smiles, “Awesome. Hey wait – is Striden...?”
“Dead. Yes. For good this time.”
“Nice work. You going to be okay?”
I shrug, “If there's one thing I've learned from all of this it's to stay the hell off rooftops.” Sitting in the van, I brace myself against the open door. “Did you take out all the wolves?”
“Yeah, we got them. There were witnesses though. People, humans, saw us fighting in the street. Police were arriving when we left. I'm surprised we didn't pick up a tail.”
Abrams likely called them off.
I hear moaning from the back.
“Relax, don't try to get up.”
Crina is talking to Dade. I crane my neck to see over the seats. Dade is lying in the back, Crina is crouched over him trying to get him to drink a packet of blood. He's nearly unrecognizable.
Rex reads the alarm in my face. “He's strong, he'll make it.”
I recall the time Catch got eviscerated by a wolf. He was never the same after. An ambulance pulls up and Xan sticks his head out the driver's side window.
“Found one with a full tank of gas. There's a couple beds in the back. Can we move Dade?”
A few minutes later Xan is navigating us out of the parking garage and through the streets of San Bernardino. Dade rests on a bed in the back with Quinn at his side. He's unconscious and every few minutes she bends down and whispers in his ear. She's sporting a broken wrist and bleeding through her clothes, but she refuses any of the help we try to offer her.
Crina and I sit on the bed across from them, looking tired and defeated. Tonight doesn't feel like a win.
Rex occasionally shares news updates from his tablet. He passes back a video an onlooker recorded of their earlier fight. Crina looks disgustedly at the screen.
“It’s all over the news,” Rex grumbles.
“I'd like to see them explain that as another rabid dog attack,” Crina scoffs.
“Just going to make our job harder,” Rex agrees. “And as you might expect, they aren't exactly calling us heroes.”
We can hear police sirens; the area seems to be in a state of chaos.
When I close my eyes, I see Arianne’s smiling face and nothing else seems to matter.
“We’re going to make record time back to Henderson. I’ve had the lights going on this thing the whole way, no one pulls over a speeding ambulance,” Xan chimes from the driver’s seat. “I don't know why we didn't think of using these vehicles sooner.”
I'm awake; my eyes are shut and my legs are stretched out on the floor of the ambulance. My back rests against one of the beds. Quinn sunk to the floor earlier, resting her head on Dade's shoulder and I'd slid down to join her.
“Did you watch Malik go?” I ask Quinn. She doesn't move her head from Dade's arm, but her eyes narrow as the mention of his name.
“No. It hurts. What he did. Not even so much the killing and turning of humans, starting his own clan, if you'd call it that. I mean I've been a rogue more than I've been part of a clan, so I can relate to him wanting to strike out on his own. But I never attacked humans or blatantly disrespected the Purebloods.
“I guess what I mean is what hurts the most is that he didn't trust us enough to tell us what he was planning. Dade and I were due back at the mansion, so for all he knew we'd have been there when the Purebloods attacked. Came there looking for him presumably. Right? It pains me that he'd turn his back on us after everything we've been through. So no, I chose not to watch him die and I choose not to mourn him.”
“Do you think Vega was involved?”
“Maybe. I don't know. If Vega worked with Malik to betray his own...I can't even think of what that would mean. It's dangerous to even entertain that notion, and I won't until we learn more. And I'm done with these damn wolves. The vampires back in Vegas - Nico and the others – they're the only enemy that concerns me at the moment.”
“What do you think we're walking into?” Rex asks, climbing over the front seats to join us. “With Malik out of the picture, Nico and the others are going to be sniffing around. Possibly waiting to ambush us when we return. For all we know Malik told them who we were before he pulled his assassination attempt.”
“He didn't,” I state flatly, adjusting the wraps on my legs. When I look up I see them both staring at me waiting for me to elaborate.
“He told them we were allies. He had to. How bad would it have looked otherwise? He not only let you all come into his base of operations, he rewarded you with that human and let you leave with her. His only play to save face was to make up some story about us being old blood from overseas coming to join the cause.”
“So no ambush, that's a break. State we're in, we could use one.” Rex picks dried blood from his hair.
“It's time we played on the offense. Turned the tables on them. We need to do three things. Recover, for one.
Then arm ourselves to the teeth with the necessary evils; crossbows, stakes, whatever we can use to take them down. Three is holy water.”
“Holy water?” Quinn raises her head from the bed, eyes me skeptically.
“Yeah. Holy water. We need at least a gallon of it, more if we can get it.”
“You have a plan,” Rex smirks.
“We add holy water to the synthetic blood. We gift them the blood. They drink it, they die.”
“You really think that would work? It can't be that simple,” Quinn questions.
“It's not. Which is why we need to do the other two things on that list. But if we add just a little bit to the blood – not enough to water it down or make it smell suspicious – just a few drops when consumed will burn them from the inside out.”
Rex leans over the seat, “You think that could work without screwing up the formula?” He asks Xan. I see Xan's head bob.
“It could, yeah. I mean I've never seen a vampire drink holy water so I'm not sure how effective it is...but it's worth a try. They're new vampires and hurting for blood. Literally. They'll be all too eager to take the synthetic blood off our hands.”
“It seems almost too easy. I've never seen what drinking holy water does to our kind, but I have seen it used on vampires. A bottle of the stuff burns right through us,” Crina stirs, sitting up on the bed. “So hypothetically let's say it'll be effective. What if just a couple drink it and die? It'll expose us.”
“True. It will. But if we do it right we can take out their leaders – cut the head off the snake – and make a significant dent in their organization. It gives us a fighting chance against them.”
“You had a vision, didn't you?” Quinn squeezes Dade's hand anxiously, as if to say Did you hear that?
“It's not what I saw. It's what Malik saw. It's a big part of why he tried to take me out.”
Rex holds up his tablet, laughing. “You can buy holy water in bulk online. I just placed a rush order.”
Chapter 29
When I wake up I find Rex sleeping on the chair next to my cot; his feet are propped up on a crate and several glasses of blood lined up next to it. Some have been emptied. I lean over and pick up a full one. My body aches all over, but it's a dull ache and to think of the state I was in some twelve or so hours ago, the rate of recovery is nothing short of miraculous. Dried blood has adhered pieces of gauze to my body. I stand slowly, wincing as I test my legs. Once I realize I can walk without the aid of a crutch I grab the last clean clothes in my possession and head to the bathroom to clean up.