by Jenny Allen
Gregor just stared at her for a moment. “No. He went down to the police station. He seemed to think it might make things easier with Cohen’s partner, Whitmore?”
“Yeah. He’s not exactly a likeable person. Somehow I think that Cohen is more than capable of handling him though.” She lost herself in thought for a few moments, trying to figure out what to do. “I can’t leave you here by yourself, but I really don’t want to go to the lab alone.” Just thinking about how that ended last time made her shiver in a moment of panic.
“I’ll be fine here. Go. Take Chance. You have my word that I won’t leave the room.”
“I’m serious about this. Whatever Ashcroft has planned, it involves Duncan, you, Chance and me all in the same room. The longer we keep that from happening the better. I wouldn’t leave at all, but this is important. I think the Doctor helping me on the blood sample is in trouble.”
“I promise.” There was a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth and it just rubbed her wrong.
“What?”
“I think you are the one thing that neither Spencer nor Ashcroft counted on. For one thing, Spencer probably assumes you’re dead and I’m sure that Ashcroft is not pleased with him about that. It might push them to move faster, make mistakes.”
“Well, we better hope so. I don’t know how, but I think Ashcroft has some tricks up his sleeve. He’s old, but in the basement that first night he moved so damn fast. I just have a really bad feeling about all this. His blood… it’s unlike anything else on the planet and I don’t really know how that’s changed him.” Lilith rubbed her hands over her arms, trying to shake the hopeless feeling. Everyone kept complimenting her, calling her brilliant or brave, but she didn’t feel that way. She felt lost and helpless, fumbling in the dark.
“We will be as fast as possible. I think you should call Alvarez and have him head back here. I’d feel a lot better if he was here with you.”
Gregor nodded with silent obedience and it just felt awkward. She could tell he was barely hanging on to all the conflicting emotions tearing him apart inside. Maybe the quiet alone time would do him some good.
Lilith hesitantly patted her father’s shoulder, still uncertain of her own feelings. “We’ll figure a way through this, but I should get dressed.”
“Lily, before you go…” She paused in the doorway, dread pulling at her nerves. She was trying really hard to avoid discussing feelings about his newly revealed past.
“This thing between you and Chance…” Lilith was completely startled by the unexpected change of subject. “All those years ago, when I threatened Chance, I was trying to protect you both.”
“Dad, we don’t need to…”
“Lily, please.” The steely confidence returned to his voice, making it more of a command than a request. “Believe it or not, this is actually important. You were right. It isn’t just about him being a half-blood. Chance has this unbelievably deep well of emotions when it comes to you, Lily. You are his weakness. He can’t think clearly when it comes to you, can’t do his job.” Gregor ran a frustrated hand through his hair and it reminded her so much of Chance that it made her chest tighten. “I thought I was doing the right thing sending him with you down here. I knew he’d give his own life in a second to protect you. I didn’t count on him telling you the truth. I suppose, in that respect, I underestimated him.”
“Dad, it’s my fault. I pushed…” Her impatience to leave was visible, and Gregor cut her off, refusing her simple answer.
“You are infuriatingly stubborn, Lilith, but if Chance didn’t want to tell you, he wouldn’t have. Anger probably made it easier for him to tell you, but you didn’t push it out of him. You don’t know Chance as well as I do.”
Lilith sighed heavily and patted her father’s arm. “Dad, I understand, but I don’t have time for this. Can we save the heart to heart, birds and bees talk for later.” The harshness in her voice surprised even her. Lilith quickly leaned in, pressing a little kiss to her father’s cheek and flashed a smile. “Sorry, it’s just that I really need to go.”
Gregor’s lip twitched into an almost smile, but the pain of the evening was still written all over his face. Without another word, he nodded simply and stalked back into his room. It made her heart hurt, but she didn’t have time to go after him. She just watched his back for a few agonizing moments before closing the door.
When she turned around, Chance was pawing through his duffel bag, still shirtless. Despite the urgent need to get to the lab, she couldn’t take her eyes off his perfectly lean torso. She could see each muscle tense and relax under his tanned skin as he moved. The shift in her thinking made her head spin. It was jarring, like being splashed with a glass of ice water.
“Dammit. Put a shirt on already!” She snapped the words at him and lifted her suitcase onto the bed.
Chance looked up at her, his eyebrows reaching way up in complete surprise. “Uh. Sorry? I was just looking for one.”
Lilith snatched a t-shirt, a pair of jeans and a simple pair of sneakers out of her suitcase with a little too much zeal. “It’s distracting.”
That definitely pulled a teasing grin to his lips that, somehow, was just as distracting as his chiseled chest. “Oh I give up!” She ran into the bathroom with her clothes and slammed the door, trying to fight the grin that threatened to pull at her lips.
“Get a grip, Lilith.” She leaned against the bathroom door, breathing and trying to organize her thoughts. “Focus. I have to get to that Lab.” She rubbed her hands over face and pushed off the door.
Minutes later she emerged from the bathroom calm and collected. Chance was finally dressed, sitting casually on the bed with the rental keys in his hand. When he looked up at her, a Cheshire cat grin curled his lips. “AC/DC?”
Lilith frowned at him in confusion till he motioned at her shirt. She hadn’t even realized which one she’d grabbed from the suitcase. “You have a problem with that?” She watched him carefully while pulling her auburn tresses up into a ponytail and winding the band around it. Her look dared him to complain, dared him to even comment. After spending years around cops, it was a look she’d perfected.
He quirked one brow as his eyes traveled over her. There was no mistaking the desire there. It definitely was not subtle. “Absolutely not.” His voice sounded distant, distracted.
“Chance. Seriously. Can it for now will ya? We need to get to the lab.” The faint edge of a smile cracked through her serious work face. Hopefully the dim lighting hid the blush creeping over her cheeks. The back of her brain was screaming for her to knock it off with the high school crap and focus on the case, but she couldn’t help it. It was like some strange euphoria that made her feel sixteen again.
He shook his head and drew in a breath. “Uh, yeah. Of course. I’m sorry.” He pulled on a serious look and crossed the room to hand her something.
“A gun?” She stared down at the 9mm in her hand.
“I want you to be able to protect yourself. The city police still require you to log hours with a handgun right?”
“Of course, but I don’t think I have my conceal and carry permit on me.”
“Somehow I think paperwork is the least of our concerns. I just want you safe. Besides, I’m betting that Cohen will help out if we run into any trouble.”
Minutes later they were climbing into the tiny rental car and speeding off to the lab. Hopefully Coffee wasn’t having any problems keeping the good Doctor there. Of course, she couldn’t really imagine how he would have a problem. Nichols was maybe 5’8” and Richard was almost two feet taller and definitely wider than the anorexic doctor. What could possibly go wrong?
They sat in the parking lot for a few minutes, scanning the half-filled lot. Nothing really stood out and screamed ‘We’re the bad guys’. The uniform black SUV’s of the movies would come in handy right about now. After all, if Nichols was in trouble, Spencer and Ashcroft wouldn’t have to be in the lab to stage an ambush.
Lilith was fai
rly certain that the lab had plenty of external cameras. Of course, she was also certain that if the threat proved too great, Coffee would just put the lab on lockdown instead of leaving his post.
It’d been a good five minutes since they pulled in and there was no sight of any mysterious shadows or random gunfire. That had to be a good sign. Chance was still scanning the parking lot, which left her mind free to roam.
She was still in shock, still trying to reconcile the two images of her father. On one hand, there was the adoring father who flew all the way down here to make sure she was safe; and on the other hand, the revenge drunk monster that meticulously killed off an entire family line. How could they even be the same person?
“It doesn’t make him a monster.” Lilith looked sharply over at Chance. It was like he’d plucked the thought right from her brain which was just unnerving.
“How…”
“Your brain is working overtime, you’re quiet and sullen. I assume you’re thinking about Gregor.” Finally Chance turned toward her, his face barely lit by the instrument panel. “Lily, you heard what they did.” His jaw clenched and his eyes hardened. “What they did to his daughter was bad enough.”
“I can see that, for Ashcroft’s son. I can even rationalize his wife and definitely Ashcroft himself, though the extent of the torture... And you heard him Chance. He eradicated the man’s entire extended family. Cousins, nieces, nephews. How am I supposed to still see him as I used to, knowing all that?” Tears welled in her eyes and she wiped at them absently as her mind struggled to focus.
“It was over 600 years ago, Lily. It’s not like he’s some serial killer that takes you to dinner one night, tortures someone the next. He lost everything and he went a little nuts. Temporary insanity.”
“A little nuts?” She quirked an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms over her chest and leaned back in the seat. “So it doesn’t seem extreme to you?”
“Of course it’s extreme.” He frowned at her and even looked personally offended. “Taking a life is always extreme. Taking an “innocent” life is beyond extreme. It’s insane. What I’m saying is that it doesn’t have to change who your father is to you. He loves you without question. He’s always been there to protect you, even when you didn’t realize it. Whatever he used to be, he’s a good man now, to you.”
She felt even more conflicted now. Chance was right, but she still couldn’t pretend it never happened. She knew things, and no matter what logic she tried to use, it changed everything. “I know, I know. I just can’t right now.”
“Give it some time. All I ask is that you don’t jump on him too bad right now. He’s had several lifetimes to beat himself up more than you ever could. Just remember that you actually have a father, one that loves you. A lot of people aren’t that lucky.”
“Were you close to your parents before they…?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the question, but the look on his face surprised her. There was only a tiny trace of sadness that was overwhelmed by all the telltale signs of fear, anger, resentment and guilt. She knew the answer before he even opened his mouth.
“No, we weren’t…close.” There was an awkward moment of silence that seemed to stretch on endlessly as he stared defiantly out of his window. Lilith fought back and forth with herself on whether to ask or just keep her mouth shut. She was still waging the internal war when Chance took the decision out of her hands.
“I don’t see any movement. We should get inside. Don’t take an easy stroll. Get to the door fast, and get us in fast.” Chance pulled the gun from his side holster, double checked everything including the safety and finally looked over at her. He was all business now. The moment of sharing was over. It almost felt like an iron door slammed in her face, but there were bigger problems, like staying alive.
As soon as they jumped out of the car, her heart started beating like a huge base drum. She could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Everything felt like it was in hyper drive, or maybe it just felt like she was high? Her vision seemed sharper than ever, even for a vampire. Every breath she drew in seemed jam packed with a million smells that somehow all made sense. It had to be Cohen. It had to be his blood. When they were finished here she was seriously gonna sit Cohen down and have a nice long chat.
Chance reached the door and pressed his back against the wall to the right. He nodded across from him at the panel and turned his attention to the parking lot, careful eyes scanning back and forth. Lilith put her back against the wall and jammed her thumb against the call button.
She waited for the crackle of the speaker and the booming voice of Richard Coffee, but neither happened. There was only silence. She jammed the buzzer again as the growing seed of fear started to blossom in her chest. Silence once again. She looked up at Chance with desperation and panic just as he turned his head toward her, catching her eyes. The unspoken conversation was unmistakable. Something was seriously wrong.
As Chance returned his attention to the parking lot, a tiny sliver of light caught her eye. It was then she realized that the heavy metal door wasn’t clicked closed all the way. Suddenly, the blood was pounding in her ears like thunder. Richard would never leave the door open.
“Chance.” It was a breathy whisper that barely made a sound, but he looked back at her instantly. She pointed to the door and he immediately motioned her behind him. Now was not the time to argue the equality of the sexes, so she moved behind him without any hesitation.
He crept toward the door, gun at the ready, and gripped the handle with his free hand. Lilith watched every muscle in his back tense beneath the thin t-shirt and the fear and anger rolling off of him were almost palpable. For a moment he just stayed like that, frozen. Slowly he glanced back at her, his eyes searching her face. There was an internal war raging behind them, but whatever it was, he wasn’t voicing it. She could feel the raw emotions hovering over his skin like the wavering air over hot concrete, but it wasn’t enough to tell her precisely what he was thinking. Scared and angry could mean a million different things.
The seemingly endless moment of eye to eye soul searching finally ended and Chance eased the door open, slipping gracefully inside with barely a sound. Lilith didn’t waste any time following him. She clicked off the safety on her 9mm, grabbed the door handle and silently slipped into the overly bright hallway.
There were no immediately ominous signs. There were no lights flickering, no blood stains covering the walls, no ceiling tiles hanging down. Everything looked normal, all the way down to the security station, which sat empty. That one thing, Coffee’s chair sitting vacant, was scarier than all the flickering lights and blood smears in the world.
Chance stayed glued to the wall, gliding along it with his gun aimed at the end of the hall. All her training kicked in suddenly, and she flattened herself against the opposite wall. She kept the gun at her side, loose and ready. If she held hers up with all the focus and tension that Chance had right now, she’d be a shaking mess by the time she reached the security station. Chance was trained to aim his gun for long periods of time, she wasn’t. Movies never comment on just how much strength and muscle memory it takes to hold up a gun aimed for longer than a minute or two.
When they reached the end of the hall, Chance motioned her to stay put. He whipped around the left corner, eyes scanning the long hallway, and then slid behind the security desk. He watched the right hall for a few moments, studying it and then turned his attention to the huge row of monitors.
The nerves were starting to get to her. She wasn’t used to these constant surges of adrenaline. Her job was cold, hard, logic. Crime scenes were cleared before she went in. She simply examined the dead body, the surrounding area and left. A lot of people want to make it some glamorous job worthy of Hollywood, but the truth is it’s soothingly meticulous and a little boring. She never chased down suspects, and rarely had to interview them anymore. That’s what Alvarez was for and sometimes members of Gregor’s security team if they were hunting down a rogue v
amp.
Lilith switched the gun to her left hand and rubbed the sweat off her right palm, keeping her eyes glued on Chance while he scoured the monitors. Behind the desk seemed safer somehow and she was tired of waiting. She wanted to see what was going on. Slowly she peeked around the corner and then glanced down the other end of the hall. Nothing but silence. The doors off the halls all seemed to be closed. There were no signs of disturbance. Where the hell was everyone? Where the hell was Coffee?
With her heart pounding in her throat, she ran around the desk and nearly bumped into Chance as she tried to duck down behind the counter. He merely glanced down at her with an irritated look that, for just an instant, melted into amusement. She probably looked really fierce cowered into a cubby with her gun gripped in both hands. Bad guys beware.
“Anything on the monitors?” She tried to crane her neck to peek up at them, but Chance’s arm gripping the counter top blocked her view of most of the monitors. This was just ridiculous. She’d fought off Spencer with everything she had and now she was hiding under a counter.
“Easy, Kojak. The monitors are cycling. Apparently, they have more cameras than they have screens. There are a small group of scientists sitting in what looks like a break room. Wait…” Chance leaned in closer, peering at the center screen. “There’s someone in there with them. Plain Clothes. I can’t get a good look at him from this angle.”
“What about the other labs?”
“They all seem empty. Wait. There are a couple people in one of the labs. Do you think you’d be able to tell which is which?”
Lilith crawled out onto her knees silently cursing herself for her moment of cowardice and peered at the monitor. It looked like any other lab she’d seen. The only difference between the Blood Analysis lab and Cold Storage was the huge walk in freezer. There was no telling. But, as the camera panned, she caught the faint image of a 2 on the wall. It had to be lab 2, Blood Analysis. After all, that was what Ashcroft would want, his blood sample. The less the enemy knew the better, but she already knew enough from it to know it wasn’t anywhere near normal. Maybe there was a secret in that blood. A riddle they hadn’t figured out yet.