by Rayna Vause
“I will. I love you, Bri.”
“I love you too, Mike.”
Rogan disconnected the call, then sat and watched the bar for a few minutes. A steady stream of people came, but no Purity patrols came by. Hopefully he’d be able to blend in, find the people he needed to talk to, and then get back out unnoticed. He drew in a breath and climbed out. After crossing the street, he slipped into the bar. Blaring music and the voices of all the patrons created a dull roar. He scanned the large space filled with people dancing and drinking. In the back, he saw people shooting pool, throwing darts, and playing pinball. He went still and blinked twice when he saw Danny Reynolds wandering through the crowd. “I’ll be damned,” he murmured.
Rogan stepped up to the bar and signaled the bartender, an attractive woman with milk-pale skin and a long red braid running down her back.
“Hey, there. What can I get you?” She smiled and set a cocktail napkin in front of him.
“I’ll take whatever you have on tap and a little information.”
She leaned in and smiled at him. “What is it you want to know?”
“I’m hoping you can point me in the direction of Kieran McCade.”
Her smile dropped, and she gave him a slow, suspicious once-over. “Why are you looking for Kier?”
“I have a message for him.”
“From who?”
“Look, since you’re giving me the third degree, I’m assuming he’s around somewhere. I’d just like to talk to him. It’s a life or death matter.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, then pulled her phone out of her pants pocket. “Give me a second.” She fired off a message, then turned to help another patron.
When she finished, she checked her phone, looked up at him, and then said, “Come with me.” She made her way out from behind the bar, calling out to the other bartender as she went. “Tom, I’m stepping out. Keep an eye on things for me. Pull someone from the floor if you need help.” The other bartender waved at her, then went back to chatting with a blonde in a tight black dress. Rogan followed the redhead down a dark hallway and was shown into an office. As he walked in, he goggled at the luxurious space hidden away in the back of a bar.
“Who are you and what do you want?”
Rogan turned his attention to the muscular man behind the wide wooden desk. “I’m assuming you’re Kieran McCade.”
The man leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. The redheaded bartender still lingered in the door, giving him a narrow-eyed glare.
“I’m Michael Rogan. I’m here with a message from Aiden.”
“Aiden.” The redhead stepped closer. “Is he all right?”
“No, he’s not. For the last month, he’s been held captive inside the Purity compound.” The woman gasped. Kieran McCade’s expression went from concerned frown to thundercloud angry.
“You know this how?”
Rogan blew out a breath and braced himself as he looked Kieran straight in the eye. “Because I work for Purity, and I found Aiden locked up in a cell in the sub-basement. He sent me to you.”
“You what? No!” The explosion came, but not from who he expected. The redhead had him up against the wall with her arm across his windpipe before he even realized she’d moved. A deep red glow shone from the depths of her eyes. “How dare you come here, you Purity bastard. How could you see a man locked up and just leave him? Aiden is a kind soul. He’d never hurt a fly. You can’t tell me he warranted imprisonment.”
“I didn’t say he was in—” Rogan choked out the words, then tapped at her arm when he couldn’t pull in enough air to finish his sentence.
“Alex, let the man breathe. We won’t get any information about Aiden if you kill him now.”
When Alex released him, he bent over, bracing his hands on his knees and sucking in air.
“Talk. Now.”
“He’s not in a detention cell. He’s locked away in a private lab, and I left him there because I couldn’t get him out, but I’m hoping you can. He’s being kept weak so that he can’t break his ankle chain or break the door off the hinges.”
“How the hell was he captured in the first place?”
“Likely some form of a tranquilizer. Purity has an extensive antivampire R&D department, and they’re always coming up with nasty little inventions to tranq, maim, or kill a vampire.”
Kieran came to stand directly in front of him, forcing Rogan to look up slightly. “Why is Purity coming to me and sharing its secrets? How do I know this isn’t some kind of a setup?”
“Because if I were setting you up, then I wouldn’t voluntarily tell you that you might want to keep a better eye on Daniel Reynolds. Do you know him? I just saw him out in the main room. The director and assistant director of Purity both want to get their hands on him bad.”
Again, Rogan found himself pinned to the wall, this time with Kieran’s hand around his throat. Rogan’s own hands were thrown up in surrender. Kieran shot a look at Alex. “Dammit, I knew those were Purity soldiers the other night. Go get him. Now.” She nodded and slid out of the office.
When Kieran turned back to Rogan, he got in Rogan’s face and all but growled. Rogan’s heart hammered. His breath rushed in and out of him. He thought feeding time in the tiger habitat at the zoo would be less intimidating than facing this man alone.
“Look, man, I’m not here to hurt anyone. I’m certainly not here on Purity’s behalf. I’m here to try and stop something terrible from happening. I was ordered to do whatever it takes to apprehend him. While I may have been willing to overlook certain aspects of Purity’s ideology, I’m not willing to stoop to kidnapping. I’m damn well not willing to stand by and knowingly let an innocent soul be tortured and tormented. I hated leaving Aiden in that cage, but I can’t get him out without help. So, here I am giving up my livelihood and compromising my brother’s education and possibly the roof over his head.” He tugged on Kieran’s wrist. “Please?” He tried to keep his tone calm and even.
Kieran released him and stepped back. “What does Purity want with Danny, and how the hell did you find us?”
“Like I said, Aiden. And, by the way, if he hadn’t directed me to find you, I wouldn’t have had a clue that Danny was hiding out here. As to what they want from him, they want his blood.”
“So, they know about the anomalies in his blood?”
“Yeah. They analyzed a blood sample we took from his apartment and from the scene of his altercation behind the library. Now the top two researchers want to get their hands on him for very different reasons.”
“Why? What do you know about his condition?” Kieran continued to frown at him.
“Me? Nothing. I’m not a scientist, but I can tell you this. Lydecker wants him because Danny killed his whackjob vampire son. Both he and Melissa want him because the changes in his blood are extremely unique. Again, I don’t quite understand the science, but suffice it to say, they think his blood holds the key to helping them develop a cure.”
“A cure for what?”
Rogan just stared at him and saw the moment understanding dawned on Kieran’s face.
“Shit!”
“That about sums it up. When Danny got attacked by and exchanged blood with Jared, something about his makeup changed, and because of this, he’s brought down one big fucking boatload of trouble on himself.”
“I don’t understand. Jared attacked Danny. Danny was defending himself. How can they blame him for that?” Kieran paced away and shoved his fingers through his hair.
“Look, what you need to understand is that Jared was not all that mentally stable when he was fully human. When he went through the change, it unleashed the inner sociopath that he’d just barely managed to keep in check. The other thing that Jared’s change did was set Lydecker on the mission to cure vampirism.”
“So, what does that have to do with me?”
Rogan looked toward the door to find a wide-eyed Danny Reynolds standing there with hands clenched at his sides.
&nbs
p; “When you killed Jared, you not only killed Lydecker’s son, you destroyed his own personal lab rat.”
Danny blinked, opened his mouth to speak, and then blinked again. “You’re telling me this sick fuck experimented on his own child? Why? How could he do something like that?”
Kieran crossed to Danny and slid an arm around his waist. Danny leaned in, giving some of his weight to Kieran.
“Look, ever since his son was ‘infected,’ Lydecker has been searching for a way to cure him. He was using every resource he had available to him at Purity to research and experiment. A small part of me feels bad for the man. At the core, he was a father trying to save his son, no matter how flawed. Now he’s a grieving father and he’s taking all of that and dumping it into his work, which has come to a frustrating halt for him. On one hand he wants Danny to pay for taking his son’s life, but on the other, he wants access to his blood and the secrets that it holds.”
“Which motivation is stronger for Lydecker, revenge or science?” Kieran asked.
“To Lydecker’s way of thinking, Jared gave his life to the cause. But now that he’s found another similar specimen, he can continue to look for a cure for the vampiric affliction in Jared’s honor.” Rogan rolled his eyes but then paused. He studied the two men as they took in his words. Danny pressed closer, almost burrowing into Kieran’s side and reaching out to interlace his fingers with Kieran’s.
“Honestly, though, Lydecker is the lesser of your concerns. If Melissa gets her hands on him…. Let’s just say nothing good will come of it. Lydecker will keep Danny alive because he needs him. With Melissa….”
“Melissa? Who’s that?” Danny shifted scared eyes from Rogan to Kieran.
“She’s number two in Purity’s food chain, just behind Lydecker. She works in the lab with him but is also heavily involved in the security side of things. It’s enabled her to grab hold of way too much power. Her vision for Purity is very different from Lydecker’s, and she’ll do whatever it takes to make sure things run her way. Her master plan doesn’t include finding a cure. She wants all vampires wiped off the planet. If she gets her hands on Danny, he won’t last very long at all, especially since his blood might be the key Lydecker needs to find the cure.”
“So, what are you suggesting we do?” Danny’s voice cracked on the last word. Kieran eased him over then down onto the plush love seat.
“That, I guess, is up to you. But I would think getting Aiden out of the Purity compound would be the first thing on the agenda.”
“We’re absolutely getting Aiden out of there.” Alex marched back into the office. “Kier, I’ll be damned if I let these Purity bastards kill my brother.”
Brother! A small knot in Rogan’s gut released. Hell, he hadn’t even realized that this woman’s connection to Aiden had been bothering him until right that second. The fact that he’d been worried at all was ridiculous. He’d met the man once and under less than ideal circumstances. Anything beyond soothing a troubled conscience shouldn’t even be a thought in his head.
“Why would you help us?” Kieran’s question snatched Rogan out of his thoughts. Rogan looked at Kieran.
“Suffice it to say I’ve hit my threshold for blind acceptance. When you don’t see most of the bad that’s going on, it’s easy to put it out of your mind and work the job. I mean, I have a family to take care of and I’m doing the best I can, but this—” Rogan shook his head. “Seeing Aiden in that cage, hearing his story, it made all the horrible real. I couldn’t just stand by anymore.”
The room fell silent for a long moment. Then Kieran nodded.
“I also couldn’t stand by and watch an innocent victim be hunted down to be a guinea pig for, to borrow your phrase, those Purity bastards.”
Alex snorted out a laugh, and a small smile settled on her lips for a second.
“Trust me. Both Melissa and Lydecker want Danny found at all costs. You can get out of town, but I don’t know if it will matter. They will put everything they’ve got into finding Danny.”
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Danny braced his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his hands.
Kieran claimed the seat next to Danny and rubbed slow circles over his back. “We will figure this out. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Rogan studied the two men. He couldn’t think of anything he wouldn’t do to help someone he cared about if they landed in this kind of trouble. And the image of Aiden flickered in and out of his mind.
Kieran looked at Rogan and cocked his head. “Tell me something. How close are they to finding an actual cure?”
Rogan frowned, then shrugged. “I’m not sure. Like I said, I’m not a scientist.”
“Is there any way we can get our hands on a copy of their notes?”
Danny gasped and whipped his gaze up. Their gazes locked with laser intensity.
Kieran clasped Danny’s hands. “I’m thinking if we’re going to go in after Aiden, maybe we can find something to help you out too.”
Rogan scratched his head. “That could prove to be a little more challenging, but let’s see what we can do. Let me go into headquarters tomorrow and see what I can find out about where the information is kept. I can also bring you copies of the building plans, although I’ve recently learned they aren’t 100 percent accurate. I’ll add the missing parts that I know about, but there may be more structural differences. Still, they should be complete enough to use to mount any type of a rescue operation. Wait to hear from me. I’ll be in touch soon.”
MELISSA MORAN slipped through the door to the Haven and had to suppress the urge to sneer in disgust. Vampires littered the room like an enormous intrusion of cockroaches that needed to be exterminated. She slid through the room toward a corner table that gave her a clear view of most of the space. She sat with her back to the wall, watching and waiting.
She’d known that Rogan was in her lab almost from the moment he’d slipped through the door. She had cameras everywhere. But she let it go, let him in on a part of her little secret to see what he would do with the information. And what did he do? He came straight here, to a cesspool of vampires.
She’d be doing the world a favor if she struck a match and turned this place into a blazing inferno. She’d be a hero to rid the world of these ravening beasts who forced innocent people to join their ranks. Who turned good men into murderers. Who destroyed lives and families. Rage, white and blinding, threatened to consume her.
“Excuse me, ma’am, can I take your order?”
Melissa whipped her head up and gave the waitress a look that had her backing up a step.
She blinked, cleared her mind, and reset her expression. She ordered a glass of water for the sake of blending. When the girl scrambled away, Melissa took a few minutes to calm herself. Losing control would solve nothing. The waitress returned a minute later, deposited a glass on the table in front of her, and scurried off again. Melissa glanced down at the glass, then looked away. She didn’t deign to touch it.
Thirty minutes later she started to think she went to the wrong location. She’d assumed Rogan had gone into the bar because he’d parked his car directly across the street, but she’d only managed to put a tracker on the man’s car, not the man himself. She stood to leave, then froze. Her brows shot up as Rogan emerged from a dimly lit hallway. He made his way through the bar, heading straight for the exit. She dropped back down into the chair, trying to make herself inconspicuous, and watched him leave. She didn’t attempt to follow him. She and Rogan needed to have a little chat, but not right now, not until she knew the true depths of his betrayal.
Melissa ground her teeth and pushed up from her seat again. She needed to get out of this place, away from these “people.” As she started for the door, shattering glass snagged her attention. She looked over to see Daniel Reynolds walking toward a distraught woman standing over a pile of beer mug shards. She stopped dead, rage erupting through her like a flash fire. Days. Purity had spent days searching for Reyno
lds, and here he stood in the same location that her head of security had just left.
Melissa pulled out her cell phone and dialed. “I need the shift commander in my office in an hour. I’ve located our mark. We need to figure out how we’re going to bring him in.”
“ALEX. LEAVE it. Leave the glass. I’ve got this.” Danny crouched next to Alex, who collected the large broken pieces of the beer mugs with trembling hands.
“It’s fine,” Alex said. “I broke them, I can clean them up.” Danny wanted to help, wanted to help alleviate some of her fear, anger, and worry, but she’d refuse. In this room full of people, Alex would not appreciate anything that tarnished her tough-woman reputation even a little.
He looked up at Kier, who moved to stand next to Alex. Kier put his hands on her shoulders and coaxed her to her feet. Then he led Alex out of the busy bar and into his office.
Danny gave them a few minutes alone while he helped with the removal of the remaining broken glass. When he finished, he returned to Kier’s office and stopped in the doorway but didn’t enter the room. He didn’t want to intrude on this moment between two longtime friends.
Alex paced the office, hands clenching then releasing over and over, her eyes flashing a brilliant red. Kier leaned against the front edge of his desk watching her, waiting. After five laps across the room, she broke.
“They have him, Kier. For a month those bastards have had my brother doing God knows what to him. I don’t—” She shook her head and swallowed. “How could I have not known? I’ve been going about my merry way and I never once thought to check on him. Not once.”
Kier reached out and took her hand. “Alex, he was on vacation, or so we thought. You had no reason to think differently. No reason to call. To check up on him. It’s just his way to disappear every so often. You know that.”
She leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder. “I know. It just kills me to think of him scared and hurt and—”
An ache formed in Danny’s chest at the pain and worry in Alex’s voice. He couldn’t imagine how terrifying this must be for her. He didn’t know what he’d do if it were Kier who’d been taken and tortured. He suspected Alex held up better than he would.