by C. L. Quinn
“Saul. Great to see you, man. So, uh, you’ve bulked the fuck up, haven’t you?”
“Came with the title. First blood. I would never have believed it.”
“It’s pretty crazy.” Jack paused as he looked at his electronic keyfob. “Guess we’d better head in. The girls are waiting.”
“Sure. I can’t wait to see San and Eva.”
Laughing, Jack opened the rear entrance to Blessed Nights. “Wait until you meet Dani. We have the triquetra of beauty, skill, and brilliance in those ladies. I sparred with them once, three human females and a vampire, and they took me down in minutes, without a weapon.”
“You’ve trained them well.”
“It isn’t me. Each woman brings her own abilities and they’ve learned to weave them together into an awesome net. You’ll have to try it sometime.”
“Perhaps.”
Jack’s fone began to chime again.
“It’s San. Accept. Hey, San, we’re…”
Jack stopped speaking abruptly, his attention now fully involved with the call. He nodded to the fone and barked, “We’re here now. Be with you in seconds.”
He lifted his eyes to Saul and Kwano.
“Dani’s missing.”
Well aware of the danger and urgency, the three vampires moved straight through the club to the main room.
“There,” Jack said, his voice uninflected, as they joined Evaleigh and Sanquinetta.
“Thank God. Jack, we had three vamps, male, we’ve been watching all night with no movement on their part. Waiting for you guys to arrive, Dani went to the ladies room and didn’t return. Just before we decided to check on her, one of the vamps had gone to that area, but returned within moments. We went to find her and there’s no sign of her at all. We were getting ready to check the security vid feeds when I called you just now.”
“Let’s do it.”
Sanquinetta followed Jack as he led them behind the music stand to the manager’s office. She paused to hug Saul. “Welcome back. Whew, that’s some nice muscle.”
“Just for you, warrior princess. Glad to see both of my beautiful friends again.”
Evaleigh tapped Saul on the forearm. “You too, big guy.”
“This way.” Jack repeated as they opened a heavy metal door and closed it behind them.
Evaleigh moved around the others. “The vid access is in here. Ah, there it is.”
Her fingers flew over the keyboard, selecting views from the bathroom area. “I won’t have access to the inside of the ladies room, but the hallway, which is where they would have taken her out of here, I will.”
Images flew by until she isolated the timestamp she had been searching for. Five pairs of eyes watched Dani’s abduction unfold.
The male vampire had left her behind with a dark-haired female vamp who obviously had caught Dani unaware. They watched as Dani spoke with the male vampire after she’d disabled the female.
When Dani handed her shock gun to the male, and he fired it at her, they all knew he had to have threatened her companions; it was the only reason she would have done it.
“Anyone recognize either of those vampires?” Jack barked.
Negative answers ended with Jack’s explosive sigh. “Well, we go find them and Dani. She’s good at protecting herself, but against a group of vampires, she’s probably as helpless as a kitten.”
He slammed a hand down on the desktop enough to dent the metal.
“Fuck! I shouldn’t have let you guys come here alone.”
Sanquinetta vehemently shook her head. “No, Jack, don’t act like this, don’t discredit us. We’ve done these recons dozens of times. This one just went sideways. That happens. Now, we go get her back. Sanquinetta don’t accept failure.”
“Here.” Evaleigh rapidly punched several keys and three vid images froze. “Here. He went toward the main parking lot and put Dani in a lift-car. I can’t track that, but I can’t believe they’re too far from here. If those vampires are here hunting and partying, they’re likely staying nearby.”
She pointed to the second image. “This is the vamp who spoke with her in the hallway. His buddies left almost as soon as San and I went into the hallway. They did not use a lift-car, but their land vehicle was parked in the dark and it’s impossible to see what it is.”
“Grid search,” Sanquinetta announced.
Saul had been quiet, his eyes on the third image that showed a fairly clear shot of the vampire’s faces. He finally looked at his companions. “I think I have another idea.”
With everyone’s full attention, he continued.
“I recognize one of these guys. They’re rogues, for sure, but I haven’t known them to kill. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re abusive, but they don’t leave victims.”
“They purge them,” Kwano explained.
“Yeah. There comes a time when you just have to accept that things aren’t always as they should be. While I never condoned that type of behavior, I knew I couldn’t stop it. Now, with this team, I have the ability to do so. In the past, I never ran with them, they weren’t my type of people, but we knew each other by sight. If we can find them, and I might have an idea there too, I may be able to go in, get close to them, and get Dani out before they even know what happened.”
“Saul, really? Fuck, that would be a miracle. Where do you think they might be?”
“They used to hang around an old brewery on the east side of town. It’s long abandoned, but has a large, deep basement. The perfect vampire lair. I would bet that’s where they are. Even vampires are creatures of habit.”
“Go get her, Saul. You saw what that vampire said. He knows she’s a hunter, so she’s in more danger than a normal human captive might be.”
“Of that I have no doubt. I’ll have to go in alone. If they sense anything, they’ll fight, and if I’m right, it’s a big group. We’d be up against more than a dozen skilled fighters.”
“We have two first bloods, I’m pretty sure we can take them.”
“Likely, but let me go in, scope it out, check to see if she’s there, and I’ll come back for the rest of you if she’s too well guarded and I can’t get her free.”
The others nodded, in full agreement with his plan.
One on one, Saul looked into their eyes. “All right. The brewery is about half an hour by lift-car. Why don’t you follow me and put down outside of view. I’ll go in and see if she’s there. Even if she isn’t, honestly, this group bears watching. There’s a pretty high probability that even if most aren’t hurting anyone, some might be.”
Jack paced in his small space. “They’re on our radar now, yeah, so we’ll keep an eye out. Shit, this is our life now. Unsanctioned police officers for the vampire world?”
Kwano thumped him on the back. “You didn’t know that already? That is exactly what we are. Unpaid with no glory. Welcome to Xavier’s army.”
“Huh. Fuck, I guess so. Come on, let’s go get Dani.”
Saul slid into his lift-car, happy to be of help to this team on his first night back, but worried that they might have lost one of them on his first night back too. Kwano was right. No glory, only prayers that things go well, and heartbreak when they didn’t. He lifted off and headed east.
In the basement of an old brewery
Dani knew where she was, she recognized the area they’d flown over. Deep in the country, the abandoned brewery was isolated enough to make a perfect vampire’s lair; especially after she saw it had an enormous finished basement. Her team would never find her here. Not in time anyway.
She had been ordered into a chair in the far corner of the basement where several of the vampires, all of them drunk, as many as fifteen that she had counted, cruised by to taunt her. One particular asshole had stopped to lick her neck. Twice.
“I’m going to kill you first,” she’d murmured under her breath the second time he’d done it, which made him laugh and pour some of his wine on her chest. None of this bode well for her survival.
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nbsp; Her female abductor was now half-dressed and straddling the lap of a big bear-sized vampire who had taken off his pants. Dani kept her eyes averted when she realized that he was pumping into her as she shot-gunned wine and threw her hair back to look over and see if Dani watched the show.
“Hey, little hunter,” Miranda called out. “This is going to be your job as soon as these giant apes get some booze and chow in them. Hope your pussy is used to big meat.”
Eyes on the floor, Dani sighed. Hardly. They’d tear her open and enjoy it. One after the other. Even if they didn’t kill her, and she was pretty sure they would, given her hunter status that they were unfortunately aware of, fuck her luck, she’d be messed up beyond all repair.
Best they kill her. It was her own mistake, anyway. Any good hunter knows not to let their guard down, not to assume, just because someone doesn’t fit the description or profile of their target, doesn’t mean they aren’t a threat.
To do so was how good hunters became dead hunters.
A few moments ago, the male hunter that took her from the hallway at Blessed Nights had come down the metal staircase, boots clanging on each step. Like the other vampires, he walked over to greet her, squatted, took his time looking her over, his eyes boring into hers finally.
“Yum, my favorite entree.”
He unzipped her leather top to slide his hands beneath and over her nipples. “Dinner, then dessert, though. We’ll all get a piece of you.”
Standing, he slid a foot up to bump hers. “But I’m first.”
Dani wanted to fight back, but couldn’t with so many vamps so close, but her eyes shot fire into his. “I’m going to kill you all.”
He nodded. “I know you would if you could, but you won’t. Not if you want the hot blonde and sexy brunette to live. What a pretty little empty threat from a pretty little lady. I may have to keep you around if you continue to amuse me like this.”
Facing the partying group of vampires, he called out.
“Someone get me a cold one!”
Hearty catcalls and whoo-whoo’s went up as several brought him a can of beer and led him toward the table set up for second meal. One last glance at Dani, with his tongue curling out toward her, licking into the air several times, and he turned to dine.
Alone now in the corner while the rowdy group attended to their meal and boisterous conversations, Dani let her mind wander, trying to calm down. This was a done deal. Accept what would happen, try not to let them break her, look for any possible escape, and barring that, kill as many as she could before they took her down for the final time. Fight until the end and go into the spirit world with no regrets. It would be an honorable death. Unless she took Eva and San with her.
Constantly searching, watching every movement, listening to every word, Dani knew if there was any chance she would get out of this, if she were to survive, it might only be a small window of opportunity. She’d already committed any name she heard, voices, descriptions, to memory, so that if she could escape, she’d be able to find them again. If only she could verify at some point that her friends were safe. Jack and Kwano would be searching for them even now.
Amazingly, her respiration slowed, and the fear and anger that had been driving her since she had been taken floated away. There was something to be said about this special talent she carried.
Her head lowered, she whispered her gratitude to the powers that guided this crazy mess she’d been drafted into nearly two years ago. Her greatest regret would be if she never had the chance to say goodbye to her brother.
“I’m sorry, Dylan.”
Outside the brewery, Saul nodded to himself. It looked like the vampires were there as he suspected. The interior was lit, barely visible from outside unless you were right beside the big entry doors. His coms chirped as he slid one into his ear.
“I think we’re in business. Remember, don’t come into the building unless I call for you. I’ll keep the coms open so you can hear everything.”
Entering a small side door, Saul followed a series of wall-mounted crystal diode lamps through a maze of hallways that led to stairs descending into darkness. He could hear music reverberating off walls below, so he knew that he’d been right. The vampires he sought were here tonight.
Turning a final corner on the stairwell, he paused on the last step to glance around at a considerable amount of people, perhaps half vampire, half human, dancing, eating, and near the perimeter, a couple of groups fucking. He was able to enter the fray without trouble until the man he had recognized on the vid footage, a casual acquaintance, looked up from the table where he had been dining and saw him moving toward him. His eyes clamped on Saul.
“Hey. What are you doing here? Stop.”
The interception fully expected, Saul stopped at once and gave him a lazy smile. “Barringer. Hey, there.”
Barringer advance on him, standing, arms folded, inches from Saul. “Haven’t seen you in two, three years. Where’d you come from?”
“Vancouver. Dropped down to check on a make from those days. I remembered you guys knew how to party so I stopped in, hoping you were still here since I’m looking for shelter for the night. Lucky for me, you are.”
Suspicion dropped from Barringer’s eyes. “You bet we are. This lair is perfect for our large group, no reason to leave it. We haven’t been bothered the entire time we’ve been here. You’re welcome, of course. Everyone, this is…Saul isn’t it?”
“Good memory. Yeah, that’s right.”
“I remember you had quite an appetite for partying back then. Have a seat, we have plenty of food, and as usual, endless choices for fucking and sucking. Feel free.”
“Thanks, man. It was a long drive and I could use the down time.”
“Make yourself at home.”
Saul nodded and reached for a cold beer, playing the part of the partying vampire looking for a good time and a place to sleep. He smiled at Barringer and picked up a plate to cruise the tables filled with enough food to keep a group of vampires this size satiated. Once he noticed Barringer’s attention return to the woman on his lap, human, he let his gaze move in a measured search. There were a lot of faces in the basement of this building, and he only had a pic to identify Dani from, although if the pic was even close to correct, she should stand out.
Moving through the crowd, an easy smile on his face, the beer carefully nursed, his eyes moved quickly, efficiently, over the partiers. No one looked even remotely like Dani’s image, but it was a large area.
He’d wandered through most of the main area toward the back, an area poorly lit, and saw movement in the corner where a chair had been placed alone. Saul’s heart started to pound as a strange sensation moved through him, somewhat like what vampires felt when they encountered another vampire’s lifeforce, but this was not the same.
“Jack said you were special,” he murmured low, and continued toward the person seated on the chair. He noticed a young vampire nearby holding a stun gun that looked like the ones the hunters used. These assholes had no intention of letting her go.
Near now, he heard a sigh and moved close, dropping down to look into a woman’s downcast face, certain that it was Dani. When she looked up seconds later, eyes with bright catch-lights caught his.
“What do you want?” The demand in her strong melodic voice surprised Saul. He heard and sensed no fear.
Good for you, he thought. Glancing around to ensure no one would overhear him, he tucked a finger under her chin to capture her eyes. “I’m Saul. I’m with your hunters. I’m here for you. Have they hurt you?”
Cold eyes struck his, searching his face, and he could feel tethers of her power reaching for him. Jack had told him she had some earth-based magic, but it still startled him to feel her mind touch his. He knew the moment Dani saw what she needed and accepted he really was here to rescue her.
“Not yet. But promises have been made. It’s good to meet you, Saul. Really good.” She paused as her gaze lifted to the burgeoning room, then re
turned to his face. “Saul, they have Eva and San. Are they okay?”
“They don’t have them. Dani, they never did. They’re fine.”
“Bastards!” she spat. “I’m ready to go, but it isn’t going to be easy.”
“Nothing ever is, but we’ll manage. I need to look like I belong, so forgive my behavior. I’m going to leave you for now, but I won’t desert you. Also, the rest of the team is waiting outside.”
“Believe me, I’m ready to kick vamp ass.”
As he stood, he heard a second sigh from the darkness. For some reason, he already felt bound to her. No matter what happened, he wouldn’t leave without Dani tonight. He forgave himself for a sudden intense desire to see her in full light.
Four vampires were playing a game of digiball only ten feet from Dani’s corner where, under guard, she would remain until he could safely get her out of this too well protected basement. Saul moved away to watch the game, trying to feign interest as he assessed his chances of escaping unnoticed or at least without pursuit. Odds were against that.
Nagging at his thoughts was the fact that he had new talents that he could use against the vampires, but, still learning how to wield his first blood magics, he wasn’t entirely certain he’d be successful. Then, he would have outed himself and with no less than a dozen vampires in the room, he might be in more trouble than the woman he had come to rescue. Only one plan possibly assured success.
Saul weaved his way back to the table to grab a second beer and a thick meat-filled sandwich, away from the bulk of the partying crowd. Turned aside, the sandwich near his mouth to block it, he spoke, the coms waiting to pick up every word.
“I imagine you heard her. She’s okay. Give me a few more minutes to test the scope of the room, but I think our best chance of getting her out of here is for Kwano to join me and use his skills. I’ll do what I can, but I still have my learner’s permit.”
Jack’s voice answered, tinny but clear. “God, yes, we did. We’re relieved but we’re also pulling at the chain to get in there, so let us know as soon as possible.”