“They believed us,” Zach said excitedly. “They were receptive to our information about the Bureau and shocked to hear about what was going on.”
“They seemed to believe us,” Bryce corrected him quickly. “They’re looking into everything, starting with Jim’s experiment and his… passing.” He swallowed after the last word and closed his eyes.
“What are the next steps?” I asked as we made our way back to the cavern. The redbills chirped energetically as if sensing the group’s joy.
“They won’t promise action anytime soon. Typical of a government agency. They need to do a thorough investigation and may contact us again for further questioning during that time,” Bryce explained.
That sounded reasonable enough.
“They took photos of Louise and Grayson’s injuries and statements about their experiences.”
“What was your overall feeling, though?” I asked, wanting Bryce’s gut interpretation.
“They seemed helpful… but closed off,” Bryce explained. “There were no promises about stopping the Bureau’s pursuit of us, but they said they wanted to work something out.”
“The CIA couldn’t make promises?” Colin wondered aloud. “It seems odd that even they can’t do anything about the Bureau.”
The implied question went unspoken—exactly who could go up against the Bureau?
“They’re not promising anything until their investigation is complete?” I asked, trying to clarify everything. “Well, how long do they think that will take?”
“It’s more that they’re trying to cover their butts, like most government agencies,” Bryce said, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he reflected. He was tired from their journey. They all were.
I cleared my throat, knowing we needed to discuss next steps. “Let’s talk logistics. What’s the situation with our location? Things might be too hot here now. I’m worried the Bureau might track us down while the CIA is investigating. Actually, especially while the CIA is investigating.”
“This hideout might not be the safest, and we’re basically out of food,” Bryce admitted. His hesitant gaze landed on one of the vampire children, who looked cautiously back at him. It was our priority to keep everyone in good health while the main group of vampires was gone. “But even if we moved, we would definitely need to wait for the Immortal Plane group to return first.”
“True,” I agreed. “It would be bad to split up the group.” A funny chill came over me. I rubbed my arms as something resounded down the tunnel. It must be an echo from the redbills getting ready to roost in their makeshift nests.
“It’s night, anyway,” Zach said. “It would be hard to look for a new campsite in the dark.” He was happy about the meeting. He whistled pleasantly as he stoked the fire.
Good for him. I sighed, wishing I could feel the same.
How long would the CIA take to investigate? Government investigations usually meant weeks of work. Would they be able to speed it up if they saw what the Bureau was doing?
I puzzled over this as we got ready for bed a short while later. Gina caught my worried look.
“Let’s just try to sleep tonight,” she said gently.
I stretched my limbs, feeling their complaints. Maybe they were right.
“It was nice to be talked to like I was human,” Louise said wistfully. Grayson nodded enthusiastically. “The last time law enforcement had questions for me…” She trailed off.
“They offered us hot coffee and cinnamon rolls,” he said with a happy sigh. “It was the best thing I’ve tasted in weeks.”
I smirked, slightly envious of their small treat. They deserved it after their unfair treatment by the Bureau in containment. Clearly, faith in humanity had been restored to our group… at least for tonight.
Assuming the CIA’s info was accurate, the Bureau only had a vague idea where we were. The area was large enough to give me some relief, but I hated knowing they had even an inkling of our location. Good thing the Bureau didn’t know we were basically down to vampire senior citizens, babies, and a few rogue soldiers in the hideout. We couldn’t be stupid about our defense of the hideout, especially now.
I scanned the gathered group, trying to judge who seemed the most rested. “We should set a watch,” I suggested.
Bryce crossed his arms, reflecting on the idea and slowly nodding. If he agreed, then he also had reservations about the meeting. Which meant I wasn’t crazy.
“How about a short shift? A relief in four hours?” he asked, looking around to gauge reactions. “I need a volunteer to start. I’ll relieve whoever goes first, but I need to sleep—I didn’t drink their coffee.”
Did he think it could be poisoned? Oh my God, I’m ruined for trusting anyone at this point.
“I’ll do it,” Grayson said confidently. “I’m not going to sleep any time soon. I had four cups.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Get some sleep after your shift, though, Grayson.”
He nodded and practically hopped off to the task. Man, I would kill for coffee.
I settled into bed, listening to the others prepare for bed down the hall. Despite all our troubles, the mood was light tonight. It was a nice change of pace.
“Goodnight, everyone,” Zach called out. It echoed down the hall, earning a round of snickers from the various rooms. I snuggled beneath my blanket and drifted off to sleep.
* * *
I dreamed about the day at Phoenix HQ when I discovered the truth about the board’s plans. My feet were planted firmly on the tarmac, the breeze rushing past my face. A helicopter’s blades beat overhead. I strained to see it in the perfect blue sky, but it was nowhere to be found.
I opened my eyes with my heart beating a hundred miles a minute and felt disoriented for a moment. Those sounds weren’t from a dream…
They were real.
I flew out of bed as the thrum of helicopters grew louder. Someone cursed loudly down the hall. I threw on my clothes and dashed into the hallway, where Gina was already waiting.
“Grayson hasn’t come back,” she reported, her eyes filled with dread.
Bryce stumbled out of his room, muttering jumbled phrases in a sleep-thickened accent. “I was due to relieve him in thirty minutes,” he eventually said, glancing at his watch.
“We shouldn’t panic,” I insisted. “It could be a chopper passing overhead. We should wait for Grayson. He might’ve gone to check out what the sound was, to make sure nobody was attempting to land.”
We gathered in the main cavern. The vampires had been woken by the commotion. Hart stood beside the vampire woman, who clutched the children behind her. Their eyes were trained on the roof of the chamber, listening intently to the sound as it grew closer.
“You guys need to hide, just in case,” I told the vampires.
Hart’s eyes, usually dark with anger and disgust, flashed with worry. He knew what the Bureau had done to Dorian with their new weapon.
“Is there somewhere you can go in the tunnels?” I had only explored a small part of the vast network, concerned about straying too far and finding myself unable to get back.
“In the back, where the redbills roost,” Hart answered quickly. “But I’m not staying if they break into the hideout. We’ll leave on the redbills.”
“Fine,” I said, thinking it all through. “It only makes sense. Leave on the redbills if the cave is breached. Fly anywhere you know of.”
Hart and the remaining vampires took off toward the tunnel. Hart grabbed one vampire child’s hand, while the vampire woman managed with the baby. Another vampire child followed them, tears brewing in his eyes. He led an elderly vampire as quickly as possible to the tunnel.
There had been zero pushback on the decision.
They were depending on us for safety. The dire nature of what this situation could mean sank into me.
A minute passed. No Grayson. I bounced on my feet anxiously.
There was no way the Bureau could have found us that easily. Unless the CIA had so
ld us out. The thought felt paranoid yet chilling, and I knew I couldn’t afford to not consider it as a possibility.
A sound caught my ear. It was familiar, but it took me a moment to place it. If I strained, I could just make it out beneath the rising thrum of the choppers. I dashed to the tunnel opening and leaned inside. The redbills liked to roost in the far back portions of the tunnels. Those areas were harder for humans to access, so it made sense they seemed to prefer it there.
Talons scraped the edges of the wall from far within the tunnel. My stomach flipped when I finally interpreted the sound. The redbills were crying out in fear, a sound I recognized after seeing their reactions to the soul scourger.
“The redbills are spooked,” I said as I rejoined the group. Gina’s face was lined with tension.
“How could they have found us?” Colin asked.
I swallowed a lump of fear. What had happened to Grayson?
“Grayson doesn’t seem to be coming back,” Bryce announced gravely, “and those are military troop carriers if I’ve ever heard them.”
“How can we hold off a Bureau threat right now?” I asked. An almost rhetorical question, but one it looked like we would have to answer.
Bryce strode over to survey our supplies with a frustrated scowl. “Not sure, but we’ve got to try,” he rumbled. “I’ve got an idea.” As he opened his mouth to explain, tremors shook the hideout. His eyes darted upward, and he swore.
“That’ll be a craft landing. Oh, joy,” he said and turned on us. “Listen up, team. We’re going to split into several groups to work our way through the side tunnels. Separating means a greater chance of survival for all of us. Our goal is to flank our pursuers, whoever and however many they may be.” He pointed to Louise. “You’re with me, Louise. Zach and Gina, I want you on the other side.”
None of us would get in Bryce’s way when it came to strategy. When he doled out assignments at points like this, the group always fell into immediate compliance. With a grim expression, Bryce turned toward Colin, Roxy, and me.
“You’ve got the hardest job. I want you to exit out the front on distraction detail. Your side priority is finding Grayson if they haven’t already taken him.” His eyes flashed wildly, charged with adrenaline. “Don’t harm anyone. There’s a chance the Bureau still wants to negotiate. It’s going to make any CIA investigation difficult if we start killing Bureau soldiers.”
It was a sobering realization, hard on the heels of several others. This couldn’t be a coincidence. There was no way Team Negotiate had come back from a suspicious meeting with the CIA and the Bureau just magically found us. But even if the Bureau had somehow found us on their own, there was a good chance there would be more bloodshed before the night was out. And as usual, a no-kill strategy would make this harder for us.
We could really use the vampires right now. I would’ve traded my left hand for their perfect night vision, but what we had was four standard Bureau red-light headlamps to split between three groups. Our fifth and final headlamp had gone out with Grayson on watch. Bryce divided our few comms and assigned them with quick but calculated movements. I received a comm, making sure it was set to the private channel Bryce and Louise had programmed into the unit and went without the headlamp.
We broke wordlessly as the sounds of rotors continued outside. Roxy, Colin, and I moved swiftly through the tunnel without a word. The possibility of tangling with Bureau soldiers successfully buried my bitter thoughts about the CIA meeting. All I could think about was the present.
We kept our footsteps as quiet as possible. As we approached the entrance, the lights of a second chopper came into view. It landed up the hillside as we slipped outside the tunnel.
The night was lit by a fat, nearly full moon. I motioned for Colin and Roxy to refrain from using their headlamps. We would use as much of the natural light as possible to avoid giving away our position to the Bureau.
Downhill from the cave entrance, where the mountain slope was much gentler, I could see movement. Voices rose up the side of the mountain as the second chopper cut its engine.
“Spread out. You know your orders,” a voice said, echoing up the mountainside in a sharp bark. “And you can stick your hands in the air where I can see them.”
Finley. She had come to tangle with us again… and with company this time. I counted eight Bureau soldiers spilling from the chopper. I had to assume there were at least that many in the next one.
Hovering in the sky, a medium-sized tiltrotor aircraft loomed over Finley’s crew. It cast an ominous shadow over everything, even in the dim light. My stomach sank when I made out a familiar figure standing in front of Finley’s team.
Grayson. My heart slammed against my chest as I saw his shaking hands rise on command.
Finley pointed her gun at him while the rest of her team spread out, forming a line. Their eyes scanned the area, clearly expecting an onslaught of vampires to emerge from the trees.
If only we had that kind of luck.
“Please, don’t shoot,” Grayson begged, his voice shaking.
Hold on, Grayson. We had to figure out how to get him out of there.
I dropped to my belly, trusting Colin and Roxy would follow suit. We crawled toward the scene through the twigs and scrubby bushes, keeping ourselves as low as possible. If they were alerted to our movement, Finley could get spooked and do any number of unpleasant things.
“Where are they hiding?” Finley asked gruffly. She cocked her gun, and I saw Grayson flinch.
I listened helplessly as my teammate spoke.
“I can’t tell you where the entrance is,” Grayson said. “But please, take me back.”
“Why should I do that?” Finley asked, her voice rising in annoyance. There was no hint of pity in her tone.
“I can’t do this anymore,” Grayson said wildly. Spotlighted by multiple headlamps trained on him and followed by gun barrels, his hands trembled. “I’ve seen things. The vampires have done things… they… it’s been terrible being with them. I want to quit the Bureau. I want to leave entirely. I’ll never say a word, I swear.”
Finley said nothing as silence stole over them. The tension weighed down on me like a boot pressing against the back of my neck. I glanced to the side to see Roxy’s eyes widening, glassy with fear under the moonlight. Grayson was desperate, and not just because of his current circumstances.
Watching Vonn feed on that officer did this to him. And I had waited to address his concerns, thinking he would get over them and see reason. Thinking we had time to let things stew a little. It had been an honest mistake—but a mistake nonetheless—and my team member was facing the consequences.
“You’ve made your choice already,” Finley said coldly to Grayson. “You’re stalling for your little friends right now. I never trusted those vampires in the facility. I always knew they were up to tricks.”
“It’s not a trick,” Grayson insisted frantically.
“Shut up! They probably put you up to this.” Finley’s gun never wavered from its bead on Grayson.
I signaled for my team to follow as I crawled closer. My arms caught the edge of the slickest, barest part of the slope. I slid faster than intended down the rock on the side of the hill toward the tumbledown scree of mine tailings that piled up beneath our entrance to the cave. Not good. I bit my lip to keep from crying out as my ankle hit a rock jutting out from the hillside, hoping they’d been too distracted to notice the sound… but the shower of loose pebbles from beneath me bounced and rolled treacherously down the hill toward the waiting soldiers.
Finley stiffened. “There’s movement on the hill. I repeat, we have vampires on the hill.” There was a scuffle below. “Open fire!”
The soldiers cocked their guns. I froze in terror as the eight soldiers aimed at our area. They fired without hesitation.
Colin gasped beside me, and the three of us lunged in three different directions as the shots neared us.
“Get to cover!” I hissed at them as I sc
rambled to my feet. Something struck my face, momentarily blinding me with a flash of bright green. It caused nothing but a slight tingle on my skin. They’d come prepared to fight vampires tonight. Were they expecting to find them here? I plunged down the slope toward Grayson as the barrage of lasers passed by us without harm.
I had only gone a few more steps when Grayson spoke again. “Please,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be like this.” His hands were still in the air. He took a step toward Finley, and she reeled back, still pointing her gun. This one wasn’t a dark energy weapon.
Before I could stop her, she fired straight into Grayson’s chest.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Grayson toppled to the ground.
The gun’s echo faded into the wind, taking my startled cry right along with it. I stood rooted to the spot several feet ahead of my team, unable to take my eyes off his still form lying on the gray stone.
I’d sidelined his concerns, convincing myself he would be fine, that I would get to him when I had a spare minute when things weren’t as hectic. But the desperation in his voice as he’d begged Finley to take him back, even after the Bureau’s torture, told me I should have done better. I had failed him, just as the Occult Bureau had failed him.
Roxy made a strangled sound, somewhere between a snarl and a whimper. That broke the spell, and I stumbled backward, stunned.
“We have to keep moving,” I said in a flat voice. My instincts kicked in full throttle. While this wasn’t the first time a soldier I knew had died, it was the first time it was someone from my team and the first time I had seen it happen. The fact that my teammate had been murdered by one of our own was something I couldn’t bear to think about right now. For a split second, I truly understood how Alan must have felt watching his teammates being torn to pieces, how the grief and rage could turn into something hard and bitter and vengeful.
Darklight 2: Darkthirst Page 28