“If they have more of those acid-vomiting lizards from the Immortal Plane hidden in the basement, it’s going to be difficult,” Roxy said, shuddering at the memory.
Was she also picturing Finley’s demise? The smell had been unbearable, somehow more horrifying than seeing a human body melt. Although Finley was my enemy in the end, she deserved to answer for murdering Grayson and her other violent actions through a trial, not die by acid monster. Had the Bureau’s last radical battle spurred everyone to act more extremely?
I licked my lips nervously, taking in the tense and anxious air gathered around the group. Then Roxy’s earlier words about taking the evil out at the source came back to me.
“Maybe we don’t need to cast the net wider to find the source of the corruption,” I said aloud. “Maybe we need to be more specific in who we target.”
“What do you have in mind?” Bryce asked.
“Just target the board. It might be easier and would remove a lot of the key players from the genocide plot,” I said.
“Like taking them out?” Roxy asked.
“Not violently,” I insisted. “We don’t want any more bloodshed.”
Roxy’s lips set into a thin line of apparent disagreement. Colin said nothing, but he stiffened. They might not be open to a discussion with the memory of their torture and Grayson’s death heavy on their minds.
“What if that’s the only way we can stop the board from causing more harm?” Roxy asked. “We can’t expect them to play nice with us. They’ve already proven how far they’re willing to go to keep control.”
There were a few murmurs of agreement, both from members of my team and the gathered vampires.
“I still think we should try to take it public,” Louise insisted. “Even if the Bureau denies it, there will be a record of our testimony out in the world. Worst-case scenario, it would continue to circulate even if the Bureau managed to take us all down.”
“Assuming we even found a way to get it out in the first place,” Zach countered.
Louise scowled. “Really don’t need your negative contribution here, Zach, unless you have a better idea to replace mine.”
“I’m just saying our testimony wouldn’t hold much weight compared to the voice of the board,” Zach clarified, raising his hands in a placating gesture.
“We’ll make a decision tomorrow,” I promised everyone. “We need to take a night to clear our heads and get some rest. Re-approach the problem with fresh eyes.”
“Not sure how possible that is with no food, water, or beds,” Roxy grumbled as she broke away from the group, followed by Colin.
“Figuring this out after a night of sleep on the floor is better than crashing around in circles on no sleep,” Bryce said and dragged a hand down his tired face. “And you two need to rest up after your adventure.”
His pointed gaze was on Dorian and me. My face flushed with heat. Though there was no way that anyone could know what had happened between the two of us… it felt like everybody could see it on my face.
“Thank you,” I said. It was for Bryce’s concern, but also for the support he voiced for my idea to pull back from the planning session. I hadn’t understood the extent of the anger in our group. It would be something to deal with in our upcoming plans.
Shadows gathered on Dorian’s tired face. With a sudden movement, he took my hand in his. I nearly pulled back. How would such a thing affect our combined group? It could make anyone who was skeptical of the vampires even more nervous if they thought I wasn't objective in my plans. Not to mention, my teammates were quite reasonably worried about the pain I experienced around Dorian. But as I reveled in the warmth and roughness of his hand over mine, I couldn’t find the energy to care. At this point, everybody knew about our feelings for each other. Our issues, too. My chest burned the tiniest bit, but it was outweighed by the comforting presence of Dorian’s hand wrapped around mine.
I squeezed a little, letting Dorian know I was with him in this. In a way, this simple gesture meant far more in our relationship—he acknowledged us with this act.
Halla stood among the vampires on the other side of the cavern and muttered something under her breath, speaking loudly enough for me to catch my name among the words but not for me to hear what she said. My shoulders tensed. We have more important things to focus on than you gossiping about a human and a vampire holding hands, you bitter hag. A childish urge to stick my tongue out at her arose within me, immediately followed by embarrassment. I needed to get it together. My half-starved, tired self was more immature than I liked.
Dorian smirked, catching my furious gaze and knowing exactly whom it was thrown at.
“To be fair, she started it. But I’m pulling myself together,” I mumbled beneath my breath.
He chuckled warmly but said nothing.
We sat in silence, letting the seconds tick by as the sky outside the cave swelled to an explosion of pinks and reds and golds, slowly bleeding out to black. My sore muscles begged for sleep.
Tomorrow, we would decide on our next steps for the group. The group had completely changed after the battle with the Bureau and the return of the vampires from the Immortal Plane. There were practical concerns to address, such as food and water. Then there were the big topics of whom to fight, where to run, how to survive. My head throbbed with racing thoughts.
I curled up in the sand next to Dorian, letting my eyelids droop. He wrapped his arm loosely around me. I was grateful for his warmth as the chill from the desert night air rolled into the cave. A pleasant heat spread throughout my body, accompanied by the slight tingle of discomfort in my chest.
Outside, jagged bolts of lightning from the Immortal Plane tear ripped through the sky with fury. It broke the peaceful night sky over and over again, beautiful and destructive and otherworldly. I shuddered and leaned farther into Dorian for comfort. Eventually, I lost count of how many streaks I saw cut through the sky.
Sleep came. I dreamed of strange flashes illuminating Grayson as he crumbled to the ground over and over and over again.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Humans and vampires alike gathered in the middle of the cavern the following morning after we had all taken care of our necessary personal business. Bravi and Dorian scouted before sunrise and reported a potential disturbance nearby. While a few of the vampires went out to ensure the safety of the hideout, our human side—guided by the now far more affable Hart—tracked down a slow-moving trickle of brackish water in the deepest crevasses of the canyon’s labyrinth, slaking our thirst and returning with enough for the day.
During our water trip, I brainstormed ideas for dealing with the Bureau with Bryce, Zach, and Gina. Bryce, building on my suggestion to target the board rather than the whole of the Bureau, suggested a more detailed plan during that time. I wanted to run the full details by Dorian and the other vampires, but we had to wait for them to return from their scouting missions.
“The potential disturbance ended up being our own redbills play-fighting one another,” Bravi announced wryly upon the vampires’ return.
Dorian came to stand next to me. There was no time for pleasurable touches or stolen kisses amid planning, but his company soothed my nerves nonetheless. The vampires who had stayed in the caves gathered around us, ready to begin our next phase of action.
“We need to figure out our next move,” I announced firmly. “And what our objectives are.”
The faces surrounding me, vampire and human alike, were tired but expectant and ready to discuss. Laini shot me a small smile as she hovered beside Sike.
“Destroy the Bureau,” Roxy suggested dryly.
“An excellent idea,” I said, somewhat amused. “We need something a bit more specific, though, don’t you think?”
“I’m all ears,” Roxy said, her voice slightly sneering. I blamed it on the lack of sleep.
“As we started discussing yesterday, reaching out to an external government agency didn’t work and is too risky to try again at this point. Earlier
today, we floated the idea—”
“We?” Colin asked. He and Roxy had been given the separate duty of constructing flashlights that morning and had missed the mini-meeting.
“Gina, Bryce, Zach, and I managed to chat while we were out getting water,” I explained, hoping he didn’t feel stepped over. “The basic facts of the situation are that we know the Bureau has some kind of knowledge about the Immortal Plane, based on their dark matter weapons and their capture of the shrieking decay. The weapons have been in development for years, according to Bryce and… other sources,” I shared a quick glance with Zach at this vague reference to our father, “and the acid monster was evidently captured after it slipped through the tear from the Immortal Plane at some unknown point in time. However, they must’ve had it long enough to study it and build an apparatus to control it for their purposes.”
“Could we use monsters from the Immortal Plane, too?” Roxy wondered aloud. “Vampires can control redbills. Why not other creatures?”
While I never wanted to see another monster like that again in my life, it was an interesting idea. I gave the vampires a querying look, seeking their professional opinion.
Dorian shook his head with a serious frown. “It’s not the same thing, unfortunately. Monsters like that from the Immortal Plane are brutish and primitive and too powerful to be controlled by vampires. Besides, it would be far too dangerous given immortal monsters’ tendency toward destruction. The Bureau was foolish to think they could use something as volatile as a shrieking decay on Earth without serious consequences. Immortal beasts could easily take out entire human towns without much effort.”
“The Immortal Plane is too powerful to mess with,” Bravi agreed. “It’s not safe for those of us who lived there, let alone humans.”
“The human world doesn’t seem that safe either,” Halla added tartly.
“True,” Sike replied, “but it is arguably the lesser of two evils at this point.”
“We don’t have any allies left in the Immortal Plane, whereas we have some in the human world,” Laini countered, her eyes glassy for a moment.
Dorian’s story of his brother flashed through my mind. The suffering he and Laini had gone through. It wasn’t merely allies they had lost in that struggle; it was family.
“So, what are we doing?” Roxy asked. “We might not get another shot at the Bureau after this. How many more times can we escape their attempts to hunt us down? We’re underfed, exhausted, dehydrated, wounded. Our bodies aren’t going to last much longer if we keep going like this, humans and vampires. We need to take definitive action. Now.”
“Not to mention our enemies in the Immortal Plane grow stronger and more dangerous by the day,” Bravi said. Her forehead creased with worry. “We lost too many people over there. We have to stay here and make our stand if we are to have any hope of gathering enough strength and numbers to take on the fight back home.”
“I agree,” Dorian said. “We can’t forget what happened to Kreya and Rhome and their children in the Immortal Plane. Our enemies are escalating in number and severity of their attacks. As much as I hate it, there’s conflict brewing in both worlds. The Immortal Plane is by far the worst option. We can’t go back or expect to use anything from there to our advantage. So, unfortunately… no monsters.” He gave Roxy a slight smile, obviously amused and somewhat impressed by her idea of monstrous mounts.
Roxy accepted this but deflated with dissatisfaction.
In a way, I understood her thinking. The Bureau seemed impossible to beat, so how were we supposed to face them, even with vampire help? However, with Finley’s melting face still fresh in my mind, I knew monsters weren’t the solution.
“Sorry if it’s an obvious question,” Zach asked. “But can’t we just close the tear somehow?”
Some of the vampires chuckled mirthlessly, and Zach grimaced. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“It’s not a door you can just slide shut,” Harlowe said. Her once long platinum blonde hair hung in ragged strings around her ears. Some of it looked like it had been burned off. “While we may have knowledge of how to move between the planes at certain points in either realm, knowledge about creating tears in the barrier isn’t something vampires possess. Which means we have no idea how to close it.”
“It’s fairly obvious that the Bureau’s presence is the cause of all these problems,” Rayne spoke up abruptly from beside Harlowe. “The tear. The attempted genocide of our kind. The other vampires informed us of everything that went on while we were in the Immortal Plane. It all leads back to the Bureau. If vampires expect to be safe, we can’t coexist with an organization that wants us dead.” Her observation sliced through the moment with icy clarity.
“My point exactly,” Roxy agreed with enthusiasm. “We have to take an aggressive stance against the Bureau.”
Colin nodded beside her, his expression stony. It was strange to see the anger and hurt frozen on his face. The Bureau had changed Colin in ways his easygoing nature was unprepared for.
“Yeah, but my point still stands,” Zach broke in. “Do you seriously believe the whole Bureau—all those people we knew and trained with and fought alongside—are all ready to double down on vampire extermination and the murder of their former teammates?” He gave Roxy and Colin a pointedly questioning look. “Not so long ago, we were all neck-deep in the institution that is the Bureau. And we got the chance to change our minds after we received new information and experienced the side of the organization that a very select group of people are trying to keep in the shadows.”
Roxy and Colin exchanged a somewhat shamefaced look, obviously remembering how they had initially rejected the evidence we’d given them about the evil actions of the board.
I rubbed my sleepy face, reflecting on everything that occurred and this morning’s discussion with my team. The Bureau had refused to change their minds or listen to reason, but was it the entire Bureau? Zach made a good point that not everybody was likely to be involved.
“I want to hear everyone out,” I said and glanced in Bryce’s direction. I might need a backup for our plan. “Bryce had an excellent suggestion.”
All eyes fell on Bryce, who cleared his throat under the needling gazes. “Roxy mentioned stamping out the source of evil yesterday, and Lyra mentioned becoming more specific in who we target. It got me thinking. If we want to kill a snake, we need to cut off the head. Destroying the entire Bureau would be too difficult and, as Zach pointed out, would likely result in attacking a large number of good, honest soldiers who know nothing of what the board has been doing. We only need to take out the key players involved in this situation. There are specific, high-ranking officials calling most of the shots,” he explained to the vampires, “and they’re the ones pushing extermination.”
Like Alan.
“We go after them and spare the potential innocents,” Dorian muttered, mulling it over with alert eyes. He seemed to immediately understand Bryce’s point.
“There’s a catch, though,” Bryce warned. “We need to capture these board members without killing them. Any soldier we come across on the way will be dealt an incapacitating blow. The goal is to stop more bloodshed. The Bureau has done enough of that already.”
The humans looked at one another, all thinking the same thing: That’s why Grayson was gone.
“Why would we spare the soldiers?” Bravi asked. Her eyebrows quirked upward. It wasn’t out of agitation but tactical curiosity.
“The board members are evil. There’s no getting around that,” I said, my voice shaking tightly. My uncle was among their ranks, after all. “They are knowingly involved in the extermination of vampires and in hunting us dissenters down. The soldiers may simply be following orders as they’ve been trained to do. And while the board members might be no different from the people you feed on, they are the most important officials in the Bureau’s ranks at this point. We need to keep them alive for information, among other things.”
My voice began to
lose its strength toward the end. My uncle’s face burned into my mind with a sickening presence. I hated him for what he’d done, but even now the idea of him dying at the hands of the vampires I had come to know and admire made my entire body feel tight and feverish.
Bryce cut in. “We’ll use the board members as bargaining chips. The fewer people killed in this raid, the more likely it is that we come out of this with the moral high ground. If we succeed in that, it should become easier to get the public on our side,” he explained.
Bravi nodded, but her gaze flickered to Dorian. His approval would be more important to her than Bryce’s.
As if sensing hesitation among his people, Dorian spoke. “It sounds promising. My concern is that the Bureau isn’t alone in their work. What about this group known as the CIA? They seem to be involved with the Bureau to enough of a degree that they would hide tracking devices on you and pass that information on to the people hunting us.”
It must be hard for him to keep track of this complicated infrastructure of government agencies.
“The Bureau and the board have to be our utmost priority,” Gina said firmly. “If we try to deal with the CIA at the same time, it will be impossible. Our combined strength can only do so much.”
“If they’re corrupt, then we’ll have to deal with them later,” I said. “With the board members as hostages, we can force the rest of the Bureau to stand down. It could also serve as a way for us to bargain with other agencies. If we can prove the Bureau’s wrongdoing, we can negotiate asylum for the vampires.”
Zach rubbed his chin. “That’s not a long-term solution, though. What would we do with the hostages afterward?”
A sinking realization came over me. We hadn’t discussed that. I swallowed a painful lump in my throat. Would Alan be executed if the justice system found his actions treasonous against American citizens?
“They’ll have to be brought to justice,” I said, “to answer for their crimes in a court of law and finally be held to a legal standard.”
Darklight 2: Darkthirst Page 37