“That’ll be quite the shock for them,” Roxy muttered bitterly.
“If the board members are as bad as you say,” Oleah said abruptly and took a quick step forward as if she couldn’t contain herself. “I can’t imagine it would be possible for our group to resist feeding on them. They’re filled with darkness, aren’t they?”
Fantastic. The haughty, dissenting voice was back. A chill ran down my spine as I imagined the less scrupulous vampires running loose among the board, dashing our chances of negotiation.
“That’s nonsense,” Laini said in an uncharacteristically harsh tone. “You can control yourself. You’re an adult. As long as we are fully fed before going on the mission, we should be able to manage.”
Oleah simmered with anger, but Laini didn’t back down. She stared openly at the older woman, her chin tilted high.
Yes! Thank you, Laini. I was always thankful for Laini’s kindness. It was nice to be supported among the vampires rather than feeling like I was under constant scrutiny.
Dorian watched the exchange, his brow furrowed in thought. Was he thinking about his own experiences with control and how he’d barely been able to prevent himself from sinking his fangs into my uncle during our scuffle at Phoenix HQ? Or was it more closely related to how his proximity affected me when he fed?
They were used to denying themselves, but what about the others? I scanned the faces of the newer vampires. Sike kicked at a pebble, a similar heavy shadow on his face. Hart muttered something to Oleah, and she glared at him, her face stormy. Rayne shook her head, clearly uncertain about Laini’s assurance. Vonn tapped a fingertip against his sharp cheek, his mouth twitching.
“Laini is right. It should be fine,” Dorian said firmly. The whispers stopped with a noticeable hush as if someone had sucked all the air out of the room. Vonn’s expression twisted with annoyance. He was the last person I trusted for this mission. He hadn’t even tried to stop himself from tearing into that officer’s neck.
The memory of Vonn’s fangs reminded me of my time with Dorian in the Amish community. I suppressed a grimace. Dorian would feed before we went, right? He would have to, even if it meant we would have to stay well away from one another on the mission itself. Unnerving doubt nipped at my thoughts.
Bryce cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention.
“There will be a board meeting at the Bureau’s Chicago HQ,” he said. “Many of us know that building well, and their meeting room is always the same.”
“We could get them all at once,” Dorian said, catching on.
“And you guys haven’t been the only ones brainstorming,” Sike cut in with a somewhat nervous smile. “Louise and I have been talking. We think we should reveal the existence of vampires to humans.”
“I know several people have already pointed out that taking our story public would be nearly impossible and probably amount to nothing,” Louise sputtered. “But, like the idea of targeting the board and not the whole Bureau, we’d only be trying to spread information about one aspect of our battle. Which would be the existence of vampires.” The silence held steady, so she continued to explain. “With all the monsters coming from the tear, this might be a great time to contact the media. They’ll listen to us because the Bureau is stonewalling them. We could use it to help our case with the vampires.”
“How?” I asked. She had a point, but I wanted more details before I agreed. I didn’t see how reporters could give us leverage in negotiating with the Bureau. Could the news coverage of the strange occurrences really make a difference? The Bureau had never seemed to care about the media before.
“We can leverage public support for the vampires by painting them as supernatural guardians or helpers here to aid us with the new threats appearing in the human world. If the public gets on board, they could help pressure the Bureau into giving vampires at least temporary asylum, which would give us a chance to work on calling for transparency in all the Bureau’s workings, especially if we remove the current board. It could even potentially lead to a solution for the tear.” Louise had rattled off her speech so passionately that she ran out of breath. “And people deserve to know. The Bureau can’t cover up these stories forever.”
Dorian and I exchanged a look. The idea had promise, but it might be hard to accomplish. It sounded simple now, but I suspected their idea would, in reality, be even more difficult than storming the Bureau and kidnapping hostages. Trying to influence people and what they think was the most dangerous path of all. Would they really listen to us? Or would they take what we told them and fall into the pattern of fear-driven bigotry currently displayed by the Bureau?
Laini bit her lip nervously. “That sounds interesting,” she said slowly. “But what happens if the public wants to kill us, like the Bureau?”
“If the humans want help with the monsters they’re facing, they won’t be in a position to be choosy,” Bryce argued. “But there is a concern. It could work, but the Bureau has illustrated that they’re excellent at covering things up.”
If the public knew about the acid monster and the possibility that more were on their way, I had a feeling they would go along with any help. Would getting the Bureau to admit the existence of vampires be possible? Or would the Bureau somehow swing in with another wild cover story?
“It’s worthy of consideration,” Dorian said finally. “Thank you.”
Sike grinned, and Louise straightened her back. Her smile bloomed with pride. Their idea wasn’t squashed yet.
“One small thing. What do we do about the vampires’ knack for murdering criminals?” Zach asked dryly. “That might be hard to explain to civilians, even desperate civilians looking for monster relief. And it’s almost definitely going to be the first piece of information the Bureau responds with.”
“It would be awfully convenient for vampires to explain away their murdering, wouldn’t it?” Roxy asked under her breath.
“We’ll keep thinking on it,” Dorian promised. “Right now, we should focus on our first priority, which is stopping the Bureau.”
Renewed hope filled me.
“Definitely. We can stop the Bureau if we focus on the board. We can get justice for everyone. For the vampires, for those mistreated by the Bureau and the board, for Grayson,” I said passionately. Adrenaline pumped through my veins. “Our combined strengths and range of abilities give us advantages the Bureau doesn’t have. We humans know the Bureau, the board, and the Chicago HQ building reasonably well. The vampires have superior strength and speed. Between our tactical training and the vampires’ abilities, we can outsmart them.”
Dorian’s serious gaze fell over his comrades. “There’s not much hope that we can return to the Immortal Plane in its current state. But there’s a chance we can build a new home here until we’re strong enough to take it back. If we want to survive, we need the combined skills of everyone involved.”
The tension in the group seemed to lift. Although Oleah still frowned, her eyes were no longer quite as narrow. Laini smiled in my direction.
“The Bureau does whatever it wants,” I added. “We’ll leave them to the darkness and take the light road instead. Like Bryce said, our moral high ground can be the thing that leads us to the ultimate victory. Our one shot at control over the situation is taking out the board the right way.”
“Did you two prepare your speeches in advance?” Bravi asked, half-joking. “You know, I’m already in support.”
“Me too,” Laini said. “I want the Bureau taken down the right way.”
“I’m in,” Sike said.
Slowly but surely, the group began to voice their support. It felt like my knees turned to water as the tension eased in my body, and I cheered inwardly. Zach shot me a thumbs-up, and it made me more confident than ever knowing he had settled on my side. The conversation had been tough, but ultimately we’d found a reasonable compromise. Outright war was too radical, but a concentrated attack on the board seemed promising. Louise and Sike’s idea about going
to the public might also work if we managed to get the right evidence and release it the right way to the right people.
“As much as I love this feeling of levity and camaraderie,” Bryce said with a smirk, “I’ve got to tell you something. The next board meeting is tomorrow. As long as the schedule hasn’t changed since we left, it should still be happening.”
Tomorrow? I imagined Alan sitting at a sleek table with the other board members. I felt a pang of anger just from the image.
“Another mission this soon?” Zach groaned. “But I just crawled out of the wreckage of a helicopter crash like barely two days ago.”
Behind his joke, I sensed his worry and remembered that he’d torn open his leg wound again during the last battle with the Bureau, as well as sustaining more injuries. Would Zach be okay for such a mission? In fact, looking at the various bandaged and scraped-up team members, would several of us be in good enough fighting form?
“If it can’t be helped,” I said, feeling my brother’s pain. “But I’d prefer to wait for the next one to give us time to prepare.”
Roxy said nothing, but the dark circles beneath her eyes and the rough splint along her recently dislocated fingers spoke for her. Even if she and Colin were ready to burn the Bureau to the ground with their fury, they were just as exhausted as the rest of us.
Bryce rubbed his cheek thoughtfully. “There will be a meeting at the same time next month. We could build a cache of weapons and supplies, if we can manage it, while we wait.”
I digested this information. Time would be an advantage if we could survive out here for another month. But that also gave the Bureau a month to find us. Looking around at the tattered group around me, I didn’t see that we had a choice. We couldn’t be ready by tomorrow.
“We’ll wait,” I said, “and prepare. In the meantime, everyone should try to get as much rest as possible.”
“Easier said than done, with our enemies sleeping right next door,” Roxy mumbled.
Hopefully, the Bureau only patrolled around the danger zone of the tear and didn’t send scouts out farther. I rubbed my forehead, trying to put myself in their place. What would I do to track down dissenters? I doubted they would look for us in the Canyonlands. If anything, they were more likely to accidentally stumble across us while searching for redbills or monsters from the Immortal Plane nearby. In that case, we would need to have the redbills ready at all times for an emergency getaway. Where we would run to from here, I had no idea, but hopefully, the vampires had a few other hideouts stashed away somewhere.
“While your group gathers food and supplies, the vampires will need to rest and feed to recover our dark energy,” Dorian said, breaking me free from my hurried thoughts. “Then we can start to prepare for the attack.”
Oleah raised her eyebrows with interest. Halla drew her arms tight over her chest. Were they intrigued by the idea of an attack on the Bureau?
“The aim, remember, is to capture the leaders with as little bloodshed as possible,” Bryce stressed as a reminder. I wanted to believe his comment was more for the hostile vampires, but the doubtful frowns on Roxy and Colin’s faces failed to ease my nerves.
We would deal with the Bureau first, starting with the most significant piece of the puzzle and then put everything else together. This could work. It had to.
“We’ll figure out our wider plans for the other government organizations and announcing the existence of vampires while we rest up,” I said. My team seemed to accept this, even Colin and Roxy. This reassured me somewhat. Out of our group, Roxy and Colin were the ones who seemed most hell-bent on bringing down the Bureau, but they weren’t wholly illogical in their desire for revenge as far as I could tell. Gina, Zach, and I hadn’t been tortured, and Louise was approaching the problem from a different angle. I couldn’t understand Roxy and Colin’s experiences, but I still believed they were trying to be logical and were on board with our aim to take down the Bureau from the moral high ground. We had to work as a team. Plans could go awry, but I counted on our teamwork to carry us through anything.
“I agree with Lyra,” Laini said.
Oleah shot her a dark look.
“This is a foolish waste of time,” Halla said sourly.
Dorian’s steady gaze rested on her. “If you have better ideas, I’m willing to listen. Otherwise, this appears to be our best chance of success,” he countered firmly.
Halla pursed her lips, seemingly backing down, but Vonn rose up behind her like an emerging phantom.
“War will be the only thing that stops the Bureau,” he growled. “They’re filled with evil. Only total annihilation will end this struggle.”
Annihilation was insane. It was the same as the Bureau’s take on vampire genocide, only coming from the other side.
Dorian’s lip curled. “War is foolish. We would accomplish nothing but more needless bloodshed. We can’t afford to lose more of our own kind and human allies to this struggle with the Bureau. The danger from the Immortal Plane trumps anything we might face with the Bureau, and we have to conserve our strength for that.”
It was uncharacteristically closed-minded of him to block out people’s opinions, but he was obviously frustrated. I had to admit it was a delight to watch him shut down the radical, thoughtless proposal of war. If I liked anything about Dorian, it was his ability to lead.
Nobody else moved to disagree. Vonn quieted, but a dangerous spark of yearning flickered behind his eerily pale eyes. He seemed to want bloodshed. I forced myself to look at him head-on. I needed to watch him.
Not everyone can be happy… least of all the more hostile vampires.
“Let’s set up scouting routines for supernatural creatures in danger of approaching the hideout,” Dorian announced to the vampires. “We need to redirect them to ensure the Bureau doesn’t come combing through our caves. Our goal is to keep this hideout safe and make it moderately livable while we’re here.”
The tense air above our group dispersed. New energy bubbled to the surface. Bodies moved quickly. Unfortunately, our ski resort hideout had been a luxury retreat compared to this place. I hoped we could scrounge something together for warmth at night. If we had to stay here longer, we could make our scavenged ski resort jackets work as blankets.
I needed a breath of fresh air, so I made my way to the entrance of the cave. The sun struck my cheeks. It had been harder to get sunshine at the ski resort. Clouds often rolled over the mountaintop, and we kept inside like rats in a sewer, knowing the stone threw off the Bureau’s scanners. Here, the vampires’ aura or frequency or whatever it was would be drowned out by the stronger immortal aura of the tear.
“Lyra.” The voice struck me as hollow, and a bony hand tugged my elbow.
I turned to see Halla staring intently at me. What the heck was this about? The only thing that came to mind was Kane. Even though Halla was sometimes frustrating, I felt bad about Kane’s mysterious fate.
“I’m glad you survived your journey,” she said. The admission sounded as if it took all her pride.
I raised my eyebrows, unable to hide my surprise. “Thank you,” I replied weakly. What to say in this situation when basically every word we’d ever exchanged had been hostile? “I’m glad you’re back with us, Halla.” It was half true. I was happy to have more bodies, even though I didn’t appreciate her negative attitude toward humans.
She pursed her mouth, fretful. “I couldn’t help but notice that you and Dorian haven’t responded to the warning I gave you.”
Annoyance washed over me. Halla wanted to lecture to me? Fine, I would lend a respectful ear to an elder. Maybe I could sway her toward my side. Perhaps she just needed to distract herself from her missing son.
“Vampires can only be with vampires,” she continued. If she saw my stony face, she ignored it. “I’m afraid you’ve failed to understand what I told you. Your auras won’t allow you to be together.”
I drew my brows together in confusion. “Our auras? You mean like the frequencies
immortal creatures give off?”
“All things have an aura, not just those from the Immortal Plane. You and Dorian have vastly different auras. It’s understandable. Humans and vampires cannot change their natural inclination,” she pressed. “It’s manifesting as physical pain in you because it is actually harming you.”
The pain wasn’t a secret among our group, but it felt strange for Halla to suddenly approach me like this. Was she trying to dissuade me from being close to Dorian with this warning?
“You can’t be serious,” I said in disbelief. Nobody was close enough to hear our conversation. She must’ve planned that.
Her expression turned somber. “Deadly serious. When I was a child, my parents told me stories about a vampire woman who fell in love with a human man. She accidentally drained him of his life by the force of her love for him.”
My legs burned restlessly, begging me to move away from the spot. Away from Halla’s harsh words. But if she really knew something about the pain…
“Can you explain it to me?” I asked. On the one hand, I was irritated with Halla, but she also had no idea where her son was in the Immortal Plane. If she was going to pull this right now, she had better have more solid evidence than a childhood story.
“Dorian is unintentionally feeding on the dark energy inside you, slowly killing you,” Halla said mercilessly.
I pressed my hand against my temple. My frustration caused a small headache to form. “How? I’m not filled with dark energy. If I were, I wouldn’t be here in this cave with a bunch of hungry vampires.”
“You are,” Halla contradicted. “All humans intrinsically have small amounts. It’s in your very nature. You didn’t have much to begin with, but Dorian has been unconsciously feeding off it. That is what is causing your pain.”
She’s lying. She has to be. Dorian wasn’t drinking my blood. That was how the transference worked, as far as I knew. And the pain was at its weakest when he was hungry, when surely, by Halla’s logic, that would be when he was most likely to unconsciously feed on me and create the pain. Furthermore, if what she said was true, wouldn’t the other humans have experienced symptoms, since we were all in close proximity with the vampires?
Darklight 2: Darkthirst Page 38