For now, I would enjoy his kiss.
* * *
I wasn’t expecting to be handcuffed myself, but there was little we could do to argue with the Bureau guards when we arrived, and my hands were quickly shackled behind me. Three soldiers, two men and a woman, with sharp gazes and deep scowls surrounded us as soon as we stepped into the main entrance hall, and they immediately searched us for any comms or weapons. They took the knife Dorian carried on his belt but weren’t thorough enough to find the two daggers in my boots. I held my breath when they brushed against Dorian’s stone, but it was tucked into my shirt beneath the armor, and they didn’t seem too interested in me.
The youngest-looking of them, a round-faced man who appeared to be about my age, stared openly at Dorian. I highly doubted he’d ever seen a vampire before. I didn’t blame him for looking suspicious. Up until a few months ago, I didn’t know anything about vampires either.
They immediately demanded that Dorian step into a straitjacket.
“The restraints are designed for vampires,” barked a burly male guard who had several inches even on Dorian’s intimidating height. “Don’t bother trying to escape.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Dorian said civilly, not resisting at all.
I watched carefully as the red-haired female guard tightened the jacket around Dorian’s frame, double-checking every strap and tightening any that were even slightly loose.
I shot Dorian a worried look, but his eyes remained calm as he met my gaze, reassuring me. Did he feel darkness from these guards? Or were they just following orders? I gently rolled my wrists, pretending to stretch as I tested the cuffs around them. The restraints held steady.
The redhead then affixed the muzzle, a dull metal cage that clamped around Dorian’s jaw. He grimaced as the guard wrapped the straps around his head. The last parts of the straps were chains, which the guard fastened tightly with a hefty padlock. Dorian looked like a savage, restrained animal. I hated seeing him like this. The cold metal around my own wrists felt like a death sentence.
“Wonderful,” Dorian muttered after the guard, pleased by her work, stepped away. At least he could still talk, though if he opened his mouth too wide, two bars of solid plastic in line with his canines slid from the front of the muzzle to block the fangs should he try to bare them.
We just need to play along. Twenty minutes. That’s all we need.
Two of the soldiers aimed dark energy weapons at him. The lime-green stripes down the side of the guns elicited a frown from Dorian behind his muzzle and an almost invisible tensing of his shoulders. The weapons gave me a sense of sickening foreboding as I remembered our last encounter with them.
I watched the red-haired guard carefully. She hadn’t trained a weapon on us. I needed to keep track of her if we wanted to escape. She had the keys for both me and Dorian. The burly guard pressed a nearby elevator button.
Two more guards joined us, and my heart fell with disappointment as the red-haired guard took off down the hall without a backward glance. She was leaving? That wasn’t good. My heart pounded. Why would she head to a different part of the building?
“I forgot your shoes,” the burly guard said suddenly. He dropped down to tap both of our feet and tutted as he found the dagger in each of my boots. I didn’t react, focusing on keeping my cool, secure in the knowledge that at least he wouldn’t find any of the weapons Fenton had let us “borrow” last night. We’d distributed those to the other members of the team. Dorian and I would just have to rely on our wits and remaining strength.
Dorian was starting to look… not so great. I stole a glance at him as the elevator doors swung open. His eyes seemed wilder and strained with hunger, darting between the two new guards close to him. Were they dark? I made a note of them. One was a woman with ebony skin and an angular face. I was certain I had seen her in the residential building’s gym several times. The other was a tanned man with brown hair shaved close to his head. The young guard didn’t seem to elicit much reaction from Dorian. The burly guard pushed me inside. The other three took Dorian.
The burly guard kept a tight grip on my arm despite the handcuffs around my wrists. The harsh fluorescent light stung my tired eyes.
I watched the elevator lights as we climbed past each floor. We stopped suddenly at the ninth. I caught my blurry, concerned reflection in the brass doors before they slid open.
Alan stepped in, leaning heavily on his cane. It was a new one made of polished, pale wood, since Dorian had snapped his previous cane in two. He smiled tightly. “Lyra.”
Anger and grief filled me. I balled my hands into fists, straining against the cuffs. There was no trace of the uncle I had loved when I looked at him now—he was a ghost in front of me. A vile, conniving stranger.
Dorian stiffened beside me, then growled and lurched forward. All three guards descended upon him, yanking him back and restraining him from going any farther. My pulse staggered as I watched his face contort into madness, eyes staining with wisps of shadow. The cold reality of our situation hit me as I watched him struggle to get himself back under control. I was virtually alone in terms of being able to fight back. Until Dorian was free from his restraints, it was up to me to keep our portion of the mission on track. Part of me now understood why Dorian had been so insistent that he didn’t feed to make sure I wasn’t debilitated by the pain from his proximity.
Alan chuckled and waved his finger in front of Dorian’s muzzle. “Now, now,” he scolded. “It’s not good manners to try to bite someone without their permission. Though I can understand your confusion regarding such a point when that’s really all your kind do, isn’t it?”
The last time Dorian saw Alan, he lost control and nearly sank his fangs into the older man. I searched Dorian’s face, worried he wouldn’t be able to control himself. If he couldn’t keep it together, then the plan was out the window. What happened to his confidence from before? Had it all been for show? Or was he weaker than he’d estimated?
Abruptly, Dorian lurched forward, nearly falling to his knees. Even beneath the muzzle, I could see his jaw straining as the plastic bars pressed painfully against the partially descended fangs. He was fighting back against the desire. Shadows swarmed his face. It took everything in me to not drop down beside him, to try to bring him some calm. I hated watching him like this. I should’ve known this would push him to his limit.
Alan’s expression was utterly composed, even a little amused.
I stared at him, furious. “Don’t patronize us,” I snapped. “You’re one to talk about politeness, bringing unarmed prisoners up in handcuffs.”
“Not quite unarmed, though, were you?” the burly guard cut in from beside me, handing my two curved daggers to Alan. “She had these in her boots.”
He laughed as he took the knives. “Ah, yes, that’s my niece. I wonder if you learned your paranoia from me.”
I said nothing. Would he be laughing if Dorian weren’t chained up? A savage part of me wished I could let him bite Alan. Not to kill him… just to let him experience some of the pain he’d inflicted upon our side in the last few weeks.
Alan shrugged, unruffled. “I’m glad you’re willing to cooperate, Lyra. But,” he paused to nod at my handcuffs, “I’m no fool. I wouldn’t do this without a little bit of insurance from you and your friend.” The way he said “friend” sounded as though Dorian were a bug that I had brought along with me smeared on the bottom of my boot. He was taunting us.
I bit my tongue to stop a foul-mouthed comeback. I couldn’t let him get to me like that. It wouldn’t help us. I settled on fuming silently. I’d only had simple training on how to fight while in restraints and had never fought in handcuffs before, but that might change today.
I began to plan how I might take out each guard, if for no other reason than to focus my mind away from Dorian’s stuttering breathing and Alan’s easy smile. The elevator arrived at the top floor, and he calmly stepped out, waving a hand for us to follow him as if we were all si
mply heading for a nice chat. The guards watched Dorian with new intensity. Even the burly guard holding my arm eyed the muzzle around Dorian’s face warily.
In Alan’s wake, the guards led us down a hall and into a large conference room I recognized. The sweeping mahogany table and high-backed black leather chairs with brass accents used to inspire awe and ambition in me, but now the room’s corporate presentation felt sinister. My mouth went dry when I saw what awaited us. Alan had taken more precautions. Guards lined the room, one behind each of the board members with several more at each of the two doorways. They aimed dark energy weapons, tracking Dorian as we walked in. A few, I noticed, carried regular rifles. How kind of my dear uncle to consider me.
The board members stared impassively at us. My last face-to-face interaction with them had been in DC, when there had been twenty members. Fifteen stony faces remained. Their ranks had thinned since getting rid of Fenton and his colleagues. One wiry man sneered in contempt, and Dorian growled ferociously, straining against the guards, foam dripping from the bottom of the mask as he gnashed his fangs as much as he could behind the muzzle. He must sense an enormous amount of darkness. There was no way I could soothe him here. I couldn’t even touch him. Hopeless wasn’t something I was used to feeling.
Alan made his way to his seat at the far end of the table on the opposite side of the room from me and Dorian.
“Director Sloane calling the board meeting to order,” Alan announced.
A woman next to him hopped to attention, averting her surprised eyes from Dorian. She tapped something into an electronic tablet set up in front of her.
As if these meeting minutes will ever see the light of day.
I had to try my best despite the circumstances. Maybe not every board member was resolutely evil. This could be my chance to sway someone who was on the fence. I would have to be as diplomatic as possible while sporting handcuffs. It didn’t even really matter if they believed me. I just needed to distract them long enough to allow the rest of my team to carry out their parts of the plan—however I could.
Keep them in the room for twenty minutes.
“I’ve come to offer an olive branch,” I announced. There were a few snide chuckles from around the table, but I kept my voice strong, making a point to meet the eyes of anyone I could. They would listen to me. “People and vampires that you have driven to desperation have planted a bomb in the building. Dorian and I traveled here because we hope to protect you—and the other Bureau employees in the building—from the attack. We don’t want anyone to get hurt, but if this thoughtless grab at revenge for the damage you have caused demonstrates anything, it’s that our two sides need to reach a compromise.”
“And what are your suggestions for this… compromise?” a man with cold blue eyes asked, skepticism dripping from his words.
Lawrence Sims. I remembered him from my testimony right back at the beginning of this journey. I’d wanted to impress him with my professionalism as a soldier. How things had changed.
Alan said nothing, resting his chin in his hand and watching me with sharp eyes.
I tried to ignore the handcuffs around my wrists. Talk to them like people. “We want to work together, but the board needs to stop hunting vampires and pursuing my team.”
A man at the end of the table grunted. The woman next to him dragged a skeptical glance up and down Dorian’s fidgeting frame as he fought to pull himself together. I swallowed my anxiety and tried to pay attention to the faces in front of me. I focused on a woman with long inky hair, not unlike Myndra and Sabal’s, as she interlaced her fingers and leaned forward on the table.
Dorian growled at her movement. Guards inched closer to the board members, their weapons trained on us. They weren’t taking any chances.
“We want to—” I started.
“Your little games are quite obvious to us,” the woman with black hair announced crisply. Her name sprang into my mind: Elena Bradley. “You’re too late. Your little human and vampire team tried to infiltrate the building. We caught them. There is no bomb.” She sighed irritably. “This is clearly a distraction you’ve cooked up with your creepy friends.”
Did she mean Team War or our team? Either way, they knew we’d planned something. Without meaning to, my gaze slipped back to Alan. He caught my eye and gave an enigmatic shrug. No wonder he had been so cocky in the elevator. He’d already caught one set of infiltrators. My nerves stretched. Dorian growled beside me. We might have just played right into the board’s hands.
Fear and anger filled me at Elena Bradley’s apathetic expression. They could’ve already killed their captives. Or tortured them for information. And we had no idea which team it was.
Something within me snapped. “The board tried to commit genocide against vampires. You’ve done everything in your power to silence and suppress those who have tried to oppose you and your unethical, corrupt actions. You released a creature from the Immortal Plane that you couldn’t even control!” The dam of my rage had burst. I couldn’t suppress it. “How dare you treat us like monsters when you have far darker hearts.”
The burly guard holding my arm tugged slightly as if to suggest I fall silent. I wrenched my arm free. He went to grab me again, but Alan raised a hand.
“It’s all right,” he said. “I think my niece has some things she needs to get off her chest.”
“You are no family of mine,” I spat. “Somehow, you are the worst of all. You threatened to harm my parents, your own brother, to get me and Zach to surrender. Preaching to me the whole of my life about the value of honor when even the darkest of the vampires I’ve met have more honor than you do.” I saw his jaw tighten but didn’t care. Bryce was right. Sometimes you just needed to kick down the door. I locked eyes with Alan. “Grayson. My teammate. We graduated basic training together. He asked you to sign his Code of Conduct manual, and you did. He’s dead. Shot in the chest while he was trying to surrender, to come back to the Bureau. It may have been Finley who pulled the trigger, but my God, it was you who loaded the gun.” I stepped closer to the table, and no one stopped me, though I noticed several rifles twitch in my direction. “All of you here have committed murders for the sake of maintaining your power. You’ve acted with no regard for the law or even basic human morals!”
The burly guard cursed and made a grab for Dorian as he jerked against the restraints. He helped the other three soldiers pull Dorian back, leaving me free for now. I filed the guard’s reaction away for future use before turning my attention to Dorian. His face twitched as he fought against his instincts, his eyelids fluttering as blackness rolled in. How much darkness was inside this room?
Elena Bradley leaned away from him, her haughty expression wavering for the first time. She wasn’t the only one. They’re all terrified of Dorian.
“Vampires have to be eradicated, no matter what,” the wiry man said loudly, his nasal voice whining like a fly stuck behind a curtain. “Obviously, their bloodlust is too aggressive for us to ever coexist with them.”
“He can’t even control himself,” said a square-jawed women two seats down from Alan. “And we’re only sitting here.”
“They’re a menace,” came another dark mutter from the other end of the table.
Alan sighed wearily. “I’ve been trying to tell you, Lyra. Vampires are wild animals. Worse, even. They are not only unpredictable and attack unprovoked—even seeking us out to cause harm—they are incredibly smart and calculating. Humanity is not safe while they haunt our borders. They’ll kill no matter what. It’s their nature. We cannot gamble our country’s safety on some sentimental whim.”
Twisting the truth again! I wanted to slam my fists onto the table.
“How can you possibly choose this monster over your fellow humans?” the wiry man asked, disgusted. Calum Jones, I recalled his name was.
I opened my mouth, but the long-haired woman, Bradley, was quicker. They didn’t want to hear my answers.
“The gas chambers were meant to be me
rciful,” she said with a shrug. “We didn’t want them to suffer needlessly.”
“You can’t possibly understand. You don’t have the full story,” Jones added with disdain.
The full story? “No story could make your actions acceptable,” I said through gritted teeth.
Alan drummed his fingers on the table, drawing everyone’s attention. The boardroom fell silent except for Dorian’s growls. I was sure the director enjoyed that little display of power.
“There’s an entire world beyond your understanding, Lyra.” His icy tone sliced through me. “If you knew what I knew, you wouldn’t be so quick to side with them.”
I was sick of the board’s lies. “You keep babbling about proof,” I said, “yet you’ve never shown me any, despite ample opportunities to do so. Instead you rely on war stories I have no way of verifying, telling me all about the dear friends who died around you but no solid facts.”
“You should know me well enough to understand I do nothing without facts to support my decisions,” Alan warned, hand closing to a fist.
“Tell me, then,” I snapped.
“The Bureau has decades’ worth of proof, accumulated through experiences with thousands of vampires. What do you have? A limited encounter with a handful of them.” He flashed a glare at Dorian. “Besides, you should know your place. You were a soldier, Lyra. Your job wasn’t to ask questions. You were meant to follow orders.”
I narrowed my eyes. “That would have been convenient, wouldn’t it?”
Alan stared at me with laser-like focus. “You’ve been corrupted, Lyra, which is why you can’t see what everyone else can see. There is no cost too great for stopping the vampire scourge from overtaking Earth. Sacrifices have to be made. The vampires must be removed.”
Darklight 2: Darkthirst Page 45