Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
Charlie huddled beneath a topiary shaped like a swan, his rabbit heart hammering so fast he thought it might explode.
The human part of his brain—the part currently losing the battle against rabbit instincts—kept trying to turn back toward the retreat. Simon was in there. Simon needed him.
Except Simon had ordered him to run, and even in rabbit form, the compulsion held. His powerful hind legs had carried him through the gardens on autopilot, past a hedge maze, through the heritage rose collection, until he'd found this hiding spot that smelled safely of earth and leaves.
Then it hit him.
A wrongness through the bond that made his small body go rigid. Like someone had stuffed cotton between him and Simon, muffling their connection.
Something was wrong with Simon.
Charlie's nose twitched frantically. He needed to go back. Needed to help. Needed to—
Footsteps crunched on the gravel path.
Every rabbit instinct fired at once. Predator. Hide. Don't move. Don't breathe.
"Charlie?" Viktor's voice. "I know you're here somewhere. We need to go. Now."
Charlie wanted to respond, to hop out and shift back and ask about Simon. But his rabbit brain had taken the controls and wasn't giving them back. All it knew was: big thing approaching, stay hidden, survive.
The footsteps got closer.
"Come on, Charlie," Viktor said. "They've got Simon. We can't help him if we get caught too."
They've got Simon.
Charlie's foot thumped the ground.
"There you are."
Viktor's face appeared through the hedge bottom. Charlie's legs bunched to run, but Viktor was faster, scooping him up before he could bolt.
"No biting," Viktor warned, though his hands were surprisingly gentle as they held Charlie's frantically kicking form. "We're leaving. You can panic in the car."
As quickly as he could, Viktor carried Charlie across the grounds.
"Shift back," he muttered, ducking behind a gardening shed as a pair of hunters rushed past. "I'd really prefer you with opposable thumbs right now."
Charlie tried. He genuinely did. But every attempt to reclaim his human form met a wall of rabbit panic. His consciousness felt trapped behind furry ears and twitching whiskers.
Viktor cursed under his breath and continued his careful progress toward the parking area. Charlie caught glimpses of tactical gear through the hedges. Hunters were spreading out across the property, some on their knees examining undergrowth.
"That fucking rabbit took out Johnson and Peters," came a voice from nearby. "The director wants it captured alive."
"It's just a rabbit," another hunter complained.
"It's a vampire rabbit, you idiot, and it's a priority target now."
"Who's ever heard of a vampire rabbit?" somebody moaned unhappily. "What's the world coming to?"
Viktor tensed, holding Charlie closer to his chest. "So much for flying under the radar," he whispered. "You've been promoted to most wanted bunny in the state."
He stopped at the edge of the garden, where manicured lawns gave way to gravel. Three black SUVs were parked beside Viktor's borrowed car. Organization vehicles, clearly.
A team of hunters stood between them and escape.
"Change of plan," Viktor said, crouching down and bringing Charlie to eye level. "I need a distraction. Something to draw them away from the vehicles."
Charlie's ears twitched anxiously. The cotton-wool feeling in his bond with Simon had grown worse. Not pain, exactly, but absence. Like Simon's consciousness was retreating somewhere Charlie couldn't follow.
Viktor's hand stroked between Charlie's ears. "He's not dead. He's too valuable for them to kill him. But we can't help him if we're caught."
He set Charlie down in the mulch beneath a shrub. "Stay here. When you see an opening, make for the car. I'll find you."
Before Charlie could protest—not that rabbit form allowed for much protest—Viktor was gone, moving silently through the garden toward the main building. Charlie huddled deeper into the mulch, his rabbit instincts warring with his need to help.
A minute later, an explosion rocked the far side of the property. Hunters shouted, most of them running toward the sound.
Charlie knew this was his signal to go.
He didn't want to leave his hiding spot, he really didn't want to, but Simon needed him.
With a surge of terror-fueled courage, he bolted from his hiding spot, zigzagging across the open ground toward Viktor's car.
"There it is!" one of the two hunters who'd remained behind shouted. "Nine o'clock!"
A dart whizzed past Charlie's ear, but his powerful back legs propelled him in erratic leaps, making him a difficult target. Another dart hit the ground where he'd been a split second before.
"Don't damage it!" the hunter yelled. "We need the bunny alive!"
Charlie reached the car and dove underneath.
The hunters approached quickly, one on either side.
Charlie's heart hammered so hard he thought it might burst from his chest.
"Come out, little vampire," one hunter cooed, kneeling to peer under the car. "We just want to—"
The man's words cut off as Viktor appeared behind him, slamming his head into the car's frame with a sickening crack. Before the second hunter could react, Viktor had relieved him of his weapon and delivered a blow to his throat, dropping him to the ground gasping.
"Move, Charlie!" Viktor yanked open the car door.
Charlie shot out from under the vehicle, allowing Viktor to scoop him up and toss him inside. Viktor slid behind the wheel and got the engine running.
Just as shouts erupted from the main building, he reversed the car. Through the windshield, Charlie saw hunters pouring out, weapons raised.
Viktor threw the car into drive, tires spitting gravel. "Hold on to your tail."
The car lurched forward, accelerating hard down the driveway. Charlie tumbled across the seat, his small body lacking the weight to stay in place. He ended up wedged between the seat and door as Viktor swerved to avoid the first volley of darts.
Gunshots cracked behind them. Not tranquilizers now but real bullets. The back window exploded, raining glass across the interior. Charlie squealed, pressing himself smaller against the door.
"Apparently they're willing to damage you a little," Viktor remarked with unnerving calm, taking the first curve so fast the car nearly went on two wheels. "Good news is they care more about Simon than us."
Charlie's mind raced with rabbit-fast thoughts. Simon. Captured. The bond muffled but still there. He had to get back to human form. Had to think. Had to—
Another shot pinged off the car's frame. Viktor swerved, taking them off-road and into the trees that lined the property.
"Shifting would be really helpful right now," Viktor called over the engine's roar and the branches scraping against metal. "No pressure."
But pressure was exactly what Charlie felt, crushing him into this panicked, useless form. All those vampires at the retreat… they'd seemed so normal, so accepting. And it had all been a lie. Another place where Charlie didn't belong.
The car burst from the treeline onto a narrow service road. Viktor accelerated again, putting distance between them and their pursuers.
Charlie closed his eyes, trying to focus through the terror. Simon needed him. Viktor needed him. He couldn't stay a rabbit forever.
He thought of Simon. Not Simon the hunter, but Simon who'd saved him from the roof. Simon who'd chosen Charlie over everything he believed. Simon with his sparse apartment and his sushi with cucumber. Simon's mouth on his, Simon's hands cradling his face like Charlie was something to hold on to.
A tingling started in Charlie's paws. Then his ears. A stretching sensation that was almost painful but also right. He fought against the rabbit brain's frantic signals to stay hidden, to stay small.
"I'm not prey," Charlie thought fiercely. "I'm a vampire, and Simon needs me."
Between one heartbeat and the next, the tingling became a wave of transformation. Fur receded. Limbs lengthened. His consciousness expanded beyond rabbit survival instincts.
Charlie flopped awkwardly across the passenger seat, naked and disoriented but human-shaped again.
"Oh thank god," he gasped, his voice rough. "I couldn't—I was stuck—Oh no, I'm naked."
"You are indeed," Viktor said, reaching behind him to grab a duffle bag from the back seat. He tossed it to Charlie. "Clothes."
Charlie fumbled with the bag, pulling out a shirt and a set of pants, both of which would be too big on him, but it was better than nothing. He dressed awkwardly, contorting in his seat.
"What happened after I left?" he asked, pulling the shirt over his head. "What did they do to Simon?"
Viktor's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "He took out three of the other hunters before they hit him with enough tranquilizers to drop an elephant."
Charlie's heart sank. "What happened to the other vampires? Maya, Connor, Thomas?"
"Not our problem right now." Viktor checked the rearview mirror. "The elders scattered. The younger ones..." He shrugged. "They'll be questioned. Maybe recruited if they're useful."
Charlie finished dressing, then pressed his hand to his chest. The bond still felt muffled, but he could sense Simon's presence.
He was still alive.
"They'll take him to the Organization's headquarters," Viktor said, answering Charlie's unspoken question. "They'll want to reclaim their asset."
"Reclaim?" The word sent a chill down Charlie's spine. "What does that mean?"
"They'll try to brainwash him." Viktor's jaw tightened. "I've seen it once. It's not pretty."
Charlie's stomach twisted with dread. "We have to get him back."
"Yes, we do." Viktor took the car onto a main road, blending with normal morning traffic. "But we need help. And a better plan than 'charge in and get shot.'"
"Brent," Charlie said suddenly. "My friend. We should warn him."
Viktor glanced at him. "Your friend?"
"He's the one the Organization actually wanted turned instead of me," Charlie explained. "And maybe we can contact whoever Simon talked to at that library. He knew things about the Organization."
Viktor nodded. "Good. We'll contact them." Viktor merged onto the highway, putting more distance between them and the retreat. "And Charlie?"
"Yeah?"
"That was some impressive rabbit warfare back there."
Despite everything—the fear, the rage, the hollow feeling where Simon's presence should be—Charlie felt a small smile tug at his lips.
"Thanks, I guess?"
"It was fun. No one has ever made those hunters look so ridiculous. They don't know what to do when Dracula starts nibbling carrots."
Charlie wanted to laugh but found that he couldn't. This wasn't the time for it. "I'm going to get Simon back. Whatever it takes."
"Yes," Viktor agreed, his voice taking on a dangerous edge Charlie hadn't heard before. "We'll get him back."