20. Isidoro
Isidoro
The Financial District is uncharacteristically quiet, the crowds that usually fill up the sidewalks limited to a couple of pockets near the few night venues.
Our group of black SUVs rolls down the main road, turning left at the traffic lights and heading toward the Art Deco tower that poses as a front for this secret operation.
Samuel, who’s driving, parks in a free spot on the street, the rest of our entourage heading for the four-tier parking lot across.
My heart can’t calm down. Not because of our mission, but rather, because of the man sitting next to me. I steal a glance at Julian, whose focus is on the tablet as he and Ria go over the plan for the tenth time.
I never imagined I’d have someone like him in my life.
Sassy, arrogant, infuriating and reckless at times, but willing to listen, to be by my side when no one else dares to.
After tonight, and if everything goes smoothly, our deal will conclude.
This threat will no longer tie us to each other, and the marriage won’t matter for much else than public appearances.
A bitter taste settles in my mouth. I don’t like to let go of things that are mine.
I glare at the building we are about to infiltrate like it has wronged me.
It’s a five-story, pale and symmetric, with grand metal doors at its entrance.
A hint of light from the two closest windows suggests the security guard is already at his post, but that won’t be an issue.
“Everyone is in position,” Samuel says, turning to us. “You’ll have about ten minutes once they neutralize the sentries on the rooftop.”
“Make sure every exit is covered. I’ll call you once we are underground. Do not send anyone in before we’ve made contact.”
This goes against how I would normally do things, but I don’t want to spook whoever is behind this. I want them to think they are in control, because when people believe that, they tend to be more arrogant and less careful.
I check with Julian and Ria, and after a confirming nod from both, we head to one of the building’s emergency exits.
Julian flexes by opening it with a single push of his hand, taking the lead as naturally as if he’s done this a million times.
I take the rear, which leaves Ria protected in-between us.
The guard, whom we need to pass if we want to get to the private elevators, looks up from the movie he’s watching on his phone, frowning as he sees us approaching.
“Stop right there!” He shoots up, pointing his gun. “How did you get in here? Identify yourselves!”
Julian snarls, his teeth and claws extending. I pat his shoulder. “Stand down, Julian. I got this.”
I wait until he acknowledges me with a nod and then I approach the guard.
“Stay right there!” the man warns, waving the gun. “Final warning.”
Before he can exhale, I’m by the front desk, leaning my elbows on it. I blow air into his face. “You will turn to the wall and continue with what you were doing. We were never here.”
He sways, nostrils flaring, then he puts away the gun, sits down, spins his chair and resumes his movie. Julian and Ria jog over to me, peeking over the desk at the pacified man.
“Wait, if you could do this, why didn’t you use it on Kenny?” Julian says. There’s a bite to his tone.
I turn, my hand automatically reaching for a lock of his hair. “It doesn’t work on everybody, you know that. Only the oldest clans of Europe are masters of persuasion.”
He bobs his head, his eyes meeting mine for a brief but charged moment, then he leads the way to the elevator.
The mirrored walls stare back at me with my own reflection, the baggy clothes I’m wearing making me look like a thug.
Julian is dressed much in the same way, both of us mimicking the outfit of the man who met with Ria to confuse our enemies, if only for a second. Any advantage is welcome.
The sublevel welcomes us with a pristine white corridor. It reminds me of the interrogation room at my mansion, the clinical nature of it eliciting goosebumps along my arms. I scan for cameras, but don’t see any, not sure if that’s a good thing or bad.
“Keep your eyes open,” I say as I take the lead.
Julian’s hand halts me, his form blocking the way. His dark eyes narrow at me in a wordless reprimand that shouldn’t send a pleasant shiver across me but does. “No king should enter the battlefield first, ever.”
And no king should be so torn about the son of his enemy either, but here we are. “You don’t have to do this. You aren’t my bodyguard,” I venture, holding his steady gaze.
He smiles, clasping my red hair and bringing it close to his mouth. “I have your back, remember?”
I’m momentarily stunned, the smile unlike any I’ve seen.
It reaches his eyes and makes them glimmer with playful fondness, which catches me off-guard.
I don’t think anyone has ever looked at me that way, so openly, without a mask I have to work hard to crack.
I also don’t think he realizes he’s doing it, this easy acceptance, this casual gesture, and that makes this somehow monumental.
I stand down, not sure what to do with the fluttering inside my chest. He nods, grins at me again, and takes the lead, checking the first door on our left. The interior is that of an office. There’s minimal furniture and it’s mostly empty, so we move onto the next room. It’s the same.
“Do you think they might have already left?” Ria asks after the fourth room, unease in her voice.
“I had a team keep watch since the moment we learned of this location. No one was seen leaving,” I say, cocking my head as Julian grasps the handle of the door at the very end of the hallway.
“So where is everyone then?”
On the other side is a stairwell leading down. After making sure there’s nobody, we descend a floor. The same stark-white corridor greets us here too, but there’s something different in the sameness, a presence that wasn’t on the floor we just covered.
As we approach the first door, Julian halts us. “Look…”
I follow where he’s gesturing, peeking through the glass span on the right side of the door.
My heart skips a beat. It’s a lab, and there are people working inside it.
A tank full of green liquid is hooked up to a machine, from which tubes are injected into the arm of a delirious ghoul.
His head lolls left and right, spittle dripping from his slack mouth as one of the people inject his stomach with something.
There’s no reaction from him, which confirms that he must have been drugged.
I feel Julian stiffen. “This is definitely the right place.”
My hand goes to his shoulder automatically, squeezing gently. “Let’s keep going.”
Careful not to announce our presence as we pass four more lab rooms where similar experiments are taking place, we push forward. An open-space area reminiscent of a modern tech office diverges into two corridors, one labeled ‘Level Two Labs’ and the other without a sign.
“So Kenny didn’t know exactly where he was supposed to drop Ria off?” Julian asks, his focus bouncing between the two.
“No. He was meant to use the call button in the elevator and get someone to meet him down here.” I say.
“Right. Let’s check the labs first?”
A bad feeling settles heavy in my stomach.
We’ve gotten this far and the only people we’ve come across are lab workers.
I double-checked that there were no cameras, but something doesn’t feel right.
There’s a clinical smell to this place, no recognizable sounds other than the hiss of the fluorescent lights overhead.
It’s like I’ve walked into a sensory deprivation chamber, and I don’t like the disorienting feeling.
“I don’t like this,” I say, heightening my senses.
A door opens somewhere behind us, chatter echoing off the walls. We duck behind a couch.
“I need an extra dose of blood, or this will be another failed attempt,” a woman in a white coat says, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose with a pen.
“But Bruce said to limit the infusions until we can source more vampires,” a short man with a stutter to his gait says, sighing.
“And he also said we’ll have a bunch more soon, didn’t he? I need blood to test the effectiveness of the new compound, so we are going to go get me some. End of story.”
They walk by us, unsuspecting the intrusion, and disappear down the corridor with labs. Julian bolts after them.
I snarl and follow, Ria on my heels. By the time I catch up to him, he’s busted into the room the two scientists entered, their shock thick in the recycled air.
The woman reaches for something. “Who are you? What are you doing he—”
I don’t let her finish, squeezing her neck before she can alert the whole facility to our presence. She passes out in my arms, and I toss her body onto a chair as I hunt down the man, who almost makes it to the door.
Julian and Ria have vanished in the adjacent room, a blue glow coming from it.
I join them, my hackles rising as my eyes take in Andras’ preserved body.
He’s there, lying on a metal table while a dozen needles and tubes stab his flesh, injecting this blue-tinted liquid inside him.
His body bears no sign of a struggle, no cuts, nothing to indicate exactly how he died.
It’s surreal, standing here in front of this thief, my biggest enemy.
I glance over at Julian. His jaw is clenched and his hands are balled into fists, but other than that he seems fine.
“Are you okay?” The words are out of my mouth before I realize it, my hand rubbing circles across the small of his back.
He relaxes, his shoulders sagging a little. “Yes. It’s just so strange seeing him dead. What do you think they are doing to him?”
“They said they needed vampire blood for tests,” Ria pitches in, her lip curling in disgust. “For the poison, maybe?” She indicates Julian’s hip.
An unpleasant sensation overtakes me. “I’d rather not find out. Le—”
Everything goes red, an alarm piercing the silence.
[Alert: Restricted area breached. Lockdown initiated. All personnel head to the security checkpoints immediately.]
“We’re out of time. They must have figured out we’re here,” I say, grabbing Julian’s wrist as we sprint out into the corridor. “We can’t let them get away.”