Chapter 15 #2
Celia glanced over at me, her gaze sharp as she took in the building and the surrounding street. “Some of our allies own it and tipped us off to the recent clientele.”
Whoa, that was cool. “The Steam Plant is owned by hunters?”
She shook her head. “No. Just good humans who know too much because the vampires’ memory spells don’t affect them.”
Fascinating. We closed in on the building, our footsteps blending in with the hum of the city, the glow of streetlamps reflecting off the brick and glass.
“So that’s how the humans at my birthday that night forgot what happened?”
Celia nodded. “Every vampire, whether drainer, drinker, or sire, has the ability to obscure memories. The human just sort of feels confused about what happened, and since it usually involves a dead body or an attack, they think they trauma blocked it. Then we go in and make up a believable story. Gang violence or a robbery.”
Whoa.
I wanted to know everything about this world. It felt like three years of school wouldn’t even be enough time to learn it all.
“But these guys, those memory spells don’t work?” I peered up at the giant brick stacks that vented vertically a hundred feet into the sky.
“Nope. Which means there is probably hunter blood in their lineage, but not enough for them to be one of us. We call them allies . Then there are rivals , humans that know of our kind but choose to help the vampires.”
Rivals. That was a thing? Okay, new fear unlocked. A human that was working with the vampires?
“Four o’clock,” Asher called out and stepped closer to my side.
My gaze flicked in that direction, and my stomach tightened when I saw a vampire feeding off a woman who was leaning against her car. Her purse lay abandoned on the ground, keys splayed across the concrete as she stared up at the moon with a blank, zombified look on her face.
“You can take him, Asher,” Derek said, raising his clipboard.
Asher crossed the street, checking both directions before moving, his body loose but ready as he gripped his sword. Blue runes glowed along the hilt, disguising it from human view.
Holy crap, this was happening right now? We hadn’t even stepped inside the restaurant yet.
The vampire must have sensed Asher coming because he ripped himself away from the human and spun.
I watched Celia tense, moving a few steps closer, her hand hovering near the stake hanging from her waist, ready to intervene, but Asher was faster.
He gripped his sword between his palms and came across the vampire’s neck in one clean, brutal arc, severing his head from his body.
The woman blinked down at the head on the ground, then at her car, confusion clouding her face.
Holy crap, no matter how many times I saw a vampire beheaded, it never felt normal.
The professors made tally marks on their clipboards as a few of the guys congratulated Asher.
Two hunters swooped in to retrieve the woman’s purse and keys while the vampire’s body decomposed on the ground behind them.
They began to help her into her car and whisper something softly to her.
Probably that she was mugged but was safe now.
“All right, Asher, that’s two confirmed kills including last time. You can officially get your marks,” Derek said.
Asher lit up, a grin sweeping over his face. “Really? I thought I’d have to get two again tonight.”
All the professors shook their heads.
“Congrats, Hunter Voss. Stick with me so we can get these others to pass.” Celia clapped him on the back.
Hunter Voss. The words settled in the air, and I felt a surge of pride for him. He totally deserved it.
We joined the rest of our party just outside the main doors of the building.
“Okay, this is going to be different from the raid on Crimson,” Professor Silex said. “There are fewer vampires here, and there are many rooms. The owners have given us permission to break up and scan the entire building. Just try not to damage the property.”
Right. I’ll be mindful of the glass vase as I’m trying to kill the monster.
We went inside in three groups. Asher, Celia, Professor Walters, Silex, and one other student, Madison, were in my group, and we entered the building last. Madison and I led the way up the staircase, hands on our weapons as we followed the sounds of laughter and clinking utensils echoing from above.
A scream cut through the air, followed by the pounding of running feet.
“Hunters!” someone cried, and Celia stiffened to my left.
“Prepare for anything,” Celia counseled Madison and me.
Just as she said it, I heard movement above the stairwell and looked up to see a female vampire launching herself down toward the staircase, aimed straight at Madison.
I didn’t hesitate. I pulled my stake and shoved Madison hard into the wall and out of harm’s way.
The vampire landed with a hiss right in front of me, and I lunged forward.
She pivoted, grabbing my braid and yanking my head backward.
Asher shouted behind me, but I ignored it, fisting my hand and ramming the spiked brass knuckles up into her jaw.
She shrieked, stumbling backward, and I drove the stake into her chest.
I was praying it was her heart. The metal sank into her sternum, and she began to decompose.
Holy crap, I did it!
I heard Asher sigh in relief behind me and spun to see Celia restraining him as if he’d been about to interfere. “Do you need to wait outside, Voss?”
“I’m good,” he said, red-faced.
“Well done, Sinclair,” Silex noted.
Madison peeled herself off the wall. “Thanks for that.”
The fire alarm suddenly blared, and dinner guests fled from the second floor into the stairwell as we ran up to the offices on the third floor.
“The owners pulled the fire alarm to get humans to safety,” Celia told me. “But more drinkers will come now that they know we are here.”
“One down, one to go,” Asher whispered encouragement to me.
I nodded just as Madison took off ahead of me.
Eager much?
Celia and the two professors ran after her, boots pounding down the hallway, their shadows stretching and vanishing around the corner, while Asher and I stayed back, momentarily alone in the sudden quiet.
My pulse was still racing from the fight, ears ringing with the echo of the fire alarm and distant screams. I turned toward Asher, about to say something, anything, when the world lurched.
A violent force caught me around the middle and yanked me backward with shocking speed. I barely had time to gasp before my feet left the floor, my shoulder slamming into something hard as I was dragged across the tiles.
“Asher!”
He pivoted instantly, sword flashing into his hand as he broke into a sprint after me, but I was already being hauled through a doorway.
Bright fluorescent light burned my eyes as I was thrown into a pristine office, the smell of cleaner and fresh paper hitting me in a wave.
The door slammed shut behind me with a thunderous crack, the impact rattling the frame and echoing down the hall.
I staggered, sucking in air, heart hammering so hard it felt like it might burst out of my chest.
Then a presence settled behind me.
Slow footsteps. Unhurried. Confident.
The blond sire stepped into view, her expression calm, almost amused, as if she’d planned this moment down to the second.
Cold dread flooded my veins. I fisted my stake, fingers slick with sweat, bracing myself just as the door shook violently. Asher threw his whole body into it, the hinges groaning under the force of the blow.
“Reinstate the monthly payments or else.” Her voice was smooth, deadly casual.
My entire body went numb.
Emilie. It was her. The realization hit me like ice water straight to the spine. My mother was paying a vampire.
“Or else what?” I snarled, forcing steel into my voice as I shifted my weight and readied my attack, every muscle coiled and ready to strike.
“Or else I kill your mother.” She said it calmly, clinically, like she was discussing a late fee, and the fight drained out of me in an instant.
My hand fell to my side, fingers loosening around my stake.
“My…my m-mother is dead.” The words tasted wrong as they left my mouth, thin and uncertain.
She cocked her head to the side, blond hair sliding over one shoulder, her grin sharp and knowing. “Is she?”
The door finally gave way with a violent crack as Asher shattered it open, splintered wood flying inward.
Emilie vanished instantly, her form dissolving into a cloak of shadows that slithered across the walls and disappeared.
Asher stood there with his sword drawn, chest heaving, just as Celia appeared behind him, both of them wide-eyed and scanning the room.
“She left?” He glanced around in confusion, blade still raised.
I swallowed hard, my throat tight. “I scared her off,” I lied, lifting my brass knuckles, bloody from the vampire I’d punched earlier, hoping it sold the story.
His brow furrowed. “Sires don’t back off.”
“This one did,” I insisted, forcing confidence I didn’t feel.
My mind was spinning so fast it made me dizzy.
‘Reinstate the payments or else.’
Or else she’d kill my mother. What the hell did that mean? My mother was alive? The urge to tell Celia burned in my chest. I wanted to blurt it out.
‘You can’t trust my dark secret with any hunters.’
The words from my mother’s letter echoed in my head, and I clamped my mouth shut. Confusion tangled with fear until I decided to lock it all away, just for now. I’d think it through later. Alone.
“Come on. Madison got one, but she’s badly injured. I’m taking her back to campus,” Celia told us.
Injured? My stomach dropped. “Will she be able to try again for marks?”
Madison hadn’t gotten any kills the first time. Only one now meant everything rode on this night.
Celia ignored my question. “You stay back and get your final one. Asher, can you help me with Madison?”
Asher hesitated, torn, his gaze flicking to me like he didn’t want to leave.
Celia caught it immediately. “Actually, you stay with Stella. I’ll manage.”