Chapter 19 #3
Luna passed out scent-hiding and skin-protection wafers, moving briskly and efficiently like she’d done this a hundred times before.
The skin-protection wafer would only last about an hour, so we were supposed to take it right before entering whatever building we ended up at.
It would keep our skin from being punctured to a certain degree.
I popped the scent-hiding wafer onto my tongue, the familiar taste blooming, then tucked the skin-protection one into the dispenser on my belt like Celia did.
Daphne’s unit was beside us, and she released her drone, fingers flying over the controls, and then suddenly shouted, “I got something!”
She held the tracker up, and a few of Celia’s hunters flocked to her immediately, clipboards in hand as they started taking notes. Greyson, Jasmine, Clay, and Kurt ran to her side, peering over her shoulder.
Harper had ours out too and was already walking in the opposite direction, her drone humming softly overhead.
I saw the exact moment Asher hesitated, watching Daphne and her unit leave as if he was caught between the two groups, his weight shifting like he couldn’t decide which pull was stronger. Then Jax started to follow Harper, and Asher followed him without another word.
“All right, let’s split up,” Celia said decisively. Her husband and one other hunter went with us, while two of her other hunters and Professor Silex went with Daphne’s group.
I glanced at Asher and caught his jaw slightly clenched, the muscle ticking as he scanned the street. I guessed he’d wished he was with Daphne’s group. Was it just because he was protective of her and worried she’d get hurt?
“I’ve got something small up here at the laundromat, but let’s keep looking,” Harper said.
“Your call. We’re just observing how you work as a group,” Celia replied.
Asher stepped closer to Harper, leaning in to look over her shoulder. “What are you thinking?”
She turned to him. “Honestly, the rune on my arm that’s for blood scenting is tingling. I have a feeling we need to head south.”
Asher nodded immediately. “Then that’s what we do. Not all trackers use the drone. Some just sense it. Follow your instinct.”
We walked for about fifteen minutes before Harper suddenly stopped and grabbed her chest.
“You okay?” I rushed to her side, adrenaline spiking.
She frowned, panting slightly, and I noticed Celia’s expression sharpen with concern.
“Yeah, I just… I sense them . A lot of them. We need to keep going this way.” She pointed farther south, up Browne Street.
I nodded, unease curling in my stomach. It was obvious now that Harper was going to be an amazing tracker. Her abilities were manifesting tonight in ways they never had during training, probably because there hadn’t been any vampires nearby to trigger them.
We passed a bar, and I glanced at the drone display she was still flying overhead. At least five blue bodies were surrounded by fifty red ones.
“Is this what you’re feeling?” I asked Harper quietly.
She frowned, stopping in front of the bar, then lifted her gaze farther down the street.
“No.”
Luna cocked her head, thinking, then turned to Celia. “Should we call in a team here and we keep going?”
Celia and Derek both made notes, studied the tracker screen, then nodded. “If you’re going to pass on this, then yes, I want a team here to clean them out.” She pulled out her phone, typing quickly.
Harper’s head snapped farther down the street. “We keep going.”
Asher and I shared a look, tension sparking between us, and I noticed him slowly pull his sword free.
Jax stepped into the street like he was ready to be the first line of defense if something rushed us.
I slipped the harpoon gun off my shoulder and into my hands, the weight of it grounding me.
I didn’t know exactly how Harper’s tracker runes worked, but she was clearly sensing something big, and I wanted to be ready.
A stone slowly sank into my gut the farther south we walked, dread building with every step, until we stopped in front of a building I desperately hoped Harper hadn’t been sensing.
“We’re here.” Harper was breathless now.
I looked up at the children’s hospital sign, anger blooming slow and hot in my chest.
“Here?” Asher asked as Harper flew the drone over the hospital.
My stomach twisted when I saw the red heat signatures of little kids lying in their beds, but it dropped straight through the floor when she shifted the drone to the back of the building.
Over twenty blue vampire signatures were gathered there. Waiting.
“Evil bastards,” I growled.
“I’m calling this in,” Celia said immediately, already on her phone. “We need backup stat,” she barked into her phone.
“It won’t come in time!” I told our unit. “Why aren’t they inside yet? They can shadow portal anywhere.”
Luna studied the building, head tilted to the side. “Protective runes. They’re old. Been there a while. Not sure they’ll hold if the vamps have an arcanist on their side.”
Crap.
I walked over to Asher, letting the harpoon gun hang from my neck as I wrapped my hand around a stake. “I’m not waiting for backup while some sick kids get drained.”
He swallowed hard, then nodded. “I’m with you.”
“Hang on, kids,” Celia said sharply to us. “Let’s slow down. There are over twenty vampire heat signatures. I can have a team here in fifteen minutes.”
One of the blue vampire heat signatures breached an outside door.
“They’re in,” Luna said.
“We don’t have fifteen minutes. Follow me!
” I called and started running. Screw the test. Screw the rules.
Everything changed when innocent kids’ lives were in danger.
It was like a universal code within every species, something ancient and unbreakable that rose up and overrode fear, rank, and consequence.
Protect the young.
I burst through the hospital doors and peered over at Jax, who rushed in behind me. “Keep this exit clear so we have a safe escape route. And take your skin-protection wafer.”
He nodded, standing like a sentinel at the doors, weapons drawn, shoulders squared as if he could physically hold the world back if he had to.
Our roles felt so natural, like we were made to do this. Once inside the entry of the hospital, I turned to Luna.
“Give me the strongest wafer you have. Something that will help me fight twenty vamps without dying,” I told her. Sure, I had these permanent powers in me now, but to fight off twenty vamps, I was going to need to become a superhero.
Her eyes bugged as she flipped through the wafer tin, fingers moving fast and not nearly steady enough. Meanwhile, Asher, Harper, and I took our skin-protection wafers. The wafer dissolved on my tongue as I swallowed, my pulse thudding in my ears.
“Give me something strong too.” Asher held out a hand to her.
Luna’s fingers shook as she handed him two Ferro wafers with runes that I recognized from my studying as enhanced aim, explosive strike impact, and silent footsteps.
He tossed them back into his mouth in one fell swoop, and then Luna stopped and turned to me, hesitation freezing her in place.
“I don’t want to hurt you but…”
“Give me a Celestis wafer or whatever you got. I could handle it last time,” I urged her.
Luna thought about it, eyed the runes on my arm, and then placed four wafers in the palm of my hand.
“Temporary armor, triple boost of your own powers, predator instinct, and this one.” She tapped a rune wafer that looked like two waves crashing into each other.
“It’s your Hail Mary. Only take it if you are sure you think you can handle?—”
I popped all four into my mouth.
“Stella!” The blood drained from Luna’s face.
She scanned my body as if waiting for me to spontaneously combust, muscles tensing like she was ready to tackle me to the ground if something went wrong.
When I didn’t react, when my skin didn’t crack or burn, she exhaled shakily.
“I was about to say, you will be temporarily able to control the vamps.”
My eyes bugged. Control the vamps? How? Like compulsion? I guessed I should have asked more before swallowing this thing, because the warmth spreading through my chest was already intensifying, my senses sharpening to a razor edge.
“We’ve got a full breach. Five inside, I repeat, five inside,” Harper barked.
No time to regret my actions. Time to move.
“We’re with you.” Celia and Derek appeared behind us, weapons drawn, faces hard and focused like this was just another night in hell.
“Down the hall and to the right,” Harper said. “Southeast entrance. They’re huddled together, coordinating.”
Asher took the lead, and I was right behind him, harpoon gun in hand.
Twenty vampires was a lot, especially not knowing how many were drinkers or sires or what, but there was no chance in hell I was leaving these kids defenseless tonight.
Even if it cost my life. The runes on my arms felt like they were vibrating now, heat humming beneath my skin as power pooled in my chest, heavy and alive.
Luna sidled up next to me, daggers in each hand. “How do you feel?”
“Like I wanna tear these bastards in half and burn them,” I growled, my voice barely sounding like my own.
“Okay…but I mean like nausea, dizziness?”
I shook my head, jaw clenched, vision sharp and unblinking.
“All right, I read that to use Lux Compulsim, you have to be close to the vampire, and you only need to speak the command, and they will follow it as if compelled. This rune only lasts about fifteen minutes, so time is our enemy,” Luna instructed.
“Sweet.”
“But,” Luna urged, “using it pulls on the power from your marks. It can be dangerous.”
Not sweet.
“Got it.” I ran ahead, adrenaline roaring through my veins just as a doctor in blue scrubs and a white lab coat turned the corner. He looked at us and frowned, confusion flashing across his face.
“There’s an active shooter situation here, sir. You need to lock down the building,” Celia told him.