Chapter Nine #2
They exited the SUV and regrouped on the sidewalk.
No one paid them any attention as they ducked their heads against the wind and hurried down the street.
Reyna could see her breath. She shivered.
This was probably the worst day to do this.
But none of them had been prepared to wait until after the snowstorm hit.
Beckham gestured for them to take the stairs to an inconspicuous brownstone. They pulled open the front door and entered an apartment building lobby.
Reyna moved to the list and scanned it for apartment 4B. Her finger hovered over the button. “Should I buzz up?”
Beckham nodded before he bent down to look at the door.
She took a deep breath and then pressed the button. It buzzed noisily, echoing off of the walls. Then everything was silent.
“No one home?” Reyna said to Beckham.
His leaned to the middle of the door, messing with the lock. “Try one more time.”
She laid on the buzzer, hoping that would do the trick. “Hello, anyone home?”
But once she removed her finger, nothing happened, again. Either no one was there or everyone ignored her. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. She probably wouldn’t trust someone buzzing if she was in hiding.
“And now,” Beckham said, as the door popped open. He held it wide for her with a cocky grin.
“Oh, nice.”
Beckham grinned at her. Then they were both climbing the endless staircase. One story, two, three, four. Beckham wasn’t even breathing heavily. Reyna didn’t care how much she ran on a treadmill. Stairs were an entirely different ballgame. And she hated them.
“Okay,” she said, trying to regulate her breathing. “Apartment 4B.” She started down the hallway. “G, F, E, D, C, and B.”
She stood before a nondescript doorframe with 4B in gold letters on the front. The peephole was covered. But light came from a crack under the door.
Reyna nodded her head toward the light and arched an eyebrow as if to say, Someone’s home. Beckham steadied himself, preparing himself for a fight. The only thing Reyna wanted to prepare for was seeing her brother.
She took a deep breath and then knocked on the door. “Hello, anyone there?”
Again, silence.
“I don’t like this,” she whispered.
“Me either.” He moved between her and the door. “Stand back.”
“Becks.”
His hand went to the doorknob—ready to break the lock and burst inside. As if anything could be more suspicious. But as he wiggled the handle, the handle moved freely. Their eyes met with mirror images of concern.
It wasn’t supposed to be open. No one from Elle would be careless enough to leave it unlocked.
Beckham moved forward into the room, and before Reyna could follow, a sharp hiss escaped Beckham. “Reyna, don’t.”
But she forced herself to follow him. She wouldn’t abandon Beckham. No matter how he wanted to protect her.
She stepped inside. Her hand flew to her mouth. A strangled gasp escaped her lips. Her stomach rose to her throat, and she gagged.
“No,” she moaned.
A dozen bodies were scattered around the room.
Blank eyes, mouths twisted into the beginning of a scream, blood everywhere.
Discarded. It was the only way to describe the bodies, no, people.
Whoever had done this hadn’t cared about the mass murder.
They’d drained their blood or broken their necks and simply discarded them like used tissues. Trash.
Her stomach rolled again at the imagery. Of all the dead Elle members. All of the people she hadn’t been able to save.
“Breathe.”
“Oh my God. Drew,” she gasped. “What if it’s Drew? Or Laura?”
“I didn’t see them, but I will check for you.” Beckham blocked her view, but even he wasn’t big enough to cover it all. Or to scrub it from her memory. “Keep breathing, Little One. In through your nose and out through your mouth.”
“How could someone do this?”
Beckham didn’t respond. He rubbed her back as she retreated into herself at the sight of the carnage.
Her stomach twisted and no amount of careful breathing could change it.
She turned away from Beckham and vomited up everything in her stomach.
She coughed until tears rolled down her cheeks.
Her eyes stung, her heart ached, and she was burning up.
She threw up again and again until she had nothing left.
This was the world she lived in.
Vampires massacred a dozen innocent people for shits and giggles.
Or worse, just to send a message.
“We should get you out of here. Why don’t you wait in the hallway? Let me know if anyone approaches. I’ll check for your brother and comb through to see if anything was left behind.”
“Becks,” she whispered. Her red-rimmed eyes stared up at him in horror. Such senseless murder.
“I know. We’ll stop him.”
Reyna nodded and then teetered out of the room. She felt like a coward for leaving him in there alone, for not being able to face it. But the day that she was okay with what was in that room was the day she lost her humanity.
She leaned her back against the wall in the hallway and waited. A minute later a crackle sounded in the empty hall. Reyna nearly jumped out of her skin before grabbing for the two-way radio in her jacket pocket. She fumbled it out with shaky hands and pressed the button.
“Reyna, here. What’s up?”
“Reyna!” Meghan’s muffled voice shouted into the speaker. “Reyna, is that you?”
“Yes, Meghan. What’s going on? Everything okay?”
“No. You need to get here now! Ooph!”
Reyna’s eyes widened as she stared down at the speaker, willing it to say more. But the line was filled with static.
“Meghan? Are you okay? Tell me what happened.” No response. “Meghan? Tye? Anyone? Answer me.”
Panic set in.
Beckham appeared in the hallway, yanking the door closed behind him. “We need to leave. Now.”
“Meghan and Tye are in trouble.”
“I heard.” He gestured for her to move.
“What about the bodies?” Reyna whispered nervously. “Drew? Laura?”
Beckham shook his head. “They weren’t there.”
Static cut through whatever else he had been about to say. Then one word from Meghan broke through the line.
“Everett…”