Vampire's Shade Discounted Box Set

Chapter 19

Chapter 19When darkness fell, we were almostready to head out. I’d gone home and suited up in my leathers andmy guns.

I still felt like hell, but I wouldignore it. If we got through this, I would have the rest of my lifeto get through. If Connor died, I wouldn’t feel my aches and painsanyway.

We had a plan. We had people to executeit. Most of all we had the drive to succeed. We had to succeed. Ihad to succeed.

We weren’t really much of an army, nomatter how much I was trying to convince myself that we were going tobeat the odds. Two humans, one of whom had only really become aware –truly aware – of the supernatural world tonight. Phil knew how tofight, but what would he do when he came face to face with a vampire?

Carl was used to it all, but he was ahuman. He didn’t have superhuman strength or blurring speed orpremonitions or the ability to smell blood.

Connor was the opposite. He had allthat, but none of the skills that a vampire slayer needed. On top ofthat, the relationship between us was like cracked glass. Any momentI was sure it would shatter. So much had happened between us, and wewere building our survival on a broken foundation.

I was in between. The best of bothworlds, everyone else had agreed, but I didn’t feel that way aboutit. I was the worst of both worlds. A half-breed who rejected thevampire in me and had never really completely made the human side ofme work. Two worlds I had never really felt like I fit into.

Yep, we were one hell of a team.

Once the darkness of night wascomplete, we headed out. Connor was alert and awake, a vampire at hisbest. Carl and I were wired. Phil was cautious. We got into Phil’scar and drove towards town. I had left my bike at Connor’s house,and it was strange not using it. I couldn’t remember the last timeI’d been in a car.

We headed to the Palace, because it wasthe most likely place the vamps would be. Connor knew that they werestill active at night. I wondered how long he’d known that, and whyhe’d never mentioned it to anyone – like the police, forinstance. When I asked him about it, he shrugged.

“It’s not always easy to stop thethings you know are wrong. I’ve been trying.”

“But the police could have helped,”I said.

“Helped lock me up,” was hisretort, and I dropped the subject. The building was dark and quiet, agiant in the night.

“How are we going to get in?” Iasked. “Jennifer said I just had to mention her name to thedoorman, but with Connor here…” I didn’t want to be rude andpoint out that he was a wanted man, but that was how it was.

“Through the front door,” Connorsaid matter-of-factly, ignoring what I was pointing out.

“We can’t just walk in,” I said.

“What about the security cameras?”Carl asked, his hands in his pockets. He looked like we were going ona field trip, not to a fight to the death.

“I called in a favor,” Connor said,and nodded in a direction past the building. When I looked that way,I saw a shadow move. My chest constricted, but then Carlos steppedinto the dim light that reached us from the street.

“You two know each other?” I asked.

“We’ve done business before, fromtime to time,” Connor said, looking at Carlos, who shrugged. Ishould have guessed that that would be the case. If the masters usedCarlos, and the masters used to work with Connor…

The world seemed too small. There weretoo many things going on in the dark.

“It’s all taken care of,” Carlossaid to Connor. “But I don’t know how much time you’ll havebefore they notice it.”

Phil shivered, and I knew it wasn’tbecause he was cold.

“Well, come on,” Connor said, andhe led the way. Somehow he’d taken control, although I knew if Isaid something, he would have followed me.

It was nice to have someone else takecharge for a change – but it was also strange to be in a groupwhere I didn’t have to just watch my own back and that was it.There were more people around me now, people who seemed to care. Theyhad my back.

And I had theirs. So help me, ifanything happened to them…

I shook my head. I had to focus on thepositive.

We didn’t take the elevator. Instead,we took the stairs. Eighty floors, all the way to the top. The mastervamps weren’t going to wait for us on the first floor, or even thetenth.

“We could have taken the elevator atleast up to floor fifty,” Carl heaved.

I wondered why he wasn’t fit enoughfor this. Didn’t he train? He was the one who had enforced Ruben’sadvice from the start, that I had to make sure to follow a stricttraining regime and never get out of shape. He must have known what Iwas thinking, because when I looked at him, he just shrugged.

“Carlos cut the power,” Connorsaid. “The cameras have backup systems so this couldn’t happen.No elevators. If the masters are here, they don’t need lightsanyway, so with a little luck they won’t know we’ve cuteverything.”

Most of what he said slid by me, but Ifocused on the word ‘if’. What if they weren’t here? What if itwas all wrong?

What if Connor was leading me into atrap?

I shook the last question off. Icouldn’t think like that. The only way we’d be able to do thisnow was if we trusted each other. Without that, we would fail. If Iwas right, well, then we’d all die. It was pretty simple.

It took us a long time to get to thetop, and when we finally got there, even I was huffing and puffing,gasping for air. It didn’t matter how fit you were; eighty floorswas no joke. After I’d caught my breath, I realized that myexhaustion outweighed the pain. My head hurt, but I could handle it,and my ribs felt a bit better. I touched my eye gingerly, and felt Icould open it more. Vampire healing at its best.

Connor walked ahead because he couldsee better than the rest of us, and he knew his offices. Carlfollowed, Phil after him, and I brought up the rear. The floor wasall dark, shiny tiles that reflected what little moonlight was comingin through the windows. We moved through double doors into a lobbywith secretaries’ desks. They were unoccupied, of course.

Connor kept moving, turning his head,listening. I strained my ears, but I couldn’t hear anything. Then Ibreathed in deep. Someone was here. I could tell, could feel thelifeblood pumping through their veins. But I didn’t know who itwas.

Connor held up his hand and we allfroze. Phil looked like he was going to attack the first shadow thatmoved.

Connor stepped forward and opened thedouble doors in front of him. I was nervous. If the master vamps werein there, he would die.

I hadn’t wanted him to come. I hadn’twanted him to lead the team. I hadn’t wanted any of this.

But I hadn’t had a choice.

Connor poked his head in and lookedaround. I expected all hell to break loose, but nothing happened. Amoment later Connor waved us on, and he stepped into the room.

When I entered, I realized this waswhat must have been Connor’s office. The walls were covered withframed pictures of Connor as a human; Jennifer was in some of them.Other frames held diplomas, degrees, and awards he’d been given.

His desk was heavy and dark, with anexpensive computer on one side and papers scattered across the top.Connor walked to the desk and slid his hand along the edge. He missedworking there. I could tell.

I took a deep breath and picked up afaint smell, something that smelled like it had been burning at somepoint. With it I smelled anger and fear. And hopelessness.

“Someone’s here,” I said.

Connor nodded. “You’re right.”

We walked around, following our noses,while the two humans looked on. Phil looked nervous. Carl lookedbored.

“In here,” Connor said when he gotto a door that I thought might lead to a closet. I watched himnervously, my heartbeat pounding in my throat. Whoever was behindthat door could either be an answer or an ending. I took a deepbreath, and Connor pushed open the door.

Joel lay on the floor, tied up andgagged.

“Joel,” I breathed, and kneltbeside him.

His eyes were closed and his pulse wasfaint, but it was there. The burning smell was strong now. Hisclothes were singed. His face was bruised, but the bruises weren’tnew. When I lifted him up and held his head I felt dry blood caked inhis hair. That could have been the source of the blood in the pit.

“Joel,” I said again, wishing hewould answer me.

“It’s all right, Adele,” Connorsaid. “He’s going to be fine.”

I believed him. I had to; I had to holdon to something.

Joel was alive. I’d expected theworst for so long that I felt like I was going to fall over.

“Your techie?” Carl asked.

He and Phil were standing right behindme. I nodded, but Connor snapped at them.

“Watch the office, dammit,” hesaid. “If anyone catches us now, we’re dead.”

Phil whipped around and scanned theroom, but Carl scowled. Connor lifted Joel and he moaned, eyesfluttering open.

“Hey,” I said, running my hand downJoel’s cheek. His eyes looked like they weren’t registeringanything, like he was staring into a void, but then his gaze slid tome.

“Adele?” he asked in a hoarsevoice.

“You’re going to be fine,” Isaid. My voice was thick with emotion. I scolded myself, commandingmyself not to cry. “We’re going to get you to a hospital.”

Connor managed to get Joel out of thecloset and laid him down on the floor.

“Can we get him to a hospital?” Iasked him.

“We have to,” he agreed. “Andthen where are we headed?”

I stood up and looked around theoffice, feeling forlorn. There was no one else here. Joel had beenhere alone. It made me feel like I’d failed. Again.

“She’s not here,” I said, feelinga void open in my chest as I said it. Where was I supposed to lookfor my sister now?

“We’ll just have to move on, then,”Connor said.

“Where?”

We all fell quiet. None of us knew theanswer to that.

“I don’t know,” Connor saidsoftly.

A little while later, I found myself ina circle in front of the hospital. The bright lights streaming fromthe emergency room lit up the pavement around me as bright asdaylight. It made my black leather clothes look blacker. Connorlooked ghostly white in the light, like a marble statue.

I closed my eyes and reached out for mysister. It took me a while to calm myself enough. When my heart ratehad slowed down and I could almost track the molecules in my bodybecause I was concentrating that hard, I picked up the faint hum inmy veins that didn’t come from my blood, but Aspen’s.

It was fading.

I opened my eyes. “I can’t findher,” I moaned.

“What do you mean?” Carl asked.

Connor understood. He looked at me, hiseyes asking me questions he didn’t speak aloud.

“They keep shutting me out. I can’tfind her,” I said. “I know she’s alive, but I don’t knowwhere she is. It’s like she’s behind some kind of thick metalwall.”

“She might very well be,” Connorsaid.

Phil and Carl both looked like theydidn’t know what I was talking about, like they knew they weremissing something.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“If they have her, they’d want tostop her from being able to dematerialize.”

“She can’t do that,” I said. “Sheonly has half the genes, like me. Or wouldn’t they know that? Shelooks more vampire than I do.”

Connor shook his head. “I doubt theydon’t know. But they might keep her where they’ve kept othervampires before. Vampires who can dematerialize.”

What he was saying took a few secondsto sink in. They might be keeping her in the same place where they’dkept the other vampires. The one they’d sold. My hands flew up tomy mouth almost involuntarily.

“How are we going to find her?” Igroaned.

I was getting frantic. After all this,what if we never found her? What if she died before I got to her?What if…?

“Don’t do this,” Connor said,pulling my hands away from my face. When my fingers came away from myface, they were trembling.

“Don’t do it,” he said again. Hisvoice was soft, gentle. “They’re doing this because they’revampires. Because they can. You can do it, too. Just find her.Focus, and find her.”

“But I’m only half, Connor. I’mnot—”

“You can do it,” he said.“You can. I believe in you.”