5 Darkness Falls (9 page)

I immediately followed. “I’m going with you.”

“Absolutely not,” Auggy growled,
forcefully
shoving his chair
back
as he rose. “Let the military men handle this. Drexel, move your ass.” Auggy stopped and looked around the table. “I’m assuming the rest of you could defend her if you had to.”

“Oh, shut up and go,” Gabi snapped, glaring darts at Auggy.

The three men moved towards the front door. My heart accelerated with every step they took.

“Never
mind. He’s moving,” Kalel announced
, the
slight edge in his voice reveal
ing that
his fear had morphed into frustration.

Auggy gave an exaggerated sigh as he ambled back to the table and plopped back into his seat.

Drexel grabbed one of each dessert and winked at me. I gave him a warm smile. He tipped his head to everyone at the table before disappear
ing
into his bedroom.

Before Kai could knock, Kalel opened the door for him. “You’re late,” Kalel stated.

“So I am,” Kai
agreed
as he rounded the corner. His gaze immediately
search
ed
for
me. “I was tending to personal business.”

There was something in his eyes that
caused
me
to
sit up and tak
e
notice. He was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t figure out
what
.

“Let’s start, shall we?” Laurence said.

Auggy pulled out his cell phone and set it in the center of the table.

I stood and grabbed my notebook, which I’d set on the coffee table between
batches
earlier. Flipping to the back page, I retrieved the phone numbers for my army contacts
. These are
the men I’d appointed to keep watch over
different
sections of the world
which
also
included
watching over
all the vampeen army members roaming
in
them.

I dialed them all individually
,
requesting a detailed general status
report. We’d reached the eighth and final manager when it
everything
came tumbling down.

“Rashik, what is your status?”

“I’m active in South Africa.”

Suddenly there was a loud crash in the background
, metal
smacking into cement walls. Rashik’s breathing
became labored.

“Rashik? What’s going on?” My heart raced
,
as I listened carefully. The others sitting with me were silently
evaluating
all the background noise.

I heard Rashik struggling, though I couldn’t decide if it was to get away or not. “Rashik?” His name was a hard bite on my tongue.

“I’m afraid he can’t come to the phone right now.” The female voice sent chills down my spine.

“Who are you?” I
demanded.
I snagged my phone off the kitchen island and immediately began recording the call.

“Cecilia sends her love. She really is enjoying this, Lexi.”

I silenced the table with a single
hand
gesture to keep the
female on the other end
from knowing I wasn’t alone.

“Don’t you dare hurt him. If you have a problem with me, you take it up with me. Don’t hide behind my army.” My stomach churned as I challenged her. I didn’t know if I was ready to take on Cecilia and her army, but I wasn’t about to let Rashik take the fall for me.

“Don’t worry. We’ll treat him as our honored guest.”

“You better.” My voice was low, a rough growl
,
awakening every nerve ending in my
body.

The moment she hung up,
the
serum erupted into my mouth, coating my tongue. The new gag reflex I’d developed in the past week had me swallowing hard to keep
down everything
I’d eaten
.
I abruptly pushed away from the table. Gabi, Kai, Kalel and Auggy all stood, watching me closely.

I
sheepishly waved my hands.
“I’m fine.”

The moment the words left my mouth, an acidic burn rose up into my throat, mixing with my serum. I dashed to my bathroom in time for it all to come spewing out. I didn’t know what I was heaving up, but it
was scorching my insides.

I stared down in shock at the red liquid
filling
the bowl.
Was I vomiting blood? I’m a vamp. We use every ounce of blood we consume. Nothing is wasted…or nothing was…

A
damp cloth
was tenderly pressed
to my forehead. “Are you okay, Leka?”

Kai had squatted down behind me, his legs bowing out
, encasing
my back
,
as his hands w
iped
the damp cloth over my face and neck.

“Um, yeah.” My voice was groggy; reminiscent of a human’s in the morning, prior to moistening their throat. My mouth, throat and chest burned, a fire flaring deep and rising higher with each passing second. A delayed reaction
,
I suppose
.

I promptly stood, closed the toilet lid, and flushed, not wanting to linger in th
is
awkward position
any longer
. I turned
and
smack
ed
right
into him; he was a
hard wall of muscle.

He slit his eyes, watching me like a hawk. “Are you sure you’re okay?” There was doubt in his tone.

I averted my gaze, not wanting to obligate him further. “I’m okay.” I moved past him, grabbing my toothbrush
.

Kai stood
close
by. He didn’t say anything further, but he made it obvious that he didn’t believe me.

I rinsed my mouth with
warm
water before standing
to face
him. “Let’s go.” I jerked my head to the side
,
towards the door
,
to emphasize my point.

His face was solemn as he gestured for me to walk ahead of him.

I sighed, heading out first. Whispered conversations ceased the second I
entered
the living room
.

I focused on keeping my head held high as I approached them. “Okay, I’m leaving this meeting early. I’m taking Drexel and heading to my grandfather’s compound. He has voice recognition software that can hopefully tell me which vampire has my employee.” I picked up my phone
from
the table.

“Please sit, Alexa,” Laurence requested.

My gaze traveled around the table. When Auggy and Gabi
, both,
averted their gazes, I knew something was going on.

“No. I’m not compromising my position. I’m perfectly fine. I can handle this. I’m not signing anything over so you’
d
have to pry it from my hands.” I left them sitting the
re,
stupefied. I knocked briefly on Drex’s door before barging in. “Suit up and let’s go.”

He looked up from his book,
noticing
the determination set in my jaw and
the slight dip of my brow.
Immediately, he
set the book
down and sprang to his feet.
Opening the closet, he took off his shirt and tossed it into a hamper.
Grabbing
several holsters
, he
clipped them around his chest, shoulders and waist. He shoved varying kinds of weapons into the
openings
before pulling a clean black t-shirt over
everything.
Somehow, despite the tightness of the tee, his bulky muscles seemed to provide the perfect grooves to conceal the weapons between the material and his skin.

Closing the closet doors and turning in my direction, he
gav
e me a small smile. “Let’s go, B
aby
C
akes.”

I couldn’t contain my smile. I loved that he didn’t question me
…
he
never
doubted me. “Let’s go.”

As we walked through the dining room,
everyone was still sitting
around the table probably discussing me –
though,
I’d
already
tuned them out. Gabi and Jack
hastily
stood.

“We’re going with you,” Gabi announced.

I stopped and glanced back at them.

“Jack can help with any software issues you have
,
and I can call
in
a few Bladang contacts on the continent to search for the
pendeja
the moment we have a name.” Her words were rushed, as if she knew my patience was short
,
and I might walk away if she didn’t make her case quick.

I nodded, knowing a good deal when I heard it. “Alright. You can follow us.”

“I’m going too. I can help with the computer stuff too,” Kai interjected.

“Fine. Whoever wants to come,
who
isn’t going to challenge my every move or question my ability to function, just follow me and Drex.” I turned and walked out the door.

I frowned
,
realizing
the
other
army
leaders
didn’t have a way to lock the door behind them. “Is Sanders here?” I asked Drexel, never stopping as we arrived at the elevators.

“I’ll have him come
by to
lock up.”

I met his gaze. “Thanks.”

Chapter 8

Walking through the door of my grandfather’s home sent chills
racing
down my spine. I couldn’t stop myself from picturing his death. I shuddered as a flash of his head hitting the floor popped
in
to the forefront of my mind.

“You okay,
chica
?” Gabi asked.

I opened my eyes, shaking myself. “Yeah.” I swallowed hard as I looked around his home. It was untouched. I made sure that no one came in or out. It was one of the few places that I stationed a guard at all times.

Fernando was the guard on duty when we arrived. I couldn’t explain how happy I was to see him in position, ready for anything, including a group of attackers. He’d radioed for back-up before choosing a high point in a tree above the porch, where he could see everything and
also
have a fighting advantage.

I quickly called him off. His dedication earned him respect in my eyes. I promised him a bonus for his diligence before pushing through the front door. The only indication that he was appreciative was the sparkle in his eyes and the slight upturn of his lips
; then,
he nodded and resumed his previous
surveillance
position.

“Jack, do you mind leading us down?”

“Certainly.” He stepped forward, moving past
the group.

We followed him through the dining room, into the kitchen and down the steps that seemed to lead to a basement. Past the concrete hall, we arrived at the office space.

My eyes immediately sought the conference room in the corner. I knew it split in half, dropping
unsuspecting victims, mainly
vamps
,
down the hatch. I easily pictured a business meeting gone bad. How simple would it be to send your new enemy down the chute
, falling through
a maze of dungeons
and
traps?

My grandfather was smart. He really was a great strategist. I didn’t understand the layout of his home before. I couldn’t conceive his play, his mindset. Now I got it.

He needed the control room to be another level down
,
because anyone could find his office space. It didn’t matter if it was on a blueprint or not. No one would ever guess that an office floor, no less a boardroom, could split in half and open up the gates of hell.

Everyone on my grandfather’s team
knew about
the control room. They
also
knew the traps that
had been
laid out and
knew better than to
get caught in them. They still needed a safe haven in the event that someone was
clever
enough to outsmart them
.
Should
a
team member shut themselves in the control room, they
would be able to
control everything in the dungeons below: every acid shower, every blaze of fire, every drop or rise in temperature. They
’d also
control
the doors, the access points below and the cameras monitoring them. They could call for back up and know exactly where they were en route. My grandfather had thought of as much as possible when designing his home…including how to defeat his own granddaughter within it.