Annihilate (Hive Trilogy Book 3) (22 page)

During our drive
the boys all got lots of updates. Kyle was still blocking off alerts from other Hives, and Lincoln continued to confirm that the cure was working
. In some Hives we had a 95% cure rate. New York had been one of the lowest at 70%.

“We should be good here, right? I mean Lucas is sort of in charge, and we already wiped out so many of their numbers in the last battle,” I said into the silent car. “Right?”

Carter leaned forward; he was in the seat behind Ryder. “Don’t underestimate Portland. Have you heard from Lucas?”

I had to shake my head. Despite repeated attempts to contact him, no messages seemed to be going through.

Carter didn’t say any more, but we all knew what he was thinking. Portland vampires hated me and the enforcers, and they had most likely killed Lucas and brought in reinforcements to their Hive. They would have been ready for war, even before the cure started making the rounds. Great. As if we weren’t in enough danger, we were heading for the town filled with vampires who had nothing but vengeance on their minds.

The sun was sinking into the western sky, the last rays of safety brushing across Portland. We were camped out about two miles from the Hive compound. So far we hadn’t run into any special forces even though Lincoln said they were stationed somewhere nearby. They must be in hiding, waiting for some signal. The streets were empty enough that we wouldn’t have missed them. So far all we’d seen was a police van driving the streets blaring a message for the citizens of the city: “You are under martial law. Do not leave your homes, vampires are attacking the city. We will let you know when you can come out. Stay inside. Report any activity to 9-1-1.”

Ryder’s phone buzzed between us. He glanced down before bringing it to his ear.

“Lincoln,” he said quietly.

He was silent for many minutes, listening as the SWAT leader barked information at him. When he hung up, he swiveled around slightly so everyone could hear him. “The Army has been ambushed in the northeast part of the city. Some vampires got them on the road, and here’s the odd part. They emerged from inside a building which had been empty not five minutes earlier.”

WTF? How did they get in there with the sun still out? It just went down.

“Lincoln says more armed forces are on the way, but for now we’re all that stands between Portland and the Hive. Red alerts are going out across all news outlets, social media, and even text alerts are being sent. Lincoln said some humans from smaller towns in Oregon have come out to help fight. Which is a pain more than anything because they don’t have a chance in hell against vampires. All they’re going to be giving them is blood and targets to turn. So we not only have to keep the Hive contained until the Army manages to get through, but we also need to keep an eye out for any human heroes.”

Wicked. So it was eight of us versus hundreds. I had to ask him: “How the hell were they coming from inside the buildings? The sun just dropped.”

Ryder shrugged. “I don’t know, but Lincoln seemed livid. That area had been cleared already, so no one expected an ambush. They must have somehow preplanned this, hid inside buildings for a few days.”

Possibly, but it didn’t quite seem right. Someone would have noticed them surely. But if they weren’t already hiding in the buildings, how were they moving without going into the sun? And without being seen? As far as I knew, none of their ten houses’ superpowers included turning invisible. It was almost as if they were…

My stomach dropped when the realization hit me. My hands were shaking as I brought them up to brush my short hair off my face. “Oh fuck of all fucks.”

My dad raised an eyebrow at that one. “You know what’s up, Charlie?”

Without acknowledging anyone, I snatched the phone from Ryder and speed-dialed Lincoln. We didn’t have a second to waste. The moment I heard Blue Eyes’ voice, I said the two words that any Portland native would know.

“Shanghai tunnels.” I then hung up. I had no time to chat with the SWAT dude any longer.

The moment I mentioned the tunnels, color drained from the faces around me, and the entire sexy six burst into action with a collective “Fuck!”

I swallowed, hoping to hell I was wrong, but my gut was saying I was right. My mom took me on the tour of the underground tunnels when I was twelve. In the 1850s to about 1940, these tunnels were built under all of the bars and hotels in Portland. A drunk bar patron would be sitting in his stool one minute and the next minute a trapdoor would open and the man would be sucked down into the tunnels to be robbed and sold as a slave on a ship and taken out to sea.

Not the proudest Portland history, but these tunnels existed all over the city, and I would bet my life the vampires had connected the Hive to them. They were smart enough to ensure they had a way to stay out of the sun and still get around. Fuckers were probably in every one of the older building in Portland right now, waiting until the darkness hit to burst out and fuck up the city. Well, darkness had just hit and we were so screwed.

Even my father looked concerned. He stated the obvious: “We’re on the wrong side of the river.” The Hive and the airport were on the East side of the Willamette. The majority of the tunnels were on the West Side. We needed to cross the Willamette now. Holy shit, there must be over twenty spots where the tunnels came up into bars and businesses. Where would we even begin?

Sam halted us before we could burst into action. “They expect us to steer clear of the Hive. We should go in, find the tunnel they used, and surprise them from behind.”

My mouth dropped open. “I’m not a fan of suicide, Sam, but thanks.” That was a really bad idea when there was no way to know for sure the tunnel thing was right. I wouldn’t bet all of our lives on it. Carter had already told us that if we got within five hundred feet of the Hive and they were waiting for us, we’d all be dead.

Of course, now he’d changed his mind. With a nod he joined in: “You’re right. They wouldn’t expect us to figure out the tunnels until it was too late. If we can infiltrate the Hive and come up at their backs, we’ll have the element of surprise.”

When did the world stop rotating around the sun? Was I now the cautious one? The adult in this situation? I knew nothing about adulting; it was scary and outside my wheelhouse. But I couldn’t lose any of my boys, so I needed to step up here.

“It’s too risky! We’ll get our heads blown off if you’re both wrong,” I said, trying to put as much command in my voice as possible. It just came out full of anger. Anger was my response to impending doom.

My father strode over to me and cupped my chin. “I love you, Charlie. You’ve grown into a beautiful young woman.”

Before I could respond to his emotional display, he crouched and pushed off the ground, sailing into the air and flying fifty feet above our heads.

“No! Get back here!” I ran after him, but I wasn’t fast enough. My father was an Original and holy shit he was full-on flying in a huge arc across the sky, headed right for the Portland Hive.

“Why would he do that?” I shouted, turning to scramble with the rest of the enforcers into the cars.

Ryder just squeezed my hand as we flew into the back seat and Kyle gunned the car. “He’s going to make sure it’s safe for us to go in.”

Fuck! I wanted to get to know him, have him in my life before he decided to go off as a hero and get killed. I fought back the tears, searching for some inner positivity, some hope. I couldn’t write him off yet. He was an Original. He would be okay.

Kyle spun the wheel and took a hard turn. We had been a mile or so out, so it only took us a few minutes to see the gated compound. It looked deserted, but that didn’t mean anything. The front gate was closed, repaired from the last time we’d smashed through it. One of the guys jumped out and managed to pulverize the locks and cut the chains tying it all together. We weren’t in reinforced SUVs now, so smashing through was a bad idea.

There were no ash or vampires on the front gate. And none in any of the security huts which littered the grounds. I’d never seen those buildings empty. Maybe the boys were right, maybe all of this Hive had gone into the tunnels. Kyle drove like a maniac, the tires squealing the entire way before we slammed to a halt at the front door of the compound. He didn’t bother with the underground parking, we’d been ambushed there by vampires too many times.

Sam paused for a second before opening his door, and looked up in the sky. The others all followed suit and I knew they were scoping for snipers.

“Sam, maybe—”

I didn’t get a chance to finish before he was out of the car. Not one to be left behind, I followed the boys and was relieved when my head didn’t get blown off. The front door was secured, but Sam overrode that pretty easily. The Hive wasn’t in lockdown mode, so the extra securities were not initiated. Bad move on their part. Unless of course this was all a big trap. Then the bad move was ours.

I couldn’t see Carter anywhere in the front entrance, but he most likely went in through the roof or something. Dude was a superhero and could leap sixty stories no problem. No noise or anything trickled through the Hive; it was eerily quiet, but we remained on high alert, creeping through, weapons up and ready to use.

“Remember, the cure darts will not stop them coming for us, we need to inject and then knock them out.” Ryder’s voice was low, but in this noiseless tomb very easy to hear. “Or just kill them if your life is in danger,” he said, stating the obvious.

On and on we crept, up the stairs to the floors above. There was not a single soul here. Completely deserted. On the fifth floor a scuffing noise had all eight of us spinning around. Jayden was shoved back by Oliver; he ended up next to me. I saw the flash of pissed off on his face as he growled at his fiancé’s back. None of us moved, waiting ever so patiently for the noise maker to emerge, and only released our tight hold on the guns as Carter popped into view.

“Dad!” I hiss yelled. “We could have shot you.”

He grinned, all confident and shit. Damn Viking Original vampire. “You don’t have to whisper. This place is deserted. At least in the upper levels.”

Where the hell was Lucas? Damn, I hope they hadn’t killed him. He’d done so much to help us. I wanted him to get that normal life he’d been dreaming of forever.

“We need to head into the lower levels,” Sam said. He was carrying around a tiny tablet laptop looking thing. Some weird hybrid computer, and as always was typing away one handed at a million miles a minute. “I pulled up some old underground plans from the water and sewer department. They keep the most updated information. There are definitely tunnels underneath the Hive. I think these are fairly new ones, but I can see half a dozen places where they might connect into the old Shanghai Tunnels.”

Holy shit. Did that mean I’d been right? Vampires were hiding under the city everywhere, and the humans had no idea.

Kyle quickly darted over to the elevators and hit the button. With a ding the doors slid across. “Much faster this way,” he said.

None of us wasted another second, filling the metal box. Sam reached out and hit the button for one of the sublevels. This Hive was filled with secrets. Here’s hoping this doorway into the tunnels was revealed easier than many of the others.

When the doors slid silently across, Ryder and Markus stepped out first, guns raised. I recognized this space as soon as I walked from the elevator. The smooth rock walls with the fire lanterns up high, their flickering lights making everything look Medieval. This was the level I’d come to back when I was in the culling, with the nasty redhead vampire. She’d brought me here to see my mom, Lucas’ gift to me.

Just like that time, we went straight to the large, ornate double doors, the one with the engraved emblem, unrecognizable words, and a secret pattern thing to get inside.

Carter was all business, slamming his huge hands down on the emblem and getting it open. It was useful having an ancient, all knowing vampire on our team. Inside looked the same still: huge table, fireplace which was not lit this time, and ornate wall adornments.

“The entrance is here somewhere?” Sam said. “Do you know where, Carter?”

Clearly I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed how at home my father seemed here. He’d obviously spent much time in Portland over the years. Had a man on the inside or some shit.

My father took his time observing the room, and if I wasn’t mistaken he looked to be counting stones along the far side of the circular space. Eventually he strode over and ran his fingers lightly across the wall.

“He needs to hurry up,” Jared said, Australian accent strong. “It’s been dark for at least ten minutes now. The humans are going to be sitting ducks.”

Jayden snorted. “Dude, I’m so not telling that hot-ass warrior to hurry up. He’ll crucify you, and ain’t no one gonna stop him.”

“Dude!” I mimicked him. “That’s my dad you’re talking about. Please, no more hot-ass stuff.”

Jayden winked at me and Oliver swung around to narrow his eyes at him. I was getting the vibe that they were in a silent lover’s tiff right now. Too much stress could kill the strongest of relationships. But I knew they were solid. I was already planning what to wear as Jayden’s best man. A wedding was something to look forward to. Something to fight for. A happy ending for all of us.

Further conversation was cut off by the sound of stone moving on stone, a weird grating screech. Carter lifted the tapestry closest to him, and sure enough, there was an open doorway leading to some narrow stone stairs.

For the record, I hated being underground like this. And taking those creepy stairs which led into old haunted tunnels was also not my idea of an entertaining day. This shit was fun when you were twelve years old and with your mom. Not so much as an adult with a fear of being crushed in a tunnel collapse. Damn vampires. Would have been much better if they were friendly, got along with all the kids in the playground. But no, they had to be nasty little assholes who like to kill and maim.

It was dark down here. The boys flicked on their Maglites, which gave us just enough light to see a few feet ahead. As we descended, a damp scent and heavy feeling filtered through the tunnel. The stairs ended in a narrow walkway, the sound of water all around us.