Blood Instinct (20 page)

S
ophia woke
to a thunk outside the door. She sat up sharply, her breath catching in her throat. She stared at the door before homing in on the white mist seeping through the hairline gap in the bottom.

Whoever was trying to get in was doing so frantically, metal scraping against metal in the lock.

‘Fuck,’ she heard a male hiss.

Sophia placed her feet on the floor. ‘Eden?’

‘Phia, open the fucking door!’ he said, banging on the metal.

Sophia hurried over. She grabbed the key from the hook, stuck it in the lock and yanked the door open.

He grabbed her hand, tugging her outside and leading her left, away from the communal area where the mist that had seeped under her door was nothing compared to the dense fog that blinded her to the chaos therein.

Her pulse rate picked up a notch as Eden shoved a two-foot length of pole into her hand, her heart still racing from the shock, from the sound of yells beyond, the commotion coming from the core of the bunker.

‘Eden, what’s happening?’

‘Something got in,’ he declared, Sophia barely able to hear him over the blood pounding in her ears. ‘We’ve opened all the external doors. We’re trying to get as many out as we—’

The wrench on her arm nearly pulled her shoulder out of its socket as Eden was tugged backwards, snatched away right in front of her. He hit the ground with a thud, disappearing into the mist behind.

Sophia scrambled after him, searching for any sign of him, hearing his grunts and thuds of retaliation against whatever had grabbed him.

She caught a glimpse of his hand – almost caught it – only to hear the female scream echo past her from the opposite direction.

Her heart flinched as the figure swept by her, the yell of a child’s voice as she was dragged along the floor past her feet loud in her ears.

Honey – Honey being dragged by her ankles, screaming into the mist, clinging on to her stuffed giraffe – as was Tuly.

‘Phi-a!’ Tuly cried out as she disappeared into the misty corridor behind her.

Sophia froze.

A split second later, Solstice bolted after the girls, also vanishing into the mist.

Sophia glanced back towards the sounds of Eden fending off whatever was attacking him before she looked back to where Solstice had vanished.

She heard the children’s screams fade into the distance.

‘
Fucking move
,’ she hissed to herself – to her leaden legs.

Eventually they conceded. Spinning on her heels, Sophia ploughed through the mist.

‘Tuly!’ she called out, keeping as fast a pace as she could without knocking herself out cold on a wall somewhere or falling over something. ‘Solstice!’

‘Phi-a!’

Tuly’s voice was surprisingly close, her only reassurance right then.

She picked up her pace, stumbled and tripped over Solstice lying dazed on the floor, blood seeping from her head, Tuly clutching her arm.

‘That way!’ Tuly said, pointing left.

‘Go back!’ Sophia said, struggling back to her feet. ‘Get help!’

She grabbed her pole – momentarily lost on the floor – and pelted forward. Finally catching a glimpse of Honey’s hands, she dropped it again and lunged to grab them.

But no sooner had Sophia’s fingers touched Honey’s than the little girl was dragged out of sight again.

‘Shit!’ Sophia hissed, scrambling to grab the pole again, Honey’s distant screams spurring her on.

‘Honey!’ she cried, as much to assure Honey that she was right behind her as to help find her.

She ploughed back along the corridor, using the walls to help guide her way and pick up momentum. The mist had dispersed at the far end of the bunker, or whatever it was hadn’t reached that far yet. Either way, it was sufficient for her to pick up her pace.

‘Honey!’

‘Phi-a!’ Honey’s more distant voice echoed back.

Reaching a crossroads, Sophia stopped outside an open door, no doubt one of the ones Eden had referred to. It led to what looked like a subway platform.

She looked left and right down the corridors either side of her.

‘Honey!’ she yelled breathlessly.

But this time there was no response.

Sophia fought to catch her breath, her chest heaving painfully from exertion, blood pumping hard in her veins. She looked in all three directions again, not wanting to waste any time by choosing the wrong one.

‘Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!’ she hissed under her breath before swallowing hard against her arid throat.

But as her eyes adjusted to the darkness ahead, she saw it in the distance, visible only because of the grates in the ceiling above – the glimpse of something small and orange.

She rushed through the door and over to where the toy giraffe lay on the ground.

‘Good girl,’ Sophia whispered, whether Honey had intentionally laid a trail or not.

And forty feet away, heading down the tunnel via the abandoned underground rail track, was a looming figure.

Sophia dropped the toy giraffe. She picked up her pace, pelting along the platform before leaping down onto the track and running ahead at full speed before she lost sight of Honey to the darkness.

She skidded to a halt about fifteen feet away from the creature, it looming at eight feet tall, walking on two human-like legs, its long spindly arms extending to equally spindly fingers, its protruding spine ending in a tail that was coiled around Honey’s ankles and dragging her limp, now unconscious, body behind it.

‘Hey!’ she yelled, her hands tightening around the pole she was brandishing.

It snapped its head across its shoulder in her direction, its eyeless face dominated by two vacuous nostrils, its protruding jaw dripping with saliva.

It instantly lifted Honey’s small body into the air, leaving her dangling a foot off the ground, the sight wrenching Sophia’s stomach, inciting the fury inside her. All she could hope, all she could plead for, was that the little girl was still alive.

Either way, it wasn’t taking her.

‘Let her go!’ Sophia demanded.

The creature offered something between a hiss and a bark before turning its back on her, dropping Honey back to the floor and dragging her a few further steps forward.

‘Hey!’ Sophia yelled after it, tightening her grip on the pole as she marched forward. ‘Don’t fucking turn your back on me!’

She heard a crack not dissimilar to that of a whip as its spine ripped from its back before it arched what looked like a bony stinger high over its head.

It turned to face her again, pointing the stinger in her direction as another bark-like snarl left its jaw.

‘Ah,
fuck
,’ she muttered under her breath, her perspiring palms gripping the pole even more tightly.

But she knew she couldn’t waste any time. She lunged forward and swung the pole at its jaw, striking hard and fast, knocking it sideways.

To her shock, it instantly released Honey and backed up defensively.

Sophia didn’t give it a chance to strike back as she went at it again and again, edging it further into the darkness, further away from Honey, the creature recoiling against the onslaught.

It lashed out at her once and then twice, Sophia dodging its hands, its tail and its stinger.

And she knew there was more flowing through her veins now under the pressure of opposition, of risk; there was more than just her own anger at Honey being taken, at the strike on the compound. The serryn was rising to the surface – and perhaps even more vicious than the creature in front of her.

Sophia slammed her pole against it again, once, twice, before it finally recoiled completely, disappearing into the darkness. She remained braced, the pole held in both hands at her shoulder, her legs apart as she steadied herself for another attack.

All she could hear was her own breathing. All she could feel was the chill echoing back from the abyss beyond.

She backed up as her eyes warily searched the darkness.

‘Phia!’

She flinched, glancing back to see Alisha standing over Honey’s body, the former’s eyes wide with distress.

‘Get out of here!’ she called over her shoulder. ‘Take Honey!’

Alisha crouched beside the limp child and lifted her into her lap as Sophia turned to face the darkness again. As the seconds scraped by, she looked over her shoulder again to where her sister was on her feet, Honey in her arms.

Alisha’s eyes widened a second later, her lips parting but nothing coming out.

A chill swept over Sophia. She didn’t have the chance to turn around and face what had evoked the horror in Alisha’s expression.

A blow struck the side of Sophia’s head, knocking her sideways and causing her to drop her weapon. Amidst her delirium, she came to her senses enough to realise it had a grip on her ankle, that it had yanked her face down further into the darkness of the tunnel before it had stopped.

Before it loomed over her.

She rolled onto her back in time to grab the stinger as it prepared to stab her. Eyes watering, muscles burning in her arms, she held it away from her face as it inched fraction upon fraction closer.

It grabbed her arms, pinning them to the ground, and held its stinger aloft.

Until an arrow speared it.

‘Go!’ she heard a distant male voice command. ‘Now!’

Sophia stared back along the length of the track, male boots racing towards her.

The creature barked again, splattering Sophia’s face with its saliva as it assessed its new opposition. It took an arrow to the chest and then another, before the male figure lunged, knocking the creature clean off Sophia.

She lifted her head, the tunnel swaying as she struggled to brace herself on her elbows.

Grunts and hisses echoed from down the track. She looked over her shoulder again to see Alisha was gone, as was Honey. She stared back into the darkness as she struggled to her feet, listening to the sound of whoever it was hell-bent on bringing the creature down.

Sophia grabbed her pole again and took a few wary steps forward.

Kane.

It was Kane who’d struck at the creature again and again, knocking it sideways, and then sideways again with impressive speed.

It tried to retaliate but Kane didn’t give it a chance. His arrowless bow abandoned on the track, he finally took the creature down with a swift blow from his fist.

It fell backwards in a clump, a groan leaving its body.

Kane wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. He spat blood out onto the track before rolling his shoulders as he headed over to check on the creature, his walk brimming with defiance, with the confidence of someone who had taken on similar threats more than once and was used to winning.

Sophia hovered on the spot, the pole lax in her hand.

The creature didn’t move, even as Kane shoved his foot into its stomach.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, a shiver running down the length of her spine as she stood alone in the dark tunnel with the vampire.

The very powerful, very dangerous vampire.

He shoved his foot into its stomach again.

Still no response.

He turned to face her. ‘You okay?’

Sophia nodded before raking her eyes slowly down the full length of him – it was the first time they’d been alone together. Ever.

He took a few steps towards her. ‘Then let’s get—’

The tail came up sharply and swiftly behind him with enough power to knock him clean off his feet, three foot in the air, the vampire hitting the platform wall with an almighty thud.

Sophia snatched back a breath. She tightened her grip on the pole.

She didn’t give herself a second to hesitate: she ran over, raised the pole high above her head and then slammed it down with all her strength into the creature’s chest.

It fell limp a second later, then lay perfectly still. A grey hue crept over its skin from feet to chest, skin that then cracked and split, its body falling apart in chunks moments later.

Whatever it was, it was finally dead.

Sophia looked down at her hands, unsure whether they were shaking from adrenaline or fear. With the air buzzing and her blood pounding in her veins she glanced over to where Kane wasn’t moving either.

She hoisted herself up onto the platform and knelt beside him. He’d landed on his back. His head faced her, but his eyes were shut.

She reached out to hold her fingers above his lips to feel if he was still breathing, which he was. Blood trickled from his mouth where he’d been hit, but when she placed her head on his chest she eventually heard a single heartbeat.

She sat back on her haunches and glanced left towards the tunnel opening.

There was no one hurrying to help. Not yet.

She looked right to where the depths of the tunnel loomed back dark, empty and silent, then gazed back down at Kane.

Her heart pounded a little harder.

Compared to the glowering navy-eyed master vampire she was used to, he looked so helpless. So vulnerable.

She licked her dry bottom lip as she focused on the sight of his blood trickling from his sexy bowed lips before her gaze trailed the full length of him as she studied him closer than she’d ever had the opportunity to before.

Closer than she would have dared had he been conscious.

She lowered her head and raked her nails over the paving as she clenched her hands to fists. A light perspiration coated her brow again, everything blurring around her.

She knew she needed to go for help but, like staring at a cool drink on a sweltering day, like gazing down at fresh untrodden snow, like leaving warm chocolate untasted on her lips, the pull was too great to tear herself away from temptation.

She looked back at him – and saw only a vampire at the end of her tunnel vision.

I
t was like déjà vu
. Only this time there was no Sophia holding his hand as he returned to the horrors that had occurred in his absence.

There was a deathly silence in the furniture-strewn room despite the milling bodies. Lying in a heap in the corner of the communal area were three large grey-hued bodies.

Jonah dragged another to the pile before throwing what could only be described as a giant, severed scorpion tail on top.

‘They came in the mist,’ Jonah told him, raking his hand through his hair as he joined his alpha.

Corbin had already torn himself away to check on the rest of the pack, not least Solstice and Tuly.

Jask scanned the wounded members of his pack, light-headed as he searched for Sophia amongst them. ‘Fatalities?’

‘None,’ Jonah said. ‘Just a hell of a lot of injuries. Luckiest of them all was Honey. If that kid wasn’t made of steel thanks to Jessie’s tears, she wouldn’t have made it.’

Jask located Alisha perched on a chair. Ashen faced, her gaze was distant as she held her knees tightly to her chest, rocking slightly.

Jask’s attention snapped back to Jonah. ‘Phia?’

‘Alisha last saw her in the subway tunnel. Eden and a few of the pack have gone after her.’ He paused as if reluctant to share the next piece of information. ‘Jask, Kane went in there first.’