Consumed (25 page)

Max nodded. “You too.”

Then Sebastian was gone. Just as he had done, we used the cover of the shadows to glance out of the window. Two Pagori guards were near the main entrance of the abandoned building, which seemed to lack a door.

“They’re alert, which is disappointing.” Max sighed.

“I recognise them from Giles’ club,” said Ava.

“Yep, they’re his vampires,” I confirmed.

“Which means it will be more fun to kill them, because that bastard led us into a fucking trap, and those two assholes down there are apparently okay with that.” There was no real anger coming from Max. More like anticipation for vengeance.

“Where do you think they’ll have hidden the nest?” asked Ava, her voice still flat and glacial.

“Hard to say,” replied Max. “The building’s pretty big.”

“If it was me, I’d hide them in the centre.”

“Why?” I asked her.

“Because it would mean that if anyone infiltrated the place, they wouldn’t find it simple to locate the nest no matter where they entered. Diane probably doesn’t believe we’d even know the nest are here, but she’s paranoid. Like Sam pointed out, the bitch likes back-up plans and covering her ass. She’ll account for this possibility just in case.”

“I agree. So we’ll assume the nest is on the third floor, but we’ll be sure to search each area as we go.”

Max seemed happy with that. “Same drill as last time?”

I nodded before turning to Ava. For once, she seemed just as eager as I was on assignments. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

With the simple act of closing his hand, Max had deprived the guards of their senses. We didn’t give the two Pagoris time to react. Without moving from the factory, I took out one with a lethal psychic punch. Ava literally appeared behind the other guard – she’d moved so fast, it was more like she’d teleported there – and mercilessly snapped his neck.

Max and I quickly joined her in hunkering down in front of one of the smashed windows near the main door, scanning the interior. The room seemed to have once been a large reception area, going by the overturned desk and the papers strewn all over the floor.

“Can’t see or hear any guards,” whispered Ava.

“There’ll be some further inside,” predicted Max.

“Let’s find out.” I slipped in through the front entry, avoiding stepping on the papers or anything else that would make a sound. Behind me, Ava and Max moved just as stealthily. Like the factory, it smelled of must and mildew, and also of an ammonia-like scent that was distinctive to mouse urine. I sure hoped Ava wasn’t one of those people who got freaked out by the squeaky little shits. The last thing we needed was her squealing.

Both she and Max followed me through the arched entry of the reception area, which led to a long hallway. Still, I couldn’t sense any guards. Sticking close to the wall, we silently advanced down the hall – pausing each time we came to a room, peeking through the open doors. Nothing.

As we neared a junction deep inside the building, I heard the slight scuffling of feet. Halting abruptly, I held up a hand, listening hard. More scuffling, followed by a gusty sigh.

We were too far away for me to pick up the vampire’s scent and be sure it wasn’t one of our own – it wasn’t likely, but it was possible. As such, my gift wasn’t the best to use or I could accidentally kill one of ours. I turned to Max and mouthed, “You move on three.” Then I looked at Ava, mouthing, “You on four.”

She seemed surprised but gave me a curt nod. I held up four fingers and then slowly began the countdown. The instant I dropped my third finger, Max acted, stripping the vampire’s senses. Once I dropped the fourth finger, Ava seemed to fucking vanish. Hearing the tell-tale snapping sound, I knew the vampire hadn’t been one from The Hollow. I rounded the corner, Max close behind me.

Ava was staring down at a pile of ashes in a way that said ‘good riddance’. “He was covering the stairs. Now he can’t.”

Moving as silently as before and staying close to the wall, we scurried up the stairs until we reached the first floor. I stopped dead on reaching the doorway, causing the others to halt behind me. There were two piles of ashes on the wooden floor.

Peeking around me, Ava whispered, “They must have been guards. If they were ours, there would have been some kind of uproar.”

She was right. If the guards had found and destroyed intruders, they would have loudly alerted the others, and guards would be searching the place far and wide for more of us.

“If vampires are guarding the stairwell, maybe it’s because the nest is on a higher level,” mused Max.

“My thoughts exactly.” I continued up the next set of stairs with Ava and Max again behind me, heading to the second floor. Abruptly, I froze at the sound of harsh panting. Someone was in pain and trying hard to breathe through it. Then there were running footsteps nearing the stairwell.

“I’ll get you out, just hang on,” said a familiar voice.

I rocketed up the stairs, finding Evan’s teleporter, Ian, scooping up one of his squad members – whose leg was broken in at least three places. Max winced.

“He got hurt fighting the guards. I’m taking him to The Hollow, and then I’ll be back. I haven’t yet found the nest, but I can tell you they’re not on this floor.” Ian then teleported away, knowing better than to waste time chatting.

“Then we keep going up.” I’d only advanced a few steps when suddenly Sebastian appeared right in front of me. “Christ, I almost fucking killed you,” I whispered abrasively. He didn’t seem to care.

“We have a problem.”

“Another one?” mocked Max.

Sebastian ignored that. “We have found the nest, but it is not going to be easy to reach them. There is a bomb – a psychic bomb.”

“What’s a psychic bomb?” Ava demanded, echoing my own thoughts.

Sebastian didn’t answer until he’d teleported the three of us to a large room where Evan and one of his squad, Trent, were waiting. A loud gasp flew out of Ava as she noticed her nest slumped all over one another, unconscious. Surrounding them was a thin blue ring that occasionally flickered and produced a low hum.

She swallowed hard. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s a rare gift, but it’s a fucking good one,” replied Evan. “It allows the vampire to surround something with what’s referred to as a ‘detonating ring’. As you can see, the ring is slightly visible, but it’s a psychic construct. One that’s linked to the vampire who made it. It acts as a sort of tripwire. If something crosses the ring, he’ll know, and then he can cause whatever is inside of it to instantly explode.”

Max skimmed a hand over his head. “Well, shit.”

“We still have to get to my nest,” insisted Ava. “There has to be some way to do it.” I placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly.

Sebastian pulled his cell phone from his Armani pants – he always dressed well, even for assignments. To be fair to him, he probably hadn’t anticipated that Sam and Jared would ask him to partake in it beyond spying on Diane. “If you will excuse me for a moment, I must contact someone.”

“Who?” asked Ava.

“One of The Hollow’s researchers. They have been gathering information about gifts for centuries. If there is a way around this gift, they will know.”

I held Ava to my side as she watched Sebastian closely, most likely trying to eavesdrop on his conversation. I wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, that she didn’t need to worry, but I didn’t want to lie to her. The fact was that this could be really, really bad.

The second Sebastian ended the call, she burst out, “What did they say?”

“The only way to deactivate the ring would be to kill the vampire who created it. If someone in the warehouse manages to kill him or her, that would work, but I would rather not wait around in the hope that this will happen soon. The researchers believe that although it is not possible to cross the ring without alerting its creator, it may be possible to teleport
inside
it without his or her knowledge.”

Ava stiffened. “
May
be possible?”

“It is a risk. It could be that an attempt to teleport inside the ring actually alerts it’s creator. And the nest would then be destroyed before your very eyes.”

Horror flashed across her face as she again swallowed hard, casting a longing gaze at her brother.

“Ava, if we don’t take the risk, Diane will use them against Sam,” Evan pointed out, his voice sensitive. “We still don’t know what she wants. But even if Sam gives it to her, I’m betting Diane won’t hand over the nest. She wants Sam to suffer. The best chance these vampires here have at surviving this is if Sebastian tries to save them.”

He was right. Had it been me, I would have immediately told them to take that chance. But Ava wasn’t like me. For one thing, she had a heart. For another, she would hesitate at just the very thought of anything happening to them – particularly to her brother. “Ava, Evan’s right,” I said. “Diane will be planning to kill the nest no matter what happens. You know it, I know it. What’s more, Sam knows it. You know what that means.”

She nodded. “It means Sam won’t agree to whatever Diane’s request is, because she’ll know there’s no point since it won’t save them.”

“Sebastian really is their best chance, baby.”

After a long moment, she looked at Sebastian. “Do it.”

He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, teleported away…and appeared inside the ring.

“It worked.” Max grinned. “It fucking worked.”

Ian and five of his fellow squad members appeared in front of Evan, their backs to the ring. “I took our injured to The Hollow and then gathered these five together to…What are you all looking at?” Ian pivoted. “Shit, is that a detonation ring?”

Sebastian teleported back to us. “Yes, it is. There is not much space inside the ring for me to move, and I do not want to risk alerting its creator by tripping it from the inside. I could probably teleport two people into the circle with me at a time. We can each scoop up a vampire, and then I will teleport us all to The Hollow.”

“I can help,” said Ian. “Once you’ve gone, I’ll do the same – we’ll alternate.”

“That would help immensely,” Sebastian told him. “It will take us some time, but we can hopefully have the entire nest out of here before a confrontation occurs between Sam and Diane.” Sebastian teleported Evan and Trent inside the circle. He first scooped up Cristiano, to what was likely Ava’s utter fucking relief, while Evan and Trent each gathered another. Once they were gone, Ian and two of Evan’s squad then teleported inside and did the same.

After three runs, Evan called out to us from inside the circle, “Maybe you three should join Sam and Jared, since you can’t do much here. They could probably use your help. When I contacted Jared to let him know we’ve found the nest, he said the interior of the warehouse was more heavily guarded than they’d expected, and quite a few have been injured, but Diane doesn’t seem aware of their presence.”

I definitely wanted to be part of the fight, but leaving these guys alone didn’t sit too well with me. “We should stay and stand guard here.”

“The other squad is patrolling outside. If they see anyone attempting to enter the building, they’ll let us know. If we need help, I’ll contact Jared and ask him to send or teleport some back-up here. You guys just –”

A pain slammed into my head as a strange ‘bong’ sound seemed to drown out all else, and I – to my fucking embarrassment – swayed on my feet. I shook my head, trying to focus. And that was when I saw that everyone else was doing the same.

Max had his hands slapped over his ears. “What the fuck was that?”

My instincts told me the answer. “That was some kind of psychic blast, and we caught the tail end of it. I’d say Diane knows she has company.”

“A psychic blast that almost knocked
us
out when we’re way over here?”

Ava gasped. “If it almost did that to us, imagine what it’s done to them.”

A growl rumbled out of Evan. “I have to get to Alora.” He was gone before anyone could say a word.

“It’s okay,” said Ian. “One of the others can take Evan’s place here. They need you over there. Go.”

Moving at vampire momentum, we sped out of the building and over to the warehouse, where we crouched beneath a window. Reuben, Damien, and Stuart were sprawled on the floor inside, clearly unconscious. Thankfully, they weren’t piles of ashes.

“Looks like it’s been a psychic blast that’s a little like your punch, but on a grander scale,” said Max.

“If the gift
is
like mine, they’ll wake after a few hours or once the vampire who released the blast is destroyed.”

“Do you think it’s affected the squad that’s on the lookout?” asked Ava.

Considering they were closer to the warehouse than we had been…“I’d say so.”

She frowned. “I can’t sense Evan close by.”

Neither could I, but I was confident that the last thing Evan would do was anything stupid. All he would be concentrating on was getting to Alora and getting her out of the warehouse. Had I been in his position, I would have done the same.

We crept further along the building, following the sound of a woman’s maniacal laugh. Pausing in the shadows near another window, we slowly stood and saw Giles, Diane, and four male Pagoris glaring at Sam, Imani, and Jared, who were cocooned inside Sam’s energy shield. Unfortunately, it seemed that Jared was unconscious.