Faith (Soul Savers Book 7) (28 page)

Owen pointed to our
left, where faint gunshots sounded like pops. “There’s a
huge area here for various kinds of training. A gun range, an archery
range, a gym with machines and weight room, classrooms, etcetera,
etcetera. But this way—” he turned to our right “—we
have the Armory, Medical, Engineering, and a Conversion Center.”

I tilted my head to
look down the hallway. “Conversion Center?”

“Exactly the kind
you’re thinking,” Owen said. “I promised you food,
though, so we’ll come back if you want to check it out.”

He led us down the road
between limestone pillars that were at least ten feet wide and thirty
feet long. Between each support, cinder blocks had been stacked to
create walls to block off the different sections. The smell of
freshly baked bread and some kind of meat wafted down the hallway,
making my mouth water. But that wasn’t what had me nearly
running in its direction. I could barely contain myself when I found
the two mind signatures.

I jogged through a
huge, open section, winding my way around mismatched tables and
pushing chairs out of my way, past another pillar, and through a
swinging door in a cinderblock wall. A dozen or more people hustled
and bustled around the kitchen, preparing large vats of food. I
continued to the back, where three industrial ovens lined the wall
and found a slight woman with big boobs and a bun of blond hair piled
on her head pulling out a tray of bread loaves. She almost dropped
them when she saw me.

“Alexis!”
She squealed, practically throwing the tray and the oven mitts at the
counter and running to me. She wiped her hands on her short, black
cotton dress before throwing her arms around my neck. “Oh my
God! You’re alive! Are you okay? Where have you been?
Everybody’s been worried sick, looking for you guys. I’m
so glad you’re here! And I’m so sorry about Dorian. One
second he was with us, and the next he was gone. We thought he just
went to the bathroom, but … I’m so sorry, Alexis, I
really am. I was so devastated, and I know you’ll never be able
to forgive me—”

“It wasn’t
your fault, Blossom,” I said without letting her go. “He
was apparently hell-bent on leaving. He’s on a mission …”
I couldn’t get into it now. “Just know that there’s
nothing to forgive you for. You did nothing wrong.”

“I don’t
deserve it, but thank you.” Her whole body relaxed in my arms,
and the tone of her voice lifted. “This place is amazing, and
we keep doing more with it. Did Owen and Vanessa tell you? I guess
you saw Charlotte already. Hey, what about the baby? Is she okay? You
don’t look big …”

She finally trailed off
when she pulled away from me and looked me over. Her babbling didn’t
bother me, though. I’d missed it so much. Even before the worst
happened, she hadn’t been her normal ninety-miles-a-minute
talkative self. I could already tell that being here, especially in
the kitchen, was what she needed.

“Hey, hands off!
That’s
my
—Princess?” a deep voice with an
Australian accent asked from behind us as Tristan and Blossom hugged.

I spun around to find a
stout, bald man with a large box of flour on his shoulder. “Jax!”

Other people around the
kitchen gave us a quizzical look. A few recognized Tristan and me,
and I knew their faces from Carlie’s group, but others must
have been newcomers who’d joined them.

“Are you hungry?”
Blossom asked, and she must have seen the answer written all over my
face. “Of course you are! Go find a seat out there so we can
let these guys work, and I’ll get you some food and bring it
out. Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you’re really here!”

She gave me one more
hug before shooing us out the swinging door and into the dining room.
Right by the door to the kitchen, flanked by another door on the far
side, was a serving bar. As we weaved our way through the path of
picnic tables, plastic patio tables, round wooden tables, and
cafeteria folding tables, I could see around the corner of the
kitchen, where there was another set of doors with a serving bar
between them, allowing two food stations for a large crowd.
Mismatched plates were stacked at the end of both bars, but the
centers, where trays of food should sit, were empty. I had no idea
the time of day, but it must not have been a normal mealtime. Except
for a few people sitting at small, round tables on the outer fringe
of the dining area, we had the place to ourselves. Owen led us to one
of the larger, cafeteria-style tables.

“How many people
are here, Scarecrow?” Tristan asked as he lifted his long legs
over the bench seat. I joined him as Owen and Vanessa sat across from
us.

“Mom said 438 as
of yesterday … 440 now. And a half.” He gave us a grin.
“And we still have tons of space. We could easily take double
or even triple that as long as we can keep the food and water
supplies going.”

“One nice thing
about being a vamp,” Vanessa said. “We’re not high
maintenance.”

Owen cocked his head
and lifted a brow.

“What?” she
asked. “Blood is a renewable and sustainable resource …
as long as we don’t kill the supplier.”

Owen snorted. “Anyway,
as I was saying … we use magic to keep some things operating,
but there’s not a lot we can do about food and water. Not when
it’s as bad as everything is up top. There’s a huge
garden area where Brogan had already started growing vegetables and
grains, but that won’t be sustainable for a while.”

“I sense a lot of
Amadis mind signatures among the Normans,” I said. “At
least a quarter of the people here?”

Owen grinned. “They’ll
want to know you’re here, if they don’t already. Thought
we’d keep it on the down low until you’re fed and cleaned
up.”

“As if we can’t
smell you,” a familiar female voice said from behind me, and I
thought my face would crack when I spun around on the bench.

I’d sensed her
mind signature before from the area Owen had called Medical, and I’d
been too afraid to explore it further. I was sure she was still laid
up in bed, barely holding on to life, as she had been the last time
I’d seen her, and I’d wanted to eat, rest, and mentally
prepare myself for seeing her. But here Sheree was, up on her two
feet, her tall, thin body hobbling between the tables, using a crutch
under her right arm for support. Tears filled my eyes as I stood to
greet her. I wanted to give her a bear hug, but was afraid I’d
hurt her.

“I’m okay,”
she said with her signature warm smile that exposed almost all of her
teeth and lit up her brown eyes. “My leg doesn’t work
quite the same as it used to, when I’m human anyway. It’s
annoying, but that’s all. Fit as a tiger, otherwise.”

We embraced in a tight
hug before she joined us at the table. Blossom and Jax brought out
soup and bread, and Tristan and I had barely taken our first bite
when the questions started flying again.

“I think Char
plans on all of us meeting at that Intake room,” I said around
a mouthful of delicious, warm bread. “There’s lots to
talk about. Tristan and I aren’t done fighting. We have to stop
Lucas … and Dorian.”

“Of course we
aren’t done fighting,” Owen said. “As long as the
Daemoni walk freely, we’re still at war.”

I paused with the spoon
midway to my mouth and looked around. Everyone nodded in agreement
with Owen’s declaration. I hadn’t expected this after
seeing them so happy with being here in The Loft. Why would they want
to leave the security of this place to fight an unwinnable war?
Tristan and I had Dorian to worry about, otherwise, I couldn’t
say I’d be so willing to go to battle again. Not when there
were no other souls left worth saving.

“We haven’t
stopped fighting,” Sheree said. “Which means, I better
get back to work. I just wanted to come say ‘hi’ for a
minute, but we can catch up later.”

“Where’s
work?” I asked as she pushed herself up to her feet.

Before she could answer
me, a loud alarm buzzed throughout the cavern. Sheree’s head
snapped up.

“Yep, definitely
got to go,” she said.

I jumped to my feet and
followed after her. “Where? What’s going on?”

The walkie-talkie
hanging on her jeans-clad hip came to life with Charlotte’s
voice. “Sheree, the group’s returned, bringing two in for
you. Do you need help? Over.”

She slowed her
fast-paced hobble, unclipped the device, and held it to her mouth.
“Ten-four. We should be fine, thanks. Over.”

“Two what?”
I asked as we hurried down the passageway. We passed the Medical
sections, and then hung a left. At that moment, Charlotte turned into
the corridor, using her magic to guide two unconscious people—a
red-headed man and an Asian woman—down the way, toward a door
in the far corner of the entire space. Silver blades protruded from
their chests, at their hearts. Vampires.

“Conversions, of
course,” Sheree answered as we followed Char through the door
marked, well, Conversion Center. “That’s my work.”

My mouth fell slightly
open as I looked around the space about the size of two football
fields, some areas blocked off with shower curtains and sheets turned
into curtains. Three beds in one corner were occupied with what I
sensed as an Amadis Were and two vampires. The energy coming off of
them told me they were newly converted. Two Amadis vampires sat with
them, their discussion topic one that was always covered during faith
healing. My heart and soul dared to lift just a little bit with hope.

“Do you get a
lot?” I asked.

Sheree shrugged as she
picked up a clipboard and handed it to me. “A few a week.”

“Really?”

“There were a lot
of people turned against their will, Alexis. Sonya and Alys go out
with the hunters, and they’re finding them, slowly but surely.”

She hurried off to help
Charlotte get the two newcomers situated. Blossom jogged into the
room, followed by another Amadis mage.

“Kitchen’s
good,” Blossom said as she rushed over to Sheree’s side.
“I can help.”

I glanced down at the
clipboard that contained a chart of names listed with their species,
intake dates, location found, and release dates. I flipped through
three pages of them, totaling ninety-five newly converted Amadis.
That was nearly as many Amadis as I’d sensed in the entire
compound, which meant we hadn’t found many of our own, but
those here were successfully helping others. Increasing our numbers.

Building our army.

No. Not going there.
I could not allow myself to think that way. Even with a hundred newly
converted souls, we were nowhere near the Daemoni’s numbers.
Not with all the Normans they’d turned during their takeover of
the world. Not with all the Demons Lucas had brought in from the
Otherworld. We wouldn’t have a fighting chance in Hell. Or in
Hell on Earth, as it was.

I set the clipboard
onto the makeshift desk—a piece of plywood sitting across two
stacks of buckets—from where Sheree had grabbed it. Charlotte
and Blossom had already secured the vamps to two beds with silver
handcuffs, ankle chains, and magic, and they were about to remove the
blades from the vampires’ hearts, so I sauntered a few steps
closer. I wasn’t sure I had enough power in me to help. When
they slid the blades out of the hearts, the vamps awakened, and both
of them jerked against the magical constraints, lifting their heads
and shoulders off the beds. Their glowing red eyes immediately landed
on me. Evil energy surged into the air.

The room fell dark.

“She’s
ours,” they both hissed, only their voices didn’t sound
right. “
OURS
.”

No, they sounded like
Satan. Satan’s voice yelling at me, calling for me, sending his
Demons after me, and I was suddenly back in the blackness of Hell.
The hospital-like area of the Conversion Center had disappeared, and
I stood by the lake of fire, hands grabbing at my ankles, my calves,
my thighs … pulling me down.

“
Alexis
.”
The voice came from far away.

A jolt
in my stomach made me gasp, and for a moment, I thought the burning
souls had me. But another twinge brought me back to the Conversion
Center, my heart racing and my palms sweating. I blinked. Everybody
was focused on the two vampires. Nobody seemed to have noticed my
momentary freak-out that I could only blame on the demonic energy in
the room. The little being inside me was going berserk, making my
stomach clench and turn.

“Alexis,”
Vanessa said again. She’d been the one calling me a moment ago.

“Bathroom?”
I choked.

“This way.”
She waved me through the door.

I followed her out and
down a corridor that passed on the other side of the Medical sections
from the main road. As we came closer to the kitchen again,
approaching it from a different angle than before, my stomach
actually settled rather than worsened from the smells. I still
hurried through the Women’s door, just in case, past a bank of
six sinks with mirrors over them, and down a short passage with a
line of six showers on one side and six doors to toilets on the
other. By the time I reached one safely, the urge to puke had
subsided, although the smell in the room didn’t help.