Hunger (26 page)

The woman stirred.

Adam grinned. “We’ll see.”

She opened her eyes and Tor couldn’t tear his gaze away from them. Her irises were red around the outsides, but gold in their centres.

He couldn’t believe Adam had done it.

The floor bucked violently beneath him, splintering the grimy tiles, and the lights went out.

E
ve decided that one of the Law Keepers needed his head checked.

They had just infiltrated the warehouse, taking down several weakling vampires in the process, and had taken up position behind a row of boxes and barrels.

The insane Law Keeper in question had spotted the hazardous chemical warning labels on them and started pulling apart the boxes to check out the contents, drawing attention to them again. Vincent and Serge had leapt into action, taking out any vampire who made the mistake of attacking them.

Now, said crazy Law Keeper was messing around with the chemicals. He had a row of small plastic bottles laid out in front of him and filled each one with a quantity of the concoction he had created, his focus intense and locked on his work, oblivious to the fight happening around them.

He was certainly the perfect match for his name. Daemon.

He was darkness and evil, cruel and twisted, violent. In a way, he reminded her of Tor. Cold and methodical. Dangerous. But everything else in him was a complete contrast to the man she loved.

Daemon screwed the plastic lids back on, stabbed a hole in each with his knife, and removed his t-shirt. Eve was sure he had lost his mind as he sat there bare-chested, ripping his t-shirt into small pieces and stuffing one in the end of each bottle, creating a material wick.

He withdrew a lighter from his pocket, lit one of the wicks and hurled the bottle across the room towards the entrance to the underground section of the warehouse. It exploded on impact, the blast rocking the ground and almost toppling his other makeshift bombs.

He lit another and hurled it in the same direction, his aim better this time. It went down the hole just as two vampires made it out and exploded in a bright blast, throwing the men across the room into the path of Vincent and Serge.

Eve grabbed the next bottle he reached for. “Stop doing that or the whole place is going to go up with Tor still inside. If there are chemicals up here, it stands to reason there are chemicals down there too.”

Daemon just stared at her, flashed his fangs as his eyes blazed radiant blue, the colour of his bloodline, and then grabbed three of his bombs and led the charge.

Vincent came back to her and she stood, noticing that he and Serge had eliminated all of the vampires in the warehouse, and both were in their true guise. Vincent’s now-green eyes tracked over her and then he looked over his shoulder in the direction Daemon had run.

“Do not mind him.” He picked up one of the bombs for himself. “This is his way, and it is quite effective. Tor is strong enough to survive the explosions but the weaklings will suffer extensive injuries that will make it easier to kill them.”

Eve shook her head and recalled the scarred side of Oneiric’s face. Sickness swept through her at the thought that Tor might suffer as her father had, burned so badly that he still hadn’t fully healed thirty years after the incident. She needed to reach Tor and get him away from the building before Daemon burned them all to ashes or scarred them for life.

She sprinted around the boxes and barrels and rushed through the smoke. The explosions had twisted the staircase, buckling the metal, but she didn’t let it slow her down. As soon as she could, she jumped from the precarious steps and landed on the concrete floor of the lower level. Daemon was waiting there.

Serge said something to Vincent behind her.

Eve pulled her two long knives from the holster strapped around her shoulders that Vincent had kindly given her. The back of their car had contained an arsenal of weapons and they had armed themselves to the teeth before heading into the warehouse. Vincent had taken a sword, Daemon had selected throwing knives, and Serge had strapped a series of daggers to his chest and thighs. She had taken the knives, and also had a longer blade strapped to her left thigh.

Red lights punctuated the darkness and a tremor rocked the ground. She scowled at Daemon.

“That was not me.” He shrugged off her accusation.

Smoke billowed up the corridor, acrid and strong, choking her. It swirled in the red light, ominous and creepy, and setting her on edge.

“Which way?” Vincent said and she focused, trying to sense Tor. It was hard when so much concrete and steel surrounded her, dampening her senses.

“Down, I think.” She wasn’t even sure it was possible to go down, but every instinct said he was beneath her somewhere. “There must be another level.”

The three men nodded and began moving again, heading into the complex. At the first junction, she focused again, trying to sense Tor. Her instincts still said that he was beneath her.

Three vampires emerged out of the smoke, hurling themselves at Serge with their fangs bared. He grabbed a dagger and buried it hard into the forehead of the leader, and ducked as the other two leaped at him. Vincent decapitated one. Daemon hit the other with two throwing knives in his chest and Serge dealt with him, slashing his throat straight through to his spine.

They were certainly efficient.

“It slopes,” Daemon said and she swung her gaze back to him, barely able to see him through the smoke.

It was growing thicker. She tried not to breathe but found it impossible to fight the instinct.

He stood in the corridor opposite the stairs, his bare back to her.

“Another level?” she said and he nodded. “Then we go down.”

“I will scout ahead.” Daemon was gone in an instant, before she could tell him that was a bad idea.

Vincent smiled at her, his emerald eyes filled with warmth. His fangs flashed between his lips as he spoke. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t bring the building down on top of us.”

He disappeared into the smoke too, leaving her alone with Serge. She guessed it was down to them to find Tor. Vincent and Daemon had another job to do. They were going to make sure everyone involved in the Midnight plot was dead and all their information was gone so no one could attempt this again.

She ran down the corridor after them, following it to another level. Serge brought up the rear and then moved in front of her as more vampires rushed towards them from all directions. Eve spun on her heel to face one, giving Serge her back, and lashed out at the young man with her twin knives.

He didn’t stand a chance against her, and not only because he was unarmed. His movements were slow compared with hers as she slashed down his chest with one knife and thrust with the other, burying it in his shoulder. He was young and weak.

She was strong.

She pulled her knife out and swept it across the front of his throat, spilling blood down his chest. He grabbed at the wound and tried to escape. She came up behind him, sheathed her knives, and grasped both sides of his head and gave it a vicious twist, cracking his spine. He instantly slumped to the ground.

Eve shook her hands to stop them from trembling and rushed back to Serge. He stood over the bodies of the other vampires, his expression cold and empty of feeling, and his royal purple eyes impassive and unreadable.

“Ready?” he said.

She nodded and followed him deeper into the maze of corridors, squinting as she tried to see through the smoke. Another tremor shook the building, sending a crack up one of the white walls near her.

Eve covered her mouth and nose with her black t-shirt and kept moving forwards, her senses scanning for Tor. Vampire signatures came back to her, fewer now. Vincent and Daemon were making a dent in the weakling forces. Had they found Tor?

Serge tackled a female vampire who came at him like a rabid beast, snarling and slashing with her claws. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it, snapping her arm around and breaking the bone. It jutted through her skin and she shrieked. Voices sounded ahead.

One of them familiar.

Eve’s heart leaped into her throat and she sprinted in the direction of Tor’s voice. Her senses grew clearer, pinpointing him ahead of her. She skidded around a corner into a large tiled room and ground to a halt.

His steady ice-blue gaze swung to her and he shook his head. “You can’t be in here.”

That wasn’t quite the greeting she had expected. She had been hoping for something that made him sound pleased to see her, not disappointed.

Serge burst into the room and the ground bucked again, a blast of hot air sweeping through the corridor at her back.

“Daemon,” she cursed and hurried over to Tor. He struggled against the thick steel cuffs holding him against the angled board, ribbons of red marking where he had cut himself trying to escape them. “Keep still.”

“You can’t be in here. You need to get out, Eve. Now.” Tor wrestled with his bonds and Serge took over for her, easily breaking the steel open.

Eve looked up at Tor, meeting his gaze and sensing the rising tide of fear within him as it flooded their link.

He was serious.

A chill swept through her, dropping the bottom out of her stomach, and she looked back at the corridor. Flames licked along the roof tiles and smoke swirled into the room.

Is this what Tor had seen in his vision?

Eve shook herself into moving and raced to the other occupant of the room—a young woman. She tugged at the restraints holding the woman, using both hands, and managed to get one open.

The woman babbled to herself, shaking her head at the same time, her eyes wild as she stared ahead.

“They turned her,” Tor said and hit the deck as Serge broke the last of his cuffs. He knelt on all fours, his big body heaving as he struggled to stand.

What the hell had they done to him?

Serge came to her and finished what she had started, freeing the woman. She went to bolt from the room and Serge grabbed hold of her from behind, fighting as she struggled against him.

“Got to get out. Got to get out. They’re all insane. Insane. Vampires.” The woman looked at Eve, her eyes growing wider. “They’re all vampires.”

“I know.” Eve took a step towards her and reached out, trying to emit calming waves to soothe the woman. “What’s your name?”

“Angelica,” the woman said and cast a fearful look at Tor. “He’s a vampire.”

Angelica’s gaze came back to her and she stopped struggling against Serge’s grip.

“I feel strange,” Angelica whispered and tears filled her eyes. “I thought I had died. What’s happening to me?”

Eve didn’t think it wise to explain that she had just become the very creature she feared. She knew how hard that news was to take from bitter personal experience and the middle of a dangerous situation would only make it harder to handle. Once they were away from this place and safe, she would find a way to break it to her.

“You need to go, Eve… go now.” Tor found his feet and she went to him, took his arm and held him steady. She pulled him into a hug, squeezing him so hard she felt sure she was hurting him but unable to stop herself. She needed to feel him in her arms. She needed to know he was real and here with her, and they were going to get out of this.

If they made it out of this hell, she would gladly go with him to Oslo.

She would become the Chosen Daughter of the Vehemens bloodline. She would embrace her vampire family.

Just as long as she and Tor got out of this alive.

Another tremor rocked the room.

“Go,” Serge barked and thrust the woman at them. He rushed to the metal table and began smashing all the vials on it. “Get out of here before Daemon brings the whole fucking place down on our heads.”

Eve was so stunned to hear him not only string more than three words together but throw in a swear word that she didn’t move.

Serge growled at her, his top lip peeling back off his huge fangs. Tor grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the exit, leaving Angelica behind. Eve broke free and caught hold of the woman’s wrist, and pulled her along behind her.

“I can’t leave her,” she said as Tor glared at her.

Eve slung Angelica’s arm around her shoulders and walked as quickly as she could, heading back along the corridor towards the slope that would take them up to the next floor. The acrid smoke choked her lungs, slowing her down, and stung her eyes, making it difficult to see the path ahead.

Angelica began to slow as they reached the slope and then stopped. Tor leaned hard against the wall, his pain flowing through Eve as if it was her own. She was pushing him too hard.

He didn’t seem to think that was the case. He shoved away from the wall, grabbed Angelica and swept her up into his arms.

“Move, Eve.” There was effort behind those words. His pain had increased the moment he had set hands on Angelica. The bond between her and Tor didn’t like it, and there was nothing she could do to stop it from hurting him.

He grimaced and kept moving, each step laboured but determined. Eve hurried along behind him, up the slope towards the next floor. The ground shook ominously beneath her feet. Angelica whimpered and hid her face against Tor.

Tor shifted the woman away from him again and shoved Eve in front of him. “Move!”

Eve doubled her pace but refused to leave him behind with Angelica. She wanted them all out of this hell. The red lights above her flickered, threatening to give out and drop the corridors into darkness.

The floor bucked again and a huge split dashed across it in front of her, a section of it falling away into darkness below.

“Daemon.” Eve cursed his name with all the venom she could muster. Another blast rocked the building. “I bloody warned him there would be more chemicals down here.”

“Keep going,” Tor barked and shoved her again. “You have to get out of here, Eve.”

She could feel his fear. It swamped her, growing in intensity as they neared the exit. Why? Did he know where what he had seen in his nightmares was due to take place?

She shut out that thought, unwilling to succumb to the fear it brought with it, and kept marching onwards, heading towards the twisted metal staircase that would lead them to safety.