Innocence and Evil (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #6) (4 page)

I couldn’t see it, but I know she
smiled.

“Zander … we don’t have time for this right
now.”

“Mmmm, there should always be time for
this.”

She chuckled and grasped my hands in hers,
prying them away from her bare waist. “As much as I agree, it isn’t
happening right now.” My hands finally came loose and she spun
around to face me, giving me a little push. “You are just going to
have to wait, all right.”

I threw myself back onto the bed and sighed
dramatically. “Fine, but you owe me.”

One of her eyebrows shot up. “I owe you?
Hardly. I think you’re the one who owes me. You’ve been all
depressed and grumpy lately. I’m the one who was there for you, so
in that case, you are the one who is in debt.”

“Fine,” I agreed. “I owe you and believe me,
I pay my debts … with interest.” I added the last part and she
burst into laughter. “What?” I feigned innocence.

She pulled the top over her head. “You’re
hilarious and it’s nice to see you playful again,” she told me with
a smile. “But, you need to get dressed so we can go. We can finish
this when we get back.”

I pushed myself up off the bed and headed
over to the table in the corner. A black duffle sat on top of the
table. I pulled the bag toward me and unzipped it. Inside were all
my guns, knives and a few other fun weapons I had acquired over
time.

I took off my jacket and strapped my holster
on over my black tee shirt. It was a double holster, so I carried
two guns there. Next, I attached a single holster to my right
thigh, checked the clip in my Glock and then fit it snugly
inside.

After all my guns were in place, I found
space for my knives and then slid my leather jacket back on. “I’m
ready.”

Christina, who had been waiting impatiently
by the door, opened it for the both of us. “Let’s go.”

***

Once, there were thousands of lights
twinkling across the skyline of the city. Now, there were far
fewer. People didn’t want the remaining vampires to know where they
were, so they rose with the sun and went to bed when it fell behind
the mountains.

Many businesses had been destroyed during
the Vampire Apocalypse. The owners had abandoned their stores and
restaurants, leaving what was left inside for those scavenging for
supplies.

The amount of people who survived during the
takeover was many, but the population had gone down dramatically.
And those who were left were still scared. They now knew what was
out there. The monsters in the dark were real.

I didn’t blame those who were hiding at all.
This was a new world … a world that society was trying to rebuild.
But, in my opinion, they were failing. After what happened at the
Pentagon, we knew that we couldn’t trust the government anymore. We
had wanted to work with them, to help people by being involved, but
that only ended in bloodshed.

These thoughts plagued me as Christina and I
parked in an empty lot on the north side of the city. I slipped a
beanie over my head before jumping down from the driver seat of my
truck. We always hunted on foot, the truck was too loud and anyone
could hear us coming, not to mention vampires and their super
hearing.

I had better hearing than most … not as good
as Chloe, but still better than a human. Man, it was strange when I
thought of myself as not being human. Now, it was even weirder,
since the Warrior Angel brought me back. Was I still human at all
now?

The streets were dark and quiet. Not a
single street light lit the way for us as we made our way through
the neighborhood. For hours we walked in silence. After a while, we
reached an area which was mostly old warehouses and historical
buildings.

The sound of voices echoed through the
darkness and my enhanced hearing I inherited from my father allowed
me to hear it first. I beckoned Christina to be quiet and pointed
in the direction the voices were coming from. She nodded
acknowledgment and stayed close at my side as we crept through the
alley like shadows.

At the next turn, I knew that they were just
around the corner. I stopped and held my hand up, signaling that
Christina should stay back. She nodded and then I leaned over and
peeked around building.

Two men were standing beside an old red
pickup truck. One of the men was skinny and pale with hair so blond
it was almost white. He wore a white tank top with saggy black
jeans. The other man was large, muscular and had dark hair. His
attire consisted of jeans that actually fit and a black hoodie.
Both men had a dragon tattooed on their face.

They stood close together, whispering. The
back of the pickup was open and several boxes sat on the edge of
the tailgate. It was hard to tell just yet if they were taking the
boxes into the building or carting them out to the truck.

The next thing I knew, Christina was beside
me.

“Shhh,” I warned.

She said nothing in response, so I focused
my hearing again. I wanted to know what these guys were talking
about. If it wasn’t for the Dragons, they could have just been
taken for some guys out delivering or picking up some stolen DVD
players or something. Ever since the vampire takeover, the looting
and crime had actually gone up, not down. So, it wasn’t uncommon to
run across that sort of exchange.

“How many more boxes in there?” Black hoodie
tilted his head toward the warehouse.

Tank top wiped his hands on his jeans. “Six
I think.”

“Well, let’s get a move on, the boss gets
cranky when the deliveries are late.”

Tank top lifted the lid on one of the
cartons and reached inside. When he withdrew his hand, a blood bag
was dangling from his fingers.

Without looking away, I tapped Christina’s
leg to make sure she saw what I was seeing

“This is so nasty.” Tank top glanced at his
friend. “You ever wonder what it would be like?”

Black hoodie took the blood bag from his
friend and gently set it back in the carton, then replaced the lid.
“Don’t touch those.”

“But do you?”

The larger man pushed the carton the rest of
the way into the truck and then headed for the doorway to the
warehouse. “Of course I do, Alec, who doesn’t think about what it
would be like to become immortal.”

The other man, Alec, nodded in agreement.
“But what about the blood drinking?” He pointed at the cartons.
“Could you do it?”

Black hoodie nodded as he headed for the
door of the warehouse. “Yes,” he answered. “And I would probably
love it. Every vampire I’ve ever met loves it.”

Both men went back into the building. I took
the opportunity and pushed Christina back around the corner. “I
think we have some questions for these guys.”

She raised an eyebrow. “We could just follow
them. That would lead us to the vampires they are delivering to and
probably more Dragons.”

I shook my head. “No, we don’t have a
vehicle, they do. We would never be able to keep up with them.”
That was only partly true. She may not be able to keep up with
them, but I could. I wasn’t as fast as Chloe, but being a dhampir
did have its perks.

“Crap, I forgot.” She rolled her eyes.

I leaned toward her. “So are you in? We have
to decide now.”

She nodded, her ponytail swinging. “Of
course I am.”

With the plan made, we waited for the
Dragons to reappear so that we could put it into action. When they
emerged, both men were each carrying two carton’s in their arms.
Neither of them suspected that we were there.

I counted down from three on my fingers.
When my pointer finger disappeared into my fist, Christina and I
charged around the corner.

Just as the two were bent over to set the
cartons on the tailgate, Christina grabbed Alec, and I went for the
larger man whose name we hadn’t heard yet. My beautiful and
fearless girlfriend had a knife drawn, its blade pressed against
the tender flesh of the man’s neck.

In an instant, I had the man in the black
hoodie in a headlock, the barrel of my gun poking into his side.
“Don’t move,” I whispered, “Unless you want to die.”

“Wha … what do you want?” Alec
stammered.

Christina pushed him a few steps until his
hip was against the tailgate. “Shut up,” she snapped. “We ask the
questions.”

The big man struggled beneath my grip. As he
fought against me, I felt a flash of hate, even though I didn’t
know him. I forced the gun harder against his side. “What’s your
name?”

“Screw you,” he spat.

I shook my head. “That’s ok, I don’t need to
know your name. I only need to know who you are taking these blood
bags to.”

The man laughed. “Yeah right. If I tell you
that, I’m dead anyway, so you’re out of luck, buddy.”

“I’m not your buddy,” I practically growled,
slamming him forward. “Your name?”

“His name is, Lawrence!” Alec whined from
within Christina’s grasp. “Now let us go.”

Lawrence turned his head to glare at his
partner. “Shut up, loser.”

These two were idiots.

“I still need to know where you’re taking
these blood bags.”

The man didn’t move beneath my grip. “Not a
chance,” he mumbled. And then suddenly, I could feel all his
crimes, all of his evil, all of his anger and I felt like snapping
his neck. It all flooded into me as if it were part of my own
memory.

“Zander?” Christina’s voice was stern, yet
woven with a worried undertone. “Stay with me.”

What good would he be if I left him to
wander the earth? He would only continue to serve the vampires and
hurt people.

Then, that bastard decided he would take the
opportunity to fight back. He pulled free and swung in a wide arc.
His fist connected with my face. My cheekbone took the impact of
his knuckles, but I barely felt it and I sure as hell didn’t act as
if I did.

He lunged, prepared to run, but I was in
front of him in an instant. I had my gun in one hand, but I pushed
him back with my left. He staggered backward, stumbling into the
side of the truck. Without really thinking, I holstered my gun and
took hold of his sweatshirt and wrapped it in my fist and then hit
him with an uppercut to the abdomen. “What part of ‘don’t move’ did
you not understand?”

He said nothing.

“You are corrupt and the world would be
better off without you. I withdrew my weapon again, this time
holding it to his forehead to make sure he would feel the severity
of the situation. “All it would take is one bullet.” I shook him
hard. “Just one.”

Then, the Dragon I held captive had the
audacity to spit at me. He let it fly, several tiny drops of
spittle landed on my face.

I nearly lost it. I wanted to pull that
trigger so badly. To just be done with it and bring society one
step closer to becoming a better place. On one hand, I hated that I
felt like that. On the other hand, it felt awesome.

Not that I’d ever done drugs, but I was
pretty sure that was what an addict felt like.

I cleared my throat before speaking. “I
don’t think you realize just how delicate your situation is right
now, Lawrence. I hold your life in my hands. Don’t ever do that
again.”

He shook his head as if trying to erase what
was happening, to make it all disappear. “I’m still not telling you
jack. You
will
have to kill me first.”

I tilted my head before answering. “That
shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Zander, we can’t stay here all night,”
Christina warned me.

She was right, sooner or later someone was
bound to come by. “I know.” I paused and thought for a moment.
“Let’s just take them with us.”

Her eyes widened. “No.”

“We have no other choice,” I insisted. “We
can’t just let them go.”

The sigh she released was not one of
pleasure. “Crap.”

“I’m taking that as agreement,” I told her,
and then I tightened my grip on Lawrence. “Look in the truck and
see if there is anything in there to tie their hands with. And
blindfold them.”

She pushed Alec over to stand with his
buddy. I pointed my gun at him. “You even think about moving and
I’ll shoot you. Got it?”

Alec nodded. It was only about a minute
before Christina emerged from the truck with some rope and an old
tee shirt. We used the rope to bind their hands behind their backs
and then cut the tee shirt in half so that we could wrap it around
eyes. I patted them down since the opportunity was there. I found
only one gun on each man. Neither of them had as little as a pocket
knife on them as far as blades went. These guys were either really
stupid or they had a lot of confidence.

“Let’s get in the truck.” I pushed Lawrence
toward the driver side and forced him to climb blindly into the
cab. Christina was doing the same on the passenger side, only Alec
was whining about it.

“Come on man, why are you doing this? We
didn’t do nothin’ to you.”

Christina muscled him up into the truck and
pressed her knife against his neck once he was seated. “Shut up.
I’m tired of hearing you cry.”

“Okay, okay. Just take the blade off
me.”

Even though Lawrence tried to act tough,
both of these men were weak. The Dragons were followers. It didn’t
matter what anyone tried to say, the Dragons would never find power
in anything, they would always be the ones serving what they
considered the higher power. Even if that higher power was only one
vampire.

It didn’t take very long to get to where my
truck was parked. Christina and I dragged our prisoners out and
switched vehicles, which proved more difficult than I’d thought it
would be, mostly because neither man really wanted to help so we
ended up basically dragging them out of one vehicle and lifting
them up into another.

“We should probably take the blood bags.” I
glanced at the cartons. “We can’t just leave them here for anyone
to find.”