Innocence and Evil (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #6) (5 page)

Christina crawled into the passenger seat.
“If we leave them, they will go bad and won’t be any good anyway. I
think we should just leave them.”

“Well, I’m taking at least one.” I hurried
over, snagged one of the boxes and set it the back of my own truck.
Then, I climbed up into the driver seat beside Lawrence.

It was time to radio in to the group what we
were doing. I knew that at least a few of them weren’t going to
like this so I had intentionally waited until the last minute. I
pulled the walkie from my jacket pocket and pressed the button on
the side. “Dark Angel checking in. I need everyone to head back
now.”

I waited for an answer. It was half a minute
before a scratchy noise sounded and then Drew’s voice, “Copy that
Dark Angel, we’re on our way.”

With that out of the way, I shifted the
vehicle into gear and pulled out onto the road. It was sort of a
long drive anyway, but it was made even longer with having two men
who probably wanted to kill us, sitting so close. It seriously
stressed me out while I tried to concentrate on driving, but oddly
enough, the drive went smoothly and we were at the gates to the
compound before I knew it.

Luke saw us on the cameras and opened the
door so we could drag the two guys through with us. Then, he came
running into the entryway with a concerned expression written
across his wrinkled face. “What is this?”

I pointed at our bound and blindfolded
prisoners. “We found these jerk offs loading a truck with cartons
of blood bags … a lot of blood bags. I’d say enough for more than
one vampire.”

Luke looked confused. “Why did you bring
them here?”

I shoved Lawrence down into a chair by the
door. “They didn’t give me any answers. Both are refusing to talk,
so I’m going to make them.”

Christina shot me a worried look.

“How are you going to do that?” Luke wanted
to know.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

“You’ll have to kill me before I tell you
anything!” Lawrence growled.

I widened my eyes. “See, he’s defiant.
Besides, we couldn’t just let them go. They would run back and tell
their little vampire boss what we’re up to.”

Luke rolled his eyes upward. “Good lord. You
all are giving me high blood pressure.”

Christina shifted, keeping hold on Alec, who
was unexpectedly quiet. “The others are on their way. They should
be here soon. But, where should we put these guys?”

Our planning for this was spur of the moment
and I hadn’t considered where we would hold them. “Panic room?” I
suggested.

She shook her head. “No, there are controls
on the inside.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Both of you need to
watch what you say, what if they get loose and go back with
information. We don’t want them knowing everything about this
place.”

Crap, he was right. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Basement.” He pointed in the general
direction. “There is a room with no windows and a metal door. That
should work.” He didn’t look happy about the situation at all …
neither did Christina for that matter.

With a shake of his head Luke went back to
the control room. I nodded to Christina and then pulled Lawrence
up. “Let’s go.” We dragged them toward the garage which was where
the entrance to the basement was located. Once we were safely down
the steep staircase, we found the room Luke had mentioned.

I heaved open the heavy metal door and
shoved my prisoner inside. Christina followed, pushing Alec inside
ahead of her. Then, she slammed the door shut behind us.

“The Escalade just pulled in,” Luke’s voice
sounded over the intercom.

I gave the room a quick sweep, making sure
there was no other way out and then nodded to Christina. “Go on up
and get them.” I sat Lawrence down against the wall furthest from
the door. She did the same with Alec, who had begun to whimper, and
then turned to me. “You know this isn’t going to go over well with
the group.”

You think?

“I know, but I don’t care. We need to know
what they know.”

She turned and pushed out of the room
without another word.

After she was gone, I bent down over Alec
and traced the barrel of my gun across his cheek. He trembled, but
tried to hide his fear. “You want to tell me who the blood is for
before things get a lot worse?” I had realized before we even put
them in the truck that if we were going to get anything out of
either of these guys it was going to be him, for sure.

Still shaking, the guy said nothing. He only
shook his head in response.

“Okay.” I gently ran the cool metal across
his lips. “Have it your way.”

Then, the door behind me was pulled open and
the entire group pushed into the small space. Drew and Chloe were
at the front of the pack. I rose to meet them. Drew looked like he
was ready to tear me a new one. “What the hell, man! You know you
can’t bring people here.”

I waved him off. “It’s fine. We blindfolded
them.”

Drew pressed his thumb and forefinger to his
nose. “Seriously, dude. You’re going to give me high blood
pressure.”

I crinkled my brow. “Funny, that’s the same
thing Luke said.”

“Well, it’s true. You’re like the rebellious
child in the family.”

“Awww, you called me family.”

Drew rolled his eyes. “Don’t get too excited
just yet.”

Sarah pushed through the crowd and wedged
herself in between us. “Calm down children,” She drawled in her
thick southern accent. “I know there is a lot to discuss, but we
should probably do it in the hall.”

She was right, we shouldn’t say so much
around the Dragons. So, we all worked our way out of the room, but
remained standing just outside the door.

“Now,” Chloe set her hands on her hips,
“Tell us everything.”

Christina and I had both described the
incident, taking turns telling the story. When we were finished,
there was a long pause while the group let it sink in.

“Okay,” Drew finally mumbled, with a slight
shake of his head. “I agree that we need to know where and who they
were taking the blood to.”

Chloe turned on him. “We can’t torture them
though.”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “We have to
find out somehow if they won’t talk to us.”

She pulled away from me. “Have you all
forgotten the Pentagon! We can’t be like those people.”

Her feelings were justified. She had been
kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured when they ran tests on her. The
monsters at the pentagon had almost drained all of the blood from
her. I didn’t want to bring back that awful time for her, but we
needed this information.

“Chloe, if we can find out where the Dragons
and the vampires are, it will save lots of innocent people. You
think these two haven’t killed?” I glanced at the door. “I can feel
their evil, they are not innocent.”

Her eyes met mine. “Do you know what they
have done? For sure?”

I shook my head. “No, but I know what I
feel. The Warrior Angel told me to trust my gifts and that is what
I’m doing here.”

She closed her eyes. “I don’t like it.”

“You think I do?” The harsh question came
out softly. “We have to make sacrifices for the greater good.”

Drew sighed. “All right, but we remain as
humane as possible.”

I turned to face him. “Duh, what do you
think I am?”

“Sometimes I’m not sure.”

I quickly stopped a retort that was on the
tip of my tongue. He was right, I had to give him that much. I was
better today, but I was still unsure of myself … of my gift. The
past few months I had been someone who was unpredictable and I
couldn’t be angry with him for telling it to me straight. “Don’t
worry,” was all I managed to mumble in response.

Daniels cleared his throat. “Not to intrude
on your plans for torture, but why don’t you use the siren
instead?”

Drew, Chloe and I all moved so that our eyes
rested on the soldier. “Not that I’m against a good beating or
whatever, but why do that when this dude can just ask them.”

I had forgotten, that was my only excuse. I
was pretty sure, gauging from the expressions of sham that Chloe
and Drew had forgotten as well.

“Yeah,” I turned away, “Let’s do that.”

Oscar stepped forward. “I’m in, whatever you
need.

Our resident siren was always excited when
he could help the group. He was a decent fighter, but not like the
Hunters who were trained from birth. So, whenever the chance came
for him to use his gift, he jumped right on it.

We went over the questions I wanted him to
ask. When I was sure he had it right, we pulled open the door and
entered. Chloe and Drew accompanied us, but everyone else went back
upstairs. Alice was charged with talking to Luke about what we were
going to do with these guys when we were done with them. Keeping
them in the basement wasn’t really an option.

The two were exactly as we had left them.
They sat with their backs against the hard, stone wall, knees up to
their chests.

“All right.” I knelt down beside Alec. “My
friend here is going to ask you some questions.” I removed his
blindfold and backed away to give Oscar room to hunker down next to
him.

Alec blinked several times, trying to adjust
his eyes to the light. Then, he realized Oscar was right in front
of him, so he looked away, staring at the wall instead of his
interrogator.

“So, your name is Alec?” Oscar began.

The man didn’t answer, he only continued to
stare at the wall.

“I need you to look at me, Alec.”

When the guy still didn’t move, Oscar
reached over and gently touched his jaw, turning his face so that
their eyes would meet. “Alec, I am not going to hurt you, I just
need you to answer my questions, all right?”

Alec’s blue eyes locked with Oscars and then
glazed over.

“Are you ready to answer my questions
now?”

“Yes,” Alec answered, his voice somewhat
monotone.

“Who are the blood bags for?”

“Don’t you dare tell them,” Lawrence growled
at his partner.

Alec didn’t seem to hear anyone but Oscar.
“For the vampires.”

“We know that much, but who is the vampire
in charge … who is the leader?”

“Edgar.”

Oscar looked up at me and then back to Alec.
“Edgar is the name of the vampire leader?”

“Yes.”

“Are there more vampires?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

Lawrence wiggled around in his bindings.
“What the hell are you doing to him?” He shouted. “He would never
tell you any of this!”

“Shut up,” I ordered.

“Screw you and your little bad cop act. You
ain’t going to kill me and I’m not telling you anything.”

Without even thinking about it, I lunged
forward and grabbed the blindfolded man by the shirt, fisting it in
my grasp. In my other hand, I pushed my gun up to his forehead.
“You feel that, you piece of crap!” I hissed. “I will take you out
of this world without a second thought.”

“Zander!” Chloe’s voice filtered through the
haze of anger. “Snap out of it!”

How had I just let that guy get to me? I
should be stronger than that … shouldn’t I? How could I be so weak
if I was some sort of Warrior Angel? I released my grip on his
shirt and then slowly backed away. “Don’t get smart with me again.
Just keep your mouth shut.” I told him in a pathetic, ‘I’ll have
the last word,’ type statement.

Oscar hadn’t looked away from Alec during
the confrontation. “How many?” he repeated.

“Twenty, at least, there might be more.”

“Does Edgar have a second in command?”

“Tristan.”

“You were taking the blood to Edgar and
Tristan?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where the blood came from?”

“Human donors.”

“Are people who donate Dragons, like
you?”

“Yes. Everyone donates, just like before. We
donate and the vampires reward us.”

Reward them? I exchanged a glance with Chloe
and Drew. Drew shrugged turned back to watch Oscar continue his
questions.

“What do they do to reward you?” Oscar
asked.

“Our lives and a place on the Vampire
Council.”

“The Vampire Council fell,” Oscar told him.
“It’s gone now, so how could they promise you that.

“They are rebuilding.”

The words resonated deeply. We had gone
through so much to stop the Apocalypse that the vampires started.
Now, even with only a few vampires left, they were going to try and
do it all over again. This wasn’t good.

Oscar continued his questions. “Where are
Edgar and Tristan?”

“The old library.”

I noticed that Alec answered the questions,
but only the questions asked. He didn’t offer any more information
than specifically requested.

“Thank you, Alec, I think you have given us
everything we need.” Oscar reached down and picked up the piece of
tee shirt that I’d used to as a blindfold. “I’m going to cover your
eyes again, all right.”

“All right.”

Oscar leaned over and tied the cloth around
Alec, covering his eyes and securing the knot in the back. “I think
we got enough out of him for now.” He got to his feet, joining the
rest of us.

I glanced at Lawrence, who was finally being
smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

Chloe shook her head. “This is so far from
what I wanted to hear today.”

We all silently agreed. But Drew nudged
Chloe, pushing her toward the doorway. “Yeah, but we need to
discuss all of this somewhere else. These two will be fine in here
for now.”

He was right, whatever we discussed needed
to be away from them, if they did escape somehow, the last thing we
needed was them knowing every little detail. So, we exited the
room, securing the locks on the door behind us.

“You’re sure that will hold them?” Chloe
asked doubtfully.

“Yes,” Drew nodded. “Unless they have some
sort of super power we don’t know about.”