Storm (Blood Haze: Book Two) A Paranormal Romance (5 page)

We’d need Jamie to see for us. We were helpless

without her.

“Wait, do we have time to rent a van again?” I

asked him.

“Jamie’s already taken care of it,” he said.

“When we got back last time, Mother gave her

the money to buy one just in case.”

“Why didn’t anyone ever think to mention this

to me?” I grumbled.

“Because we all knew you’d react just like

this. You wouldn’t want her involved.”

“Good point.”

Jamie showed up a few minutes later, and we

packed everything into the van as quickly as

possible. Kai had wrapped my favorite painting

in a blanket and placed it underneath the back

seat to protect it.

Kai had been painting it when we met. It was a

painting of a mother gently cradling a young boy.

Obviously, it represented the person he so

desperately wanted his own abusive mother to

be. That painting meant a lot to me.

This time, I packed my laptop and I

remembered my cell phone. In the van, I tried to

call Max, but it went straight to voicemail. I

opened up my email program.

Max,

I haven’t heard back from you. I’ve emailed

you a couple of times and your phone always

goes straight to voicemail.

I know you’re busy, but I really need you. A

hunter’s in town. He saw me. Please call me.

Alice

I didn’t want to get Max involved, but I was

hoping he’d know this particular hunter. If he

did, maybe he’d know which power he had, so at

least we’d know what we were up again.

Just moments after I sent the email, my phone

rang.

“Hello?”

“Alice!” Max shouted. “What’s going on?”

“Max, why haven’t you answered my other…”

“I wasn’t allowed,” he interrupted. “I’m not

supposed to have any outside contact during

training.”

“Oh.”

“Are you okay?” he asked frantically.

“A hunter saw me feeding,” I admitted. “I

think I took care of it. I knocked him out and

called the police, so he should be in jail for

twenty-four hours or so.”

“He
saw
you?” Max gasped. “How could you

be so careless?”

“Kai and I caught this guy abusing his

girlfriend,” I explained. “We got her to safety,

and we thought we were alone on the beach. It

was the perfect time to…”

“Wait!” Max shouted. “He saw Kai, too?”

“Kai wasn’t feeding,” I said. “I think I

managed to convince him Kai was human.”

“You convinced him…” Max paused. “Kai

left you
alone
with a hunter?”

“I asked him to,” I explained.

“And he
did
?” Max shouted. “He just left you

there
alone
with a
hunter
? Are you fucking

kidding me?”

“Max, please,” I begged. “Don’t do this. I just

called because I need your help.”

“I can be home in twelve hours,” he said

quickly.

“No,” I said. “That’s not what I’m asking. I

just wanted…”

“If you’re in trouble, I’m coming home!” he

yelled.

“Max, no,” I insisted. “I certainly don’t want

your father mad at you or anything. I just wanted

to know…”

“I
am
coming home,” he said firmly. “I can’t

leave you alone with a hunter after you.”

Before I could object, Jamie slammed on the

breaks. The tires screeched loudly, and the van

began to spin. The world began to pitch and roll,

and everything became a blur. I heard the

sickening crunch of metal and the high-pitched

tinkle of thousands of shards of glass hitting the

pavement as the van rolled. Once on its top, the

van slid across the street before finally coming to

a stop against a tree.

“Alice! Are you alright?” I heard a muffled

sound.

Blood dripped into my eye, casting a red hue

over everything. Confusion flooded my mind.

What had happened? Where was I?

“Alice!” the voice shouted again. It was Max.

I fumbled in the darkness and located the

phone, pressing it to my ear. “Max?”

“What happened?” he yelled. “Are you

alright?”

“I don’t know, Max,” I mumbled. “Am I in a

van?”

“You don’t know where you are?” I heard him

ask.

Suddenly, I felt my body raked across the

shattered glass, and I was hoisted into the air. I

felt as though I was floating, and underneath me,

I heard the crunch of glass. Footsteps. Someone

was carrying me. I felt an unfamiliar stinging

sensation in my arm, and I fell into a deep sleep.

At some point later, I woke up in an

unfamiliar room. I shook my head, trying to clear

the fog from my brain. Through a blurry film, I

looked around. I was alone.

“Hello?” I shouted in confusion.

“Alice?” I heard another voice say somewhere

in the distance.

“Kai?” I yelled. “Is that you?”

“It’s me,” he called. “Where are you? Are you

okay?”

“I’m in a room,” I shouted back. “It’s… it

looks like a dungeon or something.”

“I think we’re in a hunter’s prison or

something,” Kai called.

I looked around the small room. The back

wall was concrete, like a basement, and the other

walls were brick. The door was wooden, but it

looked very sturdy.

“Can you break down your door?” Kai

shouted. “You’re the one who’s fed recently.”

“I’ll try,” I shouted. I backed up and ran

toward the door, thrusting the entire brunt of my

power against the door with my shoulder. “Ow!

Damn it!”

I lifted my leg and kicked at the handle, but it

would not budge.

“Hey, hey,” I heard a gruff voice say outside

the door. “None of that.”

“Who’s there?” I shouted.

“Just your friendly neighborhood hunter,” he

snarled.

“Hunter,” I mumbled, disgusted.

He didn’t sound like the same hunter who had

found us on the beach. This guy sounded much

older – and meaner.

“Just chill out, honey,” he said. “As soon as

my boss gets here, we’ll get you all sorted out.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. “Sorted out.”

“You’ll find out,” he chuckled.

I kicked the door again for good measure, and

he chuckled again. “You’re not breaking through

this one anytime soon.”

I had to find a way out of this place. My whole

family must be here. Kai, my brother, my mother,

and even poor Jamie. I was right to worry about

getting her involved. Suddenly, my stomach

lurched.

“Kai?” I called. “Jamie…”

“She’s fine,” he shouted back.

I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I knew my

vampire family could probably survive a car

accident intact, but a weaker human like Jamie

would be much more vulnerable. I was so glad

she was okay.

I spent hours trying to find a way out of the

room. It was sealed. The floor and back wall

were thick concrete, and the walls were brick,

reinforced with steel bars – which I discovered

after breaking a few of the bricks from the wall.

The wooden door was unbelievably strong, and I

couldn’t imagine how thick it must be for me to

be unable to break it.

At least the hole I managed to break in the

brick wall gave me a line of sight to Kai. We

were able to fit our hands though the hole, and

his touch was enough to calm me a bit. He took

my hand and kissed it gently.

I knew we had to make an escape soon. The

longer we were in there without food, the weaker

we would become. If I had any chance to get us

out, it had to be done immediately.

The only thing in the room was a shabby

mattress on the floor and a small ceramic toilet. I

managed to detach the toilet from the wall to use

as a weapon as soon as anyone entered. I had to

incapacitate one quickly, because I assumed there

would be at least two. I just needed someone to

open the door.

Some hours later, I heard the jingle of a key

ring outside the door. I scrambled to my feet and

readied the heavy toilet. I raised it high above my

head and prepared to launch it.

The door creaked ominously, and a bit of light

filtered in, spreading slowly in an arc across the

floor. I readied myself.

Just as the head peeked around the corner, I

began to heave the heavy toilet toward the door.

Just as quickly, I stopped with a gasp. The heavy

toilet crashed down onto my food, and I grunted

in pain, choking down a shriek. It was Max!

“Alice!” Max gasped, running to me.

“Max!” I whispered. “How did you find me?”

“I’ll tell you later,” he said. “Let’s get

everyone and get out of here.”

He put my arm around his shoulder and

helped me hobble into the hallway. My foot was

probably broken, but it would heal in a few

hours. I winced in pain, but we had to hurry.

Max opened Kai’s cell, and Kai glared at him

when he noticed my arm around him.

“Thanks,” Kai muttered, taking my arm away

from Max and putting it around his own

shoulder. Then he said to me, “What happened to

your foot?”

“I dropped a toilet on it,” I moaned.

“A toilet?” he asked. Then he added, “Never

mind.”

“Let’s just get everyone else,” I said, and we

moved quickly to open the other doors.

Jamie looked really banged up. She had

numerous cuts and bruises, and she was limping.

The accident had hurt her, but at least she was

alive.

“This way,” Max whispered. “Hurry.”

We all followed Max down the hallway to a

set of rickety wooden stairs. He paused briefly,

listening. When he heard no activity, he motioned

for us all to follow him.

At the top of the stairs, I noticed we were in

what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. I

noticed two men slumped on the floor. Max

must have disabled them before he came to

rescue us. We made our escape out a small door

in the back. Max had his car waiting, and we all

squeezed in and took off.

“What is this place?” I asked Max.

“Hunter holding warehouse,” he said.

“What’s it used for?” I wanted to know. “I

thought

your

kind

always

killed

indiscriminately.”

“My kind,” he mumbled, shaking his head

solemnly. “Hunters do not risk human lives. We

only kill once we’ve verified our target is a

vampire. And we don’t kill
all
vampires.”

“Is that what we were there for?” I asked.

“Your hunter took you there for verification,”

he said. “It’s procedure when a verified vampire

is in a large group. We have to be sure there are

no humans in the mix.”

“Where are we going?” I asked Max.

“I have to get back to my father before he

realizes I’m gone,” he answered. “I’m going to

take you to the airport so you can get out of

town.”

“What about our stuff?” I asked him.

“I’ll go back and find the van after I drop you

off,” he responded. “I’ll take your stuff back to

your house, and when you contact me, I’ll bring

it to you.”

“Are we being tracked?” I asked.

“Christian is not a Viewer,” he answered.

“Christian,” I muttered. “That’s the hunter

who found me?”

He nodded. “He’s a Zephyr.”

“Oh, right,” I agreed. “That’s how he caught

up to the van. But how did he find us if he isn’t a

Viewer?”

“I really don’t know,” Max admitted. “The

only reason I even knew where you were being

held is because someone called my father and

asked if he knew how to contact Glass.”

“Who’s Glass?” I asked.

“He’s known as the Magnifying Glass,

because he’s the best we have at figuring out

who is human and who is vampire,” Max

explained. “They call him Glass for short.”

“I see,” I nodded. “Is it really that hard to tell?

I thought it would be pretty easy.”

“It is generally,” he said. “But if we think

there might be humans involved we have to take

extra precautions. We have to leave no room for

doubt. Our biggest rule is that we never harm

humans, even if it means letting a vampire get

away.”

“Kind of like your Prime Directive,” I noted.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“I wish you knew how he found us,” I

mumbled.

“So do I,” Max replied.

I was really worried. We knew now that

Christian was a Zephyr, which meant he couldn’t

track us. But Max had no idea how Christian was

able to find the van. Not only had he eluded

police, but he’d found us on the road. Maybe I

was reading too much into things. Maybe he

simply followed us and waited to the perfect

opportunity. Still, I was anxious.

Max dropped us off at the airport and told

Jamie to go purchase tickets for everyone. We

would have to make it a point not to look at

anything that might give a Viewer a way to track

us. As far as we knew, aside from Max’s father