Vampire Beach Hunted (9 page)

‘Twenty minutes, forty miles an hour,’ Brad muttered. Then he drew a large circle around the place Van Dyke estimated he’d rolled down the hill. ‘This is the area we’re looking at,’ he told the group. ‘We’re trying to come up with a large building, like a warehouse, somewhere near the perimeter of the circle.’

‘More or less,’ Van Dyke added.

‘Right,’ Brad agreed.

‘I can’t think of a large building anywhere out there. But I don’t know that many large buildings that don’t sell stuff,’ Belle admitted apologetically.

‘Maybe we can narrow it down some more,’ Jason said. ‘Think about smells and sounds and anything you caught sight of from the van windows. Say whatever comes into your head. It might make one of us think of something.’

Van Dyke frowned, tapping his fingers on the map. ‘This isn’t a sight or sound or smell, but the road was mostly smooth,’ he said.

‘That eliminates the northernmost part of the circle.’ Zach shaded that section with a pencil. ‘The roads up there are bumpy as hell.’

‘Excellent!’ Maggie cried. ‘What else?’ she asked Van Dyke.

‘I couldn’t see much from the back of the van. They had me flat on my back. But I know the driver had to stop twice to open gates so that we could keep going,’ Van Dyke said.

‘Gates.’ Sienna tapped her bottom lip. ‘Did you hear any water around that time?’

‘Yeah!’ Van Dyke exclaimed. ‘Why do you ask that?’

‘Because Vera Canyon has smooth roads. They repaved them about two months ago. And there are some gated sections, and waterfalls leading into Zuma Creek,’ Sienna explained.

‘That could be right. I couldn’t see much from the van, but I did see a lot of tree branches,’ Van Dyke told her.

‘Down in Vera Canyon there are places where the trees practically make a tunnel!’ Erin added, her voice filled with excitement.

‘OK, so we know we need to go this way to get to the warehouse or whatever building Van Dyke was held in.’ Brad traced a line from the hill over to Vera Canyon. ‘We still have eight or so miles to figure out.’

‘I’m trying to think of other stuff,’ Van Dyke said, his eyes closed. The room fell silent as everyone willed him to remember something. ‘You know, there was this weird smell,’ he said after a moment. ‘I first noticed it not long after we’d started out. Maybe only four or five miles from the warehouse.’

‘What was it like?’ Maggie asked.

‘It’s hard to describe. I’ve definitely smelled it before, but it’s not common,’ Van Dyke answered. He took a long sniff, like he was trying to suck in the odor again. ‘The circus,’ he said. ‘It smelled like the circus.’

‘What part of the circus?’ Erin asked. ‘Like the popcorn and peanuts?’

‘Or sawdust?’ Brad suggested.

‘I bet I know!’ Belle exclaimed. ‘I bet you were smelling the Hollywood Star ranch. That’s the place where they keep all the exotic animals that are trained for the movies.’ Belle turned to Maggie. ‘Remember, our girl scout troop went there in the fourth grade?’

‘Oh, right. That place definitely smelled. They had some big animals too. Elephants and everything – like at a circus.’ Maggie pulled the map a little closer to her. ‘The ranch is right about here.’ She pointed to a spot that was very near part of the circle’s perimeter.

‘It was kind of a funky animal smell,’ Van Dyke confirmed. ‘That could be it.’

‘I’ve been to the ranch, too,’ Brad said. ‘I’m pretty sure there’s an abandoned warehouse close by. I vaguely remember seeing one.’

‘Yeah. There’s some kind of big building up there. I shot some footage of it once,’ Adam added. ‘I remember thinking it might be a good location for something. It’s built into the hillside.’ He pointed at the map. ‘About
there
.’

Jason could feel expectation rising up in him. He looked around the group. They were feeling it too

‘To me it sounds like a good location to kick some ass,’ Van Dyke declared.

Ten

‘
LET
’
S GO
,’
ZACH
said.

Jason glanced at him in surprise. ‘Go? Where?’

‘To that warehouse.’ Zach’s voice was hard. ‘And if it’s the same place where Van Dyke was held, we’re going to shut it down.’ Zach got to his feet, joining Brad and Van Dyke, who were already up and ready to go.

‘Hold on,’ Jason protested. ‘Don’t you think we need to plan this out a little better?’

‘No,’ Zach replied. ‘The assholes who took Van Dyke know that he’s escaped. They’re probably out there looking for him, right now. Looking for all of us, maybe.’

‘Yeah. The sooner we get rid of them, the better,’ Brad muttered. ‘Then we can all stop living in fear.’

‘I agree,’ Jason said. ‘But—’

‘With the rest of the council unreachable, it’s up to us to handle this,’ Zach reminded him. ‘So let’s go handle it.’

Van Dyke cracked his neck. ‘My pleasure,’ he said grimly.

Jason sensed a strange undercurrent of excitement in Van Dyke’s voice, and he glanced over at him.
Van Dyke looks good
, Jason thought, startled.
Vampire good
. The guy was practically glowing, his hair shiny, his cheekbones sharp enough to cut someone. Jason turned to Zach and Brad. Same thing. They’d let their regular ‘human’ appearance slide a bit, and he could swear they actually looked bigger than usual.

‘Uh, guys?’ he said. ‘You want to tell me why you’re going all superhuman?’

Zach stared at Jason for a moment, his brown eyes glinting, looking almost black. Then his face seemed to soften, his wiry frame taking on a more normal look. His eyes lightened, slightly. He was regular Zach again – or as regular as the guy ever got.

‘We’re just pumped up is all,’ Brad muttered, returning his appearance to normal. Van Dyke didn’t change a bit.

‘I get that,’ Jason said. ‘Believe me, I want to find the guys that took Van Dyke as much as you do. But when you get all vampired-up, it makes me think you might forget yourselves.’

‘We’re wasting time,’ Van Dyke growled.

‘Look, I know how strong you are,’ Jason told him. ‘And it’s OK to beat up those jerks. But it’s not OK to kill them.’

‘We can control ourselves,’ Zach said shortly. ‘Van Dyke.’

‘Fine.’ Slowly, Van Dyke returned his appearance to normal. ‘Now, let’s go.’

‘You’re all acting crazy,’ Sienna said. ‘We have no idea if there’s even a warehouse there, it’s dark out, and we haven’t even driven by to see if Van Dyke is sure it’s the right place. We should come up with a strategy.’

‘The strategy is simple. We get over there, I see if it’s the place, and if it is we tear it down and take care of the guys running it,’ Van Dyke said angrily.

‘What do you mean, take care of them?’ Belle asked.

‘What do you think he means?’ Brad demanded. ‘These people
experimented
on him.’

‘And they’re probably still torturing Christopher,’ Van Dyke put in. ‘That dude saved my life! I’m not waiting. I’m taking them out the first chance I get.’

‘The three of us are more than a match for half a dozen humans,’ Zach said brusquely. ‘If they know what’s good for them, they won’t try to stop us.’

‘Yeah, we can just burn the lab down and ruin all their research,’ Brad said.

Sienna still looked concerned. ‘So, no hurting anybody?’

‘And what’s with the “three”?’ demanded Maggie angrily. ‘We’re also vampire-strong – we’re coming along too!’

‘Better not,’ Zach pointed out drily. ‘These are
humans
, remember? We can’t take the risk of exposure that girls along would lead to – you know that, Maggie.’

‘Anyway, they’re not gonna learn their lesson unless we rough them up a little,’ Van Dyke continued. ‘Believe me, they deserve it.’

‘Come on.’ Zach headed for the door without another glance at Sienna’s worried face.

Whoever experimented on Van Dyke deserves at least a punch or two
, Jason thought. But if the vampires did more than that, word could get out and then there would be trouble.

But when Brad and Van Dyke started after Zach, Jason went along with them. If his friends got too hot-headed, maybe he’d be able to stop them somehow.

Zach glanced over and caught his eye. For a brief moment, Jason got the distinct feeling that he wasn’t welcome in this little posse. But he held Zach’s gaze and, eventually, Zach nodded.

As Jason reached the door, Sienna grabbed his hand.

‘Be careful,’ she said, her voice tense. ‘I don’t like this. I wish I could come with you.’

‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll be extra-careful. And I’ll try to make sure everyone else is, too.’

Over her shoulder, he caught a glimpse of Adam staring at him open-mouthed. His best friend clearly thought that Jason had lost his mind, tagging along with a bunch of vampires on an illegal search-and-destroy mission.

Jason pulled the door closed behind him, hoping that Adam was wrong.

These vampires are freaking me out
, Jason thought wryly as Brad drove through the dark Malibu night. He’d been hanging around the toothy types for so long now that he usually didn’t even think of them as being different from him. But tonight there was a strange energy in the car, and it definitely wasn’t normal.

Nobody had said a word since they left Van Dyke’s house. But the air throbbed with intensity. The three vampires were so filled with anger that Jason could feel it in his own body. The road they were on climbed up the side of a hill, twisting and turning back on itself over and over as it ascended. There were no houses, and the inky blackness seemed to press in around the headlights.

‘We’re almost at the top,’ Zach said, his voice loud in the silence. ‘Park out of sight.’

Brad nodded and pulled to the side of the narrow road. A small stand of trees blocked their view over the edge of the hill, and also blocked the car from the sight of anyone lower down on the hillside. As the guys climbed out of the car, Jason realized that his heart was beating fast. Were they in the right place? Would they really be able to find Van Dyke’s captors and rescue the other vampire?

‘The building we’re aiming for is sort of built into the hillside, like Adam said,’ Brad reminded them. ‘We can check it out from behind the trees, see if there’s anyone there.’

They crept over to the trees and peered down into the darkness. Jason could just make out the dark outline of a large, low building. Only one light was on, a pale yellow security bulb over the doorway.

‘It does look like a warehouse,’ Jason murmured. ‘But it also looks pretty empty. I think it’s abandoned.’

‘What do you think, Van Dyke?’ Zach asked. ‘Does anything look familiar?’

Van Dyke squinted into the darkness, then slowly shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I honestly can’t remember a thing about the outside of the place.’

We should creep down the hill, get a closer look
, Jason thought.
Maybe something would spark Van Dyke’s memory.
But before he could even suggest it, Brad was heading for the open hillside.

‘There’s one way to find out if it’s the right place,’ he called over his shoulder.

‘Yeah. Let’s go.’ Van Dyke took off after him, and Zach followed. Jason watched them, surprised. ‘I guess we’re not being stealthy,’ he muttered as he went after his friends.

The hillside wasn’t as steep as it looked from above, and it only took them a minute or two to reach the driveway leading to the old warehouse. A van was parked out front, but otherwise the drive was empty.

‘It’s quiet,’ Brad commented.

‘That doesn’t mean there’s nobody home,’ Jason said.

Zach took a step forward.

Suddenly a white light snapped on with a metallic clanging sound. Jason winced as the brightness stabbed into his eyeballs. A second later, another light clanged on. The dark hillside was as bright as daylight – and Jason felt as if two fake suns were aimed right at him. Spots swam in front of his eyes.

‘What the hell?’ Brad complained, shading his own eyes.

‘I see six of them,’ Zach said quietly, staring into the lights.

Jason squinted at the building. Zach was right – there were six dark shapes silhouetted against the brightness. Six
large
dark shapes.

‘This is private property!’ a gruff voice called. ‘Get out!’

‘For an abandoned warehouse, it’s got some pretty tough security,’ Jason said.

‘Who’s in charge here?’ Zach called, stepping forward. Jason had to hand it to the guy – he wasn’t squinting, or covering his eyes, and he seemed completely cool and in control. Well, why not? Jason thought.
Six humans are still no match for three vampires
.

‘I said
leave
. You’re trespassing,’ the gruff voice replied, in a thick New York accent.

‘I’ll leave after I talk to the man in charge,’ Zach said. ‘Who’s running this operation?’

There were a few chuckles from the darkened figures. ‘There’s no operation,’ the New Yorker replied. ‘This is a toy warehouse. You want to buy some
Dora the Explorer
dolls?’

‘They’re lying,’ Van Dyke whispered. ‘I recognize that guy’s voice, his accent. He’s definitely one of the dudes who was holding me captive.’

‘Good,’ Zach said. ‘I was getting sick of this small talk, anyway.’ Zach was already striding forward, Van Dyke and Brad half a step behind him.

‘Forward!’ the New Yorker growled, and the six security guys rushed to meet them. Even as he got ready for a fight, Jason felt shocked. If these were the people who’d taken Van Dyke captive, that meant they knew about vampires. And they obviously knew about the vampires’ strength, otherwise they wouldn’t have kept Van Dyke sedated. So why were they rushing in to fight not one, but
three
vampires? And for all they knew, Jason was a vampire, too.

They’re crazy
, Jason thought.
They think they can win by outnumbering the vampires. They don’t know what they’re in for
.

In the glare of the spotlights, the humans and vampires came together, and for a few seconds Jason lost track of his friends. A bunch of darkened figures grappled together. He moved closer, looking for one of the security goons to take down. His friends could handle two humans each with no problem, but Jason was determined to help them anyway.