The gunfire began to taper off once the Vampires saw what happened when the silver nitrate spray from the grenades made contact with their flesh, and Paul knew they needed to move quickly if they were going to infiltrate the building before the Vampires regrouped. Some of the Guardians had already moved in, and without his IAC on, he had no way of knowing whether or not everyone was okay or how the attack was going. He hated moving blind but he had no alternative.
The upper floor of Larundel looked a lot different than the basement where Paul had been held, at least he assumed the concrete cell he’d been in was in the basement. The ground floor level almost looked welcoming, with newly refinished wood floors, white paint, and crown molding everywhere he looked. It was a stark contrast to the hellhole he remembered, one he hadn’t been prepared for.
Still dripping wet from his encounter with the moat, he started down the hallway with Becky behind him, Tanner
They were in cells, both of them, but not together. He knew they had to be in the basement and that they must’ve fallen through some sort of opening in the floor. Without taking another step, he requested the rest of the team turn on their IACs. “Proceed with extreme caution! There are openings in the floor, and cells beneath them!”“I can’t find Patsy!” Jeb shouted. “She’s gone!”“Glenn is gone, too,” Lynn said. “He was right here.”“Paul, drop back now. Start your exit.”The sound of Aaron’s voice in his head was startling, and Paul pulled himself to his feet but didn’t know whether or not to follow the order he was just given or find his teammates. “We’ve got people missing.”“I know that, but you’re not going to be able to get them out under the pre
The world slowly came back into focus, and Cadence got the idea that she hadn’t really been asleep that long, but the weight of familiar eyes had her stirring beneath the sheets, and she checked the time on her IAC before she opened them. It was only 9:30, which meant she hadn’t been asleep for even four hours yet, but whatever had brought her fiancé to her bedside after such a short amount of time had to be pressing, so she cautiously opened one eye and stared at him.“Hi.”“Hi. What’s up?”He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, but none came out, so that was something. She opened her other eye and pulled herself up to sitting. It must be bad or else he’d just tell her. Immediately, her thoughts went to Cassidy and then to Jamie. Had his procedure gone well? Had her sister floated away during the night?“It’s Becky.”Cadence was confused for a moment. She hadn’t b
Asteria’s eyes flew open, and she immediately noted that something was different. She sat up too quickly, and a pain shot through her head, something that shouldn’t happen. A glance around the unfamiliar room reminded her of where she was, and then she felt her abdomen. Empty.On unsteady feet, she clambered across the room, grabbing a dressing gown as she went and flinging it on over her dress, which she noted seemed to be in shreds in the front. She hurried down the unfamiliar hallway, but the castle seemed too quiet, as if everyone was down in the bottom lairs, which is precisely where she headed.The longer she walked, the more steady she became until she was practically flying. She remembered Hines giving her the shot to put her out so he could remove her baby from her womb. Her hands went there now and felt stitches beneath the robe. She wondered how long it would take for those to heal, but more importantly, what had become of her child.Voice
Asteria realized the other three continued to watch her, even when the child switched sides, which was also quite painful, his dagger-like teeth sinking in with no regard for her sensitive flesh. “What are you doing?” she barked at them. “Surely, there must be something else you could be spending your time on!”“Your Majesty, much has happened while you slumbered. Melbourne… we’ve been attacked. But we’ve pushed back the assault, for now. And we have prisoners as well as a Hunter’s demise.” Hines oscillated between an anxious smile and pride.“Only one?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.“Well, they brought hardly any Hunters with them. But five Guardians stand in the cells below Larundel, waiting for my return so that I may end them.”“Why are we waiting? Have your incompetent assistant do it.” The child adjusted, snarling, as if he didn’t lik
Liz opened her apartment door, looking exhausted, and waved for Cadence to come in. She wrapped her arms around her mother and then greeted her father with the same sympathetic gesture before asking, “Where is she?”“In her room. Floating above her bed in some sort of trance.” Liz sounded completely defeated as if it had been hard enough to control her teenage daughter before she could essentially fly.Cadence entered her sister’s bedroom with caution. She wasn’t sure she was prepared to see her that way again, but Cassidy was sitting with her legs crossed, her hands out, palm up, about a foot above her bed with her eyes closed. “Cass?”Nothing changed, so Cadence took another step inside the room and cleared her throat. “Cass? Can you hear me?”With a sigh, Cassidy fell back to the bed and then opened her eyes. “What?”“Nice to see you, too,” Cadence muttered. &ldq
As she made her way to the bottom floor, Cadence pondered everything her sister had just told her. Holland had a demon baby. Sam and Laura were on their way back to KC. They had five missing Guardians, waiting in tiny cells to be terminated, and no way to reach them. Oh, and they were coordinating attacks all over the world, starting in a couple of hours in Japan, to eradicate about seventy percent of the Vampire population. What was there to be worried about?She made the quick jaunt to Jamie’s office in less than a minute but waited before she opened the door to compose herself, remembering how alarmed he’d been the last time she’d flung herself through his open door. He didn’t look surprised at all to see her, however, once she finally came in. “Hey, how are you?” she asked, hoping to keep her voice cheery despite the fact that she had just listed several enormous problems that all needed solving.“Peachy,” he replied,
It was shaping up to be a nice spring day, but she was ready for nightfall. They’d decided to do their own hunting a little early that night since they needed to get the show on the road, and the Vampires in question tended to stay in their confines most of the time. There were four different locations all within a few hours’ drive of their headquarters. She would be traveling to a warehouse on the outskirts of Osceola, Kansas, which wasn’t far at all. She wondered if Sam and Laura had arrived yet. What she wouldn’t give to be at the airport to greet them. Which of the four locations would they head to, or would it be another place, something to throw them off? The Vampires would have no way of knowing they’d split their team and planned on taking all four cells out at once, would they? She didn’t know what Holland was capable of these days.Aaron had maps spread all over the conference table in the back of their office, and he was puzzling
The trip to Melbourne went by quickly since Margie Joplin was asleep most of the way. It would’ve been great if she and Grant Wharton, her sometimes boyfriend, had some time to test out their new powers before they needed to use them in the field, but she understood the importance of getting to Paul’s people as quickly as possible. As soon as Sheena had injected her and Grant, they’d been transported to the plane, and both of them had been out for most of the flight.The SUV, driven by another of the Guardians she worked with, Zach, pulled to a stop a few blocks away from Larundel, and Margie took the opportunity to test her X-ray vision. She was able to see right through the cement wall of the abandoned department store they’d parked next to. She was ready to go.Turning to look at Grant beside her, she couldn’t help but smile. He was a handsome man, and even though he still looked a little groggy, she wouldn’t want anyone else besi