Phantom Shadows

Chapter 11

Melanie had feared relations between her and Chris would be strained after she embarrassed him at the meeting, but he behaved the same way he always had: all business, but cordial.

As soon as Bastien hung up, she called Chris to warn him their first new vampire recruit was on his way. Activity exploded on Sublevel 5. Dr. Whetsman ducked into the stairwell and skedaddled upstairs, the wuss. Additional guards disembarked from the elevator.

Standing in the doorway of her office, Melanie watched Chris consult Todd beside the desk positioned near the elevator doors.

Linda stepped into the doorway of the lab next door. “I kinda feel sorry for the vampire. All these guys and guns . . . Hell, they’re even making me a little nervous. Can you imagine how he’s going to feel?”

“Hmm. You have a point.” Melanie dodged elbows and weapons and big, masculine bodies as she headed up the hallway toward her boss. “Mr. Reordon?”

He turned around. “Yes?”

“Bastien couldn’t say anything in front of the vampire, but I got the impression the guy’s pretty nervous. I think seeing this”—she motioned to the hard-looking guards armed with automatic weapons that clogged the hallway—“might freak him out.”

Chris took in the foreboding men around them. “Where did Bastien say Richart was going to teleport him in?”

“I suggested my office. I thought it would be more welcoming than the lab.”

He nodded. “I won’t take the men off the floor, but I’ll keep most of them out of sight. What’s the plan?”

That was a relief. “I thought I would just introduce myself, let him get acclimated a bit, then show him to Vincent’s apartment.”

Chris had had it refurbished after Vince had been destroyed. Melanie wasn’t sure why. At the time, the chances of finding another vampire willing to live there had seemed astronomically low.

“I’ll spread the men out on the floor, take the OR, the break room, Linda’s office, the labs, and the stairwell and only leave a few visible in the hallway.”

“Sounds good. I’ll let you know when Stuart is settled.”

“Stuart?”

“That’s the new recruit’s name.”

He nodded and turned back to Todd.

As she walked back to her office, a sheet of paper slipped from beneath Cliff’s door and slid across the hallway.

Melanie picked it up, turned it over, and read Cliff’s neat handwriting:

You need to sedate Joe. He’s ranting again. And if the new vampire hears some of the things Joe is saying, I guarantee you he’ll try to bolt.

“What is it?” Linda asked, joining her and peering curiously at the note.

Melanie showed it to her.

Linda patted her shoulder. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks.”

The rest of the conversation was spoken with the sign language both women had learned when they had realized the vampires could hear everything, all the way up to the ground floor.

Give him the low dose, enough to calm him, but not enough to knock him out, Melanie signed.

Okay.

Melanie understood the relief on Linda’s face. Both women preferred administering the lower dose to knocking the vampires out with a full one. The latter left the vamps fuzzy-headed when they awoke.

Be careful, Melanie added. If he’s headed for another break, he may not understand. Have a couple of the guards handy . . . just in case.

I will.

Melanie ducked between two guards.

“Hi, Doc.”

“Hey, Doc.”

She waved and darted back into her office, closing the door behind her. Richart could teleport them in at any minute and she didn’t want the new vamp to see the growing army in the hallway. He would hear their heartbeats once he arrived. That was unavoidable. But with any luck, he would think at least some of those were the heartbeats of regular employees like herself.

Minutes passed. Sublevel 5 quieted.

Biting her lip, Melanie consulted her watch. What was taking so long? Had Bastien anticipated Chris’s actions and decided to give them a little more time to prepare?

Rustling sounded behind her.

Melanie spun around, startled by the three males who stood there despite having expected them. “I see why Seth calls ahead to warn Sarah.”

“Sorry it took so long,” Bastien said.

She noted the damp patches on his and Richart’s clothing, the red speckles and streaks on their faces. “Did something happen?”

The vampire sandwiched between them bore no stains on his clothing, so their fight must have been with someone else.

“There were other vamps at the rendezvous site,” Richart explained.

Bastien nodded, brows drawn down into a V. “Pissing on my property,” he grumbled.

Ooh. Very unwise. She glanced at Stuart, wondering why Bastien hadn’t pummeled him for bringing such disrespectful companions with him.

Stuart gave his head a vigorous shake and held up both hands. “I didn’t know ’em. They just happened to be there, checking out Bastien’s legendary lair.”

“Ah.” She drew closer to Bastien and patted his arm. “I assume you kicked their asses?”

He shrugged. “The madness had progressed too far in all of them. They were beyond our help, so we destroyed them.”

“And enjoyed it a little too much, I’m guessing.”

He smiled. “Just with the pisser.”

Melanie laughed.

Stuart’s fascinated gaze skipped back and forth between them. “Dude, you’re dating a human? Y’all can do that?”

Bastien’s handsome face grew uneasy.

Melanie shook her head. Hopefully, in time, he would stop worrying about the detrimental effects their relationship might have on her life and career. “Yes, we’re dating. And the jury is still out on whether or not it’s acceptable because Bastien has a bit of a checkered past.” She held her hand out with a smile. “I didn’t formally introduce myself the other night. I’m Dr. Melanie Lipton. It’s nice to meet you, Stuart.”

Bastien knew Melanie didn’t want him to put her on a pedestal, but he practically threw her up there when she smiled at Stuart and offered him her small, pale hand.

Damn, he liked her. Okay, loved her. That tingly, sappy, I-just-want-to-hold-her feeling warming him like brandy must be love. She was just so brave. And smart. And beautiful. Willing to put her own safety at risk to aid others. Welcoming another vampire into her territory and attempting to put him at ease.

Stuart took her hand and shook it with care. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry I cut you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Welcome to the network.”

“Thank you.”

“I head the viral research we’re doing here and frequently work with the other vampires. There are two currently in residence—Cliff and Joe.”

Welcome, Stuart, Bastien heard Cliff say. I’m Cliff. It’ll be nice to have another vampire to hang around with.

Stuart looked toward the hallway. “You’re one of the vampires?”

Yes. I know you’re probably scared . . .

Melanie caught Bastien’s gaze. “Is Cliff talking to him?”

“Yes.”

I sure as hell was. But you can relax. Dr. Lipton is great. So are Linda and some of the others we work with. And you don’t have to constantly be on your guard here, worrying about humans discovering what you are, or vampires attacking you, or wondering if you’ll find a safe place to rest during the day. You made the right decision.

“How do I know you’re not an immortal just saying that to get me to drop my guard?” Stuart asked, his face reflecting both suspicion and hope.

Well for one thing, immortals are powerful enough that they don’t need to coax you into letting down your guard. They can overpower you and do whatever it is you think they might do with very little effort. For another, I was one of Bastien’s followers. I surrendered the night of the final battle with the immortals at his lair and have been living here ever since. But you’ll learn all of this and more eventually.

“What about the other one? Where is he?”

Bastien caught Melanie’s gaze. “Where’s Joe?”

She bit her lip and looked uneasy. “I think he’s resting.”

Had she had to sedate Joe? Had he had a break? Or had she worried what Joe might say to Stuart?

I’m here, Joe said, voice low and emotionless. He had definitely been drugged. The virus is fucking with my head today. Listen to Cliff. He isn’t as far gone as I am. I think . . . I think I’m not seeing things clearly right now. Cliff is.

Stuart sobered. He turned to Melanie. “Can you help us?”

“I hope so, Stuart. That’s why I’m glad you’re here. The more I learn and the more insight you and other vampires can provide me with, the closer we’ll get to finding a method of preventing the madness.”

Stuart nodded. “What can I do?”

“For now? If you aren’t averse to it, I’d like to take a small sample of your blood, then we can get you settled in your new apartment.”

Stuart looked at Bastien. “It’s . . . it’s really an apartment? It’s not a cell?”

This isn’t a prison, Stuart. We live well here, Cliff said. We each have our own apartment with whatever furnishings and electronic gadgets we want, though our phone and Internet activity is monitored for safety’s sake.

Bastien smiled and nodded as Stuart’s eyes widened.

“So . . . I get my own place?”

Melanie smiled. “Yes. We want you to be comfortable and, more important, happy here.”

Stuart looked stunned. “I’ve never had my own apartment before. Or my own room. I always had to share . . . with my brothers or with a dorm mate. Man, I had some sucky dorm mates.”

Melanie laughed. “Well, let’s hurry and do your blood work so you can get settled.”

Stuart gave her an enthusiastic nod.

Bastien touched her arm as she started to turn away. “We should get back to hunting. Stuart said something went down at Duke last night, so every immortal needs to be out there trying to find Emrys and his men before they find more vampires.”

Her brow creased with worry as she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “Okay. Be careful.”

“I will.” He started to move away.

She held on to his arm and tapped her lips with her index finger. “Kiss?”

Bastien might be mistaken, but he was pretty sure the heat stealing up his neck as he looked at the others was a blush.

Stuart snickered. Richart grinned and crossed his arms over his chest.

Full of aw-shucks, Bastien bent and pressed his lips to Melanie’s. Drawing back, he decided she tasted too good not to go back for seconds and proceeded to kiss the stuffing out of her.

“Okay, sport.” Richart grasped the neck of Bastien’s coat and gave it a yank, forcing them apart. “You can come back for more later.” He smiled at Melanie, whose eyes were bright and cheeks were flushed. “Always a pleasure.”

Then Bastien and Richart were being buffeted by a strong wintery wind atop Perkins Library at Duke University.

Richart may as well have dumped Bastien in a cold shower.

Lisette’s slender figure stepped from the shadows. She did not look pleased to see them. “I told you I was fine.”

The frown on her lovely face dissolved as her gaze dropped to the very obvious bulge in Bastien’s pants. “Is that for me? Because I will admit to having a fondness for bad boys.”

Bastien sighed. Some nights the headaches spawned by living with immortals seemed far worse than those vampires could provoke.

Stuart loved his apartment.

Sitting at the desk in her office, Melanie smiled as she made several notations in the chart she had begun for him. He had been so eager to see “his new place” that she had relented and taken him there first.

He had been astounded by the size and room he’d been afforded. While he had sat on the sofa and ogled the large flat-screen TV, cushy furniture, and assorted electronic playthings, she had drawn blood, measured his blood pressure, taken his temperature, and done all of the usual things doctors and nurses did to humans who went in for a physical.

Everything showed normal for a vampire.

Tomorrow she would elicit a verbal history from him. Find out what, if any, illnesses he had suffered before his transformation, how long he had been transformed, how he had been transformed, and how he had lived since. What he ate. How often he fed. From whom he fed.

He seemed nice, albeit cautious. She was looking forward to working with him and thought Cliff would enjoy the company now that Joe had fewer lucid moments.

So, as she stared down at his chart, she couldn’t understand why she felt . . . unnerved? Was that what she was feeling?

After those kisses Bastien had delivered, she should be floating several inches above the floor, eagerly anticipating the next.

Instead, she fidgeted in her seat and kept feeling almost as if someone were standing in the corner, watching her. Twice she’d caught herself gnawing on the inside of her cheek, a nervous habit that tended to resurface whenever she was troubled.

Melanie set her pen down and looked around her office again. Nothing out of place. No spooky shadows drew her eyes to corners. She had been having a hard time reading lately (and was too stubborn to admit she might need reading glasses—she was too young, damn it!), so she’d installed the highest-wattage bulbs she could find overhead. All was as bright as a sunny afternoon outdoors. Her peace lilies and bamboo plants thrived and provided cheerful color. As did her kitten calendar.

Tiny ripples of foreboding nipped at her feet like waves at a beach.

What was it? Was it Bastien? Had something happened to him?

Reaching for the phone, she dialed his cell.

“Hello?”

“Hi. It’s me.”

“Hi. Is Stuart settled in?”

“Yes. He even met Mr. Reordon, who was surprisingly friendly.”

“Good.”

“Is everything okay there?”

“Yes. It’s been quiet as hell actually. Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“No, really. What’s wrong? I can hear it in your voice. Something’s troubling you.”

She sighed. “I just . . . feel sort of like I did before those soldiers shot me and . . . everything’s fine here, so I thought you might be in trouble or something. I don’t know. I feel stupid now for bothering you.”

“First, you aren’t bothering me.”

“He was mooning over you again,” Richart said in the background.

Melanie laughed. “Hi, Richart.”

“Ignore him,” Bastien implored. “Second, are you having a premonition?”

“Dr. Lipton is a gifted one?” she heard Lisette ask.

“Hi, Lisette,” Melanie said.

“Would a little privacy be too much to ask?” Bastien demanded.

“Oui,” Lisette retorted. “Hello, Dr. Lipton. Are you a gifted one?”

“Yes.”

“Merveilleuse!”

“That does it.” A moment passed. A breeze came over the line. “Okay. Talk quickly before they find me. I’m on the other side of campus.”

Though Melanie smiled, that low hum of danger continued to strum through her.

“What’s going on?” Bastien continued, his warm voice full of concern.

How could the others not see the good in him?

“Nothing. Everything is quiet here. I just feel . . . anxious . . . like something is going to happen. Are you sure there aren’t any soldiers there? Could they be hiding again?”

“No soldiers. We’ve been teleporting from campus to campus, checking them out with the thermal vision scopes Chris gave us. We’ve checked every roof, every alcove, every damn tree and shrubbery, and have only encountered civilians. We haven’t even come across any vampires. I don’t know if word got out about what happened at Duke and they’re lying low or what.”

“Well . . . maybe it’s nothing. Maybe I’m just tired.”

“Trust your instincts. If—”

A thunderous boom drowned out whatever Bastien said next. The room around Melanie shook so violently she dropped the phone and had to grab hold of her desk to keep from falling to the floor. Pieces of sheetrock dropped like stones from the ceiling as cracks formed in the walls.

Heart racing, Melanie scrambled to pick up the phone. “Bastien?”

“Melanie? What happened?”

“Something’s wrong! I think—”

Another boom. The room quaked, rocked her from side to side, and tossed her to the floor. She rolled over and got to her hands and knees.

What the hell could rock a building that extended five stories underground?

The room plunged into darkness. Dimmer reserve lighting flared to life. Alarms blared.

“Code red! Code red!” Mr. Reordon shouted over the building’s intercom system.

Oh crap. That was the call to evacuate via the underground tunnel. Were they under attack?

Melanie saw the phone she’d dropped a few feet away and scrambled over to pick it up.

Broken. Great.

Thunder rumbled almost constantly above, created by explosions, not weather.

Melanie clambered to her feet and staggered across the vibrating floor toward the door. A form appeared in front of her.

Screaming, she rebounded off Bastien’s chest as he and Richart teleported into her office.

Bastien caught her by the arms and steadied her. “It’s okay. It’s okay. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

He and Richart looked toward the ceiling, then met each other’s gaze.

“I’ll get Lisette.” Richart vanished.

“What is it? What’s happening?” Melanie shouted over the noise.

“The fucking mercenaries are attacking! They’re blowing the place to hell!”

“What? How did they—”

“Stuart,” Bastien said, his expression darkening.

Richart and Lisette appeared. Richart vanished again as Bastien ushered Melanie out into the hallway.

Guards urged the other network employees toward the far end of the hallway. Already at the dead end, Todd fiddled with something in his hand, yelled, “Fire in the hole!” and detonated a charge, blowing a huge, jagged opening in the wall and revealing a cement escape tunnel.

“Lanie!”

Melanie turned and saw one of the guards steering Linda past.

“I’m fine. Keep going!”

She nodded, face pinched with fear, and was soon swallowed by the mass of men and women flowing toward Todd.

Bastien curled an arm around Melanie’s shoulders and cut a path across the stream of moving bodies, leading Melanie to the door of Stuart’s apartment. “Open it,” he ordered grimly.

Hands shaking, she fumbled for her security card. Déjà vu. Swiping the card, she entered the code as Lisette stepped up behind them.

Bastien threw the heavy steel door open as though it were hollowed-out plywood.

Stuart stood across the living room. Eyes wide, he backed away as Bastien and Lisette stalked toward him. “I didn’t do it! I swear! I didn’t lead them here!”

“Then how the hell did they find us?” Bastien demanded.

“I don’t know! I don’t know!”

“Wait.” Lisette halted Bastien. “He’s telling the truth. He has no memory of interacting with the mercenaries.”

“He wouldn’t if he let them drug him afterward.”

Lisette’s eyes narrowed. Her eyes glowed brighter.

Stuart winced and gripped his head. “Ahh! What are you doing?”

“Your memories are still there. The drug has merely hidden them from you. I intend to find them.”

Melanie bit her lip as Stuart tugged his hair, his face creased with pain.

The building continued to shake with blasts. Pieces of the ceiling fell like snow.

Was it true? Had Stuart betrayed them? Had he made a deal with the soldiers, then let them drug him?

“How could he have told them where we are?” she asked. “He has no way of communicating with them. No phone. No walkie-talkie.”

“I don’t know,” Bastien said. Face set in stone, he watched the vamp writhe as Lisette riffled through his thoughts. “But he found a way.”

“You said you searched him before you brought him here.”

“I must have missed something. Anything yet?” he asked Lisette.

“No. There’s nothing between his running from the mercenaries and his waking up in the shed.”

“There must be something! Because they sure as hell didn’t follow us from my lair. We teleported!”

“There’s a chip,” Richart spoke behind Melanie.

She spun around. “What?”

Clothing torn, rumpled, and stained with blood, he nodded at the vamp, who abruptly stopped moaning. “I heard the mercenaries talking. There’s a chip implanted just beneath the skin.”

“Where? I didn’t see anything when I examined him.”

“Under his hair at the base of his skull.”

Eyes wide, Stuart reached up to touch the back of his head.

Bastien palmed a dagger and strode toward him.

Stuart shook his head frantically. “Bullshit!” His voice rose an octave as he scrambled backward, bumped into a wall, and skidded sideways. “That’s bullshit! I didn’t help them!”

“It’s true,” Richart said. “He didn’t get away when they tranqed him. He passed out. They implanted the chip, then stuck him in the garden shed so he would think he did get away. All they had to do then was wait for us to take the bait.”

Melanie jumped when Bastien suddenly shot forward in a blur and caught Stuart. He overpowered the boy’s struggles with ease. Lisette crossed to the duo and took the dagger from Bastien.

When she ran her fingers through the vamp’s dark hair, then angled the dagger to remove the chip, Melanie looked away from the kid’s fear-filled face.

Richart dialed his cell phone and swore. “Why is Seth so fucking hard to reach?”

“Because so many need him,” his sister replied drolly as the building shook again.

Stuart howled.

Richart shoved his phone back in his pocket. “I already teleported Étienne in. He’s trying to hold down the fort on the ground until there are enough of us to start a counterassault. They’ve got fucking shoulder-fired missiles up there. Grenades. Too many mercenaries to count. Lisette, help Chris evacuate the mortals.”

“Hell no!” She handed Bastien his bloody dagger and the chip she’d removed, then zipped over to her brother’s side. “I’m going with you.”

Richart nodded and gripped her arm.

Melanie threw out her hands. “Wait!”

They hesitated.

“In my office. In my desk. Bottom right drawer. Auto-injectors with the tranquilizer antidote Bastien tested. They have green caps. I upped the dose, so you should only need one each. Take one for Étienne, too.”

Richart nodded. The two vanished.

Bastien drew his phone out and strode toward Melanie.

Face pale, she stared up at him with wide brown eyes. Her heart raced. Her hands shook. But she didn’t bolt. Her courage both impressed and terrified him. He wanted her on her way out of the damned building with her colleagues.

Taking her hand, he headed for her office, checking out the hallway as he did. No infiltration down here thus far.

“Would you please get me one of the auto-injectors?” he asked.

She nodded and hurried over to her desk.

Richart and Lisette had already come and gone, leaving the drawer cracked open.

Bastien stayed in the doorway and dialed two numbers. Seth didn’t answer. David did.

“Yes?”

“The network is under attack.”

David swore foully. “By vampires or humans? Darnell!”

“Humans. The mercenaries are here in force with heavy-duty weaponry. Shoulder-fired missiles are pounding the hell out of the building. So are grenades. We need all hands.”

David relayed the information to his Second, who began to make calls in the background.

Bastien could hear automatic weapons firing on the first and second sublevels, so those two floors must have already been infiltrated by soldiers. Mortal network employees continued to walk, limp, or drag each other past the doorway. Lisette, Richart, and Étienne began to wreak havoc among the mercenaries’ ranks, eliciting satisfying screams.

Melanie handed Bastien an auto-injector, then returned to her desk.

“Help is on the way,” the elder immortal told him.

Bastien thought furiously. “David.”

“Yes?”

“We need Ami here.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Look, I know—”

“Forget it!” David ended the call.

Swearing, Bastien dialed another number. The scent of blood grew stronger as casualties from the upper floors entered the hallway and trekked past.

He glanced over at Melanie and did a double take when he saw her loading up with weapons. 9mms. Extra clips. Tranquilizer darts. Daggers. Shit! No way in hell was he letting her fight!

She met his gaze. “Bastien, you know how badly Emrys wants to get his hands on Ami. Why do you—”

“Hi, Bastien,” Ami answered in a cheerful voice. Darnell must not have contacted her.

“Hi, Ami. I need to talk to Marcus for a moment.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, voice sobering.

“Just let me talk to Marcus for a minute, please.”

“Okay. Marcus, honey, he wants to talk to you.”

Marcus answered, his voice as cold as his wife’s was warm.

“What?”

“I’m at the network with Richart, Lisette, and Étienne. Emrys’s soldiers are attacking.”

“How many?”

“All of them by the sounds of it.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Marcus! I was thinking . . . We have a chance to end this here and now, but I need you to listen to me. Okay? Will you listen to me?”

“All right. Go ahead.”

“You need to bring Ami here.”

Marcus hung up.

Growling, Bastien dialed Ami’s number again.

“Fuck you!” Marcus snarled into the phone.

“We can use her gift to get these bastards!” Bastien shouted. “To get Emrys! You want him dead, don’t you? You want to find him and make him pay for what he did to Ami? I sure as hell do!”

Steely silence.

“Look, I’ll find Richart and have him teleport both of you to Sublevel 5. The fighting hasn’t reached here yet. All Ami has to do is stand here and absorb all of the energy signatures she can so if any of these assholes get away she can trace them back to the source and we can napalm their asses, or better yet, turn them over to Seth and David.”

Ami had done the same once before. She said every living creature possessed a unique energy signature. Once Ami was in close proximity to that individual, she could locate that signature again, tracking it like a homing beacon. If even one soldier got away, he could lead them back to Emrys.

Marcus’s inner struggle was palpable, his tension carrying over the line.

“You can remain by her side every second,” Bastien promised. “If it looks like the mercenaries are going to get down this far, have Richart teleport her to safety. This is our best chance, Marcus. I don’t want those fuckers to get their hands on her again. Or on Sarah or Lisette. Or any immortal, for that matter.”

Melanie stared at him, face grim.

Bastien couldn’t read what she was thinking and wished she were close enough to touch. Did she think him as crazy as the others to risk Ami’s safety? Did she think him uncaring?

“I’ll ask Ami what she wants to—”

“I’m in,” Ami said before Marcus could finish. “He was kind of yelling, so I heard enough to figure out the plan.”

“Darling, it’s too dangerous.”

“I’m doing it. Bastien, send Richart.”

The call ended.

Bastien pocketed his phone. “Go ahead and say it. I’m a bastard.”

Melanie shook her head. “It’s brilliant. I’m just afraid for her.”

Relieved, he yanked her to him and hugged her close. Her fear stole into him. “Lisette!”

What? I’m busy taking out a Hummer.

Tell Richart to go pick up Marcus.

He’s fetching Roland and Sarah. I’ll tell him when he gets back.

Across the hall, Stuart stepped into the doorway of his apartment. The collar of his shirt bore a red stain from the wound Bastien had inflicted. Brow furrowed, he watched the humans hurry past as debris and dust fell from the ceiling. He shifted his weight, met Bastien’s gaze.

“Cliff,” Bastien said.

I’m here, Cliff answered through his door. How bad is it, because it sounds fucking cataclysmic.

“It’s bad.”

Chris Reordon exited the stairway at the end of the corridor, the arm of an injured guard looped over one shoulder.

Dr. Lipton’s okay? Cliff asked.

“For now.” His gaze returned to Stuart. “Cliff, you up for a fight?”

Hell, yes, man. Let me out and I’ll help you kick some serious ass.

Me, too, Joe said. I’m a little out of it from the drug, but I can hold my own against humans.

Bastien set Melanie away from him and urged her out into the hallway. “You have to go now.”

“No. I’m staying. I can fight.”

Above the employees’ heads, through the dust and shit falling from the ceiling, he caught Chris’s gaze as Chris half carried, half dragged the guard forward. “Don’t argue with me, Melanie. You’re human.”

“So are they!”

He didn’t have time for this. He wanted her safe and didn’t want to risk her being taken and tortured for information. “If you insist on staying, help Chris evacuate the wounded. But I need you to stay down here.”

She nodded.

“Promise me.”

“All right. I promise. Be careful.”

He gave her arms a squeeze, then zipped through the throng to Chris’s side. “Étienne and Lisette are up on the ground,” he shouted so the human could hear him over the explosions that grew louder and closer as parts of the structure gave way above them. “David will be here any minute. Richart is fetching Roland, Sarah, Marcus, and Ami.” Bastien took the injured guard from him, swept him over to Melanie, then returned in a blink.

Chris stared at him in disbelief. “Why the hell is he bringing Ami here?”

“We have a plan! I’ll fill you in later!” He motioned down the hallway. “Right now you need to let the vampires out to play!”

“Now I know you’re crazy!”

“They want to help! And we need all the help we can get! It’s going to take all of us immortals to handle the human firepower. We need the vamps to keep the damned building from collapsing until the rest of you can evacuate! Let them out! I’ll take full responsibility!”

“Which doesn’t mean shit! Because once Seth hears you put Ami in danger, he’s going to kill you!”

Probably. But . . . “What other choice do we have?”

“You’d better be right!” Chris headed for the vampires’ apartments. As he passed Stuart, Chris pointed at him and said, “You’re dead, motherfucker!”

Bastien shook his head. “He didn’t know they were tracking him!”

Stuart followed them to Cliff’s apartment. “You won’t kill me if I help, right? You aren’t going to let those guys capture me again, are you? I mean, I can help, right?”

“Yes,” Bastien answered while Chris swiped a card and entered the security code. “Help the humans get their wounded to the tunnel.”

Stuart did as ordered. Racing to the stairwell, he grabbed a wounded network employee two others were struggling to support, looped him carefully over one shoulder and raced over to the ragged tunnel entrance to pass him off to Todd.

Cliff’s door opened. Cliff stood there, brown eyes already glowing amber. “I can help up on the ground.”

Bastien shook his head. “I don’t want to risk your being tranqed.”

Chris moved on to unlock Joe’s door.

Joe stepped into the hallway, eyes glowing a vibrant blue.

“Help with the evacuation,” Bastien ordered and it felt almost like old times. These were his men. Members of his army. “Check the upper floors. See if anyone is trapped. Get everyone out you can.”

Nodding, the two took off down the hallway, their forms blurring with speed. The stairwell was packed. So they forced the doors of the disabled elevator open and leapt up the shaft.

“They’d better damned well keep their fangs out of my people!” Chris shouted.

“They will!” At least he hoped they would. Cliff would. But Bastien wasn’t so sure about Joe.

Stuart raced past with a whimpering woman in his arms. Bastien couldn’t tell if it were pain or fear of the vampire that instigated the sounds.

Across the hall, Melanie applied a pressure bandage to a guard’s arm to stanch the blood gushing from his wound.

Bastien drew his katanas. “I’m heading up!”

Melanie raised her head and met his gaze. It seemed a thousand words, all unspoken, passed between them in that moment.

She nodded.

Bastien raced for the elevator shaft. There were four bodies in the elevator. Bastien didn’t know if the drop had killed them or the explosion that had snapped the cables.

Half of the ceiling of the elevator was gone. Bastien leapt up through the hole. Far above him, he saw stars twinkling in a sky that was beginning to lighten as dawn approached. Emrys had timed his attack well.

Three ropes suddenly fell through the open doorway to Sublevel 2. Soldiers garbed in black camo followed, sliding smoothly down, intent on taking the rest of the building.

Bastien grabbed the ropes and yanked with all of his preternatural strength.

The grappling hooks held. The ropes didn’t, snapping where they bent over the edge of Sublevel 2’s floor. The men shouted as they free-fell toward Bastien.

Bastien dropped the ropes and met them with his swords, his blades ensuring they would die if the fall didn’t kill them.

As their bodies hit the elevator, he leapt up, catapulting from level to level until he reached the ground floor.

Most of the building above ground had been demolished. Only fragments of walls stood, pillars among piles of rubble.

Emrys’s troops surrounded the place. Military Humvees. Sisu XA-180 armored personnel carriers with mounted 12.7-mm machine guns. Soldiers with shoulder-fired missiles. Grenades. The usual automatic weapons.

Smoke and dust and debris hovered like fog and stung Bastien’s eyes. Lisette was on top of one of the Sisus, firing the mounted machine gun while she fed on the soldier who had previously manned it and used him as a shield.

Richart was doing his Grim Reaper thing, appearing and disappearing amid the soldiers, picking them off before they even knew he was there, throwing them into a panic. Étienne swept a circle around the crumpled building’s perimeter, a constant blur, fatally wounding every soldier he passed. The soldiers began to shoot each other as they tried to stay ahead of him and failed.

Bright light blinded Bastien. He shielded his eyes and glanced up in time to see a door gunner lean out of one of two Black Hawk helicopters that hovered overhead and drop a grenade.

With lightning speed, Bastien caught the grenade and lobbed it back.

Panicked shouting ensued.

Soldiers dove out just as the vehicle exploded.

Bastien smiled. This was going to be fun.