Nika gave me a blank stare, then a small sob escaped her. I wrapped my arms around her, remembering how it felt to be disconnected from our family. It was hard, and we weren’t bonded like Nika and Hunter were bonded. Theirs was a deep, penetrating sire-bond. I could only imagine how lonely Nika felt right now.
“Is it bad?” I whispered in her ear. Over her shoulder, I watched Hunter walk out of his room. He was wearing a fresh, clean shirt, but he seemed just as glum as my sister. Determined, yes, but depressed too.
“I feel like a part of me is missing, Julie.” She held me tight, savoring the fact that we were still connected.
I rubbed small circles into her back, hoping what she was feeling right now wouldn’t last for the entire duration of their bond being severed. While I comforted Nika, Halina approached Hunter and comforted him. The three of them looked so desolate, it was as if someone had died in that room. Hunter gave Halina a quick hug, then pushed her back. “We don’t have time for this. We need to leave now if we’re going to save Simon.”
Jake immediately perked up at the mention of heading out. “Yes, please. We need to go now. Every second we waste could be the one second we needed.” His eyes were begging everyone in the room to hurry.
I pushed apart from Nika. “Let’s go,” I told my dad and Hunter. They both nodded. Hunter gave Nika a quick kiss on the head, then turned and started walking down the hall. Dad, Ben, and Jake followed him. I took one step after him, then turned back to Arianna. Knowing it might be the last chance I had, I reached out and pulled her into me.
I pressed my lips against hers with an almost frantic need to make her remember this moment. I knew it could be cleansed from her the same as every other moment we’d shared together, but I still tried to force it into some unreachable part of her brain.
When I pulled away from her, she was just as breathless as I was. I saw a spark of something in her eyes, something reminiscent of the way she used to look at me—like I was the most important thing in her world. I memorized the look, tucking it away in my head where I knew it would be safe.
I turned away and she grabbed my arm. “Julian!” When I turned back around, she grabbed my cheek and brought her lips to mine. The warmth and passion in her kiss almost dropped me to my knees. She cares. I was putty in her hands when she pulled back. “Come back to me,” she murmured.
All I could do was stupidly nod.
I said a quick goodbye to my mom, and everyone else who was staying, and then I started walking away. My body might be leaving the ranch, but my heart was firmly fixed in this room. Dad, Ben, Hunter, and Jake were already out of sight. Halina, Gabriel, Rory, and Cleo were just leaving. I followed Cleo with a numb feeling in my chest. Why was leaving so hard? I resisted looking back. If I looked back at Arianna’s big hazel eyes, I’d probably stay. And I couldn’t. I had a wrong to right.
I heard feet running but I knew it was my sister, not Arianna. When she caught up to me, I glanced her way. “Dad said you have to stay here,” I told her.
She smirked at me. “Dad said the same thing to you, but you don’t seem to be paying attention to him.” She nodded ahead of her. “I’m just seeing you to the exit. I need to watch…” She swallowed, and her eyes remoistened. “I need to watch Hunter leave the house.”
We were silent for a moment, and I put my arm around her again.
Everyone in the rescue party was gathered in the living room by the time we got there. Dad turned to Roy and Cleo when they appeared. “One of you needs to stay here, protect the others.”
Rory and Cleo exchanged a look. Cleo raised her eyebrow and Rory sighed. “Fine.” He looked back at Dad. “I’ll stay.”
Dad nodded and looked at everyone else. “We’ll take two cars. Hunter, Great-Gran, Gabriel, and Cleo will go in one car. Julian, Ben, Jake, and I will go in the other.” Dad’s eyes moved to Nika’s. “And you’re staying here, remember?”
Nika pursed her lips as she raised her chin. “I know. I just wanted one last goodbye.”
Jake groaned while Hunter smiled. He shared one last tender kiss with Nika, then Jake grabbed his arm. “Come on. We’ve wasted enough time already.”
Hunter snapped his head around to Jake and I halfway expected him to drop his fangs and growl. Surprisingly, he didn’t. He simply shrugged him off. “We’re leaving.”
Everyone started heading for the garage. Not wanting to be left behind, I gave Nika a swift hug, whispered, “Keep an eye on Arianna for me,” and hurried after them.
The drive to Blackfoot took a couple of hours, and Jake was antsy the entire time. He kept bouncing his knees, tapping his fingers, and looking around the barren landscape like the view was actually interesting. Dad’s car was leading, with Gabriel driving his sedan a few paces behind us. I was getting really nervous about the upcoming mission, but I kept it to myself. Or tried to anyway.
The miles between Utah and Idaho were eventually eaten up. When it seemed like we’d been on the road forever, Jake leaned forward and told Dad, “We’re getting close. Take the next exit off the freeway, then turn left onto the highway. Once you cross the river, take a right on 350th.”
Dad did as Jake told him. It was dark outside, but the city lights made it pretty easy to see everything. I looked down at the water as we passed over the bridge; the Snake River was a roiling swath of black tumbling away into the night. Following Jake’s directions, we traveled north along a road that paralleled the river. When we got close enough to our destination, Jake told Dad, “Okay…pull over here. The road ahead is blocked off, and I don’t have the code. It will be stealthier if we walk from here. Maybe we can get in and out without alarming everybody in the place.”
Dad looked at Jake in the rearview mirror as he pulled over onto a gravel road beside a circular field. “He’s your family. Can’t you just knock on his door and ask for Simon back?”
While Gabriel pulled his car over behind him, Jake told Dad, “Let’s just say, things didn’t end well between us. He wouldn’t intentionally hurt Simon, not directly anyway, but me…he’d probably shoot me on sight.” I kept my face even, but I couldn’t help but think there were a couple of people in my family who felt the same way about Jake.
When I got out of the car, the soft gurgle of the river sharpened in my ears, and the smell of the countryside filtered through my nose. Preferring the scent of nature to the stale odor of the car, I inhaled deeply.
I turned to watch Cleo, Hunter, and Halina emerge from Gabriel’s car. Hunter still looked dour. I wondered if he’d be morose the entire trip. He glanced up at the moon, then turned to Dad. “We’ve got a few hours before we’ll need to head back. Let’s make them count.”
Dad nodded, then looked to Jake. “Where to?”
Jake nodded to the north of us. “There’s a junkyard up the road. Henry has a place there. That’s where we’ll find Simon.”
I frowned. “Junkyard? Does he have dogs?”
Jake gave me a wry smile. “Is the vampire afraid of dogs?”
Afraid? No. I didn’t mind dogs so long as they were friendly pets. Guard dogs however…that was a different story. Feigning confidence, I crossed my arms over my chest and lifted my chin. “Of course not. I just…want to be prepared is all.”
Jake’s smile didn’t lessen any. “Yeah, he has dogs, among other things. Just watch your step, kid.”
I rolled my eyes at him. Like I wasn’t going to be extra careful in the middle of the night, sneaking into a scary-ass junkyard that a possibly crazy vampire hunter called home. A trace amount of fear slipped into me at that realization. I felt the world compress in on me, making breathing painful and difficult. But then Arianna’s love-filled eyes clouded my vision, and the momentary panic attack vanished.
Dad gave me a strange look, but I waved away his concern. I was fine. Dad accepted my silent gesture of assurance and patted Ben’s arm. “Stay close to him.”
Ben nodded but gave Dad a sly smile. “But then who will watch over you?”
Dad gave Ben much the same look I’d just given Jake. Hunter indicated the road we’d just pulled off of. “After you,” he told Jake.
Jake started trudging up the dark road, Cleo barely a step behind him. Gabriel and Halina spread out to watch our sides. Hunter kept pace with Cleo while Dad and Ben each flanked me. I felt useless and out of place. Maybe I should have stayed home after all; both Dad and Ben were going to be distracted trying to keep me safe. It was too late to turn back now though. And…I needed to do this.
Every crunch of rocks under my shoe heightened my senses. I could hear the heartbeats around me, could smell the different laundry detergents everyone used. Small animals skittered in the fields. Things were blooming. Things were decaying. And somewhere up ahead, the pungent smell of rust was on the breeze.
Moments later, we came to a miles long fence that looked to be circling heaps of garbage. Well, I supposed it wasn’t technically garbage, but that was how it looked to me. Twisted metal, broken machinery, forgotten appliances. None of it seemed of value, but there must have been some point in keeping it all. The heaps of trash would provide decent cover though.
There was a metal gate in the fence barring the road we were walking down. It was sealed with an electronic lock that could be opened with a code, and twin cameras with bright red power lights were perched on either side of the gate, recording every visitor. There was also an intercom box beside the gate, so people who didn’t have the code—like us—could ask for admittance. I was pretty sure our group wasn’t going to do that though. We were trying to be sneaky.
Avoiding the cameras, we walked to the side of the road so we could scale the fence undetected; well, those of us who couldn’t leap over it in a single bound, that was. Hunter, Halina, Gabriel, and Dad silently and effortlessly hopped over it like it was no more an obstacle than a baby gate. Jake watched them sailing through the air with a smirk on his lips. “Show offs,” he muttered, as he grabbed the chain link fence and started climbing. Cleo and Ben followed suit.
Knowing I probably wouldn’t successfully make a jump that high like the other vampires—I’d probably tangle myself in the fence if I tried—I started climbing up the links with the humans. It bucked, bent and made a lot of noise as I clambered up the side, and I was certain that a swarm of hunters would be waiting for us when I hopped off it on the other side. But thankfully the night was still quiet when I landed on solid ground again.
When we returned to the gravel road trailing through the junk piles, the road spilt. Dad, Ben, Halina, and I took one path. Hunter, Cleo, Gabriel, and Jake took the other. I had every confidence in Dad, Ben, and Halina, but it made me nervous to be in smaller groups.
Our group took the left side of the drive, while the other took the right. My eyes darted everywhere, looking for trouble. It was quiet among the piles of junk though. After a while, I could begin to see a pattern in the seeming randomness of the heaps of metal. A group of pipes, a stack of car doors, a pile of tires. It made me feel a little better that there was order here, and not just pure chaos.
When we got to the center of the junkyard, we spotted a building in the mess. It was long and wide, with a dark open sign in the front window. No lights were on, and it looked completely deserted. This must be where the junkyard conducted business during daylight hours. I found it interesting that Jake’s grandfather had a fulltime job outside of experimenting with mythical creatures. It made him seem a little less frightening. Very little.
Beside the building, I could see a kennel running along the length of the office. It was empty, and the kennel door was wide open. “Great,” I whispered, “The dogs are out.” Halina smiled, like that was great news.
Dad pointed at the parking area in front of the building, where a small sedan was sitting. Jake was running over to it, exposing himself in the process. He must believe it was the car Simon had stolen to get here, if he was willing to break cover to check it out. Dad started to make a move toward Jake, but Halina grabbed his elbow and pointed to the building. There were cameras along the eaves. If Dad stepped out there with Jake, he’d be recorded and our cover would be blown too. With our backs to the piles of junk around us, we watched Jake open the car door and look inside for clues. He immediately popped back out. Turning in a circle, he shouted Simon’s name.
“Idiot,” Halina groaned. “He’ll bring the entire junkyard down on top of us.” Just as she finished saying it, two Dobermans ran around the corner from the backside of the house. They were on Jake in an instant; he only had time to raise his arms in defense. I heard shouting in the distance and knew Halina was right—they knew we were here.
Dad ordered me to stay put, then dashed out into the lot to help Jake. Halina and Ben were right behind him. I felt completely useless as I stood there with my heart racing. On the other side of the junkyard, I saw Hunter speeding off toward the voices coming from the back of the building. Gabriel and Cleo ran off with him. While I watched, Dad and Ben tackled one dog while Halina grabbed the other. Two more joined the fray, and the parking lot was soon a mess of snarling, growling, and biting…and not all of that was from the dogs. Jake was sitting on the ground, dazed. He started scooting away from the dogs and vampires, and I whispered his name so he’d come to me where it was relatively safe.
Jake turned to look my way, then shouted my name in warning. I twisted just in time to see a pair of burly guys raising a gun at me. Jesus, I did not want to get shot again. My heart in my throat, I bulldozed into the first guard. I managed to knock him down, but I lost my balance and tumbled to the ground with him. The guard didn’t get up, and laid there unconscious. One down, one to go.
I sprang to my hands and knees, but the second guard was faster. He hit me in the head with the butt of his rifle, and stars exploded in my vision, while blackness ringed my sight. My entire head hurt, all the way down my spine. Unable to fight, I slumped to the ground again. I was sure I was a goner, sure the guard hovering over me was going to finish me off. I’d never see my family again. I’d never see Arianna again. Just as her name passed my lips, the sound of someone being punched entered my ears.
When I could lift my head, I saw Jake duking it out with the guard. He clocked him in the jaw, then grabbed his head and rammed it into his knee. The guard fell to the ground, just as listless as the first one. Jake looked down at me; he had scratches on his face from the dog’s teeth, and his clothes were bloody. “You okay, kid?”
Standing, I nodded. Just the act of moving my head made it throb. What I wouldn’t give for super-healing powers. Looking past Jake, I saw that Dad, Ben, and Halina had subdued the dogs. Dad was carrying two of them in his arms—both looked knocked out. He placed them in the kennel, and then came back for the other two. He had to pry one away from Halina, who was taking a quick drink from the beast. Jake scowled, but didn’t say anything. They had saved his skin after all.
We disarmed the guards at our feet, then walked over to the others who were locking up the rest of the dogs. From behind the building, the sounds of people scuffling were clear. Hunter and the others were still fighting. Halina looked between the noise and us. “Go,” Dad told her. “We’ll grab Simon, and meet you at the gate.”
Halina nodded, then blurred away to help the others. Dad pointed up to the cameras along the building. “We destroy the feed before we leave. And any research we come across. Whatever is going on here, needs to stop.”
Ben nodded and began walking up the steps to the building. I moved to follow him, and Dad pushed me behind him. “Stay behind us,” he whispered, motioning for Jake to follow Ben. Frowning, I fell in line behind him. I supposed it was smart to be the last one in, but the building was completely dark. It looked empty. Remembering the guard who’d given me a massive headache, I reconsidered. This place wasn’t completely abandoned.
Jake gave Ben one of the guard’s guns, and the two of them flanked the front door like a professional S.W.A.T. team. Ben tried the knob, but it was locked. He looked over at Dad, pointed
two fingers at him, then the door. Dad nodded, grabbed the knob, and yanked it out of the door. The chunk of wood around the knob broke off in his hand. Ben and Jake swarmed inside, weapons raised. Dad and I followed close behind.
The room smelled musty, but there was something in the air that made my heart thump even harder. I glanced at Dad and by his expression, I knew he smelled it too. Blood. Human blood. Dad gave Ben a sigh-language message that Ben apparently understood. He darted off in the direction of the blood scent, with Dad close on his tail. Jake was circling the empty room, looking for clues. He stopped and stared at a photo of a man with long, shaggy gray hair and beard wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Henry, I assumed. I let out a soft whistle to get Jake’s attention, and indicated for him to follow us.
With Jake watching our backs, the four of us ventured deeper into the building. It was larger than I’d expected it to be, and any second I just knew someone was going to whip around the corner and cream us all. But every corner was clear, every room was empty. No sounds, no heartbeats—except for my own, Ben’s, and Jake’s. Whoever had been here wasn’t here anymore. For some reason, that made me very uneasy.
When we reached the room where the blood was strongest, Ben kicked in the door and stormed inside. Emergency lights softly lit a room that reminded me of Gabriel’s lab. Albeit, a poor man’s version of his lab. A padded hospital table was in one corner, with a strange machine next to it. The contraption was a confusing mess of tubes and IV bags full of blood. It reminded me of some medieval torture device and looked just as old, but it had to be the machine he was using for the transfusions. The rest of the room was filled with vials, beakers, Bunsen burners, computers, carts of medical equipment, supplies, bandages, cleaners, medicines, and refrigerators that hummed in the silence.