The Vampire SEAL Collection, page 136
Steven joined us as his phone rang. “I’ve got to take this in private. Tripp and Webb, if you find anything in the mountains, call in.” He ambled out of the room.
With the orders doled out, everyone scattered, including Tripp and me.
Within five minutes, Tripp and I were on the road. He drove while I navigated.
“If we find any access, we’re going in.” I wasn’t waiting. The longer we sat, the more of a chance Edmund had to flee.
Tripp turned down a dirt road. “If we do, we call the commander, then we go in.”
I scratched my neck. “Good. Because when we call the commander, he’ll tell us to wait for his orders.”
Tripp pulled off and parked the SUV in an opening between two large tree trunks. “Every time we do things by the book when it comes to Edmund, we walk away empty-handed or someone gets killed. That isn’t happening tonight. Tonight, we go rogue if we have to.”
I was his leader. I should be correcting him. But I didn’t see any other way to get Jo and Abbey out alive, kill Edmund, and destroy Patrick’s research.
We gathered our gear and weapons then headed out into the night.
19
Jo
Abbey was asleep in my arms as Edmund gave me a tour of the facility. An odd sense of weirdness settled in my stomach as my number one enemy pointed out different areas of his fortress as though he was leading a group of tourists through a museum. Nothing he showed me was fascinating. I’d seen walls made of rock, felt cold air, smelled dirt and must, and sadly, I’d seen glass rooms that had humans strapped to tables. As we traversed the part of the complex that was embedded in the mountain, that weirdness in my stomach morphed into nausea. Innocent humans were about to be or had been experimented on. Not only that, memories of when I’d found my brother, Sam, in a glass room on his deathbed shot the nausea in my stomach off the charts.
I ground my teeth, tempering my anger and willing the bile creeping up into my throat to go away as we stopped at a thick steel door.
“Why don’t I hold her?” Edmund asked. “It appears you need a break.”
I mentally scratched my head at his kind voice, his warm expression, and how proud he was of his operation. The latter didn’t surprise. After all, Edmund had boasted about how he would build an army. And I shouldn’t have been that shocked that he was being nice. He’d been kind to me at the lab on the Indian reservation. But at the moment, his warm-hearted demeanor was overly excessive. I was also shocked that he wasn’t nervous about my dad and his team lurking outside his complex. Maybe Abbey’s presence was triggering a side of Edmund no one had seen.
Edmund waved a hand in front of me. “Jo?”
“Why are you so nice?” I asked. “You know my father is going to try and get me out of this place.”
He took Abbey into his arms. She stirred for a second before snuggling her head into the crook of his neck.
He briefly closed his eyes as though Abbey was the drug he needed. “First, my daughter needs to see the real me. And as far as your father, there’s no way in. I know how he thinks, so I’m prepared. He can force my guards on the outside for information. He won’t get it. He can blow up doors. He still won’t get in.”
I guessed I shouldn’t have been too surprised at how prepared he was for my dad’s onslaught. But I was definitely thrown off track by his thick sweetness. “You’ve been an evil man since I met you. Abbey will see through that.”
He rubbed Abbey’s back. “We all have an evil side, Jo, even your father and Webb.”
“They act in self-defense or to protect innocent humans and vampires,” I countered.
Edmund positioned his eyes into a scanner adjacent to the steel door. “And how is that any different? Killing someone is all the same.”
With a whoosh, the door slid open. Stark white lights spilled out as a gust of sterile air washed over me.
“After you,” Edmund said.
I hesitated as I searched the inside of the room. In no way was I getting locked up. But the lab benches, beakers, a large oven, and my uncle Patrick standing over a microscope didn’t portray a prison cell. Then again, the setup did give me the willies, especially with Abbey present. Dad had suspected that Edmund would use his daughter as a lab rat, and I couldn’t let that happen.
“I’m not taking your DNA or Abbey’s,” Edmund said, as though he could read my thoughts. But I knew he couldn’t since I’d taken the mind-blocking potion. “I told you when we walked in earlier that I would show you around. And your uncle wanted to see you and meet my daughter.”
A hysterical laugh broke out in my head. The only reason my uncle wanted to see me would be to take a sample of my DNA or Abbey’s. “Then give me Abbey.”
Edmund cocked a dark eyebrow. “I give you my word.”
“And that’s supposed to mean something?” I asked.
My uncle Patrick wiped his hands on his lab coat as he crossed the cement floor. “Jo, it’s so good to see you.” He raked his sky-blue gaze over me. “How’s my brother?” His tone was disgustingly sweet.
I had to be in an alternate universe or dreaming. “My dad wants you dead.” I didn’t see a reason to lie.
A condescending laugh rumbled out of Patrick before he banked his attitude. “So this is Abbey?”
Edmund’s lips tipped upward as he clung to his daughter.
“Why did you kill her mother?” I asked Edmund.
He ushered me inside, and I went willingly, although I stayed close to the door.
Abbey stirred then blinked several times before she pushed away from Edmund. “I want Jo.”
Edmund didn’t protest as he handed her to me, seemingly not the least bit hurt from what I could tell.
Immediately, Abbey locked her arms around my neck as she set her sleepy blue eyes on my uncle Patrick. “You’ll die soon,” she said so seriously.
Bewildered expressions swept over Patrick and Edmund’s faces. I was sure I had one of those looks too. I knew Abbey had visions, but to hear her say those words with such conviction sent a chill down my spine—a chill coated with equal parts sadness and excitement. After all, Patrick was kin, but he was a bad seed in our family lineage—a jealous boy who had grown up to hate my father because my dad was a vampire and he wasn’t. Needless to say that in order to keep our existence as vampires out of the hands and knowledge of the human government, Patrick needed to disappear, die, or have his memories wiped. At the very least, we had to erase his memories and destroy all physical data.
Patrick shoved his hands into his lab coat. “How do you know this, Abbey?”
“I see into the future,” she said with the cutest smile.
I resisted the urge to kiss her cotton-candy-colored cheeks or jump up and down for joy at how she’d rendered them speechless. I didn’t want to do anything that would upset Edmund to the point that he would take Abbey away from me.
Slow and sharp, Edmund’s fangs elongated. “Not possible.”
Abbey buried her face in my neck.
“Put the fangs away. You’re scaring her.” I walked deeper into the lab, holding on to Abbey as though her life depended on it. I should’ve been walking out the door. But one, I didn’t have a way out or know where to go. And two, my throat was parched to the point that if I didn’t get blood, I would collapse. I opened the small refrigerator that sat on a counter along the right wall, hoping they kept a blood supply.
Small bottles of blood lined the top shelf. I grabbed one then turned back to face the gaping duo, who were staring at Abbey and me. Wow. If a vision of Patrick’s future was all it took to stop them dead in their tracks, then Abbey needed to tell them more about how neither of them would live to see tomorrow.
I examined the label on the bottle. All signs said the contents had come from a blood bank in Anchorage, so I didn’t have to worry about drinking poisoned or drug-laced blood.
“Edmund, she is your daughter. Why are you so surprised?”
He shook his head once, his eyes flickering from brown to vampire red. “Supernatural powers are passed down from someone in a vampire’s lineage. There is no one in my family who has been able to see into the future. The only one I’ve ever known to have that power is your grandfather, Jo.”
I set Abbey down on the top of the lab bench in the middle of the room. For a split second, I thought about Edmund’s statement. If that were true, then Edmund was related to me. Dad hadn’t said anything about another brother. Patrick was Dad’s half brother, and while it was possible that Edmund could have been related to the Mason family, I didn’t believe it for a second. Or maybe he was trying to say that Abbey was not his daughter but rather my dad’s child. Still, I had to ask. “So what are you saying?”
“Abbey could be your father’s daughter,” Edmund said.
“Nope. I know for a fact you’re her father. Dr. Vieira tested Abbey’s DNA against yours. Apparently, he had your data from when you were part of the SEAL team. Trust me. I wanted to know if you could be her father.” I remembered asking Dad that very question. “Not only that, look at her. She has your nose, hair, and lips. So someone in your long history of vampires had to have strong supernatural powers. I mean, why do your eyes change to red? With the exception of my dad and me, all vampire eyes are black.”
Patrick went over to the sink. “It’s part of his DNA. It was a question I had as well. And Edmund isn’t related to the Mason family. I also tested his DNA against mine and your father’s.”
“There you have it,” I added with a sigh. Regardless, if he had been related to us, it wouldn’t have changed our mission. He would still have to die.
Edmund waltzed up to Abbey, studying her features. “She does have my nose. And I don’t know my family lineage well.”
Once Edmund’s fangs were no longer in view, Abbey reached out and flattened her palm on his unshaven jaw.
I held my breath. Anytime Abbey touched a person’s face, she showed them a vision.
Patrick gulped down a glass of water. The sound echoed around the room as he and I watched Edmund’s expression flicker from confusion to happiness to shock. When Abbey dropped her hand, Edmund’s face paled to a blinding shade of white.
Edmund gripped the back of his neck. “Impossible.”
Lines dented Patrick’s forehead. “What did you see?”
Edmund plucked his phone from his jeans pocket. “Blow up the warehouse so no one gets in. Do it now!”
My pulse picked up in speed for many reasons, but one stuck out. “What did Abbey show you?” The blood I was drinking curdled in my stomach.
Patrick opened a drawer near the sink, produced a handgun, and proceeded to point it at Abbey.
Holy shit! I dropped the bottle, blood splattering everywhere as I grabbed Abbey.
Edmund threw himself in between Patrick and me. “Put the gun down, Patrick.”
I leaned out to see around Edmund’s big body.
Patrick pinched his eyebrows together so hard, his eyes were barely open. “The girl says I’m going to die. Like hell I am.”
I searched behind me for a weapon but found nothing. I could have used my elemental magic, but then I might risk hurting Abbey.
“She’s too young to know anything.” Edmund’s tone wasn’t convincing. Then he lifted his phone to his ear. “Get to the lab.”
“Edmund, what did Abbey show you?” I asked at his back.
He whirled around. “It appears that my daughter has quite the visions. She showed me how you’re going to kill me.” His expression was blank, but his tone made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Suddenly, I regretted bringing Abbey in with me. Now Edmund knew how I would kill him. The funny part was I didn’t even know how I would kill him.
Abbey trembled against me. The last time I’d seen her scared was when Webb and I found her in the electrical room beneath the scoring booth of the baseball field on base. She’d been hiding from a man in the woods who had red eyes, but it had turned out to be Ben and not Edmund.
“It’s okay,” I said in her ear. “He’s not going to hurt you.”
“I know, but he’s going to take you away from me,” she cried.
“Shh.” I had to figure something out. But first I needed to know how I was supposed to kill Edmund. “Abbey, can you tell me how I’m going to kill Edmund?”
Edmund plucked Abbey out of my arms and covered her mouth with his big hand. “She will not.”
Before I could do anything, Jonah’s big body graced the doorway. “Sir?”
I snarled. The vampire who my dad had believed and trusted to defect from enemy territory was back and working for his old boss. So many memories accosted me about Jonah. He had always been there to do Edmund’s dirty work.
“Take Jo to a cell,” Edmund ordered, holding Abbey tightly.
She scratched his face. When he released his hand from her mouth, she bit his nose. Edmund pulled her off him, and as soon as he did, Abbey jumped out of his arms and flew out the door, faster than the speed of light.
Once my brain rebooted from the comical scene, I ran too. “Abbey!”
I made it a foot outside the lab when Edmund shoved me against the wall. “Jonah, do as I ordered.”
Jonah’s large paw landed on my arm. “Not so fast.”
Edmund sprinted down the long, desolate hall.
Abbey’s little body faded from view the farther down the hall she ran. When she got to the end, she waved a hand, and a door opened.
Jonah dragged me back into the lab. “Patrick, hand me the gun.”
I laughed. “That gun won’t kill me.” I checked up and down the hall. Edmund and Abbey were nowhere in sight. I swept my hand from right to left, much like Abbey had done. But the lab door didn’t move. I tried again as Patrick tossed the gun to Jonah.
“I told you that won’t kill me,” I said. “You know that.”
He aimed the gun at me.
Again, I wanted to laugh out loud at how bizarrely things were unfolding. Granted, the bullets would slow me down, but Jonah knew better. I balled my fists at my sides, conjuring up anger, which always kick-started my telekinesis. I at least needed a distraction to get out of there. I had a five-year-old to find before Edmund did something stupid to his child.
A shot rang out, piercing my eardrums.
I froze, mentally scanning my body for a bullet. Not a lick of pain coursed through me. I blinked once, then Jonah fired off another shot. This time, the bullet whizzed by my ear. I whirled around to find Patrick falling to the floor.
My jaw hit my feet, bounced back, then slammed into the tips of my boots again. I swallowed hard and fast, gulping down as much saliva as I could. “I don’t understand.”
I listened for Patrick’s heartbeat, and as Jonah crossed the lab, Patrick’s heart stopped.
“I told your father I was on his side, and I never go back on my word.” Jonah bent over Patrick’s dead body. Blood was quickly soaking my uncle’s white lab coat. Jonah dipped into the inside of Patrick’s lab coat and produced a key.
I shook the cobwebs loose. “What is that for? And please explain what the hell is going on.” I wanted to trust Jonah, but what if he had orders from Edmund to kill Patrick? Maybe I’d missed that signal when Edmund summoned Jonah.
“This key is to an office complex where Patrick keeps all his research data. The walls are about to shake like an extremely bad earthquake. So we need to bolt.”
“I’m not going with you.” I ran out of the lab then stopped. I needed him if I were going to get through doors.
He came up beside me. “You realized you need me? I know that you’re skeptical, but I promise I’m here to shut Edmund down. Don’t you think killing Patrick is proof enough?”
He had a point. “Give me the key.” I held out my hand.
He considered me for a long moment, his nostrils opening wide. “If you want to save Abbey, then we should get going.”
“I said to give me the key.”
He loomed over me, showing long canines. “The only person that gets this key is your father.”
I bared my own fangs, deciding my next move. His tone seemed genuine, which didn’t match his predatory look. Regardless, I needed him. “Fine. But if my dad doesn’t get that key, then you’re a dead man.”
He retracted his fangs then ran down the hall. As I put one foot in front of the other, the walls shook and the lights flickered.
“Come on, Jo,” Jonah yelled.
I rushed down the hall as another boom rocked the mountain. Dust from the ceiling rained down. When I reached Jonah, he had his eyes positioned over the security scanner adjacent to the steel door.
With a whoosh, the door slid open. Then we were traveling down another long, deserted hall. The air became colder the farther we ran.
“Where does this lead to?” I asked.
“To an emergency exit.”
I stopped short. “I can’t leave without Abbey.”
Jonah kept going. “The door Abbey went through only leads one way and that’s to Edmund’s emergency exit.”
Great. If they got out of the building, then we would lose them for sure. In vampire speed, I caught up to Jonah. We turned down another hall then another until we couldn’t go any farther.
“I’ll warn you,” Jonah said. “Beyond this steel door is a room full of engineered vampires. Monsters if you ask me.”
I didn’t care about makeshift vampires, but Abbey was human, and in a room full of humans turning vampire, that wouldn’t be good with their blood thirst.
Before he could open the door, another explosion rocked the halls, then the lights went out.
The blood drained from my face. “Um… Jonah? Please tell me you can get through that steel door.”
Within seconds, my vampire vision kicked in. Jonah now appeared grayish in my line of sight.
He was tapping numbers on the keypad. “We’re screwed.”
“No way. We have to beat down that door.”
He sucked in air. “All our vampire strength won’t break down that door.”
Which was why Edmund had said my father wouldn’t be able to get in.
