Chapter 2

 

The next morning I stumbled out to find Jayden sitting at the coffee table nursing a bottle of blood and giving me the evil eye.

“What?” I grumbled. I needed a bottle of half blood, half espresso right now. After returning from my date I had tossed and turned, thinking about all the drama in my life, worried and scared. I hated that feeling of being out of control, like I was sitting on a bomb and I had no idea how long until it exploded.

Jayden pointed a finger at me. “You didn’t wake me to tell me about your date so I figured Ryder slept over and now I see your ass stumble out of your room alone. Tell me you at least made out with him?”

I smiled. Oh Jayden. Always making sure my sex life was legit. Where to start? “Well, there was a steamy kiss at my door.”

He leaned forward, eyebrows raised, and I swear he even turned his ear in my direction like he didn’t want to miss a word.

“But that was after we got attacked on our date by a religious group that thinks vampires are the devil incarnate.”

The cheeky expression fell from his face. “Oh. I see. Kind of a mood killer.”

I nodded. “Yep and that’s not all.”

If Ryder was telling the sexy six, I sure as hell was telling my bestie. I knew what Sam had said about never repeating my secret in the Hive was sound advice, but I wasn’t planning on being inside these walls when I did.

Grabbing his hand, I tilted my head to indicate we needed to walk outside the apartment. Jayden looked confused for a second, but didn’t hesitate to follow my lead as I slipped on my tennis shoes and grabbed a bottle of O-negative. There was no conversation as I led Jayden to the roof jogging track. It was empty this time of day. Bright with the light of the sun, no vampires would be up here. I also found great perspective staring out over the entire city.

Taking Jayden’s hand, I led him as far from the entrance as possible, to the edge, staring down the sixty stories. My bestie was quiet, which was about as far removed from his personality as was possible. He no doubt had sensed the secrecy in my actions. Standing up on my tiptoes, I whispered into his ear.

“That guy that bit me at the club turned into a human. My blood is so tempting because it’s the cure and we might need to leave the Hive at any moment because people are after me.”

I popped back down on my flat feet and waited for his response. As our eyes locked, I could see his were wide and full of emotions. A lot of which looked like concern. He slipped his hand in mine and squeezed.

“Oliver knows?” he murmured.

I nodded. “As of last night.”

His face became serious. “Don’t you leave me here, bitch. No protecting me for my own good.” I sucked in deeply, so relieved to know that even with this new information on my magic blood, nothing had changed between Jayden and I.

I grinned, punching him lightly on the arm. “Wouldn’t dream of it, bitch.”

Needing to relieve my inner tension, I took off running, Jayden at my heels. He could have easily overtaken me—he was descended from the second house, and they had an affinity for speed—but instead kept pace with me. Running was my drug now. As my feet pounded the track, the wind in my hair, I felt like I was running from all of my problems and it gave me a temporary reprieve from the insanity that had become my life.

 

After showering, I dragged myself down to my boring-ass job of answering phones in the enforcer call room. Stepping through the door, I stumbled a little to see Ryder sitting in my chair, his feet up at my desk. I often had an enforcer in here with me, but never the big bad leader of the crew.

I nudged his legs out of my way. “Excuse me, big day ahead. Important job of phone answering.”

His heavy boots hit the floor. “Nope, sorry. You’re fired.”

I ground to a halt halfway into my chair. “What?”

Could he fire me? Was the Quorum involved? Maybe after last night they wanted me somewhere else. OMG please don’t let it be washing dishes or some shit.

Ryder produced a sleek black gun from behind his back and a walkie-talkie. My eyebrows shot up as he handed them to me.

“Let’s be honest, you’re not a people person, and how am I going to keep an eye on you unless I make you an enforcer trainee?”

OMFG. “What? I’m an enforcer?” I jumped up and down like a teenager as Ryder’s lips quirked into a smile.

“No. You’re a trainee, a rookie who will watch and learn and never leave the car. Got it?”

I took the gun, sliding it into my belt, and clipped on the walkie-talkie. Fuck yeah. “Got it.”

He nodded and walked away, motioning that I was to follow. I looked behind me and glanced one last time at my boring-ass desk and phone. Peace out, stupid job. Peace out.

Following Ryder into the enforcer locker room, I met the gaze of the sexy six and tried not to smirk in pride.

Kyle looked me up and down, his eyes resting on my walkie-talkie. “Well, well, what do we have here?”

Markus advanced towards me, inhaling deeply. “Smells like a rookie.”

I rolled my eyes. First unicorn, now rookie. Oh hells no. Pick a nickname and stick with it.

“Rookie with a gun, boys,” I joked, turning a full circle to show it tucked in my waist belt.

Oliver gave a half smile. “Perks of dating the boss. I didn’t get a gun for months.”

Slivers of heat filled my cheeks. I knew my face was probably a little red. Were we officially dating? I mean … we had been on a date. Still, there were no labels or titles attached to us yet. Ryder was all dark and mysterious; he probably beat labels up for fun in his spare time.

Ignoring the Latino enforcer, Ryder called the boys in closer. “Listen up, Lucas has approved Charlie to be an enforcer trainee. This gives her a weapon, an access badge, and clearance to leave the Hive grounds on official business.”

The room was heavy, our silence saying everything as we all shared a look. This was a part of a greater plan, this was Ryder preparing for the possibility that we may one day leave the Hive. I swallowed hard, losing the thrill I’d initially felt at my new job.

The boys nodded curtly, which had me squaring my shoulders. I could do this, I was going to be trained and have a gun. Screw the Hive. Game on, bitches.

Ryder turned to me, handing me a keycard with my name on it. “Guard this with your life. Don’t go sneaking around, and stay out of the medical ward. Every door you open with that gets logged into a database that the Quorum looks over daily. Be good.”

I saluted him. “Yes, boss.”

My curt reply was followed up with a sexy smoldering grin, all eyelashes and bedroom eyes. How far could I push him now that he was my boss and possible dating partner?

A few of the boys snickered.

Ryder quickly concealed his earlier charm into a mask of calm, not giving into my pushing of his buttons. “Your locker is number eleven. Uniform is inside.”

I rolled my eyes. He was no fun. All work. I strode across the aisle and found number eleven quickly. There’d better be some cool black army fatigues inside, ones with small pockets so I could hide knives and shit. Pulling the lever, I opened the locker. A whoosh of air hit me first, and then in the next instant I was doused in a warm brown liquid. My breath caught as a startled scream ripped from my throat.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

I blinked a few times in shock as the liquid ran down my face and dripped into my open mouth. The moment it hit my tongue I recognized the smooth, sugary flavor. Chocolate.

Those mutha … effing … asshole … freaking…

At the roar of laughter behind me, I swung around with my biggest baddest death glare. “Welcome to training, rookie,” Jared choked out between laughs.

Even Sam was trying to contain his usual toughass façade.

I didn’t utter a word, continuing to glare. They were just lucky I hadn’t been wearing my favorite shoes. I would have actually shot them with my new gun if my ass-kicking boots had been ruined. Something in my expression must have finally sunk into the stupid six across from me.

Their laughter stopped.

Oliver gave Ryder a worried look. “Her gun isn’t loaded, right?”

Ryder’s smile was quickly lost. “Charlie, it’s a joke. We’ve all been through it.”

Usually his slightly pleading expression would soften me right up, but today I was covered from head to toe in a bucket of warm melty chocolate. Did I mention how hard this was going to be to get out of my hair? Not to mention how torn I was to not start licking this liquid orgasm off of my arm. I was a chocolate whore for sure, but I wouldn’t tell them that.

I smiled sweetly. “Oh, totally, just a joke, right. Ha, ha.” The words had barely left my mouth before I began stalking towards Ryder. All of the guys backed up, but unfortunately for them they’d caged themselves into the side of the locker room where there was no easy escape.

Ryder put his arms out. “Charlie…”

I was already across the room, but decided to tap into the heat at my center, which was the home for my levitation power. I hadn’t used it since the culling, but thankfully everything seemed to still work the same. I leapt across the room and landed right on Ryder. He caught me and together we fell backwards.

Rubbing my chocolate hands on his face, I laughed.

Ryder gave me an amused glare. “Now we both have to shower.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Is that an invitation?”

The silver of his eyes started swirling as I heard his low groan. Hah. Guys were easy. I was going to say that was round one to Charlie.

 

After showering—alone—and cleaning up, I went down to my scheduled feeding time, hoping to see Tessa. I had sent my human best friend a hundred emails begging her to come talk to me, but she was mad at me for crushing her dreams of wanting to be a vampire. She thought this was the answer to us being able to stay friends for the rest of eternity. I thought it was a direct path to her losing her soul. Vampires were cold-blooded assholes. Lucas was the only one I even liked. He was different for some reason.

Jayden was working at the front desk and I took a few minutes to excitedly tell him that I was now a rookie enforcer. My bestie was suitably thrilled for me, before handing me my bottle of O-negative. I glanced nervously down the hallway, where the rooms were. Jayden gave me the slightest shake of his head, telling me that Tessa wasn’t here yet. I knew my face had fallen, and with a sad sigh I dragged myself to the private room.

I don’t know why I bothered to keep waiting. I had all but decided that Tessa wasn’t ever going to show up here again. Downing my blood, I bopped my leg as I waited. Then the door handle moved. I held my breath, only letting it out as my bestie walked in, platinum blond hair perfectly curled, make-up expertly painted, designer clothes exquisitely chosen.

“Tessa,” I nearly choked. So much had happened since we last talked. I stood quickly, but as I tried to cross the room to hug her, she flipped up her hand in the universal sign for “halt the hell up.” Her lips had that tight firm line they always got before I was about to get bitched out.

“Charlie, I need you to understand something because clearly this place has warped your brain.” Her voice was all business. Ouch.

I just nodded.

She started pacing. “Thanksgiving is coming up, and then Christmas.” My heart dropped when I saw where this was going. Tessa’s family was rich. Her father died when she was little but her mother had inherited all the money—her mom who had no idea how to love Tessa properly, thinking buying her things would do it. Every holiday season her mother would jet off to Paris or some other exotic location with her current boyfriend and Tessa would spend those holidays with my mom and me.

“Are you going to be able to get an entire day off and come home and help cook with your mom and me?”

My hands flew to my hips, in what I hoped was a defiant pose. “Yes, I will.” I had an all access pass now.

Tessa nodded, a bitter smile across her lips. “What about in twenty years? Fifty? Your mom will be dead and so will I. But you will remain young and strong and you’ll stop coming to see us. You and I won’t talk about boyfriends anymore. You have Jayden now.”

She crossed her arms as tears welled in her eyes. Shit. Fuck. Fucking shit.

“No, Tessa!” I held her as the cries racked her body. Whoa … I had not spent much time around humans since I turned. She felt so warm and fragile in my hands. Everything came crushing down on me then—my old life. It was lost to me now.

Pushing her back, I made her face me, waiting until she stared directly into my eyes. “Getting old is a good thing. Being human is a good thing. You don’t want to be in this shithole and be dependent on blood and deal with the politics and power struggles. You can’t have children if you become infected and turn into a vampire. You can’t have a lot of things.” I pulled one of her bouncy curls and watched it spring back perfectly, just like I had a hundred times before.

Tessa’s chuckle was low and strangled. “I can have you, my best friend. You don’t get it! You clearly don’t miss me like I miss you. Your life with Ryder and Jayden is fine and you’re fine without me.” She pulled back from me, turning away.

“That’s not true. It kills me not to live with you anymore, to make sure you’re up for class and you don’t drink four-day old molding coffee or get roofied at a party.”

A burst of laughter rang from her then and I smiled. The tension which had been plaguing my insides, pretty much since we’d had our last fight, started to ease.

“Withdraw the request to be changed, please,” I begged.

Whatever mirth had been on her face faded away as her expression became a hundred percent serious. “It’s not just for you, Charlie. I love Blake, and I have nothing holding me to the human world. I never wanted kids, you know that. I’m not withdrawing it.”

Anger and fear lit up inside of me, and words fell from my lips before I could think them through. “Tessa! Don’t be stupid. You don’t understand this life at all!”

Tessa flinched back like I had slapped her. “Stupid?” she screamed. “Thanks for listening to my problems. Some best friend you are!”

She stormed out.

Dammit! I collapsed to the ground and dropped my head into my shaking hands. Way to go, Charlie. Piss off one of the few people in this world who love you. It had been going pretty well up to that point too. I just lost my mind whenever she mentioned becoming a vampire.

Since my time was up in this room, I couldn’t wallow in my pain any longer. I stormed out and gave Jayden a little wave before leaving the feeding room. I just wanted to be alone. Maybe go outside, maybe run away on my own and leave everyone behind. Seriously, how the hell had my life gotten so intense and complicated? Opening the large double doors that led to the hallway I was taken aback. Sam was just standing there like a creepy sentinel, face completely void of emotion. We silently observed each other for a brief pause, before some of his statue-like pose eased.

“Outside,” he said, jerking his head and beginning to walk.

Well, hello, once in a lifetime moment. Had tall, dark and silent actually sought me out and spoken directly to me? Like actual speaking? Okay, it was only one word, but for him that was practically a novel.

My eyebrows creased as I followed him into an open elevator. There was a vampire in there, so we both stood quietly as we made our way down to the ground level. The vampire inhaled deeply and I turned to see his eyes pulsing. For shit’s sake, not this again. Sam turned hard eyes on the bloodsucker, all of us in a weird stare-off. The male vampire swallowed hard, and when the doors opened at level five he all but ran out. Then Sam and I were alone.

I had no idea what Sam was going to say to me. Was he fetching me for Ryder, or was this to do with that look he wore the other night in the forest? Surely he didn’t want to talk about the weather or how insane the last episode of Supernatural was. If I knew anything, it was that this enforcer did not do the small talk thing. He hardly did the big talk.

When the doors opened at ground level, Sam strode out flashing the front desk ash his badge. Fumbling in my pocket I found my own special magic card and quickly did the same thing. No more signing in and out? Hells yeah!

Once we were outside, the sunlight and fresh air knocked into me with a welcome burst of energy. I should have mentioned this to Tessa—no more sunlight if she was changed. That girl was a big fan of Hawaii and the Caribbean, a beach baby through and through. After college we had planned on spending six months travelling through the islands. But as a vamp she would never suntan again.

The darkly handsome enforcer, with his few days of stubble on his jaw, looked menacing as he continued striding across the outdoor area. He didn’t look back to see if I was following.

“Sam?” I said, stopping where I was.

He still didn’t turn, just kept walking briskly, disappearing into the woods that dotted the front of the property. What the hell? This guy was all kinds of quirky. I debated whether to follow him, but in the end my curiosity was the strongest emotion. Groaning, I jogged to catch up with him, weaving through the woods to find him perched on a rock overlooking the creek. Damn he was fast.

I let out a big huff of air as I collapsed down next to him.

“Another rookie prank? Gonna throw me in the creek?”

He didn’t smile, only looked sideways at me. “I’m going away for ten days on my bi-yearly fishing trip.”

I gave him a deer in headlights look. “Okay … that’s nice.” First snowboarding and now fishing. Who knew?

Still, as interesting as that information was, why was he telling me this? As if he’d heard my thoughts he turned more fully toward me, his steely gaze penetrating. “Look, I think Ryder is blinded by his affection for you. I think this situation is much more serious than you know and you need to watch your back. Since I’m not going to be here to keep an eye on you, be extra vigilant.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Sam leaned in and whispered: “You have no idea the power of the blood running through your veins, what it could mean for the world—a world caught in the grips of fear over a virus that is not curable.”

It was true, the Anima Mortem Virus had changed the world. Vampires and ash. Dividing the world of humans even further.

I was in a bit of shock over how much Sam was saying. Today he was channeling the love child of Chatty Cathy and Debbie Downer, with all of his ominous news and crazy insight. This was beginning to scare me.

“You act like you know something, something I don’t know…”

A flash of animation flickered across his face but it was replaced with a cold hard gaze. “I’m just looking out for you, little rookie. See you in ten days. Be safe.”

He jumped up and was gone.

Sam was … seriously? He barely ever talked, and the one time he does speak he gives me vague and cryptic information on how much shit I was in and how scary my life was—information I already knew, so why bother? I could have sworn he wanted to say something more but had stopped.

Damn. I stayed a while and threw rocks into the creek, trying not to think about Sam’s warning.

Eventually, I had to make my way back to the enforcer locker room. Ryder had only given me so much time to clean up and get blood. It was time for my first shift as trainee. Hells yeah. Screw Sam and his depressing drama. Screw Tessa and her vamp obsession. I was gonna shoot some shit today.

 

Two hours later, I sat on the bench with my head in my hands.

“Seriously? No calls?” I griped.

Ryder and Kyle were playing cards. “That’s a good thing,” Ryder reminded me.

Oliver was lifting some weights. He sat up and wiped a towel across his forehead.

“So what’s up with Sam’s lonely-guy fishing trip to Alaska twice a year? Think he has some hot human chick he shacks up with in a hotel?”

The boys chuckled, but I perked up at one detail I had not known. “Alaska? It’s winter. Who fishes in the winter?”

Ryder looked at me, that intelligent gaze probing into my inner thoughts. “There’s king salmon this time of year. He brings a bunch back.” He directed the rest of the conversation at Oliver. “We all know Sam is a standoffish guy. Let him be.”

Yeah, standoffish when he isn’t scaring the shit out of you.

Markus distracted us all then with a subject change. “Just because there are no calls doesn’t mean you don’t have to train, Charlie. Ryder might be easing you in, but I’m not taking your cute unicorn ass out into the field until you have a little more training under your belt.”

I kicked out my right leg then, shooting the chair across from me in his direction before jumping to my feet, a wicked grin on my face.

“Now we’re talking.”

Twenty minutes later I was standing at the end of a long firing lane, cold Glock in my hands. We were on level seventeen of the Hive. Apparently this place had more secrets I didn’t know about, like this gun range for enforcer training only. We were alone. Markus stood to my right and pointed at the target.

“Bullets can disable and even kill an ash, but the only true kill spot is right here.” He tapped the center of his forehead.

I nodded, flexing my hands across the grip. Guns didn’t scare me, I had been training with them ever since the attack a year ago, when two random ash asshats almost had their way with me. Thankfully they’d been thwarted by some blond hottie Viking vamp. He’d saved my ass before disappearing, never to be seen again. I’d been keeping an eye out in the Hive, but no one even came close to looking like my memory of him.

I focused on my trainer again. “So headshots are the best for ash. Like zombies.”

Markus cracked a small smile. “Not every day I get compared to a zombie.”

“What about killing vampires?” I asked.

His face tightened with concern and he actually looked over his shoulder and up into the corner of the room. Following his gaze, I saw a small camera with a red light. WTF? Should have known we’d be under surveillance. Ash were not to be trusted, even though they were happy for us to do their dirty work.

“Generally we don’t train in disabling or killing vampires, they don’t like their weaknesses advertised. But the six of us have had to do some training. It’s rare, but sometimes the vampires in rival Hives can be a concern to the Quorum. In that case, grenades work well.”

My eyes bugged out. Grenades. That was a swift reminder that our official job title was protector of the Quorum and vampires. The other shit, bringing in new ash and policing stupid ash, seemed like PR work. Since vampires stayed away from ash as much as possible, it was easy to forget that they were the true power in our world. They used ash for their own gains; we were nothing to them.

“Right, so no need to worry about killing vamps.” I nodded, and said no more.

I understood that we couldn’t really speak freely with cameras around. Still … why the hell not? Some horny-ass vampires seduced our mothers and we were the ones being treated like shitbags? Like we owed them something? As more angry thoughts filled my mind, I realized my chest was heaving.

We were the vampire’s children and they treated us like the help! My rage over the culling had been pushed down and locked away in a place I didn’t go very often, mostly because I’m a big believer in not dwelling on shit you can’t change – that does nothing but drive a person crazy. But I hadn’t gotten over the culling. Not even a tiny little bit. Just barely hidden below the surface was my burning resentment that they had turned me into a murderer. That they used the killing of ash as a form of entertainment. Sure, I knew life was unfair for more than just ash, but things here needed a major shakedown.

Raising my arm and positioning my elbows correctly, I squeezed off six shots into the target dummy. Five of them went where I intended. Yes! Badass enforcer trainee with a gun. Shooting the dummy was quite therapeutic, enough that I could force the anger back into its box. The cage was a little shaky, but for now I was managing to keep it together.

I saw Markus squint. “Not bad,” he said with a shrug.

I narrowed my eyes at him as he patted me on the back, his hands massive enough to cover my entire shoulder blade.

“It’s just quite obvious that you were trained at a shooting range.”

My expression morphed into something mulish. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Markus went over to the wall and pushed a large red button. Suddenly my mannequin target started zigzagging towards me, fast—like vampire fast. Crap, the enforcer was right, I did not have much experience with moving targets.

The heavy mechanical whirring of the machine filled the room. “Now try,” Markus shouted.

Glancing down, I swapped out the first gun for a 9mm Glock; it would be more accurate for this type of shooting. Trying to focus on the zigzagging figure coming at me, I squeezed the trigger—missing. Damn, my concentration was not at its best with all the zipping around the figure was doing. Forcing my breathing to slow a little, I sighted along the gun again and shot until I heard an empty click. I lowered my weapon as I waited for Markus to halt the figure and bring the target toward us. It took a second for it to make its way across the long range. I counted the holes. Still my five from the first time.

“Well … shit,” I groaned.

Markus’ belly laughter caught me off guard. “You’ll get there, rookie. We all did.”

Rookie? Really? Was this shit going to stick too? I was kind of becoming partial to unicorn—it had a certain magical flare.

My walkie-talkie squawked. “Showtime, rookie.” It was Kyle. “We’ve got a call.”

My heart hammered in my chest as I quickly loaded my weapon and holstered it. Markus bolted from the room and I was hot on his heels. One of the first and most important lessons had already been drilled into my head. When we got a call, we needed to haul ass. A few seconds could mean life or death. Luckily, the elevator was open and waiting. Markus and I piled into it.

“You stay in the van. You do not enter the residence at any time,” Markus said to me.

“Yes, Ryder,” I replied, saluting him. Dude was channeling the head enforcer with his over-protective demands.

He gave me a serious gaze, uncharacteristic for the Scottish charmer. “You got off easy with the broken ankle last time. What’s that you and Jayden call us?”

We were almost at our floor. “The sexy six…” I said cautiously, wondering where this was going.

He nodded. “Well, there used to be seven of us. So stay in the van.”

The doors opened and he took off running. Holy shit, there used to be a sexy seven? That meant … okay, maybe I would be staying in the van.

The rest of the guys were waiting in the garage for us, one of the Humvees already loaded, engine running. I was not at all surprised to see everyone decked out in all black. Even I had worn my blackest of army-style outfits for my first shift as an enforcer rookie. It was an unofficial uniform since there was no official uniform. That had just been their totally clever ruse so that I’d fall for their really funny trick with the chocolate.

The other enforcers in the Hive, who seemed to mostly undertake scouting missions and general peacekeeping, like making sure the ash in the community were following the rules, wore khaki fatigues. So I guessed the all-black thing was Ryder and his boys’ preference.

It did give them a certain badass vibe. Which I was totally channeling in my own clothes. Ryder’s gaze landed on me, his eyes trailing across my body as we jumped into the van. I’d love to think he was checking me out because he just couldn’t help himself, but I’d seen that particular gaze before. He was making sure I had my gun and walkie-talkie. Mind you, there was no reason for his silvery eyes to stay on my butt for quite that amount of time, so maybe there was a little checking me out in there. Shit, now I was staring. And hot damn, I could totally perv on Ryder all day; he was a big ol’ hunk of ash eye-candy, but right now it was time to focus on the current call-out situation.

We were all buckled in and powering out of the Hive compound when Kyle gave us the emergency run-down. This was the standard protocol. Not all of the enforcers were ever together when the call came through, and to save time and prevent miscommunications over the walkies, they waited for everyone to be in the vehicle before briefing.

“We have reports of six ash causing a bit of havoc on Alberta Street near the food trucks. Apparently there were more of the Deliverance group in the area, and they’ve riled them up. This should be mostly peacekeeping, but because there are six ash, we’re all going along for the ride.”

“Should be a good one for you, rookie,” Jared said, wearing his relaxed, trademark grin.

Deliverance again. Seriously, didn’t they have to go home and pray or practice how to stop being assholes? Ryder had told me this morning, when he dropped me at my door, that this extremist religious group believed they were here to deliver God’s will, that their mission was to rid the world of any who were not God’s children—namely, vampire abominations and their offspring.

“Tell me more about Deliverance,” I said, leaning forward from where I was sandwiched between Markus and Oliver. “I did a bit of research today, and it seems that they are mostly kept under control by the humans. So between the humans and the Hive enforcers, I don’t understand how they keep popping up as a problem.”

Ryder flicked his head back and met my gaze. “Research, hey? Maybe this enforcer gig is rubbing off on you.”

I fought the urge to reach across the seat and smack him in the back of the head. I might be a tad on the lazy side when it came to researching—it was always the job I hated the most when I was stuck in the call center—but when things interested me I was all over them. I was like a ninja private investigator with a degree in Google.

“Deliverance has risen and fallen over the years,” Ryder said. “Under many names and banners. Originally they were known as God’s Voice.”

Shit, I had actually heard of that religious sect. When I was young there had been a lot of violent events linked to them, which had scared my mom. But then the news stopped reporting on them and everything had gone back to normal.

Ryder continued. “In those earlier days they had a strong voice, when there were many who feared that the Anima Mortem virus was the first stage of the apocalypse and that it was the end of days. They used this fear to create a small army of gatherers. But as the years have gone on, and the human governments have learned to work with the Hive Quorums, the voice of Deliverance has died off. Now they’re mostly pains in our asses, creating a lot of paperwork and headaches for the leaders.”

I swallowed hard. If they ever got a cure in their grip, I had no doubt their voice would rise strong again. There were still plenty of humans who feared the night. Right now they had no power and no legal rights to hunt the vamps, but imagine if they could cure them back to human. All of those families who had lost members to the virus, or who wanted to return humans to the top of the predator pyramid, would come out in force.

This could not end well for me. Not well at all.

Ryder must have been thinking the same thing. His voice deepened as he broke the silence again. “They will never touch you, Charlie. We look after our own, and you’re one of us now.”

A sense of resolve seemed to fill the car then; the men all wore identical expressions—very serious expressions. These guys needed a holiday or something. They hardly ever relaxed, and with everything happening now they were ten times worse than when I’d first met them.

I looked out the window to distract myself and saw a familiar landmark. Alberta Street was a mishmash of quirky shops and ethnic restaurants. Not to mention the scattered line of open-sided deli trucks with every kind of food imaginable—gluten free, non-GMO, vegan, Thai, you name it. My stomach rumbled just thinking about it. The food in the Hive was okay, but I missed my usual haunts. As the Humvee turned onto Alberta from 23rd avenue, I immediately saw the commotion.

“What the fuck?” It was Kyle who let the F-bomb fly, not me this time. Although the curse word had been on my tongue also.

In front of a Vietnamese food truck, an ash was strung up and nailed to a giant cross, humans—Deliverance I’d guess—standing around him chanting and spraying the tied-up ash with water. Of course that had to be holy water; there was no other insane reason to douse him. We weren’t made of sugar. Water did not hurt us.

I strained forward in my seat and was able to see there were five other ash hogtied and face-down on the concrete, gun-toting Deliverance holding weapons to their heads.

Markus made the sign of the cross over his chest, then looked at me. “I’m a Roman Catholic and this shit is whack.”

Whack was an understatement. How the hell was it even possible for humans to be able to overpower five ash? More of the Deliverance stepped into our line of sight then, standing near the back like guards, holding handguns. The one in the center had a really large, odd shaped gun. Its barrel looked wider and shorter than any firearm I’d seen before.

“They’ve got tranqs,” Oliver shouted. His window was the side closest and he had as good a view as I did. “Bet they’ve finally managed to brew up some more of the AT20.”

“AT20?” I asked.

His voice lowered slightly, but he was still pretty much angry-shouting as he explained: “The human government created a weapon to use against us, shit … years ago now, during the war. They decommissioned it once we reached peace agreements. Well, on paper anyways. Every now and then the zealots and Deliverance nutcases get their hands on some, or a version of it. Things get serious then.”

Great, just what I needed, a freaking dart in my ass and lights out for a week. Well, there was one thing I knew for sure. If I woke up with nails in any part of my body, I was killing some humans.