Chapter 12

 

 

The sun was sinking into the western sky, the last rays of safety brushing across Portland. We were camped out about two miles from the Hive compound. So far we hadn’t run into any special forces even though Lincoln said they were stationed somewhere nearby. They must be in hiding, waiting for some signal. The streets were empty enough that we wouldn’t have missed them. So far all we’d seen was a police van driving the streets blaring a message for the citizens of the city: “You are under martial law. Do not leave your homes, vampires are attacking the city. We will let you know when you can come out. Stay inside. Report any activity to 9-1-1.”

Ryder’s phone buzzed between us. He glanced down before bringing it to his ear.

“Lincoln,” he said quietly.

He was silent for many minutes, listening as the SWAT leader barked information at him. When he hung up, he swiveled around slightly so everyone could hear him. “The Army has been ambushed in the northeast part of the city. Some vampires got them on the road, and here’s the odd part. They emerged from inside a building which had been empty not five minutes earlier.”

WTF? How did they get in there with the sun still out? It just went down.

“Lincoln says more armed forces are on the way, but for now we’re all that stands between Portland and the Hive. Red alerts are going out across all news outlets, social media, and even text alerts are being sent. Lincoln said some humans from smaller towns in Oregon have come out to help fight. Which is a pain more than anything because they don’t have a chance in hell against vampires. All they’re going to be giving them is blood and targets to turn. So we not only have to keep the Hive contained until the Army manages to get through, but we also need to keep an eye out for any human heroes.”

Wicked. So it was eight of us versus hundreds. I had to ask him: “How the hell were they coming from inside the buildings? The sun just dropped.”

Ryder shrugged. “I don’t know, but Lincoln seemed livid. That area had been cleared already, so no one expected an ambush. They must have somehow preplanned this, hid inside buildings for a few days.”

Possibly, but it didn’t quite seem right. Someone would have noticed them surely. But if they weren’t already hiding in the buildings, how were they moving without going into the sun? And without being seen? As far as I knew, none of their ten houses’ superpowers included turning invisible. It was almost as if they were…

My stomach dropped when the realization hit me. My hands were shaking as I brought them up to brush my short hair off my face. “Oh fuck of all fucks.”

My dad raised an eyebrow at that one. “You know what’s up, Charlie?”

Without acknowledging anyone, I snatched the phone from Ryder and speed-dialed Lincoln. We didn’t have a second to waste. The moment I heard Blue Eyes’ voice, I said the two words that any Portland native would know.

“Shanghai tunnels.” I then hung up. I had no time to chat with the SWAT dude any longer.

The moment I mentioned the tunnels, color drained from the faces around me, and the entire sexy six burst into action with a collective “Fuck!”

I swallowed, hoping to hell I was wrong, but my gut was saying I was right. My mom took me on the tour of the underground tunnels when I was twelve. In the 1850s to about 1940, these tunnels were built under all of the bars and hotels in Portland. A drunk bar patron would be sitting in his stool one minute and the next minute a trapdoor would open and the man would be sucked down into the tunnels to be robbed and sold as a slave on a ship and taken out to sea.

Not the proudest Portland history, but these tunnels existed all over the city, and I would bet my life the vampires had connected the Hive to them. They were smart enough to ensure they had a way to stay out of the sun and still get around. Fuckers were probably in every one of the older building in Portland right now, waiting until the darkness hit to burst out and fuck up the city. Well, darkness had just hit and we were so screwed.

Even my father looked concerned. He stated the obvious: “We’re on the wrong side of the river.” The Hive and the airport were on the East side of the Willamette. The majority of the tunnels were on the West Side. We needed to cross the Willamette now. Holy shit, there must be over twenty spots where the tunnels came up into bars and businesses. Where would we even begin?

Sam halted us before we could burst into action. “They expect us to steer clear of the Hive. We should go in, find the tunnel they used, and surprise them from behind.”

My mouth dropped open. “I’m not a fan of suicide, Sam, but thanks.” That was a really bad idea when there was no way to know for sure the tunnel thing was right. I wouldn’t bet all of our lives on it. Carter had already told us that if we got within five hundred feet of the Hive and they were waiting for us, we’d all be dead.

Of course, now he’d changed his mind. With a nod he joined in: “You’re right. They wouldn’t expect us to figure out the tunnels until it was too late. If we can infiltrate the Hive and come up at their backs, we’ll have the element of surprise.”

When did the world stop rotating around the sun? Was I now the cautious one? The adult in this situation? I knew nothing about adulting; it was scary and outside my wheelhouse. But I couldn’t lose any of my boys, so I needed to step up here.

“It’s too risky! We’ll get our heads blown off if you’re both wrong,” I said, trying to put as much command in my voice as possible. It just came out full of anger. Anger was my response to impending doom.

My father strode over to me and cupped my chin. “I love you, Charlie. You’ve grown into a beautiful young woman.”

Before I could respond to his emotional display, he crouched and pushed off the ground, sailing into the air and flying fifty feet above our heads.

“No! Get back here!” I ran after him, but I wasn’t fast enough. My father was an Original and holy shit he was full-on flying in a huge arc across the sky, headed right for the Portland Hive.

“Why would he do that?” I shouted, turning to scramble with the rest of the enforcers into the cars.

Ryder just squeezed my hand as we flew into the back seat and Kyle gunned the car. “He’s going to make sure it’s safe for us to go in.”

Fuck! I wanted to get to know him, have him in my life before he decided to go off as a hero and get killed. I fought back the tears, searching for some inner positivity, some hope. I couldn’t write him off yet. He was an Original. He would be okay.

Kyle spun the wheel and took a hard turn. We had been a mile or so out, so it only took us a few minutes to see the gated compound. It looked deserted, but that didn’t mean anything. The front gate was closed, repaired from the last time we’d smashed through it. One of the guys jumped out and managed to pulverize the locks and cut the chains tying it all together. We weren’t in reinforced SUVs now, so smashing through was a bad idea.

There were no ash or vampires on the front gate. And none in any of the security huts which littered the grounds. I’d never seen those buildings empty. Maybe the boys were right, maybe all of this Hive had gone into the tunnels. Kyle drove like a maniac, the tires squealing the entire way before we slammed to a halt at the front door of the compound. He didn’t bother with the underground parking, we’d been ambushed there by vampires too many times.

Sam paused for a second before opening his door, and looked up in the sky. The others all followed suit and I knew they were scoping for snipers.

“Sam, maybe—”

I didn’t get a chance to finish before he was out of the car. Not one to be left behind, I followed the boys and was relieved when my head didn’t get blown off. The front door was secured, but Sam overrode that pretty easily. The Hive wasn’t in lockdown mode, so the extra securities were not initiated. Bad move on their part. Unless of course this was all a big trap. Then the bad move was ours.

I couldn’t see Carter anywhere in the front entrance, but he most likely went in through the roof or something. Dude was a superhero and could leap sixty stories no problem. No noise or anything trickled through the Hive; it was eerily quiet, but we remained on high alert, creeping through, weapons up and ready to use.

“Remember, the cure darts will not stop them coming for us, we need to inject and then knock them out.” Ryder’s voice was low, but in this noiseless tomb very easy to hear. “Or just kill them if your life is in danger,” he said, stating the obvious.

On and on we crept, up the stairs to the floors above. There was not a single soul here. Completely deserted. On the fifth floor a scuffing noise had all eight of us spinning around. Jayden was shoved back by Oliver; he ended up next to me. I saw the flash of pissed off on his face as he growled at his fiancé’s back. None of us moved, waiting ever so patiently for the noise maker to emerge, and only released our tight hold on the guns as Carter popped into view.

“Dad!” I hiss yelled. “We could have shot you.”

He grinned, all confident and shit. Damn Viking Original vampire. “You don’t have to whisper. This place is deserted. At least in the upper levels.”

Where the hell was Lucas? Damn, I hope they hadn’t killed him. He’d done so much to help us. I wanted him to get that normal life he’d been dreaming of forever.

“We need to head into the lower levels,” Sam said. He was carrying around a tiny tablet laptop looking thing. Some weird hybrid computer, and as always was typing away one handed at a million miles a minute. “I pulled up some old underground plans from the water and sewer department. They keep the most updated information. There are definitely tunnels underneath the Hive. I think these are fairly new ones, but I can see half a dozen places where they might connect into the old Shanghai Tunnels.”

Holy shit. Did that mean I’d been right? Vampires were hiding under the city everywhere, and the humans had no idea.

Kyle quickly darted over to the elevators and hit the button. With a ding the doors slid across. “Much faster this way,” he said.

None of us wasted another second, filling the metal box. Sam reached out and hit the button for one of the sublevels. This Hive was filled with secrets. Here’s hoping this doorway into the tunnels was revealed easier than many of the others.

When the doors slid silently across, Ryder and Markus stepped out first, guns raised. I recognized this space as soon as I walked from the elevator. The smooth rock walls with the fire lanterns up high, their flickering lights making everything look Medieval. This was the level I’d come to back when I was in the culling, with the nasty redhead vampire. She’d brought me here to see my mom, Lucas’ gift to me.

Just like that time, we went straight to the large, ornate double doors, the one with the engraved emblem, unrecognizable words, and a secret pattern thing to get inside.

Carter was all business, slamming his huge hands down on the emblem and getting it open. It was useful having an ancient, all knowing vampire on our team. Inside looked the same still: huge table, fireplace which was not lit this time, and ornate wall adornments.

“The entrance is here somewhere?” Sam said. “Do you know where, Carter?”

Clearly I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed how at home my father seemed here. He’d obviously spent much time in Portland over the years. Had a man on the inside or some shit.

My father took his time observing the room, and if I wasn’t mistaken he looked to be counting stones along the far side of the circular space. Eventually he strode over and ran his fingers lightly across the wall.

“He needs to hurry up,” Jared said, Australian accent strong. “It’s been dark for at least ten minutes now. The humans are going to be sitting ducks.”

Jayden snorted. “Dude, I’m so not telling that hot-ass warrior to hurry up. He’ll crucify you, and ain’t no one gonna stop him.”

“Dude!” I mimicked him. “That’s my dad you’re talking about. Please, no more hot-ass stuff.”

Jayden winked at me and Oliver swung around to narrow his eyes at him. I was getting the vibe that they were in a silent lover’s tiff right now. Too much stress could kill the strongest of relationships. But I knew they were solid. I was already planning what to wear as Jayden’s best man. A wedding was something to look forward to. Something to fight for. A happy ending for all of us.

Further conversation was cut off by the sound of stone moving on stone, a weird grating screech. Carter lifted the tapestry closest to him, and sure enough, there was an open doorway leading to some narrow stone stairs.

For the record, I hated being underground like this. And taking those creepy stairs which led into old haunted tunnels was also not my idea of an entertaining day. This shit was fun when you were twelve years old and with your mom. Not so much as an adult with a fear of being crushed in a tunnel collapse. Damn vampires. Would have been much better if they were friendly, got along with all the kids in the playground. But no, they had to be nasty little assholes who like to kill and maim.

It was dark down here. The boys flicked on their Maglites, which gave us just enough light to see a few feet ahead. As we descended, a damp scent and heavy feeling filtered through the tunnel. The stairs ended in a narrow walkway, the sound of water all around us.

“This area is part of the underground water treatment.” Markus pointed across to the far wall with his light so we could all see the huge pipe running there.

“Stay close,” Sam added. “And watch your step. There are lots of grates and divots in the ground.”

The water grew louder as we marched along. I knew Sam was leading us according to his underground schematics. Here’s hoping the vampires had not adjusted them too much. We could be lost under here for weeks.

Nothing much happened for the next few minutes of fast walk-running, hauling ass knowing time was against us and that we were a few miles from where the main tunnels in northwest Portland were, but just as the sound of water died off, something else came into view. There was illumination ahead, and the space seemed to be quite large. There was no hesitation. We dashed toward it, preparing to fight.

“Holy vampire babies in hell,” Jayden shouted as we skidded to a halt on the edge of the lit-up room. His dark eyes flashed across to me. “It’s like we stumbled into a scene from the exorcist.”

He wasn’t kidding. The tunnels had opened up into a large, caged space. Twenty feet wide, it was like a small apartment, and not what you would expect for underground living, with low ceilings and lots of artificial light. It was still stone, and damp, but some attempt at home comforts had been made. There were hospital beds, cushions, medical equipment, and a small kitchen area installed, which was just great, because the hundreds of humans down here would have needed something to keep themselves alive.

Faces turned in our direction. Well, all the ones who weren’t dead, because quite clearly there were plenty who hadn’t made it through the vampire’s little experiments.

“What are you doing here?” a female said, stepping forward. She wore a simple white shift dress, bare feet, hair all matted. “Ash aren’t allowed in our breeding den.”

I’m sorry … their what? Jayden and I exchanged another wide-eyed look. Not only had the vampires clearly tried to change a bunch of humans to get their numbers up, but they were also illegally breeding with humans? Why the heck? They hated ash? Why would they want more? Nausea made my stomach roll as I imagined the “breeding” down here.

I must have spoken some of my questions out loud, because she answered. “They knew you would come for them, and they wanted to make sure their seed lived on. Ash are better than humans anyway. We were paid quite handsomely for this gift. Don’t you worry yourselves about us.” She held her chin high with an air of snobbery, but I could see the humans were caged behind bars. A few of the women looked like they may have originally signed up for the deal but were now regretting it.

Kyle snorted. “And should we not worry ourselves about the dead humans all over the place?”

She shrugged again, and I caught sight of the scars on her neck. She was a damn feeder. Clearly they’d taken their female feeders and impregnated them, and the males were turned to vampires. Well, some of them.

“Only the worthy survive,” she said. “We burn the dead when they start to smell, and the ones who survive the virus go into the special holding area. Besides, if you die, they compensate your family. You’ll find no victims here. The vampires took the newly changed just before they went through the tunnels.”

Her face shuttered then, and I knew she had not meant to let that slip. But at least we knew we were on the right track.

“Vampire rule is over,” Ryder said to them, his deep voice vibrating with anger. “War is going down tonight. We’ll come back for you because tomorrow a new world will start and the ash will be in charge of you.”

If we survived, was the unspoken sentiment. Many stares followed us as we turned, leaving the light, to continue along the path. Motherfucking vampires. I didn’t even want to cure them now. I wanted to kill them. Every single freakin’ one. And where the hell was Lucas in all of this? I was torn between mourning him, fearing for his life, and worrying he’d been playing us all along. He did so many wonderful things for me, risked his life for mine more than once. Surely that had not all been a ploy. Maybe he was playing along with them now to try and keep a man on the inside until we arrived. Or maybe I was a naïve moron. Either way, my heart hardened a little then. A thin frosty shell covered it as I unholstered my gun and clicked off the safety. Fuck the cure darts. The vampires clearly were not going to surrender. I was out for blood now, to avenge those rotting humans back there in the cell and the ones knocked up with ash babies.

We reached a swampy patch of ground. Water seeped through a few of the divots in the stone.

“We’re under the Willamette,” Sam announced, and I shuddered. An entire river was over my head. Oh God, get me the hell out of here!

“The Shanghai Tunnels led to the river but never under it. They led right up to the boat dock so the people could be taken on ships,” Ryder said

Who the fuck cares? I couldn’t breathe. But my father seemed to get what he was blabbing about.

“Yes, they’ve clearly been planning this a while. Must have taken months to build. Probably when Charlie first showed up to the Hive. Or maybe even before,” he said.

My stomach dropped. Fugly. He knew. He had a hunch from day one about what I was and he’d probably had this backup plan in place ever since. Asshole. Even dead he was still messing with my life.

Screw it. No time to worry about it now. We were out of the swampy mess and into the tunnels I recognized. These were the Shanghai Tunnels I had toured as a child. Surprisingly large and open, and above all, creepy.

Sam stopped and put his fist into the air. We all froze, holding our breath.

Sounds ripped through the silence. “Let’s go! It’s dark out!” a man roared. A voice I didn’t recognize.

Lucas’ voice made the hair on my arms stand up: “Waiting a few more moments won’t hurt the plan. No one knows we’re here. Give the humans time to scramble and run about in fear.”

No. No. No. He couldn’t be in on it. He couldn’t.

The other voice seemed perturbed. “The others have already begun to fight. You’re making me question your loyalty, Lucas.”

Lucas let out a nervous laugh and then I heard skin hitting skin, that sound of crunching bone, and a body hitting the cold floor.

“Lucas!” I screamed, running forward, feeling awful for doubting him. He was clearly stalling so he could mess up their plans.

There were gas lamp torches lighting up the walls, and as I strode into view I saw about twenty hulking vampires staring at me. Lucas was standing over another vampire’s body.

“Down!” I shouted at him, and he hit the deck as bullets sprayed from my gun.

Dear God, please don’t let one of these ricochet and hit my head. That would be a very uncool way to die.

Air whooshed past me as my father sailed over me and slammed into the oncoming wall of angry bleeding vampires. I halted my firing, not going to risk hitting him for a second.

My eyes widened as the Viking started to move. My father was an efficient neck breaking machine. He literally severed a dozen spinal cords within moments. Ryder and the boys took care of the rest. Once they were unconscious, we shot them with cure darts. I gave my father the stank eye for interrupting my gunfire, but he ignored it. Running to Lucas, I helped him up.

“I knew you would figure it out,” he said, his voice cracking. “You’re a smart girl.”

Did Ryder just growl?

I shook my head, ignoring it. “What the hell happened, Lucas? Vampires in the Shanghai Tunnels and a breeding program with humans.”

Lucas looked sick. “I didn’t know until today. Allistair made these plans after kicking me out of the Quorum and I had no idea. Charlie, once he found out there was a cure, just before you killed him, he told the Hive to be suspicious of the new blood shipment.”

My stomach dropped. “No … no, don’t tell me.”

Lucas nodded. “When the new shipment came, it was put into storage per his orders before he died. Portland Hive did not partake in the celebrations. He said to wait and watch around the world. If in a few days no one was cured, then we could drink. Until then we were to feast on old refrigerated bottled blood, and in worst case steal humans through the Shanghai Tunnels and feed from them.

“Dammit!” I clenched my fists tightly, trying to control my anger. How bad could it be? We’d wiped out a lot of Portland in the last battle, and had just taken down another twenty. How many more were loose on the city?

Lucas gave me a devilish smile. “Of course, I wasn’t going to let Allistair win from the grave. We luckily got our shipments earlier than a lot of the Hives, so I’ve been peeling the dates off of the new shipment and replacing it with the old blood dates. I haven’t slept for days.”

Relief exploded into my chest and I crashed into him, giving him a huge hug. “Lucas! You’re brilliant.”

He smiled as I stepped back. “Don’t get too excited. It was just me. I only got about forty to fifty percent of those bottles to the vampires. So half the Hive.” His smile went huge, all white teeth and excitement. I couldn’t help but return that smile.

“So if fifty percent got the cure-blood … that leaves us with…?”

My father answered: “About five hundred vampires.”

I stifled a groan. “So some of the vampires are already turned to human? Where are they? And the ash?”

Lucas smoothed a hand over his hair. “Yep, most of them turned quite fast, and that’s when the rest of the vampires decided to declare war on the city and headed for the tunnels. All ash and humans are stashed in the pit. The vampires plan to kill them when they return. They had no time with the sun setting, and they didn’t want to waste the blood.”

We could not let that happen.

“So there are still five hundred uncured vampires, and they’ve just hit the city?” I wanted confirmation of the numbers.

Lucas nodded. “But it won’t last long. I knew I hadn’t gotten to enough bottles done in time, so as a last ditch effort I spiked all of my remaining bottles of blood wine with the cure laced blood. And when Thomas called for a toast before battle just an hour ago, we all drank. Me included. I can feel the change starting already. The others won’t be far behind me.”

That got a grin from all of us.

“Lucas, you might have just saved everyone. If we can hold them off until the cure sets in.”

He nodded and even though it was subtle, I was starting to notice some color coming back into his face; his eyes glowed a little less silver.

Carter placed a hand on Lucas’ shoulder “Thank you. Now, let’s get up there. A lot of lives can be lost in a few hours.”

Way to rain on my parade, but he was right. I saw a ladder to my right. “Where are we? What’s the plan?”

“We’re on Third Street, beneath Hog’s Head tavern. Plan is to go out shooting and … well, stay alive.”

Okay, so not exactly a plan, but good enough. Lucas stepped onto the ladder, ready to climb up, but I grabbed his arm.

“You’ve done enough. Go back to the Hive and wait for us there,” I said.

He looked back at me, his face filled with all these softer emotions, and I swear his gaze was locked on my lips. Awkward.

“I’ll be okay, Charlie. I need to see this through,” he said as he started climbing again.

I didn’t have time to argue so I just began climbing after him. Once we had all made it into the room, a wine cellar, I immediately heard screaming and gunshots. Sam jumped on his cell.

“Lincoln, we’re about to come out of Hog’s Head tavern. Don’t shoot us,” he ordered. After a few minutes he nodded and hung up.

“What’s going on out there?” Ryder asked.

Sam’s voice was tense. “Lincoln said that some vampires got into a nearby apartment building, killing humans left and right.”

No! Shit. “Let’s go!” I said. No one argued, they all just swung into action behind me.

This was it. This was the battle I had been planning for. This could very well be the last day of my life. A smart girl would jump back down that ladder and run like a little bitch back to the Hive and wait. But that wasn’t me. I was as loyal as they come, and I wasn’t leaving my boys to fight alone. I wasn’t letting the humans or Portland be attacked because of me. These vampires were reacting because of my cure.

Sam, Lucas, Carter, Jayden and the others left the wine cellar, then it was just me and Ryder. We both seemed to know that this could be goodbye. I didn’t want to say anything, didn’t want to hear it. I just crashed into him as his arms came around me and our mouths found each other, tongues exploring for one last time. All the deliciousness that was Ryder. The scent, his touch, the way he treated me like shit for the first month and then loved me so hard I could barely breathe. This man was my soulmate. After one intense kiss he just pulled away and pinned me with blazing eyes.

“Hawaii,” he whispered, and I smiled.

“Hawaii.”

With that we walked hand in hand out into the vampire war.