Cass
The elevator ascended with a jerk and I waited anxiously in the dark space, surrounded by metal walls. It stopped as violently as it had started and the door before me slid open. I stepped cautiously into the expansive shooting range. Moving quickly and silently, I hurried to the other end of the cavernous space where a wall of silver parted me from the armoury.
“Shit, Selena,” I muttered, gazing at the mesh. How was I going to get through that?
I walked up and down, assessing the fence for weaknesses. There was one gate at the far end. Locked and impenetrable to me.
I glanced over my shoulder in the direction I'd come, figuring I'd have to give up, when a door on the other side of the fence opened.
A large man backed into the range pulling a trolley, humming happily to himself. I eyed his huge backside impatiently, quickly working out a plan.
I whistled sharply and he nearly fell over as he turned to face me.
Before he could so much as shout in alarm, I caught him in my gaze. “Calm,” I commanded, forcing my will over his.
His shoulders slumped as he moved toward me at a relaxed pace.
“Open the gate,” I said, nodding to it.
He reached for a set of keys that were strung around his meaty neck, pulling them out and sliding one into the lock on the other side. I waited impatiently as he jiggled it, eventually sliding the gate open.
I stepped through, passing him the two handbags. “Fill these up with weapons and ammo.” He led me into the next room and I bit down on my tongue at the sight of the extensive weaponry. “Don't pack anything that will be missed,” I added as the man, who was evidently called 'Al' according to the name tag he was wearing, reached for a pistol.
He extracted his hand, moving strategically around the room, filling the handbags with guns, ammo, blades and grenades from drawers beneath the display racks.
When he was finished, I took the bags from him, slinging them over my shoulder and pointing to the CCTV camera glaring at me from one corner. “Erase the tape from the last twenty minutes. If you get questioned about it, tell them there was a malfunction with the system and you had to restart it.”
“Restart it.” Al nodded, smiling sleepily at me.
I stepped closer, gazing into his grey-speckled eyes. “You never saw me and the guns I'm taking were never in your possession.”
“Never saw you,” he echoed and I smiled satisfactorily.
Glancing over at his desk, I noticed a stream of CCTV playing on his computer; it looked as though it were being fed from a women's shower room in the resort. I grimaced, figuring I might as well have some fun whilst I had him under my absolute control. “Whenever you see a naked woman again, for the rest of your life...” I shifted right up into his personal space, glaring into his eyes unblinkingly. “You'll be afraid. Terrified. You won't want them anywhere near you.”
He nodded and I stepped away, grinning. “Pervert,” I muttered, walking back into the range, calling out to him to lock the gate as I left. The clunk of it locking followed as I reached the lift and stepped inside. After a beat, the door closed and it descended automatically.
When I reached the bottom, the door slid smoothly open. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. A vile tang hung in the air, assaulting my senses. A finger of mist curled into the base of the lift, swirling around my legs.
I squinted out into the heavy fog in the cell before me, spotting a few Vs beyond the door, sprawled on the ground.
I threw a hand to my mouth and nose, my vision going a little fuzzy. As I stepped into the cell, I made sure I didn't breathe in again.
The shout of men and shuffle of footsteps came my way, so I sped through the room, silent and as fast as a gust of wind. I used the mist for cover, moving through the space by memory, listening for the men up ahead. I hoped Selena had gotten out in time. If they'd caught her down here, there was no knowing what could await me back upstairs. What if they were questioning her already? Torturing her?
Fear darted through me but I forced it away. All I could do was stick to the plan. Get the guns back to the hotel room as soon as possible. But how was I going to get out of the warehouse without bumping into a guard?
Eyeing a stack of crates to my left, I darted toward them, climbing them with the agility and speed of a cat. Atop them, the mist had thinned and I could see across the cages all the way to the exit. I moved like a shadow, springing from one cage to another in perfect silence, keeping the bags locked under one arm to stop them from jostling.
As I drew closer to the exit, movement caught in my periphery. I perched on the edge of a cage, bird-like.
There. Behind a stack of crates opposite me, Selena was waving a hand at me. I had to find a way across to her.
Glancing up, I inspected the roof a few feet above my head. A string of pipes led in Selena's direction, bridging the gap between us. I stood, reaching up so my fingers grazed them. I hadn't tested my strength out to any particular extent since I'd been turned, but I knew I could do it. It was innate. I was a Vampire through and through now. And a well-fed one at that.
Bending at the knees, I sprang upwards, gripping the pipes between my fists. It was too easy. I shimmied forward, using the pipes like monkey bars to cross the space. My eyes dropped; the mist was thinning so I could make out the shadowy shapes of the men.
Just keep moving. Don't stop.
I landed silently on the crate Selena was hiding behind and her face split into a relieved grin.
She whispered, “Thank god,” and I dropped down beside her, pulling her into a hug.
I pressed her back. “Get on my back,” I mouthed, unable to use my voice in case I breathed in some of the toxic mist. Selena stood, not hesitating for a moment. She took the gun bags from me, heaving them onto her shoulders with obvious effort.
I raised my brows, unsure if she could take their weight.
“You just focus on carrying me,” she said in response to my expression. I bent down so she could clamber onto my back. My strength didn't fail at all; she might as well have been a feather for all the effort it took to hold her.
Before I could move, a deep male voice caught my ear. “You better not forget I helped you.”
I glanced down into the cell below us, catching the eye of a V with dark, floppy hair, his mouth and nose concealed by his shirt.
“We won't forget,” Selena said.
He gave us a stiff nod as if we'd made a binding deal. Weird, considering he had absolutely no leverage. We weren't in much of a position to help ourselves right then, let alone some random guy.
I nodded to him before leaping off of the crates onto the top of the next cage. Selena clung to me like a limpet, not letting out so much as a whimper as I scaled walls and leapt across heart-dropping gaps.
That's why I'd been drawn to her in the first place. Brave as a lion. Even if she didn't know it.
By the time we reached the final stack of crates, the mist had nearly dispersed. I stared down toward the exit. The door was shut and no one was near it, but as I readied to spring to the ground, it opened.
I jerked backwards and one of the gun bags swung sharply forward, bashing into the nearest crate.
The collision resounded in my head for an age. I froze to the spot as I waited for someone to see us.
One second.
Two.
Three.
The guard who'd entered kept walking at a fierce pace, his attention elsewhere. Selena released a breath of relief and I prepared to jump again.
Steeling myself, I launched forward, hitting the ground with the kind of grace that would have had no place in my human life. I darted through the door open, barely slowing as I scaled the stairs two at a time, the slit in the leg of my dress giving me a decent amount of freedom to manoeuvre.
At the top of the stairs, I heard the handle jiggle. Voices beyond the door.
I flattened Selena to the wall at the top of the stairs, just as the door swung open, hiding us behind it. Selena didn't even wheeze, but her fingers dug into my arms so hard that I could almost feel the pain of her grip.
Two women in uniform jogged downstairs, their belts packed with weapons that could have ended both of us.
I gritted my teeth, willing them to keep walking, not to look back.
The second they passed through the door at the bottom of the stairs, I moved, slipping out into the corridor. We were so close. Just twenty paces to the ballroom.
I ran full pelt toward the door and jarred to a halt beside it. Selena dropped to the ground, straightening down the skirt of her dress before passing me one of the handbags.
“Big smile,” she said through her teeth, taking the lead as she pulled the door open.
The guard I'd Charmed earlier was back on his post, offering us a vague smile as we slipped into the ballroom.
“You never saw us,” I muttered, releasing him from my hold.
He blinked stupidly as we walked away.
Applause abruptly broke out and people jumped out of their seats in a standing ovation.
We joined in, clapping along with them, but I was glad I couldn't see what they were cheering through the sea of heads. As we headed into the foyer, taking the lift up to Selena's room, she started laughing.
I slumped back against the wall, relief sweeping through me in waves as laughter bubbled up from my throat, too.
“We did it,” she breathed, her eyes sparkling.
“Told you I'd save your arse,” I laughed.