A Bloody London Sunset (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 2) (42 page)

He shifted in the vest and pulled at it as if trying to get more comfortable. “Man, this thing sure weighs a ton,” he complained. “Crap! No wonder, there’s a huge metal plate sewn in the front of it.”

She smacked him on the chest with a firm
whack
from the flat of her hand, causing him to stumble backwards a couple of feet.

“Feel that?” she asked.

He nodded while walking back towards her awkwardly.

She arched an eyebrow. “Did it hurt?”

He shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Exactly. That’s why it needs to ’weigh a ton,’” she observed dryly as she turned to slip large combat knives into sheaths arrayed across her combat belt.

“Hey, don’t I get one of those?” he asked. “Or maybe a gun?”

She regarded him slyly. “No, in fact, you don’t.”

“But --”

“You have me,” she interrupted. “And Alton, and a team of other vampires. But most importantly me.”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes at her. She quickly reached out and mussed his hair.

“Hey!” he retorted, reaching up to smooth his hair back into place, although he was happy to see that her mood had lightened somewhat.

She handed him a Kevlar-lined steel helmet. “No harm anyway. You’re about to have helmet hair.”

“Aw, come on,” he complained.

Her expression turned edgy as she narrowed her eyes at him, pointing to the helmet with her index finger. “Wear it, or else,” she commanded.

He sighed, popped it on his head, and groaned. “Geez, this is lame. I feel like one of those rebel soldiers in
Star Wars
or something.”

“And it might just save your life, so keep it on,” she insisted.

“Fine,” he said while trying to tighten the chin strap.

She smirked at him while he wasn’t looking.

Alton announced, “The Tube tunnels will be shut down by the time we arrive at the substation. Let’s move.”

Vampires in black fatigues and body armor moved around grabbing equipment and firearms, but Caleb cast a wide-eyed expression at Alton. “
You
managed to shut down the entire London Tube system?”

He returned a slightly amused look and replied soberly, “Of course. Train operations will be temporarily suspended under the guise of structural inspections. I happen to have key vampire-supportive contacts in the Tube transit system, you realize.”

“Yeah,” Caleb said dryly. “Obviously.”
This guy’s unbelievable
, he thought as Katrina ushered him towards the nearby elevators.

The Tube substation where Caleb had fled into the tunnels was completely deserted by the time they arrived. Six vampires and two humans wearing gear accompanied them into the substation. Caleb appreciated that at least he wasn’t the only one in an armored vest, but noted that Katrina and Alton had forgone them. They proceeded into the lobby and down the first tier of escalators, and he immediately recognized the location.

“This was where I saw Davison,” he stated quietly, although his voice seemed to echo somewhat in the large, open area.

Everyone looked at him, and Katrina prompted, “Okay. Where did you go from here?”

He led them to the same side corridor that he had run through, albeit at a normal walking pace this time. When he arrived at the metal door at the end of the hallway, Katrina abruptly stepped in front of him and pushed through the door first. Caleb followed her and glanced over his shoulder briefly to see Alton at his heels.

At the foot of the stairs, Katrina proceeded through another metal door and into the dimly lit corridor leading into the tunnel system. As Caleb and Alton stopped next to Katrina, Caleb recalled out loud, “The door locks as soon as you shut it.”

One of the two humans, Mullins, grasped the door with one hand while extracting some black tape from a small pocket on his fatigues. Caleb watched the man tape up the striker plate so that the lock mechanism wouldn’t engage.

“Clever,” he commented absently.

“Ballistics tape,” Alton explained. “Comes in handy for lots of things, actually.”

Caleb nodded, but then noticed everyone staring at him expectantly. “Oh, yeah, waiting on me,” he said and walked towards the end of the corridor.

Katrina and Alton moved ahead of him while the other eight individuals followed in two single-file lines of four. Caleb tried to focus his memory on his trek through the tunnels, which was hampered by having to look past Alton and Katrina in order to get his bearings. He hesitated twice and had them backtrack on one occasion. Finally, after contemplating an upcoming intersection, he stopped abruptly in the middle of the darkened tunnel, causing the two lines of agents behind him to halt.

“Just stop,” he announced irritably.

Alton and Katrina paused to glance back at him with frowns.

“What is it?” Alton asked.

He sighed. “I need to be in front of everybody. It’s too hard doing this while trying to look past you all the time.”

Katrina’s eyes momentarily flashed, but then she gestured with her arm and invited in a calm voice, “After you.”

His efforts at leading them were much easier, although he was constantly aware of Katrina’s presence at his back. Still, it was fortunate. On one occasion, he tripped on a rail and fell forward barely two inches before she had grabbed the back of his vest to hold him in place while he reacquired his footing. Alton and a couple of the team members chuckled at that, causing him to blush furiously.

After what seemed like a nerve-wracking eternity, Caleb happened upon the section of tunnel wall where the older, dimly lit corridor led away into the darkness. He started to walk into it, but Katrina’s hand firmly grasped the back of his combat vest and jerked him backwards.

“What the?” he complained.

“Sh!” she admonished in a whisper and inclined her head towards Alton.

Alton nodded in silent reply and used a series of hand gestures to the team members behind him. Mullins stepped aside and adopted a combat stance with his automatic rifle in the middle of the larger tunnel, and four vampires proceeded into the small darkened corridor, followed closely by Alton. Katrina reached behind her to grasp Caleb’s hand and place it against her back. The two of them went into the corridor after a few seconds’ delay. The remaining two vampires and one human followed behind Caleb.

Walking in near-total darkness was unnerving for Caleb, but he found the contact with Katrina’s back both helpful and reassuring. His touch enabled him to stop as soon as Katrina did, though he was nervous standing in the dark. A light suddenly erupted in the room as the human agent produced a handheld lamp very bright for its size. The man nodded at Caleb, who gratefully smiled in return.

Caleb noted the couch sitting along the wall and the small alcove where the old metal door was located. He pointed to it from behind Katrina, although two vampires were already moving towards it. Suddenly, firearms were pointed towards the door by the remaining team members. Katrina stepped backwards while reaching behind her to press Caleb further away from the door, still keeping her body situated in front of him. Alton stood to one side with his arms folded before him.

One of the vampires closest to the door began pressing putty-like plastic explosives around the door frame, over the door lock, and around the hinges. Another vampire placed wires into the material, pulling additional wire a short distance from the door. Everyone moved away, and Katrina turned around to embrace Caleb in her arms. A second later, a muffled boom emitted in the room while a mild concussion wave passed through Caleb’s body.

“Stay put!” she ordered as the metal door was pried out of place.

The room erupted with activity all at once, and Alton ordered, “Brown and Jenkins, stay with Caleb!”

Alton, Katrina, and the remaining team members all moved in a blur through the doorway. Caleb barely had time to react before Brown and Jenkins adopted a guard-like stance in the room. He was grateful that Brown, the human, had placed the box-lamp on the floor in the center of the room to provide light.

A series of shouts and gunfire erupted downstairs past the open portal. Caleb’s heartbeat pounded as he helplessly listened to the commotion, and he glanced up at the two team members standing near him with a wide-eyed expression. However, they seemed unaffected, although both had grim expressions on their faces.

After a few tense minutes of continued sporadic gunfire and other noises of combat, Brown turned his back to the open doorway to address Caleb. “Everything will be just fine.”

A blur of motion exited the doorway behind Brown, and a tall figure with blazing hazel eyes reached up to snap Brown’s neck with a sudden twist. The body fell to the floor, and Caleb barely had time to open his mouth before Jenkins slammed into the assailant’s body. The two smashed into the nearby concrete wall amidst a flurry of loud impacts being exchanged between the two combatants.

“Katrina!” Alton’s voice emanated through the dark doorway, followed by a woman’s angst-ridden cry.

Caleb’s mind raced.
Kat’s in trouble!

He ran towards the open portal, but stopped short to reach down and retrieve an automatic pistol from the dead agent’s hip holster. He preferred the rifle, but it wasn’t anywhere in the immediate vicinity. The two vampires behind him continued to slam each other against walls and pound on each other as he ran through the nearby entryway.

The portal opened into a poorly lit hallway ending with stairs leading into darkness. Heedless of his footing, Caleb sped down a flight of damp concrete steps until reaching the lower level. He stepped into a dimly illuminated concrete corridor extending left and right from where he stood. He cocked his head to one side and paused only a moment to listen. Hearing a skirmish coming from his right, he immediately headed that way.

A tall figure with glowing yellow eyes appeared from a side doorway that Caleb hadn’t noticed. The figure wore a leather trench coat and paused only long enough to identify Caleb. In a split-second the figure raced towards him. He raised his right arm and fired his pistol, but only managed a few shots before feeling a vice-like grip at his throat. His body was thrown against the wall, and his helmet-covered head slammed backwards with a loud clanking
thud
as it impacted the concrete.

Caleb instinctively raised the tip of his pistol and pulled the trigger rapidly. His ears hurt from the piercing sounds of gunfire as he began to choke under the vampire’s grasp. A sharp, painful shock ran through his neck, and then abruptly ceased. The figure stepped back slightly, revealing blood running from his jaw as his eyes flared bright yellow.

Before he could react further, Caleb’s body uncontrollably slid down against the wall, stopping only when his body hit the floor. The yellow-eyed figure started towards him again, but then disappeared from his view in the blink of an eye. He turned his head sideways to see Alton jam a combat knife underneath the vampire’s chin and into his head. Alton slammed the vampire to the ground as if casting a sack of flour to his feet.

Caleb heard a gasp to his right and immediately raised his arm to point his pistol down the hallway as he rotated his head that direction. His hand shook uncontrollably as he struggled to draw air into his lungs while trying to sight a target before him. A second later, he recognized the oncoming figure as Katrina. Her eyes blazed brightly, and she stopped a few feet from him as her attention focused on the pistol in his hand.

He lowered his arm, and she was swiftly at his side. She reached out to take the weapon from his still-shaking hand, while using her free hand to swivel his head to the side so that she could see his neck.
Dammit, Caleb! Why didn’t you stay put?!

“Are you okay?” she managed to ask in a strained voice, struggling to keep her emotions in check.

He nodded affirmatively while reaching up to his still-aching neck with one hand.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” she rasped.

“Get him topside,” Alton commanded as he glanced down at Caleb. “It’s not secure down here yet.”

Caleb tried to rise, but his legs were only partially under his control, and he still had trouble catching his breath. Katrina frowned and reached down with one hand to grasp him by the combat vest just beneath his chin. With one lurch, she stood upright, and Caleb felt himself floating above the floor. He glanced down, realizing that he was suspended before her.

She turned and began walking with him. As Caleb was facing her, he noticed Alton smirk at her and issue, “Have Brown come down here.”

“Brown’s dead,” Caleb managed to utter in a broken, choked voice. His throat still ached badly.

Katrina’s expression hardened, though she kept walking as Alton called, “Fine, then whoever’s still alive up there!”

It was surreal to look upon Katrina’s stony expression while also feeling himself floating before her as they ascended the stairs leading back to the open portal. He felt like a rag doll being carried in a child’s hand.

“Show off,” he mumbled in the same raspy voice. “This is embarrassing.”

Her glowing eyes bore into his, but he thought that he saw the corners of her mouth upturn slightly. “You should’ve thought of that before you disobeyed me,” she countered.

Moments later, she carried him into the main room where Brown’s body lay on the floor. Jenkins looked up with a startled expression as she gently deposited Caleb on the leather couch against the nearby wall as easily as setting down a sack of groceries. The dead vampire combatant from earlier lay motionless on the floor not far from where Jenkins stood.

“Alton said to get downstairs on the double,” she ordered flatly.

The vampire disappeared from view, and her attention returned to Caleb.
Thank God he’s okay
, she rejoiced.
Now I should strangle him myself!
The terror she had felt from seeing him crumpled on the floor downstairs had nearly been unbearable.

“Mad at me?” he asked in a less raspy-sounding voice.

She reached down to place the palm of her hand against the side of his face and used her free hand to unstrap his helmet and lift it from his head. She rotated the back of the helmet where he could see it, and he saw a large dented area where it had impacted the downstairs wall. His eyes widened in shock from the damage done.