Annihilate (Hive Trilogy Book 3) (16 page)

The ash before us weren’t enforcers and weren’t properly trained. The stupid vampires had taken out their best line of defense. But I did recognize Jose with a gun in his shaking hand. When his eyes met mine he lowered his weapon in confusion.

“Stop!” he screamed, holding up a fist.

Ryder jumped out of the SUV, with me hot on his heels.

“Ryder?” His name was being murmured around. A few ash had recognized us, and hope sprang in my chest as I saw them lowering their weapons, relief crashing over their faces.

“If you surrender, none of you will be hurt!” Ryder projected his words loud enough for all of them to hear. I could sense the bodies stepping into formation behind us as we prepared to charge the front door.

One of the ash close to us didn’t seem too sure; he still held his weapon. “You left us to die. Why are you back?”

Ryder swallowed hard and I knew that tore him open. “Revenge.”

I was hoping Blue Eyes wasn’t in earshot, because getting Tessa out of here was supposed to be our cover.

“Is it true about the cure?” Jose – who was very close to me now – asked softly. Our eyes locked.

I nodded. “By next week, vampires won’t exist.”

Jose must have seen the intel on the network, because he accepted my assertion with no more explanation needed. He nodded and turned to the rest of the ash.

“Let them through!” he yelled, and just like that the ash parted and allowed us to walk through the front doors of the Hive.

Our easy run was short-lived, though, because the second we entered the foyer and headed into the dark stairwell, all hell broke loose. Vampires were raining down on us like a goddamn dog pile. They weren’t retreating to their safe upper floors, they were fighting. They didn’t trust the ash to guard them anymore, which was smart, but sucked for us.

“Ooofff.” The wind got knocked out of me as a vampire dropped from above, landing half on me and slamming me to the ground so fast my chin cracked on the pavement.

Shots were fired, and in the close quarters it made my ears ring. Suddenly the weight on me lifted and a strong but feminine tatted-up arm was pulling me up. #lifegoals again. Chick was badass to the core.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling my blade from the thigh sheath I wore.

She nodded, sticking close to me as she too pulled her blade. Together we cut our way through the mess of bodies to get to the door that led to the floor which had the elevator down to the pit. I was going for Tessa. She was my sole focus.

“Hit the deck!” Lincoln yelled, and without question I hit the ground as a small but powerful blast rocked the floor above us, slowing the onslaught of vampires.

When we were able to gain our feet again we tried the closest door. It was locked. Of course. Dammit, where was Sam when you needed him? Tattooed chick busted out some device and stuck it in the lock. She tinkered with it and I heard a beep and an airlock sigh. Well, how about that. Looks like we had our female version of Sam. Rocking the silent thing too. Looking over my shoulder I saw Ryder on the front lines fighting back to back with Kyle.

Go or stay? Go or stay? Ryder or Tessa? As if reading my mind, Ryder looked up for a fraction of a second and yelled. “Go! We’ll hold them off you.”

That’s all I needed. I was barreling down the hallway with this chick and a few Sanctum and SWAT on my ass.
I’m coming, Tessa
. There was only one way in and out of the pit, and luckily it was on a separate grid to the rest of the Hive power. So they couldn’t easily shut the elevator down. Here’s hoping they hadn’t figured out a way.

Using the hand signals Ryder taught me, I communicated with the others behind me about the potential for trouble as we passed the regular elevator and continued on to the gold-colored door. There seemed to be no vamps on this level. Either they hadn’t expected us to try and gain access to the pit … or it was a trap. Probably the second one knowing Fugly. He’d be expecting me to come for Tessa.

Power was still on at the elevator, but that also meant the security was too. Lucky for us, tattoo chick was not only a lethal weapon and lock picker, but she could hack too. Slipping some sort of electronic device from her pocket, she hovered it near the security keypad and within seconds we had access.

The elevator doors opened easily and I stepped inside with the six others. Which actually included Blue Eyes. I hadn’t noticed him until right now. Go observation skills. Our eyes met, and I was struck with the sudden suspicion that Ryder had sent Lincoln along to keep me out of trouble. I inclined my head slightly and he returned the gesture. We were allies in this moment. Badass chick remained close to my side and I was finding her presence as comforting as that of my enforcers. Once we were zooming down, I turned to the others.

“This elevator leads into the Hive prison system. It’s filled with hundreds of cells, so it’s going to be hard to find Tessa. Be on guard, there’ll probably be vampires down here waiting for us. I don’t like that they left this elevator unguarded.”

My plan was to kill any vamps protecting this place and then run through the cells as fast as I could, searching for my bestie. Worst case scenario, I’d scream Tessa’s name at the top of my lungs and hope she responded. I just hoped seven of us were enough to take on whomever was waiting in ambush.

As the doors chimed at the pit floor I fell into formation with the others. I sheathed my knife again and grabbed for the semi-automatic slung across my back. The doors slid open silently and my eyes flicked around the place, trying to determine where the vamps were hidden.

There was nothing.

“Clear,” Lincoln said, before flashing those blue eyes at me to confirm. He knew my senses were much stronger than his. I nodded to assure him it was clear.

Guns still at the ready, we stepped out two abreast. Taking no chances but also not wasting time, we rapidly crossed the stone area, past the front desk which was empty, and into the damp cell area. The smell of this place never left you; it was rank and depressing as fuck. The mumbling and moans coming from the cells as we passed gave me the chills. So far there was no sign of Tessa, and I was for sure thinking they had her stashed right at the back, the hardest place to retrieve her. Of course. With my recent luck I should have expected that.

We crept along, no one speaking, all on high alert.

I slowed as we passed the third path that veered off the main. A rustle caught my attention a second before someone jumped out of a dim alcove. Without thinking, my arm struck out, slamming the person with an uppercut to the jaw. Around me were the sounds of weapons locked and loaded. It took me a split second to recognize the groan and familiar white coat. Okay, not so white at the moment; it was thoroughly streaked with blood and grime, but still the signature outerwear of the only vampire I trusted.

I threw myself forward in front of the male, holding my arms out as I shouted, “Don’t shoot. It’s Lucas!”

I didn’t relax until all of the team had lowered their weapons. Turning, I found Lucas still rubbing his jaw. His eyes roamed over my new haircut and then a smile graced his lips.

“Hello, Charlie.”

I couldn’t stop my own smile as I gave him a quick hug. It was so good to see him. I had feared that when I left him on the roof all that time ago, I’d never seen him alive again. He was one tough bastard to survive the Hive as an enemy for this long.

Lincoln shifted on the spot. His expression was hard and I could tell that good and bad vampires meant nothing to him. All vamps were the enemy. But for now they were following my lead and not attacking.

“Where’s Tessa?” I asked Lucas. There was no time for pleasantries.

He didn’t seem surprised at all, and with a nod he took off running. Okay, that worked for me. Please let her be alive and not mentally fucked up from being tortured. I was feeling good about this plan. It was going really well; there seemed to be no vampires down here. They must all be busy fighting Ryder and the rest of our crew. I was seconds from seeing my best friend. That’s when my thoughts jinxed me, because the moment we turned the corner a flashbang grenade went off right in front of my face. Cue deafness for the second fucking time.

I really needed to quit this job and work on a farm or some shit.

I hit the ground, grabbing my ringing ears and trying to orient myself. The fucking sound bomb had worked too damn well in disabling my backup soldiers; we were all on the ground, wincing in agony. The humans in our group would take longer to recover, which put us at a decided disadvantage. Of course, I should have known Wonder Woman wasn’t going to let a little sound grenade keep her down. She was up before everyone and was already spraying bullets at the onslaught of undead coming at us.

Lucas and I were close behind her. Blue Eyes and the Sanctum males recovered quickly too. The humans had actually fared better than I’d expected. One or two were still on the ground, so right now it was five versus at least thirty. My instincts had been right. This was a secondary trap, primarily for me. I wondered how long Fugly had been planning this. These vamps had probably been down here for days.

Vampires weren’t big on weapons usually. They considered themselves to be enough of a weapon, but some of them were shooting at us, so we had to use one of the little alcoves for protection. I wasn’t able to get out of the way fast enough and a bullet grazed my left arm, opening a four-inch gash that was now bleeding freely. Just a flesh wound, so I didn’t bother to give it more than a glance. Blue eyes dragged his other men in, while tatted chick and I started blasting away at vamps.

They were coming straight for us, clearly not caring that we were easily taking down their front line. I think they expected to have enough numbers to reach us before we could kill them all. And it looked like they were right.

I dodged to the left, avoiding a rain of bullets that clinked into the stone right where my head had been.

“They’re too close now,” I said to the badass while I reloaded my gun. The tranqs were not going to work on these assholes – bullets all the way.

She nodded, and before I could say anything else she did a dive roll out, a gun in each hand, firing away like a crazy person. And from what I could tell, every shot was a headshot. This chick was not human, I don’t care what anyone said.

Lincoln and I followed her. Lucas, who didn’t have a weapon, remained protectively crouched close to my side. While firing my semi-automatic, I handed him a handgun, and it turned out that he wasn’t just a pretty face. Dude had game. He was slicing through the charging mass, each hit a headshot too.

The vampires were down to about twelve when the front line finally reached us. A body toppled next to me, and I glanced down long enough to see one of the humans dead on the ground, bullet to the head. Shit. We were all wearing tactical gear with bulletproof vests, but a bullet to the head couldn’t be avoided. Turning swiftly, I used my gun to both shoot at the assholes and also smack a few of them around. I cracked a vampire in the face with the butt, knocking him back a few paces, before swinging the weapon around and shooting the male in the temple.

Lucas growled at my side, and by the time I glanced to the left he’d completely torn a female’s head off.

“They’re not used to combat,” he said with a grin. “Too many years of getting ash to do their dirty work.”

I didn’t have time to answer, I was being double-teamed by two beefy vamps. I’d never seen them before, but that wasn’t unusual; vamps and ash did not mingle much. They came at me at the same time. I hit the ground, sweeping out with my feet, knocking down the one to my right and yanking my knife out to slice the other’s femoral artery. It dug deep into his thigh, but I hit the spot. It wouldn’t kill a vampire, but it would slow them down long enough that I’d find killing them much easier.

On my feet again, the one who’d hit the ground first was already rising. I dived and slammed into his chest. The impact radiated up my arms, but thankfully I didn’t drop the knife. In these close quarters my ashpire blood was working in full effect; the vampire growled and struggled to get at me. A few drops of my blood had dripped on his face. He stilled before his fangs extended full force and his eyes went crazy. He leaned up as if to bite me, and I used the distraction to shove the knife straight into his eye socket. Had to hit the brain to kill them.

My stomach roiled as I forced the blade in, up to the hilt. Holy hell. When had this become my life? I could now casually stab people in the eye. ‘Cause that’s not fucked up. Shivering, I finished the job and he fell to the ground, limp. Lucas was going around to all of the vampires we had dropped and was snapping their necks. He did this with such ease and precision it was clear he had done it many times before.

He noticed me watching and explained: “When you snap a vampire’s neck hard enough, it severs the spinal cord. This type of injury takes hours to heal and renders the vampire unconscious for that time.”

I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to leave them alive, but time was important too. And we needed to get moving.

Blue eyes was watching Lucas’ movements with interest, but said nothing. We were six now, and I felt awful that he had lost one of his men, especially because he was about to see that Tessa wasn’t human and they’d risked their lives for a vampire. Fuck me. He would probably kill me.

Making our way over the piles of unconscious or dead vampires, we continued down the hall and followed Lucas to a door. Cell 213. Lucas stopped in front of it and turned to hand me keys. By this time we were only a foot apart and his eyes had started pulsing, fangs distended. I was covered in blood, and a lot of it was mine. Damn unicorn blood.

“Lucas!” I forced as much authority as I could into that one word. For a second I thought he wasn’t going to snap out of it, but thankfully with a shake of his head he dropped the keys into my hand and stepped back.

“Sorry, they have restricted my feedings as punishment,” he murmured, his voice low and hoarse.

Shit. Well, hopefully the plan went off in the next few days, with no problems of course. Then we would cure all the vampires and end their sadistic rule. A moan from inside the cell drew my attention.