Annihilate (Hive Trilogy Book 3) (3 page)

Becca handed him a credit card. “Spend however much you need. Sam has us well funded.”

Again I raised my eyebrows at Sam and wondered if this wasn’t one of the “charities” that had received money from Deliverance.

Jayden’s hand shook as he took the card. His eyes were wide and a little crazed. “Unlimited online shopping? Everyone give me your sizes. I’ll be in my room for the next three days.”

I smiled. Jayden was officially in heaven, but I was hoping they didn’t sell nipple pasties online.

Becca held up a hand. “Right. Rooms. We have mostly bunkbed-style shared barracks, but there are two private rooms. One’s mine, so ... the other…”

Ryder stepped forward. “Charlie and I will take the other one.”

Oh my GAWD. Did he just do that? I was trying to decide if it was too forward or the hottest goddamn thing ever. I went with hot. I grinned.

Wait, did Ryder just ask me to move in with him?

Jayden and Oliver gave us glares. I waggled my fingers at them in a half-wave. Sorry, bitches. I earned this.

The room I was officially sharing with Ryder was small but cozy, and most importantly it had a soft bed with a thick down comforter. I had been starting to worry I’d be stuck in a sleeping bag on a cot. I had all of seven worldly possessions at the moment, and so after putting away my cheap plastic toothbrush, plastic package of cotton granny panties, and one extra t-shirt, I went to find the boys.

Turning from the bed, I saw that Ryder was standing in the doorway watching me. His gaze was hard to read, but damn he looked sexy. Even in cheap sweatpants and a t-shirt the guy could be on a billboard.

“Hey,” I said.

He stepped in and looked around the small room. Queen bed, bookshelf, and nightstand.

“Hope you don’t mind I claimed the room for us.” His eyes were saying a lot more than his words.

I closed the distance between us. “Don’t mind at all.”

He eyed my lips, and a softness trickled across his hard features. It was one of those special little things he did only around me.

Then a small smile quirked the side of his lips. “Should I be worried that Jayden just asked me if I wore boxers, briefs, or a thong?”

I busted out laughing. I loved my BAFF hard; he was exactly what these serious enforcers needed. Ryder’s smile went to full throttle, but just for a moment, before it was replaced with a strained expression.

“What’s up?” I prodded.

He sighed. “We left them, Charlie. We just left them all to the whims and tempers of the vampires.”

Tension skated across my body then and my chest got weirdly tight. Breathing was harder than it had been a minute ago. I knew exactly what Ryder was talking about, and it was something I was trying not to dwell on, but it was slowly eating me up inside.

He was worried about his other enforcers. Being the lead enforcer, he had trained every single one of them, working with many of them for years. And although he was closest with the sexy six, he still cared for all the others. They were his team.

I stepped even closer to him, our warmth wrapping around each other. “We left Tessa, Blake, and Lucas too. If there was another way, I would have taken it.”

He pulled me into his arms and I rested my head against his hard chest. “I know,” he murmured.

Most of the time I felt like a single, pretty insignificant person. But then there were these moments, like this, where I felt bigger, like I could do something grand, something unthinkable. I was the goddamn cure to our problem.

“Ryder…” I pulled back and he met my eyes. “We have to save them all. The ash. My friends. I want to bring down the Hives. Annihilate the vampires whose power and corruption is polluting our world.”

Ryder’s face was a mixture of surprise and pride. He nodded once, and I knew that even if we died trying, we would wipe vampires from the face of the Earth. This was the reason I was here.

We remained in our comforting hug for many long moments. I could sense that Ryder was as reluctant as me to part ways and get back to reality, but unfortunately, even in the middle of nowhere, real life was continuing. And we had things to do.

Ryder and I walked hand in hand through the maze of containers to the boys’ room. I was shocked at how large their bunk room was, three shipping containers wide with the middle walls cut out. Each container had a set of bunkbeds with curtains between them that could be pulled for privacy. There were also couches, a pool table, and a TV in a common area. I had a feeling this was going to be the hangout part of this facility.

Becca wasn’t in the room. She must be back in the lab geeking out over my blood.

As soon as we entered, Jayden looked up from the computer.

“Charlie, you’re a 36C right?” he asked.

My eyes widened as Kyle and Jared cleared their throats. Ryder leveled a look at Jayden; it was a look I’d seen many times. It meant you should stop talking. Now.

Of course that didn’t worry my BAFF at all. He was still staring at me, so I nodded to let him know he was right.

Jayden’s hands were again flying over the computer keys and I had no doubt that in twenty-four hours there would be four FedEx delivery trucks full of Victoria’s Secret, Coach, and other goodies. Jayden was a brand whore, and he had excellent taste in everything.

Ryder was suddenly all business. “Sam. Report.” All eyes turned to the dark-haired enforcer in the corner, hunched over a laptop. He took a really long time to finally look up from the screen, and my heart dropped as I lurched toward him. Pure agony was swimming in his eyes.

What the hell had happened?

“You guys need to see this,” he said, his voice gruff. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears; his skin was sickly pale.

Everyone crowded around Sam, who was back to staring at his screen, face now void of all emotion.

“Tell us!” Ryder barked, so loud I jumped. Oh shit. This was bad, this was going to be really bad. Don’t be my mom or Tessa please.

Sam met Ryder’s eyes. “Before we left I made a back door into the CCTV at the Hive so we could watch what they were doing.”

Okay, that was creepy and genius. I braced myself for the next thing he was going to say.

Sam actually bit down on his lip. “They killed them … all of them.”

Ryder sagged against me. For the first time I saw something like fear and horror cross all of the enforcers’ faces.

“Who?” I didn’t know what he was talking about, but the boys seemed to understand. They all looked devastated.

Sam’s hands were gripped tightly into fists as he fought for control. He had to clear his voice more than once. “The enforcers, ninety-seven of them … all dead.”

No! God, no.

Jayden lost it then, cursing, crying, kicking out at things as Oliver wrapped his arms around him to try and calm him down.

Tears welled in my eyes. God dammit! Those asshole bloodsuckers were doing this to hurt us. To punish us for leaving. The enforcers had stopped taking orders once they suspended Ryder and this is what they got. Mass murder.

It took minutes – felt like hours – for Ryder to collect himself. He straightened, and the look on his face sent shivers down my spine and had my knees buckling.

“Show me.” His voice was gravelly and pissed the fuck off.

Sam shook his head. “You don’t need to see it.”

“Show. Me. Now.” Ryder ordered again, and I was afraid if Sam didn’t do as he asked, Ryder might actually hurt him.

Sam turned the laptop around, defeated, and my hand flew to my mouth. Whether to hold my gasp or stop the vomit, who could tell.

The enforcers’ bodies were strewn around the gym, the very gym they made us fight for our lives in. Blood, so much blood. And so many bodies bent at wrong angles. I couldn’t look. I’d seen enough. Turning my back, I tried to control myself, counting to ten and thinking happy thoughts. Anything so those images didn’t continue to run through my head.

“I want to see this whole thing. Rewind it.” Ryder’s voice was hollow, murderous.

“Hey, mate, that won’t help anything,” Jared said, and from the corner of my eye I saw him put a hand on Ryder’s shoulder. The lead enforcer shrugged it off.

“I will watch the entire video and every single vampire involved will burn alive.” Ryder’s voice was low, almost emotionless. Just his eyes displayed the strong emotions churning within him. They were blazing silver.

I knew it wasn’t a threat. It was fact. Ryder would go back one day and kill every single one of them. This was different than the culling. These men had served the Quorum for years and this is what they got? Cold blooded murder.

Sam hit a few keys and low sound filtered across to us: screams, curses, and gunfire. My stomach churned, and I swallowed a few times to keep it together. I was shuddering as Jayden crossed to my side, engulfing me in a hug. Eventually he pulled on my hand and I let him guide me away, through the hall, past the kitchen, and into my private room.

He sat on the bed, picking at his cuticles. His face was pale – well, as pale as it could go, eyes sad as he turned to me. “Let’s talk about something fun. I need to get that image out of my head.”

I nodded. Despite the fact he could go kung-fu warrior, like in the culling, deep down Jayden was a lover not a fighter. Plus I desperately needed to not think about it either.

“You think Sam and Becca are sleeping together?” I blurted out and Jayden squealed.

“I know, right? I wonder … I mean she’s nerdy, but hot. Her eyebrows though…” He shuddered. “Girl needs help.”

I snort laughed. “They have to be doing it. How could you spend decades out here and not get some action?”

Jayden shrugged. “Vibrator?”

My mouth dropped open and I smacked his arm.

“Ewww, I do not want that mental picture next time I see her.”

Jayden grinned. Asshole.

Our conversation died off then, and despite our need to wipe those last few moments from our minds, it was too big to suppress. Our idle chatter was a Band-Aid over a severed arm.

“We’re going to fight those bastards, right?” Jayden was now channeling his badass side. He wanted the vampires to go down as much as I did.

I was suddenly on my feet, moving out of the room. “Yes we are,” I said, as Jayden caught up to me and we both charged out the door. “We’re going to take them down so hard they won’t know what hit them, and for that we need Becca.”

It took me a few tries to remember the way back to her lab. Jayden was of course no help; his sense of direction might actually be worse than mine.

Finally, though, the bright, overly fake fluorescent lighting came into sight and I knew we were in the right place. Sure enough, as I rounded the corner I zeroed straight in on Becca, who was crouched over a microscope.

She never even looked up as we crossed the cleaned-within-an-inch-of-its-life lab; everything was white, stainless steel, and top of the line. She had tech here which labs across the world would kill for. Which would hopefully mean this was our best chance of creating the perfect weapon to use against the vampires.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Jayden whispered as he followed right behind me. “As my BAFF, it’s your job to make sure that if I die, no mutha-effer donates my body to science. I will come back and haunt the hell out of you.”

I snorted, reaching out and taking his hand. “You’re not allowed to die. That’s a freaking order.” He squeezed my hand tightly then, but any further conversation was cut off as Becca finally lifted her head.

She looked completely stunned to see us there – and we hadn’t been quiet – especially for someone with ash senses. Her eyes roamed across our faces, and she must have seen some of the devastation from the Portland Hive video on our features.

“Has something happened?” Her glasses fell forward along her narrow nose as she straightened and automatically reached up to push them back into place. I found it hilarious, and sort of endearing that she continued to hold so tightly to that part of her old life, because she obviously didn’t need glasses. Ash had perfect sight, but old habits die hard, and I understood her need. She had lost everything else she loved that day at the zoo.

She was still waiting for us to answer her, so I quickly explained about the enforcers and what we saw. Somehow I got the words out. Jayden and I were both shiny-eyed again as the pain and disbelief hit hard. The images from the computer screen continued to flash across my mind, and I wished I hadn’t seen them at all. My heart hurt so hard for Ryder and the other sexy six. But mostly Ryder. He was the leader, and he took his responsibility very seriously. There was no doubt he believed the blood of those ash was on his hands. Which was not the case. The Quorum would have killed us whether we ran or not. And then killed the enforcers. But still, we all knew Ryder was a bad one for holding on to guilt.

Becca was silent then, her eyes darting between me and Jayden. She had not flinched at our news, and something told me that this wasn’t the worst thing she’d seen happen in the Hives. She focused all of her attention on me.

“I’m guessing you’re here because you want to know if I can turn your blood into a weapon to use against them?” Smart people were the best. No need to explain shit, they already knew.

I nodded and waited for her to continue.

A smile spread across her surprisingly full lips. Girl was actually quite stunning, she just needed a little help with showcasing herself. And judging by the look on Jayden’s face, he was already mentally tweezing her brows and changing her lab coats out for an outfit that probably required Spanx and nipple pasties. Poor girl. I should probably warn her, but it was fun to not be his only ash girlie to play designer on.

I forced myself to focus as she started rattling off the science stuff again. “I haven’t had much time with your blood yet, Charlie, but I can already tell that it’s fascinatingly different to mine. You seem to have a special type of white blood cell, one which is more elongated than any I’ve ever seen before. It is dominating your blood, and the other cells seem to use it to move rapidly through the body. They’re working as a team to fight off any antigens.”