Hunger (24 page)

“So we sacrifice a few of the humans who turned like us. We have a damn surplus of them now. We’ll use them like cannon fodder. They will distract the pureblood target while we close in enough to tranquilize them. From now on, we’ll bring the vampires back here and keep them sedated.” Adam paced into view, his boots heavy on the tiled floor. He still wore his leather over his black t-shirt and palmed the pocket where he kept the tranquilizers. “We can’t stop now. The vampire tonight… he had old blood… we can wait for him to come back—”

“Madness. When I agreed to this plan of yours and to bring you over, it was on the basis that this whole project would be completed in a matter of days. It has been years and we are still no closer to acquiring this Midnight. I’m beginning to think it’s a lie and was never a success. Besides…” The other man shoved his fingers through his hair and bared his fangs at a woman strapped to one of the boards. She screamed and struggled harder. The man struck her across the face and she slumped in the restraints, unconscious. “You said it yourself… those weren’t normal purebloods.”

“Law Keepers,” Adam muttered and rubbed his chin. “I thought we had hit the jackpot. You should have seen how he moved. Damn it. Fucking Eve. Always fucking things up for me.”

Tor eased away from the door and turned on his heel. He needed to contact the Law Keepers now, while the weaklings were still struggling to complete their formula for Midnight. It was their chance to strike and put an end to this madness before it was too late and the weaklings succeeded in turning a human into a weakling-pureblood hybrid.

He suspected that those they tested the toxic mix on were coming back pure weakling and were being recruited, like the youngsters he had followed into the building, or they were coming back pureblood and Adam and the mad scientist were killing them before they were strong enough to defend themselves.

Tor strode up the corridor to the next floor and then took the steps up into the warehouse.

Either way, he now knew without a doubt that the humans weren’t the only ones playing God. It sickened him. First Section Seven toyed with their hunters, giving them vampire genes, and now weaklings attempted to create hybrids loyal to their pathetic cause.

Tor wanted to kill them all.

He pulled his phone from his jeans pocket and started punching in a text to Eve, telling her that he had found their base and so far there were no successful turnings, that they needed stronger blood, and warning her not to come but to send the Law Keepers.

He was about to add a location and send the text when the two thugs who had dragged the body out approached him.

“It’s late to be heading out,” one said

Tor shrugged. “I’m hungry.”

The two exchanged an unconvinced look. “You won’t make it back before sunrise.”

He raised an eyebrow. “It’s hours until dawn.”

They were stalling him. He sent the text without the location and pocketed his phone.

“If you’ll excuse me.” Tor went to pass them and they stepped into his path, a wall of muscle that most would have found daunting. They were weaklings though. They could put on as much muscle as they liked and he would still be stronger than they were.

“No one is meant to leave. No hunting in the city tonight.”

Tor had forgotten about that. “Really? Shit. What’s a guy got to do to get some fresh blood around here?”

He quickly scanned the warehouse and frowned as he spotted the cameras above the exit. How had he missed those? He needed to make tracks, and fast.

He launched his left fist at the closest male.

A sharp stinging sensation erupted in his left shoulder blade and his vision wobbled, the edges growing dark.

Tor stumbled as his muscles slackened and his bones caught fire. He blinked fast to clear his vision, combating the fuzziness creeping into it, and swung around to face the way he had come.

A man stood there next to the entrance to the underground lair with a gun in his hand.

The world wobbled again and the man was closer. Clearer.

“Like my new toy?” Adam said, flashing the black tranquilizer gun, a sick smile of satisfaction on his face. “It certainly makes dealing with pests easier.”

Tor’s legs gave out and he clutched at the concrete floor, fighting the drug and determined to remain conscious. He fumbled behind him, desperately trying to reach the gun tucked into the waistband of his black jeans.

He couldn’t let Adam capture him.

Eve would feel it.

She would come to find him.

A second dart struck his shoulder, unleashing fire that burned him to ashes inside and made the world spin violently.

His vision dimmed and he collapsed onto the cold floor, consciousness draining from him.

She would die.

E
ve slammed the phone down and growled at it. Bloody Section Seven. It had taken her almost half an hour to convince them that she was who she said she was, and that she wasn’t lying to them about Adam and his plans to use Midnight. She wasn’t sure what they could do.

They were having a meeting.

She shook her head at that. Vampires launched straight into action, sending their top men to deal with the potential problem, hunting down those who were a threat to both their kind and the humans. Section Seven had to have endless meetings before they even considered lifting a finger.

She growled again and paced away from the telephone before she hurled it across the library.

Vincent’s calm hazel gaze tracked her. The man had an incredible way of blending into the background and becoming one with the furniture. She swore he hadn’t moved in the last forty minutes, ever since he had taken up position near the door, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

“I don’t suppose you have any suggestions?” she said, a little more bite to her tone than he deserved.

He hadn’t done anything wrong. He had escorted her back to the mansion in the Law Keepers’ black car and had brought her to the library where they could work in peace. He had been a perfect gentleman the whole time, not saying a word out of place.

She was just riled and lashing out, irritated by Section Seven’s behaviour and the constant yawning abyss within her. She shuddered, wishing she could shake off the chill and the emptiness that had come upon her the moment Tor had sprinted out of sight. With every metre further apart they had moved, the weird sensation had increased, and her temper had frayed with it.

She didn’t like him being away from her. Not feeling him close to her, sensing his emotions and his presence, was disorientating.

Her mobile phone beeped.

She pulled it from her jeans pocket and frowned at the message from Tor. He was telling her to keep away and let the men handle the job? Insufferable bastard. She was more than capable of taking Adam down. She wouldn’t hesitate again.

Pain tore through her insides, shredding them and ripping a cry from her throat. She clutched her stomach, her head spinning from the crippling agony burning her to ashes inside and threatening to render her unconscious.

“Are you alright?” Vincent pushed away from the wall and was by her side in an instant, hovering close to her, his hand held barely a few inches from her arm.

He couldn’t touch her and he knew it. It would make her pain worse, and probably send her tumbling into darkness.

She held her stomach, screwing her eyes shut and waiting for the agony to pass, her skin crawling and prickling. Her throat tightened as a thousand thoughts blasted through her mind, each reason for her pain more frightening than the last.

Vincent reached out to take her arm and she stumbled away from him.

“I’m fine. It’s not me.” She knew that with a bolt of dread that tore her up worse than the pain had because this one struck her heart with a direct shot. “It’s Tor. Something has happened to Tor.”

Eve fumbled with her phone, her hands shaking as she pressed the button to call him. She pinned the phone to her ear and rubbed her stomach. It went straight to voicemail.

She cursed under her breath, her panic increasing as her mind filled with terrifying images of Tor in the hands of Adam.

“We need to find Tor.” She showed Vincent the text she had received. “They need strong blood and I have a bad feeling that they just got their hands on some.”

He nodded. “We’ll have to follow your bond.”

She swallowed hard. “Follow it?”

He marched towards the door and she raced to keep up with him. “You are bound to him. You can follow your instincts and senses, and those will lead us to his location. We will have to wait for Daemon and Serge to return.”

He was on his own phone before she could give her response to that suggestion. Hell, no. She couldn’t wait for them to get back to the mansion. She followed in silence for a few steps, heading through the grand foyer towards the main doors of the house, and then leaped in front of Vincent.

“Tell them to meet us at the red light district. It’ll save time.” And time was a precious resource right now. She felt sure of it. She needed to reach Tor as soon as she could, because the horrific things Adam and the weaklings had done to her would pale in comparison to what Adam would do to him and she didn’t think she could bear feeling him suffer.

She was liable to do something stupid, like race out into daylight to save him.

He nodded and relayed the information to whoever was on the other end of the line, ended the call and dialled again.

The gravel crunched under her boots as she crossed the drive to the black car parked at the end of the row of vehicles belonging to the mansion. Vincent opened the car with the fob, the bright flash of yellow lights near blinding her in the darkness. She looked skyward and rubbed her arms through her black jacket to keep the sudden chill off them.

Night was already fading. In a few hours, it would be dawn.

They had to hurry. Tor needed her.

She got in the passenger side of the black sedan and buckled up. Vincent slid into the driver’s seat and pocketed his phone.

“They will meet us near the red light district. From there, it’s down to you, Eve. You’ll have to follow your instincts.” He started the engine and gunned it. The wheels skidded as the car shot down the drive, throwing gravel in their wake. Vincent didn’t even slow as they passed through the open gate, earning angry shouts from the vampires guarding it.

“I don’t think it will be that hard.” The moment they had started moving, a strange pull had fired up inside her, similar to the one she had felt when moving away from Tor, only this one was gaining strength as she neared him.

With every mile that passed, the sensation continued to grow stronger, like a buzzing in her veins. The moment they entered the city, the feeling altered, becoming something more amazing. Whenever they were heading in Tor’s direction, the pain beating within her heart lessened.

They picked up Daemon and Serge at a square in the centre of the city and started off again. Eve did her best to direct Vincent, but the layout of the city made it difficult. There were so many one way streets and narrow roads, all of them slowing down their progress. The pain continued to hum inside her, the pull towards Tor still strong, telling her that he was alive for now. His pain hadn’t increased either. If anything, it was growing quieter, as if he was healing.

Maybe he was asleep.

Or unconscious.

That seemed the more likely answer.

The streets and canals blurred together, until she felt they were going in circles as she directed Vincent.

They hit a dead end between two rows of buildings and Eve wanted to leap out of the car and run, following her instincts on foot instead. The drive to reach Tor was primal and deep, something beyond her understanding. It overwhelmed her and controlled her to a degree, making her a slave to it, as if she didn’t have a choice but to find Tor.

As if her life depended upon it.

She reached for the door handle as Vincent reversed.

Serge grabbed her arm to stop her and she screamed as pain tore through her, a thousand burning needles stabbing up her arm and deep into her bones.

“Devil,” Daemon barked and Serge suddenly released her, as if Daemon had dragged him back into the seat behind her. “You should know better than to grab a mated female like that.”

Serge growled. “She was attempting to escape.”

“Not escape,” she muttered and rubbed her arm, willing sensation back into it and the pain to fade so she could feel Tor again and the drive to find him.

They were wasting precious minutes.

“I need to get to him.” She threw a pleading look at Vincent beside her. “Drive. Just drive. I can’t take it.”

He nodded and slammed his foot down on the accelerator, hurling them backwards down the narrow street. He yanked the wheel around as they reached the end, sending the car into a spin, and shoved his foot onto the brake, and then onto the accelerator again. The car lurched and roared up the road along the canal.

Eve focused, struggling to subdue the pain Serge had caused so she could feel Tor.

It was too hazy.

The car zoomed towards an intersection and Eve hoped no one was coming along it because Vincent was going too fast to stop.

Her senses cleared.

“Left!” Eve lunged for the wheel and shoved it hard, twisting it in Vincent’s hands.

He swore and took over steering, whipping the wheel around and sending her slamming against the window.

“Let me do the driving,” he growled.

The two men in the back murmured in agreement.

Eve stared out of the window as she directed Vincent, her eyes on the horizon.

It was growing light.

She shook her head, fear crushing her heart in an icy grip, squeezing the life out of her. She couldn’t turn back now. She pressed her hand to her chest. She had to find Tor. She had to reach him.

“Keep going,” she said and Vincent nodded.

“The car has anti-UV glass. We will be safe in it. Don’t worry.”

She tried to nod but didn’t have the energy. The pain was growing weaker but the pull kept growing stronger, tugging her forwards, straight towards the horizon. Tor was there waiting for her. She had to find him. She couldn’t fail him. She couldn’t lose the man she loved, a man who had brought her back to life, who made her smile and laugh, and made her feel safe and protected.