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“I’d say we need to find either a door with guards or at the very least, a basement.”
“That makes sense.”
Ethan bit back a sigh. “Well, that’s not this way. I say we turn around and go through the kitchen again. Maybe there’s a door off the kitchen that leads to the basement. At least, that’s where I’d put it if I was the architect.”
“We need to hurry. Lola and the others have got to be drawing a lot of fire.”
Ethan grunted as he turned and started jogging down the hall with Bel following behind. Lola and the others were attacking the guards outside the house, drawing everyone’s attention away from him and Bel as they conducted their search and rescue. Six minutes was already a damn long time, but even after looking at the rough sketch they had of the Black Wolf clan house, it hadn’t prepared him for the sheer size of the place. It was amazing that people were surviving in studio apartments that were only a few hundred square feet when some people felt monstrous structures like this were necessary.
As they neared another corner, the sounds of fighting reached them. Had Lola and her team been chased inside the house? Fuck. That couldn’t be a good sign. Ethan slowed his pace and was careful as he peeked around the corner to keep from giving their presence away.
The first thing he saw was Marcus’s fist slamming into a vampire’s face. The vampire staggered but didn’t go down. Before he could launch himself at Marcus again, Ethan jumped out and fired his gun at the vamp, hitting him in the back. The impact was enough to spin the vampire around. Fangs bared in a blood-smeared face, he snarled and took one step toward Ethan. That was as far as he got before a look of confusion flashed across his face. A second later it shifted to horror. It never really reached pain before he started to dissolve.
Yeah, Bel was a mad genius. Thank God he was on their side.
“Ethan?”
Ethan looked up to see a blood-covered Marcus staring at him in shock. He was wounded in more than one place, and his skin under the blood was a sickly pale. And he was still the best thing Ethan had ever seen in his life.
“Marcus!” Ethan shouted, joy filling his voice. But it was short-lived. Vampires from the Black Wolf clan were running down the hall, threatening to overwhelm them. It didn’t help that Rafe and Winter weren’t looking much better than Marcus.
“Take this!” Bel shouted before he tossed the black-bladed machete he’d been carrying in his right hand to Marcus. “Don’t touch the blade.”
“The poison?”
“Yes. I’ve got Ethan.”
Before Ethan could ask what Bel meant by that, Bel’s strong arms wrapped around him from behind, pulling him in tight against his chest. He was trapped, couldn’t even lift his arm to fire his gun.
“Bel!” Ethan protested.
Bel lowered his face to Ethan’s ear, his arms tightening until Ethan could barely breathe. “Stay still. I’ve got you.”
Ethan wanted to argue that they needed to help Marcus, but the world was suddenly plunged into complete darkness. It was more than someone cutting the power. This darkness was heavy and all-consuming. He blinked again and again, trying to get his eyes to focus, to find some little spark of light to glom onto, but there was nothing.
And then the screaming started.
Ethan sucked in a fractured breath. He could feel the first tendrils of panic wrapping around him, causing his limbs to tremble. His brain kept trying to tell him that he was falling, that he was falling into a bottomless pit and he was never getting out again. Never seeing Marcus or his brothers again. Never seeing light again.
Arms tightened painfully around Ethan and he welcomed it. The pain was better than the pervading sense of hopelessness that was trying to sink into him.
“I’ve got you. You’re safe,” Bel repeated over and over again. But even while Ethan could feel his face pressed to the side of his head, his voice sounded so very far away. His words helped ground him, but he couldn’t shake the idea that he would only feel better when he could see Marcus again.
A moment later, the lights returned and the darkness receded. Ethan blinked and he swore it looked like the light was actually flowing out of Marcus and back into the lamps, but he was sure his eyes were simply playing tricks on him after being subjected to such complete darkness. Bel released him and Ethan lurched forward, running to Marcus. The hallway was filled with bubbling pools of green goo that had been vampires, while Winter and Rafe leaned against the wall, trying to catch their breaths.
Marcus’s strong arms closed around Ethan, and everything felt a little bit better. There was a soft grunt of pain from Marcus, but when Ethan tried to step away, Marcus held him tighter.
