Page 90 of Grayson’s Challenge

“Oh crap,” Hamish cursed, keeping his voice low.

Grayson looked past him into the room. Three men in dirty clothes, smelling of urine and feces, were huddled in a corner, their eyes hollow, blood on their necks and clothing. Abel’s men had used homeless men as food while holed up in this building.

“We’ll take care of them later,” Grayson murmured to Hamish, then gestured for him to close the door.

He tapped on his earpiece, activating the microphone. “Everybody, watch out for mortals. We found three homeless men Abel’s men used to feed on. There might be more.”

There was no reply from anybody, but Grayson didn’t expect one. From the loud noises, the thuds and gunshots, it was clear that everybody was too busy fighting their opponents.

Grayson led Cooper and Hamish farther along the outer edges of the building, searching for other rooms where his father and Cain could be locked up, when he saw a movement from the corner of his eye. He whipped his head toward it, and saw a metal bin hurtling toward him. He jumped out of the way, and the bin hit the wall behind him.

He exchanged a quick look with Hamish. “Aren’t we invisible?” he whispered to the Stealth Guardian.

“We are.” Hamish motioned in the direction from where the bucket had come.

Grayson saw Zane fighting with a hostile vampire, who was quickly running out of options and had started to toss anything he could get his hands on at Zane. Not worried about his colleague, Grayson continued his search for Samson and Cain.

“There,” Cooper suddenly whispered and pointed to a door just beyond a partition.

In front of it, somebody had fashioned a barricade with parts of a desk and a turned-over shelving unit. From behind it, a vampire peeked out, gun at the ready. He wasn’t joining Abel’s men in the fight, instead he was guarding the door.

Grayson exchanged a look with Hamish and Cooper, and gave them a sign to stay close, while he approached. As he cleared another partition, he noticed a second vampire. The man was rushing toward the guard at the door.

“We’re outnumbered,” the hostile vampire said. “Go to plan B.”

Then the vampire abruptly turned in Grayson’s direction, and stopped only inches from Grayson. The man’s nostrils flared.

Fuck! Wesley’s spray to disguise a vampire’s scent was wearing off.

The vampire’s eyes flashed red, and his fangs descended. His hand holding a stake jerked upwards. Not wasting any time, Grayson lifted his hand holding the gun and aimed for the guy’s heart. He pulled the trigger.

The vampire swayed toward Grayson, and would have collided with him, had he not dissolved into ash a second later. Gray ash rained over Grayson, and he coughed involuntarily. Alarmed by the vampire’s death, the hostile guarding the door aimed his gun in Grayson’s direction and pulled the trigger.

A push from the side made Grayson stumble out of the line of fire. As he tried to regain his footing, he saw Cooper charge past him toward the gunman. He slammed his stake into the guy’s chest, before his opponent knew what was happening.

“Another one bites the dust,” Cooper said and brushed his opponent’s remains off his clothing.

Grayson nodded. “Thanks, Coop.” He pointed to the door. “Locked?”

Cooper tried the door knob. “Yep.”

Grayson let his eyes roam where a thin layer of dust covered the floor. There was a cell phone, and a key. He picked up both, pocketed the cell phone, then tried the key. The lock clicked.

He took a deep breath, then looked at Cooper and Hamish. “Cover me.”

Grayson pushed the door open. It was even darker in this room than in the rest of the building, but he didn’t need light to confirm that he’d found the right place. He inhaled deeply, and Samson’s scent drifted to him. There was another scent too, but he wasn’t as familiar with it. But he knew it had to be Cain’s.

“Dad! Cain!” He rushed into the room, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. “Cooper, Hamish! It’s them.” He tapped on his earpiece. “We have the hostages. Southwest corner of the building.”

“Understood,” Thomas reported from the van. “There are still moving heat signatures in the Southeast quadrant of the building.”

“Nicholas and I have them in sight,” Zane reported. “We’ll take care of them.”

Grayson tuned out the voices coming through his earpiece and crouched down next to his father. “Dad, it’s Grayson, I’m here now.” He looked at his father’s face, shocked at the pain that contorted his handsome features. “Cooper, feed Cain the blood.” From the corner of his eye, he saw that Cooper kneeled down next to Cain, while pulling a bottle of human blood from his small backpack.

Grayson retrieved the small thermos of his mother’s blood and propped his father up, holding him. “Dad, you have to drink.”

Samson’s body coiled in agony, and he pushed the bottle away.