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I stepped out into the darkened hallway. A group of young vampire girls in uniform passed, giving me a lingering look as they hurried off to a class somewhere in the building. It still was strange to me that they were running a boarding school out here, but I supposed it wasn’t that different from the way werewolves tended to create towns from scratch in the middle of nowhere for our kind.
I put it from my mind, heading to where I’d last seen Lazarus. I let my wolf stir, which enhanced my sense of smell and what I thought of as the eye in the back of my head. It wasn’t easy to explain the feeling, but the more control I gave to my wolf, the more I seemed to be able to sense what was about to come. It became nearly impossible to sneak up on me or surprise me.
I felt drawn to a room I hadn’t seen before. It was near the end of the long hallway of dormitories. I took a glance back toward my room. I hadn’t wanted to move too far from Sylvie, but right now, Lazarus still had no reason to target her. He thought I was going through with his plan.
The room was dark inside. Shocking. I sensed a presence. “Is that you?”
Victor stepped out of the shadows. “That depends who you were looking for.”
Shit. The first question to enter my head was to ask what the hell he was doing lurking in dark rooms. But the asshole was a vampire. Their idea of a fun weekend was probably lurking in abandoned ruins or hanging upside down in closets.
“Victor,” I said, trying to think fast. I could come clean now, but we’d have no idea where Lazarus was keeping the others. Even with Victor’s help, we might only save Sylvie and sign the death warrant of the others.
I was saved the trouble of having to figure out what to do when the door opened behind me. Lazarus walked in, then shut it behind himself. “Do it,” he said.
“Tell me where the others are,” I said.
“What is this?” Victor asked.
The door opened and two more vampires came in to flank Lazarus. Cleaners. And I sensed they weren’t the half-wits he’d sent in the car to make a show of stopping us. These guys were the real deal, and I was officially fucked if this came to blows.
I held my hand up toward Victor, hoping to shut him up long enough to get what I needed out of Lazarus.
“Patience, Riggs. Do what I’ve asked, and you’ll have them. Or are we having second thoughts?”
“Tell me where they are and I’ll do it.”
“Do what,” The Prince demanded. “I should mention my father and mother were planning to meet me here as soon as father finishes up in the dungeon. I can imagine how much fun they’d have with three Coven vampires trespassing on neutral ground. And maybe a werewolf conspirator?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
Shut up, I thought. “Tell me,” I said again, looking at Lazarus.
Lazarus narrowed his eyes, and I felt the tell-tale tingle of vampire influence trying to seep into my brain. I did my best to shut down my thoughts, but the bastard was strong. He raised his eyebrows and laughed. “I see. I see,” he said, smiling. “No matter.”
“Where are-”
Lazarus was fast. He was so fast that I barely saw him moving toward The Prince. I whipped my head to the side and had only taken a step toward the two vampires before Lazarus was on the Prince. He had him from behind with both forearms locked around Victor’s neck.
The other two cleaners moved fast, but not fast enough. I lashed out, clawing both of them open with freshly transformed hands.
Victor let out a gurgling yell and it was all over as quickly as it had started.
Mere seconds and two vampires were gutted on the ground and Victor’s fresh, hot blood was spraying me in the face.
I stared at Lazarus, rage boiling.
Victor’s headless body slumped to the floor with a thump, and it was over. The rebel Prince was dead, and war was coming. But if I brought Lazarus down, I could at least make sure it was between the Coven and the Rebels.
I let more of my wolf take me until I felt all my senses heightened nearly to the edge. The world snapped into sharp focus. Lazarus’ inhuman speed suddenly didn’t seem quite as impossible to track.
I readied myself for the moment when he came at me, but instead of trying to attack like I’d expected, he grabbed the bodies of his fallen cleaners under both arms. With an obnoxious wink, he seemed to melt into the shadows with them. The lone window at the back of the room broke, and I was suddenly alone with Victor’s head at my feet and covered in blood.
