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A siren screeches, cutting off my words. The shock alarm blares through the air, startling me, and I drop to my knees as pain ignites in my head even more. I can’t hear. I can’t focus, my senses stolen. The lights turn off and Mya screams, locking her hands to my arms, trying to yank me up. I fight against her and rip away, needing desperately to enter the room. I need to see if Cooper’s there. The door has to open.
If it doesn’t, I’m going to break it down.
My desperation coils around me, not relenting even with the pitch darkness swallowing me. Without windows, I can’t see shit. Anyone lurking in one of the dozens of rooms could sneak up on me. I need to move. I need to do something. If I can’t get my body to get itself together...
Mya slaps her hands over my ears, muting the alarms the best she can. Shoving my palms to the floor, I force myself to my feet. My knees wobble as I find my balance, my equilibrium thrown off by the ear-piercing alarm. It’s intended to slow vampires down, and because I’m a dhampir, I get caught up with them.
“Hayley! Hayley, someone’s coming!” Mya screams the words in my ear, locking her arms around me.
The beam of a flashlight streaks across the floor and lands on a door to one of the rooms toward the end of the hall. My heart seizes, panic stealing my breath. It’s not one of my guys, nor is it one of the security guards. How I know? The man clumsily searches the area, far slower than a vampire would move.
“We have to hide,” Mya says, pressing her lips to my ear.
I catch sight of the man lighting up one of the doors as he sticks an old keycard against the lock pad. Swinging the door open, he flashes his light into the room, searching around. Mya tries to drag me toward the open door again, but my feet refuse to move. The man continues to the next door, repeating his gesture. How is this even possible? He shouldn’t have such access—access I desperately need.
“Hide. Quickly. Block the door. He’s with the donors who attacked us.” I nudge Mya toward the room, getting her to move without hesitation. “Try to call for help. Hurry.”
Mya opens her mouth to argue but the shock alarms silence, leaving my ears ringing. My body buzzes in fear and anticipation for the lights to flick on next. If they do, and I’m too far away from the guy, he can overpower me. I need to sneak up on him and get him before he knows I’m here.
“Go,” I whisper, shoving her into the room, clicking the door closed as quietly as I can.
The flashlight sweeps across the hallway, and I drop to the floor. Light beams inches away from me, but a crash sounds from another room, dragging away the man’s focus from me. Shit. It’s the room where the blood leads.
“Renegade one, I have a visual. There’s a vamp blood trail. Do you copy?” the man says, his voice humming out as he speaks into a com device.
“Room number? The signal’s coming from 6996, renegade four.” Static follows the voice.
“That’s the one.” Stopping in front of the locked door, the man shines his flashlight over the lock pad. “Opening now.”
Static crackles from the device again before it beeps. “Proceed with caution. Last call was a distress signal.”
“Copy that.” The man pulls something from his belt and a bright red light erupts from his fingers, setting the hallway aglow.
I brace myself, preparing to fight, but the man concentrates on the door. Shock rushes through me as he unholsters a gun. Waving the keycard, he unlocks the door to the room and kicks it open. I expect Cooper to rush him, but nothing happens. No one comes.
The man tosses the glowing red light into the room, turning it eerie. He keeps his gaze trained forward, peering around for a second before striding inside. I shuffle forward, quietly and cautiously. I need to see what he sees.
“One dead vamp. Two donors. No sign of the dhampir.” The man’s words shock an icy wave of despair to my heart.
One dead vampire.
I can’t believe he said one dead vampire.
“Keep going. Hurry. Security is sweeping floor sixty-eight. I can only set the alarms off once more, and you’re going to need them to get out.” Whoever is on the other side of that com device is a dead man.
The guy holding it is a dead man, too.
Anger swells through me, listening to them speak as if they hadn’t just sent people to ruin my life. To hurt Cooper. To destroy everything.
Shifting on his feet, he beams the flashlight in my direction, setting me aglow. “Copy th—”
My deep-seated nature as a dhampir kicks on, stealing away my humanity. I fly forward, my body running on instincts. Scrambling back, the man aims his gun at me.
I don’t stop.
I don’t back down.
He pulls the trigger of his gun, firing. But nothing can stop me. This asshole will pay.
