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We’ll find her. We’re getting close,Felix said.
I hope so.
Minutes later, following Maria’s scent and navigating through the wild terrain, they drove past groups of dead animals, their corpses mutilated and torn apart. Carrion birds flew into the sky, sensing a more powerful predator. Their surroundings were quiet except for the keening cries of the birds. Had the vampires eaten all the other animals in the area?
Who would do this? Who would unleash a group of bloodthirsty vampires? What if they had encountered hikers? They’d have ripped the humans to pieces.
Would Maria be like them? Gabby flinched from the terrible thought.
As Maria’s faint scent strengthened, so did the scent of wrongness, of rotting carcasses and death. If Gabby were a human, she’d have thrown up by now.
Nikolas stopped the van before a dark, wide opening in a humongous rock cropping. They filed out of the vans, their expressions ranging from grimaces to disgust from the vile odor wafting out of the opening.
“We’re going in there?” Andrea had her nose pinched close with her fingers. At least Gabby and the other vampires could control their senses.
“You are welcome to go back,” Nikolas said.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
Sensing Nikolas’ frustration, Gabby raised a brow. A witch without a coven was one thing, but a woman who ruffled Nikolas’ feathers? She thought only Maria and herself could accomplish such a feat.
Nikolas passed each of them a large, heavy backpack containing two silver chains, gloves to handle them, and tranquilizer darts. He handed everyone a gun with tranquilizers already loaded and showed Gabby how to use it.
“What are you doing?” Andrea asked when Nikolas gripped her arm.
“I’ll carry you. We need to move fast.”
“I told you. I can take care of myself.” Andrea twisted her wrist out of Nikolas’ grip. “I’ll keep up. So just go.”
Nikolas stomped away with a scowl. As they arranged themselves in a row, with Felix taking the lead, Gabby behind him, then Ahmed and Conrad, Nikolas stayed protectively in front of Andrea.
Felix took two steps into the dark tunnel. Click. A whooshing sound. They all ducked. Nikolas dragged Andrea to the left. A row of something small flew past Gabby, glinting when it caught the light.
“Are you okay?” Felix laid a possessive hand over her shoulder.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
No one was hurt. Nikolas sprinted a few feet away and returned with a tiny object in his palm.
It was a dart filled with a semi-transparent white liquid.
Gabby and Felix exchanged a look as knots of dread tangled in her stomach. Why was it here?
“What is it?” Nikolas asked.
“It’s the same thing that paralyzed me two days ago,” Gabby said, “when I was in Vegas.”
“So, the same person is targeting Haven,” Felix said.
Gabby’s nostrils flared. She didn’t care she was the target, but to go after her vampires, that was unacceptable.
She’d find this person and make them pay.
“Let’s keep going,” she said.
In their previous order, they entered the tunnel again. Fully alert, all their senses tuned to any change in the air, to any minuscule sound indicating potential traps being triggered. Yet, they still moved faster than a human, but Andrea, true to her word, kept up with them. She floated a few inches off the ground as magic carried her at their vampire pace.
When it turned so black that even their vampire sight failed, Andrea’s palm generated enough light for them to see comfortably.
