AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
Itwasabeautifulnight for a rescue operation. Thick, gray clouds obscured the waning moon, drenching everything in utter darkness. The air was heavy with the promise of an impending storm, much needed after two weeks without rain.
Hidden in the shadow of the trees, Marek studied his target, a squat three-story office building with a flat roof, brown-brick siding, and evenly spaced, tinted square windows. A white, glowing sign on the building’s top corner read ‘Zylotech’.
The parking lot, illuminated with tall light poles emitting bright, fluorescent light, staked even more real estate than the building itself. Even though he’d spent the last two centuries in the United States, the waste of space still rubbed his European roots the wrong way.
Marek sensed the lightest brush against his mind before Sascha said in a no-nonsense tone,Boss, I’m in. I can take down the security system whenever you’re ready.
Good.He surveyed his surroundings. Nine others waited with him, handpicked for this mission, their first since the Centralized Defense Initiative, or CDI, was established. The CDI’s objective was to provide a unified vampiric response to threats against their race, namely against the Organization of Benevolent Mercy, humans whose stated purpose was to kill every single vampire. They believed vampires to be the devil's spawn, tempting innocent humans into sin and seducing them to hell.
Previously, individual vampire Houses addressed any Organization threats in their territories, but they were isolated from one another and loathed to share information. After learning the Organization was kidnapping vampires to experiment with their blood, the Council formed the CDI and named Marek its leader.
The CDI gathered intel from every House while staying out of House politics. It had jurisdiction over any Organization threats regardless of location. If the Organization kidnapped a vampire and moved him to another House’s territory, Marek’s team could rescue the vampire without worrying about trespassing in anyone’s territory.
Which explained his current presence in Tucson, Arizona.
Everyone ready?Marek asked the others, sending along his excited anticipation for the fight ahead, and received instant confirmation.
Yes! Let’s go kick some Hunter ass.
Let’s go already!
Can’t wait!
Hurry up!
Seven days ago, House Mahal had reported missing vampires who’d been visiting family in Arizona, part of House Haven’s territory. Rather than the two Houses, whose relationship was already tense, spending a month to solve this between themselves, Marek stepped in.
He had dispatched a vampire with a tracker to this area. That vampire had vanished in two days, his tracker leading Marek here.
To Zylotech.
He and his men had cased this place for three days while developing a rescue plan. They couldn’t visually confirm the missing vampires were inside except for the tracker signal. One day, Marek would have to hire humans to infiltrate the Organization. Now, he had to work off the best information he could gather.
His intel team had confirmed Zylotech received significant funding from an Organization-backed company. Not to mention that Hunters, the Organization’s military arm, guarded the building at night, further confirming Zylotech’s association with the Organization.
Marek had also located a Zylotech employee without a C2 implant—a device preventing vampires from reading human minds—and learned the building’s right wing was off-limits except to a select group of employees. His teammates who followed employees exiting the right wing confirmed those employees smelled of vampire blood.
Right before giving the go-ahead, Marek hesitated. Had he considered everything? Should he wait another day? Study their enemies more? They couldn’t afford to fuck up their first mission.
You’re useless. An embarrassment to our family.Marek’s jaw clenched at the memories of his father’s angry, bitter words. He hadn’t heard that hateful voice in decades and thought he’d long moved past his heartless father’s abuse. That cruel man was gone, and Marek had nothing to prove to a dead man. He’d done everything he could, planned for every contingency. Last-minute misgivings were par for the course in these situations. He only wished these misgivings didn’t involve his father.
Shoving away the doubts, Marek gritted his teeth and focused on the upcoming fight.Alright. Sascha, take it down. Let’s kill some Hunters.
Hoots and cheers met his order on their telepathic channel. Externally, they made no sound.
Done,Sascha said a second later.Five minutes starting now!
Covered in black from head to toe, Marek and his team melted out of the trees like avenging spirits in groups of threes and fours, crossing the empty two-lane road and leaping over the property’s seven-foot-tall fence. Four members entered the front entrance first to take care of the two guards manning the reception desk.
When Marek’s team arrived at the sterile lobby, the two humans were slumped over. Not dead, just passed out. They weren’t trained Hunters; they might not even know Zylotech’s true background, so they didn’t deserve to die.
Be careful.Marek gave a nod to everyone before they split and headed to their assigned section of the building. They would comb their area floor by floor to distract the Hunters while Marek and his team rescued the captive vampires in the right wing. If they encountered any regular employees working late, they would knock them out like the front desk guards.
A tall, muscular man and a shorter, curvy woman remained with Marek. Rowan and Sascha. Rowan was the oldest vampire here besides Marek. He’d considered giving Rowan the lead on another team, but since the right wing was the most dangerous area and Sascha was the youngest and least experienced, he needed Rowan’s skills to protect Sascha.
Rowan, his green eyes alert, stood at the ready, his limbs loose yet prepared for any movement, while Sascha vibrated nervous energy.Still so much human left in her. Any other time, he would’ve preferred to keep her off the field, except her skills were indispensable tonight. Unfortunately, vampire hackers were few and far in between and tended to be young like Sascha, who’d grown up in the computer age.
