A Shade of Vampire 27: A Web of Lies (8 page)

I
was
in such a hurry to get my laptop started, I almost dropped it as I removed it from its case and planted it down on my desk. I slotted the necklace thumb drive into the side of my machine before waiting for it to start up. I hurriedly navigated to the right place. This USB device contained a single folder titled
“FOEBA”
.

“Fo-ee-ba,” Arwen muttered, staring down over my shoulder at my screen.

I opened up the folder to find it filled with dozens of small files whose names were just a jumbled string of numbers and letters. I tried to click on one, but got a popup message informing me that I didn’t have any program installed on my computer that could open it. The extension of these files was… strange. Certainly not any type of document that I had ever had to open before. I ran a search on the file type to see how to open it, but not even a single search result came up.

“Seems this really is an uncommon type of file,” I murmured. I scrolled down the list of files, frustrated. “Ugh.” I looked at Arwen. “Any idea how we can get these open?”

Arwen shrugged. “I can’t just magic them open. This requires the expertise of a computer hacker, not a witch.”

“Do we have any hackers on the island?” I wondered, more to myself than to Arwen. I began thinking over all our residents. Eli was smart and could figure most things out by himself, but even if he was here, he wasn’t a real whiz at computers. He knew how to work them, but he was by no means a hacker.

“You could ask Jason,” Arwen suggested.

Jason was Anna’s oldest son. He worked in the IT department at school and was basically the go-to guy whenever we had a problem. But although he could set up and maintain our school computers, I doubted he could deal with complex problems like this. Still, he was the only person I could think of right now. Our island wasn’t exactly filled with tech experts, many of the residents being hundreds of years old…

I closed my laptop and tucked it beneath one arm. Then Arwen vanished us to the townhouse Jason shared with his vampire wife, Lara. Jason had been turned into a vampire when he was just a boy—when the island had been under the shadow of the black witches, his parents had believed that he might be at risk of being targeted due to his mother being an immune. Once all was safe again, Jason had taken the cure and turned back into a human in order to grow up. When he’d reached the age of twenty-one, he’d resumed being a vampire, along with his girlfriend at the time, Lara.

Luckily, we found Jason at home. He led us through to the kitchen. I planted my laptop down on the counter, pointing to the USB device, along with the list of files.

My heart sank immediately when I saw the clueless expression on his face. “I’ve never come across this type of file before,” he said. “So I don’t want to get your hopes up. Have you already tried searching for information about this file type?”

“Yes,” I said. “I can’t find anything.”

Jason sat down in front of the laptop anyway and fiddled around with the files a bit. He tried various back-door methods, such as trying to force the files to open with another program… but nothing worked. That strange list of files remained unreachable. Even more bizarrely, he realized that we couldn’t even make copies of them to keep a back up.

I exhaled in frustration as Arwen and I left Jason’s home after thanking him for his time.

“There’s got to be a way to open these!” I said.

“Maybe it’s some kind of hunter technology,” Arwen suggested.

I froze. That would make sense. That would make a lot of sense. I felt stupid for that not occurring to me in the first place.

“But then how do we ever open them?” I asked, still hopeless. “We have no access to hunters.”

Arwen stalled in the cobblestone street. “Well, I suppose we could…
get
access to one.”

I turned on her, my eyes narrowing. “What exactly are you suggesting?”

A dark smile curved her lips. “Something my mother wouldn’t approve of.”

“
W
hat is your idea
?” I asked Arwen, frowning at her.

Her smile broadened. “I guess to answer that,” she began, “I will have to let you in on a little secret.”

“Hm?”

“Well, my solution relates to something that Brock and I discovered before we, ahem,
officially
started dating.”

“Huh? You guys were seeing each other before you told us?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?” I asked.

“Uh… a bit… Anyway.” She reached out and took my hand. “It’s best I just show you what I’m talking about.”

The next thing I knew, the Vale had vanished around us, and a few seconds later we had appeared in a cluster of bushes lining a white sandy beach. Not one of The Shade’s beaches. Evening rays of sun touched my skin. “What on earth—”

Arwen, still holding my hand, pulled me out of the bushes. I gazed up and down the length of the beach. It stretched for several miles in either direction, lined with swanky clubs and expensive-looking restaurants. On the far end on either side were high walls, sectioning off this stretch of beach.

“This,” Arwen said, pointing to the clubs and restaurants, “is Latimer Beach, Hawaii. Where only the most privileged come… and that includes swarms of young hunters at the end of the working day.”

My jaw dropped. “Are you serious, Arwen?”

“Yep. Brock and I made a habit of slipping out from our parents’ homes on weekends to go on, uh, late-night adventures together. That’s when we discovered this little gem.”

Now it was my turn to smile. I couldn’t believe they’d been so crafty. Although anybody could freely exit The Shade’s boundary, very few people were granted automatic entry. Arwen, being Corrine and Ibrahim’s daughter, was one of them. And it seemed that she was already putting that privilege to good use…

“How many times did you come here with Brock, then?” I asked. “Go on, confess.”

She paused, feigning thought. “Maybe three times.”

I scoffed.
Yeah, right.
That probably meant more like ten.

I fixed my eyes back on the buildings. There were quite a few here, over twenty-five in total.

“So do the IBSI members just, like, come along and patronize all of these places?” I asked. “Or do they have a specific spot?”

“The Checkered Dog,” Arwen answered immediately. “That’s where Brock and I spotted most of them, still in their black uniforms. It’s almost like it’s reserved for them, there were so many.”

“And they come every night?”

“I don’t know about that,” she said. “But when Brock and I would come here on the weekends—
sometimes
—they were here every time. Given that today is Friday, and it’s nearing evening, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance we will see some hunters if we stay.”

I blew out a breath. “Okay,” I said, trying to order my thoughts. “But what kind of hunters exactly? We need somebody from the IT department.”

“Yes,” she replied. “Ideally.”

I rubbed my temples. “But how would we know who to target? And, heck, even if we had a hunter singled out, how would we take them away without getting noticed?”

Arwen laid a hand on my shoulder, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “Well, that’s where your feminine charm will come in handy.”

“What?” I spluttered.

“I suggest that we wait among these bushes until the hunters arrive. Then wait a few hours more, until they’re fairly tipsy… and that’s when you will slip in.”

My gut twisted. Oh, no. I didn’t like this. I really didn’t like this.

“And then do what?” I asked reluctantly.

Arwen giggled. “Lure one of them out, silly! What else?”

I heaved a sigh. “Okay, well… say I even managed to lure one out”—
using my nonexistent skills of seduction
—“where would I lure him to, and then what?”

“When you walk out of the building, you will take a right turn and just keep walking toward this end of the beach. I will be watching the entrance, and I’ll swipe the two of you as soon as I feel nobody will notice.”

Oh, man.

I looked my friend over. She was much more naturally seductive than I was. I imagined that the moment she stepped inside, any single hunters would be drawn to her like a magnet, and then she’d just have to pick one… But I obviously couldn’t, and wasn’t about to, pass the buck on this one. This was on me. I was the one who wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. And I was the reason Arwen was here.

“Okay,” I murmured.

“I would come in with you,” Arwen said, “I really would. But with so many hunters all in one place, if there is a special alarm around somewhere… I had better keep my distance.”

“Yes,” I said. “So, any ideas about how exactly I will go about this?”

“Let’s return to the Sanctuary first.”

She vanished us back to her living room.

“First of all,” she said, “you will need to blend in.” She led me to her bedroom and pushed me to sit down on the end of her bed. “And that means,” she went on, “you should wear the same uniform as them, and you should also have a badge like theirs.”

“Wait a minute, are you suggesting that I pretend to be a hunter?”

“Yup,” she replied bluntly.

Arwen’s idea had just reached a whole new level of insanity.

“How can I just
pretend
to be one? And why don’t I just go like some regular chick on a night out?”

“Well,” Arwen said, planting her hands on her hips. She reminded me so much of her mother when she did that. “There’s no way to know exactly what’s going to happen. It could very well be that you would be at a greater advantage going as yourself rather than in the guise of a hunter. But I honestly think that going as a hunter will help. For one thing, it will be easier to gain their trust.”

I supposed that was true. “But just some random IBSI member? What if they start asking me questions that I can’t answer? Plus, I’ll have to hope that none of them recognize me.”

“We’re not in the Philippines,” Arwen said, “so hopefully you won’t see any of the ones you came across during the trip to The Woodlands… but I mean, it’s up to you.” She shrugged. “If you feel uncomfortable about this, then obviously don’t do it.”

“No,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I’ll do it.”
Somehow, I will figure it out.

“To avoid people expecting you to answer questions,” Arwen said, “you could simply say that you’re brand-new. That you literally just arrived and tomorrow is your first day… Wait here.”

She left me alone in the room and returned about ten minutes later, carrying plain black pants and a black polo-neck top, along with a badge clasped in one hand. She set the clothes down next to me and then handed me the badge.

It had the official IBSI logo stamped on one side and scrawled across it in bold font read the name, “Ronda Clarkson.” Beneath it, in small writing, was, “Assistant to the Chief Dish Sanitization Technician.”

What the…

I couldn’t help but smirk. “There’s no way that’s a position.”

“You are most likely right,” Arwen replied, smirking along with me. “But it doesn’t matter. Remember, you need to target drunk guys, and the Checkered Dog has dim lighting anyway. Even if they do look at your position, you can just say it’s a new position that was created just for you if anybody questions it. But honestly, I don’t think they will… They’ll be too busy looking at your pretty face.”

“Augh. All right,” I said, even as I felt everything
but
all right. “Let me change.”

Arwen chuckled as she left the room. I took off the T-shirt and jeans that I’d been wearing and pulled on the black clothes. Then, looking at myself in the mirror, I pinned the badge to my chest before letting my hair down. I began running my fingers through it to tidy it up.

“Can I come in now?” Arwen called.

“Yeah.”

She walked in and stood by the mirror with me. She twirled a strand of my dark brown hair around one finger. “I think you should definitely keep your hair down.”

“Right,” I murmured, grimacing.

Arwen took over getting me ready. She pulled out some hairspray and fixed my hair into loose curls. She also applied a touch of makeup—some bronzer and blush, and a coat of mascara.

“Now,” Arwen said, taking a step back and admiring her work, “you just need to get rid of that scowl.”

W
e left
The Shade again and returned to Hawaii. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding as we peered through the bushes toward the darkening stretch of beach. Hawaii hadn’t exactly spelled luck for my family in the past. A beach like this had been where my father and aunt Rose’s misadventures had all started.

I found myself wondering where that beach was—where they had gone to a party and Rose had met Caleb. For all I knew, it could’ve been this very one, now revamped and renovated decades later.

I tried to push my uneasiness aside. I wasn’t naturally the superstitious type. Just because things had gone wrong for them didn’t mean that they would go wrong for me.

“People are already arriving,” Arwen said, pointing to the checkered blue and black building.

So they were. More so than at any of the other buildings on this stretch so far.

“I guess we’ll wait another hour or so… then it’s probably fine for you to go in.” Arwen’s gaze moved to the waves. “In the meantime, shall we take a walk? I’ll make us invisible and we’ll stay away from the buildings.”

“Yes,” I said, not even thinking about it. These bushes were definitely not the most comfortable place to wait, especially with the myriad of creepy-crawlies that were beginning to come out for the night.

Arwen made us invisible and we emerged on the sand. We moved to the waves, keeping our distance from the crowds, as Arwen had recommended. Once the sounds of people chattering in the clubs and restaurants increased in volume, Arwen suggested that it was time.

She nodded toward the Checkered Dog. “I’ll wait around here and keep a close eye. All right?”

“Yep,” I said, my throat tightening.

I immediately marched away from Arwen and made a beeline for the club’s entrance. I didn’t want to prolong this a second more than I had to. I just wanted to get it over and done with.

I was surprised to see that there was no bouncer or security guard waiting at the entrance of the building. Perhaps, since the place was so frequented by hunters, they didn’t see the need to station them outside this particular establishment.

I walked in through the shiny glass doors, and, keeping my eyes ahead, moved straight to the bar. I seated myself on a stool at the far right end of the counter. A trio of men sat on the other end, all dressed in black, and toward the middle was a man and a woman, a couple, talking in low tones. Everyone else lounged around on couches or at private tables.

Swiveling on my stool, I scanned the room as discreetly as I could. I was quite taken aback at how big this place was from the inside. I had underestimated the size of it. It didn’t even look half full, and I would’ve guessed that there were at least fifty people here already—the majority of them clearly hunters.

“Excuse me, ma’am. Can I get you anything?”

I turned behind me to see a young man wearing a blue apron, looking at me expectantly.

“Oh, some water, please,” I mumbled. My throat was feeling terribly dry.

He filled a glass with water and handed it to me. I swiveled back around to continue surveying the room, but this time as I twisted, I realized that I’d already attracted the attention of someone. Another young man. A very good-looking young man. His physique was that of a fighter—tall, broad-shouldered, with a thick neck. He had dark, focused eyes, and cheekbones that could cut diamonds.

I was sure that this guy must work in their defense department—calling it “defense” was kind of a joke now, of course.

But I needed an IT person. Which meant that I had to get rid of this dude as quickly as I could. I panicked as he approached, as I tried to think of what I could tell him.

I swiveled again in my chair, facing the counter, and busied myself with my water. He arrived by my side and pulled up a stool next to me.

“Hi,” he said, flashing me a Ken-worthy smile. He didn’t look any older than twenty-one.

I offered him a small, fleeting curve of my lips.

“I noticed you sitting all alone over here.”

Yes. Happily alone.

“Can I order you something?” he pressed.

I raised my glass of water to him, offering him a broader, though more artificial smile. “I’m good,” I said curtly.

He chuckled. “All right.” He called over the waiter and pointed to my glass. “I’ll have the same.”

I felt like vomiting in my mouth. Augh. That was so cheesy.

“My name is Rolf,” he said, holding out a hand.

I declined to shake it, fixing my head on the chalkboard menus and pretending that I had not seen him extend it.

“Hi, Rolf,” I said in the most unenthusiastic voice I could manage. This guy was the persistent type. A more timid guy would’ve gotten the hint by now that I wasn’t in the mood.
Rolf
would not take no for an answer easily.

“Are you new?” he asked. “This is the first time I’ve seen you.”

“Yes, I am new!” I said, inspiration suddenly lighting up my brain. I turned to him and looked him straight in the eye, smiling. “I’m totally new. And you know, I’m actually looking to hook up with someone tonight.”

He grinned impishly, but before he could get too smug, I went on, “Rolf, you’re pretty and all… but I’ll be honest with you. You’re really not my type.”

His smile faded for a moment, but then returned full force. I guessed he thought that this was some kind of flirting technique.

“Well,” he said, taking a sip from his water, “why don’t you tell me what kind of guys you are into, and maybe—just maybe—I could help you out.”

I cast my eyes around the rest of the room. “Hmmm.” My eyes settled on the nerdiest-looking guy I could find, a guy who looked the complete opposite of Rolf. He had a slim, lanky build with brown hair tied up in a ponytail, complete with a short beard and large black spectacles. He could have been something other than a computer person, of course, but he was at least in the right category.

“I’m into guys like him,” I replied, pointing directly at the ponytail guy.

Rolf’s eyes shot to the nerd. Then he burst out laughing. “He’s my friend, Jude. Jude Webb.
He’s
your type?”

“Uh-huh!” I said.

Rolf had apparently spoken a little too loudly, and Jude had overheard his name. Jude turned to face us, cocking his head to one side.

I gave him a beaming smile and waved a little, even as my cheeks grew red hot.
Oh, my God. What. Am. I. Doing.

“Hey, Jude,” Rolf said, “come on over here.”

Perhaps Rolf still thought that I was joking, but at least he’d called Jude over. As he approached, he really wasn’t bad-looking at all… just on the nerdy side.

“What?” Jude asked, looking half amused and thoroughly confused.

Rolf planted a hand on my shoulder. “You have an admirer here. Her name is…” Rolf’s gaze fell to the badge on my chest. “Ronda. Ronda Clarkson.”

Jude’s eyes narrowed on the letters beneath the name. “Assistant to the Chief Dish Sanitization Technician,” he said in a snooty voice, before snorting. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

My expression turned to disapproval. That was actually kind of rude. I suspected that if I had actually been the Assistant to the Chief Dish Sanitization Technician, I would’ve taken great offense to that comment.

“That’s not
actually
a position… is it?” Jude went on.

I pursed my lips. “It is,” I said, clipped.

An awkward silence fell between the three of us. My show of taking offense had worked. Any doubt Jude had regarding it possibly not being a real position evaporated, and he stumbled to say, “Hey, I’m sorry, Ronda.” He reached out and nudged my shoulder. “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just that it was kind of a…” He cleared his throat, setting his glass down on the counter next to me. “Never mind.” Jude turned to Rolf, clearly now desperate to patch up the situation. “Well, if you said Ronda is my admirer, what are you still doing here, loser?”

Rolf nudged Jude in the shoulder, even as he laughed and walked away, shaking his head—apparently still disbelieving that I could choose Jude over him.

As Jude turned back to me, I examined his badge. And I couldn’t believe it. I did an imaginary fist-pump. My first true bit of luck this evening.

“Jude Webb,” it read, and beneath it said in the same small writing as my own made-up title: “IT security and maintenance.”

Yes!
My eye for nerds was sharp.

I warmed my expression and offered him a charming smile—or at least I hoped it looked charming… and not like a creeper’s.

Jude moved closer to me, pushing his glass next to my water.

“So, how long have you been with the IBSI?” he asked, his voice a tad slurred.

“I was just telling your friend that I’ve only just joined,” I explained, before I budged ever so softly backward to create more of a distance between us. Jude was definitely less shy than I’d thought he’d be.

“So you’re a new recruit, eh? Where are you from?”

“Chicago,” I replied. Given that Lawrence had been on my mind so much, it was the first place that came to my head.

“Interesting. Then I’m curious why you’re here? Why not work at the Chicago base?”

Good question…
“It’s the weather, if I’m honest,” I replied, after a moment’s hesitation.

He chuckled. “Yeah, well, I guess that’s a good reason to want to transfer… What did you train in, then? Hospitality? Or is the cleaning job just a starting position, and you hope to work your way up?”

“Hospitality,” I replied—it was the easiest answer. Then, my gaze falling to his badge once again, I went on, “I’m really interested in computer science, though. My older brother is kind of a nerd, always talking about computers and… stuff… So I guess it kind of rubbed off on me.”

“Yet you never pursued it as a career.”

“Nah… My mom pushed me toward hospitality. Anyway, why don’t you tell me a bit about what you do?” I asked, hoping to prevent more questions aimed at me.

He nodded down to his badge. “Like it says, security and maintenance in the IT department.”

I paused, trying to pull the most interested expression that I could as I took a small sip from my water. “What exactly does it mean by ‘security’?”

“Ah.” He let out a breath. “All sorts. Hardware vulnerabilities, viruses, encryption—”

Encryption
. I stopped listening as he continued rattling off items. My brain froze on the word.
This is our guy!

“—backups, system lockdowns…” Jude paused, apparently noticing that I had become disconnected. He narrowed his eyes on me. “Do you seriously find this interesting, or are you just being polite?”

“Go on,” I encouraged, offering him another smile. “I’m listening… In fact”—I squinted as I looked around the dimly lit room, the music loud in my ears—“why don’t we go outside to talk? Take a walk along the beach?”

I couldn’t help but grin internally as I said the words.
Ah, taking a walk along a beach. Standard Novak tactics. Poor Jude.

The poor fellow looked pleased by the suggestion. “Sure.”

My stomach twisted with guilt as he looked at me, and I had to remind myself that unlike the many bloodthirsty vamps who’d employed the old ‘beach walk trick’, I wasn’t going to harm Jude. Arwen and I just needed to… borrow him for a while.

To encourage him further, I slipped an arm around his waist before leading him to the door. We received several wolf whistles from Jude’s friends as he closed the door behind us.

I removed my hand from his waist and took his arm instead. I began steering him subtly away from the Checkered Dog and toward the spot Arwen had told me she would be waiting.

“So, yeah,” Jude concluded with a sigh. “I basically listed all the stuff that I deal with on a day-to-day basis.”

“That’s cool,” I said, gazing out toward the waves and breathing in the fresh salty air.

He stared down at me, his overgrown eyebrows knotting in a frown. “I’m still not sure what you’re doing holding my arm,” he remarked, a grin curving his lips, “but I’ll take it.”

I decided that it would be less awkward if I refrained from responding to that. I just smiled at him again instead.

We had created a fair distance between ourselves and the buildings by now. I hoped that Arwen would not wait too much longer to swoop down and get us. I just had to keep some kind of conversation going in the meantime—but more importantly, keep him moving forward.

“Where do you live?” I asked.

“On site, of course,” he replied. “Don’t know of anyone my age who has joined the organization and remains living on the outside.”

“How old are you?” I wondered. Looking at him, I would’ve guessed around twenty-two.

“Twenty-four,” he replied. “You?”

I didn’t get a chance to respond this time as, finally, a hand closed around my shoulder. A second later, I had vanished with Jude.

I wasn’t actually sure where Arwen would make us reappear—I thought that perhaps she would take us straight back to The Shade where we could talk to him and show him the drive I had with me in my pocket.

Instead, she made us appear again barely half a mile away. We were still on the same beach, concealed by a different patch of bushes.

The shock caused Jude to fall to his knees. His eyes shot up to us, wide and panicked. But before he could yell—or perhaps reach for a hidden weapon—Arwen cast a spell on him that both took away his voice and froze his limbs.

Gazing down at his terrified eyes, I felt another twinge of guilt.
Who would’ve thought that I would feel guilty about a hunter?

“We’re not going to hurt you, Jude,” I said, trying to calm him.

“
Uh
, yes, we will,” Arwen said, raising her brows at me, before glaring daggers down at Jude. “We will hurt you—
a lot—
if you don’t cooperate with us,
dude
.” Arwen’s mouth formed a mean, hard line as she glowered.

I guessed her approach was right, though. I doubted that she would actually hurt him, and if Jude didn’t think that there would be serious repercussions to his not cooperating, what reason would he have to cooperate?

Arwen’s harsh demeanor seemed to have gotten through to him. His expression grew tenser.