Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) (5 page)

“Well … shit,” I groaned.

Markus’ belly laughter caught me off guard. “You’ll get there, rookie. We all did.”

Rookie? Really? Was this shit going to stick too? I was kind of becoming partial to unicorn—it had a certain magical flare.

My walkie-talkie squawked. “Showtime, rookie.” It was Kyle. “We’ve got a call.”

My heart hammered in my chest as I quickly loaded my weapon and holstered it. Markus bolted from the room and I was hot on his heels. One of the first and most important lessons had already been drilled into my head. When we got a call, we needed to haul ass. A few seconds could mean life or death. Luckily, the elevator was open and waiting. Markus and I piled into it.

“You stay in the van. You do not enter the residence at any time,” Markus said to me.

“Yes, Ryder,” I replied, saluting him. Dude was channeling the head enforcer with his over-protective demands.

He gave me a serious gaze, uncharacteristic for the Scottish charmer. “You got off easy with the broken ankle last time. What’s that you and Jayden call us?”

We were almost at our floor. “The sexy six…” I said cautiously, wondering where this was going.

He nodded. “Well, there used to be seven of us. So stay in the van.”

The doors opened and he took off running. Holy shit, there used to be a sexy seven? That meant … okay, maybe I would be staying in the van.

The rest of the guys were waiting in the garage for us, one of the Humvees already loaded, engine running. I was not at all surprised to see everyone decked out in all black. Even I had worn my blackest of army-style outfits for my first shift as an enforcer rookie. It was an unofficial uniform since there was no official uniform. That had just been their totally clever ruse so that I’d fall for their
really
funny trick with the chocolate.

The other enforcers in the Hive, who seemed to mostly undertake scouting missions and general peacekeeping, like making sure the ash in the community were following the rules, wore khaki fatigues. So I guessed the all-black thing was Ryder and his boys’ preference.

It did give them a certain badass vibe. Which I was totally channeling in my own clothes. Ryder’s gaze landed on me, his eyes trailing across my body as we jumped into the van. I’d love to think he was checking me out because he just couldn’t help himself, but I’d seen that particular gaze before. He was making sure I had my gun and walkie-talkie. Mind you, there was no reason for his silvery eyes to stay on my butt for quite that amount of time, so maybe there was a little checking me out in there. Shit, now I was staring. And hot damn, I could totally perv on Ryder all day; he was a big ol’ hunk of ash eye-candy, but right now it was time to focus on the current call-out situation.

We were all buckled in and powering out of the Hive compound when Kyle gave us the emergency run-down. This was the standard protocol. Not all of the enforcers were ever together when the call came through, and to save time and prevent miscommunications over the walkies, they waited for everyone to be in the vehicle before briefing.

“We have reports of six ash causing a bit of havoc on Alberta Street near the food trucks. Apparently there were more of the Deliverance group in the area, and they’ve riled them up. This should be mostly peacekeeping, but because there are six ash, we’re all going along for the ride.”

“Should be a good one for you, rookie,” Jared said, wearing his relaxed, trademark grin.

Deliverance again. Seriously, didn’t they have to go home and pray or practice how to stop being assholes? Ryder had told me this morning, when he dropped me at my door, that this extremist religious group believed they were here to deliver God’s will, that their mission was to rid the world of any who were not God’s children—namely, vampire abominations and their offspring.

“Tell me more about Deliverance,” I said, leaning forward from where I was sandwiched between Markus and Oliver. “I did a bit of research today, and it seems that they are mostly kept under control by the humans. So between the humans and the Hive enforcers, I don’t understand how they keep popping up as a problem.”

Ryder flicked his head back and met my gaze. “Research, hey? Maybe this enforcer gig is rubbing off on you.”

I fought the urge to reach across the seat and smack him in the back of the head. I might be a tad on the lazy side when it came to researching—it was always the job I hated the most when I was stuck in the call center—but when things interested me I was all over them. I was like a ninja private investigator with a degree in Google.

“Deliverance has risen and fallen over the years,” Ryder said. “Under many names and banners. Originally they were known as God’s Voice.”

Shit, I had actually heard of that religious sect. When I was young there had been a lot of violent events linked to them, which had scared my mom. But then the news stopped reporting on them and everything had gone back to normal.

Ryder continued. “In those earlier days they had a strong voice, when there were many who feared that the Anima Mortem virus was the first stage of the apocalypse and that it was the end of days. They used this fear to create a small army of gatherers. But as the years have gone on, and the human governments have learned to work with the Hive Quorums, the voice of Deliverance has died off. Now they’re mostly pains in our asses, creating a lot of paperwork and headaches for the leaders.”

I swallowed hard. If they ever got a cure in their grip, I had no doubt their voice would rise strong again. There were still plenty of humans who feared the night. Right now they had no power and no legal rights to hunt the vamps, but imagine if they could cure them back to human. All of those families who had lost members to the virus, or who wanted to return humans to the top of the predator pyramid, would come out in force.

This could not end well for me. Not well at all.

Ryder must have been thinking the same thing. His voice deepened as he broke the silence again. “They will never touch you, Charlie. We look after our own, and you’re one of us now.”

A sense of resolve seemed to fill the car then; the men all wore identical expressions—very serious expressions. These guys needed a holiday or something. They hardly ever relaxed, and with everything happening now they were ten times worse than when I’d first met them.

I looked out the window to distract myself and saw a familiar landmark. Alberta Street was a mishmash of quirky shops and ethnic restaurants. Not to mention the scattered line of open-sided deli trucks with every kind of food imaginable—gluten free, non-GMO, vegan, Thai, you name it. My stomach rumbled just thinking about it. The food in the Hive was okay, but I missed my usual haunts. As the Humvee turned onto Alberta from 23rd avenue, I immediately saw the commotion.

“What the fuck?” It was Kyle who let the F-bomb fly, not me this time. Although the curse word had been on my tongue also.

In front of a Vietnamese food truck, an ash was strung up and nailed to a giant cross, humans—Deliverance I’d guess—standing around him chanting and spraying the tied-up ash with water. Of course that had to be holy water; there was no other insane reason to douse him. We weren’t made of sugar. Water did not hurt us.

I strained forward in my seat and was able to see there were five other ash hogtied and face-down on the concrete, gun-toting Deliverance holding weapons to their heads.

Markus made the sign of the cross over his chest, then looked at me. “I’m a Roman Catholic and this shit is whack.”

Whack was an understatement. How the hell was it even possible for humans to be able to overpower five ash? More of the Deliverance stepped into our line of sight then, standing near the back like guards, holding handguns. The one in the center had a really large, odd shaped gun. Its barrel looked wider and shorter than any firearm I’d seen before.

“They’ve got tranqs,” Oliver shouted. His window was the side closest and he had as good a view as I did. “Bet they’ve finally managed to brew up some more of the AT20.”

“AT20?” I asked.

His voice lowered slightly, but he was still pretty much angry-shouting as he explained: “The human government created a weapon to use against us, shit … years ago now, during the war. They decommissioned it once we reached peace agreements. Well, on paper anyways. Every now and then the zealots and Deliverance nutcases get their hands on some, or a version of it. Things get serious then.”

Great, just what I needed, a freaking dart in my ass and lights out for a week. Well, there was one thing I knew for sure. If I woke up with nails in any part of my body, I was killing some humans.

As soon as we closed in, Ryder gunned the gas and hopped the curb. No fucking around for the lead enforcer. The humans dowsing the ash with water turned as he slammed on the brakes, stopping the Humvee inches from the cross. I could see now that they had actually tied up the ash with razor wire and his arms were bleeding badly.

“Stay in the car and get ready to drive!” Ryder ordered me. Then all the doors flew open and the five enforcers leapt out, guns raised.

Holy fuck. Nothing like a front row seat. I was close enough to see the crazy anger across the humans’ faces. It was this glint of insanity that had true fear cramping my gut. There was no way to predict what a group of unstable people would do and I was panicking, not just for my team, but for the hogtied ash with guns to their heads. This faceoff was raising the danger of them being killed.

The Deliverance humans straightened as they got a good look at the boys in black. The maniacs at the rear, the ones with the larger guns, turned toward them. Oh hell no. I slowly climbed in the front seat, put my foot on the brake and slipped the car into drive just in case. I would mow these bitches down if shit looked like it was going south.

Ryder and the boys had left the doors open, so I could hear every word. The lead enforcer’s voice was calm as he pointed his gun at a greying woman, mid-fifties, who was short, stocky, and full of fire. She was standing center stage and Ryder had clearly surmised she was the one in charge. Not to mention she was the one clutching a Bible, her jaw set and her eyes angry. This bitch would kill for her beliefs. I could see it.

“Your actions are illegal. The human government has stated that unless provoked, ash must not be harmed. Walk away now!” Ryder’s voice remained calm but the unspoken threat was clear. If the old bitch didn’t walk away, shit was going to go down.

She smiled. “I follow one ruler! He is above all and
His
law states that you are an abomination that must be wiped from this Earth.”

Shit.
Markus, who was the closest to Ryder, took a small step forward. “As a Catholic of many years, I don’t recall seeing vampires or ash in the Bible. We’re all humans too, just different. It’s nothing more than the results of a virus from infected bats. That’s it. Nothing to do with the devil or evil. No apocalypse. Look…”

Markus pulled a necklace from his shirt and dangling there was a cross. The woman’s nostrils flared, her mouth nearly foaming in anger.

“How dare you!” She reached into her jacket with her free hand and pulled out a gun. Now there was another human pointing their weapon at the enforcers.

“Stop right now or I’ll shoot to kill. I’m well within my rights!” I recognized the register of Ryder’s voice now. He was not messing around.

The woman wore a similar expression. I almost yelled out as I saw her finger flex on the trigger, and in that moment my movement must have caught her eye. Her face shuttered as recognition lit up her features.

“It’s her,” she whispered, but I could still hear her.

Shit. Out in the bright daylight, with silver eyes, I wouldn’t be mistaken for anything else. Female ash. Unicorn. Antichrist most probably. I clenched my hands even tighter around the steering wheel as I tried to destroy her with an angry glare. A glint flickered across her eyes, followed by a wry grin, then she swung into action.

The next sixty seconds was the worst minute of my life. The time went by so slowly, and yet it was over by the time I sucked in my next deep breath. I still don’t remember how everything went down—probably I had mentally blanked a lot of it out. The woman pivoted quickly and fired her gun like a drunken maniac, spraying bullets.

Through those first moments my eyes were locked on Ryder, who dived forward and away from the Humvee which would have protected him. Nope, instead it looked like he deliberately jumped in front of Markus, shielding the larger man. A scream froze on my lips as both men fell. Even with Ryder’s heroic act, both him and the Scottish enforcer—not to mention the ash hung up on the cross—received the full brunt of her spray of bullets. Kyle, Oliver, and Jared managed to take refuge behind one of the car doors and were already returning fire. My foot bounced on the brake pedal, but since Ryder had dropped in front of the car I couldn’t gas it.

I was just trying to figure out the best way to help the boys when the crazies holding the ash hogtied swung their weapons down and started firing—kill-shots to the ashes’ heads, all of them dead in a moment.

“Nooo!” This time I couldn’t hold back my panicked shouts. Shit. What the hell was going on here? How had this gotten so out of control!

Slamming my mouth closed, I breathed in short puffs. There wasn’t enough air left in the world for me right now. I couldn’t fill my lungs. Flashes of black and white crossed my vision and I knew I was on the verge of a panic attack. Ash were dead. Ryder and Markus had been shot. At least the other guys were okay, but I didn’t know how bad Ryder was. Maybe the bullets had just skimmed him? I quickly talked myself down from the full-on-panic mode I’d been slipping into, knowing that I had to help, and calm was what I needed to properly assess the situation.

First thing: I needed to get to Ryder.

I flat out refused to believe he was dead. There was no way I could even think of that. It would literally drive me crazy.

No one was paying attention to me right then; they were all a little distracted by the massive gunfight going down, so I threw the car in park and slipped out the open driver side door, dropping to the ground and rolling underneath the Humvee. I had no problem army-crawling under the car. And thankfully, from what I could see, I had a direct path to the huge, not-moving body of Ryder.