Disarming (5 page)

As the morning moved on, a shadow shifted in his periphery. It brought him to a crouch near the ledge to study the Sahara Casino down on the northern end of the street. The old rollercoaster that hung from the front was falling apart, bits of metal and cables dangling from the steel beams. Old billboards that used to cling to the outer walls of the casino’s entrance lay shredded across the wall. The coaster led into the building through a gaping hole, but it was high up on the street, and he doubted the ferals would be able to reach it. He squinted his silver grey eyes and continued to scan the street surrounding the casino. Suddenly a flash of metal reflected the moonlight on the top part of the roller coaster. The building that housed it was smaller than the towering hotel behind it but connected itself nicely to one of the hotel floors. The windows had opened, and what looked like people had emerged, pulling ropes tied to staggering figures behind them.

Feral vampires.

Rye trained some of the cameras on them before flying over to April to give her a slight shake.

“April, get up, I see something.”

“Mmm?” She sat up so quickly she almost rammed him with her head. She was instantly awake, which made him smile. It was amazing how fast she was on her feet and ready to pounce on something in a second’s notice. “Where?”

“Over there, on the roof of the Sahara.” He pointed her in the direction of the strangers, a trail of ferals roped in their midst. They approached the edge of the roof and studied the group below. The snarls echoed down the street as they attempted to snap and bite their captors. April’s eyes widened in shock; she’d never expected to see the activity right in front of her.

“What are they doing with the ferals? Are those hybrids?” She narrowed her eyes to see better, hoping to recognize one of the captors.

Rye focused his stare on the wardens. They moved with grace, and there were a total of twelve of them. He studied each one’s movements and listened with his enhanced vampire hearing. A male voice could distinctly be heard barking orders at the others as they worked to follow his commands. Several female voices echoed back, though Rye could not confirm how many were men and how many were women. He quietly relayed this information to April as she moved some more cameras to point their lenses in that direction. Rye didn’t want to run the risk of the others hearing him either. If they were hybrids, they were a bit too far to hear them conversing quietly, but if he yelled they would definitely hear him.

“Can they see us?” April whispered as she came to crouch next to him, zooming one of the long distance cameras onto the group, snapping pictures as well as she could with the night vision in place. She looked excited, eager to discover the mystery of what was happening in front of them. Nothing thrilled her more, it seemed.

“I don’t think so, but I wouldn’t risk us being seen.”

“What do you think they’re doing?”

“My guess is they are waiting for morning.”

“Why?” April turned her confused face toward him, waiting for an answer.

“To fry the ferals they caught to ashes, what else?” He shrugged and glanced back toward the group. He could feel the morning crawling across his skin even though the sun was more than an hour away from showing its face. Rye shifted uncomfortably, knowing he’d have to descend down the steps before the full spectrum of rays spilled across the roof from the sun and began to cook him alive. He’d have to leave April to tend to the cameras after sunrise, hating the thought of leaving her alone. He knew she would be just fine; it was an isolated island here, without any other buildings tall enough to jump from. He just hoped none of the guards down there would spot them before they got away.

With under an hour left until sunrise, the ferals had become restless. The guards had brought several more strung up and lined them up into rows near the edges of the building. They tethered them to a rigged up pulley system, making it clear that they had put together some sort of machinery for this. Was it only to drop the bunch into the streets below? Rye furrowed his brows as he rationalized their actions. Why bother? Why not line them up on the street instead? He had a creeping suspicion that this was done to make sure none survived the sun. It was to incapacitate them until the UV rays could have their wrath without a chance to escape into the shadows once the sun rose.

It didn’t bother him that they were about to kill the ferals, but the mystery of the strangers made him antsy, and he wanted to hop on down there to see who they were. But why were they targeting feral vampires? And what was to stop them from targeting the hybrids next? He gritted his teeth at the thought, nicking his tongue in the process. It was uncomfortable to sit there in the warming air of the dawn, but he had to know what was going on. Glancing at April, who had been mostly silent, he saw that her legs were bouncing just a bit. She was desperate for action, too. A woman like her didn’t stay cooped up for too long, not with so much to learn about the world around them. It was one of the things that he loved about her: her wild, antsy streak.

The male leader of the group was scanning the horizon, too, briefly lifting his head toward them. Rye and April quickly ducked down a bit more, watching to see if he had spotted them. His face lingered in their direction for an uncomfortable moment before turning away. Had he seen them? Had he spotted the cameras? Rye twisted his tongue inside his mouth with the suspense of it all, hoping the feeling of dread was just anxiety that was snaking around his abdomen.

April looked like she felt the same way, her body pressed against the concrete wall that lined the edge of the roof. He could hear her heart racing like a hummingbird in her chest, and her eyes were wide in horror. This definitely was no run-of-the-mill scouting mission. This was a whole other enchilada. Rye even felt her anxiety leak into him as he studied the group and hoped he wouldn’t regret discovering them.

The downside of discovery was that it could really alter your days in unexpected ways.

Chapter Five

The Fall

April

THE SUN WAS
snaking over Sunrise Mountain and tumbling its light across the valley. I watched it as the shadows retreated, running toward the west and blinding me to my right. It was much more intense in the morning, bright and overwhelming. The guards had waited patiently, tugging at the wrangled ferals like cattle on the edge of the building and shoving them into place with long spears and poles. I almost felt sorry for the wild things. If I hadn’t had the unfortunate experience of almost being a chop-suey dinner for them on more than one occasion, I might’ve let the sympathy overtake me and run down there to save the day. But I didn’t. I was merely left curious to see what would be happening at dawn, when the light judged them all.

Rye had waited as long as he could, but ended up descending to the next floor down, hidden in the shadows when the sun’s intensity got to be too much. It was upon us before the group below. Without the protection of other buildings, he had stood there, panting from the pain. He had waited as long as he could, and I knew he would be watching them from the windows below. He had needed shelter; the sun was to burn bright and hot today, a cloudless and windless day. He would have to wait until I could drive him back to the airport in the van with darkened windows that the hive kept for emergencies. Still, I longed for his company, especially as I waited to see the end game these people had planned.

As I waited, I let my thoughts linger on Rye. I wanted to love him without restraint. His embrace still lingered on my skin even though it had happened so many hours ago. I could still smell him on my clothes. So much crap tended to get in the way for us and muck it all up. I still worried for my family, even after they were safe at home. Even so, my mother’s fragile condition brought a new set of obstacles. My responsibility to her and Jeremy kept me from acting on my feelings for Rye. Now, with these new ‘people’ lurking about, I was even more apprehensive to get involved with anyone, even a vampire hybrid who could very well defend himself against many things and take care of himself.

The rays of sun intensified, smothering the air in its suffocating warmth. I watched the tied up ferals, unable to look away as they began to sizzle under the sun’s wrath. Smoky wisps leaked from their bodies, smoke tendrils hissing from their skin as they screeched. It was ear piercing. The guards casually stood by the group and together they pulled some levers to release the ferals, tossing them hard against the ground, littering the street with their remains. Ash and embers burst from their bodies like confetti, tumbling to the asphalt into smoldering piles as row after row of them were yanked and sent over the edge. I would have cheered them on if it wasn’t so darn appalling. I watched with a growing horror at the ease that the guards disposed of the ferals. I watched them work uniformly to achieve this task until the last of the wild things was sent over the edge, and nothing was left but piles of dust and flittering ash.

The guards quickly disassembled their pulleys and grabbed all the spears, running in through the opened window and making sure to shut it behind them. Just like that, they had achieved their goal of incinerating a batch of feral vampires, all without getting bitten and without a trace of their existence left behind. I was shocked by how quickly it had all happened. Not twenty minutes had passed since sunrise and the silence of the dead was louder than anything else on the horizon.

And what of these captors? They had appeared so human, so real. What were they? hybrids? Human? Or maybe, just maybe, they could be like me. The questions flooded my brain, leaving me exasperated and standing there staring after them for minutes before I realized that Rye would be getting worried if I didn’t hurry up and join him. I quickly disassembled the cameras in the growing light and heat of the morning. My clothes were already beginning to stick to me as I worked, tossing all the equipment into duffle bags and hauling them one by one to the stairwell door.

Finally, I rolled up my sleeping bag and folded up the chair Rye had used and set them near the stairwell where they would not be visible. As I reached for the doorknob, Rye pushed it open violently and glared at me as I stood there, my hand still reaching for the door.

“What is taking so long?” he snapped. He began grabbing bag after bag to take down to the second floor, where a make shift sub-headquarters had been set up for the hive before I could answer. No one really stayed here much, so it was deserted most of the time. The windows were reinforced one way mirrors to allow us to see outside, but no one could see in. Lately it had been used a lot to plan and organize initiatives to see who was killing the ferals. Last night had been our watch and we had finally gotten them on camera.

“Nothing! I had to gather all the stuff.” I frowned right back at him, shaking my head at his outburst. “What’s the matter with you?” I huffed as I pushed past him and down the stairs with leaden steps.

“I saw them leave and I just thought it was taking a bit too long for you to get down here.” He scrambled to keep up with me as I hastily burst through the second floor door, marching the bags over to the computers and dropping them in heaps, not caring to be gentle with the equipment. There was electricity here. It had been rigged with emergency generators in the basement so that the computers would work again. I loved having artificial light to work under instead of flashlights or lanterns. Still, it felt somewhat bare in here, and I hated the unused office feel of it.

“Well, sorry I’m not fast enough for you.” I sighed, sitting down at one of the computers and pulling out a camera to fish out the SD card. Stuffing it into the card reader, I worked the rest of the morning downloading the videos and pictures, uploading it all to a portable hard drive to take to the hive. It was tedious work, boring and time consuming, but I welcomed the distraction. It gave me a solid reason to avoid talking to Rye.

Rye gave up on questioning me once he saw my resolve to ignore him and started on his own pile of cameras. Later, he tossed me a wrapped up cold sub sandwich for brunch. I hadn’t eaten all night, so I grumpily thanked him before tearing into it. I was relieved that we had food and drinks here while we worked. A makeshift kitchen was set up in one of the rooms which had been some sort of office break room in the past, complete with a fridge, microwave, plenty of nonperishable snacks and a sink with running water, all rigged up by the hive workers.

Being hungry and exhausted while hanging out with Rye was not a good idea. Trying to keep things platonic was wearing on us both. It threw both of us into a bad mood after a while. I wished I could respond to his advances, but I just couldn’t deal with a relationship, even with someone as amazing as Rye.

I clicked on one of the files near the time the strangers had started pushing the ferals over the edge. Staring at the different warriors, I studied their eyes. Did they reflect the light like the hybrids’ eyes do? I watched and scanned over their faces in the zoomed in view, searching for the telltale reflection. Nothing.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, shock filling me and making my breakfast ball up in my stomach.

“What?” Rye stood up from his chair and raced toward me, glancing at the video playing on the computer screen.

“They’re not hybrids.”

“How can you tell?”

“The sun hits most of their faces in a few of the shots. None of their eyes reflect the light like yours or any other hybrids’ eyes do. Plus, none of them shun the sun like you do.” I turned toward Rye, attempting to hide the gleam of excitement in my eyes.