Redemption of Fate (Fate Series Book 2) (23 page)

Running back into Blood Runners, she sped around the bar to the hallway there, slamming into Winslow as she rounded the corner on her way to his office.

“I need your landline now,” she said offering no further explanation. None was necessary since he’d witnessed most of what had occurred through the surveillance footage which was fed to the monitors in his office.
 

Winslow entered the security code and pushed the door open, letting her inside his private space.

Picking up the phone on his desk, she dialed the central number for the compound.

“This is Rachel Lehman. I need the commander now,” she said without greeting the operator on the other end. Rose, one of the two women who took turns manning The Elite switchboard, immediately put her through.

Several seconds later, Commander Claesson came on the line.

“Sir, we’ve got a big fucking problem.”

✧

“Winslow, my man; you’ve got to give us something here,” Dante pressed as he stared down the bald vampire.

“Come on, Dante, you know the drill; my policies are half the reason you even come here. We don’t ask, and we damn sure don’t tell. You guys in here like this, asking people all these questions, is really going to fuck up business for a while,” he said pointing to where several Elite soldiers were interviewing civilian vampire customers.
 

Humans were being questioned in the other room, in a far more discreet manner, though most of them were too drugged up to know their own names let alone notice that they had likely just been caught in the midst of a vampire war.
 

“Like I told Rachel, all I can tell you is no one’s ever seen them here before.”

Dealing in the trade of blood and women, Winslow’s clientele expected a certain level of anonymity and confidentiality when they visited his establishment. While most civilians would be trembling under the interrogation of a vampire like Dante, Winslow took it in stride. He’d been in the business way too long and had seen way too much shit to fold under a little intimidation.

“What about those?” Dante asked pointing to one of the surveillance cameras mounted in the corner near the ceiling.
 

“Surveillance only; they don’t record.”
 

“Fuck,” Dante spat.

“I’m sorry, man. I really wish I could help you out, but I just don’t see what else I can do,” Winslow said genuinely.

“Yeah, all right, Winslow. Thanks,” Dante said placing a hand on his shoulder before walking off to go tell the rest of the team to pack up.

Before he moved, Winslow stepped closer and whispered, “So is it true then? This all have something to do with Lucias?” Dante raised an eyebrow at him curiously. “Come on, you know word gets around; especially in my business. People are scared, like before. I’ve even heard talk about the child, you know, the one Lucias has been after all these years.”

“Rachel is pretty sure their eyes were red which explains the shades and from what I know, irises that color mean one thing, but you can draw your own conclusion. As far as the rest of it goes, I honestly don’t know. The only thing I’m concerned with right now is getting one of ours back in one piece,” Dante replied walking away.

Motherfucker. Why didn’t I just stay?
Dante thought to himself angrily, but he knew why and in that moment, he hated himself for it. He was a coward and when he’d heard Layla asking for him earlier, he hadn’t thought he could get away fast enough. Just thinking her name, he suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“Hey; you all right, Dante?” Rachel asked, walking over to where he was hunched over with his hands on his knees.

“Yeah, just overdue for some blood,” he lied, standing upright and trying to shake off the feelings threatening to overwhelm him.

“You want me to take over so you can deal with that?” Rachel asked eyeing him suspiciously. She knew he was lying. When she’d arrived there with Layla and Jasmine earlier, it had been almost impossible to miss the evidence of Dante’s feeding and there was no way he wouldn’t have taken enough of the human’s blood if he’d been so blood-starved that it was still affecting him.

“No; I’ve got it,” he responded. “What did the doctor say? How long before she wakes up?” he inquired about Jasmine; having sent Rachel to speak with the medical team before they transported her back to the compound.

“Best guess was within a couple of hours, but the doc said he’d know more once they got her blood to the lab.”

“All right; I want to be there when she comes around. She might be our only shot at finding,” he swallowed hard, finding it hard to even say her name, “Layla,” he finally forced out, feeling as if his heart was being squeezed by a vise.
 

“We’re going to get her back, Dante,” Rachel said trying to offer some comfort.
 

“Yeah; I know,” he replied, unable to let himself even consider any other possibility.
 

Finally reining in his emotions, he addressed the soldiers who were still interrogating a small group of witnesses who hadn’t fled the scene before The Elite arrived.

“I think we’ve got all we’re going to get in here. You can let all these people go home.”
 

He watched for a few seconds as the civilians started to file towards the doors then turned to Rachel. “Walk me through what happened after they got outside again. Probably a long shot, but it’s all we’ve got to go on right now,” he said knowing he needed to focus on his mission, on getting Layla back, to stave off the growing ache in his chest.

Standing in the street outside, Rachel recalled the events as they’d happened up until the car turned out of sight. As she spoke, Dante’s eyes shot around looking for something, anything that could help. Just as he was about to give up and head back to base to wait for Jasmine to wake up, he spotted an ATM across the way.

“Come on,” he said speeding over to the machine. Locating he camera, Dante leaned in and looked in the direction it was pointing. “Where’d you say the car was parked?”

“Right over there; at the curb on the corner,” she replied pointing to the spot.

“Think we might have just caught a break,” he said with relief as he pulled out the satellite phone Jester had given him to bypass the block that was in place on the compound. “Hey, Jester; I need you to pull footage from the First City Bank across the street from Blood Runners.”

✧

“What is your name?” Lucias asked coldly from his seat, where he seemed perfectly comfortable in the dim light of the exam room.

Layla spat loudly on the ground at his feet, but didn’t utter a word in response. Knowing the menacing man sitting across from her was Lucias, she was utterly terrified, but refused to let them see it.

The kick Mason threw to the back of her legs sent her to her knees with a loud thud against the hard floor.

“When the master asks you a question, you answer,” he hissed.

“Fuck you,” she replied defiantly, earning a blow to the side of her face. Her cheek exploded with pain as she fell over sideways into the wall. With her hands tethered behind her back, she had no way to catch herself, but immediately sat back up when she regained her balance. The cut which had opened up over her cheekbone had almost completely healed by the time she was upright again.

Mason raised his arm to strike her once more, since she had yet to offer her name, but Lucias lifted his hand signaling him to stop.

“Her name is of little consequence,” he said quietly as he stood. “Place her on the table.”

Mason grabbed Layla by her armpits and hoisted her up onto the cold steel slab. Between the handcuffs and the lingering effects of the tranquilizer, there was little she could do against his manhandling.
 

She kept her eyes locked on Lucias; following him as he approached the small table and picked up the syringe. Lucias smirked as he saw the fear flash in her eyes as she realized what he intended to do to her.

“Yes, my dear; in a short time you will tell me your name and anything else I want to know.”

She opened her mouth to protest, trying desperately to stall for more time, praying her fellow soldiers would find her; but before a sound escaped her lips, Lucias covered the short distance between them and plunged the needle into her chest.
 

Layla cried out in pain as he depressed the plunger and released the virus into her heart. The poisonous liquid spread like fire through her veins with each slow beat of her pulse, but she clenched her mouth shut, refusing to cry out further as she tried to accept her fate. As she struggled, a lone tear slid from the corner of her eye.

Lucias reached out and stroked her cheek almost lovingly. Layla squeezed her eyes shut to hide her pain and fear as he collected her tear on his finger and placed the salty liquid on his tongue.
 

“I want her fed immediately,” Lucias said, instructing Mason. “At least two humans, as I want her transformation to be swift. I have great plans for our lovely little soldier,” he continued before moving to the door. “Oh, and Mason; after she is fed you are to clean her and take her to my playroom to complete her transformation. Alert me the moment it is done,” he said and disappeared from view.

CHAPTER 19 -
Finding Cami

“Here’s what we’ve got; picture quality wasn’t great, but I’ve cleaned it up as much as I can,” Jester said as he spun around in his chair and wheeled across the floor; back to his workstation in the room full of computers, monitors and all sorts of other gadgets neither Dante, Martinez or Rachel could accurately identify.

They watched as the video started on screen with the dark SUV pulling up to the corner across the street facing away from the alley behind Blood Runners. Shortly after, four very large vampires exited and walked out of view.
 

“Fuck; that doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know,” Dante said; his disappointment apparent.
 

“I’m not done,” Jester said with a smile. “We got lucky; the State of Massachusetts gives the option of plating vehicles on the front or the rear. Just so happens, our mystery guests chose the former.” He reached up and tapped the screen pointing to the plate which was too small to read. Punching a few keys, he blew up the image, clearly revealing the numbers.

“I already ran it; comes back registered to a Sean Taylor. I cross- referenced the RMV records against ours and, as far as I can tell, the registrant’s human. Lives alone just outside of the city,” he said, handing Dante the address, “There haven’t been any reports filed for a missing person yet, though Taylor
does
has one hell of a long rap sheet; lots of violent offenses, mainly assaults, but nothing too major. I’m guessing these boys probably paid Taylor a visit right before they showed up at Blood Runners. Odds are the only thing you’re going to find out there is his body, but at least it’ll save us from the hassle of trying to get in a clean-up after humans show up on the scene. And who knows; we could get lucky.”

“Thanks, Jester. Can you get us satellite images of the area around the address?” Dante asked.

“On it,” Jester replied simply.

“Rachel, head to the commander’s office and fill him in on what Jester found and tell him we’ll meet up with him in the pit. Martinez, you’re with me. We need to find Cami; I want her there to run her team in case we do need the clean-up.”

“You mind if I swing by the medical wing and get Jasmine? The doctor said she’d be clear as soon as she fed, and I know she’s going to want to go. Layla is her best friend,” Rachel said, making her way out.
 

Jasmine had woken up before they’d even gotten her back to the compound; but, unfortunately, she didn’t remember anything more than what they already knew with the exception of the vampire’s names, which they assumed were aliases.

“Yeah, of course; just clear it with the commander.

✧

Dante and Martinez flashed through the hallways from Jester’s cave to Cami’s room. Dante knocked hard several times before trying the handle and finding it locked.
 

“Where the hell is she? In all these years, has she ever ignored a call?” Dante wondered.

“Hell, no; not since I’ve been here. Did you notice the commander didn’t even ask where she was and, you know damn well, he noticed she didn’t respond to his signal. You think maybe he ordered her to hang back because of her family?” Martinez asked in response.
 

Both men, knowing Cami fairly well, had expected her to show up on- scene, with or without permission, considering that Layla and Jasmine were both members of her team and she was the kind of leader who put her people and the job first.
 

Besides, after working with her for so many years, everyone knew that her job was really all she cared about. She never took leave, and she damn sure never went out to feed. As far as anyone knew, she fed exclusively from the bag.
 

“Who the fuck knows? One minute her whole family is on lockdown; the next she’s out on clean-up and hauling body bags back,” Dante replied. “If it was up to me I’d keep all of the females on lockdown until this whole mess is over with. Lucias is after the girl; he doesn’t know what she looks like, so they’re all potential targets. Besides, that whole scene tonight would have gone down a lot differently if it had been us instead of Layla and Jasmine.”

Martinez laughed. “I would hope so; not sure about you, but I’ve never really been a fan of sitting on other guys’ laps. And really, I’m disappointed with your antiquated ideas about the softer sex. I always took you for more of a feminist,” he said sarcastically.
 

In a blur, Dante had his hand around Martinez’s throat, pinning him to the wall and knocking down one of Van Gogh’s early works in the process. “You think this is fucking funny, Martinez?” Dante growled.

“Jesus Christ, Dante; I was just kidding,” Martinez choked out, shoving his friend back.

Dante didn’t respond as he took off for the training room. Martinez’s remark shouldn’t have bothered him. His best friend had always been a bit of a smart-ass; it was part of his charm, but it had been hard enough schooling his temper the first time he had to hear about Layla cuddling up on the lap of some stranger.