Up in Flames (10 page)

He sat down in his seat behind his desk and let everyone have a minute or two to look over the data he had pulled. “There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to this, other than he targets women in the age range of eighteen to twenty-seven,” Adam murmured without even looking up from the data.

“No, and that is what is bugging me. We haven’t been able to get a handle on this because everything is so sporadic,” Walter agreed.

“I say we go storm the publishing house. Something is telling me they aren’t doing very much publishing in there. I’d be surprised if you didn’t find it to be his base of operations,” Lucas added. Several others nodded in agreement.

“How’s everyone feel about going hunting tomorrow evening?”

Chapter Six

The team gathered in the woods surrounding the small publishing house. Walter and Lucas had left the ladies in Kade’s care again. With Sissy, Betty, and Kade, all full vampires; and Meredith, a half-vampire; Susan, their missing guard’s wife, was the one fragile human in the group. It was with this in mind that Walter felt secure in only leaving one vampire behind to protect the girls.

They were surprised the place seemed deserted when they arrived. There were only a few cars parked in front of the building, and they hadn’t seen anyone come in or out since they arrived.

Lucas walked over to Walter. “This place just screams ‘creepy’. I don’t know what it is about this place, but something is wrong, very wrong. I swear I can almost feel the evil oozing out of the building.”

“Yes, I agree. We need to get inside the building quickly and find out what is going on,” Walter nodded.

Five minutes later the team had the building surrounded. Carefully inching to the front door, they were surprised to find it unlocked. Lucas shot up his eyebrow at his boss. “Think it is a trap?” he inquired.

“Probably,” his boss agreed quietly. “But it's the only way we are going to know what is going on.”

Four team members entered the front door on silent feet as the remainder of the team stayed guarding the perimeter. The front office was empty. There were no sounds coming from anywhere inside, but the smell of rotten flesh and feces almost made the Rangers want to gag after they had taken several steps inside and were working their way to the back.

After finding all of the offices completely deserted, the scene they stumbled upon in the very back room, what looked like was originally the printing press room, was enough to turn their stomachs. Dead bodies littered the floor. Upon closer investigation, they found all of the bodies had been battered and drained entirely of blood. The only male body in the room was their now-deceased security guard.

Walter took a moment to take in the mess. And a mess it was. This had to be hidden from human eyes as quickly as possible. He turned toward the door. “Burn this place to the ground. If the human authorities ever find it, they would have a field day.” As his hand landed on the doorknob, they all heard a very faint groan. All four men turned back around and started going through the bodies, trying to see if they indeed had a survivor.

They almost missed her. She had two other bodies piled on top of her, but she let out another barely perceptible noise that alerted them to her. As the bodies were removed from the pile on top of her, Adam knelt down and reached for her first. “Oh my God, baby, what did they do to you?”

The woman was too weak even to open her eyes. From what they could tell, she had long, curly dark auburn hair, and looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was a looker, even with her face bruised, dried blood crusted on her skin where she had been used as a meal for several, and skin that looked so taut they were afraid to move her, for fear she would break.

Adam looked over to his boss, anguish in his eyes. Walter thought he knew how the other man was feeling. It would take a miracle to save this woman, and he just didn’t know if it were possible. But then Adam opened his mouth, and surprised Walter with his words. “I am changing her. She is my mate.”

Several “holy shits” were heard behind them, but Walter chose to ignore them and concentrate on the problem at hand. “Adam, are you sure?”

“Yes,” Adam answered tightly as he brought his wrist up to his mouth and slashed it open with a fang. He then placed it to her mouth. For someone who seemed to be on death’s door, the girl suddenly started fighting Adam.

“Shh, sweets. I know you probably don’t like the taste of it, and if there was any other way, I promise you I would be pursuing it. But, baby, you’ve got to drink this if you want to live. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” He then glanced over to Walter. “Show her your badge. Maybe then she’ll realize we are the good guys.” Walter scooted a bit closer so she could see the badge on his uniform.

With one wrist held up to her mouth, Adam used the other to gently cradle her head, making certain she kept drinking his blood.

The team waited as they watched their coworker feed blood to a young woman who was more dead than alive. He held a steady pressure to the back of her head so she had no choice but to drink the blood running down her throat. Everyone tensed when she started to gag a moment later.

Feeling the skin knitting back together, Adam pulled his arm away from her mouth and cradled her gently in his arms. “Shh, it’s okay, sweets, I promise you, love, I am going to take care of you. It’s going to be okay,” he crooned to her.

Walter cleared his throat from beside him. “Adam, we need to get her out of here and somewhere safe to finish the conversion. She should have enough in her system to start healing a few of her injuries, and the sooner we get her to medical, the sooner you can finish. But we need to go now.”

Adam glanced over to his boss and mentor. Lucas was kneeling on the other side of Walter. “Adam, if you get to weak to carry her, I’ll help you. I’m mated, and so is Walter, so you know she will be safe with either of us.” Adam knew the offer was genuine, but couldn’t help the sudden possessiveness that welled up within him. Still, there was no need to be ugly. “Thanks, I’ll let you know if I need assistance.” Then he stood, carrying his precious bundle with him.

From behind him, he heard Walter give the orders. “Double-check all bodies and then torch this place. I want nothing left for anyone to discover.” It wasn’t until they were on the way out the front door they spotted the small note attached to the back of the door.

“Ha-ha, joke is on you. Say goodbye to those you care about!”

Walter and Lucas both were pulling their cell phones out before they were even out the front door, in an attempt to reach Sissy and Meredith. Lucas’s call went straight to voicemail, but the voice that answered Walter’s call left a chill running up his spine.

“Looking for something, Walter? Your wife and sister in-law are such sweet ladies. My guys are going to have themselves a fucking party with three women. We came here originally just for Meredith, but with two more females for my guys to play with, well, they said to tell you thank you.” And then nothing…Eddie had hung up.

“Son of a fucking bitch!” Walter roared as he threw his phone across the yard. He then turned to Lucas. “Call Doc and tell him Adam is on his way. Send one other with him, just in case he has trouble. As soon as this place goes up in flames, we take everyone else to my house. We are hitting them with everything we’ve got, because the son-of-a-bitch isn’t walking out of there alive. That’s it! He has crossed the wrong line by threatening my mate!”

It took less than five minutes to make sure no other bodies had any life signs remaining and to douse the place heavily with gasoline, and a few well-placed sticks of dynamite. Then a couple of matches got tossed in, and everyone took off at vampire speed to get as far away from the building as they could. An explosion was heard just a moment later, leaving nothing of the original business recognizable.

The team never looked back; they were on a new mission now. Three women’s lives were hanging in the balance. They gathered a few blocks away from Walter’s house, and sent Donte up on the roof for Intel. Donte jumped down to the ground a few moments later, reporting there were three of the rogue vampires outside, two of whom were attacking Kade, and one was left watching. He couldn’t get a read on the number of vamps inside.

The team waited until it was totally dark outside before attacking. They knew Eddie would be expecting them, so they had no time to waste. It was a get-in, retrieve hostages, get-out situation. They had called up everyone they could, including others from different shifts, to come help. They wanted an all-out assault. Walter was assuming the security guard had probably told Eddie their numbers already. But he was also going on the assumption Eddie would not expect Walter to pull from other shifts, even a few from other units who owed him favors.

At ten-fifteen, they struck. The three punks that had been left outside were taken down efficiently and silently, and they had been able to get Kade out of harm’s way. He was injured, but nothing that some fresh blood and a good rest wouldn’t cure.

Next they threw several smoke bombs through the windows of the house, jumping in right behind them. The women were all tied up and gagged, and in just a passing glance, Lucas had spotted a few bruises and cuts, but nothing serious. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t take the time to check on them at the moment. Eddie and his men had been ready in the house, and it was the 9mm aimed at a few of the women that had him worried. A gunshot usually wasn’t deadly to a vampire, unless it was a headshot; and Meredith, Sissy, and the deceased guard’s wife, Susan, all had guns pointed at them. Betty was the only one not being held at gun point.

“Well, well. If it isn’t Walter Andrews, the famous Ranger. What took you so long? Did you get lost and forget where your house was? Or has it taken you this long to work up the courage to confront us, knowing we outnumber you?” And it was true. Eddie had fourteen of his men packed into Walter’s formal living room. Or what
had been
Walter’s formal living room. He was betting his last dollar Sissy wouldn’t spend another night in the house after tonight. And he really couldn’t blame her.

Walter knew it would be a disaster to show his hand too soon, so he played along with Eddie’s little game. “Yeah, well, was trying to gather as many men as I could,” he muttered as he lightly shifted from one foot to the other.

He raised his hands in front of him as if he were going to surrender when all hell broke loose.

Vampires sailed into the broken-out windows and burst through the doors, loaded down with AK-47s, with 9mms strapped to their chests in shoulder holsters, and AA-12 shotguns. Eddie and his men never anticipated half the team had been left outside, just waiting for a signal from Walter or Lucas. Caught by the surprise attack, four of Eddie’s goons were shot down immediately and subdued with a wooden stake in their chest, while the original team of five went after the rest. Lucas concentrated on Eddie. His coworkers could and would take care of the rest of them, and if one managed to get away, he would be hunted down like a rabid animal. But Eddie McDaniels was
his
.

The coward that he was, Eddie was trying to make an exit out the back door when Lucas caught up with him. Grabbing him by the shirt collar and yanking back hard, he threw Eddie onto the kitchen floor. “Going so soon? Stay awhile, the party is just getting started.”

Eddie was faster than Lucas had anticipated, something that would only happen once. Eddie stood quickly, facing off with the Ranger. He threw several punches at his opponent, leading with his left, then quickly switching to his right.

Meredith watched all the fighting going on all around her. She had waited and hoped she would get an opportunity like this. No one was paying any attention to the women. Eddie and his boys obviously felt they were no threat at all to them. Carefully stretching her arms, she maneuvered until she could reach into her boot and grasp the pocket knife she had hidden there. She hadn’t felt safe up until now to even try to retrieve it. She was smart enough to know when to choose her battles. When Eddie and his goons had stormed the place earlier, she just went along meekly, accepting the abuse they bestowed upon her. But she knew just as soon as help arrived, she would be going after Eddie herself, because she was sick of him dictating her life and controlling her through fear.

Within a few minutes she had the blade opened and was sawing through the cords that bound her hands. Another minute and she had her hands free. She moved to cut the ties that bound her feet. Once free of her bonds, she ducked back behind the other ladies to free them, hoping no one would realize she wasn’t sitting beside them. Another minute and she had the three untied.

Eddie’s goons had roughed up Susan before tying the four of them up. Now, gently cradling the injured woman’s face, Sissy looked up at Meredith. “Give them hell, girl. Don’t let them get away with what they did to us. Betty and I will stay with Susan. You go get the rat bastard and show him what a pissed-off female vampire is capable of.”

Meredith instructed Sissy to keep her knife, as she quickly picked up a wicked-looking dagger that had belonged to one of Eddie’s goons, who was currently lying off to the side with a stake through his heart. She fought her way through to the other side of the room where Lucas and Eddie were squaring off.

Lucas countered each blow with moves that were so fluid it looked like a well-choreographed dance. Lucas smiled as he watched his opponent go from offensive to defensive mode when Eddie spotted the shiny blade strapped to Lucas’s thigh.

Panicking, Eddie kicked out, raising his left foot high in the air, aiming for Lucas’s face. Lucas let out a shocked yell as he realized too late that Eddie had some type of blade on the bottom of his shoe. The blade went across his cheek, now pouring blood down his neck and front, but he couldn’t worry about it. This criminal who had gone loose for two years had to be stopped. No one would truly be safe in their city otherwise.

When Eddie aimed his fist at Lucas’s face, it was met with the blade in Lucas’s hand. Eddie let out a howl of pain as blood spurted out from the gaps where two fingers were now lying on the floor. Lucas had no time to relish what appeared to be a victory as Eddie came back at him like a madman.