Page 49 of Last Hope
Azizi letthe fall air caress his bare skin. He had never liked the cold. As a human he’d been Egyptian and enjoyed the hot dessert. But ever since becoming a vampire, the heat damaged his skin and the cold made him feel clammy and uncomfortable. Pretty soon, most of the population would feel what he felt as well.
He added the vials into his machine, preparing it for its final use. He could sense his followers around him, waiting his instruction with anxious stares and twiddling feet. He smiled. All was well and all would go well. All he had to do was send them down to attack and start the machine and the world would be forever changed.
He looked down from the building’s rooftop to the street. Already the city had begun to panic. Mobs had been formed, police created barriers and lines in a ridiculous attempt to evacuate.
He smiled.
It was chaos.
Sweet juice of chaos.
And soon it would be complete hell.
26
It was easy to tell where Azizi would be. It was the only part of the city where the cops were quickly trying to evacuate. But all they had succeeded in doing was cause traffic jams and for the humans to be in a panic frenzy. There was running and shoving and cursing. Azizi had certainly caused a stir but that was to be expected. After the crap Caesareon pulled at the mall, they were trying to take all of the necessary precautions but it just looked like a complete and utter cluster-fuck of massive proportions.
Isis shoved her way through the crowd, elbowed her way past people. They retaliated by shoving her or elbowing her sides. She wasn’t going to get anywhere if she stayed in the crowd. There was no way she was going to see Azizi among all of the people. She scanned the sky; tons of tall buildings and skyscrapers were all around her, their rooftops were the perfect place to scan for Azizi.
With a last shove, she pushed past people at an even quicker pace than before into one of the buildings.
* * *
Victoria and Terranceand the rest of the FBSI arrived at the scene within moments.
“Holy shit,” Teddy exclaimed as he stepped from the van.
Terrance nodded in agreement.
“This is a total cluster-fuck of a mess,” Victoria practically screamed.
People appeared to be fighting and were in mobs and hoards, pushing and shoving. It was the perfect opportunity for Azizi to let loose the vampire virus over the population. It was too easy to have so many of them gathered together in a single place.
“Shit’s gonna hit the fan,” Victoria said. Things were going to get real messy real soon.
“We have to find Azizi now,” Teddy ordered.
“But what about these people?” Victoria asked. “We need to evacuate them before they get killed.”
“I’ll evacuate them,” Teddy volunteered. “You guys find Azizi and try and stop him before he can do any more damage.” Teddy went over to the mob of people. “Everybody!” he shouted but no one paid him any mind. He sneered and stood on top of a police car. He let out a loud bear of a growl that had the crowd hushing in a second. “Everybody, I’m Teddy O’Conner, Chief investigator of the FBSI. I know many of you are confused right now but please don’t argue. We need to evacuate you all in an orderly fashion or youwilldie.”
The crowd began their earlier chatter again but even louder this time, directing insults Teddy’s way.
“I don’t think I made myself clear,” Teddy said and then bent to a crouch on top of the car. “Evacuate…NOW!” When he said ‘now’ his voice had gone low and guttural because at that moment, fur sprouted over every inch of his body. His clothes ripped and fell from his body but Teddy, Teddy tripled in size and his crouch soon became a full stand to reveal the giant black bear before them.
The humans were startled to see a man transform so openly in front of them. They took fearful steps back as if he would take a chomp out of them.
Victoria felt the need to chuckle but didn’t. She turned to Terrance. “We should get to higher ground. It’d be easier to find him in a crowd that way.” Terrance agreed and they made their way to the closest building.
* * *
Anya ran as fastas her legs would carry her. She cursed Isis and her impulsiveness. They had sworn they would protect each other and stand together and she had run off after Azizi on her own.
Anya feared for Isis and her death wish. But she also hated her for thinking Anya was just going to stand by and watch Isis hand herself over. Well, she refused to stand by idly and watch. The Soul Mate connection and the love Anya had for Isis ran deeper than magic and it’s what Isis had yet to understand. Anya wasn’t Quinn or Orion or Deogol or any past lovers she’d had. She couldn’t just be dropped away because of the danger and forgotten about. And Anya was supposed to comply? Hell no.
She wasn’t a lover and she wouldn’t comply. She was Isis’s Soul Mate and that meant Isis was going to have to deal with that fact and accept they were in it together for better or worse. And Anya planned to fight for Isis to the death.
She arrived quickly at the scene of the crime to utter chaos. It felt like she had just stepped straight into a scene of a zombie apocalypse. People were shoving and tripping over each other. Children were abandoned on the sidewalk, crying. She noticed FBSI vans were parked around the area and Anya noticed, with a start, there was an enormous black bear on top of a police car, growling at people as they attempted to pass by in a somewhat orderly line. She assumed it was a member of the FBSI trying to calm the situation down.
