Page 100 of Reaper Unhinged
She picked something off the ground. My radio. It must have fallen off when I got shot.
“Busted,” she said. “Let’s hope Ursula got a lock on the signal before it died.”
“Then we move,” Grayson said. He hooked an arm around me and took my weight. “I got you, Fee.”
I shook my head and pulled away. “No, I won’t be a liability.”
“Here.” Ponytail held up a metal contraption that looked like a dart gun. “This will help.”
She pressed it to my arm, and a sharp sting followed, and like magic, the pain ebbed. It was still there, but it wasn’t all I could think about.
“You good?” Ponytail asked.
“I’m good.”
“Okay, so let’s get to work.”
* * *
Hunter
I don’t fight when they stick the collar on me, and I don’t fight as I’m led to the labs.
The stone and the chill tell me we’re below ground, at least until we climb the first flight of metal stairs, and then the terrain is all hardwood floors and magnolia walls. The scent of disinfectant fills the air. I don’t look at the lab to my left, and as we turn right, I don’t bother to check out the vampire holding rooms. There are several. They keep the creatures in twos and threes.
“Meek today, aren’t we?” one of the guards says to me.
“Maybe the Loup has lost his bite,” the other one said.
One of them shoves me, and I pretend to stumble.
They laugh.
Let them think I’m weaker than I am. My Loup may be suppressed, but that doesn’t mean I’m powerless. My body is a honed machine, but I’ve held off on using it because I know I’ll only get the one shot. I can’t blow it.
There’s static, and then a voice fills the hallway.
ALL ACTIVE UNITSTO SECTOR C. INTRUDERS DETECTED.
Shit.Fee, it has to be.
“Should we go?” one of the guards asks.
“No, you idiot, they have the fangers for that shit.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Yeah.”
The super vamps are going after Fee.
The lab comes into view, and the white doors swish open. The guards shove me inside, and the doors close behind me. I surreptitiously scan the room. Yes, the vials are where they always are, and there are two syringes on the tray filled with the same amber fluid that’s in the vial. My pulse quickens.
My needle-happy host turns to me with a smile. “Ah, hello there. Did you sleep well?”
The bastard always does this. Small talk, as if I’m here voluntarily. As if this is some kind of fucking summer camp.
I don’t usually engage, but today is different. “I could do with a mattress.”
