Page 106 of Fanged Embrace
"Of course I do. But I've been thinking. An organization that size can't relocate overnight. If I had to bet, they just wanted to wear us down before returning to their original locations. The medical equipment and building modifications they use aren't easily replaceable, especially considering the permits required."
Jordan was silent for a moment. "You might have a point."
"It's practically our only option now, so we need to target every building possible. Cause a distraction, draw their forces. Meanwhile, I’ll lead a small team into their headquarters to cut them off at the head.”
And save Laurie, before she gets herself killed.
I didn’t spill that last part but Jordan picked up on the urgency in my tone, the barely-concealed motive beneath. Her voice softened with a resigned sigh. “You might not reach her in time?—”
“I will.” I stopped dead in my tracks, steel in my tone. “Look, Jordan, I can’t explain it, but these visions I’ve been having? The future I saw? Laurie is a key part of it. I don’t know how or why, but we need her.”I need her too.“Please. We have to try.”
I waited with bated breath, squeezing my eyes shut while Laurie’s life hung in the balance. Jordan was silent so long I thought she’d put the phone down, but eventually, her quiet voice crackled through the line. “All right. I’ll make some calls. We’ll meet at HQ within the hour.”
“Thank you,” I breathed out. The words rushed from my lips with relief. We ended the call and I was already sprinting for my bedroom, leaving the blanket dumped in a pile on the floor.
I flung dresser drawers open. Black was tactical, but… My eyes caught the scarlet suit folded at the back of the wardrobe. Flexible Kevlar weave, stitched for me personally by Maxine’s tailor. Bold, a bit much perhaps, but I didn’t care. I shimmied into the red jumpsuit, zipped it to my throat, and cinched the belt until it hugged every curve. I swiped a hair tie from the bedside table and swept dark curls into a high ponytail, tugging tight until it pulled the fatigue from my temples. I laced up my boots.
When I glimpsed my reflection in the mirror, feral, furious eyes stared back.
Then I bolted through the house, heart hammering a drumbeat in my chest. Down the end of the far hall, hidden behind a mountain of clutter, hung my small armory—a museum of steel. I bypassed the decorative rapiers and samurai swords and lifted ornate twin cutlasses from their mantle. I ran my finger along the edges, honed to sharp potency.
I secured the scabbards at my back and slid both blades in place with a quietshink, helms poking out behind my shoulders like broken wings.
Then I turned on my heel, boots striking the floor with reverberating thuds, and headed for the door. It was overkill, maybe, but I was ready to kill. Draped in red and determined to bring Laurie back alive.
52
Laurie
At the break of dawn, I approached Exercitus Biomedical with my heart in my throat. The high-rise building looked nothing like the looming, villainous structure I had expected. It stretched to the sky in a sweep of polished chrome, smooth glass windows reflecting the first few rays of sunlight streaking over the horizon.
The streets were quiet—as quiet as this city would allow, at least—with only a few passersby clad in suits and carrying briefcases, all of them hurrying past without a backward glance. No one noticed me dawdling there on the sidewalk across the street. No one paid any mind to the violent way my body was shaking.
Looking up at that towering structure, and knowing my enemies were waiting for me inside, I felt small. I felt small and vulnerable and downright terrified; I crossed the street anyway.
The glass doors slid open silently as I approached, and as I stepped into the lobby, I was greeted by two strangers. Two men in black suits with sharp charcoal eyes trained on me. Both ofthem bore bland smiles, and facial features so fine I had to wonder if they’d been sculpted by hand. I didn’t have to see their fangs to know they were vampires, but both of them flashed their pointed canines anyway.
I flinched away as the one on the left stepped forward and inclined his head. “Ms. Montgomery, welcome. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.”
A vein of anger ignited in me at his cheery delivery of the lines, but I tamped it down. I had to play my cards right. I was important to them—important enough that they seemed willing to treat me with a smidge of dignity if it meant luring me back. They needed me, I knew that. Before I’d escaped, I’d learned from the Doctor that I was apparently the perfect model for creating hybrids. Something in my genes was valuable to them.
They hadn’t anticipated my escape the first time, and I had no doubt they would never allow me a second chance, but if I was going to return for good, I could at least make some demands. Knowing how much I mattered to them, I had to find some way to manipulate this agreement. I had to twist this deal into something that suited me. Sure, they had me backed into a corner, but they didn’t know the intensity of my bite.
So I lifted my chin, met those coal black eyes and forced my words out with an edge of steel. “I want to meet him. The man at the top.”
The man’s expression didn’t waver, his smile held firmly in place. “Well, you’re in luck.” He jerked his chin at the elevator across the room. “That is precisely where you’re headed. The director is most interested in making your acquaintance.”
“Oh.” I fumbled, suddenly weak at the knees at just how easy that had been. “That’s… good.”
It must have shown on my face, the colliding sensations of terror and disbelief, because the man’s empty smile widened. Two years I’d been hunting their leader, and now I was going tomeet the guy face to face. Two years of fantasizing all the many ways I’d make him suffer, and now he was here, within my grasp—and he wanted to meet me.
I forced my expression blank, though my fingers still quivered at my sides. The lobby guy was still watching me with those odd, hollow eyes. I moved to step past him, but his arm swept out in front of me. “Uh, one moment, please.”
I followed his gesturing hand to the metal detector to our right, then met those dark eyes again. His smile was uncanny, not a hint of warmth behind it. He looked at me like I was nothing but meat, though his voice retained that polite, padded tone. “If you’d be so kind…”
I bristled. The detector would shriek like a banshee once it caught the gun under my jacket. Better to announce the weapon on my own terms. It was the last thing I wanted to do, it felt like stripping down right in front of them and leaving myself open for attack, but it couldn’t be helped.
With a strategically blank face, and though it pained me to let go of my final piece of protection, I slid the gun from beneath my jacket, holding it by the barrel, and handed it to the lobby guy. His eyes lit with smug satisfaction as he accepted the weapon and secured it at his belt.
