Darklight 2: Darkthirst Read online

  “How fast can you get to where the tear into the Immortal Plane is?” Bryce asked.

  “By redbill, it’s not far,” Rhome said.

  “Depends on who’s flying,” Bravi said with a half-grin. “I can get there in forty-five minutes, but for some, it can take an hour and a half.”

  Bryce gave Arlonne an assessing glance. She caught the look.

  “I may only have one hand, but it’s never stopped me from doing anything,” Arlonne said. “Most notably, I am still alive. Many others are not.”

  “I would never doubt your ability,” he replied. “The part you played in containing Dorian yesterday was proof enough.”

  Roxy nodded in agreement, clearly impressed. Arlonne was speaking their language: capable. It was the first time she’d spoken to us humans, and it fascinated me. If we could establish a relationship with all the newer vampires, it would only improve group cohesion. It could make our future plans easier if everyone got along. Or at least tolerated each other.

  “For the human side, Lyra mentioned she’d been making plans,” Dorian said. “As I’m sure has Bryce.”

  A butterfly knocked around in my stomach when he said my name, but I steeled myself in front of everyone. Professionalism now, romantic complication later.

  “Not sure about Bryce,” I admitted, giving my former captain a guilty sidelong glance, as I hadn’t had the chance to bring this up to him yet. “But I think the humans could do our own mission. I want to visit a government office, like an oversight department, while the vampires send out the first scout group. Our soldiers should be able to take their guards, but hopefully, it won’t come to that. We might be able to find someone to give us answers, or at least point us in the right direction,” I suggested. “We can find someone to investigate the Bureau’s board in a way we never could.”

  My nerves tingled with eagerness. Maybe we would find help within another government agency. Head-on battles with the Bureau could be avoided.

  “An oversight department?” Dorian echoed with a furrowed brow.

  “They exist to reign in other organizations when they’ve stepped out of line,” Bryce answered, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “And the board is way, way out of line. It’s an excellent idea, Sloane.”

  “Wait, we should think about this,” Zach insisted. “Seeking out an oversight department would very clearly put us at odds with the board and the Bureau at large.” He gave me an intense look. “Uncle Alan’s deal would be off the table for good. It would be severing our last tie to everything we’ve spent our lives dedicated to. Shouldn’t we try to work it out with them in-house before we start bringing in other agencies? Especially if it’s only a few people who are the driving force behind this awful stuff.”

  “Because that’s been going so well,” Roxy snarked.

  Colin nodded. “Zach,” he said, “I understand where you’re coming from, but the board and… and especially Director Sloane, have no interest in working with us to solve this.”

  “We can find someone in another agency who is reasonable and will listen to what we have to say,” I said firmly. “We can infiltrate an office without hurting anyone.”

  “I’m not sure how widespread it is at the Bureau,” Louise mumbled. “Still, I remember what the board said to us and what they allowed to happen to us. Someone should know so they can put a stop to the Bureau’s abuse.”

  I studied the bruises on Grayson’s face. She was right.

  “What if we reached out to someone higher up rather than infiltrating and starting things off on a slightly suspicious note?” Bryce suggested. “I know people. We can give the Bureau one last chance by reaching out to Head Office in a peaceful attempt to resolve this. No need to use force unless we have to defend ourselves.”

  I bit my lip in worry. The last time I’d planned a peaceful meeting, it had ended in a shoot-out. Still, heads were nodding, both human and vampire. Maybe it was worth it, to give the Bureau one last chance to rationalize their actions toward vampires and my team to a government agency’s investigation. And maybe Zach was right, and it was only a few people involved in the truly awful abuses of power. The superiors could remove the bad eggs, and things might fall back into place.

  “The Bureau, or at least parts of it, seems to be running rogue at the moment. They won’t listen to reason,” Bryce continued. “If we contact someone higher up the chain of command and give them our combined testimonies and intel, the board and its allies can be reined in. Or more likely, forced to admit what they’ve done and be sanctioned.”

  I crossed my arms in thought. The plan was fine on the surface, but Alan’s distrustful face was burned into my mind. Would another agency be able to adequately audit him and the other board members? What if he just twisted evidence to turn the investigators against the vampires and us? Considering the preexisting distrust between humans and vampires, it could be worryingly easy.

  “We need to have reasonable access to a reliable contact in an oversight department,” I said.

  Bryce grinned. “Lucky for you, I’ve got a contact at the CIA.” His grin disappeared. “We’ll need to travel to somewhere a good distance from here to make the call, though, just to be safe.”

  “I’m in,” I said, ready to get this possible solution rolling. “I’d like anybody who is combat-ready with me.” I turned to Dorian. “And we need someone to fly us there.”

  “I can guide the redbills and drop you off,” Laini offered. “I’m not on the scouting team.”

  During our meeting, the vampire scouting team had already assembled. They approached our planning group. Bravi scowled when Dorian took a step toward them, joining their ranks.

  “We’ll try to make it quick,” Dorian told me.

  “We?” Bravi asked with an arched brow of impatience, but there was nothing but care underneath it. “No scouting missions for exhausted vampires. You’ll fall off your redbill.”

  “She’s right,” I said, more seriously. “You need to rest.”

  A flash of irritation crossed Dorian’s face, replaced by the ever-present exhaustion. “I’m not that weak,” he insisted. “I can fight.”

  Bravi and I exchanged a doubtful look.

  “It’s two against one,” I pointed out.

  Rhome raised his hand. “Make that three.”

  “You’re better off here,” I said gently. “You can rest and come up with new strategies.”

  Outnumbered, Dorian gave up. “Fine. I’ll stay behind.”

  I nodded, feeling a lump of worry settle in my throat. I’d gotten used to going on missions with him. It would be hard to leave him behind, but at least I knew he wasn’t out there in danger somewhere.

  Dorian’s glacial eyes found mine. We held each other’s gaze for a moment, but I didn’t know how to proceed.

  “Goodbye,” I finally managed softly.

  We moved away from each other, resisting the urge to extend the moment into anything emotional. The surrounding group averted their eyes.

  Just friends. Friends saying goodbye.

  Laini led us to a flock of redbills. From the entrance, the first scouting group took off and soared into the air. My team—made up of Roxy, Gina, Zach, Bryce, and me—climbed atop the remaining redbills with Laini’s help. She talked softly to the birds, who seemed agitated, but that was nothing unusual.

  My shoulders sagged, melancholy filling me as we took off. Being away from Dorian, being close to him… nothing seemed good enough.

  I sucked in a breath of cold air as the birds soared into the chill, clear sky. The blue was pale, somehow fragile looking. Like its peace could fracture at any moment. Or was I just imagining it?

  “I’ll take us a good distance,” Laini called. “Throw the Bureau off the scent if they try to track the call. Though you might want to hold on.” She made a short, high trilling sound, and the redbills exploded with speed.

  Fifteen freezing, frantic minutes later, Laini pointed at a large town below us. Bryce nodded. It wo
uld do for our mission. The redbills dipped down. Nestled into a green mountainside, the town had a cozy layout, nothing like the busy infrastructure of Phoenix or Chicago.

  The bills landed outside of town under the safety of thick trees just starting to drop their leaves.

  “I’ll be around to pick you up, but I need to hide the redbills,” Laini promised.

  I slid from the bill’s back and joined my team. Bryce surveyed the area carefully. The high-mountain woods in late summer created a beautiful scene, with the shadows of evergreen trees swaying gently, boughs dripping from recent rain. It made me miss Dorian’s cedar scent.

  The memory made me wonder what I smelled like right now. I cringed internally. “Hopefully we don’t smell too bad.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Zach said, feigning offense. “I always smell fantastic.” He rubbed himself against a nearby tree. “And now I have a fresh pine scent.” His leg seemed to be holding up well enough.

  “Like a car air freshener,” Roxy said with a roll of her eyes. “And that’s a spruce, you dunce. Anyway, we’re in the mountains. Hopefully, they’ll politely ignore the scent and assume we’re hardcore backpackers.”

  We made our way down the mountain toward the town, occasionally having to wait for Zach to catch up. Picking our way through the green grass and needle-laden paths, we discussed our plans.

  “We should split up for efficiency,” Bryce suggested. “I’ll call my CIA contact, and I’ll take someone with me.”

  “I’ll do it,” Roxy and I said together. We shot each other an awkward look.

  Roxy wrinkled her nose in disgust while I eyed her warily. Her injuries could mean a slower reaction time if they got in trouble.

  Bryce smirked, clearly amused at his former pupils vying for the same task. For a moment, it felt as if we’d been transported back to our old lives as soldiers in the field on redbill missions.

  “You’ll both come. Gina and Zach can try their hands at dumpster diving or begging prettily at all the cafés and restaurants,” Bryce said confidently.

  “I’m sure they won’t be able to resist my legendary charm,” Zach said, snapping his fingers playfully and striking a provocative pose.

  Roxy turned to Gina and said, deadpan, “I will never understand what you see in this guy.”

  “It’s certainly not legendary charm,” Gina replied dryly, laughing a little as Zach swatted her playfully.

  “You brought some civilian clothes for us?” I asked Gina, who was hauling a small duffel bag with her.

  She grimaced. “They’re not… the most fashionable.” She unzipped the bag, and the five of us sighed in unison. An assortment of the world’s tackiest clothes sat before us.

  “I want the purple one with the snowflake,” Roxy said finally. Gina tossed it to her without comment.

  “They all have a snowflake,” Zach informed Roxy as he draped the most outrageous scarf over his tattered clothes. “We’re the pinnacle of style.”

  I doubted that, but I put on a sweatshirt that looked only slightly different from Roxy’s choice. Mine was once bright yellow but was now stained with mildew.

  “Can’t be helped,” Bryce muttered as he pulled on a ridiculous beanie with a giant fluffy pompom. The hat had the word “COOL” embroidered on it.

  I stifled a chuckle at the sight, but Zach and Roxy laughed outright until our former captain fixed them with an icy glare.

  “Good luck,” I told Gina and Zach as we approached the town. Zach shot me a mock salute, and they sauntered away.

  The shops were more upscale than I’d been expecting. We passed a jewelry boutique, and the glittering gems nearly burned my eyes.

  “There,” Bryce said, with a covert gesture toward a building on the corner. A chic coffee shop in these clothes? I surveyed our outfits and met Roxy’s equally pained gaze. We shrugged at each other, following Bryce inside.

  Bryce walked in like he owned the place. He spotted an older woman in one corner and walked over to her with a friendly smile, ready to put his charming Scottish accent to work.

  “I’m so sorry to bother you,” he said. “My daughters and I have had a spot of car trouble. Do you mind if I borrow your phone to call for help? It’s broken down just outside of town.” His accent was stronger than ever, although perfectly understandable.

  No older woman could resist his muscular frame and rosy cheeks. I hoped it wouldn’t occur to her to wonder why none of us had our own phones. Maybe we could tell her we had an awful service provider.

  “Oh, you poor things,” the woman said, fishing her phone from her handbag. “Here you go.”

  Good job, Captain. Way to work the ladies.

  Roxy nudged me and slowly inclined her head to the side. I followed the movement as stealthily as possible. A thin man in a wheelchair glowered over at us. He wore a smart green coat, and a support dog sat by his side. His sour face said a lot, mainly that he wasn’t happy.

  Was it our outfits? It was entirely possible that he thought we were homeless. I tried my best to smile warmly at him when I realized he’d caught me looking. Probably because he was staring.

  He picked up his phone and averted his attention to typing on it with a huff. Roxy snickered at my failure to charm him.

  “At least I tried,” I mumbled to her.

  Bryce placed himself at an abandoned table and quickly dialed a phone number. The woman returned to her book, but he spoke slowly, too quiet for me to make out his words.

  Roxy and I stood awkwardly. A barista gave us a passing glance before deciding we weren’t about to buy a five-dollar latte. A TV hung above the coffee bar area. It was small, but the volume was high enough for us to hear. Loud enough to cover anything that Bryce said, too.

  Roxy cursed under her breath as the next headline came up. There had been an alarming uptick in redbill sightings, enough for the general public to now be very aware of them. I watched, a pit of foreboding growing in my stomach, as the news channel flashed to footage of redbills swiping down to snap at picnicking families.

  “These frightening creatures, known as redbills, are appearing in areas all over the United States,” a pretty blonde newscaster said, staring earnestly into the camera from the safety of a studio. “These numbers are way, way up from last year. Public safety groups are concerned. They say the unprecedented rise may continue over the next few weeks. But now, Brian Ludwig is here in the studio to discuss the strange blackouts occurring through certain central states.”

  She smoothly transitioned to the next story. I couldn’t pull myself away from the TV. I hadn’t seen the news since we’d entered the trial facility.

  A man in a suit appeared before a map. It colored the states of Colorado and Utah with black stripes, along with much of the surrounding area.

  The Canyonlands. My stomach knotted in fear.

  “Thanks, Allie. This map shows the massive blackouts many citizens have experienced over the last few weeks. Rising redbill sightings and attacks from other strange, unidentified creatures are unfortunately not the only things the Southwest is struggling with. The cause of the blackouts remains unknown. People are being left out of work, school, homes—”

  The front door’s bell chimed as new customers strolled in, but the TV was too engrossing for me to look away.

  Roxy nudged me sharply in the ribs. “Look,” she whispered hoarsely in my ear.

  In the corner, Bryce returned the borrowed phone to the woman who had loaned it to him. They weren’t alone. Three police officers surrounded him. This town was hard on homeless people. We couldn’t have been here for longer than ten minutes.

  Bryce peacefully held up his hands. “This woman was just letting me borrow he—”

  “Name and identification,” the first officer demanded flatly.

  “What’s the problem, Officer?” Bryce asked, with such feigned innocence that one might’ve easily mistaken him for a jolly father lost on a ski trip with his family.

  The second officer crossed his
arms and glared at Bryce. “You sure look like warrants our unit received the other day,” he snapped. “The whole mountain is on alert for a suspicious group of hobo-looking folk. And surprise, I think you and your friends fit the bill.” He pivoted to glare at Roxy and me. Everyone in the café stared.

  We stood perfectly still. Warrants? It seemed we hadn’t traveled far enough to be safe.

  The third officer stepped forward, his hand on the butt of his gun. Behind him, the barista’s breath audibly hitched. She ducked behind her bar.

  “Officers, please—”

  The first officer interrupted Bryce’s friendly act with a lifted hand.

  “You’re all wanted for murder,” the third officer said. “Put your hands in the air.”

  Murder? They couldn’t be serious!

  I slowly lifted my hands, hope fading fast.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Bryce hadn’t been made captain for nothing. He lifted his hands calmly at the officer’s commands. Roxy and I did the same, but my eyes didn’t leave the gun of the officer closest to us. My eyes flicked from officer to officer, assessing the situation, even as the sinking feeling in my stomach turned from dread to the beginnings of anger. Had the Bureau gone directly to the police or sent out our information to every government agency? It would make Bryce’s plan even more difficult if we’d been smeared for murder.

  The nearest officer glowered at us, an expression that didn’t go too well with his bulldog-like face. It was obvious he’d already pegged us as cold-blooded killers, and nothing we could say would change his mind.

  The first officer, a tall man with cropped black hair, muttered something into his radio. The second one, a heavier man with a shiny bald head, gestured for the patrons to stay low to the ground. All around us, chairs scraped, and people held their breath. I kept as still as possible, knowing we’d have to either talk or act fast.

  Bryce decided on the second option.

  The black-haired officer’s eyes stayed fixed on my former captain’s hands—which was probably why it took him a moment too long to register the movement as Bryce executed an expert kick that sent him tumbling into the officer next to him. A deranged tourist disguise was apparently great for surprising police. The first two officers tumbled to the ground with startled cries. The third officer whirled to face Bryce, but Roxy was already on it, pushing the bulldog officer into the others with a powerful shove.