“No shit,” Luke says with a huff. I hear something smack in the background. Luke curses again and the line goes silent. He’s hung up.
I put the phone back down and call out. “Christian, Lexington, I need you to go to the Institute and get Obasi and Nial. We have a problem and a possible medical situation.”
The two of them appear in the foyer just a moment later, armed, and ready to track down the Bitten. I explain the situation quickly, and they’re out the door.
“It’s not all coincidence, right?” I ask, turning to Henry and Rath. Elle walks in just then, watching us all with big eyes.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Henry says. And goosebumps prickle along the back of my neck. Cameron, Markov, and Ian are out on patrol right now, as are at least three from the Institute.
“We’re spread out right now,” I say. I immediately head to the armory. “If they were going to attack, now would be a good time.”
“Who’s still here?” Henry demands as he follows me into the room stocked with weapons. Rath is on his tail. The lot of us begin loading up on weapons.
“Smith!” I bellow as I hand Elle a handgun and a stake. She pulls out a thin flue from her pocket, and I remember Ian telling me how deadly she is with a dart gun. “Get out here. We’ve got a situation and you’re on guard duty.”
He appears in the doorway almost immediately and grabs his own weapons.
“Rath, I want you at the ballroom doors,” Henry immediately takes command, making assignments. “Take Elle to the panic room. Smith, you are to patrol the rooms upstairs. I’ll take the front doors. Alivia, you’re to stay in the House, away from any windows.”
“But I want to-”
“You will be helping,” he says, fixing me with an understanding look. “You know as well as I do that there is more than a few ways to get into this house. You’re guarding this home from inside.”
It’s exactly what I needed. I have to do something to help. This is my home and I’m not just going to hide.
“Panic room?” Elle questions, sounding unsure as Rath leads her out of the room and toward the kitchen. She looks back at me, unsure.
“It’s okay,” I say with a nod, even though I can’t be sure of that.
She only nods back, total trust in her eyes.
Rath turns into the kitchen, and apparently, I still have more secrets to discover in this house. I had no idea about any kind of panic room.
One by one, I move through the bedrooms on the lower levels. Markov’s. Leigh’s. Lexington’s and Smith’s. Henry’s. Checking in closets, under beds. It’s silly. If there were a Bitten already in the house, I’d smell them. But we’ve been lax before, and we’ve paid dearly for it.
The bathrooms are clear. As is the formal dining room and the kitchen. I’m so glad it’s the staff’s day off. I think it’s time we sent them on another vacation.
I move upstairs, going in the opposite direction of Smith to my bedroom. I close the door behind me because no one knows about the secret passage from my room to outside the property but me and Henry, and I don’t need Smith getting clued in when Markov is so suspicious of him.
I’m silently sliding from my room to check the bathroom when my cell phone suddenly blares out into the silence, causing me to jump about three feet into the air. I swear as I fumble to answer it, seeing Lillian’s name.
“Alivia!” she calls out, terrified and frantic. “Alivia, they broke in to the Institute, just after everyone left. There were a dozen of them. Holland… Holland is…”
But she’s too frantic and distraught to reply.
“Lillian, calm down,” I say, even though I’m the one who’s falling apart inside. “Where are you right now?”
“We cut through the woods,” she says, her breath ripping in and out in loud, frantic pulls. “We’re hiding in Ian’s cabin. We’re at least armed now.”
I nod, Ian has kept a stockpile of weapons there for years. “Okay, who’s with you?”
“Just Francesca and May,” she says, her voice quivering with emotion. “Alivia, they killed Holland. She’s dead.”
I swear under my breath. After all of this, after all the attacks, they finally got to us. They’ve killed a House member. “Okay, Lillian, what happened to the Bitten who attacked you?”
“We managed to take out seven of them, but they’d driven us out of the house. We didn’t have anything but our bare hands. There was no choice but to run.”
And everything finally catches up to Lillian. She begins sobbing, the sound muffled, as if she is covering her mouth with her hand.
Lillian, who has been so mothering to everyone in the House. Who has taught so many, taken care of us.
“You did the right thing, Lillian,” I say, wishing so very badly that I could comfort her and put my arms around her right now. “You did the very best you could. I have to know, do you think anyone followed you? Do you think you can make it to the Estate safely?”
She takes several moments to calm herself. She pulls in hard breaths that wheeze in and out of her throat. “No,” she says. “We didn’t even get to grab shades. We ran blind through the woods. There’s no way we would make it to the Estate. But I don’t think they followed us. They weren’t willing to go out into the light.”
“So they could still be at the Institute,” I begin filling in. I walk to the window in the bathroom and look outside. “Okay, as soon as I can, I’ll send someone after the three of you. I promise.”
Tears overtake her once more, and she gives a little mumbling noise of agreement before I have to say goodbye.
I try Anna. No answer. I try Ian. No response. I go through seven numbers, but not a person responds.
I swear under my breath.
This leader knows what they’re doing. They have us separated, weak because we’re spread out. No one cell is strong right now, and if they’ve got the numbers, even weak Bitten will overtake us immortal Born.
There’s no one to help Lillian right now, and the clock is ticking.
I glance back at my bedroom door, listening for Smith’s location. He’s down in Cameron’s bedroom, on the other side of the house.
Knowing I only have seconds, I dart around my room, to all the places I have sun goggles hidden. Grabbing a backpack from the closet, I stuff three sets inside. Pressing the button, I unlock the hidden armory. It slides open, and I’m instantly loading stakes, two extra handguns, five knives, and an extra quiver of arrows, to go with the crossbow slung over my shoulder.
Looking once more toward the door, I offer a silent prayer that I will make it back to this House alive and that when I come back with the others, Smith, Rath, and Henry will still be in one piece.
Slipping my backpack on and holding my crossbow at the ready, I swing the painting away from the wall, and step into the dark passageway, before closing it behind me.
On silent, impossibly fast feet, I set out down the narrow stairway, and then across a damp, dirt tunnel.
THE AIR IS DAMP AND tastes of minerals and time as I breathe. My booted feet fly over the ground, and just moments later, I’m pressing the door open, my fingers splayed across Elijah’s name carved into the wooden surface. I work my way through the tangle of trees and bushes that covers the opening and climb to my feet.
My sharp eyes scan the area. Behind me lies the Estate, before me is an open field of tall grass, with houses off in the distance. Keeping low, I bullet through the grass. I reach the first neighborhood. Peering around the corner of a house, I take off down the road.
My enemy could be anyone. This army has taken so many familiar faces. At this point, I can only rely on my sense of smell. Those that smell like my next meal are safe. Those that don’t are to be killed instantly.
I reach Main Street and crouch behind a car, scanning the road. Just as Luke said, there’s a car being loaded up onto a tow truck, its front end all smashed up. A fire truck sits in front of the church, water drenching the west side of the building, smoke billo
wing everywhere.
I’m so paranoid. Are the two connected? The attacks, the appearances of the Bitten, and this crash? All of the on-duty cops in Silent Bend must be on the scene. I count three patrol cars with their lights flashing, and I’m pretty sure that’s the entire force.
Searching the road once more, I dart across in a flash and cut through the trees in the direction of the Ward property.
The underbrush is thick and heavy as I make my way through, snapping twigs and bushes with my powerful movements. The land becomes wet and soggy, telling me I’m close.
Movement to my right grabs my attention. I instantly duck behind a tree, holding my breath to not cause any kind of sound.
There are two people walking through the trees, a man and a woman, probably in their fifties. They don’t quite seem to know where they are going, but if they’re out here, I’m assuming they’re looking for Lillian and the other two. The stakes clutched in their hands make me sure of it.
I level the crossbow in front of me, lining my vision with the sights. I follow the man’s movements, my finger held over the trigger.
Letting my breath out, I pull it.
The arrow sails through the air before embedding itself into the man’s back, right into his heart. He drops to the ground just as the woman flips around, searching for the source. Just as I nock another arrow and loose it, right into her chest.
She drops to the ground, and I dart over to their dead bodies. Grabbing the woman’s arm, I find what I expected. The brand of a snake, burned into her skin. It’s bubbled and red, fresh. I’d guess done within the last day or so.
Once more, I take off through the woods, moving faster and faster. I have to get back to the House. We have to find the others.
A metal roof and dark, rustic siding comes in to view. Pausing for only a moment to survey the property, I climb the stairs and knock on the door. “It’s Alivia.”
Lillian opens the door just a moment later, a displeased look on her face as she yanks me inside, shielding her eyes against the bright light. “What are you doing, darting around, playing hero? What if something happened to you?”
“There wasn’t anyone else,” I say as I squat to the floor and begin unloading the backpack. Francesca and May tighten around me, watching as I work. I unearth the goggles, handing them over as I begin explaining what is happening. “And I got here just in time,” I continue, pulling a curtain aside to scan the surrounding area. “There was a couple not far from here. They were looking for you.”
“That means there’s still two of them that are possibly back at the Institute,” May says. She straps a holster around her hips, sliding stakes into her cargo pockets.
“With how bad things are, as much as I want to go after them, I think we need to get back to the Estate,” I say, against everything in me. “We need to get our numbers gathered. And we need to figure out a way to draw out this leader and get this war going.”
Lillian nods in agreement, no matter how white her face has turned. They finish gearing up and strap their sun goggles on. After scanning out the windows once more, we open the door and head for the woods again.
No other Bitten roam and our path remains clear. When we get to Main Street, the wreck has been cleared away and the smoke trails off from the fire. The firemen seem to be wrapping things up. We dart across the street in a blur and head down the road that will lead to the Conrath property.
We cut through one corner of the field and hop the fence that surrounds the property. We make sure to keep our hands raised and move slowly as we walk up to the front doors. Smith keeps his gun trained on me from one of the upper windows. Henry glares at me from the front door.
“Ian told me you were never very good at following directions,” he says in annoyance as we walk up through the door. Henry locks it behind him, casting us in lovely darkness once more. “Apparently, you have my knack for stealth.”
“I had to do something,” I say, not in the mood to explain myself as I remove my goggles and set them on a table in the foyer. “If I hadn’t, they might have been hurt.”
The look in Henry’s eyes is certainly annoyed, disapproving, but there’s also a proud gleam to them.
Once more, I pull out my cell phone and try Anna. Again, no response. Next, I try Ian, who still doesn’t answer.
“Help watch the windows,” I bark at Francesca and May as I scroll through my contacts, clicking on Samuel’s name. I swear under my breath as it just rings and rings.
IN URGENCY AND FRUSTRATION, AN hour passes.
“Why aren’t they making a move on the House?” I ask quietly as I stand next to Henry, our eyes searching the property. “If they wanted to attack me, take me out, they had plenty of opportunity to storm the House.”
“It makes me think that was not the purpose of what they’re doing today,” he responds. I see his fingers twitch, where he holds a curved blade. The way he shifts from one foot to the other, ready to fight, to move, his deadly nature is apparent.
He’s been out there, for months, fighting them. But now, when there has to be some kind of fighting going on out there, he’s here.
And I have no doubt that I am the reason why.
Two hours pass.
Three.
We let Elle out of the panic room, which I learn is accessed by a hidden door in the pantry. She joins in keeping lookout.
“Anna is coming up from the river,” I hear Smith shout from upstairs. “With Danny and Leigh in tow.”
I rush to the back doors, to Rath’s side. He has his gun trained on him with laser focus, scanning the landscape around them. I push open the door, standing aside as the three of them file in. Rath quickly closes it behind them, locking it up tight.
“We searched and searched, but there was nothing,” Anna says as she hurtles a stake across the ballroom, embedding it into the wall twenty feet away from her.
“It was a diversion,” Danny says, pacing the floor like a wild animal. “Someone gave the sheriff a false tip.”
“I think they were trying to split us up,” I say. I explain what happened with Lillian and the Institute. That one of our own has finally been killed.
“And you can’t get a hold of the others?” Anna demands. Her eyes are still glowing, like they were when she left hours earlier.
I shake my head, the stake in my hands splintering as I squeeze it without realizing. “Something is going on, and I hate being in the dark.”
“It’s obvious their goal is to keep us separated,” Henry says loudly from the front door. “So we can’t give them what they want. We need to stay together. Stay strong.”
“He’s right,” I say, nodding my head. “As badly as I want to get out there and go find everyone, we can’t split up. They’ll start picking us off, one by one.”
IT ISN’T EASY, JUST SITTING here, when so much could be going wrong. Sitting tight while we have to wonder if we’re going to be attacked at any moment.
I make dinner. Fried chicken and potato wedges. Cut up a watermelon. I made cheesecake for dessert. I want it to take as long as possible to prepare everything, so my mind can be taken off of the anxiety of waiting.
We all eat in silence. I keep looking at the ring on my finger. Ian is out there. I have no contact with him. I don’t know what’s happened with him.
But I have to believe he’s okay.
At eleven that night, my phone finally rings from the dining room table.
“Samuel!” I yell into it. “Where are you? What is going on?”
“I was just going to ask you the same question,” he says with horror in his voice. “We just got back to the Institute and there’s blood all over, the front door is broken down, and Holland…” He can’t finish his sentence.
“There was an attack,” I say, frustrated and impatient. “Samuel, you all need to get back to the Estate, right now.”
“We’re on our way.” He doesn’t question, and I’m pretty sure I hear the sound of someone throwing up before h
e hangs up.
I pace in the ballroom as I wait for the group to arrive. Smith yells down when they do. When Samuel, Trinity, and Rowan walk through the doors, they drip mud and blood to the floor.
“Where the hell have you three been all day?” I demand like an angry mother. “I’ve been calling and calling and so, so terrified!”
Samuel takes half a step back from me, giving me a wary look. “We found two Bitten lurking outside the elementary school this morning,” he says, walking into the kitchen where he starts washing his arms off, after he strips his crusted shirt off. “We took off after them, but they were fast. We’ve been chasing them all day. All the way down to the bayou of Louisiana. Trinity lost her phone in the mud and mine wasn’t much better. We got the bastards, by the way.”
“They were just hanging out by the school?” I ask, my brows furrowed.
“It was weird,” Trinity says, leaning against the counter, getting mud everywhere. “Almost like they wanted us to see them. And I’ve never seen Bitten as fast as they were.”
“They were luring you away,” I say, again swearing under my breath. Once more, I set to explaining everything that has happened.
“There’s someone down at the gate,” Henry suddenly says from the front door. I dart out, stopping beside him at the door. A moment later, Christian, Lexington, Obasi, and Nial walk up, tired, dirty, but all in one piece.
“We found the woman who had been bitten,” Nial says as they all walk in. “She hadn’t lost much blood.”
“But the pricks got away,” Christian says as he follows his nose into the kitchen where he starts scarfing down leftovers.
“If I’d had to guess, I’d say it was almost like they let the woman go,” Lexington adds as he, too, grabs some chicken. “She was pretty tiny, didn’t seem much like a fighter.”
“Something definitely wasn’t right,” Obasi says in his powerful voice.