Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) (13 page)

I grinned. “So what you’re saying is that you’re coming to my house for Thanksgiving?”

Ryder gave me a sexy side glance. “If that’s okay?”

“It’s perfect.”

We both leaned back against the elevator, silent again. There was no safe place to speak in the Hive. That didn’t stop the multitude of questions, worries and fears which were as much a part of me now as my heart and lungs.

The next day Jayden, the sexy six, and I sat clustered around the laptop on the roof, our unofficial hide out place.

Leaning forward, Ryder motioned to Jayden and Oliver: “Can you two go run some laps? We should probably make our meetings a little less obvious.”

Jayden nodded, springing to his feet. “If he can keep up with me.”

Oliver gave him a look which was a combination of exasperation and adoration. These two dudes were seriously the cutest couple ever. They both took off.

Markus chuckled. “Jayden is a good match for Oliver. He loves a challenge, and I can tell our unicorn’s BAFF is definitely keeping him challenged.”

One of my favorite things about this group was that there was never one ounce of awkward about the boys’ love, and I for one thought that said everything about how absolutely secure and awesome they were.

Sam’s fingers suddenly went into super-fast mode. “Our Deliverance window is open! Kyle, tether with me.”

Kyle hunched over his laptop and began to type rapidly. We were all frozen with anticipation. This was it. We were bankrupting Deliverance.

“We’re completely untraceable now, and I’ve got all of the bank accounts online,” Kyle said.

Sam nodded. “Sending virus.” His finger punched a key before he sat back, relaxed—well, relaxed for him anyway.

Ryder opened his hands. “That’s it?”

Sam nodded, his eyes half-closed. Kyle was still monitoring his screen closely and I could see his pupils rapidly darting across the computer. Finally he broke into a huge grin. “Our selected charities are now a couple hundred million dollars richer.”

Markus gave an excited shout, followed by a groan. “Don’t get me wrong, I love that the needy will benefit from a corrupt bunch of assholes, but I’d have liked it if we’d taken just a wee bit of that money and bought a little something for ourselves. I’ve had my eye on this Audi R8 for a while now.”

Ryder clapped his shoulder in sympathy. Most of these boys were car enthusiasts. Poor babies were stuck with vampire-issued, probably bugged Hummers.

Sam slammed his laptop shut and handed it to Kyle. “Incinerate them.”

Kyle nodded, and jumping to his feet dashed away with the two slim-line computers. Movement caught my eye and I was laughing again as Jayden playfully fell behind Oliver, just so he could smack him on the butt. My friend, seriously, you just could not take him anywhere.

Ryder leaned forward. “Okay, now what are we doing about the little girl?”

My attention instantly focused. I had not stopped worrying about her for a moment and I needed to hear what the plan was. I was worried everyone would forget as all the drama died down.

The riots were slowing down outside the Hive, and the vampires were doing what they did best, covering their tracks and creating positive publicity. Publically, the Quorum had paid the girl’s family a large, undisclosed, sum of money, and the human media was having a field day with this information. In the end, the girl’s family accepted that vampires were the only ones who could now properly care for their daughter and did not press charges, so the humans couldn’t do much legally.

The men kind of fell silent. Clearly there was no plan forthcoming, so I blurted out what I had been thinking all along. “I want to cure her.” I managed to keep my voice low and still convey every ounce of my determination.

Kyle was back now from the incinerator and he froze mid-stride. Ryder shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

Aww, poor thing. Ryder thought that because he was sleeping with me, he could tell me what to do.

I crossed my arms. “Let me put this a simpler way so you all can understand it. I
am
going to cure her and you can either help me or get out of my way.”

I gave Ryder my serious big girl face and was rewarded with the slightest twitch of his lips before he exhaled. “Do you have a death wish?”

“If it means giving an innocent twelve-year-old her life back, then yeah I do.”

I could see the vein in his neck throbbing and I had to push down the memory of the time I drank from him to confuse the Quorum’s blood results.

Sam stood, distracting our standoff. “There will be a time for that, Charlie, but it isn’t now. Be patient.”

Then he walked away.

What the hell? “What’s with Yoda? He’s been acting weird since he came back from ‘fishing.’” I did air quotes.

I could see the concern on the enforcers’ faces as they watched Sam leave. No one said anything. I knew they had all long ago decided to let Sam keep his secrets.

Ryder held a hand out to me. “Just put a pause on your aspirations to heal the world until after Thanksgiving, okay?”

I shrugged. “Fair enough. But I’ll bet this little girl is going to cry her eyes out knowing she can’t spend the holiday eating turkey with her family.” Never hurts to remind them what our delay was costing her.

The gravity of the situation hit us all then. The boys’ faces were somber. Life in the Hive wasn’t just affecting us, it affected all of society. When an ash was brought in or a new vampire infected, that was a family member taken away, a gaping hole left in the hearts of those people. Maybe there was a greater reason for why I was the cure. Maybe I shouldn’t be hiding it. Maybe it was time to do something.

The next morning as we made our way to the garage, I realized how damn quiet the Hive was in the early hours. Vampires were probably asleep in their coffins. Okay, I was pretty sure they slept in beds, but there was no denying that they were creepy enough for coffins. At least the enclosed building, locked down with heavy shutters, felt less oppressive without the bloodsuckers around.

There were two Humvees waiting for us. Ryder suggested this in case some of the boys were called back to the Hive. At this stage, all of the sexy six, plus Jayden, were coming to Thanksgiving. Ryder cleared it with Lucas and Lucas chose not to tell the rest of the Quorum. If anyone asked, we were out on a call.

Jayden was extra hyped today. Apparently Thanksgiving was his second favorite holiday. Easter was first. My BAFF loved fluffy bunnies. I ended up in SUV #1 with Ryder, Kyle, Silent Sam, and Jared. The Australian enforcer had never celebrated Thanksgiving. Apparently it wasn’t a holiday in his home country. He’d been in America for years now. His Hive in Sydney transferred him out to the Portland Hive after the incident which will not be named, but vamps didn’t celebrate human holidays, despite the fact that once upon a time they were human, unlike ash, who were never anything other than a hybrid. Funny which one of us had kept the most humanity intact.

The sun was bright as we exited. Spending so much time indoors made the sight of the rising sun extra beautiful. You don’t realize how much you take some of these things for granted until they’re gone. This was what I was trying to tell Tessa, but my stubborn, stinky-drunk friend refused to understand what I was saying.

Thoughts of evil vampires had my mind flittering back to the little girl. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her last night, even with Ryder and Kyle sprawled out on my couch eating all my snacks and keeping me entertained. The only way I could shut my mind off was when pure exhaustion knocked me out. I ended up crashing out between the boys, Ryder’s warm arm holding me against him. We were back to no alone time or privacy, especially with the Quorum on the radar again.

“Is this the first child to ever be turned vamp?”

The small talk which had been going on died off, and all eyes were suddenly on me. Ryder’s hand snaked out and covered my mouth before I could speak again, before I could demand information.

His voice was all casual-like: “Yeah, as far as we know. The Quorum are really strict about that law. This girl was a random accident.”

I wasn’t confused at all by his sudden defense of the Quorum. He was reminding me that despite their repeated searches of the Hummers, there was a chance they missed a listening devices and we should be cautious about what we said.

Dammit!

Our speed picked up and we pretty much screeched around the corner and onto my old street. The large trees which lined the sidewalks were looking a little barren. Winter was coming, and the chill in the air told me it was going to be brutal this year. Pulling up in front of the familiar little house, pangs of homesickness shot through me hard. It was easy sometimes to compartmentalize my life, push away the losses, but seeing it again … there was no way to forget.

The five of us piled out. Ryder was at my side in seconds. We moved from the car to the opposite side of the road, away from my house.

“I’m not sure what they’re using to bug us, but there’s every chance your mother’s place is compromised also. They can be very thorough, and they’ll be looking for your father, with the Original blood so strong in your system.”

The boys closed in tighter. “Every year there are a few cases of children being turned, far less than there used to be, say a hundred years ago. Vamps are policed pretty closely now. Still, there is always one screwed-up vampire who likes little kids and decides he wants one around forever.”

Okay, that was just freaking sick.

“So what happens to the kids who are turned?” The second Hummer was parking behind ours now. We’d draw attention if we stayed out here any longer.

“I don’t know of any vamp children in the Hives around us. They’re all transferred out to European Hives. Apparently they have the facilities to deal with them. The virus messes with children. They never age, and their brains don’t develop properly after the change. They’re too young to deal with the virus.”

Jared snorted, and I turned to him. “They’re transferred on the books, but I’ve visited hundreds of Hives over the years, plenty through Europe, and I’ve never seen a single child. So who knows what happens to them.”

Sam didn’t speak, but the way his muscles were trembling, rage was consuming the silent enforcer.

“Is that girl in danger?” My voice rose slightly, even though I was trying to keep it locked down. “You better not have stopped me from curing her, thereby giving the Quorum time to kill her.”

Because I was starting to see that was what the vampires did with the children. If they were difficult to control, if the virus messed with their minds, they would either have them locked away in some dungeon somewhere or they’d kill them. They wouldn’t risk the bad publicity and possible war with the humans.

“We have a few days,” Ryder said. “They never do anything until all of the media attention dies down. It’s all secret, hush-hush stuff, and right now there’s too much attention on our Hive. It gives us time to plan things out properly. If we’re going to cure her, we have to make sure there’s no chance of getting you or the rest of us killed.”

I calmed slightly, even though I was fuming inside at the extra few horrible points I could add to my “vampires are assholes” list. Could they actually stoop so low as to murder children who had done nothing wrong except be preyed on by evil itself?

Hell yeah they would.

I was beyond words as we made our way back across the street and up to the front porch of my mother’s house. The others were already waiting for us, Jayden pretty much bouncing on the spot as he tried to guess what we’d eat.

“Will there be green bean casserole? Mashed potatoes … oh man, I love mashed potatoes.”

Just the sound of his inane babble, and Oliver’s encouraging yet disinterested responses, was enough to lighten my mood. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, calming myself and sucking down as much of the negative energy as I could. Today was about family and enjoying stolen moments together. The vampires would not ruin it for me. Dealing with them could wait until tomorrow.

I rang the doorbell, which felt odd, but now that I carried around a bunch of large ash enforcers with me, I didn’t want to just barge in and give Mom and Tessa a heart attack. Standing there, I let my senses free, and found that if I really concentrated I could feel the warmth of humans inside my house. I never spent much time outside of the Hive, so it was odd to realize that the warmth, heartbeat, scent … everything really, was different to the ash. We had heartbeats—it wasn’t like we were dead—but it was different; ash heartbeats were slower. Humans were so much more … full of life. I was glad we had all chugged down blood before leaving this morning, enough to keep our hunger controlled for most of the day. We could act like humans again.

The lilac and spearmint scent hit me first, so familiar, so many memories associated with it. Then the door swung open and the still-youthful and beautiful Joanna Bennett stepped into view. My mom’s blonde hair was piled up on top of her head and her cheeks were flushed, which was how she looked when she was cooking. Yep, the frilly white apron topped off the outfit perfectly.

“Charlie Anne,” she practically shrieked as she pulled me into a hug. “I’ve missed you so much, baby. A few emails and one drunk Tessa pick-up is just not enough time.”

I sank into her, laughing, careful of my strength. It was easy to forget how breakable humans were. I could easily hurt her without realizing it. “I’ve missed you too, Mom. It’s so great to be back here.”

The scent of food was already wafting out of the open door. A mixture of everything good in the world was currently in my mother’s kitchen. I was so sure about it.

“Mom, I was supposed to be helping you cook,” I said, as we finally pulled back from our hug and moved into the front hall. Jayden was practically skipping as he followed along behind us. Which, honestly, he pulled off, despite his massively muscled frame.

“I just got a head start since there were so many of you coming today. It’s wonderful to have a full house.”