Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2) (25 page)

I didn’t want to turn away from the door, away from Ryder, but I really had no choice. I faced my attackers, meaty #1 and #2, both of them looking extra pleased that they had me back in their clutches. Right behind them stood Allistair.

Well,
shit
.

My hands clenched into fists, the aftershocks of electricity still dancing on my skin. Focusing on fugly, I noticed a remote control type device in his right hand and an electric stick in his left.

“For an ash, Sam is quite good with computers, but this door won’t be opening again,” Allistair said, holding up the remote. Behind me, the heavy pounding on the door continued.

I weighed my options here: try to fight three really pissed-off vampires while my body was still weak from the shock, or buy time until I had strength? I had no weapons close by, the gun had been lost when the electricity hit me. Crap.

“Alright you got me,” I conceded, holding my hands up.

Meaty #1 and #2 surged forward and hauled me up by the armpits, starting to drag me down the hall. The Hive had a real deserted feel to it now; the sirens still blared.

I focused on Allistair. He was definitely the leader of this little squad. Guess it was a good sign that he hadn’t killed me outright, but what the hell was his plan now? And why wasn’t this crazy asshole on mandatory lockdown like the rest of the Quorum? I tried not to panic as each step took me further away from my family. Ryder and the boys would be going crazy, but I hoped they at least got the girl to safety before trying to rescue me. Yeah right.

The pace picked up, my feet skimming the ground as I was hauled around two corners and into a small medical room where a woman was waiting in a white lab coat.

Shit. Double shit.

Allistair got up in my face then, eyes pulsing silver. “What is it that’s so special about you?” he asked, his eyes locked hard on the vein in my neck.

“I can tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue,” I said calmly. “It’s a one of a kind skill.” His hand shot around and smacked me across the face.

Jesus Christ! Slapping hurt a lot worse than I thought. Ow! Despite the agonizing pain of what felt a lot like a broken jaw, I did not flinch or cry out. The only sign of my hurt was watery eyes as I stared him down.

“Take as much blood as you need to figure her secret out,” he said to the lab woman. His bent nose stood out starkly in the overly-bright fluorescents here. His skin looked a little thin and drawn also. I wondered if he was due to feed. That could explain his current crankiness. Oh, and the fact that he was a grade-A asshole.

The female vampire nodded. She strong-armed me onto the table, attempting to strap me down, and I fought her the best I could, but with my head ringing and her extra vampy strength, she eventually managed to secure my arms and legs.

It was so much harder than I expected to keep my cool, calm, and collected face. Four vamps against one ash unicorn. I was not liking those odds.

Putting on my best badass enforcer face, I narrowed both eyes at Allistair. “If you haven’t figured out my big bad secret by now, then why hire the Sanctum to capture me?”

Might as well information gather while I was stuck here.

Allistair crossed his arms, glaring at me. “First day you arrived on our doorstep I voted to lock you up in the pit and drain you of blood, plasma, and spinal cord fluid over and over until you were eventually dead, but it was vetoed.”

Nausea churned my stomach.

“So I thought if I could make it look like a third party wanted you, when you were kidnapped, no one would blame me. That way I could do my experiments in private. The only reason I haven’t killed you is because I know you’re born of an Original and I expect your blood to give me some sort of powerful boost.”

Ah hah. The reason the vampires wanted me alive. Well, this creepster at least.

An enjoyable thought brought a smile to my face. “Why don’t you just take a drink and find out.” I exposed my neck.
Please do us all a favor and drink so you can become a weak human and I can kill you
, I was mentally saying. Allistair’s eyes locked in on my neck, a longing filling his silver eyes.

Before he could move though, the medical vampire strapped a band across my biceps, and starting jabbing at my veins. “I would advise against that. We still don’t know enough about her.” The rough bitch finally managed to find some blood, after making a mangled mess of my arm, and in a quick succession she filled two tubes before inserting a third.

Before Allistair could gloat more, the door flew open and a smoke canister filled the room. Within seconds the place was filled with an acrid and densely white smoke. I coughed, my eyes burning; it was impossible to see more than six inches in front of me.

I heard a scuffle of feet, and lifting my head I tried to see what was going on. Thankfully, before I could freak too much, the straps holding me down were released and the needle removed from my vein.

Strong arms wrapped around my shoulders and I was being hauled up over my bed and into someone’s arms. I started to fight, and only stopped when we made it through the doorway and into the deserted hall. Lucas was holding me. At his side was Blake and Tessa. My head spun as the door to the medical room slammed shut. Blake quickly screwed in some bolts and a metal panel to keep it closed. Dude must have power tools tucked into his damn pants or something.

The Cabbage Patch Doll looking vamp turned to face me. “That should buy you ten minutes,” he said, as Lucas set me down.

I swallowed hard. “Thanks.”

Just like before with Kyle’s two words, my one said so much more. Basically I’d just said: “You mother fucker, you changed my best friend into a vampire and then proposed to her and didn’t tell me. I hate you. But thanks for saving my ass.”

My glare-off was interrupted by Tessa. She body-slammed into me with a big hug. “Lucas told me everything and I want to help,” she whispered.

My heart picked up a beat at her response. “Oh thank God! Let’s go,” I said, pulling her hand to follow Lucas, but she stayed cemented.

“Oh no, Charlie. I want to help you from inside the Hive with Lucas and Blake…”

My eyes shot to her boyfriend. Blake had really done a number on Tessa. She was head over heels for this guy. Still, despite recent questionable decisions, my friend wasn’t a complete idiot, so maybe I was being too hard on him.

I squeezed her hand. “When we were twelve, we promised to buy houses right next to each other, to knock down the back fence and share a backyard.” The memory had tears glistening in my eyes. Tessa’s eyes began to leak as well.

“That’s not going to happen in a world like this,” she murmured.

She was right. The best we would get now was a meet-up at the feeding room.

“We’re too exposed,” Lucas prompted. “We have to go.”

Tessa pulled me in for another bone-crushing hug and I whispered in her ear. “If you and Blake ever want a human life together, I can help you with that.”

Pulling back, I saw shock on her face. She probably didn’t fully understand what I was saying, but it was enough that she knew the option was there.

Lucas had my arm now, and Blake swooped in to pull Tessa the other way. As we were dragged in opposite directions, our eyes remained locked.

Tessa smiled, her beautiful, familiar grin. “Stay alive, bitch, and try not to dress like a boy so often.”

I laughed and sobbed at the same time. “Don’t get married without me.”

She nodded and that was it. We were no longer in sight of each other. Lucas let me go, allowing me to walk on my own. I fought to suck back my tears. It was so much harder than usual; there was no easy way to deal with leaving my oldest friend, a piece of who I was, to live her own life without me. Heartbreak didn’t even begin to describe my feelings.

Trying not to slow our pace, I reached into my boot and pulled out the walkie-talkie. Pressing the button, I hoped to reach my boys. “It’s me. Are you guys okay?”

After a short burst of silence, Ryder’s voice came over the speaker: “Jesus, Charlie! I’ve been going crazy. I didn’t want to use the walkies in case they heard and took it from you.”

“I’m okay. They took some of my blood but I got out.” We were in the stairwell now on the first floor. “Is this line secure?”

“Yes, for now.” Was his reply.

Lucas pulled the little black device from my hand. “Sam!” he said tersely.

“I’m here,” Sam came back.

“Can you open the south entrance stairwell door on the ground level?”

My eyes were pinned to the exit sign hanging over the door.

The walkie crackled and Sam sounded resigned. “No, I’ve been blocked. I can no longer access any of the Hive controls.”

Lucas cussed and his eyes met mine. “I have a crazy idea, Charlie. Are you with me?”

You know, a year ago I loved crazy ideas, because they mostly involved Tessa daring me to down a bottle of tequila. Now … not so much.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve had enough crazy to last me a lifetime.”

Lucas gave me a resigned grin, before sighing and taking my hand. “It’s the only way,” he said, sounding almost like he was trying to convince himself.

Walking up one flight of stairs to the second level, he brought me to a door I had never noticed before. Opening it revealed a golden elevator door. For reals? How many secret Batman lair elevators were in this place?

“Special Quorum elevator,” he said. “I doubt they have had time to revoke my fingerprint clearance with the strikes going on.”

He pressed his thumb to a button and it glowed green. The door slid open.

The Hive was definitely filled with secrets. “Strikes?”

He didn’t answer as we entered the elevator. I blinked a few times as he hit the button for the roof.
How could we escape from the roof?

“Since Ryder and his core enforcer team have been suspended, the other ash enforcers have gone on strike. They refuse to take orders from anyone but Ryder. It’s keeping the Quorum awfully busy.”

My throat tightened with emotion and I felt horrible that we would be leaving all of these helpless ash behind. Hopefully I’d live long enough to try and change their circumstances.

The Quorum’s private elevator was a speed demon, and in what felt like seconds it was opening up to a secluded section of the roof, an area I had never been before.

I turned to Lucas. “Where is the helicopter?”

Because surely he had one waiting for me? There was no other reasonable explanation for taking us up to the very place it was impossible to escape from. A veritable trap if we were discovered.

Lucas grabbed my arm and steered me out onto the roof, hurrying us across to the edge. He grabbed the walkie from me and radioed the boys. “I’m on the roof with Charlie. Security will have seen us by now. She’s going to have to jump.”

I gasped. The vamp had flipped his lid—lost his freakin’ marbles. Dude was officially crazy.

“Lucas, are you insane? I’m not jumping off a sixty story building! My body will turn into pudding. I don’t want to be pudding. I hate pudding. It’s weird and jiggly and tastes like crap.”

Ryder’s voice came over the speaker. “Charlie you’re not just any ash. You’re Carter’s daughter.”

Levitation.
Shit. Didn’t he know super powers didn’t work like that? You didn’t get to use them on the spot to save your life; it was too much pressure. The odds were I would become a legend—you know, a dead superhero. A door slamming drew my attention behind us to where two vampires were stalking towards us.

Lucas gave me a tight hug.

“Come with me,” I begged. “They’ll kill you.”

He shook his head and laughed. “I’m one of the richest vampires in this Hive. I own the deed to this land, with a clause that if I’m murdered the land goes to the humans. They won’t kill me, but I will spend some time in the pit.”

Shit.

“I’m going to be back for you and Tessa,” I said to him.

He nodded and squeezed my hand before running to confront the vampires, throwing himself at them.

Ryder’s voice came over the speaker. “Charlie? What’s happening up there?”

“I’m on my way,” I said to him as my legs began to shake. Sixty stories was a long-ass way down. I could already hear my ankles snapping.

“Look to your right. Aim for that building which is about twenty stories high. It’s the vampire parking garage. We’re on the top floor waiting to pick you up.”

Okay, well forty stories to drop was a little better than sixty. And seriously. WTF, the vampires got their own parking garage? The ash weren’t even allowed cars! Grr. I shook that thought from my mind and focused on the building. It was far as fuck, right across the other side of the Hive grounds. Maybe ten times farther than I jumped when I’d saved Jayden in the culling. Looking behind me, I saw Lucas kicking ass, but becoming overwhelmed by numbers as more vamps arrived.

“Bitch, you can do this,” my BAFF said through the radio, strong and clear.

I smiled, and with a deep breath, I jogged to the far end of the space.

I squeezed the walkie-talkie button. “Ryder?”

“Yes?” He sounded worried.

“I love you.” Because I hadn’t officially said it yet and there was a ninety percent chance this ended with me as pudding.

His voice came back strong: “I love you too, you know that. Do. Not. Die. That’s an official order.”

Hah! Bossy ash.

Dropping the walkie-talkie to the ground, I rolled my neck.
Here goes nothing
.

I took off in a run-like-your-ass-is-on-fire sprint, sailing past Lucas and the vampires he was grappling with. My heart was beating hella fast and my brain was screaming at me to stop, but I pushed my muscles faster. If I was going to make that jump, I needed speed. Coming near the edge, I did the most insane thing of my life…

I jumped.

“Shiiiiiit!” I screamed, sailing high into the air, higher than humanly possible. My instincts kicked in then, the heat unfurling from my center again as my body glided through the air. It wasn’t the most graceful of levitation, but it was going to do the job. Tucking my legs up, with my arms out, I prepared to land as the rooftop came into view. Holy shit I was totally going to make it!