Annihilate (Hive Trilogy Book 3) (11 page)

After they left, the rest of us sat around, waiting. Markus, Oliver, and Jared were better at it than I was. They were soldiers, and knew when to burst into action and when to conserve their energy. Meanwhile, I was a mess of worry. Tessa, Lucas, Becca. Every single one of them occupied a huge part of my mind as I tried to figure out how this was all going to play out.

Bouncing on the couch, I turned to them. “What’s the plan to kidnap vampires? How the hell are we going to get them back to Alaska? I mean, the airlines might notice if we drag gagged, cuffed, and unconscious vamps onto the plane.”

Markus flashed me a broad grin, before chuckles escaped from him. “Ah, lass, you’re good for this old ash’s heart. I think Sam plans on chartering a private plane and flying us all out again. There’s a settlement of vampires in Canada which we’ll target.”

Okay, that made sense.

“So vampires to Becca first, then files from Lucas, then get the cure to the blood banks, then we alert the humans and shit.” My words were fast and jumbled together, but for some reason I felt calmer when we had a timeline, when I could focus on the next task and know where it was all heading.

The boys exchanged grins. “Sounds about r—” Jared was cut off by an explosion ripping through the side of the house.

Everything moved in slow motion then as I ducked, hands flying up to protect my ears. Something heavy hit me from the side. Pain shattered through me as I was slammed into the floor, someone over the top of me in a protective pose.

A tinny, high-pitched noise was reverberating through my head, and after a few moments I realized it was muffled screams.
I was deaf from the explosion. The heavy weight lifted off me
for a second, and then another blast rocked through the house. More heavy objects hit me hard, and on instinct I covered my head and squished myself into a small ball.

I was completely deaf now, so didn’t hear anything as a grip like a steel band wrapped around my middle. I was yanked up and thrown across a shoulder. Whomever had me was huge, I could tell that much, but there was so much smoke and debris that I didn’t know which one of my boys it was.

As we stepped out of the destroyed house, I winced as the sunlight cut into me. My gritty and burning eyes slammed shut for a few moments, but worry that someone might be hurt had them flying open again. It was then that I saw the clothes. The dude who had me was not Jared, Markus, or Oliver. They had all been in California casual. This one wore all black, and I recognized the ninja style garb.

Fuck. Sanctum. A fucking Sanctum ninja was kidnapping me!

Despite the agonizing pain which was making itself at home in my body, I swung into action. My legs and arms moved at the same time as I slammed them both hard into my kidnapper. I didn’t exactly take him by surprise; he seemed to be expecting something, because he barely flinched, but his grip did loosen for a second and I used that to elevate my upper body and slam my elbow down into the back of his neck.

Noises were still muffled; only the occasional high-pitched sound was making it through, but I felt him groan beneath me. His body started to lift and we were running. I sensed there were others around us, but I couldn’t see anything from where he had me pressed down. Fighting and screaming as hard as I could, I found a gap in his ninja outfit and gouged at the skin. Biting and clawing was chick fighting, but I wasn’t in the best position for anything else right now.

Or was I?

Markus had shown me a few self-defense moves for situations like these, but it was so hard to remember with the cloudiness of my head and the adrenalin coursing through my veins. I knew my life depended on it though. Once Sanctum were through delivering me to whomever hired them this time, I’d be dead. I had to fight now while I still had a chance.

Giving myself a second, I let my body relax, almost as if I’d passed out. The grip on my body did not ease; these guys were professional through and through. Dropping my hands, I grabbed a hold of the material below, hoping like hell this wasn’t a one-piece outfit. A sob of relief left me when I felt the give as the material rose. I kicked out again, utilizing the small movement I had in my legs. My hope was that he’d focus on my kicks and not realize what else I was doing. Kicking again, I pulled up the back of his shirt as hard as I could. When I had it near his neck, I snaked my arm along the front of his throat, and grabbed onto the shirt on the other side, effectively freeing my upper body so I could lock my arms and start to choke him, using his own shirt as leverage.

He ground to a halt and we struggled for a few moments. I kept my grip as tight as possible around his throat, and at the same time kicked off hard from his shoulder and surprisingly enough he released me. I slammed into the ground. Scrambling on the road, I looked about, hoping like hell someone was around to save me. But there was nobody but the five ninja dudes now circling me. Shit.

Yep, five. Because I had a chance to even take down one of these highly trained mercenaries.

The one I’d choked out was straightening his clothes, glaring at me. He had a mix of Western and Asian features, and I would classify him as beautiful but deadly. He opened his mouth, saying something, but my ears still weren’t working properly. All I could think was escape, get away.

I didn’t scream again, no point really; the explosion would have been heard for miles and any help was heading in that direction. Instead, I got to my feet, as steadily as I could. None of the mercenaries moved closer, and the beautiful one was still trying to talk to me.

Screw this. “I can’t hear you because you decided to blow up a house that I was inside.”

No idea if I’d shouted that or just spoke. I did know that anger had my chest heaving, and fear had the blood in my veins running icy cold. Were the other guys okay? The enforcers. No one had followed us, which gave me a very bad feeling. Shit. I really hoped Ryder and the others got back soon; there was every chance that if they could get medical attention and blood to the boys, they’d be okay. They had to be okay.

After my shouted statement, and flipping him off, the Sanctum guy stepped forward. I raised my hands up and prepared for a fight. Of course, I should have known he was nothing more than a distraction, as a small prick hit the side of my neck. I brushed at the jabbed area, and knocked off whatever little dart had hit me.

Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap. This was going to kill Ryder. My heart stilled then, and as the sedative pumped through my veins, I let the enforcer’s image enter my mind. I couldn’t leave Ryder; we had such a short time together and I wanted more. So much more. I wanted forever.

I held on to his image as long as I could. Tendrils of foggy darkness closed in around it and I fought with all my will. But there was nothing I could do, and as I slumped forward, a single tear trickled from my eye as the blackness took me.

My first thought upon waking was, “I’m not dead!” Then a raging headache slammed into me and I groaned, fighting through the fog like a thick blanket. Wait … I’d heard that groan.
My hearing must have healed in the time I’d been unconscious. How long had it been? Damn, I hoped my boys were okay. I wondered what the odds were that I’d see any of them again.

Ready to bust out of wherever I was being held, I struggled to open my eyes and finally managed to do so, sitting up.

Okay … what the eff? I was in a super fancy hotel room suite. Weird place to bring someone to kill them. Death in style, what a way to go.

The door was open a crack and I heard the TV on in the other room. My eyes darted all around as I tried to plan my escape. The idiots hadn’t tied me to the bed! I wasn’t even cuffed. I assumed the window to the left of the bed would be sealed shut. All hotels were. Probably for this very reason … they didn’t want me jumping out of it. The bathroom to my right was windowless. Crap.

Should I rush whomever was outside the room, hoping to take them by surprise? Or pretend to still be passed out, and when they checked on me rise from the dead and take out as many as I could?

“Princess is up.”

Eyes appeared through the crack in the door and I groaned. Element of surprise gone already.

Popping to my feet, I stood on the bed, fists raised. No one took down Charlie without a fight. One of them kicked the door open, and upon seeing me on the bed he smiled. They all shuffled in one by one, dressed in black, and I realized I was still with Sanctum. Were they retrieving me for someone or was this my last stop?

A figure stepped forward and I recognized Laz, the creepy shithead who had kept Jayden captive in my apartment. That POS was on my list. And my list was not a place anyone wanted to find themselves.

Black eyes with a sliver of silver flashed at me. He threw both hands up in front of him. “Calm down, Princess, we’re here to talk about a truce,” Laz said.

I wasn’t falling for that shit. I didn’t lower my hands. “Yeah right. You want the millions the vampires put on my head.”

He nodded. “I won’t deny that in the past that was true. We’re mercenaries. We work for whomever can pay us the most money. It’s what we’ve had to do to survive in a world where vampires dominate. But now … well, now we know you’re the cure.”

Shit. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I don’t know how long I was passed out for but I needed blood soon.

“I’m the cure … so what? If you wanted a truce you wouldn’t have blown up our house. You could have done something civil like … I don’t know, knock on the damn door!”

For the first time frustration crinkled his face, and with a sigh he ran his hand through his hair. “We tried that in Alaska and you killed our scout.”

I saw red again, anger bursting from me in a torrent of curses. “You set fire to our friend’s barn! Stop destroying shit and we might stop killing you.”

One of the other guys stepped forward. “So if Toby had knocked on the door you would have welcomed him inside for a chat?”

Well, shit, he had a point. I didn’t reply, just groaned. We had such bad beef with these guys that anytime we saw them we just killed on sight. My head was pounding way too hard for this conversation, and I was really worried about the sexy six. If these morons had hurt any of them, they could forget a truce. We’d have a damned war.

Laz opened his hands. “Here’s the deal. We’ve heard about your plan on the network and we want in.”

Fucking Sanctum was on the network? FAIL. Zack needed to rethink his security measures. I knew it was supposed to be for ash, but these guys were not the sort of ash you wanted to share secrets with.

“Why should I trust your bullshit? Last time I saw you, you had a gun to my best friend’s head.”

He shrugged. “Last time you saw me it was in my best interest to capture you for millions of dollars. Now it’s in my best interest to help you take out the vampire race.”

“Why?”

Everyone had a motive. I wanted to know his.

He gestured to his buddies. “It’s clear that the ash are the superior race. Vampires can’t go out in the sun, can’t eat food, and need too much human blood to survive. I want to be on top of the food chain, where I belong.”

Okay, I didn’t exactly agree with that motive, but we could use all the help we could get.

“You’re going to have to prove your loyalty then.” I crossed my arms, tilting my chin in defiance. I wanted these ninja bitches to work for it.

He nodded. “We are up for any task you assign.”

Okay, now that’s the kind of talk I liked to hear. Was this really happening? Was I partnering with the Sanctum? I searched my brain for what we really needed help with. “We need to infiltrate Cellway, lace the bottles with cure, and then be able to deliver them to the Hive-approved blood-distributing hospitals. The Californian and Texan ones, plus all the international. Can you help us with any of that?” With the Sanctum’s help, we might be able to do all this with minimum human casualties, and much more smoothly.

He nodded. “We already have a man in management of Cellway. He will start the paperwork for the enforcers as warehouse workers and delivery drivers. That part is easy.” Apparently Sanctum was both evil and resourceful. “It will take us about a week to get our men into the Hive-certified blood banks and hospitals around the world. But it won’t be a problem.”

As easy as that, apparently. We’ll see.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone and tossed it up toward
me. I caught it. “It’s untraceable. We’ll be in touch
,” he told me, and they parted, making room for me to step down.

“One more thing,” I said. “If any of my boys are hurt, you’re dead.”

Laz suppressed a grin as if he thought I wasn’t capable of killing him. “None of your pretty boys are dead.”

Relief exploded in my chest. This whole thing was really unnecessary. Couldn’t they have, like, taped a note to the door or something?

He stuck out his hand. “On my honor, I call a truce on behalf of the entire Sanctum. Don’t try to kill us if you see us around.”

I reached out and shook his hand, not sure how much honor he had. “I accept your truce and I expect you to pay for rebuilding my friend’s house.” I kept his hand in a firm grip.

“He’s just a human. A bottom feeder.”

Oh hell no. This guy was a mini-Hitler in the making and I had just aligned with him. Fuck.

“Leave the bottom feeders alone,” I stressed.

Our eyes remained locked for many moments; he was sizing me up, but I would not break. Eventually he just nodded and we broke apart.

Why did I have the feeling this might come back to bite me on the ass in a couple years? Oh well, I’d worry about it then.

“Where am I? I need to get back to my boys,” I said as they started to head for the exit.

Laz turned back to me. “You’re at a hotel about five miles from the surfer’s house. Your
boys
are in room 514.”

My eyes widened. “We’re in the same hotel as them? Do they know?”

He just grinned. “Nope.”

Shit. These guys really were a force to be reckoned with. They freaking kidnapped me, followed the enforcers to the hotel, and then set up shop right next to them while I slept off my dart hangover. If anyone was going to have the skills and resources to infiltrate the hospital, it was Sanctum. I did not like or trust them, but we had a common goal,
so we would tolerate each other. Despite everything that had happened, this might actually be our lucky day.