Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1) (44 page)

Very reluctantly, Lilith crawled over to Humphries. Standing and walking over seemed like a bad idea for some reason. His face was covered in bruises, though nothing really seemed to be broken. The puffy skin made it really hard to be sure. Blood was still trickling from the corner of his mouth and his nose. Guilt washed over her for a minute, but then she remembered that this was the bastard that almost killed Chance. He’d shot him in the back like a coward. Thankfully the bullet was a large enough caliber to go straight through, but not large enough to leave a baseball-size wound. Otherwise Chance might not have survived even with her special blood.

She slowly pressed her fingers to the vein in Humphries neck. She kept her eyes on his face, waiting for any sign that he might be regaining consciousness. His pulse was very weak, but he was still alive. A small part of her was pissed off by that, but the larger part felt relieved that she hadn’t pummeled a man to death with her bare hands.

The one thing she couldn’t figure out was why he’d shot Chance in the first place. He certainly didn’t seem very interested in either of them when they’d met him on the side of the road or at Miriah’s apartment. What if Ashcroft had just gotten to him? But how? And more importantly, why? Why did he feel the need to enlist the help of humans? Maybe it was all just some sick game to him. Either his pawn would succeed in eliminating a threat or he’d force one of his enemies to kill a human cop. She supposed either way would be a win for Ashcroft.

She crawled back over to Chance, who was leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed. She had a moment of panic until his face tightened up in pain and he slowly opened his eyes again.
“He alive?”

Lilith just nodded, a million thoughts still racing through her mind. “
Do you remember how Cohen said he could push his partner a bit, coerce him to do certain things. He said it was very limited, but…”

Chance lifted his head from the wall and looked at her closer. “You think Ashcroft might have some type of mind control on top of everything else?” He looked a little paler, but this time it wasn’t from blood loss.

“Well Cohen doesn’t seem to have the super speed or insane healing that Ashcroft does. It would make sense that his ability to coerce people would be in hyper drive too. I did find Humphries’ name badge on the floor of the hall. What if him and Whitmore went in the building before we got here? Or maybe Ashcroft got to them at the hotel fire. I think he may have turned them into cannon fodder.” Lilith scooted up to the wall next to Chance, leaning back against it. She wanted to be close to him, to feel his warmth, but she didn’t want to jostle him too much and risk reopening the wound.

“Whitmore must have been in here too then. You should call Cohen. He may be in danger.”

She hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Dammit. She fished her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the Detective’s number. It went straight to voicemail. An all too familiar panic crawled up her spine, making her stomach flip flop.

“This whole thing is fucked. If Whitmore’s gotten to Cohen, then I’m the only one left. How the hell am I supposed to take down Ashcroft alone?”

The real fear started to pull at Chance’s face. He’d been trying not to think of it. “You should just get out, Lily. Ashcroft has everything he wants right here. Take the car, drive straight to the airport and board the first plane out of here.”

Lilith craned her neck to really stare at him. “No. I’m not leaving you here to die. Not you, not Gregor, not Alvarez, not Cohen and not Duncan. I’ll find a way.” She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “Maybe if I surprise him…”

Chance turned and lightly gripped her face, turning her towards him, their faces inches apart. She could see just how painful it was for him to move, but he gritted his teeth and held on, tears stinging his eyes. “Just this once, please. He’s going to tear you apart and I can’t do a thing about it. Please don’t be brave and stubborn, just this one time.”

A single tear trickled down her cheek as she stared into his green-flecked hazel eyes. He was part of her life now, a life worth fighting
for to the last breath for. “I can’t, Chance. I can’t leave you like this, please don’t ask me again. If roles were reversed, would you leave? I know you wouldn’t. You’d fight till there was nothing left. You mean too much to me. I need to get you someplace safe before I go find Gregor and the others, though.”

Chance gritted his teeth again, his jaw clenching. He knew arguing wouldn’t change her mind. “Just help me into one of those offices. Leave me with the shotgun, but you better promise to come find me in one piece.” He grabbed her hand. “If you find them and you can’t save them. Get out alive. You can even come rescue my sorry ass, but the last thing Gregor would want is you to die trying to save him in a hopeless battle. Okay? If
it’s mission impossible, you come back up here, you help me and we’ll get out. We can take care of Ashcroft another day if it comes to it. I know you don’t want to hear it, Lily. But you knew going into this that your dad may not make it out alive, much less anyone else. Getting yourself killed isn’t honor, it’s a waste. Do you understand?”

He was right, she didn’t want to admit it, but he was. She nodded very slowly, just trying to imagine a world without her father, without her partner.

“I want to hear you promise me.” He gripped her hand a little tighter, his other still cupping her face. Chance looked her straight in the eye. “Promise me, Lily.”

“I promise.” She saw the relief wash over him, loosening the tension in his body. “Now let’s get you moved. We’re both sitting ducks out here.”

It took three attempts before she could help Chance stand up. He had to keep his right arm at his side to keep from pulling on the bullet wound. Chance leaned heavy against her, his left arm draped across her shoulders. His legs were still weak from shock and blood loss, but he was at least able to move. With the flashlight in hand, they staggered down the hall to the first door and slipped inside. Very carefully, she maneuvered him into the corner behind the door and propped him against the wall. Besides a few coughs he didn’t make much noise. The wound didn’t start bleeding again, thankfully, but he did seem exhausted from the short trip. He was panting softly, trying to breathe.

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to move Humphries and grab the shotgun.”
              “Be careful, Lily. He may be in bad shape, but he could still wakeup.”

Lilith nodded and raced out the door back into the hall. She’d start with moving the officer first. She stood over his head, putting the flashlight in the crook of her neck, holding it in place with her chin. She grabbed his wrists and waited for a few seconds, watching for any sign that he was coming to. When nothing happened, she started dragging him. He
was definitely heavier than he looked. The slight beer gut had to be full of lead. It seemed to take her forever to get him to an empty room. Finally she pulled him all the way into the vacant office and hurried out, closing the door behind her. After scooping up, Chance’s shotgun, she raced back into the office he was holed up in.

Lilith crouched down in front of him. He had his head leaned back against the wall again, his eyes closed. He meant so much to her. They had to live through this. She ran her fingers through his hair again and leaned in close, her lips just barely brushing against his. “We’re gonna make it home.” His eyes opened
up, a soft smile pulling at the corners of his lips. “After all, you owe me a date.”

His smile widened. “Yes, Ma’am, I do.” He brushed an auburn curl from her face with his left hand. “Come back to me alive. I can’t have the love of my life up and dying on me before our first date.”

Chance may have been cracking a joke, but her whole body still blushed. She nudged her lips against his in a kiss so tender it brought tears to her eyes. “Stay safe.”

“Text me when you find them. I want to know where in the building you are. I’ll feel better knowing exactly where you are. Ok?”

“I will.” She pushed the shotgun into his hands and rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Lilith snatched up her 9mm from the floor, wiping it off to get a good grip and squared her shoulders. There was no time to be a scared little rabbit anymore. It was kill or be killed.

She trained the flashlight down the hall, intent on the rusting metal door at the end of it. All the other doorways were just more empty offices. Lilith put her back against the wall, and slowly pushed the metal door open with her foot. Just like the front door, it made sound but not the creepy, high-pitched wail an old rusty door should make. Thank the fictional, higher power for small miracles. If he was intent on miracles though, he could do something a little larger. Smite Ashcroft, for instance. That would be a good place to start.

The door opened up into a square room with closed doors on all sides. She slowly swung the flashlight over each door, looking for something that might tell her which way to go. The thin light of the xenon bulb traveled over the door to her right and something caught her eye. There was some kind of dark smudge on the handle. Lilith crept closer, keeping the light trained on the handle. Blood. Well it wasn’t the most positive sign, but at least it told her which way to go.

The ominous door led to a flight of barely lit stairs leading down.
The lights had to be emergency flood lights. Either they just didn’t think they were necessary or they just didn’t work on the main floor. The stairs themselves had to lead to the basement floor. Of course. What villain wouldn’t have his torture chamber in a basement? Guess it was a stereotype for a reason. She paused at the top of the stairs and stuffed the 9mm in the waistband of her pants so she could dig out her phone. She sent Chance a quick text message giving her location and tucked her phone back in her pocket.

Once she had the 9mm back in her hand, she quietly started down the stairs. Her back hugged the wall, blood pounding in her ears, eyes wide waiting for something to jump at her, but her nerves were made of steel. She refused to slip into panic mode. She just took one stair at a time, trying to be as silent as possible.

The switchback stairs ended at a utility tunnel with dozens of pipes lining the walls of rough cinder block. The air was a lot warmer down here. It had to be from the pipes. Maybe there was some sort of boiler down here. There was a low warm light that seemed to get brighter the farther the tunnel went. She clicked off her flashlight and remembered her nightmare. One part had almost come true already. Now, here she was, creeping down a tunnel towards a monster that was holding her father hostage. Hopefully this was the only familiar correlation between the dream and reality. At least she wasn’t naked this time. That was a plus at least.

Now that she was closer, she could hear muffled voices, movement, whimpers of pain. There was no screaming yet so
hopefully everyone was still alive and in one piece. She knew that Duncan and Gregor had to be alive at least. Ashcroft would toy with them, and she knew that she was the key to it all. He wouldn’t truly start until he had her. Ashcroft wanted them to watch this time, to see what he could do. He’d already tormented Duncan with Miriah’s horrible torture.

From everything she’d heard and read, Duncan’s grasp on reality had been tenuous before all this started. Between watching his daughter slowly die in horrendous pain and the fact that Ashcroft probably wasn’t letting him feed, Duncan was probably a raving mess with no hope of returning to normal. That didn’t mean she could leave him. He still deserved a chance to live.

The light was getting brighter, flickering against the wall in random patterns. She thought back to her dream and the wavering light of a lantern, just before Ashcroft threw it on her father and burned him alive. She stopped for a second, leaning heavily against the wall, her gun gripped between her slick hands. It was hotter and hotter the closer she got and between the heat and the fear, her palms were sweating.

Lilith took a second to wipe her hands on her borrowed track suit and just breathe. Thinking about that nightmare wasn’t going to help her. This wasn’t a dream, it was reality. At least Chance was as safe as he could be, tucked away in that office upstairs.
One last deep breath and she started creeping down the hallway again, keeping her body low and tense. Her ears pricked at every sound of movement, trying to determine what was going on. She heard the voices again, but she wasn’t close enough to make out what they were saying.

Finally she reached a corner, the light bouncing brightly around it to cast shadows against the wall. There was only one figure milling around, but several low shapes were swaying back
and forth like shock victims trying to self soothe. Well, that probably wasn’t far from the truth.

Lilith kept her back flat to the wall, trying to make
herself as small as possible. She held the gun at chest level, pointed to the ceiling and watched the shadows move. The blood was pounding in her ears, rattling her nerves. She needed to glance around the corner and figure out the real situation, but if he saw her… Ashcroft would be on her in milliseconds and it would all be over.

One deep, steady breath and she quickly
peeked her head around the corner. Her olive eyes scanned every inch of the area as fast as she could and then she snapped back to her previous position and went over everything she’d seen.

Duncan was huddled in the left, far corner with his knees tucked up to his chest. His red, delirious eyes were staring at his toes like he’d never seen them before. It made her heart break, but she was pretty sure he was completely gone. Alvarez was sprawled out, unconscious, a few feet from Duncan. Her mind refused to even register the fact that he might be dead. She hadn’t seen any blood, so that was a pretty encouraging sign.