Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1) (52 page)

             
“Hey, Timothy. Everything go okay at the airport?”

             
“Well, no one frisked me, but there was a problem.”

             
Lilith sighed. Her nerves were already on edge. The last thing she needed was to have her patience shredded. “Yeah, I figured that when you called me.” So much for the virtue of patience. “What’s going on?”

             
“I’m here at the gate, I’ve watched everyone get off the plane and Gregor isn’t here.”

             
Somewhere deep in her brain, warning bells went off, but they were stifled by her sheer mental exhaustion. “You tried calling him?”

             
“Of course.” Timothy wasn’t going to bother hiding his own aggravation if she wasn’t. “It went straight to voicemail. I was about to try calling Detective Cohen since he was the one that sent me the flight info, but I wanted to keep you updated.”

             
Lilith’s phone beeped in her ear once, then twice. “Hold on, Timothy, I’m getting another call.” As the elevator reached the bottom floor she pulled the phone back to see Cohen’s number flashing across the screen. “Let me call you back. That’s Cohen on the other line.”

             
Before Timothy could say anything, she switched over to Cohen’s call. “I assume you’re calling about why my father isn’t stepping off a plane in NYC? Is he playing hookey?” She chuckled as she leaned down to grab the strap to the gate.

             
“Lilith?” Cohen’s voice was whisper-soft, making her pause. Coupled with all the static, she couldn’t even be sure it was really Cohen.

             
“Cohen? Can you speak up? I can barely hear you.”

             
“Lilith, I can’t there’s no time…” More muffled static filled her ear, cutting him off completely.

             
Fear sizzled down every nerve. “What is going on, Cohen?”

             
“Lilith, listen to me very fucking carefully. They have your father…”

             
“What?” Lilith shot upright. “Who? Who has him, Cohen? You aren’t making any sense.”

             
“I don’t have time to explain, Lilith. Please, just listen. They know. They know about you and Chance. You have to run!”

             
“Who, Cohen? Run where?” Her stomach was twisting in knots as fear tightened around her chest.

             
“God Dammit, Lilith. Please, just run!” The phone clicked just as she heard shattering glass above.

             
“Fuck!” Chance. She had to get to him and figure out what the fuck was going on. She mashed the button for the elevator and it lurched into a painfully slow crawl up to his floor. Lilith tapped her foot impatiently as a thousand scenarios ran through her mind. “Come on, come on, come on!” She wished she had her damn gun. As soon as the elevator reached its destination she’d be walking in blind with no defense.

             
Lilith pushed herself into a corner of the elevator making herself a smaller target. It wasn’t great cover, but at least it was something. Her mind kept going over and over the phone call. What the hell did Cohen mean that they had Gregor and who the hell were these supposed enemies?  Ashcroft was dead and so were all his flunkies. Cohen said the FBI was taken care of, so what was going on?

             
The elevator ground to a halt, knocking her out of her thoughts yet again. Gunshots rang out, startling her. She flattened herself against the wall and peeked out. There were three black ropes dangling through the shattered window like something out of a cheesy action movie. Chance was fighting off two guys in what looked like tactical SWAT gear. What the hell? The first henchman slashed at Chance’s chest, but he wasn’t fast enough. Chance easily dodged and slammed his open palm into the man’s elbow. With lightening reflexes he stooped down to dodge a blow from the second man and shot up, shoving his elbow into the man’s chest with a crack.

             
For a moment, Lilith was mesmerized, watching Chance. His movements were so fluid. With all the insanity in Tennessee she’d never really seen him in action, probably because there was always someone pointing a gun in her face or beating her senseless. Then the world skipped back into motion. Chance wasn’t doing some performance piece. He was fighting for his life. What the hell was wrong with her? “Come on, Lilith. Get it together.”

             
Just then, she caught sight of the man that belonged to the third rope hanging in the window. He was coming up from behind with a tactical knife while Chance was busy slamming henchman number two into the ground. Lilith’s heart skipped a beat and the whole world seemed to be in slow motion. Blood pounded in her ears and she just screamed at the top of her lungs. “Chance! Behind you!”

             
For a split second, Chance looked up at her with terror and anger in his eyes. There was a frozen moment where Lilith realized that her warning might have been more distracting than helpful. Her heart rattled around like crazy and then Chance moved fluidly to the side and shot his fist into the man’s ribs with a pounding force. Lilith released a breath of relief and clung to the elevator gate.

             
Chance whipped his head around to look at her again. There was pain and emotional agony in his eyes that tore at her. “Lilith! Run! Get out of here!”

             
She was about to press the elevator button but she heard Chance grunt as one of the men caught him with a shot to the ribs. She couldn’t just leave him like this. She sure as fuck didn’t survive all the crap in Tennessee to loose Chance now. He’d almost died. She’d held him in her arms as blood poured out of his chest and she’d been desperate to save him. She’d never be able to live with herself if she pressed that button. Weapon or not, she had to do something.

             
Then the choice was taken out of her hands. One of the SWAT guys was barreling straight for her. The gate was still a barrier, but it wouldn’t help Chance. With a fire in her belly, Lilith slammed the gate up. There was a split second of surprise in the man’s face, but he didn’t falter. He just kept on running, which was fine by her. It would only make it easier to use his own momentum against him and slam him into the back of the elevator.

             
Out of nowhere, Chance tackled the runner to the ground with bone rattling force. “God Dammit, Lily. Get the hell out of here! Now!” The runner used Chance’s distraction to knock him off balance and they started wrestling, trading vicious blows. The guy with the bum elbow picked up number three’s knife and started stalking up to the wrestling match.

             
“Oh fuck you all.” She’d had enough. Enough of this endless parade of crap. Lilith dug in her heels and sprinted for the henchman with the knife. As she got close she lowered her shoulder and threw herself as hard as she could at his abdomen. The man rocketed back and Lilith fell on top of him, all tangled up in her long, black dress. Thankfully, the mystery guy was struggling to breathe from the blow to his diaphragm. He dropped the knife to the ground and clutched at his chest, fighting for air.

             
Lilith tripped over him a few times, trying to get to her feet. Damn heels. Why was it every time she got in a fist fight she was wearing stupid heels. The man feebly tried to grasp at her legs, but he only managed to trip her again. She glanced up to see a 9mm lying in the middle of the floor and victory flooded over her jangled nerves. She dove for the gun, curling her fingers over the handle.

             
A combat boot viciously stomped on her hand sending a sharp pain roaring up her arm. Lilith screamed and tried to pull back but the man had her hand pinned against the gun.  She scrambled to get her legs underneath her, thinking maybe she could throw him off balance, but a blinding kick to the face sent her right back down to the floor. Her head reeled as lights flashed before her eyes. Distantly, she felt the pain in her hand stop.

             
Lilith blinked several times, desperately trying to clear her vision. One of the anonymous henchmen stood over her, gripping the gun. She glanced up at his face, terror pounding through her entire body, but she was surprised by what she saw. When Spencer had a gun in her face there had been a look of sick satisfaction, maniacal glee. This henchman had a calm face as smooth as stone. He showed no signs of homicidal rage. He just simply watched her reactions with the gun calmly trained on her, like a cop when he tells a suspect to freeze.

             
Two gunshots rang out, making her jump nearly out of her skin. She waited for the pain to start, but when it didn’t, she looked up to see the gun fall out of the man’s hand. He crumpled to the floor with two shots to the chest. Lilith immediately snatched the gun and jumped to her feet, fighting off the wave of nausea from her aching face.

             
Lilith spun on her heels, gun raised, just in time to see Chance drop the man’s arm holding the smoking gun and cleanly snap his neck. It was like some kind of badass action movie maneuver, making the guy shoot his partner and then killing him in a few smooth motions.

             
There was still one more out there. Her eyes quickly scanned the apartment until she saw the last henchman lying on the floor, his neck at an impossible angle and his lifeless eyes already glazing over. That was it. It was over. Adrenaline was still flooding her system, but she could feel the swelling in her cheek and nose already starting. Lilith grabbed the 9mm and took a deep steadying breath. Her head was still spinning from the kick to the face she’d taken.

             
Chance was grabbing her arms before she knew he’d even moved. “Are you alright? Lily?” He grabbed her chin gingerly and angled her face up at him, his hazel eyes examining her wounds.

             
Lilith pulled back with an annoyed look. “Yeah, I’m fine. Knock it off. It was just a lousy kick.”

             
Chance let out a huff and grabbed her arm again, leading her away from the now “open” window. “Why the hell didn’t you get out of here? Why did you come back?” His face was one huge mess of anger, guilt and irritation. A lovely combination.

             
Lilith stared at him for a second in disbelief and then shook her head. She thought the answer to that question was perfectly obvious. “Are you fucking kidding me? Why do you think?” She would have loved to let that sink in slowly and see his reaction, but something else was bothering her. “What’s that sound?” There was a hollow, lurching droning sound in the background. It was muffled but familiar. She hadn’t even noticed it until now.

             
“That’s just the…” Chance’s face changed to genuine fear and worry. “The elevator. How many shots do you have in that gun?”

             
Lilith popped the clip while Chance did the same with his. “I have a full clip. Guess he never got a chance to use his gun.” A sly smile pulled at her lips as she looked over at Chance.

             
“I’ve got fifteen.” A very brief grin snuck onto his face at her comment, but just like that it was back to business. “Okay, you take cover behind the kitchen island. I’ll take the kitchen corner. As soon as those doors open and you can line up a shot, take it.”

             
Lilith kicked off her heels, crouched down and put her back to the island. She took a few deep breaths, gripping and re-gripping her gun with a silent prayer that there wasn’t an army on that elevator. It was getting closer now. Almost to the top. Lilith opened her eye

             
Two men clad in the same SWAT style clothing stood right in front of her. It was such a shock that they grabbed her arms before she could even aim her gun. She screamed and fought against them, but they had an iron grip on her arms.

             
As Chance turned to train his gun on the men holding her, a high pitched screech split through the air. The noise tore through her head like a hot knife through butter. She doubled over reeling, straining to cover her ears. The men holding her seemed completely unaffected. Somewhere in the migraine haze she spotted yellow pieces in their ears. Earplugs. They were prepared. Whatever was making this screeching sound was definitely with them.

             
Lilith squeezed her eyes closed, letting out a scream that might as well have been silent. It was instantly drowned out in the deafening roar. As she fought off the nausea, Lilith spotted Chance dropping his gun. His handsome face wasn’t contorted in pain. It was exactly the opposite. Every line in his face was smoothed into a look of pure bliss. His eyes seemed glazed over, sightless. She couldn’t make any sense of it, even if she didn’t have the banshee screams threatening to perforate her eardrums.

             
The gate to the elevator flung open and the screeching receded to a dull buzzing. Lilith sagged between the two men, still trying to keep from vomiting from the intense migraine still splitting her head. Somewhere in the back of her brain, she felt a twinge of attraction. It wasn’t hers but it was pushing back the migraine, clearing her head. Lilith looked around, searching for the source. There was a tall, curvy woman sauntering out of the elevator clad in a skin tight lavender dress with platinum blonde tendrils cascading over her shoulders. She looked like something out of a Marilyn Monroe movie. Her full lips were barely parted in an odd expression.