Hunting the Dark (31 page)

‘We have to get them back to the holding cells,’ the woman shouted. ‘Stark’s orders!’

‘Ha!’ I said, grabbing her by the front of her military-style jacket and lifting her off her feet. ‘“Cells”. I knew this place was a freaking prison.’

The soldier (or ‘private mercenary-for-hire’, as Jace preferred to call them) kicked out at me with heavy boots that were now a good way off the ground, thanks to my grip on her. She tried to aim her weapon at me, but I just tossed her onto the desk like she weighed nothing. The gun slid out of her hands and clattered to the ground. Luckily, it didn’t go off and start spewing darts or something. That would have sucked.

Meanwhile, the guy crouched beside her had snapped off a couple of wild shots. I yelped as an actual
bullet
skimmed my arm, leaving behind the telltale scent of burning flesh.

The female guard picked herself up and glared at her colleague. ‘No silver bullets! Dr Stark was very—’

‘Screw that!’ Trigger-Happy Dude yelled, panic pouring off him in waves. ‘I want to get out of this alive.’

I grinned at him, giving him the perfect view of the thing he seemed most afraid of. If he expected a scary monster, I’d give him one. And then I pounced, taking him down to the floor and sinking my fangs into his wrist to make him drop his weapon. He screamed loudly, so I grabbed his gun and smacked him in the mouth with it. Trigger-Happy Dude slumped into an untidy heap, unconscious. At least I’d shut him up.

The female soldier had moved around one of the control panels, putting it between us. She seemed the tougher of the pair (which I appreciated), but I knew it was only a matter of time before I subdued her. I could still hear Jace and the other soldier going at it, but had to focus on my own fight.

I went after the woman again, throwing myself across the desk and grappling with her for a few seconds. She was tricky, but no match for vampire strength. I finished her off quickly, with a roundhouse kick to the gut and an elbow to the head.
Bam!
Right in the temple, just the way I’d been taught. She went down and stayed down.

For a moment I’d been so busy admiring my handiwork I’d forgotten that Jace was getting his ass kicked. I looked up and realized that the remaining soldier had just hit him hard across the face.

Cracking my knuckles for effect, I used the thumb and middle finger of my right hand to whistle. Just to get the guard’s attention, you know? I was feeling way out of control and cocky, and I’d spent so long being afraid that I just decided to go with it.

My next victim looked me over, holding a battered-looking Jace by the throat.

‘Hey,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?’ My fangs were fully extended and I
moved
, leaping over the control panel and smacking into the pair of them. Jace rolled to the side in the commotion, and I pinned the Facility goon to the floor. He was wearing black body armor, but it wouldn’t stop me from taking him out. He thrashed beneath me, but I just stuck to him like glue and laughed – letting him know that he had no hope of dislodging me.

‘Get off!’ he screamed, the whites of his eyes showing.

These so-called guards seemed panicked and out of their depth. Maybe they liked the
idea
of policing monsters, but when faced with the real deal they just couldn’t handle it. Not to mention the fact that I was no longer chained up and feeling the effects of all those drugs. I’d been a victim before, but now the tables had turned.

The playing field was even thanks to an infusion of super-tasty Murdoch blood – which meant that I was free to give back a little of the punishment they’d all been so keen on dishing out.

Which is exactly what I did, dispatching the final guard in double-quick time.

I glanced at the three unconscious humans as I pulled Jace to his feet. We had to get out of here – there were still a ton of soldier-types outside the room, trying to get in. But first things first: I began unlacing the female guard’s military-style boots. They looked close enough to my size, and I was fed up with worrying about silver burns on my feet. Also, I could kick harder with a good pair of boots on. I felt more like myself again, but whether that was ‘Moth-me’ or ‘Marie-me’ I honestly couldn’t say.

A few minutes later, we were in the elevator and on our way
up
. Finally!

I dusted off my hands, feeling pleased with myself.

Jace looked nervous. ‘This has to be the way out, right?’

‘We’re at least heading in the right direction,’ I said. I was as filled with doubts as he was, but wiping the floor with those guys (and girl) had given me more confidence. I bounced up and down in my new boots, barely able to contain my energy.

Jace stared at me.

I stopped bouncing. ‘Sorry.’

‘You’re making me feel seasick.’

I couldn’t help smiling at that. ‘You get seasick?’

‘It was a figure of speech.’

‘I bet you do, though,’ I said.

‘Whatever,’ Jace replied. ‘I’m too shattered to argue.’

I knew I should feel a little guilty, considering that he was quite literally drained because of me, but I was still riding the high. If I hadn’t fed from him, he would have been able to put up a stronger fight back in that booth. But then again, if I hadn’t fed from him, we probably wouldn’t be one step closer to freedom.

As we waited for the elevator to reach the surface (see? I
knew
I was right about us being deep underground), I pulled out the document I’d snatched from Subject Ten’s file. Wordlessly, I showed it to Jace and looked away while he read it. Giving him privacy.

My whole body was buzzing, the need to move a visceral itch I couldn’t wait to scratch. Right now, I had to settle for tapping my foot while I waited for Jace to discover yet more of the puzzle pieces about his sister.

We had to find Ten and help her to escape this asylum too, but I didn’t know how Jace would feel about that. I watched his face carefully, wondering if now was the right time to say something, but he was engrossed in what I’d just given him to read. His mouth was drawn into a tight line, and I resisted the urge to offer him useless comfort. He’d talk about it when he was ready. I could wait.

He folded the paper and wordlessly handed it back to me.

Well, he may not be talking right now, but at least he’d allowed me to keep this crucial piece of evidence. A link to his past – and to his family.

Then we came to a juddering stop and we were on our way. This part of the building was less shiny and metallic. That made sense, now that we had more of the lay of the land. The lower level was a sub-basement, built with state-of-the-art materials, while the area we were in now resembled those military bases the bad guys always have in low-budget movies. Jagged concrete and white-painted pipes running along the walls at head height gave it an almost retro feel. Naked light bulbs swung far above us; the ceilings were way higher here, and there were metal staircases leading up to a balcony that I figured must wrap around this whole level of the Facility.

I could imagine Holly posing in her favorite steampunk outfit here – and then sort of internally yelled at myself for thinking about something like that when we were running for our lives.

Jace grabbed my arm and pulled me along with him. ‘Quit dreaming and keep moving, princess. I’m supposed to be the one slowing us down.’

‘Sorry,’ I muttered, resisting the urge to make a face at him.

Still walking, he put his arm fully around my shoulders. ‘How do you feel about livening things up around here?’

‘I knew you had a plan!’ I smiled at him. ‘You were too quiet. I could see the smoke coming out of your ears, meaning that your brain must really be struggling with something. What did you have in mind?’

‘I have no plan at all,’ he said.

I poked him in the chest. ‘Tell me.’

Jace grimaced. ‘Hey, watch the ribs. I think that joker busted one.’ Then he pulled a silver circular disc, the size of his palm, out of his jeans pocket. ‘What you’re looking at here, is definitely not a plan.’ He smiled grimly. ‘More like potential suicide.’

I stopped walking and reached out to touch the metal, then hesitated.

‘It’s not silver,’ he said. ‘You’re fine.’

It felt cool and smooth in my hand, and when I flipped it over there were three little switches embedded inside a small panel. Controls? Eagerly, I searched his face for a clue. ‘It’s a bomb?’

‘Yep. Although “bomb” is kind of a primitive way of describing something like this.’ He looked almost admiringly at the little handful of death and destruction. ‘This is way, way advanced.’ He pre-empted my next question, shooting me a wicked grin that made me feel all warm inside. ‘I took it off the dude who was smacking me around. He was too busy proving how tough he was to notice.’

I started bouncing again. ‘Let’s just blow the place up!’

Jace put a hand on my shoulder to keep me still. ‘It won’t be powerful enough to destroy an entire base like this.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘I’ve heard about these kind of devices before. From hunters in Dad’s old network. Never thought I’d actually be holding one, though.’

‘What sort of damage
could
it do?’

‘A lot, but we’re talking more like a ten- to twenty-meter blast radius.’

My excitement returned. ‘That’s enough to do some serious damage. We could just blow up a wall and get out of here. Boom!’

‘We could,’ he said. ‘But I have no idea how to set the timer, so this could get hairy.’

Things were already what could only be described as ‘incredibly hairy’, so I really couldn’t see how they could get any worse. I figured we would find an outer wall soon enough, now that we had found our way out of the basement level.

I snatched the device out of his hand, using vamp-speed so he never had a chance. ‘Let’s do this.’

‘Hey!’ Jace’s expression would have made an awesome gif. ‘Have you listened to anything I said? You can’t just toss it and hope!’

‘Why not?’ I grinned and waved the miniature bomb in his face. Surely he knew I was only teasing.

He still looked worried as we started moving again. I was too busy making destructive plans to be quite as vigilant as I should have been. Big mistake.

The Facility – and Dr Stark – had to spring their trap sooner or later. Unfortunately for us, it turned out to be sooner.

As we passed through a huge set of open metal doors – sliding double-doors, like the kind on warehouses or garages – they slammed shut behind us.

Jace and I looked at each other.

He shoved me forward. ‘Run! Don’t wait for me.’

I stumbled on the iron grate beneath my feet, hesitating.

‘I mean it,’ he said. ‘I didn’t donate my blood for nothing.’

The corridor yawned ahead, suddenly seeming like a threat. It was long and dark, and even though there were no soldiers heading us off with guns and crossbows, I couldn’t repress the fear that chilled my spine. Jace was right: I shouldn’t waste the extra energy he’d given me.

But I’d also promised myself that I would never leave him behind.

I held the deadly device tightly in one hand and gripped Jace’s hand in the other. ‘We’re in this together, Murdoch,’ I said. ‘Don’t argue with me.’

He definitely would have argued, but he didn’t get a chance because there was a resounding
clang
as more doors shut just ahead of us. We were now trapped in between the two sets, and I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d both started moving toward us – preparing to crush the life from our bodies.

Of course, that’s not what happened because this wasn’t a science fiction movie.

Jace was furious. ‘You could have made it if you’d just
run
when I told you to.’

‘Since when have you known me to do what you tell me?’

‘You have a point,’ he said, ‘but I’m still mad at you.’

I shrugged. ‘Get in line.’

Just as those words left my mouth, the grate we were standing on dropped out from beneath our feet and we fell down into nothingness.

We finally tumbled to the ground, landing together in a tangled heap on a raised slab of concrete. Luckily, I’d managed to break Jace’s fall, otherwise he’d have more than a cracked rib to worry about. I had also managed to keep hold of the little silver device I’d grabbed from Jace.

He rolled off me, immediately alert despite everything he’d been through.

‘Marie’ – Dr Stark’s voice boomed from a hidden sound system – ‘so glad you could join us.’

‘What am
I
?’ Jace muttered. ‘Invisible?’

I snorted. ‘Just be glad she’s ignoring you. Maybe it means you’ll get out of here in one piece.’

‘Or maybe it just means that I’m disposable.’

I didn’t want to think about that too hard, because he was probably right – and I didn’t know how I could protect Jace from everyone who worked at the Facility. It seemed that escape really
was
impossible. As usual, the odds were stacked heavily against us.

I knew just how right I was as soon as the chamber we’d fallen into was lit up by yellow spotlights set high above us.

Jace and I were on what I could only describe as a crude stage, and just below us – surrounding us – were at least two dozen men and women. There was a fairly even mixture of soldiers and scientists, which might give us more of a chance, but I wasn’t exactly holding my breath. (Metaphorically speaking, you understand.) Whichever way you looked at the situation, we were outnumbered. The bright lights hurt my sensitive eyes, and I had to squint in order to locate Helena Stark.

As she walked through the crowd of onlookers, the black and white uniforms parted before her and I could see that she wasn’t alone.

The leader of the Nemesis Project had Subject Ten at her side, but the young dhampir didn’t exactly look happy to be out of her glass-walled cell.

‘Get Murdoch down from there,’ Stark snapped, pointing at two of the black-clad guards closest to our stone dais.

I bared my fangs, ready for a fight.