Vampire Beach Hunted (18 page)

Jason nodded. It was bizarre to come from the hi-tech, nightmarish vampire experimentation labs, up here to normality, all just by taking an elevator.

Judging from the looks they were getting, the people on their way to work found it pretty bizarre to see a bunch of exhausted teenage guys and a security guard with a crossbow, too. Jason pulled out his cell and speed-dialled Sienna.

‘Where are you?’ he asked when she picked up.

‘About half a mile from Medi-Life,’ she reported. ‘We’ll be there soon.’

‘I need you to get to the front entrance. Just pull as close to the doors as you can,’ Jason told her. ‘Christopher won’t be able to make it much farther than that.’

He hung up and they started across the lobby toward freedom. Jason could feel the tension melting out of his body. They were nearly out, and surely nobody would dare to stop them in a public place like this!

He glanced over at Van Dyke and Brad, supporting Christopher. ‘Will he be OK?’ he asked Zach.

Zach nodded. ‘We’ll keep him here in Malibu until he’s fully healed.’

Jason looked at the bank of doors ahead, leading out to the parking lot. No sight had ever seemed so beautiful to him.

‘Freeze!’ yelled a deep voice. ‘Stay right where you are!’

Suddenly, about eight guys with crossbows rushed the lobby, lining themselves up in front of the doors. In the center was the big New Yorker they’d fought at the warehouse. Jason and his friends stopped walking.

‘You idiots,’ someone said from behind them. ‘Did you actually think you could escape when I have the entire place under constant surveillance?’

Jason turned to find Norton-Adam approaching them from the elevators, Bianca and Dr Abell behind him.

‘You’re scaring the Medi-Life employees,’ Zach said smoothly. He nodded toward the scandalized people in suits who had gathered around to watch.

Norton turned to them. ‘This is a security procedure drill,’ he announced. ‘Please go to your offices and remain there until I give further instructions.’

Murmuring in confusion, the workers all headed for the elevators or for doors to the hallways leading off the lobby. Suddenly one of the front doors opened and a girl in a business suit rushed in, not even seeming to notice the guys with crossbows.

‘Close the entrance!’ Norton snapped. ‘Direct new arrivals to the side door.’ One of the guards rushed outside to do it.

But Jason was still watching the girl in the suit.

So was Adam. ‘Brianna?’ he gasped.

The girl stopped and looked up. It was definitely Brianna. Her face paled as she looked from Adam to Norton and back. But she wasn’t surprised, Jason noticed. It was as if she’d known all along that there were two Adams.

‘Of course!’ Adam murmured. ‘She set me up! She asked me to drive out to get her, and that’s when I was ambushed.’

‘I guess she’s been working for Norton all along,’ Jason said quietly.

‘Take the subjects back down to the complex,’ Norton ordered the guards.

Four of the guys started forward, crossbows up. Jason felt a wave of exhaustion. They’d already managed to escape so many times in the past few hours. How were they ever going to pull it off again?

Suddenly, Adam stepped in front of the guards.

‘You morons!’ he shouted. ‘Don’t listen to him. Don’t you even know who you’re working for? That’s Adam Turnball.
I’m
Mr Norton.’

Nineteen

THE GUARDS HESITATED
, confused, letting their weapons drop a little.

‘Do you think some
kid
would be able to make off with four vampires?’ Adam asked, his voice dripping sarcasm. ‘I should have you all replaced by people with brains.’

The guards looked doubtful, and one of them raised his crossbow again. But he didn’t seem entirely sure which version of Adam to point it at.

‘Listen to him,’ Bianca cried suddenly. Jason shot a look at his aunt. She was gazing at him, a pleading expression on her face.

She’s sorry
, he realized.
She wants me to forgive her
. For a brief moment, she looked so much like his old, cool Aunt Bianca that a lump formed in Jason’s throat. But there was no time to get emotional right now.

‘
That’s
Mr Norton,’ Bianca said, pointing at Adam. ‘He’s your boss. The other one has been holding me hostage all this time. He wanted to use me as a bargaining chip to get his friends back.’

‘How dare you!’ Norton roared.

But Bianca’s trick had worked. The guards lowered their crossbows, totally confused. They glanced back and forth between the two Nortons – or the two Adams.

‘I’m sorry, sir,’ said the New Yorker, addressing both of them. ‘But we have no idea which is the real you.’

‘I’m the real me,’ Adam said, brimming with confidence now. ‘Thank you for clarifying things, Bianca.’ He stared the New Yorker straight in the eye. ‘Now, escort the real Adam Turnball back to his cell.’

‘I’ve had enough of this.’ Norton strode forward angrily. Some of the guards aimed their weapons at him.

This is working perfectly
, Jason thought, shooting his friend a grateful look. He took advantage of the guards’ confusion to inch toward the doors. Zach, Brad, Van Dyke and Christopher took the hint and moved that way, too.

Norton stopped, staring aghast at his own guards pointing crossbows at him. ‘The impostor is right about one thing,’ he snarled. ‘I should replace you all!’

‘Are you calling
me
an impostor?’ Adam snapped.

‘Yes.’ Norton turned to face him, and the two versions of Adam glared at each other – until one of them began to change. As Jason watched, Norton’s nose grew longer, his cheeks heftier. His ears went from sticking out to drooping. His eyes developed bags underneath them, and his entire body seemed to thicken. In a matter of seconds, he was a middle-aged man.

Bianca turned to Jason. ‘Run!’ she yelled.

Jason ran, barreling through two of the guards to open the door and hold it for his friends. Zach sped through, but Brad and Van Dyke were moving more slowly as they helped Christopher.

By the time they reached the door, the guards had all recovered from their confusion and were aiming their crossbows at the fugitives.

‘No!’ Norton yelled. ‘We need the vampires alive. Shoot for their legs.’

A crossbow bolt flew at Brad’s thigh.

Jason jumped for him, pushing him out of the way just as the metal bolt sliced through the air and hit the glass door. The door shattered, showering little cubes of safety glass across the floor.

‘Run! Go! Go!’ Jason yelled, pushing the four vampires ahead of him. They were all outside now.

Jason turned to find Adam. His friend had skirted the guards to the back, and he was sprinting for a door at the opposite end of the entrance from Jason.

‘Jason, get out of here,’ Bianca called. She was heading his way, fending off a guard who had her by the arm.

Outside, Jason heard the squeal of brakes and saw Belle’s car jump the curb and skid to a stop on the sidewalk in front of the building. Brad and Van Dyke dragged Christopher toward the car.

‘Aunt Bianca!’ Jason called, turning back. But he’d lost sight of her in the press of guards.

‘Kill the humans!’ Norton commanded. ‘Stop the vampires!’

The New Yorker looked right at Jason and aimed his crossbow at his chest. Jason stood for a second, paralyzed, his shoulder aching where Tamburo’s crossbow bolt had almost killed him several months before.

Time seemed to slow down as the New Yorker shot his weapon.

Jason watched in sick fascination as the deadly bolt flew toward him.
It’s not going to hit my shoulder this time
, he realized.
It’s going to hit my heart
.

He was moving, he knew. He was diving out of the way. But it was too late. The bolt was coming for him. It was about to hit him—

And then Bianca was in front of Jason, blocking his view of the crossbow bolt. There was a confusion of dark hair flying, a strange sound from Bianca like the air being let out of a tire, and her body slammed against his.

Then suddenly everything sped up again, and Jason was falling with Aunt Bianca on top of him. He landed on the sidewalk outside the door, and his aunt rolled to the side. A crossbow bolt was sticking out of her chest.

‘Aunt Bianca!’ Jason cried. He grabbed her shoulders, trying to ignore the way her head flopped to the side. ‘Aunt Bianca!’

‘Freeman.’ Zach was at his side. ‘We have to go.’

‘My aunt . . .’ Jason couldn’t stop staring at her face. Her eyes were open, staring. Her lips were pale.

‘She’s gone. Leave her.’ Zach pulled at his arm, but Jason shoved him away.

‘Jason.’ Now Adam was there, too. ‘We have to go. Right now. Come on!’

Jason glanced up at his best friend. Adam’s eyes looked haunted, but his face was determined.

‘I can’t just leave her.’ But Jason was up and moving; somehow he was running, with Adam holding one arm and Zach holding the other.

In front of them, Belle’s car door was open. Van Dyke and Christopher were already in the far back row. Zach shoved Jason in, and Brad pulled him across the seat so Adam and Zach could climb in behind him.

Belle peeled out, the door still open. Jason saw guards running after them, crossbows aimed. A loud, metallic
thunk
made the car shake as they bounced down off the curb and took off into the parking lot.

‘I think they shot your parents’ car,’ Van Dyke said.

‘We have insurance,’ Belle muttered, hitting the gas.

In the passenger seat, Sienna turned to look at the guys, her eyes roving over all of them, and stopping on Jason.

‘Everybody OK?’ she asked.

Her dark eyes seemed to pour comfort into his soul, and, for the first time in hours, Jason felt safe. He nodded, as Adam gave a faint smile.

‘Yeah,’ Adam said. ‘I can’t quite believe it, but I think we’re all going to live.’

Twenty

‘
FIREWORKS
!’
SIENNA DECLARED
four days later.

Jason looked at his girlfriend in her strapless minidress and nodded. ‘I’ll say.’ He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down to sit on his lap on the couch.

Sienna laughed and smacked him lightly on the arm. ‘No, I mean actual fireworks. Zach says they’re starting in five minutes. He got a professional firm to do them, so they should be spectacular.’

‘Figures.’ Jason laughed, gesturing around Zach’s incredible house, which was filled with about a hundred people at the moment, all of them laughing, dancing, drinking and generally having the best time of their entire lives. Graduation had been yesterday, and Zach was having the party of the century to celebrate. ‘Everything here is spectacular.’

Jason spotted Danielle dancing with her friends Kristy and Billy under a gigantic disco ball that had been hung in the living room. Van Dyke and Maggie were cuddled up on a
chaise longue
in front of the ten-foot-wide fireplace, complete with roaring fire. Adam was interviewing Brad on camera, and Erin and Belle were busy flirting with a couple of senior guys from school.

Graduates
, Jason corrected himself.
None of us are seniors anymore. We’re high-school graduates
.

It felt strange to even think the words. Jason wondered if he’d ever get used to the feeling. He sighed. Graduation had been bittersweet, so soon after losing his aunt.

‘Thinking about Bianca?’ Sienna asked, taking his hand.

‘You’re too good at reading me,’ Jason told her with a smile. ‘I know I shouldn’t be thinking about Aunt Bianca at a party. I should be enjoying myself, happy to be with my friends one last time before we all scatter to our colleges.’

Sienna squeezed his hand. ‘It’s all right to feel sad, even at a party. Bianca was family and you loved her.’

‘She sacrificed herself to save me,’ Jason said. ‘I still can’t believe she did that.’

‘She loved you, too,’ Sienna told him. ‘But, Jason, it’s really a gift that she died that way. The transformation sickness was killing her. She was facing a long, slow, agonizing death. At least, this way, she’s out of her misery. And she did a noble thing and saved you.’ Sienna leant closer and trailed her fingers along his cheek. ‘I know I’ll be grateful to her forever for that.’

Jason kissed her, letting his lips linger on hers for a moment.

‘Fireworks,’ Zach announced from the balcony.

‘I’ll say,’ Sienna joked, looking up at Jason.

He grinned, then followed Zach and Sienna out to the balcony.

‘Worth filming? I think not,’ Adam said, coming up beside Jason and Sienna on the big balcony overlooking the Pacific.

‘I didn’t think there was anything you found unworthy of filming,’ Jason said, surprised.

‘My friend, look at those fireworks. They are spectacular. No camera could capture their true beauty.’ Adam sighed dreamily as the first round of fireworks exploded over the water, sending a thousand stars raining down from the sky while their reflections shot up from the depths of the ocean. ‘Unless, you know, I had a really big special effects budget,’ Adam added.

As the fireworks continued with everyone gasping at each new explosion, Jason felt a hand on his shoulder. Zach drew him away from the crowd.

‘Freeman, I wanted you to know there was a DeVere Heights Vampire Council meeting this afternoon,’ he said quietly. ‘We got the help of the High Council on this one, and we’ve managed to recover Bianca’s body from the Medi-Life building. I know your mother will want to give her a proper funeral.’

‘Yes,’ Jason said. ‘Thank you.’

‘Also, we’re going to take care of everything,’ Zach went on. ‘We don’t want you or your parents to have to deal with any of it. The official police report will list Bianca’s death as a result of experimental drug testing done by Medi-Life. We’ve had the entire complex searched, and we’ve exposed some of the facts to the media, enough to make life very uncomfortable for Charles Norton. In fact, HemoCorp has already been disbanded and we’ve begun a wrongful death lawsuit against Medi-Life.’