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  I made my way down the hallway without detection, and I slid my key into the slot, my heart in my throat. Suddenly, I realized that the vampires might have changed the locks, gotten new keys.

  Of course, they hadn’t yet fixed the door. They didn’t seem to be big on repair or maintenance. The key turned. The wall slid aside. The elevator door opened.

  I held my breath, worried that someone would be inside. But no one was. I hit the button for the fourth floor. “I’m on the elevator,” I told Boone.

  “I’ll give Jude the word,” said Boone. Once I was inside, Jude was going to blow the blood supply. They’d certainly hear the explosion and take action, but I’d already be waiting for them, armed with a gun full of lethal bullets. Even if my aim was off, these leaves would eventually take them down. The only way they could save themselves was more blood, and Jude was taking that option away from them.

  As the elevator settled on the fourth floor, I felt the bomb go off. It was like a tiny earthquake, and even underground, the sound was loud.

  I opened the elevator doors and stepped into the hallway that I remembered. I took in the frames on the walls, the civilized appearance compared to everywhere else. I raised my gun.

  Doors on either side of the hallway began opening, and people I didn’t recognize came out. Possibly, I’d only known them by their uniforms, and they weren’t in their lab coats or black clothes. They wore robes, nightgowns, loud pajama pants.

  I had a brief twinge, remembering Jason assuring me that these were indeed human beings, just like we were.

  I squashed it and opened fire.

  I hit a woman in a flowering nightshirt in the forehead. The bullet drilled into her, and she didn’t have a chance to react before crumpling to the ground.

  I caught a barechested man right above his left nipple. The bullet made a neat hole. He looked down at it, surprised. Blood gushed out, and he fell.

  Another shot exploded the throat of a man in a robe. He put a hand to the seeping blood, tried to speak, but it was too late. Down he went.

  The first wave of people went quickly and easily. They were surprised, unprepared, and I killed them before they had a chance to react.

  But the sound of gunfire alerted the others, and it wasn’t long before someone burst out his door firing one of the big machine guns, squeezing out round after round in my direction.

  I hit the floor, narrowly avoiding the shots. Raising my weapon, I pulled the trigger.

  My shot hit home, right under his left eyeball. His expression went dull as he hit the ground.

  Of course there were more of them now. More guys with guns, all aimed at me, all shooting.

  The only good thing about these guys was that they were cocky. They thought they couldn’t be killed, and they didn’t have the kind of skill with a weapon that I did. Their idea was to point in my general direction, spray out a bunch of bullets, and hope something hit me. I had precision on my side, and I had the leaves.

  I managed to take out two more of them before one of them got me.

  It was a good shot, right in my shoulder, and it hurt like hell. I knew it would heal in a few minutes, but they were advancing on me, still shooting, and I wasn’t sure I had a few minutes. They might not be able to really kill me, but they could incapacitate me, disarm me, and capture me.

  Gritting my teeth against the pain, I brought the gun up again, using my good arm to brace the hurt one. I took careful aim and got off a few more shots.

  All down.

  Two of my shots hadn’t been kill shots, but the men were incapacitated, lying on the ground.

  The hallway was full of bodies. I got to my feet, holding my shoulder. Heal already , I thought at it.

  I backed up. The elevator door had closed behind me. I turned to put the key back in.

  I heard the shots just as the doors slid open.

  Before I had a chance to react, a sharp pain tore me in two.

  I saw blood spilling out of several holes in my chest.

  There were more men, and they’d shot me in the back.

  My vision grayed out as I pitched forward into the elevator.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Azazel,” said Boone’s voice. “Do you read me? Azazel, are you there?”

  I sat up. “Boone?” I was in the elevator, the doors shut tight behind me. But as I watched, I saw them buckle against a scatter of bullets, which left round inward dents in the door. I scrambled to me feet, hitting the button for the third floor.

  “You’re okay?” he said.

  “I got hit,” I said. “I was dead for a minute, but I’m all right now. Problem is, I didn’t clear the second floor like we planned. I thought I did, but they surprised me.”

  “Okay,” said Boone. “So now what?”

  “I’m going to the third floor. I’ll double back and get the stragglers.”

  “All right,” he said. “I’m opening all the cells for you right now.” A pause. “I’m looking at the cameras down there. I see four armed guards.”

  The elevator door opened. “Great,” I said, ready to shoot.

  The men turned as the elevator opened, raising their guns.

  I was faster. Four neat shots. Four round, red holes directly between their eyes. As they collapsed, I thought that Jason would be proud of my accuracy. He was the one who usually was so efficient and practiced.

  I tore down the hall, yanking open doors, screaming, “Follow me if you want out of this place!”

  There were twelve or fifteen of them. Only one was a child, and a man ran to her, scooping her into her arms.

  There was a loud buzz of questions, all of them talking over each other. I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

  “Onto the elevator,” I said. “We can chat later.”

  “Azazel,” said Boone. “It looks like there’s a stairwell at the end of this hall. It leads to the second floor. You could be getting company.”

  I whirled to look. There was a closed door down there. “Can you lock the door?” I pointed with my gun, looking up at the cameras since I knew Boone could see me.

  “Maybe,” he said.

  I returned to herding Nephilim onto the elevator.

  “Got it!” Boone said, triumphant.

  I stuffed the last person inside the elevator, squeezed in myself, and pushed the button for the top floor.

  “Who are you?” said one of the Nephilim. They all looked greasy and dirty. My heart went out to them.

  “I’m Azazel Jones,” I said. “I’m here to rescue you.”

  Then they all started pelting me with questions again, and I couldn’t make out any of them.

  Luckily, the elevator opened, and I pushed them ahead of me, down the hall, through the foyer, and out the front door.

  Grace was waiting there. “This way,” she told them, leading them down the sidewalk. Grace was taking the newly freed Nephilim directly to a shelter, where they’d be safe. I also had arranged to give each of them some money. I knew Grace would be out of the way and safe, because she’d be gone. Boone had insisted that we minimize Grace’s involvement, and I agreed.

  I watched Grace lead them away. “Boone?” I said.

  “I’m here.”

  “I’ve gotta go back down for Emma. And there are vampires still alive in there. But the captives are all free. Grace is bringing them your way.”

  “Excellent work,” he said. “Let me know when you’re in general population.”

  I took a deep breath. “Will do.” I was worried about convincing Emma to leave. She was a stubborn one.

  I dashed back inside, only to be greeted by four guys coming out of the elevator.

  They took me by surprise, and I barely had time to dive around a corner before they opened fire.

  Bullets splintered the wall next to my face. I cringed.

  I took a second to pop out of my hiding place and squeeze the trigger a few times. I hit no one, but I got a better idea of where they were. They were only steps
away.

  And then my gun clicked .

  No more bullets. I swore, digging for a loaded clip.

  The first man cleared the corner.

  I was close. I shot out a foot, tripping him.

  He went sprawling.

  I scrambled to my feet and ran to the first room I came to. I slammed and locked the door after myself.

  “You in the elevator?” Boone asked.

  I ignored him. I needed to reload my gun, and I focused on that.

  Someone kicked open the door.

  I slid the clip into place.

  A spatter of gunfire.

  I dove behind a desk, popping off shots at the men as they came inside.

  I got the first guy, two bullets in his chest. He fell down, and the next guy got his feet tangled in the first one’s body.

  I shot him in the head.

  “Azazel?” said Boone.

  I ducked behind the desk. “Little busy right now, Boone.”

  I shot a glance at the doorway. Now it was almost barricaded by two bodies. The other guys were using their dead comrades as a shield. We traded fire, back and forth, but neither of us was hitting anything.

  I leapt up on the desk so that I could see over the bodies.

  A bullet bit into my leg, but I ignored it. I took two shots, and I made them both count.

  They were all dead, then, and it was quiet.

  I sank down into the desk chair, which was riddled with holes. I clutched my leg and waited for it to heal.

  “You okay?” said Boone.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m okay.”

  Once my leg healed, I was up and running. Well, after I climbed over the bodies at the door, I ran. I got to the elevator, opened it, and got inside. “I’m heading down for Emma,” I told Boone.

  “Gotcha,” he said. “I’m switching my cameras so that I can see what’s going on down there.”

  I hit the button for the bottom floor, and the elevator started moving.

  “Funny,” said Boone, “I don’t see her. I’m going through all the rooms... She doesn’t seem to be there.”

  “Well, there’s a lot of rooms down there,” I said. “Maybe she’s hiding somewhere.” The elevator stopped and the door opened. “I’m here. I’m getting out of the elevator.”

  “Yeah, I see you,” said Boone. “But I still can’t find Emma.”

  I started down the hallway of Jude’s old wing. “You check all the rooms on this wing?”

  “Yeah, she’s not there.”

  “Okay.” I put my hand on the door knob to the main room and turned it.

  “Holy shit,” said Boone. “Azazel, go back. Go back now.”

  But I was swinging the door open already.

  I saw a flash of a white lab coat, heard the crack of a gun.

  I managed to get off one blind shot of my own before I felt the pain blossoming in my head.

  Everything went dark.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  I woke up in the control room. I was tied to one of the chairs, its keyboard and desk just out of reach. The screens were all blank. I twisted my head to try to see the rest of the room.

  Bartholomew floated into my vision. “Miss Jones. We thought you might be back.”

  He wasn’t the only person in the room. There was another woman there as well, also wearing a lab coat. I recognized her from the time they’d come to draw blood from us, and we’d attempted to escape. She sat down in a chair next to me. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t just kill her, Bart.”

  “I like her,” said Bartholomew.

  She made a face.

  “Don’t be jealous, darling. You know that no one could replace you in my affections.” Bartholomew kissed the woman on the cheek. He smiled at me. “I think Foster liked you too. He certainly knew all about you. But you didn’t repay him for his interest very nicely, I must say.”

  I wasn’t going to say anything. Was my earpiece still in? Was Boone hearing this? I wiggled my head, trying to see if I still felt it.

  Bartholomew held it up. “Are you looking for this?”

  I didn’t respond.

  “I’m afraid we had to disconnect our network. Shut it all down. If you’re expecting your outside friends to unlock the doors for you, I’m afraid they can’t anymore.”

  Great. So, they’d just been cut off? I prayed they wouldn’t do anything stupid, like try to barge in here and save me. We’d had an agreement that they all stay outside. I knew Grace was gone, but that still left Boone and Jude.

  “Quite impressive, really,” said Bartholomew. “You took over our entire network. Destroyed all our blood. Killed everyone who worked here. And you were all in communication the entire time. Tell me, Miss Jones, what was your reason? Vengeance? I thought we treated you well.”

  I wanted to say something back to him, but I bit my tongue. My mission had been ninety percent successful. The Nephilim were free. Almost all of the vampires were dead. I didn’t feel the need to struggle. I’d wait. They’d get bored. Maybe they’d kill me. If they did, it was okay. I was practically dead anyway. The only thing that could keep me alive was drinking a substance that turned me into something little better than an animal.

  “Destroying the blood, that was a stroke of genius, I must admit,” said Bartholomew. “We were, in fact, supposed to take our monthly doses later today.”

  Boone had been right. I didn’t know if that would make them weaker or not, however.

  “What did you do to the bullets, Miss Jones?” asked Bartholomew. “How did you make them lethal?”

  “She probably got her hands on that nasty herb,” said the woman. “Must we keep talking to her? I find her tiresome.”

  “Is it the herb, Miss Jones?”

  I pressed my lips together.

  “You see, you shot Emma. Good shot too. She’s dead. If she died with the herb in her system, then her blood is tainted. And if a vampire drinks blood tainted with the herb, it will reverse all the effects of the good blood he’s ever ingested. In our case, it would kill us.” Bartholomew clasped his hands together.

  I’d killed Emma? No. I had wanted to save her. She’d been confused and brainwashed by them, but she’d been a good person. I closed my eyes, silently apologizing to her.

  “She’d lie to us, anyway,” said the woman. “She wants us dead. We couldn’t trust anything she said, no matter what. She’d tell us the blood was safe to drink, and it wouldn’t be.”

  “Would you do that to us, Miss Jones?”

  I glared at him.

  Bartholomew sighed. “Perhaps, Anita, we will have to take our chances.”

  “Give the blood to her,” said Anita. “If she lives, then we’ll know it’s safe.”

  Bartholomew rubbed his chin. “As an idea, it has merit, I suppose. But we still have the problem of having lost all of our supply, darling.”

  “I thought you said the only reason we weren’t able to recruit her was because she and her lover were so connected to each other,” said Anita. “You don’t think he’d trade himself for her?”

  Ha. The joke was on them. I didn’t even know where Jason was.

  “An even more lovely idea,” said Bartholomew, beaming at her. He took my new cell phone out of his pocket. I knew I shouldn’t have brought it in with me, but I’d wanted a back up, in case Boone and I got cut off. “His number seems to be programmed inside.”

  Okay, maybe it was time to start talking. “It’s a bad number,” I said.

  Anita and Bartholomew laughed. “Let’s just try it and see.”

  The phone rang in Bartholomew’s hand. He jumped. But then he looked at the number and answered it. “Miss Jones’ phone.” He smiled at me. “Why no, I am not Miss Jones. I’m afraid she’s indisposed.” He waited expectantly. Then he set down the phone. “He hung up.”

  Geez, who had he been talking to?

  Anita smiled. “Do you think they’d come in after her, darling? We could use their blood.”

  “We could,” s
aid Bartholomew.

  No, no, no. It was better to have Jason in here than to have Jude or Boone. “They have instructions to leave me behind. You’ll have to call Jason.”

  Bartholomew raised his eyebrows. “You’d sacrifice your lover?”

  “If he shows up here, he’ll kill you both,” I said. “He doesn’t like it when people hurt me, you know.”

  Anita rolled her eyes. “I’m not even sure why we’re speaking with her anymore, darling. She’s refused to give us information, and she’s really quite annoying.”

  “Oh, my dear, I thought we agreed not to kill her. She really does amuse me,” said Bartholomew.

  Anita took a syringe out of her pocket. “We’ll discuss whether or not she lives later.” She plunged it into my skin, glaring down at me. “Sleep well.”

  * * *

  “Your lover’s on his way,” Bartholomew told me when I woke up. “Anita is going to collect him. We didn’t want you awake and alone, using your oh-so-creative brain to try and think of an escape.”

  I was still tied to the chair. “You’re idiots. Jason will kill you both.”

  “I very much doubt that,” said Bartholomew. “You know, you’re lucky to be alive, my dear. Anita didn’t think we actually needed you alive to convince Jason to come. She was going to cut off your head. I convinced her not to. You owe me your life.”

  I glared at him. “Actually, you’re the man who killed me.”

  He laughed. “I really like you, Miss Jones. I must say you are a delight. I’d be very sad indeed to lose you. Anita will come around.”

  “I don’t like you at all,” I said.

  “But we have so much in common.” He pulled up a chair next to me. “We both have done everything for love. Foster told me all about you, how you were just a girl, but because of your love for Jason, you sacrificed everyone you cared about and became the hardened, violent woman I see before me.”

  Hardened? Violent? Whatever.

  “Foster thought very highly of you,” said Bartholomew. “I have to admit that if I’d followed his counsel more closely, you wouldn’t have caused me so much mischief.”