Night Cries (Hunters of the Dark #2) by Dave Ferraro
Valor glanced at her quickly before returning her rifle up to her eye. She took two quick shots and Ligeia went down, but unfortunately, the siren healed too fast to be taken out for too long and she found herself focusing on the one girl, unaware of where Alsa had disappeared to. Thankfully, Raidne seemed to be out for the count, and lay still despite the bedlam going on around her. But Ligeia was getting better with each shot at avoiding the bullets and the helicopter didn’t seem to be moving fast enough to outrun her should they run out of ammunition before long.
Amelia suddenly pointed below them, where Valor noted that Alsa was in the air, floating, a white glow surrounding her head like a halo, wings protruding from various points of her body.
“Damn it,” Valor cursed. “Ligeia’s just the distraction while Alsa powers up.” She turned to the pilot. “Move this thing out of here now. We don’t want to be here for whatever the hell she’s doing.”
The second the last word had dropped out of Valor’s mouth, Alsa seemed to explode. Rather, the light around her head exploded, expanding at a rapid pace, encroaching on the helicopter with every second like a shock wave.
The pilot reacted quickly, sending the helicopter forward at break-neck speed, but the white light just kept gaining on them. In fact, it seemed to be accelerating much more quickly.
“Can’t we go any faster?” Shanna asked above the roar that seemed to be riding the front of the wave of light.
The pilot didn’t bother saying anything as they accelerated even more.
Shanna looked out of the helicopter, her face whitening as the light approached them. They were going to get rammed by it. She braced herself for impact as it finally reached the copter. But the helicopter didn’t get hurled out of control or explode. The light went through the machine’s hull. It was inside the helicopter, still expanding.
A technician from the helicopter was closest to the light and was suddenly enveloped in it.
Amelia gasped at that moment and the helicopter seemed to lurch forward, as if the wind were forcing it along. The pilot cursed as he fought to stabilize them with the extra propulsion.
Then the white light disappeared all at once. Shanna assumed they were just outrunning it, but as she looked down, the light was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, God,” Amelia cried out, looking a little piqued after the exertion she’d obviously just used to accelerate them. She stared at the back of the helicopter, at the man who’d been consumed by the light. He’d been left a skeleton. No flesh, no blood, clung to him. Just pure bone.
“What was…” Shanna stared at the skeleton, a chill running up her spine as she realized that they all would have followed suit had Amelia not reacted as quickly as she had. The sirens seemed…enormously powerful.
“Jade passed out,” Valor announced suddenly, staring down into the hunter’s pained face. “We need to touch down at the nearest hospital.”
“Jade…” Shanna stroked the hunter’s hair tenderly, then remembered Jordan unconscious in the other helicopter. “God, what a…”
Amelia put a hand on her back.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Shanna’s head bobbed up and she realized she’d almost nodded off. She was exhausted. She yawned as she shifted, Cameron’s head lolling against her shoulder, soft snores pouring out of his open mouth. She smiled down at him and touched his face softly, recoiling involuntarily when she realized she’d touched one of his scars. She shook her head and touched his face again, resisting the urge to draw back. They were only scars. It wasn’t his fault they were there and it certainly didn’t matter, what with his glamour and all. She felt guilty for feeling so skittish. She shouldn’t. She knew that. And she vowed to get past it...whatever she was feeling. Disgust? No...it was just her reflexes kicking in, she realized, trying to get her to put some more distance between herself and others. Well, she wasn’t going to give in this time. She liked Cameron.
“I’m staying here with Jade,” Valor had stated hours after they’d landed at a nearby hospital, before a private plane had been chartered, ready to whisk them overseas and back to Lime Bay. It was only immediately after Jade had been stabilized. She’d lost plenty of blood, would be undergoing a transfusion, followed by extensive surgery. The outlook wasn’t very good, but she was alive at least. And she was strong. “As soon as Jade can be moved, we’ll take her back to New York, but she needs immediate care. The rest of you should head to Lime Bay. There’s nothing anyone can do right now but wait until she wakes up…and there are other matters that need to be attended to.”
Other matters. Like Serene, their hostage. Hunter and Krystal. Damien. And Amelia with the power source she’d swallowed. The rest of them also had various cuts and scrapes that would need disinfecting, but once those loose ends were all settled, Shanna would be demanding a flight back to see Jade and her brother Jordan, who was still unconscious and being monitored in the same hospital.
Shanna had nodded numbly and several hours later found her in thoughtful silence alongside the other hunters. They’d known that something like this would happen sooner or later. Their job was dangerous and people were going to get hurt. More people were going to get hurt. And die. But despite expecting such a thing to occur, Shanna was still jarred by the event. It was as if it had taken a demonstration for things to really sink in. And now Jade…at the very least would be missing one arm. At worst, she would never awaken. Shanna shuddered, trying not to wonder who would be the next hunter maimed or killed in the line of duty.
“You look like shit,” Brett offered as her eyes found his, where he huddled in a corner. He smiled to show that he’d meant to make light of the situation.
Shanna sent him a weary smile in return. “Not everyone can look good all the time like you and Rachel.”
Brett scoffed. “Rachel looks like shit too without all of those artificial toners and lighteners and whatever the hell else she uses.”
“You don’t believe it’s natural beauty?”
Brett snorted and turned to look out of his window, where the sky was already growing a fiery pink as the sun struggled to make it over the horizon. Shanna suspected that she wasn’t going to make it back to Lime Bay before she nodded off, so she got up to get a can of soda, not really keen on the idea of resting while her friend’s life hung in the balance. She remembered the first day she’d come to Lime Bay, Jade coming into her room with Jordan and being so welcoming, so friendly right away. The twins had been her first real friends here. She wanted to return the favor and be there for them when they needed her. It was frustrating, being stuck on that plane, when she wanted more than anything to be back in that hospital. But Valor was right…there was nothing she could do, and things needed to be taken care of.
As she walked back toward her seat, Shanna glanced over at Serene, handcuffed to a seat beside Hunter, who slept soundly. The siren held her head high and stared straight ahead, her lower lip trembling from time to time.
She must be so scared, Shanna thought to herself as she snuck another peek over at Serene after she’d passed her. Among strangers, enemies really, handcuffed and defenseless. She must realize most people here would like to see her dead. Not only that, but she was alone for probably the first time in her life, away from her sisters, her fellow sirens. Away from the family she’d known her entire life. Her world had turned upside-down overnight. Shanna sighed. Then again, she’d been butchering men for probably centuries, any weary male soul who'd come along. She deserved to feel the other side of fear for a change.
As she returned to her seat, she noted Brett steal a glance at the siren himself and suppress a shudder. He hadn’t been having much luck with the ladies lately. First Lupe beat the crap out of him, then the sirens imprisoned him and mocked him and, well, beat him up too. He had to be pretty shaken, despite his attempts to look otherwise.
For what it was worth, she hoped that Serene would behave, learn to
Shanna smiled as Cameron’s head tumbled and came to a rest peacefully against her shoulder. He deserved to sleep after what he’d gone through. They all did after seeing so many people lose their lives, and a few on the brink.
With Cameron’s head leaning against her, Shanna snuck a look back toward a closed door, where Damien was confined so he wouldn’t be exposed to any stray rays of sunlight. She felt strange sitting there with Cameron, with the vampire so near. Would she ever be able to sort her feelings out? And why had Damien even come if he didn’t really feel for her as well? Perhaps Cameron was the mistake here… Everything was so fuzzy and confusing.
Shanna closed her eyes and realized she was about to join her friends in Slumberland, despite her best efforts.
***
Shanna stepped out of the van with a heavy sigh and stretched her stiff limbs, gazing up at the mansion where they resided as the others filed out after her. After hours of being stuck in one form of transportation or another, she was more tired than ever, despite a long nap. The fact that they’d beaten the sun home, and night was still master over the landscape, only served as further evidence for her body to protest being awake.
Damien hesitated at the threshold of the door and cleared his throat, causing them all to look back. “I…ah…” He let his voice trail off as they all stopped and stared.
Cameron scratched his head. “But you were in and out of that one house just fine in Greece. You actually need an invitation?”
“Valor invited me into the house,” Damien explained. “If it’s a building where people sleep, I need a human invitation. Anyone will do, it doesn’t have to be the owner. Many vampires have human servants for just that reason.”
“Valor invited you in?” Natalia raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. But I’m not sure she would approve of any further encroachment on our lives from a creature of the night.”
Cameron sneered. “I agree. Who’s to say this isn’t the reason for your little niceties? So you can sneak in and slit our throats in our sleep? Or to get to Shanna? Put the whammy on her more than you already have.”
Shanna gaped at him. “Cameron…”
Cameron turned to her with a dark look. “He stays out here, period. He’s not one of us.”
“You’re being-”
“No, Shanna. You say your goodbyes to your little friend there. I’ll wait right here.”
Shanna glanced over at Natalia, shocked by his behavior, but she got no help from the hunter, who merely turned and walked away, washing her hands of the exchange.
“I’ll go,” Damien said from behind her. “I don’t want to cause any trouble.”
Cameron scoffed at this, earning him a glare from Shanna, who walked up to the vampire and did her utmost to ignore the other hunter.
“I’m sorry about this,” Shanna apologized in a low voice, walking with him a little ways away. “This is…frustrating.”
“Don’t worry,” Damien told her. “Knowing that you care…means the world to me.”
For a moment, Shanna looked away, but she roused herself from her weakness and met his gaze, sitting down on a nearby bench and patting the seat beside her, showing that she was not bothered in the least by their close proximity. “Damien, why are you here?”
“To see you to your door like a gentleman, of course.”
Rolling her eyes, Shanna smiled. “You know what I mean. Why did you come to help us in Greece? Team up with Valor?”
“You were in trouble.”
“We were,” Shanna agreed.
“No, not ‘we.’ You, Shanna.”
Shanna’s eyes flickered up to see if Cameron gave any indication to having heard this response from where he stood brooding at the door, before refocusing on Damien. “I thought…”
Damien smiled a smile that melted Shanna’s defenses. “I will always watch out for you, Shanna Hunt. How could I not? I owe you.” He indicated her neck, where the scar he’d left behind poked out of her collar. “I am in your debt.”
“Is that all?” She looked away, feeling disappointed.
He cupped her chin and forced her eyes to meet his. “No, that’s not all. We will be together, Shanna Hunt. I promise you. When you set aside this stubborn crusade of yours, I will be waiting in the wings to embrace you. Then my debt to you will be fulfilled.”
“Wait, when you…make me a vampire?”
Damien grinned. “Is it the eternal beauty and immortality that frightens you, or the idea of sharing it with me?”
Shanna started, not expecting his words. She yearned to believe what he said. Eternity with Damien… She looked at his lips, his deep brown eyes… How could that be so bad?
His fingers brushed up against hers before Cameron cleared his throat loudly, snapping Shanna out of her trance. She quickly straightened up, her face ablaze. “Damien-”
“I have made my intentions clear to you. One day you will make your decision and there will be no need for displays such as this. The boundaries between us will be nothing.”
Shanna smiled lightly. “I’m not so sure, Damien. You know how I-”
“Shhh. I will bid you good night. You shouldn’t waste any more time with the likes of me. You have more urgent matters to attend to than my pride.”
“I…yes, you’re right. But I am sorry.” She stood up and smiled at him before moving to join Cameron at the door.
“Be safe,” he told her as she walked past him. Shanna stopped and tilted her head toward him, but didn’t look back. She then joined Cameron at the door, accepted the arm he offered her, and went inside.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Valor leaned forward in the uncomfortable plastic hospital chair and sighed. She reached toward her purse and the cigarettes peeking out of the unzipped top, taunting her, and stopped. glancing up at the “No Smoking” sign on the opposite wall.
Sagging back into her chair, Valor crossed her arms in front of herself uncomfortably. She hated hospitals. Sunny wallpaper, reassuring staff…she’d had enough death wrapped up in neat pretty packages to last a lifetime. Two lifetimes. She could hardly tolerate the smell of disinfectant masking the odor of blood, closed doors hiding the sound of a flatlined heart. It made her nervous.
She stood up then, giving in to pacing the short distance in front of Jordan’s bed, where he still lay unconscious with a severe concussion. The next few hours would be critical for him, not to mention for his sister.
With a barely-contained growl of rage, Valor hit the wall hard with an open hand. She might lose two of her agents tonight. She could have lost all of them. She was frustrated with herself, having let her feelings get the best of her, sending the hunters after Cameron in the first place…having not been more careful with the comings and goings of the hunters, of letting an imposter into their sanctuary. There had been too many screw-ups and she would not tolerate any more. The best thing that she’d done through it all was partner with a vampire, her sworn enemy. She laughed lightly as she slumped back into her chair.
Who was she kidding here? There were secrets. Too many secrets. And she held many of them at her breast, unwilling to share them, even though many of them could easily prevent situations as intolerable as the one that had just occurred. But it was her duty to protect them, right? To keep things need-to-know only, for the sake of the bigger picture. She shook her head. She was no better, no less two-faced, than the cheery walls of this hospital that she
Valor looked over at Jordan again and couldn’t help the hand she felt squeezing at her heart. He was just a boy. Just a boy.
“Ms. Shaw?”
“Yes?” Valor turned to see a curly-haired doctor enter the room, her glasses sitting on the end of her nose as she looked down at a chart on the way into the room.
Standing up, Valor tried to read the doctor’s face before she said anything, but the doctor gave nothing away, for better or for worse. “How is she?”
The doctor met her gaze as she looked up from her chart. “Jade is stable. The transfusion and surgery went very smoothly and she’s quite a fighter.”
“Yes, she is,” Valor agreed with a smile.
“She’s not out of the woods, however. We’ll be monitoring her very closely to watch for any potential complications.”
“Of course.”
“But this is very good news.”
“Yes it is. Thank you, Doctor.” Valor shook the doctor’s hand as she left the room, a nurse coming in at the same time to check Jordan’s vitals.
Valor breathed a sigh of relief and eyed her cigarettes again, debating whether to sneak outside for a few puffs in wake of the good news.
“Oh, and what have we here?” the nurse said happily. “Looks like somebody’s waking up.”
Valor grinned happily as she walked over to the bed and gazed down at Jordan, ignoring the bandages over his head. His eyes were fluttering, as if fighting to open.
“Jordan?” she asked in a whisper. “Jordan? Can you hear me?”
At the sound of her voice, Jordan’s eyes opened wider and slowly focused on her. “Valor.”
“Hey, Jordan,” Valor greeted, sitting down in the chair the nurse pulled up for her. “You gave us a scare there.”