Page 7 of Night Fury
As Luke cut the head off another vampire, ten more appeared. He vanished, dissipating into shadow. Luke slithered along the ground, jumping from place to place until he found Greg’s shadow. His darkness curled around Greg, curving into his power, a signal they’d long forged between them to alert to disturbances. Greg gave a small nod. As soon as he reached out with his own energetic ability to alert the others, Luke was off, jumping and sprinting from one shadow to the next until he was behind the vampires. His blood sang with the need to kill them, but he had other duties to follow.
Luke found their exit, a cellar beneath one of the buildings that seemed to connect to the others. That meant that the other buildings were either decoys, traps, or escape routes. Luke kept to his shadowed form as he slipped inside, the fighting continuing in the open air. He raced along the walls, only pausing to inspect doorways for more traps.
Deeper down the tunnels he found two vampires. He killed one of them within seconds, but the other one’s death he purposefully prolonged, cutting his arm off when he could have severed his head. The vampire screamed, giving Luke what he wanted. The sound would alert others that may be waiting.
When no one came, Luke cut off his other arm. The vampire fell to the ground, his cries of pain echoing so loudly they hurt Luke’s own ears. Still, no one appeared. Satisfied, Luke gave the man mercy by cutting off his head.
Even though Luke had proved that the nearby area was clear, or that any lingering vampires were otherwise preoccupied, he knew he couldn’t let down his guard. Zachariah loved to set traps. He got a sick satisfaction by trying to prove he was smarter than everyone else, and Luke was not about to give it to him. Doing the next best thing he could think of, Luke took the dead vampire’s arms and carried them on his shoulder as he sunk back into his shadowed form. When he neared the next entrance, he threw one of the arms toward the top, spiraling it so that it would clear the doorway vertically, like a body. When no explosion or threat appeared, Luke reclaimed the arm from the floor and continued along.
Nearing another passageway, Luke threw the arm again and was surprised when someone caught it.
Merida stepped through the door frame and cringed at the limb in her hand. “Really?”
“Don’t judge,” Luke said as he rematerialized from his shadows. “It’s a good way to test for traps. Your head didn’t get blown off now, did it?”
Merida handed the appendage back to Luke and dusted her hands off, although he didn’t know why—they were already covered in blood. “Yes, but you killed him. It’s a little weird to use his limbs this way. It’s kind of like violating the body.”
Luke side-eyed her. “You’re just mad that’s the appendage I cut off. If it would have been his dick, you would have been happy.”
Merida covered her mouth with the back of her hand, smothering her laughter. “You know what? You’re right. But please don’t ever do that. I can take a lot of things seriously, but dicks flying through doorways is not one of them.”
Luke laughed deep from his gut. His eyes watered and he wiped them with the shirt’s sleeves. “Duly noted.”
Recovering, he straightened his back and took in Merida’s appearance and the lack of Dom or any of his animal forms hanging off her. She noticed and nodded to the right. “Dom’s checking out that passage. We’ve got four more minutes before Greg wants us topside.”
Luke resumed navigating the passage with Merida in tow, and then she called out to him. He paused and turned toward her. “What is it?”
“There’s something at the top of the opening. Probably an explosive.”
Luke nodded. Taking a step back, he threw one of the deceased vampire’s arms at the opening. The moment it passed through, the mechanism ticked and then exploded, causing the passage to shake as the vibrations bounced and pulsed through the air. Compacted dirt and boulders rained down, effectively closing the earlier opening.
Behind them a whistle sounded through the air, making Luke tilt his head to the side. But when he glanced at Merida and saw her small smile, he knew what, or rather who, had made the noise.
The sound of a bird’s wings grew closer to them, and then feather turned to skin and bone as Dom’s figure appeared in front of Merida. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his side while her own arm found its way around his waist. Their heads tilted toward one another as they kissed.
Luke turned his head from the display of affection to give them some semblance of privacy and to keep his thoughts of envy at bay. But even though they spoke quietly, Luke heard Dom’s concern for his mate and Merida’s reassurance that she was fine loud and clear. Luke’s eyes closed, fingers tightening into fists as he fought against his racing, aching heart. He took deep breaths, not wanting them to see that he had such a clear weakness. That he was so…
Stop it! You’re not weak. You didn’t fail. The only way you do that is if you never get her back, and that’s exactly what will happen if you continue to think this way. Enough! Enough…
Luke swallowed hard and plastered a neutral expression on his face as he addressed Dom. “How was your passage?”
“Riddled with explosives. It seems they split half of the passages into safe routes and the other half into traps. While I was in animal form, I heard Greg and Daniella closest to the passage you went down, Meri. Seems like they’re waiting for us.” Dom gave Merida’s shoulder a squeeze before letting her go.
Luke nodded. “Then let’s go.”
He tossed the last remnant of the vampire he killed onto the ground and followed the couple out, hoping that the investigation at the other warehouse buildings had provided more information than they’d found down there.
* * *
Greg and Daniella’s house was buzzing with activity. The rest of the battle officers had arrived, anxious and excited to meet their new teams. Normally, whoever was called to a fight fought with the rest of the unit as one team. It was a good plan, one which allowed for more people to be available should an issue or surprise arise, but assigning and working with teams in this new way was the dawn of a new era. It was a signal of trust, trust that each member knew what they were doing and would work to support the others within their groups.
It was also a sign that Greg was letting go of his tight grip on the reigns. While everyone rested their weight upon Greg’s shoulders, each battle officer had proven themselves to be capable of fighting, surviving, and saving those they thought were worth the cause over the countless years. It was a celebratory moment for everyone there, especially Greg, and no matter the sadness in his heart, Luke could feel the joy too. He smiled as he watched their members from the bar, and for the first time in several lonely months he felt the comradery and familial bonds that had woven between each person. Those bonds spread as the hours passed by. Normally, Luke would have partaken in them, but he had other, bigger things on his mind.
He flipped through the paperwork they’d retrieved from the warehouse raid. Most of it was from the building that had exploded prior to the fight. Thanks to Daniella’s powers, several of the documents had been saved. Luke didn’t know what he would find in them, so he did his best to curve any hope that it would lead to Johanna. Hope had begun to feel just as much of a vice as fear and doubt, so instead he let himself get lost in the details, information, coordinates, and connections. He recorded, filed, and sorted the paperwork into what made sense to him. His creative mind painted a picture, one that continued to grow and expand into something he was sure would lead to an answer.
“There’s a lot of things I thought I would find you doing, but paperwork wasn’t one of them,” Dani said as she entered the room with a drink in her hand. She offered it to him, and he took it with a nod of thanks.
“Hey, just trying to make myself useful.” Luke smiled, but at the look on her face it turned to a grimace.
