Chapter Twenty-Three

Fifty-five miles later, we’d reached our target.

They were holed up in a fenced-off old building that might’ve been built in the ‘20s.

We placed UV lanterns at every exit point. A remote would trigger them all at once. Gold-eyed vampires had zero tolerance for sunlight.

No marine layer above this far from the coast, but few stars were visible tonight due to the moon and city lights. Obviously, it was most ideal to approach vampires on a moonless night, but not practical.

Thirteen brought out the heat scanner first, but we weren’t getting a clear reading through the thick walls. The high-intensity listening device came out next.

Never go into a nest of vampires without knowing how many are in it. The holy blessings sewn into our suits wouldn’t protect us against Golds.

He put the microphone’s ear bud in and listened.

To keep from pacing, I double-checked all weapons. A handgun and stake job.

This was my first nest hunt. I felt safe with Thirteen at my side, but this was still an anxious moment. Finally, he signaled there were five inside.

As the senior agent, his role was to take point—with two of us, that meant I watched his back. On silent boots we quickly approached the one unlatched door and entered the building.

Vampires needed less light to see in the dark than cats. There’d been no glow at any window—the ones not boarded up, at least—and we walked into a gloom hazy with dust and God-knows-what. New vamps weren’t known for their housecleaning.

The tile was littered with the bodies and skeletons of dead rats against the walls. This group wasn’t thriving if they had to eat vermin.

I hoped it meant their strength would be diminished.

This floor was divided into many small rooms. Must’ve been offices once upon a time. Most of the doors hung open now. Some barely attached to their hinges. The place had been abandoned a long while. Every so often, a wall was tagged with some gang sign.

But no activity.

A wide stairway led up, wide enough for us to walk side-by-side. I hung back a step and watched our backs. My heart pounded. I dreaded the inevitable creak of old wood.

We avoided the center to be safe, but it was still likely.

The last step into a hall of apartments.

Up here, the smell was atrocious, like rotten meat. Like death.

Creeeeak…

A growl in the dark. Thirteen shot at the sound with his suppressed pistol.

A howl of pain.

Five pairs of glittering yellow eyes appeared. We shot at those eyeballs with big caliber bullets. If you want a headshot on a vampire, you make sure it will splatter their brains into next week. Our night vision goggles revealed three bodies.

I staked each in the heart while Thirteen kicked in doors in this hall to find the other two.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.”

But which way?

The stair had come up the center of the building. At the end of the hall, a path went toward the sides. Since there was another floor above, either the stairwells were at each end or the apartments were two-story.

The untrained first instinct is to split up.

Since we were trained, we did Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide.

Paper always defeats Rock and we went left.

With Thirteen still on point, I walked backward behind him. This hall was much narrower than the one we just left and single file was the only option. No doors. Only an opening at the end that turned left.

The vamps could be hiding anywhere.

I tapped his shoulder. He paused. “This floor is like a game of Three Card Monty,” I whispered. “We can’t check and secure rooms with only two of us.”

“Suggestion?”

“Booby trap.”

He gave me a thumbs’ up and we left. I scuffed the ash in the hall as I walked to the stairs. Then we trapped them above the first floor with more UV lamps. Recon had already shown us the building had no fire escapes, so out the doors was the only way they could leave unless they wanted to risk leaping out of windows.

The last lamps we had were placed at the top of the stairs. The bright lights had an added bonus of drawing attention to the building and no city liked obvious squatters.

“I’d suggest celebrating with a beer, but you’re underage.” Thirteen pulled his cowl off in the van and ran a hand through his hair.

Argh, the man didn’t get hat head. Truly disgusting.

I pushed mine back like a hood and felt frizz escaping my braids.

“Eww. Beer is gross.”

“Tried it?”

I shuddered. “Smell is bad enough.” I was grateful Mama never got an alcohol license.

He laughed. “Still such a girl.”

“A girl that can kick your ass.”

“Oh really? You think you’re that good?”

“Willing to find out?”

He laughed again. “Seven, you’re certainly my most entertaining student.”

Hmph. Yeah, he had experience and size and all that, but I’d learned a lot since those first lessons. Sensei was a sneaky so-and-so and I’d learned to read dirty attacks.

Instead of heading back the way we came, he was on a new course again.

Heading north.

“Now where are you going?”

“You’ll see.”

“I see it’s dangerous to give you a full tank of gas.”

Why couldn’t it be like this all the time?

Way more fun than traveling with Amelia. Instead of worrying about her grading everything I did, I was just trusted to hold up my end of the job. Her nitpicking was distracting and undermined my confidence when I needed it the most.

“Can you tell Amelia I performed up to standard tonight?”

“What?” he sputtered.

“Nothing I do is good enough for her. If another agent says my work is up to par, then maybe she’ll stop harassing me.”

“That bad, huh?”

“So far, I don’t want her in my ear on a mission.”

He winced. “Shouldn’t be like that. Your Guide is your partner. I can try, but I don’t think my opinion will mean much.”

I sighed. “Prob’ly right.”

“Include her attitude in your reports to HQ. If it gets worse and you need to request another Guide, you’ll have written record of her bitchiness.”

“Language.”

“Crankiness.”

“Do you still have to fill out reports?”

“All agents do.”

“Did you include when you went surfing?”

He grinned. “Well…they only need to know what happened on the mission, not every minute of your day.”

“Bad!”

“Seven, you can assume the Council is aware that agents are in locations longer than the actual job requires to do and will fill that time somehow. As long as your off-book time doesn’t jeopardize the mission or anyone’s safety, you can do what you want.”

“Like online college classes.”

“If that’s what floats your boat.”

“I think Amelia thinks I’m only signing up for classes to carry on the ruse of normality and won’t follow through on actually taking them. She complained frequently that my insistence on finishing high school was a waste of time compared to ‘my higher calling’.”

He made a turn and we started up an incline.

“Where are we going?”

“Patience.”

Soon, I wished for gum as my ears plugged from rising altitude.

The van kept climbing and climbing in the dark.

Then we broke above the light pollution. I plastered my face to the passenger window.

The view was like something I’d only seen on a nature show.

He stopped the van. Clock said it’d been about an hour since leaving the vamp nest. I opened my door and stared up at the sky.

“Figured you’d never seen this,” he said next to me.

Enraptured, I never heard him come around the vehicle.

A brief glance at him, but I couldn’t keep my eyes from the stars. “You can see all of them.” One thing to read about stars in a science textbook, but seeing millions above your head in real life…awe-inspiring. I felt very small.

And envious of previous generations that saw this every night.

What a generous God. He provided so much just to stimulate our sense of wonder.

He chuckled. “A hell of a lot. More in the desert with no trees, but I don’t want to drive all night.”

Wrapping my arms around Thirteen’s shoulders, I thanked him.

Might’ve leapt on the guy a little bit.

His neck smelled good. He wouldn’t use a scent before hunting, so this was pure Thirteen. For the first time tonight, my belly flopped again.

“Where are we?”

“Big Bear. 8000 feet up.” He craned his neck back. “I used to snowboard here.”

He set me on my feet.

He’d held me until then and it hadn’t registered.

But now, I was hyper-aware of how close our bodies were, me between him and the van.

I sidestepped out of there and took a big inhale of pine trees. “Is there a lake over there?”

“Yeah. Good eye. It’s beautiful in daylight.”

He came up behind me.

My spine was alive. Every nerve ending calling out he’s right there.

We needed to leave. This gorgeous night was triggering all the romantic fantasies teenage hormones could muster. Practically a country song!

“Well, I’m starving and we should get back before Amelia launches a search party.” I hurried to the van and grabbed the door handle.

“Seven—”

“What?” I couldn’t read his eyes in the dark.

He stared at me a second, then said, “Nothing. You’re right. We’ll grab food on the way home.”

Home.

Another flutter inside, only that word always brought thoughts of Mama and Guthrie and my bed that was the perfect level of softness for me. Homemade pie and burgers with her secret seasoning. Summer meant strawberries and peaches and ball games.

And epic thunderstorms.

“Hey. You went quiet.”

“Wishing I had a photo of the stars to send to my mother.”

He went quiet.

Until we were back on the big highway heading west and using an off ramp to get to a fast food place open all night.

“Can you see the menu?” We were in the drive-through for a place called In-n-Out.

“Yeah.”

With the window down, the van was flooded with the scents of beef and fries. My stomach replied, announcing it was starving. Thirteen placed the order, then before we reached the pay window, unzipped his suit and shrugged out of it to his waist. A shirtless customer was less conspicuous than one wearing body armor.

An arm on the sill, he said hi to the young woman ready to take his money. She read the amount due, then looked up to him and did a double-take. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he grinned at her. Flirt. He handed over cash. Her voice was breathy when she gave him the change and said to roll up to the next window.

A guy was at that one, so we were handed the order and wished a good night. Thirteen passed me the tray of milkshakes, then dug in the bags and shoved a handful of fries in his mouth.

“Oh, god, I’ve missed you. Ow. Hot.”

“Fresh made, doofus.” I snatched the bags from the glutton. There was a car behind us. “Drive.”

“Gimme back my fries.” He turned toward the onramp, then held his right hand out.

I placed the tray on his palm. “No burger while you’re driving. This is way too messy.” Thank goodness there was a giant pile of napkins.

“Seriously?”

“Either pull over or wait. Safety first, Coach.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, and stopped the van in the last spot in the parking lot before hitting the street. “Hand it over.”

The nice restaurant had bagged our orders separately. Thirteen reclined his seat a bit and dug into his food like a teenager after football practice. And I thought I had a healthy appetite.

Good stuff, though. They did the thin diner-style patties I was used to and the cheese was gooey. Fries could use more salt, but easier to add than take away. Once there’s too much salt there’s pretty much no fixin’ that. Fresh lettuce and tomato—a good tomato that wasn’t mushy.

But the shake, mmm. Real chocolate ice cream, not syrup mixed with cheap vanilla. I dipped a fry and suddenly understood the light salt touch. Perfection.

I opened my eyes and Thirteen was staring at me. “What? Somethin’ on my chin?”

A quick shake of his head.

His eyes dropped to my cup. “That’s gross.”

“Fries and chocolate? Most certainly is not.”

“Potato sacrilege!”

“Try it before you knock it.”

An exaggerated shudder. “God no.”

“Come on. I dare you.”

He started the van. His burger was already gone. “Time to get back on the road.”

Again, his mood had randomly shifted. Happened several times since I got to L.A. and I couldn’t pinpoint a cause. Maybe stuff was on his mind and it had nothing to do with me.

I hadn’t done anything offensive.

We’d be friendly like normal, then…I don’t know. Then it’d pass and he’d be genial again. Ugh. Men. Never made sense to me.

He turned the radio on kinda loud. I ate and kept to myself.

The song ended. Another started and he drummed his fingers on the wheel. Then sang along. The vocalist sounded like he was talking in key to the music and Thirteen mimicked the style. Angsty anti-authority stuff and not my thing.

Mama raised me on country music and The Beach Boys. Hymns at church. Like any girl at high school, I was familiar with pop singers my friends liked, and that was where my knowledge ended.

Thirteen reached for his shake between songs. He’d still been eating fries while singing the first one, which didn’t help his pitch. His singing voice could stay on key, but that was about all he had going for it.

Huh.

The man did have a flaw.

God knew what He was doing—an amazing voice would give Thirteen too much power over women with all the rest he had going on. Wouldn’t be fair.

“What wouldn’t be fair?”

“Huh? Sorry. Thoughts leaking. It’s nothing. Thanks for dinner.”

“You’re welcome.” He rotated the stereo volume knob until the music was at a respectable level inside a car. “I try to stop in every time I’m in SoCal.”

“Never heard of this brand.”

“West Coast only. Started here and still family owned. Once you finish your cup, turn it over and read the bottom.”

I held it over my head and tried to catch the light.

John 3:16. I smiled at the revelation. “I like these people.”

“The best part is there’s a secret menu.”

“If it’s secret, how does anyone know it?”

He waved a hand. “Just a term. Some of the common ways to order things got names and there you go—menu. Everybody passes it around. Though I suppose it’ll be on the internet soon.”

“Now he tells me.”

He laughed.

Tension gone again. And that was one of the things I liked best about him—the mood shifts never lasted for long.

It was really late—early—when we returned to the safe house. A single light was on downstairs. Between the hour and a full belly, I was ready to sleep.

Yawning through the words, I said, “So ready for bed.”

“After we clean out the van.”

Seriously? “I hate you.”

“No you don’t, grumpy. Now throw this trash away then help me unload.”

Yeah, yeah. The stickers had already been peeled off before we went patrolling, so at least this was just taking care of the weapons and surveillance equipment. Still, my limbs felt heavy and sluggish to match my eyelids.

Van nondescript and clean again, we finally went indoors.

“G’night.”

“Goodnight, Seven.”

Nodding, I trudged up the stairs.

By the time I’d changed clothes and grabbed my toothbrush, he was showering. Stupid old house with one bathroom. Wait, or brush my teeth in the kitchen?

But there I’d have no mirror.

Like I’m the only person who feels they can’t get their teeth clean enough without a mirror in front of them.

My legs said no more stairs tonight.

The door opened. Thirteen exited through a cloud of steam, towel around his waist and suit tossed over his shoulder. “All yours.” He continued down the hall to his room.

Irritation at the fog he left in the bathroom helped distract me from thoughts of him naked. Hormones were curious. The rest of me felt guilty for noticing.

I took it out on the mirror, rubbing it harshly until it remained clear.

I was wrong before. This wasn’t easier than working with Amelia at all.