Chapter 242
Gibbon was beginning to sense that I was here. I wasn’t sure how I knew this, but it was a fact. He was starting to draw me into his mind, and I fought against it, trying to decide how best to help the team, which was quickly falling apart.
I switched my IAC to Cale who got two shots off before Gibbon reached him. The Reno Area Leader dropped to the ground and rolled into a nearby cell as Gibbon’s beastly form rained down on him. Cale pushed the door closed with his boot and held it there, and I knew that Gibbon could easily have torn that door from its hinges if he wanted to, but the sound of other footsteps coming down the hall toward him drew his attention, and I began to sense fear in Gibbon. He wasn’t capable of understanding what was happening. He only knew he needed to get out if he was going to survive.
My sister and Aaron would come into contact with the monster next. The human security guard hardly sensed their presence as they whooshed by him on either side. “Scarlet, get this guy out of here,” my sister ordered as she flew down the hallway. Scarlet acknowledged the command, and I flickered between Scarlet overtaking the security guard and escorting him to a cell against his will and my sister drawing her gun as she approached Gibbon. Once she had him inside, Scarlet pulled out a pair of handcuffs similar to the ones I’d been threatened with earlier and used them to secure the guard before gagging him and turning her attention back to the hallway.
“Healers, do not engage with Gibbon under any circumstances,” Aaron ordered as Jamie ducked into a nearby cell as well. I was sure he’d stay there until after Gibbon passed and then rush off to help the wounded. My sister made a point of ensuring Jamie knew that order meant double for him, and then she pulled up short in the hallway, and looking through her eyes, I could see the menacing form of the Vampire she’d already battled once charging toward her.
Cadence’s hand was trembling slightly as she pulled her weapon, but she steadied it. I wondered if her hesitation to open fire had more to do with Meagan being behind the monster or flashbacks to when she’d been locked in a cell with him, forced to battle to the death. They’d both made it out that night—but Gibbon’s chance of escaping this time was nil to none. He just didn’t know it yet.
My sister dropped to her knees as she and Aaron both opened fire on Gibbon, who bared his teeth and began to rush toward them again. Several of the bullets hit their mark, but they didn’t seem to slow him. Poofs of ash indicated where the gunshots made contact with his flesh. He never slowed, and I sensed the fear that propelled him forward.
Gibbon collided with Aaron as Cadence rolled out of the way through an open cell door. I switched my perspective to Aaron’s as the Guardian was pushed backward down the hallway as if he were wearing skates. Eventually, Gibbon turned and rammed him hard into the concrete wall, which had to hurt. I winced and squeezed my eyes closed tightly, not that it made the images go away. Aaron groaned and watched as Gibbon took off again, heading right toward the observation circle, the one I’d been positioned in earlier. Little wisps of smoke trailed from the gunshot wounds to his flesh as he ran.
I switched back to Cadence just as she reached Aaron and asked, “Are you okay?”
He dusted himself off and said, “Never better,” though there was an evident strain to his voice. They took off running again, trying to catch up to the Vampire. “Ashley, Mickey, he’s coming your way!”
I switched to Ashley. She had to be nervous; she was standing in the shadows near one of the display cases, shifting her weight back and forth. I felt horrible for her. She had just seen three of her teammates get injured to one degree or another, and she might be next. I was no longer envious that she’d completed her training ahead of me. Part of me thought I should reach out to Gibbon, draw him away from her….
“Cass, where are you? Still in the closet with Christian?” Brandon’s voice sounded frantic, like he wanted to leave his position and come to me.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I assured him, deciding to stay in my hidey hole, for now anyway, and give my sister a chance to catch up with the beast headed this direction.
“Good. Stay there. Our bullets don’t seem to be having any effect on him. They don’t even seem to be slowing him down.”
“He’s stronger than most Vampires,” I reminded him. “And he just fed.” I assumed the blood of the first security guard had reenergized Gibbon.
Brandon seemed to hesitate. “Just… be careful.”
There was no reason for me to say, “You, too,” so I didn’t. At least I knew that Gibbon couldn’t kill Brandon. I listened to the frantic footfalls outside the door and knew Gibbon was headed this direction, searching for the easiest exit, like water running downhill.
Mickey engaged Gibbon first. A barrage of bullet fire sounded not too far outside the thin office door, and Ashley discharged her weapon as well. Christian was pacing, and I’m sure it was killing him not to get out there. I wanted to tell him to go, but I knew he wouldn’t listen to me anyway.
A sound unlike anything I’d ever heard before pierced the darkness as Gibbon began to roar like the animal he was. I physically covered my ears, but I could hear it inside my mind as well. Like a lion afraid of being caged, he plowed through the two obstructions, and the next sound I heard was Ashley’s scream as he picked her up and threw her up into the air. She hit the ceiling of the observation room and fell straight to the ground. The scream stopped.
I switched to Mickey’s IAC view as there was nothing else to see from Ashley. I was nervous for her but didn’t have too much time to worry as the new Guardian hurled himself into Gibbon like a cannonball. Gibbon stumbled a bit, possibly surprised by Mickey’s strength, but a moment later, he, too, was tossed through the air, and Gibbon changed his trajectory, running off toward another corridor.
My sister and Aaron were right behind him, but it was becoming evident to me that none of them were going to be able to stop this creature. He had to have been shot at least twenty times by now, and it hadn’t even slowed his pace. I bit my lip, knowing if Aaron and Cadence were not successful, I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.
With a deep breath, I pulled myself from underneath the table and joined Christian at the door. An anger began to seethe inside me like nothing I had ever felt before. I couldn’t quite describe it. I was angry to be so misunderstood, to feel so trapped… like a caged animal.
Christian was still pacing as the sound of my sister and Aaron’s footsteps followed Gibbon down the hall. For the first time, I turned to look behind me and was shocked at what I saw. I wondered if Jamie knew where he’d stored me away. This was the ticket window where people paid to enter the museum. Credit card machines and other equipment sat on the counter, but behind that there were two large glass windows. I didn’t exactly feel secure anymore, not that I really had before.
I slowly turned back around and felt a magnetic pull from Gibbon’s thoughts again. There was a small window in the door. I waited for Christian’s pacing to take him out of the way and looked through it. It was dark, though I could see Mickey and Ashley stirring on the floor and was thankful they could move. I didn’t shift my IAC to see what the Healers were doing, but I was sure they were tending to Shane and Meagan. I assumed at least one of them would be headed back this direction to help the two injured teammates in front of me. I took a deep breath, wondering what would happen when my sister caught up with Gibbon, but as she went flying up a staircase, the Vampire was nowhere to be seen. A shift to Aaron did not reveal Gibbon’s location either. He was hiding—but he was definitely still close by. I could feel him.
“They’ll be all right.” Christian’s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I looked up at him. He smiled at me, that uneasy grin that always set my arm hair on end. I wasn’t crazy about being shut up in this room with him, but something stirred inside of me, and I suddenly wondered if I could take him. If I engaged a Guardian, would my Vampire side crumple to him, or would my Hunter side destroy him? I pushed the thought aside, not sure where it had come from, and did my best to return the smile.
He had his hands in his pants pockets, his jacket pushed back out of the way as he began to pace again. I knew he was itching to get into the fight, but he couldn’t because he had promised Jamie he’d take care of me. For a moment, I felt slightly sorry for him, but then, there wouldn’t be much Christian could do to slow Gibbon either. I was a bit surprised he’d even want to give it another try after what had happened the last time they met. Perhaps he was looking for absolution. He wouldn’t find it today.
I noticed he was wearing a utility belt, sort of like Batman’s, but different. There were guns and knives, the sort of weapons I’d expect. But Christian had something else strapped there. As he turned to walk back toward me, I stared at it a moment too long and averted my eyes before he’d notice. It was too late. He looked down at his belt and back up at me with a questioning expression.
My voice just a whisper, I asked, “Are those grenades?” I’d never seen anything like them before, not in real life.
He inspected the weapon in question. “Oh, yeah. It’s something new I’ve been working on. They spray silver, the same concentrate we use in the bullets. We haven’t used them before, but Aaron said I might get to try them out tonight.”
I nodded, confused “Won’t they blow up the whole prison?”
“No,” he laughed, that creepy look in his eyes, like he was the serial killer trying to lure me in with his smile. “They use a special charge that sprays the silver but doesn’t actually blow anything up. Theoretically, I should be able to toss one in Gibbon’s direction and burn him to death without hurting anyone or anything else.”
“I see,” I muttered, trying not to sound too interested.
“Except for maybe you,” Christian added. I raised an eyebrow and met his eyes. “Aaron said not to use them anywhere near you for fear they may also burn you.”
“But I’m a Hunter,” I reminded him. It was a bit irritating that Aaron would suggest I was anything less any other Hunter, but then, I supposed he had a point. If Christian hadn’t tested these yet, who knew what might happen. Nevertheless, I said, “I can touch the silver bullets, and they don’t bother me.”
“This silver is a bit different,” he replied, tipping his head from side to side as if he were working out a difficult math problem. “Have you ever been hit with a stream from the silver liquid we fire out of the Berettas?”
“No,” I admitted, thinking that did sound much more painful than just touching the bullets I loaded into my gun during training sessions the few times I’d been allowed to do so.
“It’s more like that. It might have a different effect. At any rate, I definitely won’t be using them if you are around. The last thing I want is to have Cadence and Aaron mad at me for not keeping you safe.”
“Right,” I said, wondering why the last thing he wanted to do wasn’t to injure me. He seemed more concerned with his own behind than mine, and I took special note of that. As Christian began to pace again, I saw my sister hunting for Gibbon through the darkness and realized I might be the only one who could possibly stop this monster. With as much drama as I could muster, I said, “I’m just so scared for my sister.” Christian’s expression looked about as empathetic as I had ever seen him, and as he approached, I took a deep breath and forced myself to step into him, wrapping my arms around his waist, his jacket enveloping me. I hated tricking him, but it was being sneaky that had gotten me into this mess to begin with, and it might be the only way I could get all of us out of it and get rid of Gibbon for good.
