Chapter 322
We took three SUVs to the location. Elliott drove ours, and I sat in the way-back holding Brandon’s hand and trying to keep myself calm. Melbourne didn’t look anything like I thought it would. The dream I’d had gave me the impression it would be desert-like, but it wasn’t. The city was huge, and we drove through the heart of it. There wasn’t much traffic this time of night, and Elliott was going well over a hundred miles an hour, but I could see the bright lights and tall buildings and thought maybe I’d come back here someday when there would be time to take it all in.
Eventually, we got off the freeway and started winding our way through a not-so-lovely part of town. Here, the buildings were rundown. There was trash everywhere, and while we only saw a few people, they may have been homeless. The cars we saw looked like they might give out at any moment. I had a feeling we were getting closer to the location.
I could tell Elliott was talking to Patsy and Margie, who were driving the other vehicles. They spread out when they pulled in to park so we wouldn’t alert any of Holland’s fiends who might be on the lookout. We’d walk the last couple of blocks so that hopefully they wouldn’t see us coming.
“Where is it?” Cadence asked before we got out.
“Couple of blocks up the road,” Elliott told her, pulling open his door.
“No, we should park next to the building,” my sister insisted, causing him to pause halfway out of the vehicle.
“Why? They’ll know we’re here. If they’re here,” Elliott reasoned.
“Yeah, but if they are here, then we need to make a hasty getaway. So… we need to be closer.”
Cadence’s argument made sense. It wasn’t standard protocol, but technically, this wasn’t a hunt. This was just me trying to find Paul. Elliott looked at Aaron, who was in the passenger seat, and waited.
“Let’s move up a block,” he said, trying to compromise, I thought. “I don’t think there are any Vampires nearby, are there?” he asked Cadence.
She took a deep breath and seemed to assess the situation. I didn’t feel any. She didn’t either. “No.”
“We should have time,” he concluded, and with a groan, Elliott got back in and started the SUV.
“There’s a parking lot right next to the department store. Borders the theater. I can just pull right in there if you want,” he said sarcastically.
“This is fine,” Aaron said once we’d moved a block closer to the building. I could see it now. It wasn’t that tall, but I thought it would work. It was at least a few stories taller than the other buildings nearby, though the one directly behind it was also tall. I thought it was more important to be where Paul had been for me to find him, so I made my way toward the building I knew to be his last location.
We would make our way to the rooftop via the fire escape. I wasn’t scared this time. When it was my turn to jump up and grab ahold of the lowest rung and pull myself up, I didn’t hesitate, even though it was about twelve feet off the ground. I followed Brandon, and Elliott was behind me. Our entire Kansas City team took up positions on the roof while Margie, Grant, and the six members of the Melbourne team formed a perimeter around the bottom.
As soon as I was on the roof, I began to feel with my mind, seeking out what had happened here. I let myself be guided by Paul’s lingering presence. Something terrible had happened to him here, before he was even taken. My feet moved over to the edge of the building and I stopped where I thought he’d been when he’d been ambushed.
A brick wall ran around the rooftop, but it was low, and even when I sat down, I could almost see over the top of it. I knew where the movie theater was, and I faced it, crossing my legs, closing my eyes completely, and concentrating.
Images came to me almost immediately. He had been here, about to pull the team out, when his IAC went haywire. I saw images from inside the movie theater—members of his team being tortured and murdered. He’d thought it was real, though he was confused as to how it was happening. And then, he’d realized he wasn’t alone. They were here—both of them. And someone else, a doctor of some sort, a crazy doctor who looked like a cartoon Frankenstein, a mad-scientist.
I heard my sister say she thought they needed to get me out of there, but I blocked her voice out, still searching, trying to figure out where they had taken Paul. The pull came from the direction of the movie theater, which didn’t make any sense to me. I knew his team had searched for him there. Nevertheless, I felt like that was where he was now.
“Just give her a minute,” Aaron said, and I was grateful, though I didn’t speak.
I continued to hone in on Paul until I was certain. He was here. He was in the theater. I could feel his pain.
“Aaron…” my sister said.
“He’s here,” I assured her, keeping my eyes closed—because there was something else. Something wasn’t right. He hadn’t been here before. He had been brought here, recently. But by who? And where were they now?”
“Who? Paul?” Brandon asked. I could feel him next to me, but I kept my eyes closed tightly.
“Yes. In the theater. I see him—tied up, alone, in front of a flickering movie screen. Some weird, old movie is playing. They’re trying to make it look scary, but they aren’t there.” Whoever had brought him in was gone now.
Then I realized who it was who had brought Paul. He wasn’t close by, but I could feel him out there, down the street, out past where we’d initially parked. But he was closing quickly, and he wasn’t alone. “He’s here, too.”
“Where?” Aaron asked, understanding who I meant.
I was just about to answer him when I felt something behind me as well. We were surrounded. This was yet another Vampire trick, and once again, I had fallen for it and led my team right along with me. The only thing we could do now was not do what they expected us to do, which was to run for the SUVs. If we did that, they’d head us off, get there first. And I could see into Carter’s demented mind now. They had a plan, and they were coming for me.
