Chapter 542
As soon as I finished speaking, Sylvester’s head turned so that his eyes were trained on Eliza, who was standing in front of him, though in the shadows. His fangs bared, he started to move in her direction, and Eliza opened fire.
Another of her team members, one I didn’t know, leapt off of a rooftop behind the Vampire, a knife in his hand, and started stabbing Sylvester, knocking them both to the ground. I covered my mouth, shocked at how savage it looked, even though the Vampire wasn’t going down easily. Brandon asked me if I was okay, and I nodded, but I couldn’t tell him what was going on at the moment. Lukas had taken off toward the warehouse, and Eliza was chasing him.
The view was bouncy as Eliza sprinted after the newbie, leaping over pallets full of miscellaneous items that hadn’t exactly been moved into the warehouse neatly. Her boot caught on a box, almost tripping her, and a million screws clanked across the concrete floor. Lukas turned to look at her but didn’t stop.
Eliza didn’t either, though I could see she was being careful where she stepped until she was out of the field of debris. There were two windows in front of Lukas and a door. I imagined he’d probably make it to the exit before Eliza caught up to him at this rate, though she could chase him out of the warehouse if she wanted. Or open fire before he hit the door and hope she could take him down that way.
Back outside, Sylvester was a goner. The guy who’d knocked him to the ground was kneeling in a pile of ashes, laughing hysterically. I could see all of this through Eliza’s IAC since I didn’t have access to anyone’s in the back. Mila hadn’t said a word to me since they’d started the raid, which was foolish. As the shadows around them began to move, I had a feeling she would be contacting me soon. The other two Vampires, the ones who’d dragged off the truck driver, had left at the first sound of a fight. They weren’t what I was worried about.
“Stop! If you open that door, I’ll shoot you!”
Eliza had almost caught up to Lukas, but his hand was on the door. He turned to look at her, and she kept her weapon trained on him. I wondered why she didn’t just shoot. I was under the impression Aaron wanted them to take in Sylvester, something that wasn’t happening now, obviously, but maybe Eliza thought Lukas would work as well.
Or maybe it was something else....
Lukas turned to look at her, his hands raised slightly. I noticed his eyes weren’t gray like every other Vampire I’d ever seen. They were more of a stormy blue color. There was no red rim either. It was bizarre. He didn’t even look that pale. The way he was looking at Eliza made me catch my breath a little. I didn’t think her failure to shoot had anything to do with an order to take a hostage.
“You should go. You are in danger if you stay here a moment longer.” Lukas spoke in a thick Hungarian accent, but his tone was concerned, like he was really worried for her.
“I’m in danger? You do realize I’m pointing a gun at your head, right?” Eliza took a step forward but didn’t pull the trigger.
“I do. But you will not have time to kill me right now. And you are too beautiful to be torn apart. I don’t know what you are, or if they can end you, but they are coming. You should go.”
He wasn’t bluffing either. The shadows outside came to life, and the rest of the team suddenly realized they weren’t alone. No one was asking me anything, and I didn’t have access to Mila’s IAC, but I did put the thought in her head. “You’re surrounded by the black creatures. Better start shooting.”
Whether she knew it was me or not, she did as I suggested, and a full-on battle erupted out in the yard. The creatures were coming from everywhere. Hundreds of them filled the lawn, coming out of the trees and bushes. The five teammates outside did their best to shoot them, but soon enough, the creatures closed in, and knives were drawn.
I was just about to tell Eliza what was happening when both of the windows in front of her exploded, sending shards of glass raining in her direction. She covered her face with both arms. I didn’t need to see to tell her what was happening. “It’s the creatures, Eliza. Hundreds of them. The rest of your team is already fighting their way out of the back yard. You need to find a way out!”
She looked up to see them pouring through the broken windows. While Mila’s group tried to move toward the fence and out of the warehouse property, I tried to think of the best way for Eliza to get out.
Lukas was gone, out the door when the windows came in, and the creatures were crawling toward her, leaving little droplets of blood on the ground from where the glass was cutting into them, but they didn’t seem to notice. She wasn’t turning her head much, so I was at a loss. I felt out into the universe for Lukas and saw him sprinting away from the warehouse, but in his mind, I noticed the warehouse had another window, to Eliza’s right, and he seemed to be thinking she could get out that way. I couldn’t even tell if he knew I was there, but he seemed to want her to escape.
“There’s a window on your right they haven’t gotten to yet. I saw it when Lukas ran past it a moment ago. Hurry!”
Eliza reacted to my instructions quickly enough, turning and running to her right just as the black creatures began to nip at her heels. She stretched out her lead leg like a hurdler and kicked through the glass, landing outside on her feet. Now what?
