Chapter 543
While Eliza looked around, I tried to get a perspective from Mila’s viewpoint. She was pinned down. Some of the teammates had managed to get over the fence, and even though the creatures were out front of the building, they were far enough way that the gunfire was holding them off. Mila was stuck, being dragged down into a black sea. Eliza would be in the same situation soon if she didn’t move.
Before I could make a suggestion, Eliza leapt up the wall to the rooftop, running to the far side of the building where Mila was trapped. Eliza opened fire, shooting at the creatures around the perimeter of Mila’s location first, trying to give her a chance to fight off the ones that had their teeth and claws sunk into her.
The creatures didn’t seem to like the bullets coming from above them. While several dropped to the ground, dead or wounded, more rushed up the sides of the building. From her teammates out front, I could see they were coming from that direction, too. Eliza was about to be trapped herself.
Eventually, Mila kicked off the last of the creatures and headed for the gate. I saw the charred woman slink over to the bushes and curl up, but she didn’t seem to be dead. The others turned into some sort of black residue when they were dead. She didn’t. I kept that in the back of my mind and turned my attention to Eliza.
I knew one of her teammates had gone to get the SUV. She just needed to find a way down off of the roof. The black creatures were coming over the sides now, grabbing onto the shingles and pulling themselves up. She ran out of ammo in her Beretta and switched to her Glock. That wasn’t going to be useful at all.
She was in trouble, and none of the other LIGHTS members were coming to help her. I didn’t understand how they could all just stand there while she was trapped. A couple of them were shooting at the creatures on the ground, but that didn’t stop the ones on the rooftop.
“Where are they all coming from?”
I didn’t know if Eliza was talking to me or herself, but I answered her. “I don’t know, but there are more coming.” I saw a tree on the other side of the roof. It was something, at least. “Could you jump to that tree? To your right?”
“Even if I did, then what?” she asked. She had a point. I had to assume if they could climb straight up a wall, they could climb trees. I’d thought maybe she could leap to another tree from there, but the circle of blackness was closing in around her. She wouldn’t even be able to get to the tree.
I had no idea what she should do. I was about to jump into her teammates’ heads and demand they do something to help her when everything changed.
It was so weird. The creatures were just about to reach her when every single one of them suddenly turned their heads and looked across the street, off into the distance. It seemed like they were all looking at the top of another tall building several blocks away. Then, as quickly as they’d come, they began to scurry off, away from Eliza, back down the roof, off of the building, into the shadows, slithering across the road toward that building.
Eliza watched in confusion, moving to the edge of the building to see what was happening. I didn’t know either, but I had a suspicion. I sought Lukas out again. Sure enough, he was standing on top of that building, calling the creatures to him.
Exactly how he was doing it, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t press too deeply into his mind because I didn’t want to interfere with his signal. This guy was different, though. After the things I’d seen in the last few days, nothing should’ve surprised me, but Lukas did.
Eliza didn’t ask me if I knew what was happening. In fact, she seemed to forget I was even there. She stepped off of the roof and landed on the ground, wiping her brow with the back of her hand.
I figured she had to be both relieved and exhausted. But I remembered the creature I’d seen slither off underneath the tree by the chain link fence. Headlights slowed in front of her. The SUV was back, and Eliza was headed for it. “One of them is still alive.”
“What?” She froze, puzzled.
“Over by the fence. There’s a creature that’s still alive. The rest have disintegrated into black powder, but that one is still moving around. You should get it.”
“Get it?” she asked. “You want me to get it? Like pick it up and put it in my pocket or something?”
I was reminded that no one in particular seemed to like this person. I tried to remain calm. “No, get Sergio over there with his rope, and get it. If you can keep it alive until Jamie gets there, maybe he can figure out how Daunator is making them.” I knew that Jamie had asked her to try to bring one in. Thoughts of Dala still in that hole in the ground had me determined not to let Eliza walk away from this opportunity.
“You’re even crazier than I am, girl.” She started walking toward the SUV again, ignoring me.
“Eliza! Don’t you think you owe it to Jamie to do this for him? It’s hurt—it can’t fight you. Just go get it. You could pick it up yourself with one hand.”
“Why would I owe Jamie anything?”
Now I was mad. “Come on! I might not have been on the team back when you were in KC, but I know that Jamie was your friend, that even when you were driving everyone else crazy, he stuck by you.”
“Well, he hasn’t been much of a friend these last couple of years.”
“And whose fault is that?” Really, the nerve of this woman. “Eliza, you’ve done some pretty awful things to people who thought you were their friend. You can’t really blame anyone for jumping ship after what you did to my sister, can you?” If she knew what was good for her, she wouldn’t dare try to argue with me.
Eliza huffed for a moment, and I braced myself for my next argument. But she didn’t say anything back to me, only cursed under her breath. “Sergio, you still got that rope?”
I watched in satisfaction as Sergio and Eliza wrangled the black creature into the SUV. Even though she was wounded pretty badly, she was vicious. But they managed, and after a few minutes, the rest of them piled in, and Sergio headed back toward their HQ.
I’d had enough for one night. Mila hadn’t even checked back in with me. Even though I didn’t like Eliza, at least she seemed to understand my worth. Deciding Mila could fend for herself, I turned my IAC off and ran my hand through my hair.
“Hunt over?” Brandon asked.
I turned and smiled at him, glad he was close enough for me to take his hand. “Yeah, it’s over. They got Sylvester, the mark, but the other three Vampires that were with him got away.” I hadn’t even seen what had happened to the guy Lukas was supposed to kill, but I had a feeling the black creatures must’ve gotten him. Either that, or he was able to escape. No one had done any kind of interference, so I had no idea how the warehouse owners would react to what they’d find the next day. I decided that wasn’t my problem. “They also captured one of the black creatures.”
“Really?” Brandon asked, shaking his head slowly, impressed. “Jamie will be happy about that.”
“I hope it stays alive long enough for him to figure out how to help those people.” I’d mentioned Dala to Brandon earlier, before the hunt started. “If he can somehow figure out how to make those people human again, that would be awesome.”
“It would be. But Jamie’s not a miracle worker, Cass. I’m not sure he can do that.”
“I know he can’t do everything. But he can do a lot.”
Brandon nodded. “I wonder....” He stopped talking, but I stared at him long enough for him to continue. “It’s pointless to think about now, but I wonder if, at Sierraville, when my dad got shot, if Jamie had already had the second dose of Transformation serum, would he have been able to save him?”
“That’s a good question.” I thought about it for a second. Jamie and I had talked briefly about his limitations when I’d stopped by to ask him about the leadership meeting. “Jamie got shot at Sierraville, too, but he probably wouldn’t have been wounded so badly if he could’ve healed himself as fast as he could now. And... he might’ve been able to hit Elliott with one of his blue lights. So... yeah, I guess so.”
“Do you think if someone actually died he could bring them back, though? I mean, I don’t think so, but what do you think?”
“Dead dead—like dead and gone dead?” He nodded. Jamie had said he was pretty sure he couldn’t. “No, I don’t think he could. But, maybe if he got there fast enough, like before they were completely gone, maybe he could do CPR.” I knew what my boyfriend was going to say next before he even opened his mouth. It was the same thing Jamie had said, but it still made me laugh.
“Mostly dead is slightly alive.”
I laughed, recognizing the same line Miracle Max says in The Princess Bride. “As long as the person is only mostly dead, then, I think Jamie could save them. But I hope we don’t have to find out.”
“Me, too. But I don’t think Daunator can kill Guardians.”
“I don’t think he can either. But my sister alluded to the fact that they determined Daunator can infiltrate Hunters’ minds and make them kill Guardians.” The thought was scary to me. I wondered if he could get inside of my head and make me do something I didn’t want to.
“Do you believe that? Surely, Aaron wouldn’t take anyone with us who could be manipulated.”
“I think he’ll put as many precautions in place as he can, but all plans have flaws. We need to be super careful. All of us.”
“Don’t worry, baby. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He winked at me in the cheesiest way imaginable, and I started laughing again. He pulled me over against his shoulder, and I closed my eyes, glad to be back in his arms. But it wasn’t me I was worried about....
