Chapter 112

The plan was fairly simple. All Jo had done was make assignments for who would be in the front line and who would come in behind. She’d also made the decision to leave a few less experienced members of the team waiting in the background, not even wanting them to come in unless it was absolutely necessary. Martin, the Healer, would stay with them in reserve, mostly because they didn’t have enough of the scandium protective suits to protect all of the Guardians.
Jo had tried, unsuccessfully, to talk her dad into wearing one. His argument was that he’d made it this long, and he’d been fine, but she didn’t think he quite grasped what the Vampires could do with the scandium bullets.
Or maybe he did. He was a hell of a lot smarter than her, anyway.
The drive to the cave where Holland was allegedly hiding was mostly silent. Part of that was probably because Jo was not riding in the same vehicle as Elliott. Brandon was driving, and he was much quieter than his father. The silence gave her the opportunity to go over her plan again. It seemed pretty solid. But… lots of things could go wrong. She had to assume that they had a lot of Vampires in that cave since Holland was present, and they probably knew by now that they were being watched.
Zane was sitting next to her. She remembered he hadn’t been very happy with her the last time they’d ridden together, probably because of Ryker. Jo let him get the best of her. She really shouldn’t let him get to her, but in that way, he reminded her of Cadon, always clawing right beneath the surface of her skin.
Wearing the scandium skin, as Emma had taken to calling it, under his uniform, Zane looked a little more stealthy than usual. He had a face shield that he would put on, too, once they arrived. Emma had done plenty of testing to make sure that the materials were what they needed to be to fight the new bullets.
Aaron had been able to find some more weapons, mostly titanium bullets and a few grenades. He’d also gotten his hands on a huge gun they could use to blast through the door--if they didn’t want Cassidy to do that. She could also blast through the door, they were pretty sure. Jo would follow her dad’s lead on that one. If Aaron wanted to blow the door in with the bazooka or whatever it was, so be it.
Ryker was the only one who’d stayed behind at Adrian’s. He’d wanted to come, but she refused to take him. She didn’t want him almost dying… or actually dying… again. A few other former LIGHTS team members that had helped Aaron with the weapons had also wanted to come. He’d told them to wait and see how this went down, that they’d be needed shortly. It was time for the Revelation to rewind.
It wouldn’t do to drive right up to the site where they’d be going after Holland, so they had pulled all but two of Adrian’s men back to meet with the main group a few miles from the mine, off in the mountains, far from the line of sight from the mine--they hoped.
When Jo got out of the vehicle, the wind whipped her braid up into the air, almost hitting Zane in the face as he stood behind her. It was unbelievably windy. The snow wasn’t just falling from the sky; the thick blanket of white on the ground was churned up into the air, sending it flying at them in every direction. If they had been human, it would’ve been so bitterly cold, they wouldn’t be able to stand outside for too long.
Thankfully, none of them were human, so the cold didn’t really bother them. Jo did feel a slight chill, which was more than normal for being outside because it was just that cold. She was also a little worried about their weapons. Would they freeze up and have trouble working properly?
It was hard to hear Adrian and Lucas when they started talking to Jo and Aaron standing outside of the SUVs. She had to stand pretty close to the Souled Vampires to catch what they were saying. She figured her dad would probably catch more of it than she did. Not only was he better at figuring out accents, he was just a better listener than she was.
“She’s still in there,” Adrian said. “At least, she hasn’t come out the front. No one has except for a couple of male Vampires a few days ago. They ended up going back in after a few hours.”
“Where did they go?” Lucas asked.
“We tailed them to the closest town, a small village to the east of here, but we didn’t see them do anything of note. We thought maybe they were scouting out reserva de sange, but they didn’t come back with any humans.”
“Did they see you?” Aaron asked.
Adrian shook his head. “I don’t think so. Nothing changed after that. We have another team on the other side of the mountain, still keeping track of any exit that might appear.”
“So far, you don’t think there’s another way out, though?” Aaron confirmed.
“No. We’ve done a very thorough scan of the area and haven’t detected anything that looks like it could be another opening. Of course, if she has a tunnel beneath the ground that is several miles long, or if she uses a portal, she could have slipped past us, but that’s the only way.”
Aaron nodded, which let Jo know that he had gotten enough information that he was ready to move into position. “You’re set on our plan?” he asked Adrian.
The Souled Vampire’s head bobbed up and down. “Yes. Lucas let us know. We are ready when you are.”
The plan was for the Souled Vampires to follow LIGHTS in. They’d be able to take out any Assassin Hunters, if there were any, and Jo thought there would be.
“Well, I guess we should get into position,” Jo said, knowing they would be traveling over to the launch position on foot from their rendezvous point.
There were handshakes and well wishes all around, and then, the equipment they needed was unloaded from the backs of the SUVs, and the team started the trek to the mine in the mountain several miles away.
Taking a deep breath, Jo led her team, alongside her dad, Lucas, and Adrian. Adrian knew the route best, though Jo and the others had studied the map. Her stomach was twisted in knots. It wasn’t a sensation she was used to going into a hunt. Normally, she was excited, ready to get in the fray, ready to kill some Vampires.
This was different. Going after Holland again meant so much. Either they’d get her this time and possibly get some answers. Or they’d kill her and get none. Or she’d get away.
Any of those things could happen--and the last two would be really bad.
Part of her was afraid to get the attack over with and know the result.
Aside from that, she had a bad feeling in general. Jo usually wasn’t one to pay attention to premonitions. The day her mom had died, she hadn’t had a fucking clue that something bad was about to happen, so there was no reason for her to think that premonitions were really even a thing. But she didn’t have the best feeling going into this
“Are you all right, Jo?” Aaron asked her through the IAC. “You look a little… pale.”
“It’s freezing, and snow is hitting me in the face, Dad. That might be why.” She hated how he could read other people’s emotions. Having an emotional empath for a dad made it really hard to get away with anything. Growing up, even the smallest hint of guilt clued him in that she’d done something wrong.
“I don’t think this has anything to do with the weather,” he replied.
“I’m just… concerned. I really wish you’d stay in the back once we get in there. You don’t have the protection the others have, and I really don’t think Cadon and I need to lose you, too.” She hoped she wasn’t being too direct, but she didn’t know how else to spell it out at this point.
“Duly noted,” Aaron said. “I’ll stay back as long as I can, so long as you don’t get your ass in trouble.”
“Good.” Hearing that made her feel slightly better, but not completely. This just needed to be over with so she could determine the outcome, and then, she could move on with her life.
So long as the bad feeling she was having didn’t have anything to do with her own death.
But then… it wouldn’t be the worst outcome she could imagine.
It didn’t take long at all for them to cross the ground between their rendezvous point and the mine. Jo saw it ahead of them, saw the opening in the mountain, even though it was small. She’d seen enough surveillance pictures of it that she could’ve picked it out from miles away if the ground leading up to it was flat and didn’t have so many trees on it.
They stopped short of marching right up and launching the attack. It was more of a final check in. Wordless, as the leaders took a look around to make sure that everyone was ready, everyone was clear on what they were supposed to do.
Seeing determined looks on everyone’s faces, Jo looked at Lucas, and he nodded at her. Taking a deep breath, Jo used her IAC to tell her team, “All right. Let’s go!”
They took off at full speed toward the door in the mountainside, the front line ducking aside before they reached it so that Brandon could use the bazooka to knock the door out of the way. Jo ducked to the side and covered her face just as a huge explosion not only knocked the door out, but it blew the mountainside apart at least five feet on either side of the door and above it. Rocks and debris rained down on her, but once the smoke began to clear, she was up and heading into the mine, expecting to see a barrage of Vampires running right at them, ready to take them all out.
As they ran inside of the mine, it was deathly quiet.
Not a Vampire to be seen.