Vampiric: Chapter Three, Part 4

Suddenly, I caught a hint of conversation.

“So what are we doing?” a hushed male voice questioned.

“Taking out some dangerous people or something like that,” a feminine voice answered brusquely. “Something about a threat to national security.”

“Over a broadcast?”

“Quiet in the back!” a cruel voice shouted, shushing the two people immediately.

Dashing back to the party, I sifted through the noise for Caroline's voice. She was talking with Conan and Ian in a side office. Their conversation stopped when I appeared in the doorway.

“Everyone needs to get out now,” I asserted, fully realizing how overly dramatic the statement sounded. Caroline just stared at me and I could have sworn Conan was throwing darts in my direction. “A whole bunch of government troops are on the way here right now.”

“How much time?” Caroline asked. She knew better than I realized how important it was to act, whether the information was valid or not. I was grateful, not because she didn't need verification, but because I didn't have the time to prove any of it. Unless they wanted to wait around.

“Minutes if we're lucky.”

“Not enough time to evacuate,” Conan said very matter-of-factly. I couldn't help wondering why he would be so negative. He was her secretary and in as much danger as the rest of us, if not more.

Ian shook his head at Conan, sharing a look with Caroline. “Get the passage open,” she said after Ian had already started on his way out of the room. She cursed under her breath a few times before leaving as well. Conan followed me out to see the table by the door had been moved aside and now revealed a black space with stairs leading downward.

“We built it in when we first decided on this place,” Caroline said, though I wasn't sure if it was for my benefit or Conan’s. Turning to the party guests—who had stopped to stare curiously at the gaping passageway—she barked, “If you want to live, you'll get your carcasses down those stairs now!”

I stepped back into the small office as people stampeded past, unquestioning but panicked. Conan stepped beside me and whispered in my ear, “If you'll be mine, I can protect you.”

Stepping back, I stared at him. He was serious. I’d had my suspicions but I couldn't believe he would make such a remark at a time like this. “I have someone,” I said bluntly, suddenly wondering where Drei was. “You should join the others.”

“You'll regret that,” he warned, turning away suddenly and forcing his way past everyone else and down the staircase.

“Someone needs to stay behind,” Caroline said as Ian and Drei made their way to where we were standing.

Before anyone else could say anything, I volunteered. Drei, Ian, and Caroline stared open-mouthed at me.

“No,” Drei said, shaking his head emphatically. “I will stay behind.”

“Be logical, Abs,” Caroline said. “We need you.”

Ian recovered just as I was about to turn away their objections. “She knows what she's doing, C. Let her do her part.” He looked at me, saying, “All you have to do is push the table back over and it'll close tight.”

“What if—”

“It’s almost impossible to open if you don’t know how,” he said hurriedly, trying to be kind but niceties weren’t really available with the current time constraint.

“She's saved our asses twice now,” she argued, looking as though she would set Ian on fire for agreeing with me.

“Do not be ridiculous,” Drei chided, reaching to pull me toward the last few people cramming into the opening.

“You can't change my mind. I need to do this.”

“Come on, C,” Ian said, dragging her away. She didn't stop staring at me until he started pulling her down the staircase.

“It's Conan,” I confided, knowing I didn't have much time before I had to force Drei to follow everyone else. “Either he tipped them off or they followed him.”

“You cannot be serious; I am not letting you stay.”

“I've made up my mind,” I said simply, forcefully. “Besides, who knows what they'd do to you.” He pulled me into his arms, squeezing me until I felt like I would suffocate, but I didn't complain. I was sure he thought this would change my mind, but it only reinforced my resolve. “Promise to find me.”

“That will not be necessary.”

I kissed him, praying it wouldn't be the last time I was able to. Then I pulled together a wall of air—hearing heavy footsteps outside—and shoved him into the passageway. “Find me,” I repeated, closing the entrance before he could escape and argue the point further.

I felt empty as I turned to face the desolate, disarrayed room. The footsteps were on the stairs now, so I didn't have long to wait. I walked to the middle of the space, not sure of how I was feeling; I knew I had to be the one to stay, I just wasn't sure why.

Being taken didn't scare me knowing Drei would come—I had no doubt he would. What scared me was the feeling I'd been having since we first met Caroline. It had dissipated slightly now that this second scrape had come to light, but it was still there. I didn't know what else it could be warning me about, though. And that was the worst part.

The door flew open and a few dozen people poured though, dressed in combat black, pointing blinding lights attached to weapons of which I caught only glimpses. A burly guy in a black suit stepped through the doorway last and stood behind the troops.

“Where did everyone go?” he questioned in a deep, booming voice.

I stared at his shadowy face, trying to determine what he wanted to hear. But the only thing filling my mind was Drei and my hope I would see him again. When I didn't say anything, he turned away, ordering, “Take her.”

It hadn't occurred to me what might have happened when he gave that command. I had just assumed there would be someone reading the Miranda Rights as someone else slapped on a pair of handcuffs and stuffed me into a car downstairs.

They weren't the police, though.

I felt something hard crash into my head. All I knew afterwards was a spiraling darkness.