“I WANT TO GET A MESSAGE OUT,” HUNTER SAYS, clunking an empty glass on the nightstand next to where he’s been examining the tablet in his hands for the past hour and a half. “It’s all currently wired to an intranet, but it’s capable of doing more if we hacked it . . . ”
“Do you know how?” Logan asks from where he lies on his back on the floor, a pillow propping up his head and his foot resting on a chair.
“Not even a clue.”
“Great,” Logan rolls his eyes.
“Guess I’ll stick to floor-plan duty,” Hunter sighs, the tablet crashing onto the nightstand next to the bed he’s claimed as he drops it next to the glass. The other two wince. He turns his attention to Kiley. “Have you talked to the girl vampire yet?”
“Lydia? The one who we’ve been eavesdropping on for the past several minutes? The one whose name has been said no fewer than thirty times tonight?” she challenges, pacing and chewing on her thumbnail as she scowls.
“Yeah, her.”
“We’re all stuck in this room together—have you seen me talk to her? I did convince Victor to give her access to us, though.”
“When?”
“Whenever she wants it.”
“No, I mean when did you talk to him?”
“While you were staring at that tablet trying to go all Neo on it.” She stoops to talk to Logan in an exaggerated whisper. “Is he really the one we want mentally mapping the facility? I chatted with Victor for no fewer than ten minutes.”
“About pie. I remember,” Logan teases with a smile. “What was that about?”
She shrugs. “You don’t watch many political dramas, do you? People love to talk about themselves. Besides, I got us the promise of pie, didn’t I?” She matches Logan’s smile, finding it hard not to.
Hunter mutters something under his breath and joins Kiley in pacing, back and forth and back, when a scream from the hallway stops him. He glances to Logan and Kiley, and then to the door.
“Was that—?”
“Definitely a girl,” Logan finishes Hunter’s sentence, sitting upright and sliding his injured leg off the chair.
“Lydia?” Kiley jumps up from her crouched position to listen again at the door, but she hears no voices.
She and Logan had been successful enough at listening through the door moments earlier to glean that Lydia’s pack had returned from some task Victor asked of them, likely to do with the missing guest, but then Lydia spoke too low and muffled for them to hear much more so Logan gave up to stare at Hunter staring at the tablet, grumbling about needing to elevate his leg.
“Lydia! Lydia what’s wrong?!” Kiley yells at the door, pounding to get the girl’s attention.
The door slides open just as Kiley’s fist would make contact, knocking her off balance. Her fist glances off Lydia’s shoulder.
“You’re going to wake the entire facility,” she admonishes, stepping inside. The doors slide shut behind her.
“You’re vampires. It’s nighttime,” Hunter quips.
“Alright, you got me there,” Lydia says, irritated. “But our staff is human. And tired. Now what is going on?”
“We heard you scream,” Logan explains.
“And?” Lydia barks.
Logan and Hunter step back two paces before turning and heading to their shared kitchenette. Kiley catches the slight nod Logan gives her before focusing again on Lydia.
“Something wrong? You seem . . . tense.”
“Yeah. Look, now’s not a good time to braid each other’s hair and play Ya-Ya Sisterhood . . . ”
Kiley’s voice drops to a whisper. “The guys didn’t hear your conversation with Victor, but I did. Most of it.”
“So?” Lydia shrugs. From the kitchen the girls hear cabinets banging shut and the guys laughing about something.
“Come on. Your eyes are puffy and red,” she changes her approach when she sees Lydia’s hands ball into fists at her sides, avoiding mentioning Johnny altogether. “All I’m saying is that you helped make my transition here a little smoother. Let me return the favor. Let me listen. Who else do you have to talk to?”
“I don’t need to talk. I need to kill her!”
Something hits the kitchen floor with a wet thud, the sound followed by the guys laughing again.
“I know! I know,” Kiley consoles. “But for now you’re on security detail. Cabin fever is real. I’ve almost plucked out Hunter’s eyes a dozen times tonight and—” she raises her voice for his benefit. “I swear if he slams another anything I’m going to.” She lowers it again. “Look, I doubt it’s going away just because you’re grieving. Do you really want to lash out at your sadistic British friend right now? Or Victor?”
Lydia eyes her suspiciously, so Kiley rushes to continue. “What else am I doing? The guys get field trips and I get to sit here watching reruns of The Real Housewives of No One Really Cares—maybe you can tell me more about being a vampire. For my research. You did promise me interviews.”
“Fine. Tomorrow night,” Lydia manages through a clenched jaw after a long pause. “We’ll talk and I’ll let you know who’ll spill their guts for your family newsletter or whatever.”
Hunter emerges from the kitchenette crunching on something. Logan follows.
“You—” Lydia points at Logan. “You and the new girl are starting yard duty with Liam and Mina once she’s up. Victor said you mentioned getting outside, wanted to see if you were up to it yet.”
Logan nods, leaning against the doorframe leading into the kitchen.
“Who’re Liam and Mina?”
“Vampires,” Lydia answers flatly.
“Hey. You giving me the tour tonight or what?” Hunter asks between bites.
“Do I look like a freakin’ concierge? Victor’ll take you when he has time to babysit,” Lydia snarls. “By the way, he was out in the yard when that little fight earlier broke out, but he saw the camera footage of it. He says the next time that happens he’ll come here himself to break it up.”
With that, she spins and storms from the suite. The door slides shut and Logan counts to ten under his breath before speaking.
“Think she bought it?”
Kiley nods. “I’d feel worse about it if we weren’t hostages.”
“Bought what?” Hunter challenges. “Your grand plan is to befriend one of the vampires who helped bring us here and hope she, what, has a change of heart and lets us out? Tells us about some service entrance not covered in my tour?”
“You need to chill,” Kiley warns.
“It’s not a great plan, but it’s still a plan,” Logan interjects. “The more angles we work this from the better our chances of getting out of here. Since we still have no idea why we’re here, getting Lydia to talk might be our only way to get more information. I mean, who else do we have? Victor isn’t going to talk and the doctor is straight-up crazy.”
“The crazy one might have some insight,” Kiley offers. “Keep talking to him. And it sounds like maybe that Charlie girl will be awake soon.”
Logan gives a nod of agreement. “Can’t hurt to bolster our numbers, right?”
Kiley turns her attention again to her verbal sparring match with Hunter. “This plan costs us literally nothing to try. Zero risk, and we might piece together enough details to learn why we’re here or how we can get out.”
“No risk, no reward,” Hunter counters, letting a second empty glass clank on his nightstand. Kiley glares.
“You take all the risk you want,” Kiley says, flopping onto her bed. “See how long until one of them sinks their fangs into your neck.”