As it turned out, we didn’t miss the meeting. They’d had to wait for several Warriors to return from investigating the woods regarding the increased Vampire activity. Chad and I hadn’t slacked off long enough. I sat in the chairs facing the panel of leaders in front of us. Currently, the council consisted of my father, Tiffani—who now knew my father intended to pimp me out—and Deacon, who had taken over a spot after Keith died.
He was our newest fearless leader, and from the way he squirmed in the chair, it was clear he wasn’t yet comfortable with the attention. If the whispers around the room were any indication, not everyone was all that comfortable with him having assumed the role. That was okay. This wasn’t a democracy. Not yet, anyway. In Genesis, the strongest ruled, and the title of strongest always fell to my father.
Patrick Lyons wanted Deacon, so Deacon was in. Truth be told, Deacon was perfect for the role. The kids loved him, and they were learning a lot.
My brother had attached himself to my side. I liked the alliance, for now. I was too old to need my big brother to protect me. That didn’t mean I didn’t want his company.
His wife, Rachel, sat on his other side. They linked hands, silent in their togetherness, but a constant unit nonetheless. Repeatedly, Rachel had proven she’d put Chad first. Even to her own detriment.
Of course, I had been her first crush. Long before she’d loved my brother, and even before, in this time, she’d dated the now deceased Werewolf, Jason, she’d had a thing for me. I’d thought she was cute, but she had been Tia’s friend—which made her un-dateable—and then she’d seemed more like a sister than anything else.
The way things worked out was the best possible scenario. I was glad I’d never had the chance to fuck up our relationship. She was, officially, my sister now. It would be weird if we’d ever slept together.
Besides, the way she loved Chad… she’d never had those feelings for me.
Smart girl.
On my other side, Deacon’s wife plopped down. She wasn’t technically a Warrior. But our husbands and wives got to come to meetings if they wanted to. I was surrounded by friends—Glen, Peter, Johnny, my sister Tia, who almost never came to these things. Why hadn’t I stopped to consider I had so many people here? Most of the time, I felt alone.
A little bit to our left was the civilian representative. My father had conceded that a non-Warrior could be present for our discussions to represent the needs of the non-Warrior when it was warranted. I guessed Isaac Icahn counted in that regard. He had destroyed all of our lives.
My father rose, and the room fell silent. Now, there was a display of power. All he had to do to quiet hundreds of people was stand. Anger and disgust warred with the silent hero worship I had always possessed for the man who fathered me. I was 22. At what point would I stop looking at him as a larger than life figure and see him only as the flawed human I knew he was?
Chad leaned closer then whispered. “Do you suppose he’ll be ordering anyone else in this room to take one for the team?”
A grin spread over my face. Chad never used to be like this. Talking out of turn? It would have been unheard of. I might have been rubbing off on him. “Nope. That’s just reserved for his flesh and blood.”
“Sshh,” Glen, my brother-in-law, hissed. “He’ll never call out the two of you. Somehow this will be all my fault.”
He wasn’t wrong. Ever since Glen knocked up and married my sister when she was sixteen—which had to have been Tia’s idea, not his—Glen took the hot end of my father’s temper regularly. I was just the disappointing son. Glen had taken his baby girl and made her a mother before her 18th birthday.
That was, of course, perfectly legal under Genesis rules. The law recognized us as adults at 16. It made sense, considering most of us wouldn’t see 30, much less 40.
“We eliminated Isaac Icahn and his cronies four years ago,” my father finally spoke. Had it been that long? Endless days leading into endless nights, I’d somehow lost track of time. Four years. Wow. I didn’t get to muse much longer. My father kept speaking. “We knew there was a possibility this day would come. The day he could be cloned again. We knew there was a possibility there were more cloning machines out there and, since we understand so little of how they work, it would be possible they’d have the capability to bring the man back.”
Someone called from the back of the room. “Shit, Patrick. Has that happened?”
“They mean to bring him back. My son, Micah”—he indicated me with his hand as though anyone in the room might not know who I was—“overheard their plans in the Vampire lair this afternoon.”
Gregory Smith, one of the older Warriors jumped to his feet. “Why didn’t you kill them, Micah? Right then?”
I usually would make a flippant remark or ignore a question addressed to me like that. Who had time for bullshit? But I was soul weary, and since I’d been asked a direct question, I’d give a direct answer.
“Killing humans isn’t really part of my job description. Monsters, sure. I mean if I went and killed every human who bothered me, at least half this room would be dead.”
My father didn’t care for my answer. “Micah.”
In front, Deacon snorted. “Half the room? Try three quarters. I’d be dead.”
“Deacon.” I guessed my father didn’t like his remark either.
“Here’s the thing. My killing those scientists was complicated by a few factors. The first being I wasn’t going to do it. The second, I doubt very much if killing two would really accomplish anything. We have to find their central lair, and the only way we’re going to do so is quietly and with a purpose.”
Tiffani spoke, her voice calm amidst the wave of temper. “Why quietly?”
“It’s a maze down there. Doors open and then vanish. It was set up to remain undiscovered. I can go down the same hallway three times and see different things each time. I asked Margot about it when she first gave me the preliminary map.” The doctor who had once been forced to work with the scientists below ground was now on our own side. She wasn’t here, which wasn’t surprising. She was mostly kept at arm’s length, given her less than stellar beginning. We weren’t one hundred percent sure if we could trust her. And by we, I meant Dad. He wasn’t sure.
I trusted her.
“And what did Margot say?” Tiffani still had the floor. I didn’t know if it was because the whole room liked Tiffani so much or out of respect for Keith, but when his widow spoke, she was given the floor quietly.
Grateful for the opportunity, I finished my thought. “That’s how it is down there. She didn’t even really know all the ins and outs. She’d basically been dragged around. There is someone down there who will know. And it’s recently been pointed out to me I might be equipped to cut her some kind of deal.” I wasn’t going to sleep with her, no matter what my father suggested. I’d get her to help some other way. “But if we all go traipsing down there ready to storm the proverbial castle, we’re going to be seriously fucked.” I shrugged and sat back down. “Up to you all, of course.”
Chad groaned. “Killing half the room?”
Yeah, I was a real charmer.
I descended the ladder into the Vampire holding once again. The Warriors had decided I should take four to five others with me. Somehow, they deemed a small group as handling things quietly. They were out of their minds. I left ahead of their chosen few. I refused to play along as if they knew what they were talking about. Not down here.
Also, I had the strongest urge to see Brynna again. I had questions in need of answering. She had to stop running. Plus, I couldn’t remember the exact shade of brown her eyes were.
I nearly fell on top of Deacon, Chad, and Glen. I blinked, my mind catching up with the scene in front of me. What were they doing down here?
“What the ever-loving fuck?”
Deacon shrugged. “Well, we figured you’d never take your father’s order and bring five people with you. Instead, you’d take off on your own.”
Damn, I hated to be predictable.
“So we grabbed our shit and came along,” Chad finished for him.
Glen grinned. “It was my idea.”
“Well, he was the one who said it first.” Deacon sighed. “I would have come on my own. I don’t really think of the two of them as rule breakers.”
“You sit on the council now, dipshit.” Chad rolled his eyes. “If any one of us can’t disobey orders, it’s you.”
I digested their words. They’d anticipated what I was going to do, which was weird enough, and left their homes—wives—to come help me. Why? “You know I can do this alone.”
Chad patted me on the back. “Yes.”
Was he humoring me?
A noise sounded, and suddenly, my father dropped down into the room. I practically swallowed my tongue. It was Chad who spoke. “Dad?”
“Well, I can see I wasn’t wrong. I said my family is going to go do this on their own. And here you are.”
I didn’t know what he thought he was going to get out of this. We weren’t teenagers he could order home. He could threaten to take away the rights and privileges we received from the safety of Genesis, I supposed, but doing so would really look bad for him.
“So you came to tell us to come home?” Chad shook his head. “Not happening.”
“Nope.” He patted my brother’s back, and that was when his own backpack became visible.
Wait. Was he…? “Are you proposing to come?”
“Well, a large portion of my family is here. It only makes sense I’d join in. I’d have to be an idiot at this point to not know what you’re doing. I’m going to help.”
This was bullshit. My father hadn’t done a mission like this in at least five years. There was something else going on.
“I’m not family,” Deacon rolled his eyes.
“Oh, now, Deacon, you know we think of you as family.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Until recently, he had detested Deacon. But, okay. Fine. Now maybe we were all family.
My father wasn’t done. “At least as much as Glen here is.”
Chad groaned, and a muscle ticked in Glen’s jaw. I really didn’t know how much longer my brother-in-law was going to put up with this crap.
“Get over it, Dad. You have a grandson from him. And another on the way. You should be kissing his ass for putting up with Tia at all.”
My father totally ignored me. “Where is Rachel?”
“Not coming.” Chad rocked back on his feet. “She’s pregnant. I managed to talk her into staying home.”
Silence fell over the group, and then seconds later, we exploded into noise. The whole time we were on the hill, he’d not said a word. Everyone patted him on the back, and my father hugged Chad like he’d single handedly saved the entire universe. I couldn’t help my grin. Chad was going to be a daddy. The son of a bitch was going to have girls. I knew it.
I pulled him into a hug. “You should go home. You too, Dad. And Glen. And you Deacon. You all have families.”
Glen shook his head. “You’re our family. When are you going to get that? I can’t go home to my wife and tell her I didn’t do everything to help her brother. So let’s get moving. Where do we get to meet this former Vampire?”
That was the thing. So far, she’d only found me. Not the other way around. “I don’t know. She’s made herself known to me twice. Apparently, saved my life three times I didn’t know about. But if we head in the direction where I’ve encountered her, perhaps we’ll have better luck.”
We’d stepped into her zone. This was her world, and if she didn’t want to deal with us, we’d never find her. The trick was going to be to make her think she did. I side-eyed my father. This was going to be hard as hell.
“I don’t suppose you’d go home, Dad.” It wasn’t a question.
He raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you want to spend time with the old man, Micah?”
“I can’t imagine you want to spend time with me.” I shook my head. “Never mind. Not the time or place.” The last thing that was going to make Brynna come out was a bickering Lyons family.
If it were me out there in the dark, watching, I’d give us a wide berth and not get anywhere near this mess.
That was when it dawned on me. The fluorescent lights weren’t flashing. Someone had changed them. I stared up at the solid light for a second, knowing everyone waited on me, watching.
“Micah?” Deacon wanted my attention. “You okay?”
“Who me?” I smirked at him. “I’m always okay.”
Or at least I pretended to be.
We finally located the room where I’d encountered the scientists bent on bringing back Icahn. It was still a mess, but something had changed. A panel on the floor was open. That was different. Someone had been in here since I left.
Squatting, I examined the opening. “This wasn’t visible before.”
“Icahn and his underground stuff.” My father shook his head. “Just when you think you’ve gotten as low as you can, you find another layer.”
Truth. “We don’t know if this is Icahn. Any of the scientists could have made this mess.”
“They’re all scum.” Glen scooted over, sticking his head in the hole. “They’ve got a ton of equipment in here. Score. I’m going down.”
My brother-in-law leaped into the hole without giving it another look. I sighed. Glen got so excited by electronics. We had so little of it, and tech had been his passion in the Before Time. I hoped it wasn’t all booby-trapped and I wouldn’t need to yank him out of there. Or, worse, he died and then I’d have to explain to my loose cannon sister why I didn’t watch Glen better.
We really did all obsess about having to deal with Tia.
Chad and I made eye contact then he called down. “Are you okay?”
“Yep.”
My father shook his head. “Amazing you have all survived this long. You’re supposed to be the elite Warriors. You simply jump into holes?”
“Pretty much.” Chad shrugged. “Holes. Battles. Death traps. We jump. A lot.”
I rolled my eyes. Chad never jumped into anything without thinking about it first. He was pissed at my father, and this was how he was dealing with it. I didn’t like to be the cause of friction in the family, at least not for other people.
I patted Chad on the back. “You do, Big Brother, but you’re super Warrior. I’m probably hanging back, not doing much.”
He furrowed his brow. “Hardly. You…”
I didn’t let him finish. I followed Glen. Deacon, who had been pretty quiet, swore. “Damn it, Micah.”
I looked around. Glen was bent over some old computers. “These are floppy disks. Remember these?”
I shook my head. “Not really.”
“Yeah, they were old even back then. How long was all of this being plotted?”
Too long. “And how did we end up in the middle of it? We were a bunch of kids from New Jersey.”
Glen raised his head to smirk at me. “I was from Rockland County in New York. I’d only lived near you guys in Jersey for a year and a half.”
That was right. He’d met Tia that year in high school. She’d pretty much chased him tirelessly while Chad and I ran point, trying to stop her from going too far. “How did they get you? I mean, they came for us in the middle of the night. Dragged us out of bed. Dad even fired his gun.”
“I… I was there with Tia.”
I gaped at him. “You were in her bedroom? Never mind. Don’t tell me.” They were married. They had a baby. This shouldn’t make me feel like I wanted to beat him to death.
“They found me there and then went and got my parents. It’s all so… surreal to even think about.”
These were not memories I liked to visit. I strode over to the shelves. There were books and photo albums. I pulled one out and flipped through it. They were pictures of Vampires. In all states of development. Vamps looked downright human when they were first changed, and then their features got more and more distorted, more monster-like.
Had Brynna done the same?
Did she look more Vampire or human now?
How did it work?
There was an oomph as Chad jumped down to join us. He looked around. “Oh cool. Are those floppy disks? How retro.”
Of course he remembered them. I rolled my eyes. One of the Vampires in the picture clawed at her own face. What was wrong with her? These poor photographed people. I swallowed. That was right. They were people. Like Brynna was a person.
And yet, we had to kill them because they would kill us.
How did any of this make any sense?
Deacon jumped down, followed by my father. I looked up at the ceiling. “You realize not one of us considered how we were getting up from here. I mean. It’s not like there’s a ladder.”
My dad sighed. “That’s what comes from just jumping.”
“You leaped without looking, too.” Deacon patted him on the back.
Personally, I was done with the 'leaping before we looked' conversation and the underlying things we weren’t saying. The possible metaphor of the whole dang thing was an oversimplification anyway.
“Someone got down here and left again. That’s why it was opened. They got out some other way.” Or they were still down here. I wasn’t lost in my memories, so I doubted it was Brynna. I turned around, searching the possibilities. “Glen, leave that here. We can come back for it another time.”
He grimaced but set aside the box of parts. Regret filled my stomach. He really loved to get ahold of items he could use to create basic technology these days.
“Seriously, we’ll come back.” I hated disappointing people, and damn, why were they listening to me anyway? I was never in charge. When had this happened? Even my father looked at me for direction. “Everyone touch the walls. Look for hidden levers or moveable panels—some way whoever came down here could exit.”
I hoped I was right. If that didn’t happen, I was going to look even dumber than I usually did. Everyone started touching the walls, and ultimately, it was me who found the secret door. The wall gave with a click, illuminating another hallway. I sighed. All this time, there had been a whole other level beneath me, and I’d no idea.
Glen smiled broadly. “How cool.”
He hadn’t been doing this for weeks. “So much for my map.”
“The reality is you were never going to make a map.” My dad pushed past me toward the hall. “You’d have gotten bored with it.”
Chad followed him out. “He hadn’t yet.”
I grabbed Chad’s arm. “Taking my side has always been pointless.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop doing it when you’re right. He’s not the only stubborn member of the family. You’ve never been stubborn, which is why you can’t win with him. I get him completely.”
What the hell? I wasn’t stubborn? I ended up walking behind Glen and next to Deacon down the new hallway. I was pretty darned stubborn. Wasn’t I?
“Not there,” a voice called out into the darkness, stopping us all in our tracks. I knew the low yet feminine sound well by now. It was Brynna. She stepped out in front of my dad, all elegant movement. Memory shoved at me.
I was ten years old and playing baseball. I’d been a big star that season. I could hit, and when I did, the ball left the field. I was Homerun Micah. Except when my father was there. Every time I swung, I missed. I could never turn around to see him. I knew the look on his face…
Utter disappointment.
I swung. I missed. Tears pressed in my eyes, and I shoved them back. Lyons didn’t cry.
Almost everyone around me groaned, Chad doubling over to hold his knees. Yes, it hurt the first time. It really did. Deacon seemed to be okay, too. He shook his head. “Such an odd sensation. I forgot all about tripping down those stairs.”
“I’m sorry.” She looked away. “If I could make it otherwise, I would.”
I pushed past the others to get closer to her. “Why does it happen?”
“You’d have to ask Margot. I simply live with the knowledge that it does.” She pointed behind her. “In a minute, you’ll all get your Warrior Vampire signal. A room full. Hungry and needing their drugs. Makes them more violent. You don’t want to go there.”
My father was at my side. “You must be Brynna.”
“I must be.” She didn’t smile at him, and her always hard to read face showed annoyance for a second. “You must be Patrick Lyons. Leader of Genesis. Father of five.”
His mouth fell open. “You know me?”
“I know lots of things.” Her gaze moved past me to Chad behind me. “Good to see you again, Chad. Deacon. Glen, this is a first time.”
Chad rocked back on his heels. “When did we see each other before?”
“When you were a Vampire. Before you died. And yet you are here. Cloned. Welcome back?”
He shook his head. “I don’t have any memories of what you’re talking about. I don’t remember dying. I don’t remember being cloned. I feel as though… I’ve always been.”
She didn’t have a response, so maybe there wasn’t one to make.
Deacon looked between them. “And she knew me, too, when I was Vampire bait.”
A sudden memory hit me, but this time it wasn’t my own. A little boy, light brown hair, ran down a hallway screaming at the top of his lungs. Vampires watched. He skidded past them, searching for his parents and what was left in his wake was overwhelming sadness.
The emotion almost brought me to my knees. I gasped and everyone looked at me. The little boy was… Deacon.
I jolted, looking around. Had no one else seen the horror but me? I’d experienced Deacon’s terror alone. My pulse was in my ears, and my gaze fell on Brynna. Her eyes were huge.
“Did you see that, Micah?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “How is that happening? Why is that happening? You shouldn’t be in my head.”
My father had clearly had enough. “Brynna, we need to speak to you.”
She sucked in a breath, her expression steeling, unreadable. “I can’t imagine what we’d say to one another.”
I knew in my gut she was about to run. “Don’t go.” I clasped her arm. Her skin was soft, like silk, and for a second, we both stared at where I held her. I hoped I wasn’t bruising her. I swallowed. “Please.”
She was quiet. “Okay, Micah. I won’t.”
That was good. The question remained, however, about what the hell I would say next.