“You have a hot date?” Declan asked when Nathan rechecked his phone on their way from one club to another.
“No,” Nathan replied and returned his phone to his pocket.
He could feel Asher’s eyes burning into him from the back seat, but Nathan steadfastly ignored his friend as he stared out the windshield. Declan glanced at him from where he sat in the driver’s seat, his brow furrowed.
“Going to the clubs is getting us nowhere,” he said to distract Declan and Asher from their inspection of him.
Vicky is underground; he reminded himself. There is no cell service in the sewers.
“Any better ideas, loverboy?” Lucien drawled.
“Yeah, you can go fuck yourself,” Nathan retorted.
Lucien smirked, making it clear he’d known what Nathan was attempting to do with the others and wasn’t having it.
“Any ideas?” Asher asked.
Nathan didn’t have any. From the report he’d received this morning from those who had hunted last night, some of his men had gone with Killean and Saxon to speak with the homeless again, while Ronan and some vampire trainees hit a few vamp bars with no new word.
“How could a vampire, who was a thorn in all our sides, just disappear?” Nathan muttered.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out. On the screen, he saw Vicky’s name and the message: All is good. No luck so far. Bad reception. Stay safe. Talk when I’m above ground.
He didn’t acknowledge Declan’s questioning glance when he typed a response and returned his phone to his pocket.
“The police reports were checked four days ago,” he murmured. Some of the vamps went to the police stations at night, and using their mind control abilities, they were able to learn more from the police reports than the newspapers revealed.
“No big spikes in missing people or murders anywhere in the surrounding area,” Lucien said.
“Maybe we should start expanding the search into Pennsylvania,” Asher suggested.
For now, their search consisted of New England and New York, but it was time to branch out.
“I’m prepared to search the entire continent if it gets us a lead,” Lucien said.
Declan pulled into the lot across the street from the next club and parked the car. Opening the door, Nathan stepped into the brisk April night and inhaled the crisp air. His nose twitched when he detected the faint hint of garbage.
“Do you smell that?” Asher asked when he stepped out of the car to stand beside him.
“Yes,” Nathan replied.
“Dumpster?” Asher asked.
“No, it’s too strong for a dumpster,” Declan said and closed his door. “And it’s coming from behind those buildings.”
They all turned to look at the line of restaurants, stores, and other assorted businesses beyond the parking lot. They were all closed for the night. Nathan sniffed the air again and listened for something out of the ordinary, but all he heard was the muffled thump of music from the club across the street.
“Let’s go,” Lucien said.
Vicky rubbed her hands together to ease the chill from them and leaned against the wall while Duncan conversed with the man they discovered meandering the tunnels. The man wasn’t a member of any group down here; he’d drifted inside while searching for a warm, safe place to spend the night.
Duncan didn’t tell him where to go, or about any of the other groups. If the man discovered one, it would be up to them if they welcomed or turned him away. When they finished speaking, Vicky fell into step beside Duncan again.
She was beginning to feel like the hamster running pointlessly on its wheel with no end in sight.
“How many groups are down here?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Duncan said. “I know of twenty, but there are probably more. They’re all spread out, and I haven’t explored all the tunnels.”
They’d met four of the twenty between last night and tonight and were heading toward the fifth. Her thoughts turned to Nathan. Was he okay? She knew he was trained to destroy Savages, but what if something went wrong tonight? He was strong, but he was mortal.
The knowledge made her fangs prick as the insidious urge to change him slid through her. I’m in deep shit.
“Want to call it quits for the night?” Duncan asked.
“No, we’ll go to the next group and see what they know first. If we learn nothing, we’ll call it quits and start again tomorrow night.”
They found eight Savages standing in a small parking lot behind the grouping of shops. Standing next to a pizza place, the four of them remained hidden in the shadows of the brick building while they surveyed their enemies. The Savage’s heads were bent close together as they talked.
“Keep at least one alive for questioning,” Lucien whispered.
“Let’s go,” Nathan said.
Reaching into his inner pocket, Nathan pulled out a stake before sliding away from the building. He loped through the shadows on the outskirts of the lot until he was behind the Savages, but still fifty feet away and hidden from his enemies. As much as some hostility remained between the hunters and the Defenders, they’d hunted together often enough to know the moves the others would make without having to formulate a plan.
Nathan felt primed for a kill as adrenaline coursed through his body. He always enjoyed a good battle, but tonight he felt more keyed up than usual with his concern for Vicky, his frustration over not being able to decide his future, and his inability to locate Joseph. He needed a release for it all, and these bastards would be it.
The four of them spread out to circle the Savages before edging closer to them. Racing forward, Nathan struck first as he came up behind a Savage and drove his stake through its heart before the vamp realized he was there. The Savage released a gurgled cry, and its body bowed out as it tried uselessly to pull away from the weapon.
The vamp standing closest to its falling comrade lunged at Nathan, but Declan loomed up behind the Savage and snapped its neck. Across the way, Lucien staked another one while Asher fired a bolt into the heart of a fourth.
Two of them turned to run, but Nathan blocked their escape. One of the monsters lowered its shoulder and barreled at him. The vamp came ever closer, closing the distance until they were only feet apart, then inches.
Nathan waited until the last second before moving to the side, clasping his hands together, and smashing them onto the back of the Savage. The creature’s spine broke with an audible crack before it face-planted onto the asphalt.
The Savage tried to claw its way forward, but Nathan stepped on its back to keep it restrained for later. When the Savage shrieked, Nathan drew back his fist and delivered a knockout blow to the creature’s temple. The vamp collapsed.
Turning, he watched as Asher and Lucien dispatched two more. Declan sat on the back of another vamp, his legs crossed, and his foot kicking in the air as he punched numbers into his phone.
“We need a pick up for two of them,” Declan said to someone through the phone while Lucien started binding the wrists and ankles of the one Declan sat on.
Asher came over to help Nathan with his captive as Declan hung up. “Killean’s on his way to get them,” Declan said.
When he finished binding the vamp, Lucien stalked back and forth behind the buildings, studying their exterior. “There’s no cameras.”
“That’s probably why they gathered here,” Asher said.
Nathan turned his attention to the Savage beneath him. Usually, once a battle was over, his body settled into a regular rhythm again, but now he felt primed to hunt and kill more than before this started. The bloodthirstiness thrumming continuously through his veins was a sensation he wasn’t used to. He wanted more death; he craved….
Vicky, he realized with a start.
He wanted to see her, to taste and smell her, to sink himself inside her, and experience the powerful release she brought him as well as the strange sense of calm she gave him.
His fingers dug into his palms as he sought to keep himself restrained. He felt wild in a way he never had before and not only was Vicky the cause, but she was also the cure.
It took him a few minutes to regain control, and by the time Killean pulled behind the buildings with a van and they loaded their prisoners into the back of the vehicle, he felt more stable.
Both the Savages had regained consciousness and were glaring at them from blood red eyes.
“I’m going to ride with Killean,” Declan said and climbed into the van.
Lucien closed the doors behind him and slapped his hand against them. Red taillights illuminated the night as Killean shifted into drive and pulled away.
“I’ll take you back to your car,” Lucien said to Nathan. “You can follow me over to the prison for the questioning.”