Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) (35 page)

I was closest to the
door when he walked in and I was just about to jump on him when a
little bit of air push at me. Chloe shook her head slightly. Not
happy to miss the opportunity for escape but fully trusting that
Chloe would not purposely steer me wrong, I stayed where I was. Zola,
on the other hand, had not only felt my energy earlier, but had just
felt Chloe’s and was on her feet walking toward Raphael.

“
Lord
Oleander was right to leave me in here,” Zola was saying.
“These two know far more than they are letting on. And they
have their powers already. Why can’t you feel them? Aren’t
you supposed to be Grigor’s idiot savant or something?”

“
I
am his Savant but I am not an idiot. Besides, Lord Oleander himself
looked into their minds and found no latent powers. They are
powerless vessels.”

“
No,
you idiot. They must have had training to keep you out of their
minds. I tell you, both of them have done that thing with the air
since I have been in here. And, it is a good thing that I was here to
witness it…now I can tell Lord Oleander what I discovered.
Take me to him!”

Raphael laughed.

“
You
don’t understand. Since they are both void of latent powers,
and you have yet to produce a proper vessel, you are obsolete. We
will drain the two of them and dispose of you. We may have found two
other descendants; she is not The Prophesied One.”

And with that, Raphael
pushed Zola away from door and left. The door locked with a loud
click. Zola stared at the door.

It took a few moments
for her to realize that she truly had been betrayed.. Reality hit her
and the flood gates loosed a horrible monster. She flung herself at
the door and began banging and clawing on the unforgiving metal. Her
screams were that of horror movies but twice as convincing. With
every hit and scrape of the door, Zola’s hands became more
scraped and bloody.

While she was
preoccupied with the door and giving Grigor and Raphael the small
piece of her mind that was left, I walked over to the hollow spot in
the floor and tapped it to see how big of an opening we would be
dealing with. I hoped there was room for a human body to move
through. Zola was still screaming when I knelt to feel for a latch
that would allow me access to the floor. The floor was flush and I
couldn’t see any way for us to get it to move except to use our
powers. Even though there were cameras, I had to believe that Raphael
had lost interest. Nevertheless, we would have to move quickly if we
were going to succeed.

As long as Zola was
making a scene, the cameras would be on her. I blew out a quick
breath and saw the floorboards lift slightly then inhaled so they
would drop back into place. Chloe was on the other side of the room
when I caught her eye. I held up three fingers so that only she could
see them, positioned myself so my body was blocking the floorboard
from the camera’s view and exhaled again. The entire piece of
floor lifted to waist level revealing a set of stairs. It would take
more luck than we had to find the others and escape before Grigor
sent his goons after us. But then I remembered what Zola had said; I
could find the descendants.

“
Chlo,”
I whispered, “how do I find them?”

I didn’t want to
say anymore and alert Zola to our plans. She would jump at the chance
to use our escape as leverage with Grigor. Apparently realizing what
I wanted to know, Chloe placed her pointer finger on the center of
her forehead and wrinkled her nose as if in deep concentration. She
did it so quickly that I was not sure I understood. Turning around I
placed the palm of my hand to my forehead and pushed, trying to
concentrate on that part of my brain. I didn't think I was up to it
until I saw an image of Jordan appear before my eyes. A scream caught
in my throat and I lowered my hand before I drew any attention to
myself. What I had seen had scared the mess out of me and now I
fought to stop shaking.

Jordan and Zander were
in small cages in a very large room. Each cage had spiked-iron bars
intersecting in the middle. At the moment, none of the spikes were
touching them but I saw fear and pity in their eyes. I understood why
they looked that way when I saw Violeta on the outside of the cages.
She had a collar around her neck and was being forced to the floor by
some unseen force. Every time she was asked to operate the device
that would spear one of my brothers with an iron spike, she shook her
head and received her punishment. I couldn’t see who was
speaking to her or where they were standing but I assumed it was
Grigor.

Anger rolled through
me. In fact, I was so angry that I stopped shaking and walked over to
Zola. Before Chloe could stop me, I had grabbed her by the back of
the head and slammed her head against the door. I felt her head rear
back as she tried to stop the second impact, but I over-powered her
and she dropped to the ground. There was a satisfying splatter of
blood on the door. It felt good to shut her up.

In one motion, I turned
and blew all of the air out of my lungs and grabbed Chloe’s
hand. We ran for the airborne piece of floorboard and slid into the
opening like baseball players, inhaling to lower the floor back into
place. It would only be a matter of minutes before they noticed we
were gone so we had to make good time.

Running at top speed
when you know where you are going is one thing. Doing it in the dark
when you have no idea where you are going is a different story. I
thought Grigor was crazy with this prophesy crap, but I did feel my
brothers' presence and followed its theoretical scent. Chloe was
right on my heels and we rounded corner after corner in a labyrinth
like maze. The tunnel we were in emptied into a small room with three
doors.

We stopped to catch our
breath but I couldn’t figure out which way we should continue.
Behind one door was the sound of rushing water. Chloe stood in front
of another and put her fingers to her lips. We listened to the sound
of footsteps growing louder. There was more than one person headed in
our direction through that tunnel and we had to think quick.

I grabbed Chloe’s
hand and we ducked into the center tunnel, pressing our backs against
the wall. A dozen of Grigor’s men come into the room and ran in
the direction we had just come from. As soon as the last man was out
of sight I started to move back into the room when someone grabbed
me around the waist and put their hand over my mouth.

I threw an elbow and my
head back at the same time to try to optimize the damage to my
attacker but he or she was too short and too quick for me to make
contact.

“
Will
you stop?” a familiar voice said, throwing me into a déjà
vu moment.

“
Really?
Tabitha, what the heck?” I whispered. I pretended to be annoyed
that she had caught me unaware yet again, but I was so happy inside
that I could have cried.

“
Where
is your mother?”

“
Chey
beat her up and we left her behind,” Chloe volunteered.

“
Sorry,
Chey. I know that you hoped for a happy reunion. Let's find the
others. Any idea where they were taken?”

“
Yeah,”
I said cautiously. “I think I can find them.”

“
What
do you mean, you think?”

Tabitha eyed me like I
was playing a joke on her. Even though it was my brothers we were
talking about I had to remind myself that Tabitha and Jordan were
engaged to be married. I had to be right about this.

“
I
think I can find them if I concentrate.”

“
Chloe,
have you been telling her stories again?” Tabitha sounded mad.
She turned away and started pacing back and forth in front of us like
an angry school marm.

“
Look,
we have no time for fairytales. Either you know where they are or
not. But don’t give me this crap about being able to 'sense
their presence'.”

I looked at Chloe and
it broke my heart to see her looking at the ground with tears
streaming down her face. I had only had a little sister for a few
months but it will be a cold day in a hot place before I let someone
make her cry.

“
No,
you look. You asked me to believe in Vampires and Stewards and Fare.
You asked me not to judge you when you drank from the veins of a
human donor like it's Starbucks coffee! You have known Chloe all of
her life. Does she seem like the kind of person to make something
up?”

I was so angry that I
was all but yelling at her. I stood right in front of her and crossed
my arms to keep from striking out.

“
And
besides, she’s right. I CAN sense them and we were headed to
rescue them when you showed up.”

Tabitha looked between
Chloe and I for several minutes before she spoke. I could tell she
wanted to discount what we were saying but she couldn’t argue
with the facts: Chloe never lied. She took a deep breath and went
against every ounce of her being as she signaled for me to lead the
way. The only problem was that I had lost the sense of them. I just
couldn’t seem to concentrate. The day had taken in toll on me
and my body and mind were exhausted. I closed my eyes but couldn’t
see them. All that I could see was red. No, not red, blood. I could
see blood and feel it running down my throat like sweet nectar. I
opened my eyes and saw Tabitha looking at me strangely. She tilted
her head to the side and sniffed at the air before she turned and
walked out of the tunnel.

“
Out!”
she said.

I wondered who she was
talking to until four figures came walking out of the same tunnel
Grigor’s men had been in. I blinked my eyes to be sure I was
not seeing things, but my vision proved true. Standing in the small
room dressed in all black military suits were my and Chloe’s
Fare. They were the reason I was seeing and tasting blood.

“
What
the heck are you doing here? You followed us?” Tabitha was on
fire and I didn’t blame her. It was far too dangerous for us to
be here let alone four Fare.

“
No,
we followed Chloe. We couldn’t let her come by herself.”
Landon spoke with such conviction that Tabitha stopped in her tracks.
It was true that the connection between a Vampire and their fare was
strong, but Chloe had yet to be Embraced. This could either go very
well or blow up in our faces.

Landon and Nicole
walked over and stood behind Chloe while Ethan and Rillae stood
behind me. Tabitha would have laughed if the situation had not been
so dire.

“
You
look like the Bad News Bears,” she said, shaking her head. “Now
can we get on with this?”

I
nodded, making a mental note to ask her who these bears were. I
closed my eyes and thought about Jordan. I was closer to him than I
was to Zander and thought I would have more luck if I singled him
out. As soon as I did, I was hit with a sense of pain so real that my
knees buckled. Ethan had to hold me up.

I saw Violeta stab
Jordan in the side with a metal spike. Blood streamed down his legs
into barrels below. His face was distorted with pain but his eyes
were open and clear. He looked at Violeta and told her it was okay as
she stabbed him in the other side. I opened my eyes before the tip
entered his skin.

My body went completely
limp and Ethan let me slide to the ground. I emptied my stomach until
there was nothing left and had to fight the urge to curl into a ball
and cry. I knew where my brothers were, but had no idea how we were
going to get to them.

“
It’s
hopeless,” I said. “They have turned Violeta against us
and we have no weapons to use. It’s over.”

The feeling of defeat
overwhelmed me to such a degree that I didn’t see or hear Chloe
and her Fare return to the tunnel where they were hiding and retrieve
four large duffel bags full of weapons. They began strapping daggers
to their arms and thighs as well as swords across their backs. Ethan
and Landon grabbed the same bows and quivers that they used in the
Ludos, looking like elves from Lord of the Rings.

Rillae helped me to my
feet and strapped a small dagger to my thigh. When she was sure that
the sheath was secure she turned my head to face her. There was some
sort of connection, not like the one that Chloe had made with Landon,
but a spark. She was Rillae. My Fare. The girl from a Lower Caste
Fare family whose beauty would have been the envy of every Castellano
Vampire if they had selected her. She would have lived a life filled
with threats and abuse at the hands of her Vampire patrons as well as
the household Fare. Rillae, the girl that cried in my arms when I
selected her for no other reason than because I thought she was a
good person. Rillae was my Fare and she had come when I needed her
most.

Chloe and her Fare were
standing near the third tunnel with Tabitha. They had apparently
deduced that we would be traveling in that direction and wanted to
get ready. Ethan put his hand on Rillae’s shoulder and gave me
a wink of encouragement. I was going to have to ask him to teach me
that because I was still winking with both eyes like some 5 year old.
I mouthed “thank you” at both of them and headed down the
tunnel at a dead run.

The seven of us ran
about 800 yards before we heard the screams. Tabitha was the first
one to the door but couldn’t get it open. Landon and Ethan
didn’t even try, instead they cupped their hands and allowed
Rillae to climb to the top of the door and place her gum on the
hinge. On her way back to the ground she placed two addition pieces
on the remaining two hinges and stepped back.

Within seconds the gum
started to hiss and dissolve the metal until the hinges were gone and
the door simply fell into the room. The noise and dust from the
crashing door hid our entrance initially, but a Vampire’s sense
of smell was hard to escape. Without a plan, we all prepared to fight
our way to Jordan and Zander. Violeta was the first Vampire I saw.
She still wore the collar and was fighting to get it off.
Instinctually I ran over to help her only to have her grab me by the
throat and lift me off of the ground. I tried to kick her but she
simply threw me onto the floor at her feet.