"Copy that," the guard said. "On my way."
The guard jogged toward the front entrance, leaving the service door slightly ajar.
That was... convenient.
Charlie's rabbit instincts screamed caution, but he pushed past them and squeezed through the gap. Inside, the service corridor stretched ahead, illuminated by harsh overhead lights.According to Noah's floor plans, he needed to find a ventilation access point in the third maintenance closet.
The backpack weighed on him, but he managed to scurry down the hallway undetected. The first door he passed was locked. The second stood open, revealing cleaning supplies. The third…
Charlie's ears twitched at approaching footsteps. He dove into the shadow of a trash bin just as two security personnel rushed past, speaking urgently into their radios.
"All units to the front entrance. Some bodybuilder guy is threatening to sue us for running over his dog."
"What dog?"
"Hell if I know. Just get up there."
Charlie waited until they disappeared around a corner before darting into the third maintenance room. The ventilation grate sat near the floor, exactly where Noah said it would be. And strangely, the screws holding it in place were already loose.
Charlie's rabbit brain registered the wrongness, but his vampire determination pushed forward. He squeezed through the grate into the metal duct beyond.
The ventilation system was a maze of intersecting passages, but Charlie had memorized his route. Three junctions left, two right, then straight until the drop that would lead to the sub-levels.
As he moved deeper into the building, the bond in his chest began to pulse stronger. Simon was here. Close. The connection tugged at him like a fishhook behind his ribs, guiding him more surely than any floor plan.
"Charlie, check in." Viktor's voice was tinny through the earpiece somehow still attached to his rabbit ear. "Noah says you're off course."
Charlie paused at a junction. The floor plan said to go left, but the bond pulled him right. He hesitated, whiskers twitching.
"Something's wrong," Viktor continued. "There's minimal security on shift tonight."
Charlie's rabbit instincts and vampire intuition aligned in sudden clarity. This was too easy.
He continued forward anyway. Simon was here. Simon needed him. Even if it was a trap—and every fiber of his being now screamed that it was—he had to try.
The ventilation shaft widened as he descended, eventually opening into a larger maintenance tunnel. The drop was steeper than expected. Charlie tumbled out, landing awkwardly on concrete. The backpack cushioned his fall but still left him disoriented.
Pushing through the dizziness, he concentrated on shifting back. His vampire body responded readily, fur receding, limbs extending. A moment later, he crouched naked in the dim tunnel, the backpack beside him.
Quickly, Charlie wrapped the cloth around him. He was still half-naked, but there was only so much a seven-pound rabbit could carry, and besides, his state of undress wasn't important; the bond with Simon throbbed harder now, a steady pulse that couldn't be ignored.
So close.
"Viktor," he whispered into the comms. "I'm in the lower levels. Simon is nearby."
Static crackled in response.
"Viktor? Noah?" Charlie tapped the earpiece. Nothing but white noise. "Great."
Just great.
What was he going to do?
The only thing hecoulddo.
He cautiously moved forward. The tunnel eventually opened into a sterile hallway lined with unmarked doors.
The bond yanked sharply to the right. Charlie followed it to a heavy metal door with no window, no keypad, no apparent security measures. Just a standard handle.
