She shakes her head and looks up. With tears streaming down her cheeks, her jaw locks as she spits, “Fuck you, Jax.”
Her body jolts back as the lights blink out and plunge us into darkness for one beat. Then two. Finally breaking free from Jax’s grasp, I dash to the door, but as I reach out to the emergency override, my hand freezes. The light blinks back on in time for me to see blood splattering from the vent, and something in me breaks at the sound of Manni’s garbled screams.
Jax grabs my shoulders and spins me around. He cups my face tenderly and says, “I’m sorry, Saya. I’m so fucking sorry. But you know that if we opened the door, that thing would’ve come with her, and I couldn’t risk you and Cole. I just couldn’t.”
He presses his lips firmly to mine. My body shuts down and peels away all emotion. There isn’t time to argue. There isn’t time to tell him about the writhing hatred lodged in my throat.
Jax pulls me into his arms. “We gotta go,” he murmurs in my hair.
We are alone on this floor, quiet aside from the faint buzz of the blinking red lights and the panicked sounds drifting up from the floor below.
“Open the mess!” some Feeders shout.
Jax’s hand tightens on mine. “Let’s move.”
“Hey!” Dan appears by the stairs. “We need help opening?—”
I’m about to scream when Jax’s hand clamps over my mouth. Dan’s body jolts back as something dark comes into focus for a split second before vanishing. Dan’s desperate cry for help echoes through the stairway and down the corridor.
There are at least two of these fucking things.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CRYPTOZOOLOGY
If slayers try to interfere with any Feeding Grounds, the Three, or Serun himself, will personally make an appearance to ensure the safety of the Bleeders and Feeders.
Any slayer who attempts to fuck with this law will perish.
— Serun’s Law
“Ease back, Saya,”Jax whispers, slowly removing his hand from my mouth. “You too, Cole. We’re heading back to my room, and we’ll crawl through that vent.”
My eyes widen as I take a quick glance inside my room. Droplets of stringy blood ooze from the opening. “That thing might still be in there,” I breathe.
Another bone-chilling scream echoes from below. Hungry growls follow, cutting through the air and vibrating up to the floor we are on.
Cole grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly. We walkdown the corridor and away from the staircase. Jax’s room is three doors down, but he stops at the door near the corner and points to the evacuation diagram. “We have two choices. Once we’re in the vent, we can either make our way out through the delivery room or head to the mess. One of the Bleeders should have a keycard we can use, and we can escape through the kitchen.” He taps a green symbol. “There’s an emergency exit there.”
“But we know the other creature is down there,” I say. “It’s too risky.”
“Both are. We can go to the delivery room, and there might not be anyone there. See,”—he circles the delivery room—“there’s no emergency exit, only mask recognition, so we’d need a Bleeder.” He grimaces.
“Our chances of survival?”
“Higher.”
I nod. “The delivery room, then. After all, we know the way, and I think that’s how the nightwalker got into the vent. It’s likely broken.”
Jax narrows his eyes. “Okay. Let’s do this, then.”
“We will find Emily along the way,” I declare, and Jax’s jaw tightens and his hands flex. We size each other up, and I tilt my head higher and arch my brow, daring him to argue.
“What about the creature in the vent?” Cole whispers, cutting through the challenge in the air. With a sigh, I look away from Jax and grab Cole’s shoulder and squeeze tight.
“I’ll lure the monster out,” Jax says. “Once it’s out and chasing me”—he gestures to the adjacent room—“you’ll sneak into my room and close the door behind you.”
Panicked bursts leave Cole’s mouth.
