“What was that? Can you guys hear or smell anything?” I whisper. The guys force us behind them and pause, concentration lining their face.
“Come out, come out, little rats,” a deep voice taunts from right outside the door.
Fuck. They’ve found us.
CHAPTER 36
VALEN
Everythinginside me freezes at that mocking voice. I’m transported back to that cell, cold, frail and starving, just waiting for the next time they’d yank me out for something—whether to take more of my blood or to do one of their experiments.
Ava’s hand slides into mine and gives a reassuring squeeze.
I inhale her sweet, sugary scent and instantly feel more grounded.
“Are you up for a fight?” Zavier asks me, looking unsure.
I nod. No one is going to hurt Ava or Celine if I can help it.
Zavier slings the door open, and we come face to face with a row of vampires.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Zavier says, rubbing his hands together. The savage gleam in his eye tells me he revels in this sort of chaos.
In a flash, he headbutts the one in front. The bald, hulkingvampire clearly wasn’t expecting that and falls backward into the vampires behind him.
“Zavier and I will attempt to clear a path,” I tell Ava. “You and Celine, run.”
Her eyes flash with fear. “I won’t leave you.”
I grab her into a quick, furtive kiss. “You can and you will.” To Celine, I say, “Make her go.”
She nods in understanding. I’m sure she doesn’t want to leave her mate either, but unlike Ava, she knows that the last thing they need is to be caught by these guys.
I join Zavier in the fray. Even after months of recuperating, I’m still not at my full strength, but I’ve managed to build back enough that I am stronger than these guys, and they clearly don’t expect it. It’s the advantage of being atruevampire—a being not human and made but insteadchanged.
We make such quick work of the ten or so vampires, that the women haven’t gotten far. I grab ahold of Ava while Zav takes Celine, and we run with them in our arms.
“Which way?” Zav asks.
Fuck. I wish I had paid more attention when I was being held here, but I truly gave up on escape centuries ago, so I never bothered.
Think, Valen. Think!
“Down,” I say. “I know they talked about tunnels down here.”
Zav gives me a skeptical look. “Not up?”
It sounds like a horde of more vampires coming from above us. “I don’t know that we can get out that way right now. It might be best to try to shake them in the tunnels.”
“We probably tripped some sort of sensor,” Celine groans. “We should’ve expected that whoever held Valen would expect us to come back snooping.”
We delve deeper beneath the club. This place seems to go onand on for miles with halls branching off. It would take us forever to explore it all. It’s no wonder the police didn’t seem to get very far with their investigation and gave up.
“This way,” I say, sniffing the air and stopping in front of a door.
Only when I open it, we’re very much not alone.
A group of drooling, snarling masses of fur glare at us. Their eyes, a feral red and tinted with savagery, lock on to ours.
