She handed me the phone and I hit reply all, but deleted Kenzley’s and Finn’s addresses because I wasn’t sure I could trust them. Taking a deep breath, I started to type.
Dear fellow hunters,
You’ve all been lied to. I know this will be hard to believe, but Sterling died at the hands of none other than our fearless leader Maz. He died uncovering a great truth.
That truth is that we are not fully human.
We were stolen and paid for from our partially fey mothers all in an elaborate multimillion dollar scheme Maz designed.
Maz is a full blown fey and cares nothing for your welfare, only for the empire she’s built.
You do not hunt vampires that are guilty of heinous crimes against humans. You weed out the vampire race for the highest bidders to line Maz’s pockets. I have proof of everything attached.
Love,
Aspen and Liv
I pulled the papers Sterling had given me, including the personal letter he’d written me, and laid them on the dashboard, where I took some pictures of them. After attaching them all as evidence, I bit my lip and hit send.
“Let’s do it.” I didn’t want to leave my fellow hunters in the dark. They’d read the email and maybe a few of them would break free from the hold Maz had over them.
I exited the van, allowing a tall and lanky male hunter to climb into the driver’s seat. I couldn’t remember his name, but he was now our getaway driver. I’d have to take time to get to know them all later on.
The second we were clear of the vehicle, he started to circle the block. Nearly a dozen hunters in Kevlar vests holding gas cans and Molotov cocktails were definitely going to attract unwanted attention, but there was nothing else we could do. I didn’t want to do this at night and risk killing any hunters who were sleeping, because the sun didn’t go down in the inland Northwest this time of year until past 9 p.m.
I looked up at the nondescript building as we approached and couldn’t help but think of the karma we were about to dole out. Maz had burned House of Thorns, now we were going to take down House of Rose. The issue was, the bottom floor had no windows, only the front door, which was guarded at all times. If we wanted to light this place up, we’d need to get up to the second floor.
“Split into teams!” I whisper-screamed, having informed them on the drive over of what would need to be done.
The large male hunters spread out against the building about twenty feet apart, right under windows. They planted their feet and squatted. The next team were the lighter females. We gripped our Molotov cocktails and gas cans and climbed the men’s backs like they were trees. Vasquez groaned as I planted a foot on his shoulder, but said nothing in the way of complaint.
His wrist came around my ankles to steady me and then he stood to his full height. It was just enough for me to reach the lower pane of the window. I smooshed the gas can between my chest and the building while I fumbled for my Glock. This floor was the one that held many rooms where there would be a lot of activity, so we’d need to act quickly. I looked to my left and right, confirming the rest of the hunters were in the same position as me, and with a nod I smashed the butt of my gun into the window, shattering it. Wasting no time, I holstered my gun and then grabbed the gas can, chucking it into the hole in the window, with no lid. I could hear the glug-glug of gas, along with some shouts of alarm from inside. Vasquez’s arm came up holding a lit flame, and I tipped the end of the Molotov cocktail to it, igniting the cloth.
God forgive me. Don’t let anyone innocent get hurt,I prayed, tossing the flaming bottle into the hole. The moment it hit the ground and shattered, it must have ignited the puddle of gasoline. There was a giant boom; the glass blew outward as I leapt from Vasquez’s shoulders and landed on my feet.
Oh yeah. I was a vampire.
Shaking myself from my stupor, I helped Liv and some of the others down and we ran to hide on the side of the building, just as the bottom floor door burst open. The flames were already licking the outside walls of the second floor, and black smoke plumed high into the sky.
“Get in!” a voice called from behind, and I peered back to see our driver waiting with the van doors open. The plan was to get in the van and ride around the block a few times while everyone fled outside, but now I was wondering if I could use my new vampire abilities and jump to the third floor, above the fire. What if I could catch Maz coming out and make sure she had Ruby? What if Maz just left Ruby in there and she burned…?
“Go. I’ll meet you at the pick-up location if we get split up,” I whispered to Liv.
“What!?” she whisper-screamed. But it was too late, I was already running.
The one thing playing through my mind was how high Luka had jumped that night at the club when he’d saved my life by tucking me into the rafters with him. Could I jump that high? That was at least thirty feet, right?
“Aspen, don’t you dare!” Liv’s yell came from behind me, but I was already airborne. I burst off the ground with as much of a power jump as I could muster. I sailed through the air, approaching the building way faster than intended. Not only had I jumped superhumanly high, but also superhumanly fast.
“Crap,” I muttered as I slammed into the brick wall between the third and fourth floor, cracking some of the bricks. Pain exploded in my wrists and feet as I started to drop.
Crap, crap, crap.As I fell past the third floor window, I hurled myself forward and crashed through the glass with zero finesse. My upper body made it through but my legs were halfway out the window, so they just dangled as I faceplanted onto the tile inside of the library.
“Ow,” I whispered. Glass shards cut into my palms, but as quickly as the pain was there it vanished.
Vampy perk.
I rolled forward, lifting my dangling legs out from the window, and sprang to a standing position. I winced at the shrill shrieking of the fire alarm as it blared inside my brain with my super hearing. But it was good that the alarm went off. I hoped that was enough warning to get everyone out before the building went down. Following the sounds of screaming, I bolted for the door, on the hunt for Maz or Ruby.
